STUDENT NEWS
WIU Horn major
Amber Dean was selected as a winner of this year's
Dorothy Frizelle Mock Audition Contest at the 41st International Horn Symposium. Amber competed against an International field of 20 hornists on an audition list of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, Shostakovich, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner—performing for a panel of judges from the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society. As a winner of the
Frizelle Competition, she received an orchestral coaching session during the IHS international symposium with Gregory Hustis of the Dallas Symphony. She also received a one-year IHS membership.
Hornist
John Reem was an Honorable Mention in the
Dorothy Frizelle Competition. Two of the top five in the Competition were from WIU. Other finalists included a graduate from the University of Dayton, a student from Boston University, and a student at the Conservatory in Freiburg, Germany.
Summer Music Camp
SMC was enormously successful again this year. Over 275 campers studied, learned, performed, and socialized during their week on campus. Twelve very busy counselors kept the campers safe and made sure they were at the right place at the right time. Thanks SMC Counselors!
All SMC counselors were either music majors or performed with a music ensemble.
Back Row L-R: Brett Hartigan (Male Head Counselor), Denver Murphy, Brian Newell, Zack Kraemer, Becky McGuire,
Dr. Mike Fansler (Camp Director);
Front Row L-R: Vickie Moore, Yvonne Dean, Amber Dean, Katie Lyphout (Female Head Counselor), Ashley Dunham,
Justin Davis (Asst. Camp Director)
Brittany Jade Colangelo and
Marisa Staranowicz, WIU Marching Band twirlers, performed in and won the National Show Corps with Props & Scenery championship. The competition was the National Baton Twirling Association (NBTA) International Open competition-America's Youth On Parade. It is held each year at Notre Dame University. Individual twirlers, teams, and corps (25 or more girls) from all over the United States and the world come together once a year for the national tournament.
Marisa and Brittany-Jade twirl on the Razzle Dazzle Baton Corp from Zion, IL which is directed by Laura Spaeth (the mother of recently graduated WIU feature twirler
Kristi Spaeth).
The corps competed in Senior Show Corps With Props/Scenery and placed first, making the team National Champions. Marisa and Brittany-Jade twirl in the Senior Show Corps with Props & Scenery.
On Friday night they competed again for the Grand World title, and Show Corps with Props & Scenery and won! Brittany-Jade is the captain of the Show Corps and she also represented the corps for the Corps Member of the Year competition in which she placed 5th.
This is the 4th time that the Razzle Dazzles have won the Grand World title for Show Corps with Props and Scenery. This past April the Razzle Dazzles competed in Brussels, Belgium for the World Junior Parade Corp title to represent TEAM USA and took gold. Marisa Staranowicz was a Captain of the team.
The show that won was a "Haunted House" theme with scary costumes, a coffin that girls were pulled into, a moveable lab of Dr. Frankenstein, plenty of tombstones, trees that people can hide inside, human spiders, a routine with each girl dressed as a vampire, as well as the ever popular THRILLER routine.
Faculty News
Richard Hughey, Director of Orchestral activities, is also the Artistic Director of the Lausitzer Opernsommer in Cottbus, Germany. During July and the first week of August, he directed rehearsals and conducted 7 performances of
Die Zauberflöte and
Don Giovanni of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. The participating vocalists were young professional Germans and some advanced students from the Hochschule der Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden, Germany. This year orchestra musicians were auditioned from all over the United States and students from the New England Conservatory, Northwestern University, Depaul University, Kent State University, the University of Illinois, Illinois State University and Western Illinois University participated in the rehearsals and performances for three weeks in Germany.
WIU participants:
Rebecca McGuire, Oboe
Michael Schraft, Timpani and Percussion
David Rappenecker, Administrative Assistant to the Artistic Director
WIU Alumni participants:
Frank Delo, Clarinet (M.M. 2008)
Diana Miller, Trumpet (M.M. 2009)
Two Illinois hornists were selected as recipients of the Punto Award by the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society: Dale Clevenger-Principal Hornist of the Chicago Symphony and
Randall Faust — Horn Professor at Western Illinois University. Individuals selected for the Punto Award shall have made a major contribution at the regional or national level to the art of horn playing. This contribution can be in any of a variety of areas, such as performance, teaching, research, or service to the IHS. Giovanni Punto 1746-1803 (a.k.a. Jan Vaclav Stich, Johann Wenzel Stich) was a virtuoso hornist who traveled most of Europe performing as a soloist and court musician. He also composed many original works to display his unique virtuosity. Also an excellent violin player, Punto held positions in several orchestras as concertmaster. He was so famous in his day that at the premiere in 1800 of the Beethoven Horn Sonata Op. 17 (with a young Beethoven at the piano), a music critic wrote, "Who is this Beethovener [sic]? His name is not well known in musical circles. Of course Punto is very well known."
The
Molina Duo had successful performances at the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy this summer. Moises taught cello and chamber music. He also performed with Gilles Vonsattel, pianist of the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center.
Andrea coached singers, taught collaborative playing, and conducted the festival orchestra. The Molina Duo will be back in Italy next summer.
Goblin Market starring
Kitty Karn and Gina Wright (Bradley University/Eureka College Faculty)
Goblin Market is a chamber musical based on the poem of the same title by Christina Rossetti, with music by Polly Pen and lyrics by Polly Pen, Peggy Harmon and Christina Rossetti. Additional music by Antonio Lotti and Johannes Brahms and additional lyrics by Max Knight and John Gav starring Kitty Karn (WIU School of Music Faculty) and Gina Wright (Bradley University and Eureka College Faculty). The production is co-produced and directed by Nancy Crossman and Kitty Karn and conducted by John Traill of Cambridge, England.
The production will be performed Monday and Tuesday, September 14 and 15, at 7:30 PM at the Regional Arts Center, East Side Square, Macomb. Seating is limited, so arrive early. No reservations or tickets are needed. The performance is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome and will benefit the West Central Illinois Arts Center.
Laura as Kitty Karn
Lizzie as Gina Wright
Scene design and construction Michael Klippert
assisted by Kitty Karn and Nancy Crossman
Lighting design by Jonathan Allender-Zivic
Costume design by Nancy Crossman
Stage Manager by Chelsey Childress
Chamber Ensemble
John Traill, conductor
Greg Martin, piano
Lynn Thompson, synthesizer
Karen Martin, violin
Mauri Houge, cello
Kevin Nichols, percussion
Dr. Stegall presents at "The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium VII" St. John's, Newfoundland
On July 4, 2009,
Dr. James Stegall presented for "The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium VII" hosted by Festival 500, in cooperation with Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. This highly acclaimed symposium is an academic component of "Festival 500: Sharing the Voices" an international biennial festival of choral music. The purpose of the symposium is to gather international expertise and provide a forum for interdisciplinary discourse and performance, the dissemination of research, and the generation of further knowledge related to the phenomenon of singing. Dr. Stegall's presentation, "52 Years of Song: The Choral Music of Master Composer Kirke Mechem" was an expansion of a similar project, "A Kirke Mechem Retrospective with Kirke Mechem," that Dr. Stegall and the Western Illinois University Singers presented for the American Choral Directors Association National Convention in Miami, Florida in 2007. "52 Years of Song" examined some of Mr. Mechem's shorter choral works spanning the years 1957 through 2009, specifically the madrigals, motets, and movements from the choral cycles and operas. Other presenters included Howard Goodall, BBC Documentary Producer, Paul Hillier, conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and "The Lion of Zimbabwe", political activist and musician, Thomas Mapfumo.
School of Music Website.
