The concerts will include works by American composers highlighting compositions composed specifically for Jennnings and Charoenwongse. These new works include “Serenade” by retired IUP professor Daniel Perlongo, “Cello Dance” by Samuel Magrill, and “Dances with Leaves” by Keith White.
In July, Jennings will also perform with Payap faculty members Ohm Teyoon, violinist, and Atsuko Seta, pianist, in a chamber recital at Payap University. She has also been invited to present a two-day string pedagogy workshop for cellists of the Chiang Rai Youth Symphony in northern Thailand.
]]>The disc includes: three trios for oboe, bassoon, and piano by Andre Previn, Peter Hope, and Nancy Galbraith; an oboe/bassoon duo by George Rochberg; and a quartet which features music faculty member Therese Wacker (flute). The quartet “Aubade,” composed by Clark McAlister, was commissioned by the ensemble and is one of two world premiere recordings on the disc.
The disc is published by Klavier Music Productions and is currently available on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify and will be distributed internationally through the NAXOS label.
Jennings gave master classes to cellists at the University of Texas String Project, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Augusta State University. She gave string pedagogy presentations at Eastern Carolina University.
]]>The new works included "Serenade," by retired IUP professor Daniel Perlongo; "Cello Dance," by Samuel Magrill; and "Dances with Leaves," by Keith White.
These works were part of a larger program featuring works for cello and piano by American composers.
]]>Rachel was elected president of the IUP Chapter of PCMEA in her freshman year. At present there are 35 members, making it one of the largest contingents at the recent PCMEA conference held in Erie, Pa.
Rachel first expressed a passion for music education in the seventh grade, when she decided she wanted to be a music teacher. In addition to performing with a local brass quintet—the Resolution Brass—Rachel works in the summers giving private lessons in piano and guitar and as a certified lifeguard.
]]>The IUP Tubaphonium Ensemble, under the direction of Zach Collins, performed at the 2013 Northeast Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference (NERTEC) in Ithaca, N.Y., on April 21. Additionally, Collins performed a solo recital at NERTEC.
The IUP Tubaphonium Ensemble performed a program including “Tubaphonium Overture,” a new composition by Collins; “Journey Through Space,” composed by IUP alumnus Anthony O’Toole; and an arrangement of three motets by Anton Bruckner. The ensemble also performed a concert at Horseheads High School in Horseheads, N.Y., on Friday, April 19.
The The IUP Tubaphonium Ensemble is comprised of music majors who perform on the tuba or euphonium and non-majors by audition.
Collins also presented a solo recital at NERTEC. His performance included “Concerto No. 2” by O’Toole and “Concerto No. 2” by Alexey Lebedev.
Wong Doe worked with students of Marina Lupinacci, who performed works by Bartok, Kabalevsky, Beethoven, Debussy, and Olson.
]]>The quintet was selected from more than 100 applicants which included university faculty and students, as well public school large and small ensembles from across the state.
The Crimson Winds was formed in 2011 and is a student-organized ensemble which chooses its own repertoire and rehearses weekly under the direction of IUP music faculty member Stephanie Caulder. In Spring 2012, the Crimson Winds gave its debut performance in a full recital on the IUP campus. The quintet will present its final recital on May 12, 2013, also on the IUP campus.
]]>Beeken’s presentation, “Conductor-Creature Versus Conductor-Teacher: Establish Priorities and Rekindle the Passion!” placed emphasis on empowering choral educators with an understanding of what students discover and value in the artistic choral experience. Beeken is in his first year as director of Choral Activities in the Department of Music.
Caulder’s clinic, “Why Not Play the Oboe? Tips and Strategies for Success,” aimed to provide tools/resources which could help with starting beginning oboists or improving intermediate or advanced oboe players’ aptitudes.
]]>The HoodleBug Brass is the brass quintet-in-residence at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is comprised of the four full-time brass faculty within the Department of Music and the assistant dean of the College of Fine Arts. The ensemble performs regularly on the IUP campus and presents numerous clinics and concerts in public schools and churches throughout the region each year. The HoodleBug Brass released its first compact disc, entitled Brass Fac’s, in March 2004. Their second disc, Off the Trac’s, was released in October 2009 and their first commercial release, Christmas Postcards from the HoodleBug Brass, was released in October 2012. The quintet performs works of all styles, from the Baroque to contemporary, pop, and jazz.
Works by various composers will be performed, including Bruce Frazier, Jim Stephensonn, and Zach Collins, professor of Tuba at IUP.
Featured during this recital will be Laura Ferguson, associate professor of Music Education at IUP. She is a frequent clinician for the International Association of Jazz Educators, where she presents at international conferences as well as serving as a faculty member of IAJE’s Teacher Training Institute. A former Down-Beat award winner for Best Collegiate Vocal Jazz Recording, she continues to perform regularly in the immediate area with Ferguson and Friends jazz combo. She will perform with the HoodleBug Brass on Jim Stephenson’s “Jazz Interlude.”
The guest artist for the evening’s recital will be P. Bradley Ulrich, professor of trumpet at Western Carolina University. Ulrich has performed countless recitals both as a soloist and in brass quintets. He has performed and taught across the United States and in Russia, Canada, England, Ireland, Wales, St. Barths, Italy, China, Germany, and Jamaica. Ulrich is the artistic director for the International Trumpet Festival of Russia. Ulrich performed with the HoodleBug Brass during their October 2012 tour of St. Petersburg and Moscow. He will perform Bruce Frazier’s “Blue Ridge Suite,” which was commissioned specifically for Ulrich and the HoodleBug Brass. Ulrich will also present clinics and master classes during his three-day stay at IUP; his appearance is supported in part by the Jupiter Band Instrument Company and the IUP Department of Music.
A “hoodlebug” is a local term for “doodlebug,” the name given to a single-car, self-propelled train or trolley. At the southern end of the IUP campus can be found the Hoodlebug Trail. This is a six-mile recreation and commuter trail located in the central portion of Indiana County.
For more information regarding this and other programs, please call the Department of Music, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, at 724-357-2390.
]]>The IUP Jazz Band is led by Keith Young, professor of Saxophone. The IUP Jazz Ensemble is directed by Kevin Eisensmith, professor of Trumpet.
Also featured in this concert will be the IUP High School Honors Jazz Band, directed by Eisensmith and Young. Twenty-five students from nine different high schools, including Altoona, Forest Hills, Halifax, Saltsburg, Indiana Area, Punxsutawney, Southmoreland, and United, will perform works for jazz band. These students were recommended for participation in the IUP Jazz Festival by their band directors, and they will rehearse throughout the day on Saturday prior to their Saturday evening performance.
High school and college music students alike will participate in a clinic presented by Joe Eckert on Saturday afternoon.
Eckert is the first full-time professor of saxophone at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, joining the faculty in fall 2007. In fall 2011, he assumed additional duties as director of Jazz Studies and director of the Jazz Ensemble. He retired in 2004 from a 20-year career as lead alto saxophonist/woodwind specialist and director for the USAF Band’s Airmen of Note in Washington, D.C. Eckert received his B.M. from Baldwin-Wallace College in saxophone performance and went on to complete graduate and post-graduate studies at the University of North Texas, where he was a member of the world-renowned One O’clock Lab Band, principal saxophonist with the Wind Symphony, and soloist with the Symphony Orchestra.
While with the “Note,” Eckert toured extensively across North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. As producer for the Jazz Heritage Concert Series, he collaborated with some of the great names in jazz, including Louie Bellson, Bob Berg, Randy Brecker, Jimmy Heath, Cleo Laine, David Liebman, Mike Mainieri, and Clark Terry. He has also performed with Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, Jon Faddis, Bunky Green, J.J. Johnson, Carmen McRae, Sammy Nestico, Tommy Newsom, Red Rodney, Kenny Werner, Paquito D’Rivera, Claudio Roditi, Arturo Sandoval, Billy Taylor, Joe Williams, and many others. As coordinator of the Jazz Outreach Education Series, he brought the expertise of Airmen of Note to aspiring music students throughout the country. Some of his freelance activities include performances with the Dallas Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra and tours with Liza Minnelli and Nelson Riddle. In the popular music world, he has performed with the likes of Lou Rawls, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Anthony Newley, Natalie Cole, and Michael Jackson.
He continues to remain active as a performer, playing regularly with the Fort Worth Symphony and as a jazz soloist and recitalist nationally. He has served as an adjudicator and clinician at music festivals, high schools, and colleges nationally and internationally. Eckert’s professional affiliations include the American Federation of Musicians, Music Educators National Conference, North American Saxophone Alliance, Texas Bandmasters Association, and the Jazz Education Network. Eckert is a Yamaha-Performing Artist/Clinician and Rico Performing Artist. For more information, please refer to the Joe Eckert website.
Eckert’s appearance at the IUP Jazz Festival has been made possible in part through grants from the Yamaha Corporation, Rico, and Volkwein’s Music, with additional, generous support from the IUP College of Fine Arts and the IUP Department of Music.
Cost of tickets for the evening concert is $9 for regular admission, $8 for senior citizens and students, and $6 with an I-Card.
For more information about this concert, please call the IUP Department of Music at (724) 357-2390.
]]>This method book has been widely adopted throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, including its utilization at Curtis and here at IUP. Horner has presented similar classes at various universities over the past few years. A 1978 graduate of IUP, Horner currently serves as timpanist for the Westmoreland Symphony, Johnstown Symphony, and the IUP Keystone Winds.
Wong Doe will perform Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, a movement from Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus, and Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61.
The event will be held at the Steinway Piano Gallery Pittsburgh, 445 S. Main Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15220.
]]>The program is free and open to the general public.
Numerous pieces for the 25-member ensemble, along with works for smaller groups, will be performed.
The program will begin with the David Stanhope’s “Australian Fanfare,” which was written in 1983 for Danny Mendelow, a Pittsburgh native and the longtime principal trumpet player for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Karen Sloneker, assistant professor of trumpet, will be the featured soloist on “Heralding,” by Ronald LoPresti, a former faculty member of the Department of Music.
Among the smaller ensembles that will perform is a group of six students who will attend the “Orvieto Trumpet Festival” in Orvieto, Italy, this summer. They'll play two selections from the repertoire they will perform in Italy.
The IUP Trumpet Ensemble includes both music majors and nonmusic majors who audition for acceptance into the group.
For more information about the recital, please contact Kevin Eisensmith at 724-357-1246.
]]>Professor Ryan Beeken, director of Choral Studies in the Department of Music, has been named artistic director for the Blair Concert Chorale.
Based in Altoona, the Blair Concert Chorale strives to foster an appreciation and awareness of quality choral music through performing excellence and educational activites in south central Pennslyvania.
Its members include over forty volunteer singers from Blair, Bedford, and Cambria counties who present at least three concerts each season.
The work was commissioned by 14 schools across the country and will receive its Pennsylvania premiere on May 4, 2013, with the IUP Wind Ensemble and Christian Dickinson as soloist.
The movements are titled “Proclamation,” “Soliloquy,” “Interplay,” “Epitaph,” and “Funk.”
]]>The ensemble has performed around the world, including concert tours in Russia, Thailand, China, Sweden, and Germany, as well as concerts in prestigious American venues such as the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. The Quintet is a resident faculty ensemble in the School of Music at Western Michigan University.
Following their concerts at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times review raved “The Western Brass Quintet gave unremitting evidence of their individual talents and ensemble training; chords were precisely weighted and registered, instrumental blends were sensitively arranged, and there was rarely a tentatively attacked or released note.” The New York Concert Review describes them as “exhibiting a remarkable flair for the Renaissance style, ...with remarkable facility and technique.” Following their recent performance at the 2005 International Trumpet Guild Conference in Bangkok, the published review asserted that “the Western Brass Quintet is not just another ‘academic’ brass chamber ensemble; their performance was equal to that of any ‘professional’ brass quintet. This is a superb group…”
Committed to promoting the composition of significant works for the brass quintet, the ensemble has premiered numerous works, including “Landscapes” by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Karel Husa, “Masques” by Ramon Zupko, “Nodding Music” by Elgar Howarth, “Plays and Rimes” by Curtis Curtis-Smith, “Pro and Contra Dances” by Ramon Zupko, “Vox Naturae” (with orchestra) by Ramon Zupko, “Dark Matters” by Mark Schultz, “Games for Brass” by Curtis Curtis-Smith, and “Quintet” by Richard Adams. Audiences have described the Quintet’s performances of the latest in brass chamber music repertoire as polished, exciting, daring, and musically satisfying. Additionally, an interest in performance practices for the music of the Renaissance and Baroque has inspired several significant arrangements of music from these periods by Western Brass Quintet members. Two full-length compact discs have been recently recorded by WBQ (all premiere recordings) on Summit Records: Songs and Dances and Games for Brass.
]]>Ertl recently won first prize in the American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition held in New York City. As a result of the competition, he will be performing a piano transcription of Igor Stravinsky’s ”Firebird” in the winner’s recital at Carnegie Hall.
]]>The East Stroudsburg School District has had a long-time commissioning program. This year, the high school director and IUP alumnus Katye Clogg (M.A., 2009) chose Stamp to write a work for the band. The work is entitled “Junket,” defined as a pleasurable excursion of unknown destination.
During the negotiations of the actual concert, the sixth-grade band director, Matthew Whitney (B.S., 2006) contacted Stamp about his output for elementary band. Stamp responded with writing a second work, entitled “Song for Newtown,” in memory and honor of those teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The work was meant for elementary school musicians to have a performance vehicle by which to expression their condolences to students of their same age group.
]]>They presented a program of voice, cello, and piano music for students at Central York, Eastern York, and Northern York School Districts.
]]>Wong Doe worked with students of professors Ken Burky and David Allen Wehr, who performed works by Chopin, Schoenberg, and Liszt/Verdi. The masterclass was open to all piano majors and other interested students of the Mary Pappert School of Music.
This was Wong Doe’s third masterclass at Duquesne.
]]>Beeken lead 100 of Arkansas’ finest high school musicians through three days of rehearsal and performance. The program included the world premiere of Andrea Ramsey’s “The Roof,” commissioned by Beeken and recently accepted for publication by Hal Leonard.
Among the recitals being presented during the weekend are:
8:00 – Rm. 121, Cogswell
6:00
8:00
4:00
6:00
3:00
5:00
Kevin Eisensmith and Karen Sloneker, trumpet professors at IUP, will present a recital of music for trumpet and other instruments on Friday evening, February 22,, at 8:00 p.m. Assisting will be Jacob Ertl, assistant professor of Piano in the Department of Music, along with L. Mark Carver, piano and the members of the HoodleBug Brass. All events will be held in Gorell Hall, unless indicated otherwise, and are free and open to the general public.
]]>Ertl performed a guest artist recital in Smith Recital Hall at Marshall University. The program included works by Beethoven, Rzewski, Liszt, and Stravinsky.
Ertl also taught a master class for undergraduate and graduate piano majors. He was also interviewed and will be featured in a Marshall University newspaper publication.
]]>The event, held in Niceville, Fla., was coordinated by IUP alumnus Kelly Deklinski (2006). The 100 member ensemble was comprised of students from the four high schools that make up Okaloosa County.
The composed work is based upon the whole tone scale and is currently in press with Neil Kjos Music Publishers.
]]>The PMEA regularly hosts choral festivals accross the state and invites prominent conductor-teachers to lead singers through a day of learning, culminating in an evening concert.
This year's District 3 Elementary chorus featured over 230 fourth- through sixth-grade students from western Pennsylvania. Because of the large number, the students were divided into two choirs. Beeken was joined by Derrick Fox, of Michigan State University, who conducted the second ensemble.
Professor Laura Ferguson served as event host, and Professor Stanley Chepaitis performed a beautiful collaboration with the choirs.
]]>Each year, the United States Army Field Band invities one nationally recognized band conductor to guest conduct the ensemble on an entire concert of music of their choice. The ensemble performed two of Stamp's original works: “Cheers!” and Symphony No. 1 – “In Memoriam David Diamond.”
The 65-member ensemble is comprised of some of the finest musicians in the U.S. military. Concurrently with their rehearsals with Stamp, the band was preparing for the honor of leading off the historic Inauguration Parade.
]]>Lessons will begin on February 11. For more information and an application, please contact Jane Baumer at J.P.Baumer@iup.edu or (724) 357-2391.
The IUP String Project curriculum consists of weekly private lessons and group lessons scheduled at different times throughout the year. Lessons are 30 minutes to one hour in length, depending upon the age and advancement of each student. Ensemble classes designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in private lessons as well as develop other musical skills, such as ensemble playing, leadership skills, etc., are included in the program. At the end of each semester, students also have the opportunity to perform solo and ensemble pieces on recitals. Lessons, group classes, and recitals take place on the IUP campus and are taught by IUP music students. The IUP String Project is designed to support the string programs in the public schools. Therefore, all students enrolled in the IUP String Project must also be enrolled in their school orchestra program, if one is available.
The IUP String Project is also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The program provides hands-on practical experience teaching one-on-one lessons, as well as teaching groups in a classroom setting and conducting a string orchestra. In addition, teachers gain invaluable experience participating in recruiting programs in public and private schools, gaining teaching ideas and guidance at regular pedagogy meetings, and receiving feedback on their teaching. Teachers are supervised by IUP String Project director and faculty member Linda Jennings, IUP music faculty member Stanley Chepaitis, and IUP String Project master teacher Swana Chepaitis.
The IUP String Project is one of 43 similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children, and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S. The program is directed by IUP music faculty member Linda Jennings.
For more information, visit the IUP String Project website.
]]>On March 9, 2013, the IUP Music Department will be holding auditions for potential music majors from 10:00 a.m.–noon at the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush, 11081 Knights Rd., Philadelphia, Pa 19154. All interested students are asked to check the Music Department website for details. Suggested repertoire, scheduling, and a “quick app” link are available at that site. (Please note that, although you may audition at this site prior to applying to the university, all auditionees must be accepted to the university prior to learning the results of their audition.)
If you have any questions, please call IUP Department Chair Jack Stamp at 724-357-2390.
More information about auditions for the IUP Department of Music is available in our Information for Prospective Undergraduate Students.
]]>The Armstrong County Band is an annual event featuring the top musicians from the six Armstrong County high schools: Apollo Ridge, Kittanning, Ford City, Freeport, Leechburg, and West Shamokin. The ensemble had over 90 participating members.
Under Collins’ direction, the band performed works by Charles Carter, John Zdechlik, Tylman Susato, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Samuel Hazo, and John Philip Sousa. The concert took place on January 9 at Kittanning Senior High School.
]]>Ertl performed two solo community outreach recitals, one for grade school students, and the other for families in the community. He also performed with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra violinist Glenn Asch in collaborative performances. Ertl taught a master class for piano majors at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts and gave a lecture recital on Frederic Rzewski's “De Profundis.”
Ertl has been the Artist-in-Residence for PianoArts for the past six years, where he has given hundreds of outreach performances that use innovative and interactive programming. Recent years have included college tours in the Midwest and collaborations with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musicians. Ertl has also helped train emerging artists in the residency program as well as young “Spotlight” performers.
]]>Christina Brisbin, president of the IUP Kappa Beta chapter, is featured on the cover of the publication, attending the national convention of the sorority in Atlanta. Christine is a trombonist, majoring in Music Education.
SAI was founded in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1903, and the publication Pan Pipes can be found in university libraries across the country.
The IUP chapter was founded in the 1990s and is involved in various outreach activities in the community.
]]>Beethoven (played by Professor Joe Baunoch) illustrated thematic elements of his Symphony No. 5 with the help of a big yellow bird who (in this particular story) served as partial inspiration for the work.
The event, attended by students from four area school districts, was co-organized by the Indiana Area Arts Council, led by Rebecca Slak.
The next performance of the IUP Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Professor Stanley Chepaitis, is Thursday, December 6. The orchestra will join the IUP choirs in a concert for the general public at 8:00 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium. Tickets will be available at the door and at the HUB Box Office.
]]>Wong Doe met with piano faculty member Thomas Hecht and Albert Tiu and attended their piano studio recital on November 20.
Founded in 2003, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (National University of Singapore) was established in collaboration with the Peabody Conservatory and is now Asia’s leading Conservatory of Music. Faculty at YST Conservatory include former professors from Indiana University Bloomington and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Students in the piano recital represented many countries, including Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, and Thailand.
]]>The program will feature numerous pieces for the 30-member ensemble, along with works for smaller groups. The performance will begin with the U.S. premiere of Jack Stamp’s “WASBE 2011 Fanfare,” which was commissioned for the 2011 WASBE (World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles) Conference, which was held in Taiwan. David Ferguson, assistant dean of the College of Fine Arts, will be the featured soloist on an arrangement of “Here’s That Rainy Day.”
The IUP Trumpet Ensemble includes both music majors and non-music majors, who audition for acceptance into the group. For more information about the IUP Trumpet Ensemble recital, please contact Kevin Eisensmith at 724-357-1246.
]]>On October 7–16, 2012, the five members of the HoodleBug Brass traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, and then to Moscow, where they participated in two different brass festivals. The members of the HoodleBug Brass include Kevin Eisensmith and David Ferguson, trumpet; Jack Scandrett, horn; Christian Dickinson, trombone; and Zach Collins, tuba. Ferguson is the assistant dean of the College of Fine Arts; the other four are members of the faculty for the Department of Music.
The HoodleBug Brass were invited to participate in the International Trumpet Festival of Russia, held in St. Petersburg with Irina Vakulenko, director. Also featured at this event were P. Bradley Ulrich, professor of trumpet at Western Carolina University, and Dennis Edelbrock, professor of trumpet at George Mason University. While in St. Petersburg, they participated in a master class with students of the Rimsky-Korsakov Academy of Music and presented four performances, including a concert at the Fortress of Peter and Paul.
Following the five-day stay in St. Petersburg, the quintet traveled to Moscow, where they again presented clinics and master classes to students of the Moscow Conservatory and participated in a gala concert as part of the Moscow Brass Day festival. This event was organized by Vladislav Lavrik, principal trumpeter of the Russian National Orchestra.
While in Russia, they also had the opportunity to visit several museums, cathedrals, and other historic sites, including the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (Cemetery), where numerous famous Russian composers are buried, including Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Moussorgsky.
More information about the HoodleBug Brass.
]]>Sixteen high school marching bands from throughout west-central Pennsylvania will compete. The Legend IUP Marching Band, under the direction of David Martynuik, will perform at the conclusion of the contest.
Admission for IUP students with I-Card is $3, adult tickets are $8, students without I-Card are $5, and group ticket prices for non-competing band students is $3.
Tickets will be available at the gate. The ticket booth will open at approximately 5:15 p.m. For more information, please visit the Tournament of Bands Allegheny Mountain Region website.
The purpose of the IUP Marching Band is to provide music and general entertainment for selected events (football games, parades, concerts).
]]>In Summer 2011, Jim and Jamie Self donated $100,000 with the desire that the donated funds would be used to form a scholarship brass quintet for undergraduate students in the Department of Music.
Performing for the event will be the Legacy Brass Quintet. Rigorous auditions were held for this ensemble in September 2012, with the ensemble presenting its first recital in November.
Jim Self is a 1965 graduate of IUP and is one of the premier tubists in the world. He has been one of the most in-demand Los Angeles studio musicians for nearly 40 years. He holds positions with the Hollywood Bowl, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena, and L.A. Opera Orchestras.
Jim Self has been a constant supporter of the IUP Department of Music. In addition to his gift towards the naming of the Brass and Jazz Room, he has also supported the department through the awarding of an annual Jim and Jamie Self Tuba Scholarship.
He has also given funds to form the Jim Self Chamber Brass Collection, housed in the Orendorff Music Library, and he received the Distinguished Alumni Award by IUP in 2003.
]]>Twenty-two members of the IUP Trumpet Studio, accompanied by Kevin Eisensmith, professor of Trumpet, traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, on September 20, 2012, to hear the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra’s season-opening performance of Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 3 in D Minor.”
Following the performance, Michael Sachs, principal trumpeter with the CSO, met with the students for an hour and answered questions about trumpet playing and life as an orchestral trumpet player.
The following morning, the group toured the Conn-Selmer Factory in East Lake, Ohio, where brass instruments of all types are manufactured. The students also had the opportunity to try out numerous instruments in the showroom before returning to IUP. Matt Barabas, general manager of Volkwein’s Music in Pittsburgh, and Rick Hanby, regional manager for the Conn-Selmer Corporation, provided logistical and financial support for this trip.
]]>Doe will perform at Chatham University on Friday, September 21, at 3:00 p.m. as part of their Friday Musicale series.
He'll perform at CMU on Sunday, October 14, at 3:00 p.m. as part of the main artist series of the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania.
]]>The event will provide an introductory session and instrument petting zoo for new beginning students; a variety of interactive musical activities for string students; an informational session for parents; and, at the conclusion, an informal recital by String Project teachers and students.
Activities will be led by Professor Swana Chepaitis, String Project master teacher; Professor Stanley Jennings; Professor Linda Jennings; and the String Project teachers, music students in the Music Department.
The Open House will be held in Room 126, Cogswell Hall. It's free and open to any interested string students in the community.
Registration is required. For more information and to register, contact Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or (724)357-2649.
The IUP String Project, a community music education outreach program for children ages 5–18 in Indiana and the surrounding area. The IUP String Project is also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The IUP String Project is one of thirty-two similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S. The program is directed by IUP music faculty member Linda Jennings.
]]>]]>
Stamp worked with over 150 music educators over the three workshops, giving lectures on conducting technique, score study, rehearsal technique, as well as his music.
]]>IUP piano faculty Henry Wong Doe’s debut CD, Horizon, of solo piano and chamber works by New Zealand composer Gareth Farr, was released on the Trust Records label on August 7, 2012.
This recording project was funded by grants from Creative NZ (Arts Council of NZ) and the IUP University Senate Research Committee.
Wong Doe recorded the disc in March and May 2011 in New York City, collaborating with two New York-based musicians: cellist Jisoo Ok and flutist Jesse Schiffman. William Dart from the New Zealand Herald wrote: “Wong Doe launches his CD of Farr’s piano music with the daredevil defiance of ‘Sepuluh Jari,’ delivering a powerhouse toccata and sustaining the dazzle through to the final ‘Ramayana.’”
This recording can be purchased online both as CD and digital download on iTunes.
]]>For more information and an application, please contact Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or (724)357-2649.
The IUP String Project curriculum consists of weekly private lessons and group lessons scheduled at different times throughout the year. Lessons are 30 minutes to one hour in length, depending upon the age and advancement of each student. Ensemble classes designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in private lessons as well as develop other musical skills, such as ensemble playing, leadership skills, etc., are included in the program. At the end of each semester, students also have the opportunity to perform solo and ensemble pieces on recitals. Lessons, group classes, and recitals take place on the IUP campus and are taught by IUP music students. The IUP String Project is designed to support the string programs in the public schools. Therefore, all students enrolled in the IUP String Project must also be enrolled in their school orchestra program, if one is available.
The IUP String Project is also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The program provides hands-on practical experience teaching one-on-one lessons, as well as teaching groups in a classroom setting and conducting a string orchestra. In addition, teachers gain invaluable experience participating in recruiting programs in public and private schools, gaining teaching ideas and guidance at regular pedagogy meetings, and receiving feedback on their teaching.
The IUP String Project is one of 43 similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S. The program is directed by IUP Music faculty member Linda Jennings.
For more information visit the IUP String Project website.
]]>The International Double Reed Society was established in December 1971 and is a worldwide organization of double reed (oboe and bassoon family) players, instrument manufacturers, and enthusiasts. The society has over 4,400 members from 56 countries. Within the United States, 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are represented.
The trio was selected to perform a half recital, including a work by Jurriaan Andriessen and a trio written for them by New Jersey composer Bruce Yurko. Several current IUP oboe and bassoon students also attended the conference and volunteered their time as conference assistants.
]]>The Keystone Wind Ensemble recently participated in a performance as part of the American Harp Society’s 50th anniversary conference, and also presented a concert at New York University.
On June 30, 2012, members of the KWE participated in premiere performances of two works featuring harp: Michael Torke’s “Wild Grass” and “Never Far Away for Harp and Orchestra,” composed by Bright Sheng. Sara Cutler, principal harpist with the New York City Ballet, and Yolanda Kondonassis, reknowned soloist and head of the harp departments at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Oberlin Conservatory, were featured soloists. Jack Stamp, director of Bands and chair of the IUP Department of Music, conducted both works, which were presented as part of the 50th anniversary and the 40th national conference of the American Harp Society. The Torke work was one of two world premieres commissioned by the AHS for the occasion and was funded by a consortium led by Stamp in conjunction with the American Harp Society and IUP Harp professor Lucy Scandrett.
On July 1, the KWE presented a concert entitled “A New York State of Mind” at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University. Composers who resided in New York wrote all of the works performed. Featured soloists included trumpeter Thomas Hooten, principal trumpeter with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; harpist Sara Cutler; Henry Wong Doe, piano professor at IUP; and Joe Baunoch, voice professor at IUP. Brad Genevro, director of Bands at Messiah College and an IUP alumnus, was featured as a guest conductor.
The Keystone Wind Ensemble is a concert band comprised of approximately 50 woodwind, brass, and percussion players, under the direction of Jack Stamp. The Keystone Wind Ensemble is sponsored by Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and all members have a direct affiliation with the university as alumni, students, faculty, or administrators. The ensemble was created in 1992 and, to date, has recorded numerous compact discs of music for concert bands and has also performed at several regional, national, and international music conferences to great acclaim. Learn more about the Keystone Wind Ensemble.
Photos, from top down:
The IUP resident string quartet, the ensemble includes Stanley Chepaitis and Swana Chepatis, violins; Raul Faure, viola; and Linda Jennings, cello.
The quartet is named in honor of Robin Litton, an IUP alumnus who created an endowment to help its creation.
]]>Also in attendance (photo, left to right):
The five-day conference featured clinics, recitals, and concerts by internationally renowned trumpet artists and ensembles.
]]>Fundraising events hosted by the IUP String Project director, Linda Jennings, included a screening of Kenbe La, a new documentary portraying the powerful positive impact of arts education on the lives of youth in Haiti, and a talk by Haitian music educator and earthquake survivor Fabienne Fanord. These events were sponsored by the IUP Latin American Studies minor program and the IUP String Project.
In addition, IUP Music student organizations Sigma Alpha Iota, Delta Omicron, Phi Mu Epsilon, and Pennsylvania Collegiate Music Educators Association hosted the Penny Cogswell Wars to raise funds to help young musicians who continue to face many challenges in Haiti.
The funds raised ($500) will support a new music education program at the Foyer Maurice Sixto School in Carrefour, a community 30 miles outside of Port au Prince. This school provides education for restavek children, who, due to poverty, are forced into positions of unpaid domestic labor and often have no opportunities to attend school. These funds will provide an opportunity for students at the school to attend a prominent summer music camp hosted by the Holy Trinity Music School in Port au Prince this summer.
]]>The trio will perform works by Haydn, Schubert, Turina as well as new compositions by Thai composers Zurazak Ut-sa and Narong Prangcharoen.
]]>Third from left, Justin Polyblank '09, baritone saxophonist, with fellow members of the Barkada Quartet
Fischoff is the world's premier chamber music competition, with 48 professional and college ensembles from many countries participating.
Ensembles are required to give several performances over the competition weekend. To earn the Grand Prize, Barkada won the Wind Division and then competed against the String Division and won.
Barkada also won the Gold Medal in the Senior Wind Division.
Polyblank plays baritone saxophone in the quartet, which includes Christopher Elchico on soprano sax, Marti Comas on alto sax, and Steven Lawhon on tenor sax.
Polyblank notes that barkada is a word in Tagalog that means "a group of friends" or "a form of family." He believes the friendship between the ensemble members is what sets their music apart.
"After speaking with many of the judges, it seems as though our friendship and musical confidence allowed us to really open ourselves up in terms of visual emotion while we performed," he notes. "The way we communicated with one another using facial expression and other physical movements must have really heightened the sense of music to both the jurors and the audience."
He says Barkada, which is based at Indiana University Bloomington, has also benefited from music professor Otis Murphy's "sincere care for exploring the subtleties and extremes of the music and our instruments."
Winning the Fischoff "is absolutely a dream come true," Polyblank says. "I played in groups that participated in this competition before, and until now, I have never gone further than quarterfinals. It was my goal to perhaps just make it one round deeper, but to have won the whole competition is absolutely astonishing.
"At least for Chris Elchico and me, establishing a professional chamber group after graduation was a goal. We never dreamed it would become a reality so soon. Literally, by having won this competition we are now a professional group."
Polyblank graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in May with two master's degrees in music performance, classical sax and jazz studies, and intended to move to Los Angeles, but he says winning the Fischoff has changed his plans.
"Now, I'm going to stay in Bloomington with the quartet and see where this can take us. I'm very excited. With a lot of hard work, who knows what we will be able to do with this amazing accomplishment."
Polyblank earned his bachelor's degree in music education and was a member of the Honors Band at IUP.
In addition to receiving over $10,000 in a cash prize, Barkada will participate in the Fischoff Winner's Tour of the Midwest in October and will perform at the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy in 2013.
"Jazz Crimes" performed by Justin Polyblank and the 2010 All American College Band (video)
"Two By Two" - Composed and Arranged by Max Maples (video)
Music Department home page
Music Department news
Barkada Quartet photo by Josef Samuel and courtesy of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association
]]>“Nagrobek” is Polish for “epitaph.” Sroka’s father immigrated from Poland to America. He passed away during the Thanksgiving holiday in the fall of 2010. The work was originally going to be in his memory, but, in February 2011, Stamp’s father also passed away, so the work is in memory of both Sroka and Stamp’s fathers. Material used in the piece include a polish folksong, Chopin’s e-minor piano prelude, and the Marine’s Hymn (Stamp’s father was a WWII veteran and a member of the First Marine Division that invaded Guadalcanal).
In addition, the St. Michaels bands will be performing two other compositions by Stamp, “DownEast Fanfare” and “Miniature Overture.”
]]>Antonacos will also be playing the Grieg at IUP on May 1, 2012, with the IUP Orchestra under the direction of David Martynuik.
]]>The disc also features IUP faculty Michael Kingan (percussion), and Mary Logan Hastings and Joseph Baunoch (vocalists) in solo recordings with the ensemble. The disc is the ensembles' third release of the music of Dr. Stamp. The disc also features the Hoodlebug Brass Quintet performing Stamp's "Three Turns for Brass Quintet", written 37 years ago while a student at IUP. All in all, the disc features 75 minutes of new music by the composer. In addition, individual tracks of the recording are available on iTunes. The Keystone Winds will be performing a concert on July 1, 2012, at the Skirball Center in New York City entitled "A New York State of Mind," featuring wind band music of New York composers.
]]>Inaugurated in 1992, the National Trumpet Competition has provided performing opportunities, master classes, exhibition concerts, historic and commercial exhibits, and an educational, supportive environment for nearly 3,000 students. To date, these students have represented 40 states as well six foreign countries.
Among this year’s performing artists was legendary trumpet player Doc Severinsen. IUP students also enjoyed performances by the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” the U.S. Army Blues Jazz Band, Rhythm and Brass, Canadian trumpeter Jens Lindemann, Allen Vizzutti, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra principal trumpeter Thomas Hooten, and others.
Students had the opportunity to try out and to purchase new trumpets, mouthpieces, mutes, and other musical paraphernalia. Ferguson organized, rehearsed, and conducted the “Massed Trumpet Ensemble,” which performed prior to the announcement of the various competition winners on Sunday afternoon. Eisensmith served as a judge for the finals round for the Trumpet Ensemble Division.
]]>Interested students were required to submit recordings of required pieces of music in order to be considered for scholarships.
This is the second year that Youngs has been awarded a scholarship to attend an International Trumpet Guild conference. Each scholarship has a value of approximately $450.
Among the artists schedule to perform at the 2012 ITG conference are jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, Italian trumpet artists Andrea Giuffredi and Andrea Tofanelli, Tom Hooten (principal trumpeter with the Atlanta Symphony), Chris Martin (principal trumpeter with the Chicago Symphony), Russian trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov, and jazz legend Marvin Stamm.
]]>The HoodleBug Brass is the brass quintet-in-residence at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is comprised of the four full-time brass faculty within the Department of Music and one Fine Arts administrator. The ensemble performs regularly on the IUP campus and presents numerous clinics and concerts in public schools and churches throughout the region each year.
The HoodleBug Brass released its first compact disc, entitled Brass Fac’s, in March 2004. Their second disc, Off the Trac’s, was released in October 2009. The quintet performs works of all styles, from the Baroque to contemporary, pop, and jazz. The HoodleBug Brass will travel to Russia in October 2012 to participate in brass festivals that will be held in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The program will feature music by American composer John Cheetham and Dutch composer Jan Koetsier. Also featured will be “Variations on America” as composed by Charles Ives and arranged for brass quintet by Henry Howey. The program will conclude with Lew Pollack’s “That’s a Plenty.”
A “HoodleBug” is a local term for “doodlebug,” the name given to a single-car, self-propelled train or trolley. At the southern end of the IUP campus can be found the Hoodlebug Trail. This is a six-mile recreation and commuter trail located in the central portion of Indiana County.
For more information regarding this and other programs, please call the Department of Music, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, at 357-2390.
]]>The IUP community is invited to join this event in which you place money in the jar of the group that you want to “lose.” The organization who receives the most money will then have the president and vice president of that organization get a pie to the face in the Cogswell courtyard (to be announced at a later date/time).
The Cogswell Penny Wars is also a Facebook event.
All proceeds will go towards the IUP String Project’s continuing effort to build music education programs in Haiti. More info can be found here.
]]>The film will be followed by a question and answer session featuring Haitian cellist and music educator Fabienne Fanord and IUP Music professor Linda Jennings, who has worked with music programs in Haiti. The program will also feature the IUP Cello Choir and Fanord performing Haitian music. This event is sponsored by the IUP Latin American Studies minor program and the IUP String Project.
Haiti is often portrayed as a country full of poor people waiting for help. Kenbe La – Hold On follows Haitian leaders who believe in the importance of arts education and outlets for creative expression. Kenbe La chronicles the work of musicians and teachers of the Holy Trinity Music School in Port-au-Prince and the Dessaix Baptiste Music School in Jacmel. Holy Trinity Music School, the center of musical life in Haiti, was about to celebrate its 50th anniversary when the January 12, 2010, earthquake left it in ruins. The students’ and teachers’ commitment to music inspires and gives weight to the importance of culture and the arts. Their experiences illustrate the ways in which music education builds strong character and supportive communities to help combat the intense needs that exist throughout the country. Their stories reveal music’s ability to heal and unite even amidst the most challenging circumstances and confirm the idea that development means more than economic growth. Though many instruments and lives were lost, the musicians play on, bringing joy and hope to their communities. (Learn more about Kenbe La.)
Originally from Port-au-Prince, Fanord received her musical training at the Holy Trinity Music School. She later became a cello teacher at the school and brought music education to other communities, including the Dessaix Baptiste Music School. In 2008, Fanord visited IUP at the invitation of Jennings to pursue her professional development. A survivor of the 2010 earthquake, she returned to IUP in February 2010 as an IUP Scholar to pursue further studies. Fanord currently studies at Jackson State University in Mississippi.
Jennings has worked with music students at the Dessaix Baptiste Music School as a volunteer since 2006 when she first met Fanord.
Kenbe La – Hold On, a film by Bel Son Productions, was the official selection at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival and Weyauwega International Festival in 2010. The documentary, filmed and produced by Lawrence University undergraduate music students Carolyn Armstrong and Stephen Anunson, shares the powerful story they became a part of as volunteers teaching at summer music camps in Haiti.
Attendance vouchers will be available for IUP students. IUP music students may receive recital credit for this event.
This event is free and open to the IUP community and the public. Donations to support music programs in Haiti will be accepted at the door. For more information, contact Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu.
]]>The concerts will be held March 9 at Bowdoin College, March 10 at the University of Maine at Farmington, and March 16 at the University of Maine in Orono.
Antonacos will be joined by pianists Chiharu Naruse and Bridget Convey. A lecture by composer Daniel Sonenberg will precede each concert, and great works of art will be projected on a screen above the stage to accompany each piece.
]]>The Jeju Band Festival is held on Jeju Island, a resort destination just off of the southern tip of South Korea. The band festival has been in existence for several years and has featured noted band composers Alfred Reed and Frank Ticheli.
The concert will feature two solo works by Stamp, with the soloists and many of the ensemble musicians coming from the mainland. The concert will also include nine of Stamp’s original works for band, including “Elegy for English Horn” and “Concertino for Solo Percussion.”
]]>The IUP Department of Music is pleased to host auditions for employment at HersheyPark for the Summer 2012 season. All interested musicians are welcome to audition.
Musicians are needed fill the following ensembles:
Instruments Needed:
Summer Salary: $500–560 per week. Musicians perform six days per week.
Subsidized Housing: Set up through Hersheypark Entertainment
Performance Run: Mid-May through late August 2012
For more information, visit Windish Music Productions or e-mail wmpauditions@gmail.com.
]]>The program will include works from his upcoming release “Horizon” by New Zealand composer Gareth Farr, as well as Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
During the winter break, Wong Doe performed this program at a recital in his home town of Auckland, New Zealand.
]]>Among the recitals being presented this weekend are:
The featured clinician for the weekend will be Nyela Basney, director of Orvieto Musica. Founded in 1994, Orvieto Musica is an international chamber music festival presented each year in the stunningly beautiful 12th-century Italian town of Orvieto. Musicians come together from many countries to perform in medieval churches, outdoor piazzas, “jewel-box” theaters, restored castles, and small-town Orvieto settings. Director and founder Nyela Basney leads the three-week festival that comprises daily chamber music coachings, rehearsals, and public concerts.
Nyela Basney is currently artistic director and conductor of the Allegro Chorale and Orchestra in Texas. She has also conducted the Chamber Opera Chicago, appeared as guest conductor with the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony Orchestra, and has recently worked with the Toledo Symphony and Virginia Symphony in community concerts. She is associate conductor with the El Paso Opera, and, as associate conductor of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Basney conducted over 60 concerts a season throughout northwest Louisiana. Since 1982, she has provided professional role preparation and musicianship training for singers in more than 55 roles from 25 operas.
Basney’s appearance at IUP will provide information about the festival to other trumpeters, along with pianists, vocalists, and string players. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about Orvieto Musica and to audition for consideration for attendance at future festivals.
Kevin Eisensmith and David Ferguson, trumpet professors at IUP, will present a recital of music for trumpet and other instruments on Friday evening, February 10. Assisting will be Sandy Rubright, an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Music, along with Matthew Baumer, professor of Music History, and Jack Stamp, chair of the Department of Music. Basney will accompany Eisensmith on a work they performed together in Orvieto in June 2011 when he, along with five IUP trumpet students, attended the Orvieto Music Festival.
All events will be held in Gorell Hall and are free and open to the general public.
]]>The event will provide an introductory session and instrument petting zoo for new beginning students, a variety of interactive musical activities for string students, and an informational session for parents. The event will conclude with an informal recital by String Project teachers and students. The morning musical activities will be led by String Project Master Teacher Swana Chepaitis, IUP professors Stanley Chepaitis and Linda Jennings, and the IUP String Project teachers—music students in the Music Department.
The event is free and open to any interested string students in the community. For more information, e-mail Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or call 724-357-2649.
The IUP String Project is a community music education outreach program for children ages 5–18 in Indiana and the surrounding area. The IUP String Project is also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The IUP String Project is one of 32 similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children, and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S.
The program is directed by IUP music faculty member Linda Jennings.
]]>Applications are due on January 30, and lessons will begin during the week of February 6. For more information and an application, please contact Dr. Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or 724-357-2649, or visit the IUP String Project website.
The IUP String Project curriculum consists of weekly private lessons and ensemble classes scheduled at different times throughout the year. Lessons are thirty minutes to one hour in length, depending upon the age and advancement of each student. Ensemble classes are designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in private lessons as well as develop other musical skills, such as ensemble playing, leadership skills, etc. At the end of each semester, students also have the opportunity to perform solo and ensemble pieces in recitals. Lessons, group classes, and recitals take place on the IUP campus and are taught by IUP music students. The IUP String Project is designed to support the string programs in the public schools. Therefore, all students enrolled in the IUP String Project must also be enrolled in their school orchestra program, if one is available.
The IUP String Project is also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The program provides hands-on practical experience teaching one-on-one lessons, as well as teaching groups in a classroom setting and conducting a string orchestra. In addition, teachers gain invaluable experience participating in recruiting programs in public and private schools, gaining teaching ideas and guidance at regular pedagogy meetings and receiving feedback on their teaching. The teachers are supervised by the String Project pedagogy team: Master Teacher Swana Chepaitis, Conducting Coach Stanley Chepaitis, and Director Linda Jennings.
The IUP String Project is one of 32 similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children, and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S.
The program is directed by IUP Music faculty member Linda Jennings.
]]>The work was recently recorded by the Keystone Winds with Michael Kingan, IUP’s director of Percussion Studies, as soloist. The disc is scheduled for a March 2012 release on the Klavier label.
Kingan will perform the work with the IUP Honors Band on Sunday, December 11, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium.
]]>Dr. Henry Wong Doe, piano faculty member in IUP’s Department of Music, visited Shanghai and Hong Kong, China, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, during Thanksgiving break 2011.
While in Hong Kong, Wong Doe gave a lesson to Leona Cheung (left), a former student of Auckland University classmate Wendy Lin (center). Cheung is a senior piano performance major in Hong Kong and is planning on graduate study in Europe and the United States.
]]>Joining Dr. Dickinson was the Tenebre Brass Quintet, a chamber group of IUP Music majors, who also performed during the session.
The presentation centered around the application and audition process for prospective Music majors, along with general information regarding undergraduate and graduate degree programs and their consequent job opportunities.
If any school district is interested in this presentation, please feel free to contact Dr. Dickinson at cmdkson@iup.edu, or call 724-357-6998.
]]>Dr. Wong Doe's second master class at Duquesne University featured two artist diploma students and one undergraduate performance major. Professors David Allen Wehr, Ken Burky, and all piano majors at Duquesne were in attendance.
Wong Doe then performed Chopin and Farr at the Saal der Franziskus-Haus in Hochdahl, Germany.
]]>The ensemble was comprised of fifty of the most talent high school students from the Province of Ontario.
The event began with two days of rehearsal, then a one-day performance tour of the Toronto area. It then concluded at the Ontario Music Educators Conference held at Deerhurst, the site of last year's G-8 Summit.
The ensemble performed for over five hundred Ontario Music Educators. In addition, Stamp presented a clinic entitled “The Key to Great Performances is Successful Rehearsing.”
]]>Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, professor of Trumpet at IUP, recently participated in two trumpet festivals in Russia.
On October 4–13, 2011, Eisensmith traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, and then to Moscow, where he participated in two different trumpet festivals. He was one of four U.S. trumpet players invited to participate in the International Trumpet Festival of Russia, held in St. Petersburg with Irina Vakulenko, director. Also featured at this event were Dr. P. Bradley Ulrich, professor of Trumpet at Western Carolina University, Dr. Grant Peters, professor of Trumpet at Missouri State University, and Dr. Rick Bogard, Professor of trumpet at the University of Texas at Arlington. While in St. Petersburg, he participated in a master class with students of the Russia Academy of Music and invited guests and participated in two performances: a trumpet and piano recital held at the Russian National Library in the “Italian Palace,” and a final gala concert with the Wind Orchestra of St. Petersburg in the Glinka Cappella Hall.
Following the five-day stay in St. Petersburg, Eisensmith traveled to Moscow, where he again presented clinics and master classes to students of the Moscow Conservatory and participated in a gala concert as part of the Moscow Brass Day festival. This event was organized by Vladislav Lavrik, principal trumpeter with the Russian National Orchestra, and included the principal brass players from five different professional orchestras that are sponsored by the Russian government and which are located in Moscow.
While in Russia, he also had the opportunity to visit several museums, cathedrals, and other historic sites, including the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (Cemetery), where numerous famous Russian composers are buried, including Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Moussorgsky.
Department of Music]]>The concert will be held at the James Laughlin Music Center, Chatham University, on Sunday, October 30, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.
Ensemble Ripieno is a chamber orchestra made up of graduates from Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, and Pittsburgh universities. The leader of Alia Musica Pittsburgh, Federico Garcia, will be conducting.
This all-Mozart event marks Ensemble Ripieno's debut concert and will also include Mozart's “Horn Concerto No. 2,” “Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola,” and “Serenade for Winds.”
Admission is a suggested donation of $8, $5 for students.
]]>Titled “An Evening of Organ, Harpsichord, and Piano,” the recital features IUP organ alumni and professor Christine Clewell along with other alumni Mark King, Sandy Rubright, and Vincent Ryan. They will be joined by IUP faculty member Therese Wacker, flute, and organ scholarship recipient Hadley Cesar, piano. A free reception to meet the musicians follows the recital.
The concert will feature a wide variety of music ranging from the late Renaissance music of Antonio Carreira to the twentieth-century music of Samuel Barber. There will also be music from Johann Sebastian Bach, John Knowles Paine, and other composers of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods .
William J. Kelly was a businessman who ran E.B. Kelly and Son Construction Company for many years, designing and building homes and businesses. His passion for engineering, architecture, and construction was only exceeded by his passion for music. He was a private voice student of Kristi Dearing and, in addition to singing, was a tenor in the Zion Lutheran Church choir and an active soloist in area churches and in Pittsburgh. He was the husband of the late Carol Teti Kelly and was actively involved with the scholarship committee from its inception.
Clewell is an assistant professor of organ and keyboard at IUP, where she teaches applied organ, applied keyboard theory, and class piano. She studied organ at Susquehanna University with Susan Hegberg and with Carol Teti at IUP, and earned her doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in Sared and Liturgical Studies under the tutelage of Robert Glasgow. She is also adjunct organist at Zion Lutheran Church in Indiana, Pa. Guest appearances include the historic Kotzschmar Series in Portland, Maine, and as a soloist at the Washington National Cathedral.
Mark King is Minister of Music at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Hagerstown, Maryland, where he conducts the parish choir along with the Boy and Girl Choristers, serves as organist for Eucharist and Evensong liturgies, and manages an extensive concert series which features local, national, and international artists. He earned a B.S. in organ and music education from IUP, where he studied with Teti, and an M.M. in performance and sacred music from Duquesne University, where he studied with Ann Labounsky. He has held church positions in Pittsburgh and Atlanta, and, in addition to his work at St. John’s, is also the organ and harpsichord instructor at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.V.
Sandy Rubright is active in western Pennsylvania as an organist, choral and handbell music conductor, clinician, and music educator. She earned a B.F.A. degree from IUP, where she studied with Teti, and an M.M. from Duquesne, where she studied with Dick Konzen. Recent studies have been with Harald Vogel in Germany. She has taught music history at Westmoreland County Community College and served as a clinician for Augsburg Fortress and the Choirsters Guild publishers. She also maintains an active music studio, and serves as organist at a church in New Kensington.
Vincent Ryan is the Minister of Music at Advent Lutheran Church in Harleysville, Pa. He holds a B.A. degree in piano performance and M.A. in organ performance from IUP, where his teachers included James Staples and Teti. He is an active composer and arranger with over 265 works for a variety of instruments and ensembles to his credit, and is published by Lorenz, Shawnee Press, Neil A. Kjos, and Oregon Catholic Press. He has also cocreated and produced a coloring book for children titled Meet the King, which is used in conjunction with his workshops that introduce children to the pipe organ.
Since its establishment in 1993, the challenge and mission for the Carol Teti Memorial Organ Scholarship Committee has been working to overcome the continually growing trend of fewer organists in the U.S. on the local, state, and national levels. In the effort to combat this trend, the committee’s primary focus is raising scholarship money through fall and spring fundraising events for students who wish to pursue the study of organ and church music at IUP. To date, the committee has awarded over $30,000 to nearly thirty-five students.
The concert and reception are free. Donations supporting scholarships to IUP students to study organ will be gratefully accepted.
For additional information, please call (724) 463-8046, or e-mail Dr. Clewell at orgel@iup.edu.
]]>Dickinson organized and performed in a memorial concert featuring alumni of Florida State University. The performance was in honor of Dickinson’s trombone teacher, the late William Cramer.
Included in the reptertoire was a commissioned piece by IUP alumnus Derek Cooper. The work, “Eternally Strong,” is based on the Navy Hymn.
Dr. Cramer was a Navy veteran of World War II and a commander in the Naval Reserves and also a founding member of the International Trombone Association.
]]>THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED. We apologize for any inconvenience caused, and hope to reschedule a future date.
The IUP Music Department’s Keyboard Area will host its first annual Keyboard Day for pianists aged fourteen to eighteen. The event will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 22, 2011, in Cogswell and Gorell halls and at Zion Lutheran Church.
Members of the IUP Keyboard faculty—Drs. Clewell, Antonacos, Wong Doe, and Mrs. Kuehn—will be joined by Dr. Matt Baumer from the Music History Department, as well as guest artist and IUP alumus Erik Santos from the University of Michigan.
The day will consist of lessons, master-classes, a Bach Organ Lunch at Zion Lutheran Church, and a final lecture-recital at 4:00 p.m., featuring the music of Franz Liszt. Liszt celebrates his two-hundredth birthday on October 22.
Interested applicants can download an IUP Keyboard Day flyer and application form (PDF).
]]>
Applications are due on September 15, 2011, and lessons will begin on September 19. For more information and an application, please contact Dr. Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or 724-357-2649.
The IUP String Project curriculum consists of weekly private lessons and group lessons scheduled at different times throughout the year. Lessons are thirty minutes to one hour in length, depending upon the age and advancement of each student. Ensemble classes designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in private lessons as well as develop other musical skills, such as ensemble playing, leadership skills, etc. are included in the program. At the end of each semester, students also have the opportunity to perform solo and ensemble pieces on recitals. Lessons, group classes, and recitals take place on the IUP campus and are taught by IUP music students. The IUP String Project is designed to support the string programs in the public schools. Therefore, all students enrolled in the IUP String Project must also be enrolled in their school orchestra program, if one is available.
The IUP String Project also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The program provides hands-on practical experience teaching one-on-one lessons, as well as teaching groups in a classroom setting and conducting a string orchestra. In addition, teachers gain invaluable experience participating in recruiting programs in public and private schools, gaining teaching ideas and guidance at regular pedagogy meetings, and receiving feedback on their teaching.
The IUP String Project is one of thirty-two similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children, and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S. The program is directed by IUP music faculty member Dr. Linda Jennings.
For more information visit the IUP String Project.
]]>Dr. Antonacos, a member of the IUP Department of Music Piano area, performed on the Bay Chamber Concerts series, where she collaborated with violinists Joseph Silverstein and Schmuel Ashkenazy. She played solo recitals at the University of Southern Maine and at the Sanford-Springvale Historical Museum, and gave four concerts around New England as part of the Bayside Trio. She also presented a solo recital at the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia.
]]>The Korean poet and scholar Dr. Won-Chung Kim, from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, who had translated the Zen poems into English, attended the recital and read each poem in Korean before its performance.
The conference continued in Gyeongju, South Korea, on July 8 at a CMS composers concert, where Perlongo’s related work, “Five Pieces on Korean Zen Poems” for piano four-hands, was premiered by Wheatley and Dr. Nanette Solomon of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.
]]>The Keystone Winds will present a free concert at Mellon Park in Pittsburgh on Sunday, August 7, 2011, as part of the Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch series sponsored by the Pittsburgh Parks.
The Keystone Winds will perform a live concert beginning at 10:30 a.m.
The ensemble is comprised of IUP faculty, emeriti, alumni, and current students. The group was founded nearly twenty years ago by Jack Stamp, IUP’s current Music Department chair and 2008–2009 University Professor.
Since its inception, the ensemble has released eighteen commerically available recordings and have performed at the College Band Directors Association National Conference, International Trumpet Guild Conference, and the World Assocation of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles conference.
]]>Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, professor of Trumpet at IUP, recently returned from TrumpetFest 2011, a one-week trumpet festival held in Orvieto, Italy.
Accompanying him were five of his trumpet students, including Adam Dolfi (Waynesburg, Pa.), Alexander Grisos (Chambersburg, Pa.), Stephanie Latella (Hazleton, Pa.), Brittany Spicer (Howard, Pa.), and Michael Wertz (Harrisburg, Pa.).
During the festival, Eisensmith and the students participated in daily rehearsals, clinics, and master classes, and performed in two different concerts. Classes in “survival Italian” and how to haggle with vendors were presented.
In addition, a master class was given by Italian trumpet artist Nello Salza, during which all five IUP students performed. Learn more about the Orvieto Music Festival.
Prior to the festival, a day was spent touring Rome and, on the return, a day was spent in Paris.
Department of Music]]>The first performance took place at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Ridgeway, Ontario, on June 8. From June 14 to 24, Dr. Jennings will present further concerts, master classes, and workshops with the Arcadia Piano Trio at Rangsit University in Bangkok and Payap University in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand.
]]>Also attending was Marisa Young, a sophomore Music Education major from Cochranton, Pa. Marisa auditioned for and received a scholarship to attend the conference. She participated in a master class given by trumpeter Edward Carroll.
Over twelve hundred members of ITG, along with vendors and guest artists, attended the event. Read more about the thirty-sixth conference of the International Trumpet Guild.
Eisensmith presided over a two-day meeting of the board of directors, served as master of ceremonies for the Awards Luncheon, and performed as part of the Festival of Trumpets concert.
]]>The Carol Teti Memorial Organ Scholarship Committee is pleased to present University of Michigan faculty member Dr. Marilyn Mason in a solo organ recital on Friday, May 13, 2011, at 7:30 p.m., as well as being the adjudicator for the fifth annual Carol Teti Memorial Organ Competition on Saturday, May 14, 2011, at 1:00 p.m., featuring three outstanding pre-college age performers.
Both recitals and post-concert receptions are located at Zion Lutheran Church, located at the corner of South 6th and Church streets in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and are free and open to the public, with donations to the scholarship fund gratefully accepted.
Since its establishment in 1993, the challenge and mission for the Carol Teti Memorial Organ Scholarship Committee has been working to overcome the continually growing trend of fewer organists in the United States on the local, state, and national levels. In this effort to combat “the vanishing organist,” the committee’s primary focus is raising scholarship money through fall and spring fundraising events for Indiana University of Pennsylvania students who wish to pursue the study of organ and church music. To date, the committee has awarded over $30,000 to nearly thirty-five students.
Dr. Marilyn Mason is university organist and chair of the Organ Department at the University of Michigan. Her extensive career as performer, lecturer, adjudicator, and teacher has taken her throughout the western world, at one point performing more than thirty recitals per year. She was the first American woman organist to perform in Westminster Abby, the first woman organist to play in Latin America, and the first American organist to perform in Egypt. During one sabbatical leave, Mason’s performing career took her to five continents.
In her role as university organist, she has performed at honors convocations, university presidential inaugurations, and at memorials for heads of state. In 1987, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music by the University of Nebraska. In 1988, the New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists named her Performer of the Year. On the occasion of the 2009 Gala, sponsored by the national council of the American Guild of Organists, Dr. Mason was honored as the seventh in a series of organ teachers/performers who have reached the highest level of success in their profession. Colleagues and alumni throughout the country celebrated this high honor with a concert and reception on the U-M campus. She is currently the longest-tenured teaching faculty member at the University of Michigan.
Mason’s gifts as a teacher were recognized in the fall of 2007 when the forty-seventh Conference on Organ Music, which she founded, was dedicated to her in celebration of her sixtieth year of teaching. Former students came to Ann Arbor to pay tribute and to attest to the many ways in which she has shaped their lives and promoted the study of organ.
Along with her performing and teaching career, which continues unabated, she has served as adjudicator at almost every major organ competition in the world. Her dedication to new compositions for the organ is evidenced by the seventy-five organ works that, to date, she has commissioned and premiered. Currently, four volumes of her commissioned works have been released by MorningStar Music, Inc. Her discography, on Columbia and Musical Heritage Society labels, includes the music of Bach, Handel, and contemporary composers. She is now recording the complete organ works of Pachelbel for the Musical Heritage Society.
Her ever-popular historic tours to Europe to see, study, and hear famous organs have been an important part of her career, with Historic Tour 57 having been completed in 2010.
Dr. Mason's appearance in Indiana is made possible by the generous support of Diane Duntley, the Rev. E. Vincent Stratton, Kay and David Smith, Nancy Newkerk, Mark King, and Charles and Donna Cashdollar.
For more information on the recitals, please contact Jeff Wacker at (724) 465-5119 (jwacker@iup.edu), or Dr. Christine Clewell at (724) 463-8046 (orgel@iup.edu).
]]>While budget cuts put arts programs in jeopardy, Douglas established a new string music program at Jackson Elementary School in Central Cambria County during the 2009–2010 school year.
The IUP String Project and the IUP Center for Civic Engagement have been pleased to support this program for the second year and bring string music education to students who previously did not have the opportunity to play a string instrument.
The IUP String Project, a community string music education outreach program as well as teacher training program for IUP music students, has provided instruction for third-grade students on string instruments by one of its teachers, Greg Dippell, a graduate music student in cello performance. With financial support for travel expenses from the IUP Center for Civic Engagement, Mr. Dippell has traveled each week to teach music to forty-eight young students at Jackson Elementary School.
]]>The recital, held at Trombino’s Piano Gallerie in the cultural district, was part of the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania’s lunchtime concert series.
Wong Doe performed works by Beethoven, Liszt, Farr, and Ginastera.
]]>The two works feature compositions by faculty composers David Martynuik and Jack Stamp. Dr. Martynuik’s work is titled “Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet” and will feature Dr. Martynuik as clarinetist. “String Quartet No. 1,” by Jack Stamp, is a four-movement work. It is dedicated to faculty members Irvin Kauffman and the late Irving Godt.
The Litton Quartet will also perform Beethoven’s Op. 59, no. 3 string quartet.
The Litton Quartet features faculty members Stanley Chepaitis and Linda Jennings. In addition, area professionals Swana Chepaitis and Raul Faure complete the quartet.
The ensemble is named for the late Robin Litton. Mr. Litton graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1960. He taught music and served as a band director at Grahamville High School in the New York State Public School System before entering the field of television production.
During the 1970s, Mr. Litton worked as program coordinator for ABC-TV entertainment and was senior program coordinator for Special Events for ABC-TV News during the 1980s. He produced many major events, including both Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions, launchings of the space shuttle, and the French bicentennial parade and celebrations.
Mr. Litton was named a Distinguished Alumnus of IUP in 1982 and served as a member of the IUP Alumni Association board of directors. He was a member of Kappa Delta Rho social fraternity and Phi Mu Sinfonia professional musicians fraternity.
His generous gift to the Music Department has allowed for the formation of this superb musical ensemble.
]]>IUP Music Department harp instructor Lucy Scandrett will present the Pittsburgh Youth Harp Ensemble in a concert at Calvary United Methodist Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side on Sunday, April 10, 2011.
The twenty-one harpists in the ensemble are all students of Lucy and range in age from eight to twenty-one years of age. Dale Hertrick, Middle School Instrumental Music instructor at Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts 6-12, will conduct the ensemble. IUP student Jacqueline Gordon will be performing with the group.
The concert entitled “Harps in Bloom” is part of the Tiffany Series presented by the Allegheny Historic Preservation Society.
The program begins at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 10. The church is on the corner of Beech and Allegheny Avenue near Heinz Field and the Carnegie Science Center.
]]>The concert took place on April 3, 2011, and was her third appearance on the series.
Another concert in the area was scheduled for April 1, but has been rescheduled to May 6 due to fifteen inches of snowfall.
]]>The program will include a performance of an organ duet arranged by Esmus, a Theory and Composition major at IUP. The arrangement is based on Symphony No. 3, Movement I, called “Largo,” written by Estonian conductor and composer Eduard Tubin (1905–1982). The general public is welcome to attend. Admission is free.
In addition to the duet, the solo works to be included are written by Johann Sebastian Bach, Jan Bender, Johannes Brahms, Dietrich Buxtehude, Paul Manz, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and M. Searle Wright.
Esmus and Frye will perform on the chapel’s three manual (keyboards) organ, which is made up of 4,272 pipes (73 ranks) and three electronic pedal stops.
The Heinz Chapel is located on the campus of University of Pittsburgh.
This recital series features college-level organ students from the Western Pennsylvania region. This spring is the fifth season that IUP students have been invited to perform.
]]>The recital will be assisted by Sandy Rubright (Class of 1979); Christopher Thomas, IUP interim director of Choral Activities; Dr. Joseph Baunoch of the IUP Voice faculty; students from the IUP vocal area; and Rowna Sutin, the main cantorial soloist at Rodef Shalom Congregation (Pittsburgh).
The program is dedicated to the memory of German Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Born in 1906, Bonhoeffer became a martyr on April 9, 1945.
The program will feature twentieth-century organ solo literature, and it will include solo and choral music written in both the classical liturgical and modern styles. Music will also be performed from the musical drama Wallenberg, along with a festival voluntary of variations on “Good King Wenceslas” and an organ duet based on the Scottish hymn tune “Martyrs.”
Among the heroes and martyrs to be remembered are French composer and organist Jehan Alain (1911–1940); German composer and organist Hugo Distler (1908–1942); Czech organist and composer Petr Eben (1929–2007); and Swedish diplomat and humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg (1912–1947?).
Works to be performed are by Hubert Chaim Adler, Jehan Alain, Aminadav Aloni, Hugo Distler, Petr Eben, Frank Ferko, Kenneth Leighton, Philip Moore, Paul Sifler, and Ben Steinberg.
]]>The festival will be held in conjunction with the Polish Cultural Council of Pittsburgh and the Art Department at IUP, which is currently exhibiting posters of Chopin designed by Polish students and artists in Kipp Gallery. The event includes a competition for IUP piano students, judged by Wehr, a faculty member at Duquesne, and will conclude with performances by IUP faculty members and Professor Wehr. The recital will be followed by a reception in Kipp Gallery.
Admission is free.
]]>Collins performed a recital and led a master class on the campus of Texas Christian University on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Collins then performed as a guest artist on Friday, March 11, at the International Tuba Euphonium Association regional conference held at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
]]>The work is by American composer Lou Harrison and will be performed at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, on March 12, 2011.
For this performance, Jennings will collaborate with Deborah Greitzer, violinist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Ochestra, and Gina Fatone, an assistant professor of ethnomusicology at Bates College and the director of the Bates College Gamelan music ensemble.
The Harrison concerto, a unique synthesis of western art music and Javanese traditional music traditions, is rarely performed due to its unique instrumentation.
]]>The lunchtime concert, held in Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center, will feature works by Bach/Hess, Beethoven, Farr, and Ginastera.
It will be recorded and broadcast live for the Chicago classical radio channel 98.7 WFMT.
]]>The all-day event is open to brass musicians of all ages and ability levels. All attendees should bring their instruments, as there will be like-instrument ensembles and a mass brass ensemble for attendees to participate in. The day will culminate in performances by these ensembles.
Preregistration should be postmarked by February 15. The admission fee for preregistration is $20. After February 15, registration costs go to $30. Forms can be downloaded from the Brass Day website.
You can read more about the event and our guest artist, Demondrae Thurman, at the Brass Day website or on the Brass Day Facebook page.
]]>Dr. Anastasia Antonacos, professor of Piano, recently was awarded an IUP Senate Award. The grant will be used to cover travel expenses to the June 2011 World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Antonacos will present a lecture-recital entitled “A Celebration of the Music of Franz Liszt 200 Years After His Birth.”
A wide variety of Liszt’s works will be performed and discussed.
In addition, Dr. Antonacos has been invited to work with local students during the conference.
]]>The event, hosted by the United States Navy Band, took place at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Professional guest artists from around the world performed with the U.S. Navy's premiere concert and jazz bands as well as presenting two days of recitals and clinics. A College Saxophone Quartet series featured music students from thirty of the finest college music departments in the U.S.
IUP was represented with a saxophone quartet that included graduate Music Performance major William Gillespie and three undergraduate Music Education majors: seniors Melanie Davis and Jake Kearney and sophomore Bailey Fulkroad.
]]>Dearing, who passed away in November 2010, was IUP’s choral conductor for twenty-eight years. In addition, he served as the choir director at Calvary Presbyterian Church. Earlier in his career, Prof. Dearing was a member of the Roger Wagner Chorale and served as assistant conductor of the 7th Army Chorus.
Following the concert, the dedication of the James C. Dearing Ensemble Music Library was unveiled with Mr. Dearing’s mother, Geraldine Teele, and Sarah Piper ’07 and a member of the 7th Army Chorus participating.
Alumni representing three decades presented a concert of music that were favorites of Prof. Dearing. The event was organized by Sarah Piper in cooperation with the IUP Department of Music.
]]>Applications are due on January 24, 2011, and lessons will begin on January 31. For more information and an application, please contact Dr. Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or 724-357-2649.
The IUP String Project curriculum consists of weekly private lessons and group lessons scheduled at different times throughout the year. Lessons are thirty minutes to one hour in length, depending upon the age and advancement of each student. Optional group classes are designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in private lessons as well as to develop other musical skills, such as ensemble playing, leadership skills, etc. At the end of each semester students also have the opportunity to perform solo and ensemble pieces on recitals.
Lessons, group classes, and recitals take place on the IUP campus and are taught by IUP music students. The IUP String Project is designed to support the string programs in the public schools. Therefore, all students enrolled in the IUP String Project must also be enrolled in their school orchestra program, if one is available.
The IUP String Project also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The program provides hands-on practical experience teaching one-on-one lessons, as well as teaching groups in a classroom setting and conducting a string orchestra. In addition, teachers gain invaluable experience participating in recruiting programs in public and private schools, gain teaching ideas and guidance at regular pedagogy meetings, and receive feedback on their teaching.
The IUP String Project is one of thirty-two similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children, and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S.
The program is directed by IUP Music faculty member Dr. Linda Jennings.
]]>The disc is a compilation of selections from the past five years of “The Bands of IUP” annual releases. These annual releases are used for outreach and recruitment across the country. Klavier Records has selected nine works from the past five years of recordings to include on this disc. The ensemble is conducted by Dr. Jack Stamp.
This is the third such release on the Klavier label. Past releases have been Internal Combustion and Ride. The disc is being distributed worldwide by Naxos and is available on Amazon.com.
Last year's annual project is titled Spectrum and features twenty-one different musical ensembles from the IUP Music Department. The department's current recording project is titled Solo and will feature music faculty as soloists with university ensembles.
]]>TrumpetFest, an annual festival presented by the Department of Music, is scheduled for February 3-6, 2011, and will feature performances by IUP trumpet students and faculty members along with a lecture and performance by guest artist Dr. J.C. Dobrzelewski.
The event will be held in Gorell Recital Hall (second floor of Sutton Hall), unless otherwise noted. All events are free.
Some of the recitals being presented this weekend are as follows:
Guest clinician and soloist J.C. Dobrzelewski is an assistant professor of trumpet at West Chester University. Dr. Dobrzelewski was raised in both Costa Rica and Switzerland and regularly appears as a guest artist and clinician throughout Europe, Central America, and the United States. He is former principal trumpet of the Midland-Odessa Symphony and the Lone Star Brass in Texas.
An active soloist and clinician, Dobrzelewski has given recitals and master classes across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. A founding member of the Tromba Mundi trumpet ensemble, the Tryptique Ensemble, and the West Texas Brass Project, Dobrzelewski performs extensively as a chamber musician. He currently has two recordings for trumpet and organ under the Swiss AMIE label, Tryptique (2004) and Renewal (2005), as well as the Tromba Mundi Trumpet Ensemble’s self-titled album under the MSR Classics label (2009).
A supporter and promoter of new music, Dobrzelewski has commissioned and performed or recorded more than twenty works for trumpet and various ensembles by North and Central American and European composers. Dobrzelewski received a Prix de Trompette at the Conservatoire de Musique de Rueil-Malmaison in Paris, a Master of Music Performance from the University of Maine, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University, all in the area of trumpet performance. He won prizes at the Selmer Competition in Paris (1999) and the University of Maine Concerto Competition (2001). His most influential teachers include Eric Aubier, Wolfgang Bauer, Regents’ Professor David Hickman, Jean-Francois Michel, Sam Pilafian, and Guy Touvron. Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician.
Dr. Kevin Eisensmith and Dr. David Ferguson, trumpet professors at IUP, will present a recital of music for trumpet and organ on Friday evening, February 4. They will be joined by Dr. Christine Clewell, professor of organ at IUP.
]]>Dr. Dickinson will be playing works by Stojowski, White, and Bonneau, as well as joining Mr. Watters for jazz duets.
The recital will be held at the Harris Theater, Center for the Performing Arts, and will begin at 8:00 p.m.
]]>The HoodleBug Brass is the brass quintet-in-residence at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and is composed of the four full-time and one part-time brass faculty members within the Department of Music. The ensemble performs regularly on the IUP campus and presents numerous clinics and concerts in public schools and churches throughout the region each year. The HoodleBug Brass released its first compact disc, Brass Fac’s, in March 2004. Its second disc, Off the Trac’s, was released in October 2009. The quintet performs works of all styles, from the Baroque to contemporary, pop, and jazz.
The first half of the program will feature music by Handel, Bozza, and the Beatles. The second half of the recital will begin with the world premiere performance of “Suite for Brass Quintet” by Dr. Jack Stamp. Dr. Stamp composed this work for the HoodleBug Brass and will briefly describe the work prior to its performance. The recital will then conclude with selections for the season, including premiere performances of works arranged by Dr. David Ferguson and Dr. Keith Young.
A “HoodleBug” is a local term for “doodlebug,” the name given to a single-car, self-propelled train or trolley. At the southern end of the IUP campus can be found the Hoodlebug Trail. This is a six-mile recreation and commuter trail located in the central portion of Indiana County.
For more information regarding this and other programs, please call the Department of Music, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, at 357-2390.
]]>The USRC grant will be used together with a grant from the New Zealand Arts Council Creative NZ. The disc will be recorded in New York in March 2011 and released on the NZ label HRL Morrison Trust this summer.
]]>The concert took place on Saturday, November 20, 2010, and included three other pianists.
All proceeds went to the Polish Heritage Society.
]]>The band is composed of ninety-one student musicians from across the entire state of Alaska. The All-State Festival also features orchestra, mixed choir, and treble choir. Rehearsals begin on Thursday, November 18, 2010, with the concert in Anchorage on Saturday, November 20.
Stamp is a chair of the Department of Music, director of Bands, and previous University Professor.
]]>Dr. Wong Doe, a member of the Keyboard faculty in the IUP Department of Music, worked with students of Prof. Ken Burky and David Allen Wehr, who performed works by Scriabin, Mozart, and Brahms. All piano majors at Duquesne were in attendance.
Wong Doe also met with Alaine Fink, piano faculty member at Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, and will visit their campus next spring for a master class/recruiting session.
]]>The two are both founding members of the Bayside Trio, and have collaborated regularly for the past four years throughout New England.
The concert will feature works of Brahms, Schumann, and Martinu, and will be played on a piano that belonged to Chico Marx.
]]>The work was commissioned to celebration the one hundredth anniversary of East Tennessee State University. It is based on five folksongs from the region: On Top of Old Smokey, Barbara Allen, Old Dan Tucker, Bury Me Beneath the Willow, and The Devil and the Farmer’s Wife.
The university opened its doors on October 10, 1910. The premiere was exactly one hundred years later.
]]>The Slovenian section of the International Society for Contemporary Music and Radio Television Slovenia presented the work on a live online broadcast of the Symphony Orchestra of RTV Slovenia, conducted by En Shao, at noon on October 1, 2010, coinciding with International Music Day.
The symphony has five movements: 1) Harbor Entrance, 2) Island Walk, 3) Sunny Diversion, 4) Hidden Jewel, and 5) Wind Play.
On Monday, October 4, Mr. Perlongo attended the premiere of his work commissioned by and written for Ensemble MD7 of Ljubljana. The work, “Settimana Ljubljana (week in Ljubljana), Ljubljana Vignettes,” has seven parts: 1) Through the Julian Alps, 2) Kanal Concert, 3) Tartini al Piran, 4) Ljubljana Grad – Castle Hill, 5) Ljubljanica Promenade – River Walk, 6) Pletna Ride, and 7) Church Bell on Lake Bled.
Mr. Perlongo’s newest work, “Only Apricots Fall in the Autumn Wind; Five Songs On Korean Zen Poems,” is to be premiered in Gorell Hall (second floor of John Sutton Hall) on the IUP campus on Wednesday, October 13, 2010, at 8:00 p.m., by IUP faculty members Dr. Sarah Mantel, mezzo soprano, accompanied by Dr. Susan Wheatley, piano.
]]>Christopher A. Davis teaches applied percussion at North Greenville University, where he also directs the NGU Percussion Ensemble and the NGU Marching Crusaders. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Percussion Performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, and he is currently working on a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina. His teachers have included Eric Paton, Jim Ed Cobbs, Robert Breithaupt, Gary Olmstead, Michael Kingan, and Scott Herring.
Davis has performed with numerous orchestras including the Westerville Symphony Orchestra, the Central Ohio Symphony, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium (GAMAC), the Spartanburg Philharmonic, the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, and the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. He has also had the honor of performing at conferences for the Ohio Music Educators Association (OMEA) and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA), and has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) as a member of the Capital University Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and the IUP Percussion Ensemble.
In addition to his responsibilities at North Greenville University, Davis also teaches private percussion lessons to all ages, performs as a freelance musician, and presents master classes for schools around the South Carolina Upstate. Davis is an Innovative Percussion Educational Artist.
]]>Stamp, an highly accomplished composer of music for wind band, has produced a number of CDs over the past few years on commercial labels. This week, BMI contacted Stamp to inform him that his music is being played regularly on AirTran, ExpressJet, Frontier, and JetBlue airlines.
Stamp's music is also featured freqeuntly on Sirius-XM Radio, among many other locations.
IUP’s College of Fine Arts has developed exchange programs for students and faculty in several academies attached to universities in Croatia and Slovenia, including the University of Ljubljana. After a visit here in 2009, in which he met Perlongo and became familiar with the quality of his music, Mihelcic was quick to ask for a commissioned piece for MD7.
The ensemble is dedicted to contemporary music and specializes in recording only new work.
]]>The twenty-minute work, commissioned by and dedicated to Dr. Wacker, was made possible through grants secured from the FPDC and the University Senate Research Committee, as well as by support from the IUP Department of Music. The work is cast in four movements: 1. Over Distant, Murmuring Waves; 2. Under Serene Moonlight; 3. All Earthly Cares Entwining; 4. Shall Fade Away in Dreams.
The composer, Dr. Ewazen, will be in attendance for the premiere and will be on campus for a few days visiting rehearsals and classes in the Department of Music. This is Dr. Ewazen’s second visit to IUP. In February 2003, the Music Department presented a concert featuring several of his solo and chamber ensemble works.
Dr. Eric Ewazen was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. Receiving a B.M. at the Eastman School of Music and M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from the Juilliard School, his teachers include Milton Babbitt, Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, Joseph Schwantner, and Gunther Schuller. Dr. Ewazen has been a member of the composition faculty at the Julliard School since 1980. He is a recipient of numerous composition awards and prizes. His works have been commissioned and performed by many soloists, chamber ensembles, and orchestras in the U.S. and overseas. His works are recorded on Summit Records, d'Note Records, CRS Records, New World, Clique Track, Helicon, Hyperion, Cala, Albany, and Emi Classics.
]]>The winner will receive $2,000, and Dr. Kuehn hopes to use the prize money to support his 2012 sabbatical project to start a band program in a school in southern India. Dr. Kuehn asks that anyone reading this notice would be so kind as to go to the following link and vote for him. Thank you!
]]>The program takes place on November 3, 2010. All activities are in Cogswell Hall, with lunch provided in Foster Dining Hall. The program opens at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at approximately 4:00 p.m.
Information and registration may be found at the Music Student for a Day webpage.
Direct any questions to:
Dr. Christian Dickinson
724-357-6998
cmdkson@iup.edu
Applications are due on September 13, 2010, and lessons will begin on September 20. For more information and an application, please contact Dr. Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu or at 724-357-2649.
The IUP String Project curriculum consists of weekly private lessons and group lessons scheduled at different times throughout the year. Lessons are thirty minutes to one hour in length, depending upon the age and advancement of each student. Optional group classes are designed to reinforce concepts and techniques learned in private lessons as well as develop other musical skills, such as ensemble playing, leadership skills, etc. At the end of each semester, students also have the opportunity to perform solo and ensemble pieces on recitals. Lessons, group classes, and recitals take place on the IUP campus and are taught by IUP music students. The IUP String Project is designed to support the string programs in the public schools. Therefore, all students enrolled in the IUP String Project must also be enrolled in their school orchestra program, if one is available.
The IUP String Project also provides a teacher-training program for IUP music students who are the teachers in the program. The program provides hands-on practical experience teaching one-on-one lessons, as well as teaching groups in a classroom setting and conducting a string orchestra. In addition, teachers gain invaluable experience participating in recruiting programs in public and private schools, gaining teaching ideas and guidance at regular pedagogy meetings and receiving feedback on their teaching.
The IUP String Project is one of thirty-two similar programs joined under the auspices of the National String Project Consortium, dedicated to promoting string music education in the United States. As a member of the NSPC, the IUP String Project joins in addressing the two main issues facing string education today: 1) the low numbers of public schools that offer string music education programs to children, and 2) the critical shortage of string teachers in the U.S.
The program is directed by IUP Department of Music faculty member Dr. Linda Jennings.
]]>Some five hundred members of ITG, along with vendors and guest artists, attended the event. More information about the conference.
Eisensmith presided over a two-day meeting of the board of directors, served as Master of Ceremonies for the Gala Awards Ceremony, and presented a master class and performed as part of the Festival of Trumpets concert.
Following the conference, he and his wife traveled to Cairns and spent four days touring the rainforests and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.
]]>As a winner in the professional division of the Auditions segment, Dr. Baunoch received offers from and will continue to audition for interested professional opera companies.
]]>The disc features solo and chamber works by Fritze performed by the composer, Bird, and various IUP faculty and students. Collaborators include IUP faculty members Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, Dr. David Ferguson, Dr. Jack Scandrett, Dr. Christian Dickinson, and Dr. Jason Worzbyt and IUP students Geoff Durbin, Justin Beish, Steven Fassnacht, Dan Kerstetter, Grant Shearer, Larry Sarvey, and Jon Wylie.
The CD is recorded on Albany Records and is available from numerous national retailers.
This arrangement was penned by David Marlatt, president and owner of Eighth Note Publications (Toronto, Canada). Mr. Marlatt was in attendance for the performance.
The IUP Concert Band, under the direction of Dr. Jason Worzbyt, accompanied Eisensmith. This new work will be available through Eighth Note Publications.
]]>The Payangan Festival, now in its ninth season, is a unique and significant ethnomusicological forum for preserving and disseminating the musical arts of Indonesia. The four-day festival features the many distinctive and often rare dialects of Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles (percussion ensembles) alongside performances of leading professional musicians, dancers, and puppeteers from Bali, Java, and Sunda.
The Lou Harrison Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Javanese Gamelan, the only work written for this combination of instruments, is a unique synthesis of western and Indonesian musical styles. Dr. Jennings will collaborate with the music faculty of the Flower Mountain Music Center as well as Deborah Greitzer, violinist of the Buffalo Philhamonic Orchestra, in presenting a performance of this work. Due to its unique instrumentation, this work is rarely performed today. This presentation will be the premiere performance at Flower Mountain, which has hosted Indonesian music programs over the past thirty-nine years.
In addition, Dr. Jennings will continue her scholarship and research of Indonesian music through study at the World Music Workshop also held at the Flower Mountain Music Center and sponsored by the Center for World Music, a nonprofit organization based in San Diego. During this two-week workshop, Dr. Jennings will study instruments of the Balinese and Javanese gamelan ensembles as well as two string instruments, the rebab and the very ancient and rare tarawangsa.
]]>The program included performances of chamber works composed and arranged for tuba/euphonium quartets and trios.More photos of the event.
The PMEA Conference is a three-day event attended by music educators from all across Pennsylvania. Student groups are selected to perform from a live-performance CD by a blind screening process.
The Saxophone Ensemble is directed by IUP Department of Music professor Dr. Keith Young and is made up of thirteen current music majors, including freshmen through seniors. The ensemble will perform at 8:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Nathan Santos will be presenting a clinic on April 22 at 10:45 a.m. to demonstrate the variety of functions and techniques on the acoustic and electric bass. He will be assisted by IUP students Kevin Huhn, Tony Grande, and Brennan Proud. Santos teaches double bass and string methods at IUP.
The IUP Department of Music is a sustaining member of PMEA and consistently has faculty and students perform and present clinics at the annual conference.
]]>On Sunday, April 18, IUP horn professor Jack Scandrett will present a concert titled “Just Horn(s) and a Little Harp.” The program will feature works for horn alone plus a duet for horns with IUP alumnus Jason Allison ’98 performing with Scandrett. The program will also feature IUP harp professor Lucy Scandrett performing alone and with her husband, Jack.
On Monday evening, the students of the IUP Horn Studio will be featured in solo works for horn. On Tuesday evening, the IUP Horn Ensemble will perform works for three, four, six, and eight horns. The IUP Horn Ensemble is comprised of the students in the Horn Studio plus several non-music students as well as one IUP professor, Dr. Ken Coles.
All programs will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the DiCicco Rehearsal Room in Cogswell Hall.
]]>Twenty-six IUP Music majors had the unique privilege of performing with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra during that ensemble’s performance in Fisher Auditorium on March 26, 2010.
This marvelous opportunity, ten years in the making, was a result of the partnership between the IUP College of Fine Arts and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Though the chamber orchestra and full orchestra have presented programs and master classes on campus, this concert marked the first time in more than three decades that IUP students performed side-by-side with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Fourteen brass, piano, and percussion majors performed Richard Danielpour’s Icarus and twelve string students participated in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8.
One student commented, “What an honor is was to play with such a prestigious group of people and represent IUP! It was an experience I'll never forget!”
(Photos are of IUP students with members of the PSO in rehearsal at Heinz Hall for the March 26 performance on campus.)
]]>Although all study with Scandrett, each attends a different school where Scandrett teaches. Jacqueline Gordon is a sophomore Elementary Education major with a minor in Music at IUP; Cristina Kruk is a sophomore at Geneva College majoring in human services with a double minor in music and psychology; and Emily Baroody is a freshman music therapy major at Seton Hill College.
Also performing on the program will be La Petite Ensemble. This ensemble is composed of four young harpists from Indiana who also study with Scandrett. The members of the La Petite Ensemble are Maggie Conjelko (seven), Katarina McCaffrey (seven), Jenna Monteleone (eight), and Ceci Sherwood (seven), daughter of IUP faculty members Dawn Marie Smith-Sherwood and Kenneth Sherwood.
Lucy Scandrett is an active teacher and performer in the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania area. In addition to the colleges above, she teaches at Chatham University, the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Pittsburgh, Ellis Academy, and Musik Innovations.
For many years, Scandrett was the principal harpist for the Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet, and Civic Light Opera orchestras as well as the Westmoreland, McKeesport, and Johnstown Symphony orchestras. She is very active in the American Harp Society and presently serves as the national president.
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Collins will perform alongside George Palton (Marshall University), Sean Greene (Lincoln Memorial University), and Lloyd Bone (Glenville State University) the event’s resident tuba/euphonium quartet. Their performance will feature arrangements and compositions by Collins and IUP theory/composition student Anthony O’Toole.
Collins will also give a master class on incorporating the use of recording into musicians’ practice sessions.
The event will take place on Saturday, April 10, beginning at 9 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. More information can be found on the Tuba Day website.
]]>The IUP Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and Marching Band—ensembles that Doc directed during his years at IUP—performed during this memorial concert. In addition, an alumni concert band and jazz band were formed and performed as part of the concert. Dr. David Martynuik, clarinet, performed the Franz Schubert “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen” with Dr. Mary Logan-Hastings, soprano, and Dr. James Staples, piano.
Over fifty alumni, spanning six decades, participated in the concert. From Dan Borlawsky (B.S. in Education, 1959) to a quartet of 2009 graduates—Amanda Crane (B.S. in Education), Kari Hamilton (B.S. in Education), Erin Moscony (B.F.A.), and Adrienne Radesky (B.F.A.)—IUP graduates rehearsed throughout the day on Saturday prior to Sunday afternoon’s performance.
In order to raise the necessary funds to name our large rehearsal room after “Doc” DiCicco, we are continuing our campaign by offering an audio CD and/or a DVD of the memorial concert with a certain level of contribution. For more information, please visit the DiCicco Memorial Concert webpage on the Department of Music’s website.
Contributions should be sent to: The Foundation for IUP, G-1 Sutton Hall, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705 or visit visit Support IUP and select the Dr. Daniel and Dorothy DiCicco Rehearsal Hall from the dropdown list.
Money collected directly benefits the IUP Department of Music.
]]>Along with her master class on Monday, March 22, from 12:20 to 5:30 p.m. in the Gorell Recital Hall, Professor Bakić will work with the singers in their diction classes and private lessons on standard vocal repertoire as well as songs in Croatian.
This particular faculty visit was initiated by the March 2009 exchange where Drs. Hastings and Chepaitis were invited by the Zagreb Conservatory to give master classes and performances. Professor Bakić is the voice teacher of Nela Sariç, one of last Fall semester’s music exchange students from Croatia. The master class on March 22 will be open to the public.
]]>The Music Student for a Day program takes place on on March 31, 2010. Students will have an opportunity to participate in freshman/sophomore music classes and ensembles, as well as have a private lesson with an IUP professor.
]]>Collins has served as principal tuba of the JSO since 2007. The concert will also feature Robert Schumann’s “Konzertstuck in F for Horns” and Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7.”
]]>The National Trumpet Competition takes place each year in Fairfax. Competition areas include the Trumpet Ensemble division, Jazz division, and Solo divisions for graduate, undergraduate, high school, and junior high students. Last year, IUP student John Powlison won third place in the undergraduate division. The entire competition takes place March 11–14 this year. In addition to those competing, twenty-five trumpet students will be attending the competition and participating in clinics and master classes as well as a mass trumpet ensemble.
The students study with IUP Department of Music faculty members Dr. Kevin Eisensmith and Dr. David Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson conducts the Trumpet ensemble.
]]>Students will hear recitals and participate in master classes by the faculty of Indiana, Clarion, Slippery Rock, and Edinboro universities. The consortium will also feature three nationally recognized guest artists: Natalie Mannix (trombone), James Jackson (euphonium), and Deanna Swoboda (tuba).
]]>The project, called iNet Prep, was originally done in cooperation with the Center for Advancing Partnerships in Education with support from an Innovation grant from the IUP Academic Computing Policy Advisory Committee. The Hoodlebug Brass (IUP brass faculty) teamed up with IUP alumnus Jerrod Cannistraci to coach a student brass quintet at Richland High School in Johnstown from their rehearsal room in Cogswell Hall. The Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME) is a nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Pennsylvania whose mission is to assist music educators in applying technology to improve teaching and learning in music. Dr. Scandrett has been a member of the organization since it’s first year and is a certified instructor of TI:ME courses for high school music teachers.
]]>Ms. Fabienne Fanord, a survivor of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, arrived in Indiana on February 8 to pursue her professional development during the 2010 Spring semester. She will perform in the IUP String Ensemble Concert on March 30, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. in Gorell Hall on the IUP campus.
Ms. Fanord has been a cello teacher and member of the orchestra at l’ École de Musique Ste Trinité in Port au Prince, the musical center of Haiti. Ms. Fanord has also served as the main cello teacher at l’École de Musique Dessaix-Baptiste in Jacmel, a city on the southern coast. In Fall 2008, Ms. Fanord, hosted by Music Department faculty member Dr. Linda Jennings, furthered her professional development through studying cello, observing string education classes, and participating in the IUP Symphony Orchestra and IUP Cello Choir. Ms. Fanord also participated in the IUP String Project, a community string music education outreach program, as well as a teacher training program for IUP music students. Ms. Fanord will continue her musical and pedagogical studies this semester at IUP as a visiting scholar as well as participating in performances of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Fanord became acquainted with Dr. Jennings during visits to Jacmel, Haiti, in the summers where Dr. Jennings has volunteered to teach at a music camp sponsored by l’École de Musique Dessaix-Baptiste, one of the few music schools in Haiti for young musicians. With the support of IUP College of Fine Arts Dean Michael Hood, Music Department Chair Jack Stamp, and Michele Petrucci and the Office of International Education, Dr. Jennings organized a professional visit to IUP in 2008 as well as her current visit. Studying at IUP affords Ms. Fanord the opportunity to learn about string music education techniques in the U.S. and bring these ideas back to her students. Ms. Fanord will be hosted by Dr. Jennings and Dr. Mary Hastings during this visit.
Despite the tragedy of the earthquake and losing several family members, Ms. Fanord arrived in Miami in good health on January 25.
Ms. Fanord will perform in the IUP String Ensemble Concert on March 30 at 8:00 p.m. in Gorell Hall on the IUP campus. This program will serve as a benefit to raise funds for the musicians and music programs of l’École de Musique Dessaix-Baptiste and l’ École de Musique Ste Trinité. The Music School of Ste Trinite completely collapsed in the earthquake, although the music school in Jacmel is still standing, but damaged.
Thanks to all those in the IUP community who have helped make a smooth transition for Ms. Fanord to IUP!
]]>He will also perform his composition “Eveningstar” for violin and orchestra as well as his arrangement of Joe Venuti’s “Wildcat.”
Dr. David Rudge will be conducting as Chepaitis plays the violin solos. Commenting on his composition, Stanley Chepaitis states:
“Paganini in the Vernacular” was originally composed for violin piano and I have performed it extensively in that version, most notably last March in Zagreb and Ljubljiana. It consists of a series of variations on the famous Paganini theme (from the 24th Caprice) in various jazz and pop styles and has sections of open improvisation for the soloist. David Rudge heard a performance and suggested that I create the version with orchestra, which we will unveil next week.”
Chepaitis teaches violin and viola in the IUP Department of Music and conducts the IUP Orchestra.
]]>The event is coordinated by IUP alumnus James Mauck, director of Athletic Bands at Buffalo. The recital will include a lecture and question-and-answer session, as well as works for trombone, tuba, and piano.
]]>After her arrival on February 14, 2010, Ms. Hansell-Bakić will give class presentations Monday through Thursday, culminating her work with the students in a master class held in Gorell Hall at 3:30 Thursday.
]]>Among the recitals being presented this weekend are:
The featured clinician for the weekend will be Dr. Langston Fitzgerald, III, professor of trumpet at Penn State University. Dr. Fitzgerald played trumpet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 2003. In addition, he is first trumpet and founder of both the Giavanni and the Potomac brass quintets. His freelancing in Baltimore and Washington has included performing at three presidential inaugurations and three “Christmas in Washington” nationally televised specials. Prior to joining the Penn State faculty, Fitzgerald taught trumpet at Catholic University. He currently teaches at both the Peabody Conservatory of Music and at Penn State. He is a graduate of Howard University (B.M.E.) and Catholic University of America (M.M. and D.M.A.).
Dr. Kevin Eisensmith and Dr. David Ferguson, trumpet professors at IUP, will present a faculty trumpet recital on Friday evening, February 5, and will be joined by Mr. David Wygonik. Mr. Wygonik is serving as adjunct trumpet faculty during Dr. Eisensmith’s sabbatical. The final work of the recital will feature all three on a work by Nicholas Payton titled “The Three Trumpeters.”
All events will be held in Gorell Hall and are free and open to the general public.
]]>At this event, Eisensmith joined Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski, professor of trumpet at West Chester University; Joe Burgstaller, distinguished faculty member at Peabody Institute; Vincent DiMartino, professor of music at Centre College; and David Krauss, principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Eisensmith performed in a guest artist recital, presented a clinic on performance anxiety, and soloed with the WCU Wind Ensemble during the weekend.
For more information, visit the International Trumpet Festival website.
]]>The select band is comprised of more than 160 high school students from a seven-county area in central Pennsylvania. Dr. Caulder, who joined the IUP faculty in 2002, teaches Oboe and conducts the Concert Band at IUP.
]]>O’Toole’s “Scarborough Variations” and “Shake and Bake” (a setting of the popular Shaker Hymn “Simple Gifts”) for tuba/euphonium quartet are now available from Cimarron Music Press. Both works were commissioned by the Crimson Tuba Quartet, an IUP student tuba/euphonium quartet. Cimarron Music Press will soon be publishing Anthony O’Toole’s “Concerto for Tuba,” “Concerto for Euphonium,” “Three Miniatures for Tuba,” and “Chronicle for Solo Tuba.”
Dr. Collins had two arrangements and one composition accepted for publication. Cimarron Music Press has published his arrangements of the “Allegretto” from Symphony No. 7 by L.V. Beethoven (tuba/euphonium octet) and “Cruda Amarilli” by Claudio Monteverdi (tuba/euphonium quintet). Dr. Collins’ original work for tuba/euphonium trio, “Chaconne and Dance,” is also available from Cimarron Music Press.
]]>On Thursday, January 29, 2010, he will perform a solo recital which will feature two works composed by senior Theory and Composition major Anthony O'Toole. Collins will perform Robert Jager's “Concerto for Bass Tuba” with the U.S. Army Orchestra on Friday, January 30.
]]>Also performing in this concert is IUP baritone Joseph Baunoch. The concert will feature a premiere work by IUP composer Daniel Perlongo, “Windhover for Piano Duo,” along with pieces by Chaminade,Talma, Bizet, Handel, Duke, and Ives.
Admission is free.
]]>The tour began with a concert on Sunday evening at Zion United Church of Christ in York. On Monday and Tuesday, the quintet visited West York Area High School, Conestoga Valley High School, Northern York Area High School, and Dillsburg Elementary for concerts and master classes with music students.
As part of their recruiting efforts, the Hoodlebug Brass has just released its second CD, Off the Tracs. The CD contains performances by the Hoodlebug Brass as well as solo works performed by the members of the quintet. More information can be found on the Hoodlebug Brass website.
]]>Dr. Jack Stamp, 2008–2009 University Professor and chair of the IUP Department of Music, was recently invited to present conducting workshops at Great Britain’s Royal Military School of Music. He will present sessions for their student bandmasters and many of the conductors in the field starting November 20, 2009.
The trip will begin with a two-day workshop at RMSM followed by a conducting clinic with the Royal Signals Band in Blanford. His trip will conclude with a concert of his music with the musicians of the Poole Grammar School.
This is Stamp’s third vsit to the Royal Military School of Music, having guest conducted their band in 1995 in a performance featuring his own compositions. The RMSM was established by the Duke of Cambridge at the request of Queen Victoria after a debacled performance of “God Save the Queen” for her fiftieth birthday. The institution is housed in Kneller Hall, former estate of the famous painter Godfrey Kneller.
Stamp is active as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and composer throughout North America and Great Britain. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by leading military and university bands across the United States, and he has won the praise of American composers Richard Danielpour David Diamond, Norman Dello Joio, Ron Nelson, Michael Torke, Samuel Adler, Robert Ward, Robert Washburn, Fisher Tull, Nancy Galbraith, and Bruce Yurko for performances of their works. He is also a contributing author to the “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” series released by GIA Publications.
In addition to chair of the Music Department, Stamp serves as director of band and conducts the IUP Wind Ensemble. He founded the Keystone Winds, a unique ensemble combining IUP faculty members and advanced students with professional alumni musicians and others with direct connections to the IUP Department of Music.
A professor of music, he teaches graduate courses in conducting. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from IUP, a master’s degree in percussion performance from East Carolina University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from Michigan State University, where he studied with Eugene Corporon.
]]>Chris, a student of IUP Music Department faculty member Dr. Michael Kingan, has been living in New York City for about a year taking a stab at a performing career. He’s picked up some playing opportunities and is breaking into the scene slowly, doing some substitute teaching to help pay bills. Recently though, he played a successful audition with a production company, the same company that handles groups like Stomp and the Blue Man Group. He was selected as a percussionist to perform with a touring company and go out on a fifteen-week tour starting in mid-November 2009, performing throughout Canada.
One of the scheduled performances will be the Torch Lighting Ceremony at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Interestingly enough, his audition consisted of performing on drum set and (get this) a bucket.
Coca- Cola has a Flickr site with photos of Chris:
Photo 1: Chris Wengert performing during the Olympic Torch Relay
Photo 2: Chris Wengert performing during the Olympic Torch Relay
]]>Dr. Collins’ residency was on October 28 and 29, 2009. During his residency, he worked with the tuba and euphonium majors in individual lessons. His recital on the evening of October 29 featured the Southwest premiere of “Three Miniatures” by IUP composition student Anthony O’Toole and a musical collaboration with West Texas A&M faculty member Jeremy Lewis.
]]>The IUP Chorus will be highlighted with choirs from Harvard, California State-Long Beach, University of Maryland, Yale, University of Missouri, and Utah State University, among others. The National Collegiate Choral Organization is the only association exclusively for college and university vocal ensembles. This is a distinct honor for our Music Department and for the director of choral studies, James Dearing.
]]>Department of Music Professor James Dearing will conduct the twenty-seven singers and fourteen instrumentalists, who will be joined by new faculty bass-baritone Joseph Baunoch, in a “Magnificat” by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the composers last works written in 1640 for Saint Mark’s in Venice. For more information call 724-357-4408
]]>The conference will bring scholars of music history to IUP from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to hear papers on topics ranging from Schumann and Brahms to the music of the French Resistance in World War II. IUP Professor Jim Dearing will speak on composer and conductor Edmund Louis Najera (1936-2009). The conference, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Cogswell Hall 102 and the Music Library. More information.
]]>His four-movement composition, entitled "Coral Reef," was written for trumpet quartet. It has been accepted for publication by Eighth Note Publications of Toronto, Canada. Eighth Note Publications is a leading seller of music for trumpet ensembles and has a worldwide following.
Chris is from Sinking Spring, Pa., and is a student of Dr. Kevin Eisensmith.
]]>This event is sponsored by the IUP Department of Music, the College of Fine Arts, the Honors College, the Asian Studies Committee, and Karma Thegsum Choling (a Tibetan meditation center).
Tom Schmidt and Lama Topgyal are associated with KTD, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, one of the main Tibetan monasteries in the U.S., located outside of Woodstock, N.Y., as well as Kunzang Palchen Ling, a Tibetan center in Redhook, N.Y. In their sessions, they will provide demonstrations of Tibetan instruments and discuss their use and significance in Tibetan Buddhist liturgical music.
Lama Tashi Topgyal is from Raktrul Monastery in eastern Tibet. He received empowerments, reading transmissions, and explanations regarding the treasure texts of Terchen Barway Dorje from Lama Karma Thupthen, the main disciple of the Second Bardor Rinpoche. After many years of study, Lama Tashi went into a nine-year, nine-month retreat. He came to the U.S. in 2003 to teach at Kunzang Palchen Ling.
Tom Schmidt is director of Karma Thegsum Choyang Music, a studio associated with KTD and dedicated to the recording and preservation of Tibetan liturgical music. In 1997, Schmidt acted as liaison between the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery and Martin Scorsese's film Kundun, about the life of the XIV Dalai Lama, when scenes were shot in the main shrine room of the monastery. In the summer of 1999 Schmidt traveled to Tibet, China, Nepal, and India to further his research of Kagyu sacred music and recorded ceremonies at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. On December 28, 2001, Tom recorded the Karma Pakshi Chant with His Holiness the seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa and 3,000 monks in Bodhgaya India. In 2004, Schmidt produced a benefit concert for Karma Triyana Dharmachakra that included Philip Glass as principal guest artist; in 2005 a second benefit concert with Lori Anderson; and, in 2008 a third with Jack DeJohnette and Pat Metheny. Schmidt’s Tibetan musical studies have been guided by Lama Tashi Dhondup, Lama Phuntsok Bista, Tenzin Chonyi, Yeshe Namdag, and Umdze Lodro Samphel, principal chant master of the Rumtek Monastery. (Select for a more complete bio of Tom Schmidt.)
All are welcome to attend the session on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. in McVitty Auditorium in Sprowls Hall. Attendance vouchers will be available for IUP students. For more information, contact Dr. Linda Jennings at ljenning@iup.edu.
]]>Dr. Jennings will be joined by Arcadia Trio members Deborah Greitzer, violinist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Chindarat Charoenwongse, professor of Piano at the University of Central Oklahoma. They will perform works by Mozart, Turina, and Chen Yi and Violet Archer. The Arcadia Piano Trio will perform the same program on the IUP campus on September 10 in Gorell Hall at 8 p.m.
]]>Also, returning from a semester of study at Zagreb, is IUP Music Education major Kevin Huhn, a student of Nathan Santos. Kevin performed jazz standards on bass with Dr. Stanley Chepaitis on violin and Dr. Mary Logan Hastings (Voice) at a concert in Zagreb during their faculty exchange visit to the music conservatories of Croatia and Slovenia.
Nela Saric will study voice with Dr. Hastings. Antonia Mimica will study music theory with Professor Perlongo.
]]>The three-disk set catalogs all of composer William Kraft’s “Encounters.” Of the fifteen “Encounters” in his repertoire, “Encounters II for Solo Tuba” is unique in that it is the only one that does not feature percussion.
“Encounters II” is one of the landmark pieces in the solo repertoire for the tuba. Written in 1966 for Roger Bobo, it explores the extremes of tonal range, dynamics, and articulation as well as the extended technique capabilities of the instrument such as multiphonics.
The Southwest Chamber Music project is the culmination of two years of live performances and recordings. Both the live performances and recordings of Kraft’s “Encounters” were produced in close collaboration with the composer.
The full CD set can be purchased on line from Southwest Chamber Music, and individual tracks are available from Digstation.
]]>The fourteenth International Conference (July 5-11, 2009) is going to be the most exciting and jam-packed event in the history of WASBE. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to hear fifteen of the finest wind bands in the world, observe a virtual who’s who of conductors and clinicians, and participate in thought-provoking clinics, discussions, and workshops—all set within the state-of-the-art facilities located at the University of Cincinnati’s College–Conservatory of Music. Other ensembles performing include the United States Marine Band, the North Texas Wind Ensemble, the Philharmonic Winds Osaka (Japan), and the China Youth Corps, among others.
Every ensemble that performs at the conference will be featuring special guest conductors, soloists, and new commissions guaranteed to raise the collective consciousness of our profession. But one very special group of conductors will be working with the International Youth Wind Orchestra, and it includes three of the most important wind conductors of the past fifty years—Donald Hunsberger (Eastman School of Music), Frank Battisti (New England Conservatory of Music), and H. Robert Reynolds (formerly of the University of Michigan and now at the University of Southern California). Their rehearsals will be open to all attendees, with repertoire that includes both of the Holst Suites, Lincolnshire Posy by Grainger, and the Hindemith Symphony in B flat.
The Keystone Wind Ensemble will be premiering a new composition by Richard Danielpour titled Icarus, which is scored for large brass ensemble, percussion, and two pianos. Virtually every major orchestra in the United States has performed Danielpour’s music, and he is widely thought of as being one of the most influential composers of his generation. Keystone will also be performing Chronicles by Joseph Turrin, featuring Tom Hooten of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. WASBE host Rodney Winther of CCM recently commented that KWE director Jack Stamp is “one of the most energetic commissioners of new works by important composers for our medium.”
The Keystone Wind Ensemble, directed by Jack Stamp, director of Bands and chairperson of the IUP Department of Music, is composed of IUP faculty members, alumni, and students. They have recorded approximately twenty CDs and have performed at several regional and national events. The IUP wind and percussion faculty who will be performing are Gary Bird (retired), David Borst (retired), Stephanie Caulder, Zach Collins, Chris Dickinson, Kevin Eisensmith, David Ferguson, Ron Horner, Irvin Kauffman, Mike Kingan, Jack Scandrett, Terri Wacker, Jason Worzbyt, and Keith Young.
]]>The Keystone Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Jack Stamp of the IUP Department of Music, was featured in a performance on Thursday, May 28, 2009, as part of the thirty-fourth annual conference of the International Trumpet Guild, held at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center in Harrisburg, Pa.
The conference was cohosted by Dr. William Stowman, chairman of the Music Department at Messiah College and an IUP alumnus (B.S.Ed., 1985). Dr. Stowman is also a member of the trumpet section of the Keystone Wind Ensemble.
The program in Harrisburg featured numerous guest artists with the KWE, beginning with the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets. The Heralds joined the KWE in a performance of Morton Gould’s “American Salute.” The ensembles were conducted by Captain David Paroby, director of the Heralds and a native of Warminster, Pa.
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Herald Trumpets. Lt. Col. (ret.) Gilbert Mitchell, who currently resides in Camp Hill, Pa., cofounded the Herald Trumpets and also directed the KWE during this concert.
Three solo trumpeters were featured with the Keystone Winds: Richard Stoelzel, former solo cornetist with the U.S. Coast Guard Band and professor of Trumpet at Grand Valley State University (Mich.); Thomas Hooten, principal trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; and Christopher Martin, principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Stoelzel performed “Concerto for Piano and Trumpet” by Erik Morales. Hooten performed Joseph Turrin’s “Chronicles,” and Martin played David Gillingham’s “When Speaks the Signal-Trumpet Tone.” All three composers were in the audience for the concert.
The Keystone Wind Ensemble is based at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and led by IUP Director of Bands and IUP alumnus Dr. Jack Stamp (B.S.Ed., 1976). The fifty members of the ensemble include IUP music faculty, alumni, and students currently enrolled at IUP. The KWE was formed in 1992 “for the express purpose of recording new and more traditional works from the concert band repertoire” and has released approximately twenty compact discs of music for concert band. Over the years, the KWE has also performed at several regional, national, and international conferences.
The International Trumpet Guild “was founded in 1974 to promote communications among trumpet players around the world and to improve the artistic level of performance, teaching, and literature associated with the trumpet.” Its six thousand members represent sixty-four countries and include professional and amateur performers, teachers, students, manufacturers, publishers, and others interested in belonging to an organization dedicated to the trumpet profession. The vice president/president elect of ITG is Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, professor of Trumpet at IUP and an alumnus (B.S.Ed., 1978). He is also a member of the trumpet section of the Keystone Wind Ensemble.
]]>The scholarship is in the amount of $1,500. This award is trienniel (only given every three years) and is divided into performance awards for strings or harp, voice, woodwinds or brass, and piano or percussion. Only one person in each instrument category receives the scholarship.
]]>She will be joined by Arcadia Trio members Deborah Greitzer, violinist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Chindarat Charoenwongse, professor of Piano at the University of Central Oklahoma. They will perform works by Mozart, Turina, and Chen Yi. The Arcadia Piano Trio will perform the same program on the IUP campus on September 10 in Gorell Hall.
]]>Zhonghui Dai, professor of Trumpet at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, hosted the event, which brought together over three hundred trumpet students, teachers, and performers from around the world.
Additional guest artists for the conference included:
Also participating in the conference were numerous Chinese trumpet professors and other musicians.
Each day began with a warm-up session presented by one of the guest artists. Comments about breathing, mouthpiece buzzing, and other subjects were shared with the students who were present. Master classes were held throughout the day, and each of the guest artists presented a recital in the evening.
The conference was a great opportunity to hear different playing styles and to exchange ideas on solo, orchestral, and ensemble performance. Everyone involved in this conference had a great time and will benefit from the information they received. The conference ended with a sumptuous banquet featuring many Chinese delicacies.
For pictures of the conference, please visit the China Trumpet Guild.
]]>The Keystone Wind Ensemble, based at IUP, is comprised of the university’s wind and percussion faculty, alumni, and current students. Since 1991, the ensemble has recorded numerous CDs and performed at various conferences and clinics.
Among the works to be performed at the ITG Conference are William Schuman’s “Chester,” Bruce Yurko’s “Intrada,” and and Morton Gould’s “American Salute,” which will feature the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets. Guest soloists schedule to perform with KWE include Richard Stoelzel, the professor of Trumpet from Grand Valley State University; Tom Hooten, principal trumpet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; and Christopher Martin, principal trumpet with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Their performance begins at 2:30 on Thursday, May 28.
The International Trumpet Guild was founded in 1974 to promote communications among trumpet players around the world and to improve the artistic level of performance, teaching, and literature associated with the trumpet. ITG’s more than 6,000 members represent sixty-four countries and include professional and amateur performers, teachers, students, manufacturers, publishers, and others interested in belonging to an organization dedicated to the trumpet profession. ITG is supported by the dues of individual members. For more information, please visit the Trumpet Guild website.
]]>The Falcone Festival is the premier competition for tuba and euphonium performers. Jon was selected after a rigorous taped preliminary round. He will compete in the Artist Tuba Division, which is open to all nonprofessional tubists. Semifinal and final rounds will be held August 14–17 at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. More information may be found at the IUP Tuba and Euphonium Studio and the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival website.
]]>This ensemble will perform as a prelude performance prior to a concert by the U.S. Army Blues Trumpet Ensemble.
Twelve members of IUP’s thirty-member trumpet ensemble will be selected by audition and will perform premieres of two original compositions—one by Jeremy Leidhecker and one by Dr. Ferguson.
For more information about the International Trumpet Guild or the convention this spring, visit the Trumpet Guild website.
]]>This concert is being produced in conjunction with the annual PMEA Inservice Conference, held this year at the Valley Forge Convention Center. The program will include “Fall Fair” by Godfrey Ridout, “El Salon Mexico” by Aaron Copland, and the “Polovistian Dances by Borodin.” Rehearsals will be at the Upper Merion High School on Thursday and Friday.
]]>Dr. Laura Ferguson will be making two presentations: “Using Wiki Websites for Special Education University Methods Courses” on Friday morning, April 24; and “So Your Chapter Wants to Hold a PMEA Event” on Saturday morning, April 25. The Friday session will discuss Dr. Ferguson’s use of Wiki websites to increase information covered in her Education Methods class by using blogs. The Saturday session will explain the steps needed to host PMEA events and is based on Dr. Ferguson’s experience as host of this year’s PMEA Elementary/Middle School Bandfest.
Dr. Linda Jennings will present a workshop on “The String Project: Addressing the Crisis in String Education Today.” This workshop introduces a powerful teacher-training program that Dr. Jennings is using at IUP to mentor young string teachers.
Both Dr. Jennings, cellist, and Dr. Stanley Chepaitis, violinist, will perform solos with the IUP Orchestra under the direction of Dr. David Martynuik at their performance on Friday, April 24.
The PMEA Inservice Conference is an annual event that attracts over one thousand music educators from across the state and features performances of high school and college ensembles chosen from dozens of applicants every year.
]]>Their performance will be part of a tour that will include performances on Thursday, April 23, at Quince Orchard HS, 15800 Quince Orchard Rd, Gaithersburg, Md., at 11:45 a.m. and North Harford HS, 211 Pylesville Rd., Pylesville, Md., at 8:00 p.m. On Friday, following their performance at PMEA, they will present concerts at the Mt. Carmel Church, 58th and Race Sts., Philadelphia, at 4:00 p.m. and at Central Bucks East HS, 2804 Holicong Rd., Doylestown, at 8:00 p.m.
The program will include: Symphonic Movement "Blumine" by Gustav Mahler; Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61 by Ludwig van Beethoven, featuring Dr. Stanley Chepaitis; Requiebros by Gaspar Cassadó, featuring Dr. Linda Jennings, cello, and the orchestra wind section; and Symphony #2 by Lou Harrison.
All programs except for the PMEA performance are open to the public.
]]>The student auditions consist of singing in a preliminary, semifinal and final round of competition. The following students made the finals and were recognized in their category of participation.
Freshman Women
1st place: Nicole Williams — student of Mary Hastings
2nd place: Erin Thomas — student of Mary Hastings
Freshman Men
1st place: August Matrisch — student of Robert Peavler
Sophomore Women
2nd place: Leanna McGiboney — student of Robert Peavler
Sophomore Men
3rd place: Jonathan Eutsey — student of Mary Hastings
Junior Women
2nd place: Kristin Dudra — student of Robert Peavler
Junior Men
2nd place: Daniel Drumm — student of Robert Peavler
3rd place: Randy Frye — student of Sarah Mantel
Senior Men
2nd place: Sean Cogan — student of Mary Hastings
2nd place: Steven Cosnek — student of Robert Peavler
Musical Theater
1st place: Erika Pealstrom — student of Sarah Mantel
1st place: Joe York — student of Sarah Mantel
3rd place: Tyler Knauf — student of Robert Peavler
The first public event will be a performance by the IUP Trombone Choir, with nineteen trombonists under the direction of Dr. Christian Dickinson, and the IUP Trombone Reunion Choir, with over thirty alumni plus the IUP Trombone Choir. The IUP Trombone Reunion Choir will be directed by Dr. Dickinson, professor of trombone at IUP, and Mr. Richard Thorell, professor emeritus of IUP. This free concert will be held in the Gorell Recital Hall on Saturday, April 18, 2009, at 4:00 p.m.
The second event will be a performance featuring the IUP Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, and the IUP Jazz Band, under the direction of Dr. Keith Young, with featured guest soloist Harry Watters. Mr. Watters is a trombonist with the United States Army Blues Jazz Ensemble and the United State Army Brass Quintet located in Washington, D.C. Also featured at this concert will be a reunion of The Hickeybones, a jazz trombone ensemble formed during the late 1960s on the IUP campus by Ron Hickey, who went on to work as a staff arranger for the United States Army Band in Washington, D.C. This concert will be held in Fisher Auditorium on Saturday, April 18, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be available after April 6, 2009, at the HUB: regular price $9, discount $8, I-Card $6, or sold at the door.
Both concerts are open to the public. On Sunday, April 19, members of the Alumni Trombone Group will perform as part of the 10:30 a.m. worship service at Zion Lutheran Church in Indiana.
For more information visit the IUP Trombone Studio Renuion website.
]]>The program is part of the Music in the Orendorff Commons series. The concert celebrates National Library Week and is sponsored by the IUP Libraries, the College of Fine Arts, and the Center for Northern Appalachian Studies.
The group performs folk songs collected in Pennsylvania as well as other related genres. The family lives in Gettysburg, and they have given concerts in many venues, including the Gettysburg Governor’s Arts Award celebration, Penn State University Harrisburg Library, and the Fulton County Historical Society.
Each year, the musicians perform and teach at the Greenwood Furnace Folk Gathering in Huntingdon County on subjects including the Samuel Bayard Pennsylvania Folk Song Collection, Scottish and Irish songs, vocal technique, song arranging, and bodhran.
The band includes Stephen Folkemer on concertina, keyboard, and vocals. Since 1979, he has served as the music director at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, where he is associate professor of church music.
Beth Folkemer sings and plays guitar and mountain dulcimer. She serves on the pastoral staff at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Hanover, and volunteers as assistant children’s choir director at Christ Lutheran Church, Gettysburg, and as the music coordinator for “Candlelight at Christ: Songs and Stories of a Civil War Hospital.” She has studied the Samuel Bayard Pennsylvania folk song collection at Penn State University, becoming an expert on Pennsylvania song traditions.
Joel Folkemer, a recent graduate of Shippensburg University, sings and plays bass and bodhran. Nathan Folkemer, a student at California University of Pennsylvania, sings and plays low whistle and bodhran. Margaret Folkemer studies voice at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She is still away at school and will not be joining the family for this concert.
The Folkemer family also forms the core of the Irish band Cormorant’s Fancy, which performs actively throughout central Pennsylvania.
]]>She presented a Vocal Master Class and Improvisation Workshop to the Vocal Jazz Ensemble Class, working with the students on presentation, acting and movement skills, diction, and improvisation exercises.
]]>To reach this point, John was first selected as one of forty-five semifinalists out of a field of approximately one hundred who submitted a recording. After performing on Saturday, he was then selected as one of six semifinalists and performed again Sunday for new judges and placed third. In addition to the recognition of being placed, John also earned $750 in cash as a prize. John is a student of Dr. Kevin Eisensmith.
The IUP Trumpet ensemble, under the direction of Dr. David Ferguson, also played extremely well. All students who attended the event learned a great deal through performances and clinics.
]]>This will bring together 250 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade band students from approximately fifty area schools to Fisher Auditorium for a day of music making, culminating with an evening concert at 7:00 p.m. in Fisher.
Guest conductors will be Dr. Susan Creasap of Morehead State University, and Mr. Christopher Hornick, retired band director from the Connellsville Area schools. Dr. Laura Ferguson is the IUP host and coordinator of the Bandfest.
Visitors may observe rehearsals in Fisher during the day. Rehearsal will be held on Fisher Stage and in the seconnd floor rehearsal room from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
]]>Dr. Jason Worzbyt recently conducted the PMEA District 6 Band at Berlin High School, January 29–30, at the McKeesport Band Festival at McKeesport High School on February 3, and on February 6–7 at the Prince William County Junior High District Band (Virginia) Battlefield High School.
]]>Steven Cosnek (B.F.A., Tenor) was voted “Audience Favorite” for his performance of the arias “Ach! So from” from Martha, “Lonely House” from Street Scene, “Il mio Tesoro” from Don Giovanni, “Ev’ry Valley” from Messiah, and the song “Come to Me, Bend to Me” from Brigadoon.
Justin Polyblank (B.S. Music Education) was selected to perform as soloist at the symphony’s March 14 concert. He will perform Claude Smith’s “Fantasia for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra.”
]]>The talented high school students attending the band festival have an intense weekend of rehearsals. The IUP PE has been invited to perform for them as a “break in the action” on Friday afternoon. The festival is located at the Berlin Brothersvalley School District. IUP students will perform selections from the “Intensity” (percussion chamber music) concert scheduled for February 5. The upcoming programs feature the works of Briggs, Kopetski, Levitan, Mackey, Makan, and Morag.
]]>Eisensmith is professor of trumpet at IUP and directs the IUP Jazz Ensemble.
]]>Justin Polyblank, alto saxophone
First Prize: $500 Cash Award and a performance with the JSO on April 4, 2009
Jon Wylie, tuba
Seond Prize: $300 Cash Award
Justin Canzano, alto saxophone
Third Prize: $200 Cash Award
Congratulations go to these students as well as to their studio teachers, Dr. Keith Young, saxophone, and Dr. Zach Collins, tuba.
Department of Music]]>Tyler Knauf — Freshman/Sophomore Musical Theatre
Erin Lanigan — Freshman Women
Leanna McGibboney — Sophomore Women
Kristin Dudra — Junior Women
Jamie Markel — Junior/Senior Musical Theatre
Dan Drumm — Junior Men
Christine Severin — Junior Women
Kenny Biter — Senior Men
Congratulations also to our three fine student pianists who travelled with us and played beautifully for each of our students and especially during the winner’s concert. They were: Randy Frye, Sarah Hager, and Tyler Knauf.
]]>The camp will run for two weeks. Week 1—Sunday, June 21 through Friday, June 26—will be an Orchestra and Honors Chamber Winds camp for talented string and wind players conducted by Dr. David Martynuik and Dr. Stanley Chepaitis. Week—Sunday, June 28 through Friday, July 3—will be a Senior High Band conducted by Dr. Jack Stamp.
Students will be in residence at IUP for each week or, if they live close, can choose the day camper option. Instruction, meals, and recreation are included in both options.
Applications and detailed information about each week of camp will be available on line by January 15.
For more information, please visit the Keystone Music Camp.
]]>The event is a fundraiser for the Alice Paul House, a shelter for survivors of domestic violence.
It will be held in Room 121 of IUP’s Cogswell Hall, at the corner of Eleventh Street and Oakland Avenue. Free parking is available after 5 p.m. in the IUP parking garage, adjacent to the building.
Cost is $4 per person or $6 per couple. Tickets will be sold at the door. Dress for the event is semi-formal.
Men of Swing will provide music for the event. Men of Swing was created in 2005 by IUP student Chris Conte and is now led by student Mark Yochum.
Phi Mu Alpha is a male professional music fraternity established at IUP in 1953. The IUP Zeta Tau chapter has 40 active members.
Sigma Alpha Iota is a female professional music fraternity that offers support to the music community. It was established at IUP in 1999. IUP’s Kappa Beta chapter has 40 active members.
Both groups participate in community service activities.
For more information about the event, contact Samantha Glass at s.s.glass@iup.edu.
Soprano Mary Logan Hastings, a member of IUP’s music faculty, and her daughter, soprano Dora Logan Hastings, will present a concert on Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. in IUP’s Gorell Recital Hall.
Gorell is on the second floor of IUP’s Sutton Hall. The concert is free and open to the community.
The two will present works by Mozart, Schubert, Straub and Bruch and will be accompanied by Jan Halmes on piano and David Martynuik on clarinet. Other performers include IUP faculty members Linda Jennings, Therese Wacker, Stephanie Caulder and Jason Worzbyt.
Mary Logan Hastings has an extensive professional career in opera in both America and Europe.
Her solo concert work includes appearances with the Berliner Philharmonische. In addition to her European career, she has performed recitals and given master classes in the theaters and music conservatories in China.
Dora Logan Hastings is a graduate of IUP and recently completed her second season with The Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, N.Y. She also performed with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Opera Theatre.
Halmes has been an accompanist since the age of 12 and has studied at University of Montana and in Vienna. She also has traveled and performed extensively in Europe and China as an accompanist for choral groups and soloists. She has recorded with Mary Logan Hastings, performing songs of Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky.
]]>On Thursday, September 18, the newly renovated Fisher Auditorium and the Performing Arts Center will be dedicated with a gala performance of several Music Department ensembles including the Marching Band, the IUP Wind Ensemble, the Gorell Trio, the Hoodlebug Brass, the IUP Woodwind Quintet, and the IUP Trumpet Ensemble.
On Sunday, September 21, Dr. Keith Young will present a recital of music for saxophone and brass featuring members of the IUP Brass Department and the Hoodlebug Brass Quintet. On Monday, September 22, Dr. Susan Wheatley will be performing in Gorell Hall, and on Tuesday, September 23, the Celantano String Quartet will perform.
More information about IUP performances can be found on the Lively Arts website.
]]>Find more information concerning auditions.
Audition dates are as follows:
This year’s featured clinician is Bret Kuhn, Design and Percussion Consultant for the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps percussion specialist at Prospect High School, Mt. Prospect, Illinois.
The camp is sponsored by the IUP Percussion Area, IUP Department of Bands, Yamaha Corporation of America, Innovative Percussion, Remo, Zildjian, and Volkwein’s Music of Pittsburgh.
Tuition of $60.00 covers two full days of group rehearsal, sectionals, individual instruction, special clinics and performances, and the Yamaha “Sounds of Summer” Music Book. This Drumline Camp is intended for percussionists who are currently participating in or about to join the drumline of their school marching band. Clinicians cover drumline fundamentals, basic and advanced techniques, sectional playing, ensemble performance, and leadership skills.
Camp runs 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Meeting place is Cogswell Hall, Room 121 (Large Rehearsal Room) on the IUP campus. Tuition is reduced to $55.00 if postmarked on or before June 22, 2008. Group discounts are available to schools that send six or more students. Call for information regarding off-campus housing. Directors attend free of charge.
For more information, contact the Camp Director:
Dr. Michael Kingan
IUP Director of Percussion Studies
(724) 357-2897
mkingan@iup.edu
A printable registration form is available.
]]>Gary Olmstead was the percussion instructor for the IUP Music Department for thirty-seven years before his retirement in 2003. A scholarship fund for percussion students was established in his name, and the main fundraiser is an annual golf tournament. The cost to participate in the event is a very reasonable $85. It includes all fees, a picnic dinner, and a tax-deductible donation to the fund.
]]>Dr. David Ferguson presented “More than Singing Cats: YouTube and Internet Resources for Music Appreciation”; Dr. Kevin Eisensmith, with Psychology professor Donald Robertson, gave a workshop on “Managing Music Performance Anxiety,” teaching students how performance anxiety happens and what to do; Dr. Jack Scandrett, with the Hoodlebug Brass (IUP faculty members Kevin Eisensmith, David Ferguson, Christian Dickinson, Zachary Collins, and Jack Scandrett) showed the results of their work with student ensembles using videoconferencing, “iNet Prep: Small Ensemble Coaching via Real-Time Videoconferencing”; and the IUP Flute Quartet, under the direction of Dr. Therese Wacker, performed several “mini-concerts.”
The PMEA Annual In-Service Conference is attended by music educators in the Pennsylvania schools and also the students who were chosen to perform in the Pennsylvania All-State music ensembles.
]]>