CLA: School of Music News

School of Music choral graduate conducting student Matthew Olson will co-present SOJORN Songs Pondering Purpose with Classical Minnesota Public Radio and 89.3 The Current on Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis.

The concert, conducted by Matthew Olson, will feature the University Singers and the Sojourn Strings Orchestra performing the music of Kjartan of the Band Sigur Ros. The program will explore the bounds between classical and indie rock music through song and film. Tickets to Sojorn may be purchased at http://sojorn.org/ for $10 or $5 for students with a current ID. More info: Sojorn Press Release.pdf

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Great reviews are in from the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press of the February 26, 2013 Joffrey Ballet performance with the University Symphony Orchestra (Mark Russell Smith, conductor).

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The School of Music was well represented at the Minnesota Music Educators Association Midwinter In-Service Clinic (February 13-15).

School of Music professors Akosua Addo, Keitha Hamann, Scott Lipscomb, Michael Silverman, and Laura Sindberg presented sessions. SOM music education graduate students Kinh T. Vu and Casey Clementson presented a poster session hosted by Keitha Hamann.

The U of M Trombone Choir and Jazz 'Bones (pictured above) performed selections by Grieg, Gabrieli, Saint Saens, Mahler, and Haydn and the Jazz 'Bones performed music by Hoagy Carmichael and Dean Sorenson. U of M alumnus and member of the US Army Blues Victor Barranco was guest soloist and guest conductors were Jerry Luckhardt and Henry Charles Smith.

The following School of Music performance and music education students performed in the Intercollegiate Band: Lindsay Cox, Haley Cramer, Camille Galles, Jennifer Minor, Drew Morrisette, Roy Peinaar, Brianna Preblich, Robert Reeve, and Michelle Robertus.

SOM student teacher Cameron Kinghorn conducted a segment of a concert presented by the elementary school students he teaches.

School of Music staff Anne Barnes, Laura Krider, and Anabel Wirt were in attendance representing the SOM.

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John Gilbert (violin, student of Sally O'Reilly) performs on the album Weill, Ibert, Berg with Timothy Muffitt, the Baton Rouge Symphony Chamber Players, George Work, and Dmitri Schteinberg on the Sono Luminus label. The album received a rave review in the January 2013 edition of Gramophone. Read more.

Pianist Eric McEnaney (D.M.A., 2009, collaborative piano, Timothy Lovelace and Noriko Kawai) will join the music staff for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis's 2013 Summer Festival, where he will work on productions of Pagliacci, Il Tabarro, and Smetana's The Kiss. In April, McEnaney will complete his final season as resident artist coach/accompanist with the Minnesota Opera, having worked on twenty productions, including two world premieres: the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night and Doubt.

Benjamin Polk (M.M., 2005, trombone, student of Tom Ashworth) won the recent bass trombone audition for the Airmen of Note, the U.S. Air Force's premiere jazz ensemble. Based in Washington D.C., the ensemble frequently performs at the White House and around the nation. Polk completed his graduate artist certificate at the University of North Texas, and joins numerous other U of M Trombone alumni enjoying careers with military ensembles in the D.C. area. He is a former member of the Baton Rouge Symphony and was adjunct faculty at Western Kentucky University.

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The University of Minnesota honorary band service co-ed fraternity Kappa Alpha Chapter won a 2011-2013 Kappa Kappa Psi Chapter Leadership Award for outstanding contributions to band programs. Kappa Alpha will have the opportunity to present their work this summer at the Kappa Kappa Psi National Convention and is eligible for the William Scroggs Founders Trophy.

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Tom Ashworth (trombone) performed with a tuba/euphonium quintet on American Public Media's A Prairie Home Companion on February 16. Watch a video of Ashworth on lead euphonium on "Tuba Blues."


Alexander Fiterstein (clarinet) was interviewed on Classical Minnesota Public Radio on February 23 by host Alison Young and is featured in the MPR article, "Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein concertizes the Midwest." Listen to the interview and read the article.

Keitha Hamann (music education) presented "Teacher Evaluation - What's Coming in Minnesota?" as part of MMEA's Teacher Evaluation Task Force (which she co-chairs) at the MMEA Midwinter In-Service Clinic.

Scott D. Lipscomb (music education) presented a session at the annual MMEA Midwinter In-Service Clinic titled "Mobile apps are all the rage: You too can create music-based apps for your classroom (and beyond!)." Lipscomb demonstrated how free tools for iPhone, iPod, and iPad application development greatly simplify the process of creating professional-looking mobile applications. After introducing the tools, he then demonstrated for those present how to create an application that responded to user button clicks by playing a musical tone and showing the same note on a musical staff.

Fernando Meza (percussion) will perform with the Dominican Republic National Symphony as principal timpanist for the Santo Domingo Music Festival (soloists in the festival will include Joshua Bell, violin; Alison Balsom, trumpet; Jue Wang, piano; and Gautier Capuçon, cello). At the end of March, he will give a 5-day percussion seminar in Bogotá, Colombia at the National University, organized by the Youth Philharmonic of Colombia. He will judge the final round of the Chicago Symphony Youth Competition on March 30.

Laura Sindberg (music education) presented a session on the rehearsal planning process as a vital component of effective teaching to 180 music educators at the at the MMEA Midwinter In-Service Clinic.

Mark Russell Smith (orchestra) was interviewed in the Star Tribune article, "Joffrey Ballet at the Orpheum Theatre Feb. 26" about why the performance is important to students. Smith has also been named artistic director of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies.

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Mark Russell Smith (orchestras) conducts the University Symphony Orchestra as they perform Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the Joffrey Ballet. Learn more about the performance by listening to Mark Russell Smith's talk (given on February 14) or by watching the preview video.

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Mark Bjork (violin and pedagogy) served as guest clinician for a workshop for students in the Suzuki program associated with Centenary College in Shreveport, LA on February 8 and 9 and presented master classes on February 10.

Listen to Alexander Fiterstein (clarinet) on Thursday, February 21 at noon on Classical Minnesota Public Radio (99.5 FM) in conversation with host Allison Young about his upcoming Midwest concert tour that includes performances in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Indiana, and Montana.

Listen to Craig Kirchhoff (bands) lead the University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble in a performance of Jeffrey Brooks's "Dreadnought" (recorded in 1997) on the February 15, 2013 edition of American Public Media's Composer's Datebook. Brooks's "Dreadnought" was written for the University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Listen here.

A review of Alex Lubet's new album Spectral Blues can be found at babysue.com. The album received 5 stars as a Top Pick for February. The reviewer called it "Wonderfully resonant and compelling from start to finish..."

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Listen to School of Music professor Alexander Fiterstein (clarinet) on Thursday, February 21 at noon on Classical Minnesota Public Radio (99.5 FM) in conversation with host Allison Young about his upcoming Midwest concert tour which will include performances in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Indiana and Montana. See full tour schedule here.

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Congratulations to U of M School of Music student Jing Chang (piano, student of Paul Shaw), winner of the 2013 University Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Chang will perform Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major with the University Symphony Orchestra on March 4, 2013 at Ted Mann Concert Hall. Concert information.

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U of M School of Music alumnus Ryan Truesdell (B.M., 2002, music education) won a 2013 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "How About You" from "Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans" (ArtistShare). His record was nominated in three categories. Read about the Gil Evans Project and why Truesdell can be called the Indiana Jones of jazz in The Washington Post.

Truesdell reflects on his time at the School of Music and shares, "I credit my experiences at the School of Music with my fearless approach to new things. Professor Dean Sorenson encouraged me to pursue my interest in jazz...".

He also recalls, "At the School of Music there was support and nurturing for what I wanted to do and there was a real life aspect to it. You have to have real life experiences away from a practice room to really grow as a writer. The School of Music offered me this nurturing in my music as well as life in a big city."

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Alexander Braginsky (piano) was interviewed in International Piano magazine's September/October 2012 education issue in the article "Teaching at the top Part 1" and in the November/December 2012 issue in the article "Teaching at the top Part 2."
Immanuel Davis (flute) was featured on the cover of the New York Flute Club newsletter in the article "Eclectic Flutist Immanuel Davis Has His Cake and Eats it Too!" He performed with Timothy Lovelace (piano) and Bradley Brookshire (harpsichord) on December 16, 2012 in a recital at Baruch Performing Arts Centers.
Adriana Zabala's (voice) performance in the Minnesota Opera's production of Doubt (January 26 - February 3) was reviewed in The New York Times.

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Charles Asch (D.M.A., cello, student of Tanya Remenikova) won the Dorothy J. Oestreich Concerto Competition, held by the Concord Chamber Orchestra of Milwaukee, WI in December 2012. He will perform Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in D Major on March 6 and 9 with the Concord Chamber Orchestra. More info.

Dale Kruse (D.M.A., voice, student of John De Haan) is the children's chorus master for the Minnesota Opera productions of Doubt and Turandot this season. He is also the music director for the Minnesota Opera: Project Opera, a three-tiered training program for students grades 4 through 12. Project Opera will present three fully staged one-act operas: The Shoes for Santo Niño by Stephen Paulus (U of M School of Music alumnus), Down in the Valley by Kurt Weill, and Noyes Fludde by Benjamin Britten this February.

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