DePauw University

FALL 2008 GUEST ARTISTS

BRO-FOWLER DUO
September 15, 2008 - Thompson Recital Hall

During the past nine years, the Bro-Fowler Duo has performed throughout the United States, including performances in Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbia (SC), Flagstaff, Minneapolis, Tucson, and New York City. Formed in 1998 for performances of Edison Denisov’s Sonate for alto saxophone and cello, saxophonist Paul Bro and cellist Kurt Fowler have sought to expand the repertoire for this unusual combination of instruments by commissioning new works. Since the fall of 2000, they have been the recipients of four Indiana State University Arts Endowment Grants, resulting in new works for alto saxophone and cello by outstanding composers: Bid Call by Libby Larsen, Walking on Water by Dorothy Chang, Temple Fair by Chinese composer Zhou Long, and most recently a new commission for January 2009 by Augusta Read Thomas.

Paul Bro has performed throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan. He is a member of the Chicago Saxophone Quartet, the Bro-Street Duo, and the Philharmonie à Vent. Bro is a co-founder with William Street and Jean-Marie Londeix of the saxophone research website called SaxAmE.org (The Saxophone in America and Europe). A professor of music at Indiana State University, Bro received his Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University, where he studied with Frederick Hemke, and his Bachelor of Music degree from Iowa State University. He has served as Membership Director, First Vice President, President Elect, President, and Past-President of the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA).

Kurt Fowler has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician throughout the United States and in Europe. In addition to serving as principal cellist for several orchestras, he has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Syracuse Symphony, and at musical festivals (including Aspen and Sarasota). Recent engagements have included performances of the Dvorák Cello Concerto in Tambov, Russia and Bach’s Suite No. 4 in California. Fowler received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

SHARON MANN, PIANO
Master Class - September 29, 2008

Sharon Mann, D.M., is a Professor of Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Stanford and Northwestern universities. A well-known soloist and recital partner, Dr. Mann is also an inspiring teacher and lecturer. Many of her former students are functioning as professional pianists and teachers. Her scholarly and penetrating interpretations of Bach have received unanimous praise from critics. She has recorded for Orion and Cappella Records. Her 1987 recording of the complete Bach Partitas has recently been re-released.

Dr. Mann’s early studies were with Rudolph Ganz and Isador Buchhalter, and later studies were with Jose Echaniz, Irwin Freundlich, Rosalyn Tureck, and Dorothy Taubman. She is a recipient of the George Eastman Award. Dr. Mann has served as artistic director of Ohio’s Governor Series, co-produced the Soviet Emigré Orchestra and Sommermusikwochen of Switzerland, served on a number of arts boards, and directed the Junior Bach Festival for three tenures. She has served on the faculty of Itzhak Perlman’s summer Perlman Music Program, and recently presented master classes in Greece, Massachusetts, Illinois, Utah, and California.

LARRY SMITH, ORGAN
September 30, 2008 - Kresge Auditorium

Larry Smith is a member of the organ faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. For many years he maintained a career as a concert organist of national recognition, having performed solo recitals for three consecutive national American Guild of Organists’ conventions in 1982, 1984 and 1986. He also served as one of the judges for the NYACOP (National Organ Playing Competition) held during the National AGO convention in Houston, Texas, in 1988.

Dr. Smith began his study of the organ in Guttenberg, Iowa, with John G. Lammers. He was graduated from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, (BM, 1965) studying with Russell Saunders. He continued formal educational degrees at Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) where he was a student of Arthur Poister, and was graduated from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. His work at Eastman was with David Craighead; he also earned that school’s prized Performer’s Certificate in Organ.

Before his initial appointment as Visiting Professor of Music to Indiana University in 1981, Dr. Smith served on the faculties of Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, and Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Prior to his work in academe he was full-time Director of Music at The First United Methodist Church in Des Moines, Iowa. He was appointed chairman of the organ department at Indiana University in 1982, a position he held until the fall of 1992. As of the fall of 2003 he again resumed duties as chair of the department. He will retire from the IU faculty at the end of the current semester.

Larry is married to Caroline Bradley Smith, a member of the voice faculty at DePauw University. They are the parents of a twenty-one-year-old daughter, Johna, a junior attending Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music as a violin performance major.

Dr. Smith’s recording of Troisième Symphonie (opus 28) by Louis Vierne is available on the VQR Digital label. The organ builder Martin Ott has produced another CD featuring German organ music. It was recorded on Mr. Ott’s instrument located at St. Brigid’s Catholic Church in San Diego, California.

JEFF NELSEN, HORN
October 2, 2008 - Thompson Recital Hall

Internationally acclaimed Canadian hornist Jeff Nelsen’s eclectic career comprises a true cross-section of the music industry. He is equally successful in both classical and contemporary genres and in the roles of both musician and mentor. As a performer, Jeff is best known as the hornist of the world famous Canadian Brass, with whom he performs concerts all over the world. As a pedagogue, Jeff teaches horn, chamber music, and trains people in what he calls “Fearlessness” at the prestigious Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Jeff has held positions in the Montreal, Vancouver, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras. Among his other appearances as orchestral performer are those with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony (Kennedy Center, D.C.), National Arts Center Orchestra, Edmonton, Calgary, and Quebec symphonies, and the Canadian Opera Company. As a member of Canadian Brass, in addition to the hundreds of quintet recitals performed all over the world, Jeff has been featured with countless symphony orchestras including Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Seattle, and St. Louis.

Jeff’s pops show “Dancing and Romancing: An Evening with Jeff Nelsen” for solo horn and orchestra recently premiered with rave reviews and is in demand on orchestral pops series across North America. Nelsen has performed on Broadway and toured with popular entertainers including Michael Bolton and Barry Manilow. Jeff has an extensive discography ranging from film, TV, Broadway shows, video game soundtracks, pop and jazz music, solos, chamber, symphonic, and operatic repertoire. These recordings are on labels such as Sony Classical, Warner, Blue Note, London/Decca, Disney, Summit Records, C.B.C., and Opening Day Records. Jeff continues to attract rave reviews as a featured soloist on the Canadian Brass release “Magic Horn.” This CD was nominated for the 2006 Juno Award (Canadian equivalent to the Grammy Award) for “Best Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble.”

Intensely active as a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, Mr. Nelsen has appeared at numerous international music festivals including Ravinia, Tanglewood, Blossom, Music Academy of the West, Banff, Las Vegas, and St. Barthlélemy.

Born and raised on a pig farm in rural Western Canada, Jeff grew up surrounded by music. His parents, Ron and Diane, are both accomplished opera singers. His eldest sister Lisa resides in England where she is a freelance flutist while his sister Suzanne, a bassoonist, is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Jeff’s wife Nina Yoshida Nelsen is a talented mezzo-soprano with whom he performs their orchestra show and recitals worldwide. Aside from creating musical magic, Jeff is an enthusiastic magician, and often adds touches of illusionary arts to performances.

Jeff was on faculty at University of Toronto (2002-2005), University of British Columbia (1998-2000), University of Victoria (1999-2000), and McGill University in Montreal (1994-96). He hosts a seminar titled, “Fearless Audition Training for Hornists” every summer at IU. He has recurring articles focusing on “Fearlessness” in the magazines of the International Horn Society, the British Horn Society, and his debut publication, “Fearless Auditioning – Making Simple Easier” is due for release in 2008. Mr. Nelsen is a Yamaha performing artist and clinician.

AMERICAN PIANO TRIO
October 8, 2008 - Thompson Recital Hall

The American Piano Trio, faculty ensemble-in-residence at Ball State University is comprised of Robert Palmer, piano, Anna Vayman, violin and Peter Opie, cello. Originally founded in 1983, the Trio has performed in the United States, Canada, Korea, and Thailand. Recent and upcoming performances include the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, DePauw University, Anderson University, Taylor University, Indiana Wesleyan University, and a multi-city tour of Korea. In October 2008 the American Piano Trio has been invited to perform at the prestigious 8th Annual International Conservatoire Week Festival at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatoire in St. Petersburg. In addition, the Trio will present recitals and master classes at other leading conservatoires in Russia. In 2009 the Trio will record works by American composers that will be issued on the Beneficence label.

Anna Vayman, violin
Anna Vayman is Associate Professor of Violin at Ball State University. A native of St Petersburg, Russia Anna Vayman made her solo debut at the age of eleven with Omsk Symphony Orchestra in Russia. Since then she has been a soloist with various major orchestras. Highlights of her career include solo performances under the baton of leading conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Yury Temirkanov and Gianandrea Noseda. An active recitalist and chamber musician, Ms.Vayman has appeared on numerous international music festivals including International Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; Musical Spring Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia; Mikkele International Music Festival in Finland; Red Sea International Music Festival in Israel; and Rotterdam Philharmonic Festival, Netherlands. Prior to joining the CCM violin faculty Ms. Vayman has held a prestigious position of an Assistant Concertmistress of the renowned Kirov Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Vayman came to Ball State University from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Peter Opie, cello
Peter Opie is Assistant Professor of Cello at Ball State University. Originally from the United Kingdom, he studied in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Oleg Kogan and Raphael Sommer, before studying with Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he was awarded the Helen Curtis Webster prize. His doctoral studies took place at the University of Michigan with Anthony Elliott. In addition he studied privately with Eleonore Schoenfeld, Desmond Hoebig and Marc Coppey and enjoyed chamber music studies with members of the Cleveland and Takács String Quartets, and the Florestan Piano Trio. He has performed frequently with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and whilst a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and studied chamber music with Pamela Frank, Paul Katz, and Mark Sokol. He is principal cello of the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, and has worked with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He has toured the United States with the Five Seasons Chamber Players, with whom he has also premiered new works, and performed on NPR. Formerly on the faculty of Eastern Michigan University, he also serves on the faculty of the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival, based in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

Robert Palmer, piano
Robert Palmer's career has spanned three continents, with solo, orchestral and chamber music appearances throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Since making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1979, Palmer has performed in over thirty states and major centers including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. as well as Carnegie Hall (several times), the Library of Congress, and Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis). Equally active as a chamber musician, he has been heard in recital with musicians from the Paris Conservatoire, the Metropolitan Opera Company, the New York Philharmonic and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Among his numerous radio and television broadcasts are performances on National Public Radio and public television in the United States as well as in China, Japan, Korea, Spain, and Taiwan. Palmer’s many awards include prizes in the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition and the U.S. Information Agency National Piano Competition. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Minnesota, Palmer is widely sought after as a teacher, clinician, lecturer and adjudicator.

FRANK PORTOLESE TRIO
October 13, 2008 - Thompson Recital Hall

Originally from Mishawaka, Indiana and now based in the Chicago area, Frank Portolese (DePauw ‘75) has been playing the guitar professionally for 30 years, having performed with artists such as Ira Sullivan, Bobby Shew, Jamey Aebersold, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Clay Aiken. Portolese is on the faculty of Elmhurst College, maintains a private studio, and divides his work between mainstream jazz, a free jazz ensemble, and solo plectrum jazz guitar. He has recorded two CDs on the Southport label and is the author of the widely‑used theory textbook, Fundamentals for Jazz Musicians.

SONES DE MÉXICO
October 30, 2008 - Kresge Auditorium

Sones de México is a unique ensemble of seasoned Mexican folk musicians and educators that hails from Chicago, a city that boasts a Mexican community that is quickly nearing one million people. The group formed in 1994 to keep the tradition of Mexican son alive in its many regional forms, true to its roots and old masters, and current and fresh at the same time.

Sones de México plays son ‑‑ a term used in Mexico to define a large family of regional music and dance styles. Each region has its own brand of son—gusto, son jarocho, son huasteco, etc.—each with its own repertoire, instruments, and dancing and singing style. A fandango is a dance fiesta where son is played and danced, often from sundown until sunrise or longer. It is also a playful time where tradition becomes fluid: rules are made and broken as old forms are applied to new experience. After the fiesta, tradition is passed on quietly, as the events of the fandango crystallize in the memories of the participants, becoming new lore for future resurgence. We call this a living tradition.

The group is formed by director Víctor Pichardo (violin, clarinet, jarana , guitar, huapanguera) an award winning musician, arranger, composer, and educator co-founder of the ensemble after a 15-year career with the folk group Zazhil and the late singer Amparo Ochoa in Mexico. Producer, ethnomusicologist Juan Díes (guitarrón, guitar), award winning dancer and musician Lorena Iñiguez (dance, vihuela, jarana, and small percussion), master violinist Juan Rivera (violin, requinto, jarana), multi-instrumentalist Zacbé Pichardo (marimba, harp, vihuela, percussion), and master drummer Javier Saume (drums, maracas, percussion).

Nominated for the 2007 Latin Grammy and 2008 Grammy for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album, Sones de México comes to DePauw to start ArtsFest 2008 with a bang!

-photo by Todd Winters

JOHN SCHWANDT, ORGAN
October 31, 2008 - Kresge Auditorium

Dr. John D. Schwandt is Associate Professor of Organ and Director for the American Organ Institute at the University of Oklahoma. He is a nationally acclaimed performer and is in demand as a clinician, recitalist, leader of hymn festivals, silent film accompanist, adjudicator, and as an organ consultant. Dr. Schwandt has been a featured performer for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. Select performances have also been featured on American Public Media’s Pipedreams broadcasts. Equally at home on a classical or theatrical pipe organ, he is known for his award-winning improvisational skills, his musical versatility, and his ability to excite and engage audiences of every kind.

Prior to Dr. Schwandt’s appointment to the University of Oklahoma faculty, he was Assistant Professor of Music and curator of organs at Indiana University from 2001 through 2006. John Schwandt has served churches in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana as a parish musician. Currently, he serves as Artist-in-Residence at McFarlin United Methodist Church in Norman. He has recorded for the Calcante and GIA labels, as well as independent producers. Dr. Schwandt is under management with En Chamade Artists.

John Schwandt began his formal organ study with Dr. George Damp at the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. His undergraduate studies were at St. Olaf College under the tutelage of Dr. John Ferguson. Graduate degrees, as well as the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, were earned at Indiana University, where he was an organ student of Dr. Larry Smith. Dr. Schwandt placed first by a unanimous jury decision in the 1998 National Competition in Organ Improvisation held in Denver, Colorado in conjunction with the American Guild of Organists’ National Convention.

At the Institute, Dr. Schwandt teaches applied organ lessons, performs solo and collaborative faculty recitals, and coordinates organ concerts and master classes. He also acts as primary liaison between the Institute and University of Oklahoma administration, coordinates Institute funding and development, and consults on Institute projects. He is also one of those rare people who are as comfortable repairing, tuning, and voicing pipe organs as they are playing them. Even amid a hectic schedule, one can sometimes find Dr. Schwandt tuning organs in Norman as well as in the shop working alongside the staff and students.

John Schwandt resides in Norman, Oklahoma with his wife, Kirstin, a board certified Genetic Counselor.

-presented by the Performing Arts Series

NATHAN GUNN, BARITONE
November 19, 2008 - Thompson Recital Hall
Master Class - November 20, 2008

This season, Nathan Gunn returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette (which was broadcast live in HD in movie theaters around the world), the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and the London Symphony Orchestra as the title role in a concert version of Billy Budd. This spring, he makes four separate appearances at Carnegie Hall: concert appearances with both the Atlanta Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Stern Auditorium, his recital debut in Zankel Hall, and as Gaylord Ravenal in a concert version of Showboat in Stern. Other upcoming engagements include Camelot with the New York Philharmonic, two world premieres - Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at the Glyndebourne Festival and André Previn’s Brief Encounter at the Houston Grand Opera – his debut at the Los Angeles Opera as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles and the Opera Company of Philadelphia as Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucrecita.

Mr. Gunn has appeared in internationally renowned opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival, and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. His many roles include the title roles in Billy Budd and Hamlet, Papageno, Guglielmo, Figaro, the Count, Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles, and Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea. He also created the role of Clyde Griffiths in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s new opera, An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera.

Also a distinguished concert performer, Mr. Gunn has appeared the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Münchner Rundfunkorchster, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. The many conductors with whom he has worked with include, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Antonio Pappano, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Mark Wigglesworth.

A frequent recitalist, Mr. Gunn has also been presented in recital at Alice Tully Hall by both Lincoln Center’s Art of the Song Series and the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and by Cal Performances, the Schubert Club, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Vocal Arts Society in Washington, DC, the University of Chicago, the Krannert Center, the Wigmore Hall, and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie. As a student, he performed in series of recitals with his teacher and mentor John Wustman that celebrated the 200th anniversary of Franz Schubert’s birth.

Mr. Gunn is an exclusive recording artist for Sony/BMG Masterworks and his first solo album for the label, Just Before Sunrise, was released in August 2007. Other recordings include Peter Grimes with Sir Colin Davis and London Symphony Orchestra (LSO Live!), which was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award; Il Barbiere di Siviglia (SONY Classics), Kullervo with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Telarc), and his debut album, a collection of American songs entitled American Anthem (EMI). He also starred as Buzz Aldrin in Man on the Moon, an opera written specifically for television and broadcast on the BBC in the UK in December 2006. The program was recently awarded the G olden Rose Award for Opera at the Montreux Festival in Lucerne.

Mr. Gunn was the recipient of the first annual Beverly Sills Artist Award, and was recently awarded the Pittsburgh Opera Renaissance Award. He is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Program and was the winner of the 1994 Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition. In addition, he is also an alumnus of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where he still makes his home, and was recently awarded a professorship by the university.

-co-sponsored by the Performing Arts Series
-photo by Bill Phelps