Spring 2016 I 1

academic type coming in from the East Coast or some other ivy-covered walls for a couple-year stop before moving on to bigger and better things.

As the email from Owen arrived, I grabbed the link to his announcement story and noted the accompanying phone number provided for contacting the new president since we had been promised a one-on-one interview once everything was official that evening.

List of questions at my side, I saw the phone number was of the 658 variety. So I’m thinking, OK, well, the new president must be in town, that’s a local number.

As I am starting to dial, the link to the story opens up and I instantly see the headline: “Mark McCoy is named 20th president of DePauw University.”

The phone is ringing, I’m smiling, and yes, the Mark McCoy now on the other end of the landline is the Mark McCoy we have come to know from various “communiversity” interactions over the past few years.

With a laugh, all I can muster to say when I hear his voice is, “Well, I didn’t see that coming” as I flip my list of questions over my shoulder.

“How about that?” McCoy responds.

Yeah, how about that.

New DePauw President Looking to Leave His MarkEric Bernsee, with permission of Greencastle Banner-Graphic

As zero hour neared for the DePauw University Board of Trustees to put an official stamp of approval on the 20th president in the storied history of the college on March 7, some behind-the-scene posturing was evolving.

The news of Mark McCoy’s ascendancy from dean of the School of Music to president of the university would be embargoed for news media release until 7:45 p.m. with DPU alumni being informed via email blast just prior – a 21st-century nod to getting the word out collectively and conveniently. As soon as that occurred, we planned to drop said release on our website and tweet out 140 characters of content to the world.

Awaiting that press release and other information from DePauw media relations

DEPAUW SCHOOL OF MUSIC NEWSLETTER SPRING 2016

L I S T E N

director Ken Owen, we managed to rough out a couple questions for DePauw’s new head honcho. Popping into our head were queries like: What are your first impressions of Greencastle? What interested you in DePauw in the first place? Do you have any prior connection with the university? Have you ever eaten a garlic cheeseburger?

OK, so I made that last one up.

But you get the picture, we were trying to find a way to localize a conversation with what seemed almost certain to be an

Lisa and Mark McCoy following the announcement that the dean of the DePauw School of Music will become the 20th president of DePauw University. His appointment officially begins July 1, 2016.

(Continued on page 2.)

2 I Spring 2016

Adler served as executive director of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York City, providing direction and leadership towards the achievement of Orpheus’ artistic and administrative goals and expanding the Orpheus Institute. Adler also served as director of education and community partnerships for the Philadelphia Orchestra and as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s director for learning development.

President-elect Mark McCoy announced that Ayden Adler, formerly senior vice president and dean of the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), will become the next dean of the DePauw University School of Music. She will assume leadership of the nation’s sixth-oldest private institution for post-secondary music instruction and the longest-running in Indiana on July 1, 2016.

“I couldn’t be more excited to share the news that Dr. Adler, who has extensive experience and has earned immense respect as a musician and an administrator, is bringing her many talents to DePauw and to the 21st Century Musician Initiative,” said McCoy. “Dr. Adler is a creative, forward-thinking musician and educator who epitomizes what it takes to adapt

McCoy lives in Greencastle and has for five years. His wife Lisa teaches at Tzouanakis. His triplet daughters go to school alongside the twin sons of one of our advertising reps. I’ve seen him at holiday events, public occasions and Walmart.

By all accounts, the McCoys love it here and didn’t want to leave. Certainly he was much sought after by larger institutions for his music school résumé – if not a presidency – what with the success McCoy has had in turning the School of Music into a community treasure. Think Music on the Square (M2), the Putnam County Strings Program, innumerable musical events at the Green Center from the Holiday Gala to the Global Music Initiative to Yo-Yo Ma visiting to cut the ceremonial ribbon on the downtown facility.

And all the while he’s made us in Greencastle comfortably feel part of it – from the three-segment “Opera and Wine” series last fall to this spring’s “Barbecue,

President (Continued from page 1.)Bourbon and Blues,” McCoy has seen to it the community has been exposed to the riches DePauw has to offer as well. He’s been the Timothy Ubben of the School of Music – sans the billion-dollar portfolio.

The first time I heard McCoy voice his dead-on “communiversity” term, linking community and university as one, I was impressed not just by the wordplay but that it was obvious he embodies what the term conveys.

And that hasn’t been lost on community leaders. City Councilman Dave Murray took a couple moments during the [March] monthly meeting to express his excitement that McCoy is “somebody who gets it,” adding that for the Greencastle/Putnam County community his appointment is “good news for us.”

It was also apparent in observing the reception line at the Green Center, where community leaders and local residents lined up right alongside DePauw faculty and staff to shake the new president’s hand and wish

him well. There haven’t been that many smiles in one place on campus since the Monon Bell last called Greencastle home.

“Be Heard” is the motto McCoy has bestowed upon the School of Music, noted Board of Trustees Chairman Marshall Reavis in introducing the new president to what could only be described as an adoring crowd that afternoon in the Great Hall.

There’s no doubt Mark McCoy certainly will be heard as president of DePauw and leave his mark as the communicator of communiversity.

The first thing he told the audience was how he had sent a text to Reavis as soon as official action was taken on his new position Monday afternoon. McCoy’s text to Reavis read: “Let’s do good things.”

Reavis responded in kind with: “Let’s do great things.”

“Let’s do good things greatly,” McCoy replied.

and succeed in a changing musical universe. She will lead this grand school to new heights.”

“I believe music and the arts are central to the creative, collaborative and innovative thinking required in society today,” said Adler. “I am excited to build on the work of President-elect McCoy and the DePauw University School of Music to support students and faculty as they explore contemporary ways to engage and serve communities both inside and outside traditional arts environments.”

At NWS in Miami Beach, Adler expanded the fellowship program to focus on audience engagement, entrepreneurship and leadership development, in addition to orchestral training and musicianship. Previously,

Ayden Adler to be next Dean

Spring 2016 I 3

Music of the 21st Century festival honors composer Gabriela Lena FrankDana E. Hart ’16, contributing writer

DePauw University’s 14th annual Music of the 21st Century festival recognized the work of composer Gabriela Lena Frank, who traveled to Greencastle for a guest residency with the School of Music, Feb. 15–19, 2016. The native Californian’s music, which synthesizes her varied ethnic backgrounds, has won her both a Latin Grammy Award for best Contemporary Classical Music Composition in 2009 for Inca Dances and a 2011 Grammy Award nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album. Frank began her five-day residency, underwritten through the generous support of DePauw alumni Robert A. and Margaret A. Schmidt ’69 and coordinated by DePauw School of Music Professor Carla Edwards, with coaching sessions in preparation for three public performances. The first of these events at Music on the Square was presented in the venue’s popular “Club M2” format and included a performance of the composer’s multi-movement work Hilos by the DePauw Chamber Players. The weekly Student Recital Hour, featuring “A Conversation with Gabriela Lena Frank” and moderated by composition faculty member Scott Perkins, allowed an opportunity for audience Q&A.

Thursday’s performance in Thompson Recital Hall focused on Frank’s smaller chamber works and featured Adagio at Dusk, which the composer performed with faculty pianist May Phang.

For Friday night’s gala closing concert, followed by a reception with the artists, the DePauw University band, choirs and orchestra presented compositions for large ensembles. Featured on this program were Frank’s Requiem for a Magical America, commissioned by Carnegie Hall; the evocative choral work Hombre Errante; and Three Latin American Dances for Orchestra, which turns to the harmonies and rhythms of indigenous Latin American dance forms for its inspiration.

Born in Berkeley, Calif., Frank studied piano at Rice University followed by studies in composition at University of Michigan. Her musical style, drawn from her Peruvian, Chinese and Lithuanian ancestry, conveys a deep search for identity. The Kronos Quartet and the Silk Road Project are among many major ensembles that have commissioned works by Frank. She has also served as composer-in-residence for the Aspen Music Festival and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO).

On a 2008 visit to Indiana, Frank not only composed Peregrinos – an ISO commission based on stories told by Latino immigrants in the area – but she also worked with student musicians, including Kevin Salinas ’18, now principal bassoonist with the DePauw University Orchestra. 

“I was a member of the Latino Youth Collective of Indianapolis, where [Frank] met my brother, Irving, and me. She ended up writing the second movement of her piece about us, inspired by our Hispanic heritage,” the sophomore said.

“My favorite aspect of her music is how she is able to imitate the Latin American instruments she listened to while living in South America,” noted Salinas, who performed Frank’s Three Latin American Dances during the Gala Closing Concert.

“It was because of Gabriella that I decided to go into music. It was incredibly mean-ingful to me to re-connect with her now that I’m actually doing what she’d inspired me to do when I met first her in 2008.”

Composer-in-residence for the School’s next Music of the 21st Century Festival, February 27-March 3, 2017, will be Christopher Theofanidis.

Gabriela Lena Frank (left) rehearses with faculty pianist May Phang. Frank was composer-in-residence for DePauw’s annual Music of the 21st Century festival (Feb. 15–19, 2016).

4 I Spring 2016

Sarah Richards ’63 RecognizedKristin Champa ’91, director of school of music development, and Emily Chew Peláez ’99, development communications writer

Sarah Marks Richards ’63 has come a long way since her childhood in rural Washington, Ind., making an indelible impression in the arts community of Hawaii, her adopted home for more than 40 years.

Although she studied both English and music and her career has been directly related to music and the arts, Richards says she knew before graduation that the performance lifestyle was not something she desired. She did thrive on new experiences, travel and continuing education, though. She spent a year living abroad with a friend in Spain, teaching English as a Second Language and traveling around Europe by car. While many of her classmates were married soon after graduation, Richards dedicated her first decade outside of DePauw to travel, teaching, graduate school and developing her career. She served as dean of women at Albion College, dean of students at Chaminade University in Honolulu, and executive director of Hawaii’s State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. She oversaw that agency’s growth from $1 million to $10 million, achieving a national ranking for Hawaii as number one in per capita state support for the arts. 

Richards was a founder and president of Hawaii Opera Theatre and led it to independence from its parent, the Honolulu Symphony. As president of Hawaii Theatre Center, she led a $32 million effort to restore and renovate the deteriorating, historic former vaudeville theatre that is now a major performing arts center in downtown Honolulu and was recognized in 2005 as Most Outstanding Historic Theater in America.

Retired since 2014 after serving 25 years as Hawaii Theatre Center’s top executive, Richards was recently awarded the Hawai`i Arts Alliance’s 2015 Alfred Preis Honor for her lifetime support of the arts and arts education in Hawaii. This award was particularly meaningful to Richards not only because of the tremendous outreach done by the Arts Alliance but also because Alfred Preis, the architect best known for designing the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, was a close friend and her predecessor at the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. Richards’ dedication to the arts is not restricted to Hawaii. Motivated by the momentum of DePauw’s School of Music, her love of opera and interest in supporting the development of young talent through performance opportunities, she has included support for DePauw’s performing arts students in her estate plan. This winter, she committed $1 million to establish the Sarah Marks Richards Opera Program Endowment in the School of Music.

With GratitudeKristin Champa ’91, director of school of music development

The School of Music is grateful for recent gifts from alumni, parents and friends in support of the 21st-Century Musician Initiative and those who choose to support the school through The Fund for DePauw.

Max Hittle ’66A longtime School of Music enthusiast, Max Hittle says, “Always a supporter of our School of Music, I wanted to commemorate the 50th reunion of my Class of 1966 with a special gift to the School. I chose to make this unrestricted estate gift enhancement in honor of D. Mark McCoy, DePauw’s newly named president, and his wonderful transformation of our School of Music into the leading national example of 21st-century musicianship.”

Sarah Marks Richards ’63 A lifelong enthusiast and philanthropist of the arts, Sarah has become deeply interested in DePauw’s School of Music. To ensure that the School will have the capacity to continue to develop and support young, talented singers and musicians through performance opportunities in opera, she has established the Sarah Marks Richards Opera Program Endowment in the University’s School of Music. (See also story at left.)

Richards says she draws constantly upon the knowledge, leadership skills and strong sense of community she developed at DePauw, along with her mother, Dorothy Ruth Stratton Marks ’32 and several members of her family. The endowed fund recognizes her commitment to music, family and the value of a liberal arts education.

Spring 2016 I 5

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra saluted friend and artistic partner Joseph Flummerfelt during its concert on March 17, 2016, with the New York premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Karawane, an imaginative piece by the orchestra’s Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence. The performance was the culminating event in the DePauw alum’s extremely successful 44-year span as chorus master for New York Philharmonic concerts – beginning with Leonard Bernstein in 1971.

Flummerfelt, who received a Bachelor of Music degree from DePauw in 1958, began his academic career as director of choral activities at his alma mater, teaching at DePauw from 1964 to 1968 and later returning as visiting professor in 2004 – the year in which he was named Conductor of the Year by Musical America. The acclaimed conductor will retire after this season.

A thoughtfully written feature on Flummerfelt by Marcia Young in the March issue of Playbill magazine was among tributes offered this spring in appreciation of the conductor’s deeply musical nature and the crucial behind-the-scenes role of the choral preparer. This

Acclaimed choral conductor Joseph Flummerfelt ’58 will retire at the conclusion of this season.

The New York Choral Artists and its founder and director, Joseph Flummerfelt, applauded by Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic. (Photos by Chris Lee.)

A Toast to Maestro Joseph Flummerfelt ’58InsideStory can be found here at nyphil.org/whats-new/2016/march/~/media/pdfs/concerts-tickets/1516/Inside.

Highlights of the chorus master’s career with the Philharmonic include an unforgettable performance of Brahms’s A German Requiem presented nine days after 9/11, John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls a year later (the recording of which won three Grammy Awards) and last season’s Verdi Requiem.

Flummerfelt founded the fully professional New York Choral Artists choir in 1979, and he is also an artistic director for the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston. For 23 years, he was the maestro del coro for the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, and for 33 years was conductor of the world-renowned Westminister Choir.

His rich and varied musical career has included collaborations with such eminent conductors as Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa and Robert Shaw. His choirs have performed with the Berlin, Los Angeles, New York and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras; Boston,

National, New Jersey and Pittsburgh symphonies; Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam.

Remaining appearances by the legendary music director include the Choral Conducting Symposium for professional educators and conductors to be held June 20–24, 2016, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Flummerfelt received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

At the beginning of the New York Philharmonic’s final March 16 rehearsal for the Karawane premiere, music director Alan Gilbert congratulated the School of Music alumnus on stage as the orchestra gave him a rousing round of applause.

“At DePauw, we ‘raise our voices high’ to Maestro Flummerfelt,” Dean and President-Elect Mark McCoy said. “For the many memorable ovations and years of musical leadership, we thank you, and we look forward to your return to your Indiana home. You are an inspiration to us all.”

6 I Spring 2016

Faculty and Staff NewsB. Suzanne Hassler, editor

In January, cellist Eric Edberg, Cassel Grubb University Professor of Music, performed in New York City with the Latin Grammy-winning pianist and composer Fernando Otero, at the Consulate General of Argentina, and gave a recital with pianist Taka Kigawa at Spectrum, a new art-and-music space. The New York Times listed the latter program as a featured event and praised Edberg’s “appealing tone” and the way he “vividly captured the stark, wailing character of the opening section and moments of humor” in Alfred Schnittke’s Sonata No. 2. Photos of his #celloeverywhere pop-up performances around Manhattan gained a large following on Instagram. He was also a guest teacher and performer at Colorado Mesa University in February for a presentation to music faculty on DePauw’s 21st-Century Musician Initiative. 

Last fall, Kerry Jennings performed in Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen as part of the Tabernacle Presbyterian Community Concert Series in Indianapolis. He also performed with faculty pianist Amanda Hopson at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation for its Music Unites Concert Series. Jennings returned to Houston as tenor soloist with the Houston Camerata to record Fonseca’s Missa Afro-Brasileira.  He sang Handel’s Messiah in March with the Virginia Chorale, performing the work as originally conceived by the composer for its 1742 premiere in Dublin – with chamber choir and soloists joined by a period orchestra of 15 for this rare event. In January, Jennings served as local coordinator for the joint NOA/NATS conference held in Indianapolis. He will also serve on the Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition committee for the National Opera Association this year.

Thomas King, part-time assistant professor of music, continues to judge for the AllTech singing competition at University of Kentucky in Lexington. More than half a million dollars in vocal scholarships and stipends have been awarded each year through this competition, which King has judged since 2007. He also continues to audition singers and pianists for the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. AIMS Summer Vocal Institute celebrates its 48th year in the beautiful city of Graz, close to the Hungarian and Slovenian borders of Austria. King is a longtime board member of AIMS and was artistic director for seven years until he retired in 2010. Five local singers from Indiana (DePauw University and Indiana University) will attend this summer. King has been a sabbatical replacement for voice professors at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since January 2015.

Craig Paré, director of University Bands, was a guest conductor for two band festivals: the 68th annual Dorian Band Festival, held Feb. 28-29, 2016, at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he rehearsed and conducted a select honor band of 259 high school musicians from Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin; and the White River Valley (Ind.) Band Festival on March 15, conducting a band of 232 student musicians from five Greene County high schools.  

March was a busy month for theory and composition professor Scott Perkins. DePauw faculty organist Carla Edwards premiered his November Skyline, a post-minimalist work inspired by music of Radiohead, which she commissioned last fall. He received his first recording deal for a disc of his secular choral works, which Navona Records will release next year. Augsburg Fortress, official publisher of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, published its fourth of his sacred choral works. Perkins looks forward to freelance-composing in New York City and New Haven, Conn., this

fall, when he will begin work on his first full-length opera.

During the fall semester, Mark Rabideau, newly appointed director of DePauw’s 21st-Century Musician Initiative, was a presenter on the topic of shared attributes of the artist and entrepreneur – curiosity, creativity, collaboration – at the National Association of Schools of Music (St. Louis), Society of Arts Entrepreneurship Educators (Columbus), and National Conference of the College Music Society (Indianapolis). His current book project, “The Revolutionary Artist: A 21CM Guide to Music Entrepreneurship,” aims to transform the ways in which we prepare 21st-century musicians by cultivating the creative and imaginative powers that reside at the heart of the artist-entrepreneur. 

In May, DePauw School of Music professor and voice area coordinator Caroline B. Smith judged the Classical Singer National High School Competition Finals in Boston, where she also gave a master class for high school students competing at the National Competition.

Percussion faculty member Bonnie Whiting joined International Contemporary Ensemble in six performances of Louis Andriessen’s epic music theater work De Materie in March at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. Whiting was an on-stage percussionist, working with dancers in the first act’s shipbuilding scene. The New York Times reviewer Anthony Tommasini wrote: “… this performance – featuring two fine solo singers; the impressive eight-member Chorwerk Ruhr; a roster of dancers; and the brilliant International Contemporary Ensemble, expanded with extra players – was colorful, exciting and during reflective episodes, raptly beautiful.”

Spring 2016 I 7

Violin Professor Tarn Travers Joins Roster of Ensemble Dal NienteKen Owen, director of media relations Tarn Travers, violinist and assistant professor at DePauw University School of Music, joined the roster of artists who comprise Ensemble Dal Niente. The group is a 21-member, Chicago-based contemporary music collective that presents and performs new music in ways that redefine listening experience and advance the art form.

Travers has frequently performed with Ensemble Dal Niente as a guest, including performances of Georg Friedrich Haas’s In Vain and most recently the Neue Musik tour in December 2015. His first appearance as an official member of the Dal Niente roster was Feb. 28, 2016 as part of Frequency Festival series at the Constellation Performing Arts Theater in Chicago.

A December 2015 The New York Times review of a performance at New York City’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music called Ensemble Dal Niente “a superb contemporary-music collective” and praised the playing of Travers.

The violinist has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Japan as a soloist and chamber musician. Travers spent three years as a violinist in New World Symphony, where he often led the orchestra as concertmaster under numerous conductors, including Michael Tilson Thomas, baroque expert Ton Koopman and new music specialist Susanna Mälkki. He is currently a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony and Firebird Chamber Orchestra, and he was principal second violin of the Festival Orchestra for the International Beethoven Festival in Chicago in 2012 and 2013. In 2001 he was a prizewinner at the Heifetz Guarneri auditions, which led to a performance on the historic “ex-David” Guarneri, the favored violin of Jascha Heifetz.

Professor Travers served on the faculty of Luther College and AlpenKammerMusik in the Austrian Alps. At DePauw, he teaches violin and chamber music. He holds degrees from San Francisco Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music and Stony Brook University.

Student NewsHannah Joy Gauthier ’17, editor

Blake C. Beckemeyer ’17 (tenor, Bachelor of Music and mathematics double major) will perform the role of Grimoaldo in Rodelinda by Handel in the Halifax Summer Opera Festival. Blake studies with Professor Caroline Smith and was most recently heard as Laurie in the DePauw Opera production of Mark Adamo’s Little Women. 

Kurt A. Clare ’19 (baritone, vocal performance), a first-year student in the studio of Professor Caroline Smith, will attend the prestigious American Institute of Musical Studies’ Lieder Studio in Graz, Austria, from July 4 to Aug. 15, 2016. The Lieder Studio’s curriculum focuses on preparing and performing repertoire of German Lieder, including studies in German language, German diction, as well as poetry and composers of German Lieder. All participants take daily conversational German language classes, attend historical lectures on voice and opera, and work with the Institute’s acclaimed professional coaches, pianists and voice faculty. 

Logan A. Dell’Acqua ’18 (baritone, vocal performance), a student studying with Professor Caroline Smith, will perform with the Bay View Music Festival SOARS program, an opera intensive that includes voice lessons, church performances, master classes and opera scenes. In February, Logan performed the role of Friedrich Bhaer in the DePauw Opera production of Little Women.

Hannah Joy Gauthier ’17 (soprano, Bachelor of Musical Arts), who has studied with Professor Caroline Smith, was awarded a professional contract to sing with Ohio Light Opera Company for summer 2016. For 36 seasons, Ohio Light Opera has dedicated itself to exploration and production of the best traditional operetta and musical theater. Founded

(Continued on page 8.)

8 I Spring 2016

by James Stuart as a Gilbert and Sullivan repertory summer festival, the company has grown to encompass all forms in the light opera canon, including complete Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, as well as treasures from the Viennese, French, Hungarian, German and American repertoire.

Dana E. Hart ’16 (mezzo-soprano, vocal performance) was offered summer roles with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Miami Opera Festival and

Brooklyn Opera Institute. She accepted the opportunity to sing Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro on the Big Island of Hawaii. Dana recently performed the role of Meg in the DePauw Opera production of Little Women. She has been accepted for graduate work at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University-Bloomington and at Southern Methodist University. Dana studies with Caroline Smith.

Winners of the DePauw School of Music Concerto Competition featured as soloists in the April 10, 2016 Winners’ Concert in Kresge Auditorium are (left to right): Julie A. Strauser ’16 (voice), Natalia Fumero ’18 (clarinet), Mei Fujisato ’18 (violin), Julia E. Massicotte ’17 (voice), Sungmin P. Kim ’17 (cello), B. Peter Lockman ’17 (cello) and Dallas P. Gray ’17 (voice).

DePauw excelled at the National Opera Association 2016 Competition in Indianapolis on Jan. 7, 2016. Voice majors Shannon Y. Barry ’17, Sarah J. Pistorius ’17 and Addy M. Sterrett ’16 were finalists in the Opera Division I category, performing the opening trio from Act I of Antonin Dvořák’s Rusalka. Voice majors Dallas P. Gray ’17, Dylan B. Prentice ’17 and Julie A. Strauser ’16 placed first in the Musical Theatre Division with the scene “Poison in My Pocket” from Steven Lutvak’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, under the direction of Steven R. Linville ’06. DePauw accompanist Anthony Weinstein played for both groups.

Lance J. Orta ’14 (tenor, Bachelor of Music), a student of Professor Kerry Jennings, will attend Indiana University in the fall to pursue a Master of Music degree in voice at Jacobs School of Music. Lance was a first-place winner in his category at the regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competition.

Yazid T. Pierce-Gray ’16 (baritone, Bachelor of Music), a student of Professor Caroline Smith, will perform the main stage roles of Sid in Albert Herring and Silvio in Pagliacci as an Emerging Artist participant in the 66th season of Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point (May 18-July 16, 2016). He most recently performed the role of John Brooke in the DePauw production of Little Women. Yazid, who served the School of Music this year as a 21CM senior intern, has graduate school offers from University of Michigan, Southern Methodist University, University of Houston and Louisiana State University. 

Sarah J. Pistorius ’17 (mezzo-soprano, vocal performance) will be a Studio Artist at Opera in the Ozarks this summer, singing in main-stage choruses and in roles for the outreach program. Sarah, who studies with Professor Caroline Smith, performed the leading role of Jo in the DePauw Opera production of Little Women.

Bo D. Shimmin ’19 (tenor, vocal performance) was hired for a summer internship at Central City Opera and will work with the director of production and director of operations. Bo, a student of Kerry Jennings, competed in the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition and took first place in his category.

Marin M. Tack ’18 (soprano, vocal performance) was a featured soloist on music of Gabriela Lena Frank during the School’s Music of the 21st Century Festival in February. She was accepted for the Bay View Music Festival SOARS program, where she will perform in opera scenes, at churches and in master classes. Marin studies with Caroline Smith. 

Spring 2016 I 9

Nine Outstanding Students Represent DePauw in CBDNA Intercollegiate BandNine DePauw musicians – Riley Y. Bernardi ’19 (flute), Diana V. Dolquist ’19 (bassoon), Jamie J. Edwards ’19 (flute), Natalia Fumero ’18 (clarinet), Zachary J. Jacobs ’17 (percussion), Christopher D. Kaercher ’18 (trombone), Nate Smith ’17 (horn), Hanae Weber ’16 (oboe) and Allan R. Whitehead ’18 (trumpet) – performed as members of the select 2016 CBDNA Intercollegiate Band, a distinguished ensemble composed of university and college music students from around the state.

Sponsored by the Indiana chapter of College Band Directors National Association, students were nominated by Craig Paré, conductor of the DePauw University Band. “College band directors are invited to nominate up to 10 collegiate musicians they feel would qualify for this premier ensemble, which convenes every two years,” Paré said.

Students were chosen, through an independent selection process, to participate in two days of rehearsals,

Pictured (left to right): Zachary J. Jacobs, Natalia Fumero, Hanae Weber, Jamie J. Edwards, Riley Y. Bernardi, Diana V. Dolquist, Nate Smith, Allan R. Whitehead and Christopher D. Kaercher; rear: guest conductor H. Robert Reynolds.

leading to a concert performance at the Indiana Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference in Ft. Wayne, Jan. 14–16, 2016. This year, the Intercollegiate Band was the headliner ensemble, performing on Friday evening in the elegant Embassy Theatre.

The band pieces rehearsed and performed included Bells for Stokowski by Michael Daugherty, Sound the Bells! by John Williams and American Flute Salute by David Mairs, featuring renowned flute soloist James Walker. “The opportunity to learn from two great artists was truly inspiring,” Riley Bernardi said. “As a first-year student, I never imagined that I would have the chance to do something like this so early in my college education.” And, as Jamie Edwards put it, “It was a chance to play some cool music.”

DePauw musicians have taken part in this ensemble for 14 years, each with nationally renowned guest conductors. This year, guest conductor H. Robert Reynolds, considered to be the dean

of wind conductors, put the collegiates through their paces. “Working with Dr. Reynolds was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Nate Smith said. “In less than 48 hours, we transformed from a group that had never played together into a cohesive band that was able to tackle very challenging music.” Allan Whitehead added, “I felt that working with Maestro H. Robert Reynolds changed the way I see and hear music. He demanded the highest level of musicianship and artistry and would accept nothing less. He brought out the absolute best in each musician and the entire ensemble in the two short days we had with him.”

“I couldn’t have been prouder of our students,” Paré said. “Working next to their peers from schools such as IU, Butler, Ball State, ISU and nine other universities, each of our DePauw musicians brought strong musicianship to every rehearsal, taking full advantage of this unique opportunity to make music.”

10 I Spring 2016

Alumni NewsB. Suzanne Hassler, editor

Valeria Aguilar ’14 received a B.M. degree in piano performance and economics from DePauw and a M.A. in political science from Texas State University, where she was program coordinator of the Texas State International Piano Festival. She is currently the education and engagement coordinator at Omaha Performing Arts, which has been ranked number one in Midwest ticket sales by Venues Today and No. 16 worldwide by Pollstar. Additionally, Valeria is founder and artistic director of Jóvenes Tras las Huellas de la Música, a classical music festival that supports the artistic and academic development of young artists in Ecuador. While at DePauw, Aguilar studied with Professor May Phang.

Jason A. Asbury ’95 presented a “homecoming concert” at Greencastle’s First Christian Church on March 4, 2016. Asbury, who grew up in Putnam County, is the former organist and music director at the church. He is now an active concert organist, conductor and choral accompanist in the New York City area and director of music at Prospect Presbyterian Church in Maplewood, N.J. A music performance major at DePauw, Asbury went on to receive M.M. degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. He has chaired DePauw University’s Alumni Association Board of Directors, and in 2009 he received DePauw’s Young Alumni Award.

Rob Keene ’99 is the new artistic director and conductor of the Williamsburg, Va. Women’s Chorus. Keene also directs music at Trinity Church as well as Congregation Emet v’Or, both of which are in Newport News, Va. He sings with the Virginia Chorale and instructs at Christopher Newport University’s Lifelong Learning Society. Keene received a music degree in organ performance from DePauw and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University. While

at DePauw, he studied organ with Carla Edwards, piano with Lorna Griffitt and chamber music with Claude Cymerman.

Andrew C. Harris ’04, a former student of Vergene Miller, made his Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as the Gralsritter in Parsifal, stepping in for an ailing colleague, and more recently, Le Roi de Trèfle in The Love for Three Oranges. The bass made his Bayerische Staatsoper debut at the Munich Festival as Plutone in L’Orfeo in the summer 2014 and is Fest at Deutsche Oper Berlin through 2016. He reprises the role of Die Köchin in Prokofiev’s The Love of Three Oranges and sings Le Cuisinière (The Love of Three Oranges), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Il Frate (Don Carlo), Don Diego (Vasco da Gama), Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). He made his Den Norske Opera debut during the 2015-16 season in the dual roles of Tempo/Nettuno in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria.

Steven R. Linville ’06 received the Indianapolis 2015 Encore Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for his performance of William Barfée in the Buck Creek Players production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Linville will return to the Buck Creek stage in May 2016 as Proprietor in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and in January 2017 as director of the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown! As the DePauw musical theatre scenes director, Linville recently accompanied DePauw music students Julie A. Strauser ’16, Dallas P. Gray ’17 and Dylan B. Prentice ’17 to the National Opera Association competition where they were awarded first place for their scene performance from A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. He continues to serve as music operations manager and adjunct assistant professor of music at DePauw.

Federico Mattia Papi ’15 works for The Arts Arena in Paris, France, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to creative and performing arts and issues of culture and society, whose partnerships include Columbia Global Centers | Europe, Curtis

Institute of Music, Yale School of Art, Yale School of Music and The American University of Paris. The Arts Arena serves as a laboratory for thinking and presenting the arts from a multidisciplinary and multicultural perspective that energizes connections both across artistic disciplines and between the arts and business, economics, cultural policy, sciences, technology and development. While at DePauw, Papi was a member of Professor Eric Edberg’s cello studio.

Molly E. Sender ’12, a former student of Professor Randy Salman, relocated to Chicago to begin a new appointment as operations manager at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, a summer conservatory for talented young musicians from around the world. The Steans Institute offers three summer programs: one-week Jazz Fellows Program, five-week Piano and Strings program, and three-week Program for Singers. 

Joseph Leppek ’15 sang Lysander this season in a full-stage production of Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream while completing a M.M. degree in vocal performance at Rice University, where he studied with Barbara Paver. In the opera scenes concerts, the tenor sang Tony in the West Side Story quintet, Tonio in the La Fille du régiment trio, Don Ottavio in the Don Giovanni sextet and Bardolfo in Falstaff. His master’s recital, “The Loss of Innocence,” centered on British art song renaissance and included Winter Words by Britten, Ten Blake Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams and three Country Songs by Michael Head. Leppek will be a studio artist with Opera Saratoga this summer. While at DePauw, he studied with Caroline B. Smith. 

Josiah Rushing ’13 has been granted a Fulbright award for 2016-17. Rushing will study in Lyon with renowned percussionist Jean Geoffroy, professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon. This work builds upon his study abroad experience at DePauw.

Spring 2016 I 11

Anna Urso ’15, a viola performance and geosciences double major, continues to pursue her interest in science, while also practicing viola and putting together a résumé for orchestral auditions. In her graduate research position at University of Arizona in Tucson, where she is working on the HiRISE team that oversees a camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Anna is studying Martian dunes and RSL (possible liquid brine on the Martian surface) and is making landing site assessments for consideration in NASA’s 2020 Mars mission. While at DePauw, Anna was an active member of the DePauw University Orchestra, directed by Orcenith Smith, and studied viola with Nicole Brockmann.

Lucas A. Wassmer ’14, a vocal performance and economics double major, sang the leading tenor role of Count Almaviva in Indiana

University’s production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. Lucas is pursuing a M.M. degree in vocal performance at the Jacobs School of Music where he studies with Brian Horne. While a student at DePauw, he studied with Caroline B. Smith.

Irving Weinstein ’51 is concertmaster of the Channel Island Chamber Orchestra, first violin in the Channel Island String Quartet and violinist in the Singer Chamber Players. The latter group recently performed Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time in Ojai, Calif.

Jazz trumpeter Pharez Whitted ’82 headlined the DePauw School of Music’s first jazz festival on March 12, 2016. The festival closed with a concert by the DePauw Jazz Ensemble, directed by Professor Steve Snyder, with guest artist Whitted, leader of Chicago’s acclaimed Pharez Whitted Sextet. Whitted has

Soprano Catheryne Shuman ’08 won the Young Artist Grand Prize at the annual Orpheus Vocal Competition held March 4–6, 2016. Sponsored by Middle Tennessee Choral Society and Middle Tennessee State University School of Music, the competition, now in its 21st year, has become one of the most highly acclaimed of its kind with participants from all over the United States, representing many top colleges,

universities and conservatories.

Semifinalists were welcomed to Murfreesboro and assigned a professional accompanist with whom they rehearsed. Each singer performed several selections before a panel of judges for the right to take part in the finalists’ concert.

Presented in Hinton Music Hall at MTSU, the Orpheus Finale Concert concluded with the awarding of competition prizes and with Shuman taking top prize in the Young Artist category. For her winning selection, the soprano sang “Dich, teure Halle” from Wagner’s Tannhäuser.

At DePauw, Shuman was a student of Professor Caroline B. Smith. She received a Professional Diploma in Opera at Roosevelt University’s College of Performing Arts, where she sang the role of Helen for the Chicago premiere of Daron Aric Hagen’s Amelia. She has also graced Chicago’s stages as Erste

worked with such musical giants as Wynton and Branford Marsalis, George Duke, Kirk Whalum, The Temptations, Lou Rawls and Ramsey Lewis. He has two solo recordings on the Motown/Mojazz record label, Pharez Whitted and Mysterious Cargo; one by Owl Studios, Transient Journey, nominated for an Independent Music Award in the Jazz Album category; and his latest CD on Origin Records, the funky hard bop For The People.

Catheryne Shuman ’08 Wins 21st Annual Orpheus CompetitionB. Suzanne Hassler, coordinator for music marketing and publications

Dame in Die Zauberflöte and Babs in Hagen’s New York Stories.

The soprano has performed at Chautauqua Opera covering Lady Macbeth (Apprentice Artist, 2015); Sarasota Opera singing Isaure in Verdi’s Jerusalem and as the cover for Leonora in Il trovatore (Studio Artist, 2014); and at Chicago Opera Theater, where she covered several roles, including Erste Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and the title role in Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco (Young Artist, 2012–13).

Shuman won second prize in the Young Patronesses of the Opera Competition (2015), and she was a Wisconsin District Winner of the Metropolitan National Council Auditions (2014 and 2015) and semifinalist in the international Elizabeth Connell Prize for Dramatic Sopranos competition (2014).

She will join the Des Moines Metro Opera as an apprentice artist this summer.

12 I Spring 2016

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Explore The Future of Music at 21CMposium DePauw University School of Music will serve as the center of a national conversation about the future of music as it hosts the world’s foremost leaders, thinkers and performers, Sept. 9–11, 2016. Connecting like-minded artists, students, teachers, presenters, administrators and change agents, the 21CMposium expands upon its national dialogue about reimagining “best practices” as musicians respond to the shifting marketplace and cultural landscape. An opening presentation by Greg Sandow, TED-style talks by Mike Block (Silk Road Ensemble) and Judd Greenstein (New Amsterdam Records), workshops by Decoda and Fifth House Ensemble, and a performance by the Kronos Quartet are among the experiences to be shared.

Unfolding during the symposium will be the Launch: 21CM Emerging Artist Competition. The 21st-Century Musician Initiative is looking to LAUNCH the next generation of chamber ensembles who embrace the entrepreneurial mindset, bend and blend genres, connect to audiences where they live and strengthen the communities they serve.

21cmposium.21cm.org

CONFERENCE ARTISTS AND PRESENTERS» Kronos Quartet» Decoda Ensemble» Melissa Snoza and Fifth House

Ensemble» Roomful of Teeth» Peter Seymour and Project Trio» Paul Smith (VOCES8)» Dan Visconti (composer)» Justin Kantor (Le Poisson Rouge)» Judd Greenstein (New Amsterdam

Records)» Stanford Thompson (Play on Philly!)» David Wallace (Berklee String Project)» Sarah Robinson (author, Clubbing for

Classical Musicians)» Mike Block (Silk Road Ensemble)» Brad Wells (Roomful of Teeth)» Awadagin Pratt (concert pianist)» Judson Green (former Navteq and

Disney executive)