News From the Hartt Dean's Office
October 31, 2007

Hartt Dances, Nov 2-4

The Hartt School Dance Division will present HARTT DANCES, a Fall dance concert featuring students from the school’s undergraduate degree program, from Nov. 2 through 4 in Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford’s West Hartford campus.  Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday.

A highlight of the program will be the presentation of Kijuanta Lucas’Hidden Realities, choreographed to music by Pink Floyd. Also on the program is Stephanie Powell’s Bolero, which features a cast of 21 dancers and the familiar music of the same name by Ravel. The content of the piece is conveyed through strong movements and vigorous dynamics using overlapping groupings of dancers to create a highly energetic experience for the audience.
The concerts feature several additional works choreographed or restaged by Hartt Dance faculty members. 

• Choreographer Kathryn Stevinson-Nollet will premiere a contemporary modern work that features ten female dancers.  Stevinson-Nollet is the director of Full Force Dance Theatre, Hartt’s resident dance company.
• Great Divide, choreographed by Adam Miller, director of the Adam Miller Dance Project, is a personal, nostalgic tribute to American Western films, legends and literature. This contemporary ballet was originally created for the Adam Miller Dance Project with support from The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation.
• Swan Lake – Pas de Trois, restaged by Division Director Dennis Price, features three dancers performing the highly acclaimed classical “dance for three” from the First Act of Swan Lake.
• Plangent, also choreographed by Dennis Price, showcases twelve dancers performing a contemporary ballet set to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Allegretto, Symphony No. 7, Op. 92

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Miami String Quartet, Nov 8

The Hartt School presents a concert by quartet-in-residence Miami String Quartet with guest pianist Jodie DeSalvo on Thursday, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Millard Auditorium on the University of Hartford’s West Hartford campus.  Quartet members violinists Ivan Chan and Cathy Meng Robinson, violist Yu Jin, and cellist Keith Robinson will continue their fifth anniversary season as quartet-in-residence at The Hartt School with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, op. 18.
Ms. DeSalvo, a Hartt alumna, will then join the quartet for two works by Dvořák—the Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, op. 87 and the Piano Quintet in A Major, op. 81.  Audience members can meet with the musicians at an informal reception following the concert.  Admission is $30-36 for the general public with discounts available for senior citizens, students and groups.  Contact the University of Hartford Box Office at (860) 768-4228 for tickets or purchase tickets online at www.hartford.edu/hartt

Prior to the concert, there will be a dinner and interview with a member of the Miami String Quartet. The dinner will take place in the 1877 Club in the University of Hartford’s Harry Jack Grey Center at 6 p.m.  Dinner tickets are $39.  The University of Hartford campus is located at 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, Conn.

Jodie DeSalvo is a true veteran of the concert stage having traveled worldwide as a solo pianist and chamber musician. Well known for her solid technique and mature musical interpretations, her effervescent personality and love of her art is enthusiastically communicated and received by her captivated audiences.  A graduate of The Hartt School and the Manhattan School of Music, the Connecticut native came to national attention after winning the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Competition from which she made her acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She followed with appearances in major concert halls across the United States as well as four European tours, an Asian tour and concerto and recital appearances in the Canary Islands. She has collaborated with such renowned artists as Sharon Robinson, John Browning, Samuel Sanders, Chris Brubeck and Frederica von Stade. The Nov. 8 concert marks her twentieth collaboration with the Miami String Quartet. She has also appeared as soloist under the batons of Jeff Tyzik, Bruce Hangen, Jorge Mester, Stuart Chafetz and Edvard Tchivzhel.

Summer festival appearances include solo artist and piano faculty chair at the Birch Creek Music Center, as well as guest appearances in Chautauqua, Brevard, Aspen and Taos, New Mexico. She has recorded eight CDs of solo piano repertoire as well as two violin and piano recordings with famed violinist Glenn Basham.  Ms. DeSalvo has appeared in concert with the Moody Blues as well as the Beach Boys.  Currently a resident of Naples, Florida, she has performed on many occasions with the Naples Philharmonic, and has her own piano lecture recital series entitled “The Art of the Piano” presented annually at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, Florida.

Ms. DeSalvo is thrilled to be back in a performance at The Hartt School - her first since graduating in 1981. As a student at Hartt, Jodie studied with Raymond Hanson, and worked extensively with Raya Garbousova’s cello studio. She performed the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto as winner of the annual concerto competition and was accompanist for famed singers Thomas Woodman and Metropolitan opera star Ruth Ann Swenson.

Praised by The New York Times as having “everything one wants in a quartet: a rich, precisely balanced sound, a broad coloristic palette, real unity of interpretive purpose and seemingly unflagging energy,” the Miami String Quartet is known throughout the nation for their diversity in programming and their poise in performance. The Miami String Quartet has appeared extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including performances in Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and San Francisco.   International highlights include appearances in Bern, Cologne, Istanbul, Montreal, Hong Kong, Taipei, Paris, and Amsterdam.  To learn more about the Miami String Quartet, visit www.miamistringquartet.com

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Hartt Symphony Orchestra, Nov 9

The Hartt School will present a concert by the Hartt Symphony Orchestra on Friday, November 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Lincoln Theater on the University of Hartford’s West Hartford campus.  Admission is $20 for the general public with discounts available for senior citizens, students and groups.  Contact the University of Hartford Box Office at (860) 768-4228 for tickets or purchase tickets online at www.hartford.edu/hartt.

Under the baton of Orchestra director Christopher Zimmerman, the concert will include Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.  Guest Pianist Susan Cheng will join the Orchestra for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1.  Ms. Cheng is a DMA candidate at The Hartt School, where she also received her MM and GPD.  She studies at Hartt with Paul Rutman and Luiz de Moura Castro, and is a member of Performance 20/20, Hartt’s innovative honors chamber music program for exceptionally talented musicians.  Ms. Cheng is also on the faculty of The Hartt School Community Division Piano Department.

The Hartt Symphony Orchestra is comprised of more than 80 student musicians from Hartt’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs, providing Hartt’s orchestral instrumentalists with exceptional performance experiences, including more than eight concerts a year and performances with the school’s dance, music theatre, and opera departments.

Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence, Nov 11

The Hartt School will present the finals of the eighth annual van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence in which Hartt undergraduate instrumental performance students compete for three cash prizes of $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000. The competition provides important financial support for Hartt undergraduates to pursue their musical careers, and is believed to be the undergraduate music competition with the highest cash award in the U.S.  This year’s competition will be adjudicated by Edward Cumming, music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; Leonid Segal, concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony; and Richard Chiarappa, well-known area composer and conductor and longtime faculty member at the Kingswood-Oxford School.

The final round—which is free and open to the public—will take place on Sunday, November 11, 2007 at 3 p.m. in Millard Auditorium on the University of Hartford’s West Hartford campus. After the competition, the audience is invited to a dessert reception to await the announcement of the winners. For more information, call the University box office at (860) 768-4228 or (800) 274-8587 or visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

The van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence was established in 2000 through the generosity of Marie-Claire and Jean-Pierre van Rooy of Farmington, Conn. The purpose of the competition is to promote musical excellence by assisting young musicians. The competition is open to all Hartt undergraduate instrumental musicians majoring in performance. The six finalists have been selected via two preliminary rounds, and will present their final selections for the consideration of the three adjudicators.

Last year’s Grand Prize winner, saxophonist Jeffrey Welsh, received his Bachelors of Music from Hartt last spring and is continuing his studies in music at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. Welsh says winning the van Rooy Competition was “…one of the highest points in my musical career; I was proud to participate with such talented colleagues.  I cannot thank the van Rooys enough for their generosity and passion for music.”  His plans for the future include pursuing a career as a studio musician in the Los Angeles area and teaching at a collegiate level. 

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FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Sing for the City A Success!
The Hartt School Vocal Studies Division raised $2750 for the Warburton Food Pantry at their recent “Sing for the City” concert, held Oct. 21 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph.  Hartt’s five choral ensembles were joined by local high school choirs from Simsbury, Enfield and Glastonbury in this annual choral festival.

The Hartt School would like to invite members of the University of Hartford community to be a part of its upcoming tour of China and Taiwan. The trip will take place from May 22 to June 2, 2008.  A choral group and small instrumental ensemble from The Hartt School, led by Edward Bolkovac, professor of choral studies, will be giving concerts and sightseeing in Shanghai, Guandong, Gaoxiong, Tainan, and Taipei.
(UNotes Daily, Oct. 26)

Eleven of the University’s exceptional alumni were honored Saturday evening, including Joseph Mulready (MMus ’71), at the Third Annual Anchor Awards ceremony.
(UNotes Daily, Oct. 23)

“This World is Our Home”: A Celebration of the Macbride Family

“This World is Our Home”:  A Celebration of the Macbride Family will be presented on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Trinity-on-Main Performance Center in New Britain, preceded by an art opening from 6 to 7:30 p.m.  This event came about at the invitation of Trinity-on-Main to feature the musical and artistic talents of the Macbride family: David Macbride, composer; Jimmy Macbride, drummer and composer; Lisa Macbride, painter; and Alma Macbride, artist and performer.  The evening begins with an art exhibition opening, featuring the work of Lisa Macbride.  These pieces were created specifically for this event and celebrate the home that is Lisa’s world.  Immediately following the reception will be a concert, the first half of which features David Macbride's compositions, including the premier of No Mas Muertes! (No More Deaths!) for the Alturas Duo, made possible by a grant from the Roberts Foundation New Works Initiative.  The second half will be the jazz combo of Jimmy Macbride, currently in his junior year at Hall High School.  Jimmy has become well known as a jazz drummer, having garnered multiple Downbeat Student Music Awards, among many other accomplishments. Alma Macbride, a 7th grade student at Bristow Middle School, will be a guest performer on both parts of the evening’s concert, as well as exhibiting some original artwork.  For more information contact Catherine Stockman at 860.826.6834 or cjostockman@comcast.net

ACADEMIC ACCOLADES

Detroit native Kenny Garrett performed at Hartford’s Artists Collective in a high energy and emotional performance. Performing with Garrett was renowned bassist Nat Reeves, a faculty member at The Hartt School and a longtime fixture on the Hartford jazz scene.  Reeves remains a close musical confident to Garrett.

Hart Faculty trombonist Steve Davis and his band recently performed at the Brooklyn Lyceum in New York with Mike DiRubbo on alto saxophone, David Bryant on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass and Curtis Torian on drums. The Steve Davis band was listed as one of many jazz bands having performed recently in New York. 
(The New York Times, Oct. 19)

The Steve Davis Quartet will be appearing Nov. 2 and 3 at 10 p.m. in NYC at Small’sin Greenwich Village).  This dynamic quartet will play music from their new CD release Alone Together.  The Steve Davis Quintet will also appear on Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. at the Kitano Hotel in NYC.  The quintet will perform music from their forthcoming CD debut Smooth. 

Robert Carl, a faculty member in Hartt's Composition Department, appeared at the Fourth Annual Encuentros de los Artistas at the El Dorado art space in Qiuntanar de la Orden, La Manch, Spain, on Sept. 30 to perform a solo concert of his works. Featured were Haiku of Buson for narrator and recorded sound and A Clean Sweep for shakuhachi flute and Max/MSP electroacoustic accompaniment.  Professor Carl was the performer in both works.  He will also be a featured guest of the Yale School of Music Composition seminar on Nov. 15, where he will present recent works.

Hartt violin faculty member Emlyn Ngai recently led the Philadelphia baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare in a performance of Jean-Fery Rebel’s Les Elemens and a suite based on Marin Marais’ Alcyone.  Emlyn was also soloist in Jean-Marie Leclair’s Violin Concerto in A minor, op. 7, no. 5. A review by David Patrick Stearns of The Philadelphia Inquirer can be read online.  More information on Tempesta di Mare and its upcoming performances is available at www.tempestadimare.org.

Debbie Markowitz, production stage manager for Hartt’s Theatre Division, will be stage managing Number of People starring seven-time Emmy winner Edward Asner, part of Hartford Stage’s Brand:NEW Fall Festival of New Works.  Asner plays an aging, Polish-born Holocaust survivor and retired statistician in the early stages of dementia who relies on numbers to maintain some emotional distance from the traumas of surviving the Holocaust. The festival runs Nov. 1 to 6. For more information, visit Hartford Stage’s web site. www.hartfordstage.org

STUDENT & ALUMNI NEWS

Alumni Chris Henderson (BM 2007), Patrick  Fetkowitz,  Matt Warner (BM 2006), Dan Travis, and Rob Griffith (BM 2007) were featured in the October edition of the University’s Informer for their band Bronze Radio.  The group, which was formed earlier this year, recently played at the Hawk’s Nest on Oct. 20  The group credits their success as starting musicians to the training they received at The Hartt School as music management majors. 
(The Informer, Oct. 18)

Phil Sherwood (BM 2000) was recently recognized for his entry into the state Capitol as a congressman.  His ability to work with different public interest groups has gained him recognition since his days as a jazz trumpet player at The Hartt School. 
(The Herald, Oct. 21)

Jesse Johnson, a music management major at The Hartt School, recently won his sixth national scholarship for his work as a sales representative for the Cutco Cutlery Company in Olean, NY.  His scholarship placed him 11th in the nation-wide competition of nearly 40,000 college students. 
(The Frederick News-Post, Oct. 15)

Gwyneth Walker (BM 1970) was recently celebrated for her work as a composer in the Braintree, VT. area.  Her celebration is centered around her 60th birthday and will feature the Chandler Center for the Arts commissioning a new Gwyneth Walker choral composition. The aptly-titled Every Life Shall Be a Song will be performed by singers from twelve area choruses under the baton of Piero Bonamico. 
(The Herald, Oct. 11)

Students Yu Chin Sheh, Krystian Tkaczewski, Alisa Willis, Annabelle Taubl, Dan Byre were recently featured in a review for their performances with The Hartt School’s Performance 20/20 series.  Each was commended for their musicality and excellence in technique after the recent Oct. 14 performance.  Performance 20/20 is an audition-based performance group that performs a series of concerts throughout the school year showcasing talented Hartt students. 
(The Informer, Oct. 18)

Christopher Kauffman (BFA 2007) received a positive review for his appearance as The Courier in the Goodspeed Musicals production of 1776.  Hartt Theatre Division Director of Dance Ralph Perkins also received kudos for his choreography of the production.  Theatre Division Director Alan Rust appears in the musical as John Hancock.
(Variety, Oct. 25)

Read the Community Division's Newsletter

Following a year as a trainee with Ballet Met in Columbus, Ohio, former Hartt Community Division Intensive Ballet student Katie Eliason has been invited to become a member of the Fellowship Program of the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education in Georgia.
(UNotes Daily, Oct. 26)

The Hartt School Community Division at Simsmore Square wins "The Best Dance Studio of The Valley 2007"

Imprint News held its first annual Readers Poll titled "The Best of The Valley 2007" with results revealed in the Oct. 18 Valley Post editions (Simsbury Post, Avon Post, Farmington Post, Tri-Town Post).  We are excited and proud to highlight that our Simsbury location won in the category for Best Dance Studio!   A heartfelt “Thank You” to everyone who voted - we are glad you feel the same way we do about our wonderful dance program.   This award wouldn't be possible without our dance faculty - they are truly the best!