Stella Sung (MFA Music ‘84) along with the The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance are recipients of the “Music Alive Award” and will partner for an innovative collaboration beginning summer 2013 and spans over three seasons. The Dayton Performaing Arts Alliance is the nation’s first merged ballet-opera-symphony orchestra, and together with Dr. Sung, will feature signature events integrating the three art forms. She will compose new pieces, including a one-act opera, a chamber work for dance, and music for educational performances. She will also become part of an educational program reaching over 50,000 students annually and will create works that integrate dance, vocal, and instrumental music. Congratulations to Dr. Sung on becoming part of this groundbreaking collaboration!
Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike won the Tony Award for Best Play Sunday night. The play was co-produced by University of Florida Master of Fine Arts alumnus Hugh Hysell. Hysell is president of HHC Marketing, an integrated direct marketing, promotions and services company. His other broadway credits include Peter & the Starcatcher, winner of 5 Tony Awards.
Not only did Nicolas Pallesen (BA Music ‘05) recently received wonderful reviews for his performance in Johannes Brahms’ “A German Requiem” with the Alabama Symphony, he also won the Birmingham Opera Competition! Congratulations, Nicolas!
This summer, Nicolas will be performing “La Traviata” with Wolf Trap Opera and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
After he completes the performances in Washington, D.C., Nicolas is set for an exciting season of performances, including debuts at the New Orleans Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera.
Great job, Nicolas and good luck in the upcoming season!
Vincent Oaks (BA Music Education ‘00) is in his ninth year as director of the Tennessee Chattanooga Boys Choir. Under his leadership, the choir has been invited to perform in Cuba. This is the first time a youth choir will travel to Cuba in over half a century!
To warm-up their vocal chords, the boys will be performing tomorrow, June 5 at 7 p.m. The performance will be an hour long in Gainesville Oak Hammock, a retirement community, with the Oak Hammock Singers.
This will be an intergenerational singing experience, with performers ranging from ages 10 to 18 and 65 to 95!
The performance is free and open to the public.
UF Musical Theatre alum Thaddeus Pearson, who understudied Tony in the National tour of “West Side Story,” will now play Tony in the International Tour. He will make his West End debut in August and then continue to tour the UK afterward.
Chris Linn (BFA Theatre ‘88) has joined Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. as president, head of programming for TruTV. Linn is joining Turner Broadcasting after working for MTV since 2004 as executive vice president of programming and head of production.
“Chris brings to TruTV a remarkable track record of success highlighted by some of the most pop-culturally relevant and engaging series on television,” said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, which includes TruTV, TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies.
Click here to read full article.
Congratulations to SoTD professor Tim Alymeyer, who will be returning to the Hartford theater in Hartford, CT for Donald Margulies’ “Time Stands Still,” staged by artistic director Rob Ruggiero.
TheatreWorks Hartford Theatre
Congratulations to SA+AH professor Victoria Rovine for being receiving the Millard Meiss Publication Fund Award!
Two UF alums were among the winners of the International K-12 Teacher of the Year Award presented by the University of Florida International Center (UFIC). The 2013 International K-12 Teacher of the Year Award winner is Donald DeVito from Sidney Lanier Center School. Robert Ponzio from Oak Hall School received an Honorable Mention.
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Joshua Neumann has been elected as the President of the Graduate Student Council for 2013-14. In this role, he seeks to continue to develop strong relationships for graduate students in all facets of life at the University of Florida, particularly in the areas of financial support for research and professional development, and interdisciplinary networking and endeavors.
Email him at president@ufgsc.org for ways to be involved or to express concerns about the graduate experience at UF.
Aaron Keebaugh (Ph.D. Musicology 2011) presented his paper “Asleep Among the Son of God’s Disease: Mikel Rouse’s Failing Kansas and the Legacy of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood” at the National Conference of the College Music Society November 2012 in San Diego.
Presently, Aaron teaches courses in music history and World history at North Shore Community College in Danvers, MA. He is a music critic for The Boston Classical Review.
If you’re headed to Atlanta this summer, be sure to check out works from UF Ceramics MFA alums Susan Feagin and Charlie Cummings at the Mudfire Gallery. Their pieces are part of a show titled Print on Clay, showing May 3- June 3, 2013.
Other artists featured include Shalene Valenzuela, Paul Andrew Wandless, Justin Rothshank, Jay Jensen, Alice Drew, Israel Davis, David Allyn, and more! Print on Clay showcases the magic of print on clay in a variety of techniques from underglaze transfers to decals on functional and sculptural forms. Check out www.mudfire.com/print-on-clay-2013.htm for more information on the show!
About Charlie Cummings’ work, Mudfire says: Charlie Cummings is well-known for his artworks combining ceramics and printmaking. Cummings’ work illustrates how today’s technology has become an important bridge between clay and image-based art forms. His method involves printing full color photographic images using common underglazes and stains.
UF SoM alum Christina L. Reitz (Ph.D. Historical Musicology, ‘07) is an Assistant Professor of Music at Western Carolina University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in musicology.
Recently, Dr. Reitz has been contracted to write two entries for the Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Encyclopedia through Sage Publications (anticipated publication date August 2014).
Dr. Reitz will present her research entitled “Monster Concerts: Gottschalk’s Brobdingnagian South American Festivals” at the College Music Society’s International Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina in June. Dr. Reitz also presented the following papers this past spring: “Sacred and Ecological Works of Meira Warshauer” at the Athena Festival in Murray, KY and “The Civil War Concert Tours and American Departure of Gottschalk” at the Nineteenth Century Studies Association in Fresno, California. For the Nineteenth Century Studies Association, she serves on the Board of Directors and the Publicity Committee and hosted the national conference in Asheville in 2013.
