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Alumni News
1940s
After completing his Symphony of the Holocaust, Toby Lurie (composition, '48) re-conceived the work as a 6' x 8' painting encased in barbed wire. The musical version premiered last fall in Evanston, Illinois. Lurie is frequently commissioned to translate music into visual artwork. He also continues to perform his own "Sound Pieces," some of which premiered at the Conservatory, with his group the Lost Coast Word-Music Ensemble.
Theodora Primes (B.M., piano, '62) took her exam to become a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists last fall. She lives in Los Angeles, where she is organist at the United Armenian Congregational Church. Also a pianist, she is preparing for a performance on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, in June.
1970s
Congratulations to Paul Binkley (B.M., guitar, '79) and Adam Roszkiewicz (M.M., guitar, '03) for netting three Grammy nominations with their band the Modern Mandolin Quartet. The ensemble's CD Americana, featuring classical and contemporary pieces by Dvořák, Copland, Gershwin, Glass and others, was nominated in the categories of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, Best Engineered Album, Classical, and Producer of the Year, Classical.
Eliane Lust (piano, '76) performed a solo piano concert inspired by the exhibition
American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento last November.
1980s
Fireworks will come from the pit as well as the stage at the San Francisco Ballet this spring. Krista Bennion Feeney (B.M., violin, '81) and her Loma Mar Quartet perform as soloists in Ibsen's House and Criss-Cross, playing Dvorak's beloved Quintet for piano and strings, concerti grossi by Scarlatti and selected movements from Schoenberg's rarely-heard Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra.
Joan Harrison (B.M., cello, '85) has added the prefix "Dr." to her name. She completed her Ph.D. in education at the University of Ottawa with an emphasis in citizenship and arts education.
Mezzo-soprano Wendy Hillhouse (B.M., voice, '80) already has return engagements planned at Stanford's new Bing Concert Hall - as a soloist in Beethoven's Mass in C on March 15 and as part of a Stanford faculty trio performing Beethoven's Scottish Folk Songs on May 11. She sang John Duke's Lewis Carroll Songs during the hall's opening week in January. Hillhouse recently directed a Stanford Opera Theater production of Henry Cowell's unpublished opera The Commission, using a score she edited for performance after unearthing it at the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross included Aural Histories by Kristin Nordeval (M.M., voice, '87) as one of the best new CD releases on his blog The Rest is Noise. Nordeval's recording of voice and electronica showed up on Ross's short list of only four CDs that also included the Berlin Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Joyce DiDonato. Not bad company to keep.
Eugene Rodriguez (M.M., guitar, '88) was awarded a prestigious United States Artists Fellowship in December for his work promoting the revival of Mexican folk music. The Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center which Rodriguez founded in 1989 now supports an Academy where faculty and guest artists teach Bay Area youth traditional Mexican music, dance and arts. As a member of the professional touring group of the same name, Rodriguez has collaborated with Los Lobos, Lalo Guerrero and Linda Ronstadt and recorded some 20 CDs.
New Music USA awarded former preparatory faculty member Laura Schwendinger (B.M., composition, '81) a composer assistance grant for a recording project with the JACK Quartet. The CD will feature two of her string quartets, a vocal work and a musical memorial to her teacher and former Conservatory faculty member Andrew Imbrie. In April, Schwendinger receives her Alice Tully Hall debut when the New Juilliard Ensemble premieres her piece Sinfonietta.
Uri Wassertzug (M.M., chamber music, '89) will perform and teach at the Foulger International Music Festival at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, this summer. He continues to teach viola, violin and chamber music at George Washington University and to perform with the National Chamber Ensemble.
Check the 2000 listings for news about Kate Stenberg (B.M., violin, '84), Rick Shinozaki (Preparatory Division, violin, '86) and the Del Sol String Quartet.
1990s
Harana, a style of serenade from the Philippines, is the subject and title of a new film by Florante Aguilar (B.M., guitar, '96). A champion of music from his native country, Aguilar conceived of and produced the film, which depicts "the search for the last practitioners of this dying art and custom." It was screened at March's CAAMFest (formerly the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival). Aguilar studied with David Tanenbaum.
Philadelphia's Center City Opera Theater (CCOT) recently presented excerpts from Aguas Ancestrales, an opera trilogy written by Hector Armienta (M.M., composition, '97) and inspired by the life of his grandmother. CCOT will workshop the third part of the trilogy, La Muerte, later this year as part of its Hispanic Opera Initiative. Armienta is artistic director of Opera Cultura, a San Jose-based music theater training and performance program.
Mezzo-soprano Elena Bocharova (B.M., voice, '98) opened the Edmonton Opera's 50th anniversary season appearing as Amneris in a gala performance of Aida. In May, she performs Laura in La Gioconda at Opéra National de Paris and returns there next fall for a new production of Aida.
Riding the wave of its 20th anniversary season, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble presented a concert at the Conservatory in February featuring George Crumb's Voice of the Whale, Debussy's Images and new works written on nautical themes by emerging composers. The program "Cool Music-Clear Water" featured three Conservatory alumni: cellist Leighton Fong (M.M., chamber music, '91), flutist Stacey Pelinka (M.M. flute, '92) and guitarist Michael Goldberg (M.M., guitar, '90). The ensemble is led by Artistic Director and alumna Anna Presler (M.M., violin, '93).
Gary Ruschman (M.M., voice, '99) kicked off his ninth season with the acclaimed vocal ensemble Cantus by releasing a new recording On the Shoulders of Giants, his 12th CD with the group. Gary heads to Oman and Dubai with Cantus this spring on tour. He recently served on a teaching artist panel at the University of Minnesota, and as a judge for the 2013 Classical Singer Magazine competition.
Soprano Laura Decher Wayte (M.M., voice,'96) sang the role of Kitty Hart in Dead Man Walking with Eugene Opera in March. She returned to the Bay Area for an April 6 recital with piano and bass clarinet at Stanford University. Wayte teaches voice at the University of Oregon, where she invited the world to listen in to a live webcast of her February faculty recital.
Check the 2000 listings for news about Charlton Lee (M.M., viola, '93) and the Del Sol String Quartet.
2000s
After concluding a winter tour of Denmark, Sweden and British Columbia, the Afiara Quartet set out for gentler climes with shows booked in Mexico and Hawaii. In May, the Toronto-based ensemble comes to the Bay Area for a debut at Stanford's new Bing Concert Hall. Afiara includes violinist Yuri Cho (Artist Certificate, chamber music, '06), violist David Samuel (Artist Certificate, chamber music, '06) and Adrian Fung (B.M., cello, '08).
'September,' a canvas inspired by Strauss's Four Last Songs and painted by Paula Arciniega (M.M.,voice, '04), was awarded last fall as a prize at the Opera Canada's annual fundraiser, the Rubies. Soprano Elza van den Heever (M.M., voice, '04) performed the Strauss piece at a banquet honoring Canada's top opera stars. Arciniega continues to perform as a mezzo-soprano soloist in Toronto.
Leonie Bot (M.M., violin, '09) scored an illustrious achievement by winning a seat in the second violin section of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, one of the world's best symphony orchestras. Bot was a student of Axel Strauss.
Theodore Buchholz (B.M., cello, '04) appeared recently as guest artist at the University of Arizona, performing piano trios by Shostakovich and Daniel Asia, and as featured artist with the Tucson Repertory Orchestra, playing the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto. Buchholz is on faculty at Pima College and is president-elect of American String Teachers Association of Arizona.
Derek David (B.M., composition, '08) is a 2012 winner of the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award, a competition for composers of concert music under age thirty. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers chose David's work from a field of 750 entries.
The Del Sol String Quartet, featuring alumni Kate Stenberg (B.M., violin, '84), Rick Shinozaki (Preparatory Division, violin, '86), Charlton Lee (M.M., viola, '93) and Kathryn Bates Williams (M.M., chamber music, '07), has just released its latest album Zia on the Sono Luminus label. The CD explores world folk music as channeled by contemporary composers, and according to Examiner.com, "offers a geographically extensive and stimulating listening experience". Del Sol celebrated its 20 years of championing new music last December by presenting Del Sol Days, a week-long festival including performances, open rehearsals, composition workshops and four world premieres.
Jamie Drake (M.M., percussion, '06) toured Canada's Atlantic provinces last fall with the Toronto-based TorQ Percussion Quartet. The previous summer, the ensemble presented its first TorQ Percussion Seminar for college-age students at Acadia University. Drake is in the final year of a D.M.A. at the University of Toronto.
This spring, Jack Curtis Dubowsky (M.M., composition, '01) presents his research on Virgil Thomson's Pulitzer-prize winning score to Robert Flaherty's 1948 film Louisiana Story at Chicago's Society for Cinema and Media Studies and at the New York University conference on Music and the Moving Image. Dubowski's performing ensemble has also added a San Francisco performance to their calendar: May 23 at the Luggage Store Gallery.
The guitar team of Zac Selissen (M.M., guitar, '08) and Mike Roberts (M.M., composition, '08) released their first CD The Portable Nutcracker just in time for Christmas. At the same time, they announced a newly-minted name for their act: Duo Symphonius. The pair formerly was called the Judson-Tyler Duo.
Julio Elizalde (B.M., piano, '05) recently performed Beethoven's Cello Sonata cycle in New York City with former Conservatory faculty member Bonnie Hampton. Elizalde's next star turn will involve recording music by Lord of the Rings soundtrack composer Howard Shore for an upcoming film directed by Martin Scorsese.
Shaina Evoniuk (B.M., violin, '08) helped celebrate the twelfth anniversary of San Francisco's Jazz Mafia with a concert at the Fillmore last November. She is principal second violinist for the Mafia, a collective of different ensembles that blend jazz, classical, world and hip-hop.
Devin Farney (M.M., composition, '09) is one of three winners of the 2012 Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition. The BCMCC Chamber Players will premiere and record his work "Fire And Ice" for soprano, bassoon and piano. The score will be published by Imagine Music. Farney's principal instructor was Dan Becker.
Joshua Fishbein (M.M. Composition, '09) received two awards in Boston Metro Opera's International Composers' Competition. As winner of a Festival Award, his English Romantic Songs will be performed at the fourth annual Boston Contempo Festival in May. His setting of the hymn Adon Olam, which won a Merit Award, will be performed during BMO's regular season. Fishbein was a student of David Conte.
Myung-Ji Lee (B.M., piano, '08) won First Prize in the biennial Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. As part of the honor, she'll perform a recital this year at the Liszt Ferenc Museum and Research Center in Budapest. Lee is currently a D.M.A. candidate at the University of Arizona School of Music.
The San Francisco troupe Mugwumpin recently premiered an original work created by an ensemble including Conservatory stage director and choreographer Michael Mohammed (M.M., voice, '00). The Great Big Also combines theater, choreography and personal narratives to explore the American Prophetic tradition of doomsday cults and imagined utopias. The San Francisco Chronicle called it a "magnetically performed" piece of theater.
Soprano Ann Moss (Postgraduate Diploma, voice, '05) appeared in January with the Eco Ensemble in a concert presented by Cal Performances. She sang Ivan Fedele's 1995 score for the film La Chute de la Maison Usher written by Jean Epstein for soprano and small orchestra.
Sharmay Musacchio (M.M., voice, '01) recently debuted with New York City Opera, singing the role of Mrs. Grose in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw.
The very first CD released by ZOFO Duet, the inimitable duo of Conservatory staff pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi (M.M., piano, '06) and fellow pianist Eva-Maria Zimmerman, garnered two 2012 Grammy nominations. Mind Meld features four-hand arrangements of works by Bernstein, Shapero, Debussy and Stravinksy's Rite of Spring. It was nominated in the categories of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and Producer of the Year, Classical. ZOFO is looking forward to the release of their second CD Mosh Pit this spring.
Soprano Lang Michelle Nixon (M.M., voice, '08) recently debuted at the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara in a concert of Mozart arias and duets. She performs with the company again in April, appearing as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, her role debut. Also in April, Nixon sings Musetta in La bohčme in with the Associazione Musicale MUSICARTE in the region of Puglia, Italy.
After performing Lucia di Lammermoor and Madama Butterfly last fall with Orchestra Victoria, Australia's leading opera and ballet orchestra, Ben Opie (M.M., oboe, '09) turned to works of a different flavor, performing and recording French oboe and piano Sonatas. When not occupied as associate principal oboe with the West Australian Symphony, Opie spent much of last year collaborating on projects like radio documentaries, performance art installations and opera tours.
The Long Valley, an orchestral work by Jeffrey Parola (M.M., composition, '05), was selected from among 130 entries as winner of the 2012 EAMA Prize. The European American Musical Alliance chooses works that express a "profound artistic message." Reflecting on his family history in the Salinas Valley, Parola writes "The Long Valley is an intensely personal work, dedicated to my place of birth, wrapped up in the nostalgia of my youth and sense of my homeland." The piece won the 2009 Jim Highsmith Award and was premiered by the Conservatory Orchestra.
The Amphion String Quartet, featuring David Southorn (B.M., violin,'07), took up residency last fall at the Caramoor Center for the Arts. The quartet makes its Weill Recital Hall debut at Carnegie Hall this month and then passes through San Francisco on a tour of northern California.
Alyssa Stone (Postgraduate Diploma, voice, '09) recently pulled up stakes from San Francisco and headed north to become the first teaching artist in Seattle Opera's new Education Department. She also teaches for the Seattle Symphony's Soundbridge education program and leads classes for Youth Theatre Northwest. Stone also stormed the northwestern stage in her first cabaret performance, presented by Seattle Opera. She studied with Cathy Cook.
Fielding a deep bench of Conservatory talent in its genre-bending lineup of ensembles, the sixth annual Switchboard Music Festival electrified the Brava Theater in San Francisco's Mission District in March. Participating alumni groups include ZOFO Duet, Ignition Duo, Areon Flutes and Sqwonk, the bass clarinet duo of faculty member Jeff Anderle (M.M., clarinet, '06) and Jon Russell (M.M., composition, '03) who, along with Ryan Brown (M.M., composition, '05), co-founded the festival.
Ross Thompson (M.M., guitar, '04) pronounced himself "over the moon" about having the Conservatory Guitar Ensemble premiere the first movement to his First Symphony in March. The performance was conducted by ensemble director David Tanenbaum.
Annie An-Li Tseng (Professional Studies Diploma, flute, '08) is enjoying her job as piccolo player for the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, a tenured position she has held since 2011. Tseng also performs with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Macao Orchestra and was chosen to participate in Japan's 2010 Pacific Music Festival.
Winton Yuichiro White (M.M., composition, '08) made his conducting debut with Beyond The Stage Productions in Los Angeles, leading a performance of Carmen. White also served as chorus master in a narrated version of the opera that included hip hop and modern dance. The role of Don José was sung by Micheal Smith (M.M., voice, '08) who also serves as the company's executive director.
Wild Rumpus romped into its second season by presenting the winners of its very first Commissioning Project. The ensemble, comprised of Conservatory alumni and dedicated to fostering young and emerging composers, chose eight winners from over 215 applicants. Rumpus premiered their works in November at San Francisco's Community Music Center. The group includes Amy Sedan (M.M., flute, '09), student of Tim Day; Sophie Huet (M.M., clarinet, '09), student of Luis Baez; Joanne DeMars (M.M., cello,'12), student of Jennifer Culp and Maria Janus (M.M., voice, '10), student of Jane Randolph.
When Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra took Berg's opera Wozzeck on the road last fall, Michael Williams (B.M., flute, '09) jumped in for the ride. Williams played the works' tortuous marching band sections in concert performances at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A., and New York's Avery Fisher Hall.
Winning as much notoriety and respect for her committed performance as for her shaved head, Elza van den Heever (M.M., voice, '04) made a triumphant debut at the Metropolitan Opera. New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini praised her "vocally burnished and emotionally tempestuous" portrayal of Elisabetta in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, which she performed opposite Joyce DiDonato in a run that lasted through January.
Jillian Yu (M.M., flute, '08) helped lead 18,000 students in musical worship at the Urbana Christian Conference, a stadium-sized event held every three years at the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis.
Check the 1970s listings for news about Adam Roszkiewicz (M.M., guitar, '03) and the Modern Mandolin Quartet.
See the 2010s listings for news about the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival and Indre Viskontas (M.M., voice, '08) and Charles Akert (M.M.,cello, '08).
2010s
The Cleveland Clinic has invited Mark Ackerley (M.M., composition, '10) to speak at a May conference on personalized healthcare. The musical connection? Ackerley's software project "DNA Melody," which spins genetic data into short tunes. A composer can't get much more personal than that. Ackerly studied with Conrad Susa and David Garner.
Rebekah AuYeung (M.M., voice, '10) was soprano soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony last November with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. She sang the challenging work with the moral and vocal support of her younger sister Ruth Kenote, who performed the mezzo-soprano solos. Rebekah is a student of Jane Randolph.
Recent graduate Marco Behtash (B.A., double bass, '12) is on trial for a tenure-track position with the London Symphony Orchestra. Behtash, who transferred to the Conservatory after studying engineering in Illinois, says it's a challenge suddenly to have to uphold world-class standards - especially against European peers who have experience playing with major orchestras - but that the atmosphere at the LSO has been friendly and calm despite the pressure. Behtash was a student of Scott Pingel.
Megan Cullen (M.M., voice, '10) was invited back to Des Moines Metro Opera as an Apprentice Artist, where she will sing the role of the Overseer and cover the title role in Strauss' Elektra. She will also confront her first Brünnhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre with Verismo Opera this fall. Cullen studied with César Ulloa.
"The Illusionist" by Stefan Cwik (B.M. composition, '10) won the Juilliard Orchestral Composition Competition, an honor Cwik received for the second year in a row. The Juilliard Orchestra performed the work in February. Cwik was a student of David Conte.
As an Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera Center, AJ Glueckert (M.M., voice, '10) has his work cut out for him this season. The tenor will create the role of Knox in the world premiere of Dolores Claiborne by Tobias Picker while covering the title role in Tales Of Hoffmann and Peter in the world premiere of Mark Adamo's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene. Recently, Glueckert appeared with Opera Philadelphia as the Kronprinz in the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night. He continues to study with César Ulloa.
An ambitious concert series devoted to new and rarely-heard works debuts this month. Curious Flights, founded by Brenden Guy (M.M., clarinet, '10), takes wing April 26 with a concert at San Francisco's Community Music Center featuring a world premiere by Joseph Stillwell (M.M., composition, '10) performed by Valinor Winds, an ensemble including Guy and other Conservatory alums. The alumni ensemble Aleron Trio will also perform. Upcoming season highlights include a performance of Britten's Movements for a Clarinet Concerto, conducted by Conservatory Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Alasdair Neale with Guy as soloist. Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to a Conservatory fund benefiting international students. Guy studied with Luis Baez.
Soprano Coco Harris (M.M., voice, '11) wrote an article featured in the January issue of Classical Singer about her experience at the Vancouver International Song Institute last June. Harris studied with Patricia Craig.
Lo-An Lin (B.M., piano, '10) won the Gold Medal at the 2012 San Antonio International Piano Competition. In addition to a cash prize, Lin receives a performance with the San Antonio Symphony and engagements for a solo recital and a week of chamber music festival concerts. Lin was a student of Yoshi Nagai.
Mezzo-soprano Molly Mahoney (M.M., voice, '10) recently performed the role of Zerlina in Pocket Opera's Don Giovanni with shows in Napa, Berkeley and San Francisco. The production was directed by Ted Zoldan (B.M., voice, '11), former voice student of Leroy Kromm. Mahoney studies with Catherine Cook.
Soprano Emma McNairy (B.M., voice, '11) recently sang the title role in L'incoronazione di Poppea with West Edge Opera in El Cerrito. The cast also featured voice faculty member soprano Christine Brandes as Nero. This spring, McNairy joins the Internationales Bach Akademie Stuttgart for Bach's St. Matthew Passion under the direction of Helmuth Rilling with performances in Germany and Chile. This summer, McNairy will cover the role of Papagena in Die Zauberflöte as a Vocal Fellow at Music Academy of the West, Marilyn Horne's prestigious summer program in Santa Barbara. McNairy studied with Pamela Fry.
Sarasota Opera has received a quadruple dose of Conservatory alumni this year. Caitlin McSherry (B.M., violin, '07) who studied with Axel Strauss, Alex Rosenfeld (M.M., horn, '05) a collegiate student of Robert Ward, and Kathryn Curran (M.M., trombone, '05) who studied with Mark Lawrence, all performed as members of Sarasota Opera Orchestra during the 2013 WInter Festival Season including a celebration of Verdi's Bicentennial. Soprano Maria Natale (B.M., voice, '07) also made her Sarasota Opera debut as Liu in Puccini's Turandot in February 2013. Natale was a student of Pamela Fry.
Ari Micich (Professional Studies Diploma, trumpet, '12) was recently appointed co-principal trumpet of the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban South Africa. Micich was a student of Mark Inouye and Dave Burkhart.
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