FACULTY NEWS
Bolcom & Morris CD Release Party on Veterans’ Day!
November 2009
William Bolcom and Joan Morris, who together form Bolcom & Morris—Bolcom pianist, composer and raconteur, Morris chanteuse extraordinaire—have just released a new CD, Someone Talked! Memories of World War II. The title is from a famous propaganda poster warning against revealing secrets to the enemy during WWII: the cover shows the image of a drowning man pointing at the viewer with the message “Someone Talked”—a warning to those with loose lips that might sink ships.
A November 11 release party—Veterans’ Day—will be held at U-M’s Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library (library gallery, first floor, 7:00 p.m.). The performers—both Bolcom and Morris, along with Robert White and Hazen Schumacher—will perform a sampling of songs and narration from the CD, conceived to resemble a radio show of the 1940s. Take a trip down memory lane while listening to The White Cliffs of Dover, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree, I’ll Be Seeing You, and more. Students from Professor Morris' cabaret class will perform three songs including Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.
Refreshments will follow the program.
"Bolcom and Morris may be the best thing to happen to American popular song since the invention of sheet music." — The Chicago Sun-Times
Shirley Verrett to be honored by the Metropolitan Opera Guild
October 2009
Created in 2005 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Opera News Awards recognize five individuals for distinguished achievement in the field of opera. On Thursday, November 19, the fifth annual Opera News Awards will honor soprano Martina Arroyo; mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; bass-baritone Gerald Finley; composer Philip Glass; and SMTD’s own James Earl Jones Distinguished University Professor of Voice, mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett.
Shirley Verrett has been a star at the world’s great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Bolshoi Opera, the Paris Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she has been acclaimed for exceptional gifts as a singing actress. She appeared at the Metropolitan opera for more than two decades. She sang the roles of Cassandra and Dido at the opening night of the Metropolitan’s production of Berlioz’s Les Troyens. At the Paris Opera Miss Verrett starred in a series of productions staged especially for her. In 1990, she opened the Bastille Opera in a production of Les Troyens that commemorated France’s bicentennial. At the Teatro alla Scala, Miss Verrett opened the 1975 season with Claudio Abbado, conductor. Other highlights of her Italian career have included her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda at the Maggio Musicale and as the heroine of Cherubini’s Médée at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, and Tosca at the Arena di Verona.
Opera News Editor-in-Chief F. Paul Driscoll states “Shirley Verrett is one of opera’s true legends – an artist whose beauty, elegance and charisma made her a favorite with audiences throughout the United States and Europe and a woman whose courage, tenacity and integrity have made her a role model for all artists. She created a legion of unforgettable performances in the mezzo-soprano and soprano repertory, including Lady Macbeth at La Scala, Gluck’s Iphigénie at the Paris Opera and both Casssandra and Dido in the historic Metropolitan Opera premiere of Les Troyens.”
Professor Verrett is the recipient of many other honors and awards, among them the Marian Anderson Award, Naumburg Award, and the Sullivan Award. In 1970, she received the French Government’s Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1984 was again decorated with the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.
Commenting about the winners of the 2009 Opera News Awards, Driscoll stated “The musical and spiritual generosity of these five superlative artists provides abiding inspiration to opera lovers everywhere; the celebration of their distinguished achievements will be a joyous occasion.”
Michigan Television/WFUM premieres Climbing Sainte-Victoire: A Danced Homage to Paul Cézanne for Television by Peter Sparling
April 2009
Premiere Broadcast on Michigan Television/WFUM
Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 8 pm
Ann Arbor Area Comcast Channel 24
Don’t miss this multi-faceted tribute to the “Father of Modern Art” –choreographed for the TV screen and fusing dance, music, video, poetry and narration.
Michigan Television/WFUM, the University of Michigan’s educational channel and PBS affiliate, will be the first to broadcast U-M Thurnau Professor of Dance Peter Sparling’s new work made specifically for the TV medium. Climbing Sainte-Victoire: A Danced Homage to Paul Cézanne for Television, is an hour-long journey into the mind and work of the “Father of Modern Art”, French painter Paul Cézanne. Featuring Sparling with a cast of 16 dancers and an array of visual effects to complement Cezanne’s extraordinary legacy, the production unfolds in two parts and combines dance, text, music, video, and the imagery of Cézanne’s paintings. “Part I: The Studio of the Mind” employs choreographed scenes to evoke Cézanne’s complex relationship to his subjects and motifs. It follows the episodic structure of Elliott Carter’s mercurial String Quartet No. 5. (Carter’s 100th birthday this year has been celebrated internationally.) “Part II: Report from Aix” documents Sparling’s trip to France following in the artist’s footsteps and “dancing the mountain” for the video camera. Educational, informative and a leap of the imagination, Climbing Sainte-Victoire incorporates poetry and narration by Sparling and music by Erik Satie, Xenharmonic Gamelan and newly commissioned music by Frank Pahl.
This project is supported by the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, U-M Office for the Vice President for Research, U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance and Dance Gallery Foundation.
For more information, contact Peter Sparling at petespar@umich.edu or 734-647-2288.
Michigan Television website: www.wfum.org
Dance faculty member Peter Sparling was interviewed for the Big Ten Network series Out of the Blue: The Michigan Difference. Now that video will air on Michigan Television WFUM-DT 28 on Friday, February 27, at 9:30 p.m. and again on Sunday, March 1 at 11:00 a.m. In Ann Arbor, Michigan Television is seen on Comcast Cable channel 24. This program will also be added to the U-M iTunes Library offerings.
Porter Instructs Students of Flute in Telemann and Karg-Elert
Two new instructional DVDs featuring flute professor Amy Porter have just been released by Presser Publishing. In the first DVD, Porter instructs students in Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute. “Because the Fantasias for flute are played on more instruments than just the flute serves as my inspiration,” Porter says. “They have stood the test of time and will always serve as fuel for our imagination. The second DVD instructs students in the Karg-Elert Caprices. “These short caprices deserve all the energy you can bring to them,” Porter tells students. “They allow us to speak in a musical language that is rare in solo flute literature.”
Martin Katz, professor of collaborative piano, participated in a recital entitled "Celebrating Marilyn Horne" in January 2009. Click here to read the New York Times review of the concert.
Christian Matjias associate professor of dance, has released a new CD of music for dance entitled Na Razie Bez Ciebie. Click here for a review of the CD.
Raise the Roof!
Betsy Goolian
November 2008
A new CD of works by composer and faculty member Michael Daugherty, performed by the University Symphony Band under the direction of Michael Haithcock, has been released on the Equilibrium label. Previews are available on Block M Records (blockmrecords.org). The works, all recorded at the acoustic marvel we know as Hill Auditorium, were composed by Daugherty over the past decade. Some highlights:
The title work, Raise the Roof, for timpani and symphonic band, was premiered by the University Symphony Band at the March 2007 National Conference of the College Band Directors National Association, hosted here in Ann Arbor. Inspired by such grand architectural wonders as Notre Dame Cathedral and the Empire State Building, the work creates “a grand acoustic construction by bringing the timpani into the foreground.” Andre Dowell, BM ’04, is timpanist for this performance.
Brooklyn Bridge for clarinet and symphonic band received its world premiere at Carnegie Hall in February 2005, performed by the University Symphony Band under the baton of Michael Haithcock. Daugherty’s ode to this cultural icon uses the four cables that support the bridge as a launching point for four movements that look east to Brooklyn, west to Wall Street and lower Manhattan, north to the Empire State Building, and south to the Statue of Liberty, each of the movements evoking a different musical view and coloration. The final movement conjures up the great jazz swing clarinetist of the 1940s, Artie Shaw, performing with his orchestra in the once glorious Rainbow Room at the top of Rockefeller Center. Michael Wayne, who received his BM in clarinet in 2003 and now plays with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is soloist.
Daugherty has been hailed as a “master icon maker” (London Times) whose colorful and inventive works are widely performed. Haithcock, Director of Bands at Michigan since 2001, follows in the footsteps of William D. Revelli and H. Robert Reynolds in continuing the tradition of excellence and the critical acclaim for which the University Symphony Band has become famous.
Also on the CD: Asclepius (2007), a fanfare for brass and percussion written on the occasion of the grand opening of the Michigan Cardiovascular Center; Bells for Stokowski (2002), a tribute to this influential and controversial conductor and champion of new works; and Niagra Falls (1997), a quintessentially American musical ride down the Niagra River.
Book Exploring the Inner Workings of Rock Released
Walter Everett, professor and chair of music theory, has just released his latest book, The Foundations of Rock: From ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ to ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,’ from Oxford University Press. Everett is author of The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology and The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Rubber Soul.
Foundations of Rock is a comprehensive introduction to the inner workings of rock music, from the time of rock's birth through the end of classic rock, 1955-1970, taking readers through all aspects of the music and its lyrics, leading students and fans alike to new insights and new ways to develop their own interpretations of these familiar aural landscapes. Everett's style does not depend on musical notation or professional jargon, but rather combines text with nearly 300 newly composed audio examples (performed on the companion Web site) and more than 100 photographs in a rich text-and-Web experience.
Citing hundreds of the most memorable and pertinent examples, The Foundations of Rock covers the nature and use of musical instruments and vocal qualities; the diverse means of combining phrases and sections of songs in the genre; various materials and patterns in melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic invention; and the important artistic contributions made by producers and engineers. Everett then focuses on twenty-five classics for close listening in the context of these well-defined explanations, helping readers create new depths of understanding and appreciation of the songs that have dominated rock music for half a century. The music of the Beatles and the Stones, the Supremes and the Temptations, the Dead and Janis, Elvis and Buddy Holly, the Beach Boys and the Rascals has never sounded so good!
Assistant Professor of Piano Christopher Harding just returned from a month’s residency as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, China. While in residence he presented lecture recitals on American music and classic period music, as well as masterclasses and daily lessons for small audiences of students and teachers. He was also invited to perform Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with the Sichuan Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Eric Zhou, conducting
James Kibbie, Professor of Organ at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, is undertaking a three-year project to record the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Dr. Kibbie is recording some 270 extant Bach organ works, totaling over 18 hours in length, on original 18th-c. organs in Germany, most of which Bach himself played and in some cases helped to design. The University of Michigan will make these recordings available free of charge as internet downloads, marking the first time the complete canon of Bach organ works will be available through the internet. The website will also feature information on the organs, the music, and U of M’s Historic Organ Tours, hosted by Prof. Marilyn Mason. During the 2007 phase of the project, Dr. Kibbie is recording the Leipzig Chorales, the Kirnberger Chorales, and a variety of free works on the historic Gottfried Silbermann organs in the Hofkirche in Dresden and the Georgenkirche and Marienkirche in Rötha. The initial recordings will be posted as free downloads in late summer of 2007. This project is made possible through a generous gift by Dr. Barbara Sloat in honor of J. Barry Sloat. Additional support is provided by the U of M School of Music, Theatre & Dance and the Office of Vice-President for Research. Recording, editing and mastering are under the direction of David Lau of Brookwood Studios, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
