News From the Hartt Dean's Office
April 25, 2007

Hartt Symphony Band and Wind Ensemble, April 27

On Friday, April 27, The Hartt School Symphony Band and Wind Ensemble will take the stage to perform an exciting spring concert.  Under the direction of Glen Adsit and guest conductor Matthew Aubin, the ensembles will perform Hesketh’s Masque, Lauridsen and Reynolds’ Contre Qui, Rose, Gorb’s Yiddish Dances, and Spark’s Dance Movements.  The Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble will open the concert with pieces by Fauré, Holst, and Ticheli. “This concert is unique because we are joining The Hartt School Ensembles and the Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble together for one great concert,” commented Aubin, “It is inspiring for the young musicians to perform on the same stage as the university musicians.”  The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford campus in West Hartford. 

Matthew Aubin is a native of Connecticut and has been teaching and conducting in Connecticut for the past decade.  Aubin is pursuing his Doctoral of Musical Arts in Conducting at The Hartt School under the direction of Glenn Adsit. Prior to his studies at The Hartt School, he taught at the Norwich Free Academy and Killingly Public Schools.  This summer, Aubin will be attending the prestigious International Conductors Workshop and Festival in the Czech Republic. 

Glen Adsit is the director of bands at The Hartt School where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, Symphony Band, and Contemporary Players Ensemble; he teaches undergraduate conducting and guides all aspects of the graduate wind conducting degrees. Under his direction, the Hartt Wind Ensemble has performed twice at the College Band Director’s National Association regional conference and the Connecticut Music Educator’s All-State Conference. In addition, they recently performed at the 2007 College Band Director’s National Association Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Guest soloists have included Joseph Alessi, Robert Black, Carrie Koffman and Marc Goldberg. Joan Tower, Michael Daugherty and Joseph Schwantner have been featured as composers in residence with the Wind Ensemble.

An advocate of new music, Adsit is the founder of the National Wind Ensemble Consortium Group, which has over 50 member schools with a mission to commission the world’s finest composers to write for wind ensemble. His professional conducting includes three productions of The Nutcracker, two pops concerts, many educational concerts with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and a series of educational concerts with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in Rochester, New York. In addition to his professional orchestral experience, he also conducted the University of Michigan All-State Intermediate Orchestra for seven years at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan.

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As You Like It, May 3-6

Hartt’s Theatre Division will present the classic Shakespearean comedy As You Like It, Thursday through Sunday, May 3 to 6, in Millard Auditorium.  Sparkling with wit, Shakespeare’s joyous tale of love at first sight – even if that sight is a disguise - is flavored with all the longing and pain of everyone's first big romance.  Two brothers divided by hate, two others by greed, and a girl disguised as a boy who tempts the man she loves to fall for the boy she isn't – as the boundaries between reality and fantasy merge, love is inevitable!  The play is directed by Dean Malcolm Morrison.  Performances are at 7:30 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is $20, with discounts for senior citizens, educators and students. 

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Hartt Symphony Orchestra and Choirs, May 4

On Friday, May 4, The Hartt School presents a special collaboration of the Instrumental and Vocal Studies Divisions in an evening of opera’s beloved selections. Directed by Christopher Zimmerman, The Hartt Symphony Orchestra and Hartt School Choruses will join together for this concert of classics including excerpts from Verdi’s Otello, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde and Puccini’s Tosca.  Soprano Adrienne Danrich, and Hartt faculty member and tenor Kenneth Shelley will be the featured soloists in this exciting concert.  The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in Lincoln Theater

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Hartt is pleased to announce that Carol Hess (BMus 1978) has been selected as the 2007 Alumna of the Year. All alumni are invited to join us as we honor Prof. Hess at the annual Commentcement ceremony on Sunday, May 20, at Lincoln Theater. She is a professor of musicology at Michigan State University School of Music, specializing in musc of Spain and the Americas. She has received numerous grants and fellowships to support her work, and is an award-winning author. A reception will follow the ceremony. Admission is free. Please RSVP by April 27 to 860.768.4862 or by email.

The newly formed Parents’ Committee of The Hartt School Advisory Board held their first Parent's Reception for Hartt parents on April 3.  The Parents’ Committee was formed to encourage parents to get acquainted with the school and the scope of its programs through attending student performances and meeting faculty.  The gathering, at the University’s 1877 Club provided parents, faculty, and board members with an opportunity to mix and mingle prior to an outstanding concert by the Hartt Symphony Orchestra that evening.  Dean Malcolm Morrison spoke about one of his goals for the school: to provide students with the education that they will need to find employment in their fields upon graduation.  He also talked about creating an environment which nurtures students’ emotional well-being through artistic expression.  He then introduced Maestro Christopher Zimmerman, conductor of the Hartt Symphony Orchestra, who spoke about the Symphony’s selections that evening, and the passion with which he hopes the musicians are being imbued.  Plans are underway for other events to encourage parent involvement.

Campus Massage Therapy and Connections/Health Education Center will help students deal with stress by offering complimentary chair massages.  Evan Williams, LMT, will provide the free chair massages in the Sukman Foyer, located outside Millard Auditorium, every Friday through May 18 from 1 to 3 p.m.  This service is free for students and $1 per minute for faculty and staff. The massages will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you would like to sign up for a specific 10-minute time, call 860.205.5012 before 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

The Hartt School GigLine presents Celtic Night, an early Mothers’ Day celebration on Thursday, May 10, in Lincoln Theater. The Hartt School welcomes Connecticut’s legendary master fiddler P. V. O’Donnell and Friend, who will perform an evening of traditional Irish music and dancers. Hartt alumnae Sarah Washburn, Casie Runkle, and Cynthia Knotts, fiddlers and members of Celtic Knots, will join their guitarist Jeffrey Friedman and whistle player Dana Placzek for the opening set beginning at 7 p.m.  A student flute quartet lead by graduate student Abigail Walsh will perform in Lincoln Theater Lobby between 6:30 and 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is $20. Call 860.768.4228, 800.274.8587, or purchase tickets online.

The Hartt String Project was featured in a story on Crossroads Magazine on March 24, filmed at the University of Hartford Magnet School.  The project, led by Music Education faculty member Nola Campbell, partners Hartt Music Education students with elementary through high school students in the  Greater Hartford area.  The program allows the budding student musicians to chose their instrument and participate in group lessons, performing in small ensembles.  Hartt students Dan Higgins, Cara Ying and John Sutherland were interviewed by host Shane Griffith.  The Hartt String Program was formed in 2001 in conjunction with the American String Teachers Association.  You can watch the program at the program’s web site.

Alison Cusano, a sophomore in Hartt’s Music Theatre program, and seven other classmates attended an open audition for the summer season at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Maine.  Producers from seven theatres in the Seacoast resort region saw performers during the three-day event.  Cusano has performed at theatres in the Seacoast area for the past 13 years.
Portsmouth Herald, April 8

Capitol Symphonic Winds will present a concert on Wednesday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. in Lincoln Theater, under the direction of Gary Partridge.  The program for the evening includes works by Jenkins, Stravinsky and Wagner.  This symphonic band is comprised of University of Hartford students from all majors and members of the greater Hartford community.  Admission is free.

The Artist Collective Junior Jazz Ensemble, founded in 1970 by Jackie McLean and his wife Dollie, will perform in the World Jazz ’07 Concert at Beth El Temple on Sunday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. The Collective is the only multi-arts and cultural organization of its kind in Connecticut emphasizing the cultural and artistic contributions of the African Diaspora. The Youth Ensemble features students selected based on their musicianship and improvisational skills. Audiences have been thrilled to witness these students as they rise on the horizon of American’s jazz scene. For more information, visit their web site.

ACADEMIC ACCOLADES

The Steve Davis Quintet will be appearing at the Kitano Hotel in NYC on Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28, at 8 and 9:45 p.m.  Trombonist Davis is a faculty member in Hartt’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz.  His new CD, Alone Together, featuring Larry Willis, will be released on Maple Shade Records in mid-May.  More information is available at the label's web site.

Professor Dee Hansen, chair of Hartt's graduate Music Education program, presented at "Integrating Curriculum Theory, and Practice: A Symposium on Assessment in Music Education", hosted by the music education faculty of the University of Florida School of Music from March 29 to 31.  The symposium brought together assessment scholars, researchers, music administrators, and practicing K-12 music educators to share current thought, research, and practices of music assessment.  Prof. Hansen served as a reviewer for paper proposals through a blind peer review process.  She submitted a paper titled "The Alignment Loop: A Curriculum Planning Sequence and Critical Inquiry as Catalysts for Sound Assessments", which was accepted for publication in the symposium proceedings.  She also did a presentation and poster session on the paper at the symposium.

Marcia Lehninger, Hartt Community Division faculty member since 1999, participated in the Keene State College Faculty Artists’ Recital on April 17.
Keene State College, April 9

The Alturas Duo will perform South American Folk music, classical masterpieces, and new works commissioned by the duo on April 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Church of Christ Congregational in Newington The duo is comprised of charango/violist Carlos Boltes (GPD viola performance 2004) and guitarist Scott Hill (MMus guitar performance 2002, GPD guitar performance 2004). Hill and Boltes are also faculty members in Hartt’s Community Division.  Admission for adults is $10, and children are admitted free. For tickets call 860.666.4689. Visit the church's web site or the duo's web site for more information.

Ralph Perkins, Director of Dance in Hartt’s Music Theatre Program, was nominated for a Kevin Kline Award for Outstanding Choreography for the production of Urinetown that he choreographed for The Repertory Theater of St. Louis.  The show received seven awards including Best Musical.  This Fall he will return to St. Louis to choreograph Kiss Me Kate for The Repertory Theater, as well as choreographing 1776 for Goodspeed Opera House. 

ALUMNI NEWS

The Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Connecticut Lyric Opera will bring their production of the classic romance Romeo and Juliet to Trinity on Main in Hartford on Sunday, April 28 at 2 p.m.  Playing the lead role of Romeo will be Victor Khodadad (GPD 2005).
The New Britain Herald, April 21

Concert pianist and educator George Sebastian Lopez (BMus 1990) will give a piano recital Saturday, April 28, at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, Maine. His program will include works by Rachmaninoff, Mozart and Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera.  Lopez will also give a lecture from the keyboard, titled "A Piano for Our Times," at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27.
The Sun Journal, April 21

The West End String Quartet will present a concert on Sunday, April 29, at 7 p.m. at the Universalist Church of West Hartford featuring guest artists Cheryl Wadsworth and Dan Merriman.  They will perform works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Webern, and Ives.  This concert is free and open to the public, with a reception to follow the concert.  All four quartet members are Hartt alumni: violinists Sarah Washburn (MM Violin 2005), Jessica Meyer (MM Violin 2005), violist Russell Wilson (MM Viola 2005), and cellist Carlynn Savot (MM Cello 2005). 

Wayne Escoffery (BMus 1997), who studied jazz at The Hartt School, was featured on the new episode of “The Jazz Session” which will talk about Escoffery’s new album as well as his life. “The Jazz Session” is a jazz interview podcast featuring conversations with musicians, writers and broadcasters.
All About Jazz, April 10

Phillip Ruder (BMus 1962, MMus 1966), associate professor at the University of Nevada Reno, will retire at the end of the spring semester. Ruder received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Hartt School and is considered “one of the most important American violinists of the last 40 years,” according to Reno Chamber Orchestra Executive Director Scott Faulkner. Larry Engstrom, director of the university’s School of the Arts, said about Ruder, “when he came out to Nevada, it ratcheted up the focus on the arts on campus and the caliber of music in the community.”
NevadaNews, April 11
Reno Gazette-Journal, April 14

Hartt alumnus and guitarist Don Clark performs with the acoustic trio 3 Way Cross.  The group will appear in June at the Dalton Days Wild West Fest in Kansas.
The Dodge Globe, April 13

Bristol’s new superintendent of schools, Philip A. Streifer (BMus 1971), who is a member of the University’s Board of Regents and Hartt's Board of Trustees, was featured in an article in the Bristol Press about how he believes children should be educated with higher education in mind. Streifer said Bristol schools should ensure that all graduates are ready for higher education, whether it’s community college, four year university or technical school.
Bristol Press, April 17

Read the Community Division's Newsletter

Auditions for Hartt Summer Vocal Institute, April 28 & 29

The Hartt School Community Division will hold auditions by appointment for the Summer Vocal Institute on Saturday April 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, April 29, from 1:15 to 5:30 p.m. on the University of Hartford campus.  This eight day intensive program for singers, actors and dancers in grades 8 to 12 will be held June 23 to July 1.  Students will participate in acting, dancing, voice and writing classes and apply what they learn through performance, with an emphasis on music and scenes from rock musicals.  The program concludes with a showcase on the last day.

To schedule an appointment, please call 860.768.7768 or email.  Students should prepare two contrasting musical theatre selections and a 60-90 second memorized monologue.  Please bring sheet music in the correct key.

For more information on the Summer Vocal Institute, visit the school’s web site.

New Summer Ballet Intensive Workshop

Registrations are now being accepted for a four-week 2007 Summer Ballet Intensive Program being held July 9 to August 3 at the Hartt Dance and Opera Center on Farmington Avenue.  The Summer Ballet Intensive is for the serious, pre-professional ballet student ages 9 – 14 years old. This program has been designed to train the young dancer and provide a sound foundation of ballet technique as well as educate the student on a wide variety of areas relating to the artistic and practical skills necessary to make a well rounded artist. The Summer Ballet Intensive Program links directly into our Intensive Ballet Program and is led by members of our highly qualified faculty as well as internationally renowned guest artists.   Students can sign up to attend 1, 2, 3 or all 4 weeks.  

The Summer Ballet Intensive is divided into levels depending upon the student’s ability, experience and age. No audition is necessary to register and students will be evaluated for level placement on the first day of class. Students must attend both the third and fourth week of the program to participate in the program performance at the end of the fourth week.  For details on the daily schedule, please visit our web site.

Tuition for the Summer Ballet Intensive is $400 per week or $1200 for the complete 4 week program.  Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. All students who register by June 15 will receive a free t-shirt. Registrations received after July 1 will be subject to a $25 administrative fee.

For more information contact the school at 860.525.9396, ext. 10 or by email at dancedesk@hartford.edu.  Registration forms and more information can be found on our web site.

 First Steps in Music Classes Begin This Week

 Nothing is more important to healthy development than to have a child's life filled with wonderful, positive experiences. What better way to provide the positive delight and stimulation than through music and dance! First Steps is a unique introduction to musical expression and creative movement, carefully designed by John Feierabend, director of Hartt's Music Education Division and a national leader in early childhood education and taught by our dedicated professional staff. Classes are designed for children ages birth through five and their parent or caregiver. 

Our late-spring semester starts this week and runs for six weeks, offered both on our main campus and in Simsbury.  For more information, class times, and tuition, visit our web site or contact us at harttcomm@hartford.edu or 860.768.4451, ext. 0.

IN THE NEWS

Alexina Aron of Norwich, who studies at the Hartt Community Division with Richard Provost, was a finalist and major prize winner in the Rantucci International Classical Guitar Competition held last month in New York.
Norwich Bulletin, April 5

Percussionist Richie Barshay of West Hartford, who studied with Salvatore Raniello at the Hartt Community Division, tours with the iconoclastic group the Klezmatics and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock.  His group, the Richie Barshay Project, recently released a new CD titled Homework.
The Hartford Courant, March 25

Help Wanted - Birthday Party Planner Needed!

The Hartt School Community Division is seeking an Event Coordinator to plan and execute dance and early childhood music birthday parties as well as special group events.  Birthday parties include Ballet Birthdays for young children, Hip/Hop or Broadway Birthdays for "tweens" and teens and First Steps in Music Birthday Parties.  Group Events include a Meet the Sugar Plum Faerie Event, Dance Me a Story Event, Girl Scout Dance Merit Badge programs and more.  The Event Coordinator is also be responsible coordinating various school events including social events, hospitality for special performances, fundraising events and other opportunities as needed.

A complete job description and application instructions can be found at our web site.