Category Archives: voice

Early Music Ensemble Invited to Nationally Acclaimed Festival

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BGSU Early Music Ensemble[2] (1)

BGSU’s Early Music Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Arne Spohr, has been selected by Early Music America to perform at Early Music America’s Young Performers Festival in Berkeley, CA. This nationally recognized festival will be featuring top university early music ensembles from around the United States, including groups from Indiana University, University of Southern California, Case Western Reserve University, and Brigham Young University Idaho. All performances will take place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church from June 8th – 10th as part of the Berkeley Music Festival.

Professors Papanikolaou and Merritt presenitng pre-performance talks at Toledo Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess

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porgyandbess

Eftychia Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Musicology, and Myra Merritt, Professor of Voice, will present two pre-performance talks at Toledo Opera’s production of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Friday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 14 at 1 p.m. in the Grand Lobby of the Valentine Theatre.

For more information please visit:

http://www.toledoopera.org/events/main/porgy-bess/

http://www.toledoopera.org/learn/pre-opera-talks/

Wallace DePue: BGSU Professor Emeritus in Profile

composition, faculty news, voice

depue

From The Sentinel Tribune:

” From physical brawls with his elementary school peers to battling poverty, heartbreak and other composers in worldwide music competitions, DePue has faced it all in his 83 years.

More often than not, he triumphs.

“I’ve had this philosophy since I was young that I caught from my mother. You always have to keep moving, get ahead and think about what you can accomplish next,” he said.

The Bowling Green State University professor emeritus has an impressive list of accomplishments, most recently winning an honorable mention for his opera, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” from The American Prize.

Last year, he won the Gold Medal award from the Boston Metro Opera for his barbershop opera “Something Special,” beating out 625 works submitted by composers from six continents.

“I almost fell off my chair when I saw the results,” DePue said.

But DePue might never have become the composer he is today if not for his scrappy childhood tendencies.

“I was smaller than most of the boys I fought with, but I could fight. That’s not surprising, given my father was a fight trainer and I was an amateur boxer as a teenager,” he said. “I was a fast gun. I usually had a black eye or a cut somewhere and never looked quite healthy. But I stood up to those who tried to take away my pride.”

Read full article here.

Toledo Symphony Orchestra featured in BGSU’s composer reading session

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TSO reading_15

BOWLING GREEN, OH— Orchestral compositions written by Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts students will be read, rehearsed and recorded by Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) musicians on Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 3:30-6 p.m. in BGSU’s Kobacker Hall. Michael Lewanski, a prominent figure on the international contemporary music scene, will lead the orchestra while acclaimed composer, conductor author and educator Samuel Adler will be present to observe the session and give comments in an evening masterclass.

After a review of the submitted scores, the following works were selected for the session:

– Richard Arndorfer       Aurora
– Andrew Binder           Endleofan
– Emily Custer               Seelenruhe
– Matthew Ramage        Mutability
– Jacob Sandridge           I-77

The TSO will be bringing its largest complement of players to BGSU, 72 musicians in all. “Few academic institutions can offer this kind of professional experience, making this a unique opportunity for BGSU students,” said Christopher Dietz, a faculty member in musicology, composition and theory and organizer of the session.

The event is open to students, faculty and staff of the BGSU College of Musical Arts and invited guests. Members of the public who would like to attend should email faculty liaison Christopher Dietz (cjdietz@bgsu.edu) to be included on the guest list.

International Choral Bulletin spotlights BGSU composition student

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O'Dell

Adam D. O’Dell’s article discussing The Influence of Gregorian Chant on Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium was recently featured in IFCM’s International Choral Bulletin. A fragment of his article is quoted below.

“Morten Lauridsen is one of the most frequently performed living composers. His works span a number of disciplines and influences, including trumpet concertos, orchestral works, and chamber works. His most influential works, however, are undoubtedly his choral pieces. His choral works are based on sacred and secular texts alike, and each of them carries influence from the era in which the texts are written. His most purchased and most performed work is his setting of the O Magnum Mysterium  text.

He wrote the O Magnum Mysterium  setting as a commission from the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1994. The now deceased director of the chorale at the time, Paul Salamunovich, according to Lauridsen, was “one of the great practitioners of Gregorian chant”, 4 and consequently, Lauridsen decided to “use the conjunct melodic ideas of chant as a base” in his setting. These influences included the use of Greek voice leading rules, the use of a “keynote,” and nods to melismatic text setting.”

The International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) is an international association founded in 1982 to facilitate communication and exchange between choral musicians throughout the world. IFCM has around 900 members from all continents. The members are individuals, choirs, organizations, or companies. Through the organizations and choirs IFCM plays a role in choral music and choral events in the world.

O’Dell (b.1992) is currently pursuing his MM in Composition at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, studying with Dr. Chris Dietz, and working as a theory teaching assistant. He recently graduated with a BA in Music from Clarke University in Dubuque, IA, where he studied composition with Dr. Amy Dunker, and piano with Nancy Lease and Dr. Sharon Jensen. His research interests include Biomusicology and the study of older styles on modern composition, including Sacred Harp. He has won awards from the Kennedy Center and Make Music Inc. His works have been performed across the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. He is a member of ASCAP and SCI, and is a licensed PARMA artist.

Professor Papanikolaou to present pre-performance lectures at Toledo Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly

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Butterfly_Papanikolaou

 

Eftychia Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Musicology, has been invited to present two pre-performance lectures at Toledo Opera’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Friday, October 2 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 4 at 1 p.m.

The allure of the East had captivated opera audiences for the better part of the nineteenth century—tales of the Other constructed through European lens offered boundless opportunities for visual splendor and aural opulence. Written at the dawn of the new century, Madama Butterfly (1904) constitutes Giacomo Puccini’s answer to japonisme, the overwhelming fascination with everything Japanese that thrilled Europeans and Americans alike after 1860.

The opera transports us to the exotic world of nineteenth-century Japan and the ill-fated love between a 15-year-old geisha and an American naval officer. The innocent but passionate Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly) marries the conceited Lieutenant Pinkerton, only to be abandoned when he returns to the US. The stereotypical portrayal of the two protagonists gives us a glimpse into the uneasy historical context that surrounded the encounter between East and West. Puccini’s score, peppered with traditional Japanese music he studied while composing the opera, leaves no doubt about the irresistible power of the music to move, surprise and seduce us. It invites us to leave behind our present-day post-colonial anxieties and rather indulge in the emotional cornucopia and dramatic finesse of one of the composer’s finest creations.

Toledo Opera’s Madama Butterfly is a production of the so-called “Brescia version” of May 1904, the revision that Puccini fashioned three months after the disastrous premiere at La Scala. The opera would undergo several more revisions, until its standard version was established in the Paris production of 1906.

Eftychia Papanikolaou, Ph.D.

Bowling Green State University

For more information please visit ToledoOpera.org.