Conservatory of Music
News
Jazz Trumpet Professor Marcus Belgrave Awarded Kresge Eminent Artist Prize
Marci Janas ’91 - Nov 12, 2009Visiting Professor of Jazz Trumpet Marcus Belgrave, called the “patriarch of Detroit jazz,” was honored in October with the Kresge Foundation’s 2009 Kresge Eminent Artist prize. The $50,000 award acknowledges Belgrave’s lifelong dual careers as performer and teacher, and his profound influence on the musical life of his adopted hometown.
Photo by John Seyfried
Oberlin Opera Theater Presents Mozart’s Comedy of Love And Deception, Così Fan Tutte, November 18-22, 2009
Charlotte Landrum - Oct 29, 2009Oberlin Opera Theater’s Così fan tutte will let Mozart’s glorious music and Da Ponte’s clever libretto sing, under the baton of Bridget-Michaele Reischl and the direction of Jonathon Field. Two new initiatives—a behind-the-scenes blog and thematic program notes—will offer audiences ways to explore different aspects of the production. The production opens on Wednesday, November 18, at 8 p.m. in Oberlin College’s Hall Auditorium, with additional performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Five Student Winners of 2009 Concerto Competition to Perform with Oberlin Orchestras This Season
Charlotte Landrum - Oct 16, 2009Five conservatory students have been named winners of Oberlin’s 2009 Concerto Competition, held on Saturday, October 10, in Finney Chapel. Violist Meredith Crawford, flutist Jonathan Figueroa, violinist Chingis Khannanov, baritone Joseph Lattanzi, and pianist Siyuan Li will reprise their prize-winning performances onstage with the Oberlin orchestras in free, public concerts this fall and spring. Their repertoire includes music by Nielsen, Paganini, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, and Miklós Rózsa.
Oboist Mingjia Liu '10 (center)
Taking Their Seats: Conservatory Students and Recent Grads Win Orchestral Jobs
Joshua Morse ’11 - Oct 15, 2009Three conservatory students will soon be collecting paychecks as members of professional orchestras. Oboists and artist diploma students Mingjia Liu ’10 and Xiaodi Liu ’11 study with Professor of Oboe Alex Klein ’87, AD '89 and Professor of Oboe and English Horn Robert Walters. Violist Meredith Crawford ’10 is a fifth-year double-degree student of Professor of Viola Peter Slowik. The oboists in particular are part of a recent spate of orchestral successes, in Klein’s and Walters’ studio in particular, and for Oberlin woodwind players in general.
Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology Rod Knight, holding a kora, is surrounded by a sampling of the instruments in his collection.
All the Sounds of the World: The Roderic C. Knight Musical Instrument Collection
Asha Tamirisa ’10 - Sep 30, 2009Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology Roderic Knight retired in 2008 following 32 years of teaching at Oberlin, but his influence will remain. Knight donated some 280 world instruments—acquired over a lifetime of globetrotting—to the conservatory.
$1.7 Million Gift From Voice Teacher Helen Hodam To Fund New Scholarship at the Conservatory
Charlotte Landrum - Aug 18, 2009Throughout her long life, Helen Hodam gave generously of her time and talents, helping dozens of students to build careers in classical singing. Now, a $1.7 million gift from the legendary voice teacher’s estate has established and will endow the Helen Hodam Merit Scholarship in Voice at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. A professor of singing at Oberlin for more than two decades, “Miss Hodam,” as she was universally addressed, was one of the most distinguished voice teachers in the United States.
Photos from an Exhibition: The Frank Kuchirchuk Collection of Jazz Photography On View
Marci Janas ’91 - Jul 22, 2009Retired photographer Frank Kuchirchuk was the guest of honor at the May 2009 exhibition opening of the collection that bears his name. Of the nearly 200 jazz images that he donated to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 23 are currently on view in the conservatory’s student lounge. Media coverage of his generous gift to Oberlin has included articles in JazzTimes.com, Jazziz.com, allaboutjazz.com, the Plain Dealer, the Morning Journal, the Chronicle-Telegram, CoolCleveland.com, and broadcast coverage on ideastream’s 90.3-FM WCPN and WVIZ-TV.
New International Competition Announced by the Conservatory and the Cleveland Orchestra
Marci Janas ’91 - Jul 30, 2009Beginning in summer 2010, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music will join with the Cleveland Orchestra to offer an important new international competition for young musicians that will feature more than $20,000 in prize money and a performance with the orchestra.
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