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BGSU announces 30th annual Summer Music Institute

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Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts will offer music camps for students in grades 7-12 during its Summer Music Institute, which begins June 6.

The institute, taught by experienced faculty, staff and alumni from the college, provides musicianship and enrichment classes, clinics and performances by guest artists intended to engage students of different age and experience levels in a compact, focused music curriculum. With the sessions’ limited enrollment, participants will receive personalized attention that includes private lessons and master classes as well as large and small ensemble participation.

The program is separated into four-, five- and six-day camps for high school and junior high school music students.

The first session, to be held from June 6-11, offers the Brass Camp, led by Dr. William Mathis, an associate professor of trombone and chair of music performance studies, and Vocal Arts Camp, led by Christopher Scholl, an associate professor of vocal studies.

The second session includes the new Percussion Camp, led by Dr. Roger Schupp, a professor of percussion, and Super Sax Camp led by Michael Holmes, a BGSU alumnus, which will run from June 13-18. The popular Musical Theatre Camp held from June 13-19 will led by Todd Schriber, another alumnus of the University.

The Double-Reed-Making Boot Camp is scheduled from June 13-16 and will by led by Dr. Nathaniel Zeisler, an assistant professor of bassoon, and Dr. Jacqueline Leclair, an assistant professor of oboe.

The third session, from June 20-25, will offer the Recording Studio Camp led by Mark Bunce, director of recording services, and the Piano Camp led by Dr. Robert Satterlee, an associate professor of piano. These camps will run from June 20-25. In addition, the String Orchestra Camp led by Dr. Megan Fergusson, an assistant professor of viola, will be held June 20-26.

The Honors String Quartet is a new addition to the String Orchestra Camp this year. Students accepted into the quartet will arrive on June 19 to work with BGSU string faculty members.

Registration costs vary depending on the camp attended. The deadline for all camps is May 1. Space is limited, but late registrations will be accepted based on availability and assessed an additional $25 fee.

Additional Summer Music Institute information, camp registration and scholarship information can be found at http://www.bgsu.edu/smi.

Accomplished jazz pianist, composer and educator comes to BGSU

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Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts celebrates Jazz Week with a visit from acclaimed pianist, composer and educator Arturo O’ Farrill.

O’Farrill will have a busy schedule starting with a master class at 4 p.m. March 24 in Kobacker Hall of Moore Musical Arts Center followed by a performance with the Faculty Jazz Group at 8 p.m. in Bryan Recital Hall of Moore Center.  On March 26, O’Farrill will participate in high school Jazz Day clinics at Kobacker Hall and will perform with the Jazz Lab Band I at 8 p.m. in the same location.

“He brings a different perspective in jazz, coming from an Afro-Cuban tradition,” said David Bixler, an assistant professor in Jazz Studies. “We do a more mainstream form, and he will provide a new angle both musically and culturally, which is good for students in the Midwest.”

“This will be a great experience for both the students and faculty of the Jazz Studies area,” explained Jeff Halsey, a professor and director of Jazz Studies. “O’Farrill is one of those rare individuals who bridges Latin-influenced music with mainstream jazz, and he is a powerful piano performer and bandleader.”

O’Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. He created the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and was Grammy nominated in 2006 for his debut album “Una Noche Inolvidable.”  In 2003, he was awarded the Latin Jazz U.S.A. Outstanding Achievement Award.

As a solo artist, O’Farrill has worked with a number of well-known jazz artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.

Annual Peatee art song competition coming up at BGSU

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Forty duos will participate in the 11th annual Marjorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Competition at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts on March 27.

The first round of the competition will begin at noon and end around 5 p.m. in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center. Finalists will be announced at 6 p.m., and the final round, in the form of a formal evening concert, will begin at 8 p.m. in Bryan Recital Hall.

The Dr. Marjorie Conrad Peatee Art Song Fund provides monetary prizes for the singers and their collaborative pianists in two divisions, undergraduate and graduate.

The students will compete for two first prizes of $1,500, two second prizes of $1,000 and two third prizes of $750. The first-prize winning duos will present a recital on the “Music from Bowling Green at the Manor House” series, an outreach program of the college, on March 30 at Toledo’s Wildwood Metropark.

The goal of the competition is to encourage students enrolled at BGSU to approach the art song in a serious and intense manner and enhance their learning experience.

All rounds of the competition are free and open to the public.

Gilmore Award-winning pianist Kirill Gerstein to give BGSU master class

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Four piano students in Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts will have an opportunity to perform in a master class with leading pianist Kirill Gerstein when he comes to campus March 19.

Gerstein will be in the area to perform with the Toledo Symphony March 20. At Bowling Green, he will give the master class from 2:30-4:30 p.m. that Friday in Bryan Recital Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.

In the world of music, his is an unusual story. He is the sixth winner of the Gilmore Artists Award—a $300,000 surprise grant given every four years to an artist to use to enhance their careers or their professional development. Equated to the MacArthur “genius” awards, the funds come with few strings attached.

The award is given to “a superb pianist and profound musician,” according to the Gilmore Foundation. It is administered by the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Mich. In fact, one of the places the award judges observed Gerstein’s playing was in a previous Toledo Symphony performance.

Born in Russia, Gerstein began playing piano while very young. He studied jazz at Boston’s Berklee School of Music as a teenager before taking up classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music.

Now he plays around the world but, somewhat unusually for a performer of his stature, also has a teaching position at the conservatory in Stuttgart, Germany.

BGSU piano students had another rewarding master class recently with award-winning Irish pianist Barry Douglas, who was in Bowling Green to perform in the University’s Festival Series.

“He was vey impressed with the preparation of the students,” said Susan Knapp, director of public events in the music college. “He said he was also impressed with the creative safety the students demonstrated. I think that’s a great testament to what our faculty are  building here.”

BGSU honors Burton Beerman as Distinguished Artist Professor

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By any measure, Dr. Burton Beerman has led a remarkable life. As a composer, performer, teacher and founder of musical institutions, his accomplishments are myriad.

In his nearly 40 years at the Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts, he has helped make Bowling Green synonymous with new and experimental music. His own pieces have been performed around the world and have influenced a generation of composers and performance artists.

On Feb. 26, BGSU recognized him as a Distinguished Artist Professor. Conferred by the board of trustees, the designation recognizes professors who have earned national and international recognition through research and publication or creative and artistic achievement.

“Dr. Beerman is truly regarded as an outstanding visionary and artist” by “luminaries who are world-renowned,” said the award review committee.

The honor follows numerous other recognitions from his peers and arts organizations. Among them are the Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts he received in 2008 and several Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council in previous years. Also in 2008, he won two Cine Awards for the composition for the documentary film “203 Days.” Beerman was awarded the prestigious Barlow Endowment Commission in 2005, an international award designed to encourage and financially support individuals “who demonstrate technical skills and natural gifts for the composition of great music,” according to the endowment.

Beerman’s music, which often addresses social justice issues, spans many media, including chamber and orchestral music, music for documentary film, video art and performance, theatre, dance and interactive real-time electronics. His works have been recognized by more than 30 professional journals and publications, and his activities have been the subject of national and public television network broadcasts.

Beerman grew up in Atlanta, where he was exposed to music ranging from traditional Jewish music he heard in the synagogue to the local gospel and blues. All those influences and more can be found in his compositions.

He received his bachelor’s degree from Florida State University, with a specialization in composition and clarinet performance, and went on to receive master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan in the same fields.

He began teaching at BGSU in 1970. His interest in progressive forms of music led him to cofound, in 1971, the New Music Ensemble and the Electronic Music and Recording Studio (now the Music Technology and Recording Studios). In 1979, he founded the annual New Music Festival, which has brought outstanding composers and performers of avant-garde music to campus each year for concerts, panels and master classes. From 1999-2007 he was the director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at BGSU.

Chanticleer Ensemble to close BGSU Festival Series

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The internationally acclaimed vocal group Chanticleer will be the final performers in the 2009-10 Festival Series at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts. The all-male ensemble, known around the world as an “orchestra of voices,” is making its second appearance at BGSU.

The concert will be held at 8 p.m. March 3 in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center. The first half of the program, titled “In Time of …” will feature works by Orlando Gibbons, Sethus Calvisius, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, Guillaume Dufay, Clément Janequin, Gyorgy Ligeti, Chen Yi and Steven Sametz, who composed the title piece of the performance. The second half of the program will include works by Michael McGlynn, Mason Bates, Manuel Sanchez Acosta, Carmen Cavallaro and Moises Simons.

Based in San Francisco, Chanticleer is renowned for the seamless blend of its 12 male performers, ranging from countertenor to bass, as well as the group’s original interpretations of vocal literature varying from Renaissance to jazz and gospel to venturesome new music.

Inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2008, Chanticleer was also named the 2008 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America; the New Yorker magazine dubbed it the “world’s reigning male chorus.” Chanticleer has performed at prestigious festivals in France, Germany, Poland and Latvia. The group released a CD in fall 2008 titled “The Mission Road” featuring music from California’s vibrant mission period.

Tickets to the BGSU performance are $36, $28 and $20 for adults and $29, $22 and $15 for students. For ticket information, call the box office weekdays from noon-6 p.m. at 1-800-589-2224 or 419-372-8171.