2010-02-23 Faculty Composers [recital program]

              School of Music
U N C G
Faculty Composers Concert
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
7:30 pm
Recital Hall, School of Music
Program
Eclecticism I (2002/2009), world premiere of this version Michael Burns
duration: 3:15
Red Clay Saxophone Quartet
Susan Fancher, soprano saxophone
Robert Faub, alto saxophone
Steve Stusek, tenor saxophone
Mark Engebretson, baritone saxophone
Witchcraft Recipes #5c (1995), world premiere of this version Alejandro Rutty
duration: 5:00
Blue Mountain Ensemble
Carla Copeland-Burns, alto flute
Michael Burns, bassoon
John Salmon, piano
Blood Mountain: A Song Cycle (2007) Harold Schiffman
duration: 16:00 Text from Black Shawl
Prologue by Kathryn Stripling Byer
1. Bone Poet Laureate Emerita of North Carolina
2. Storm
3. Phacelia
4. Sisters
5. Gypsy
6. Ash
Gayle Seaton, soprano
Jane Perry-Camp, piano
Intermission
Nocturne (2010), world premiere Gregory Carroll
duration: 5:00
Deborah Egekvist, flute
Gregory Carroll, piano
Deliriade (2009) Mark Engebretson
duration: 25:00
I. Praeludiana
II. Minuetish
III. Choreado
IV. Sarabandelich
V. Final-ly
Tadeu Coelho, flute
Red Clay Saxophone Quartet
Program Notes
Eclecticism 1 for Sax Quartet (2002/2009)
is a reworking of an earlier work Eclecticism 1 for Reed Quartet (ob, cl, bn, alto saxophone)
which was written for, and premiered by the Eastwind Quatour d'Anches in 2002. It is rather
typical of my style which eclectically draws from many styles and influences including jazz,
serialism, modalism, etc., hence the title. Yes, there are other pieces named Eclecticism 2
and so on :-). The current version is written for and being premiered by the Red Clay
Saxophone Quartet.
Witchcraft Recipes No. 5c (1995)
The original Witchcraft Recipes #5 was composed in 1995 for violin, cello and piano.
Witchcraft Recipes #5c, for alto flute, piano, and bassoon, is a transcription written for the
Blue Mountain Ensemble. The piece attempts to explore rhythmic complexity by means of
speeding up perfectly nuanced rhythms. In addition, all the instrumental parts are set in
different temporal environments, which briefly may coincide at times. The Witchcraft
Recipes series (of which there are eleven pieces) consists of short and intense chamber
works featuring a type of rhythmic complexity and virtuosic writing that causes performers
to use certain physical motion during performance, not unlike an exorcism.
Blood Mountain: A Song Cycle (2007)
A song cycle dedicated to soprano Gayle Seaton, this is my third work based on texts by
North Carolina Poet Laureate Emerita Kathryn Stripling Byer. The others are ALMA (2002)
and WAKE (2003). Cyclic elements appear in the text in the form of words and images that
recur from poem to poem: “weaving,” “loom,” “warping,” and especially “blood.” These are
reflected in the music through recurring harmonic, motivic, and rhythmic gestures that
permeate the texture from song to song. Its 9 March 2008 performance in New York was
the world première of the song cycle BLOOD MOUNTAIN.
The complete text for Blood Mountain can be found in a separate booklet.
Nocturne (2010)
I was recently exploring the combined sound of two triads: f minor and A major, and
discovered something special about the pitch content. “How totally cool!” I thought. “The
two triads create one of the six all-combinatorial hexachord set types! Be still, my beating
heart!!” On further reflection, however, I decided not to manipulate the pitches with
standard serial procedures; after all, Serialism these days is…well, itʼs so “last century!” I
put aside my prime-by-inversion matrix and rotational array, and set out to compose
something quite different—something featuring atmosphere and simplicity.
Nocturne for Flute and Piano was intentionally composed to be simple in harmonic/melodic
language, rhythm, and form. The flute is clearly the featured “voice.” The piano materials
alternate between sustained open-sounding sonorities and undulating patterns suggesting
a slow gentle rocking. From time to time, the flute melody incorporates bird-like sounds,
adding a nocturnal dimension to the work.
- Gregory Carroll
Deliriade (2009)
is a five-movement work for solo flute with saxophone quartet. The piece is imagined as a
“dance suite concerto,” with the first movement serving as a prelude (“preludiana”) and the
next four evocative of various dances (minuet, choros and so forth). It is by turns a brilliant,
virtuosic, charming and mysterious work that seeks to highlight many and various qualities
of the flute, while at the same time giving the saxophone ensemble plenty of opportunities
to blaze. Deliriade is dedicated to Tadeu Coelho, who commissioned the work with support
from the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School
of the Arts. The piece was written for Dr. Coelho and the Prism Saxophone Quartet, who
gave the first performance on January 17, 2009 at the University of North Carolina School
of the Arts.
Composer and Poet Biographies
Michael Burns, (b. 1963) Bassoonist and Composer, holds a BM with Honours from the
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand in both bassoon and composition, along with
Graduate degrees in bassoon. Currently he is Associate Professor of Bassoon at UNCG.
As a composer, Burns was awarded third place in the 1986 Young Composersʼ Competition
in New Zealand for Moods/Modes for solo horn and Orchestra, and also third place in the
Victoria University Composition Competition in 1985, with Conflicts for flute, bassoon,
trumpet, piano, and percussion, and A New Year's Piece for flute and piano. His piece
Swamp Song for bassoon and electronic tape has been performed extensively around the
U.S. and internationally and appears on the CD New Music for Bassoon by William Dietz.
Burns has performed works of his own composition at International Double Reed Society
conferences including Swamp Song at Evanston IL, Riffs for flute bassoon, and piano at
Tempe AZ, and Two Aotearoa Sketches at Melbourne, Australia. Several of Burns'
compositions are published by Trevco Music. His recent critically-acclaimed solo CD
Primavera: Music for Bassoon and Piano by Bassoonists also features his own work Two
Aotearoa Sketches.
Poet and essayist Kathryn Stripling Byer is a native of Georgia but has set most of her
poems in the mountains of North Carolina. Creating an identity that is both distinct and in
line with the concerns of southern culture, Byer reclaims in her poetry the traditions,
customs, and voices of past Appalachian women. In doing so, she defines herself as an
artist and, at the same time, addresses the concerns of women in today's South.
Byer was born in Camilla in 1944 to C. M. Stripling, a farmer, and Bernice Campbell
Stripling, a homemaker. She attended Wesleyan College in Macon and attained an M.F.A.
from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. There Byer studied with Allen Tate,
Fred Chappell, and Robert Watson and won the Academy of American Poets Student
Prize. While at UNC-G, Byer decided to make the North Carolina mountains her home, in
large part, she says, because the mountains were "the place my grandmother had wanted
to be when she died."
Byer has served as poet-in-residence at Western Carolina University (1988-98), UNC-G
(1995), and Lenoir-Rhyne College (1999). Her work has appeared in prestigious poetry and
scholarly journals, including Poetry, Georgia Review, Southern Review, and Hudson
Review. She has published numerous essays, including the autobiographical "Deep Water"
in Bloodroot: Reflections on Place by Appalachian Women Writers (1998) and "Turning the
Windlass at the Well: Fred Chappell's Early Poetry," which was published in Dream
Garden: The Poetic Vision of Fred Chappell (1997). She has received numerous awards,
including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts
Council. Her second volume, Wildwood Flower (1992), received the Lamont Prize for the
best second book by an American poet. In 2005 Byer was named poet laureate of North
Carolina.
Gregory Carroll, Associate Professor at the UNCG School of Music, holds a B.A. in music
from St. Johnʼs University (MN), and an M.M. and Ph.D. in Composition/Theory from the
University of Iowa. Prior to coming to UNCG in 1981, he taught at The University of Iowa
and Indiana State University. His compositions have been performed at national and
international conferences. Other performance venues include Canada, Alaska, Europe, and
Australia. He has frequently served as finalist judge for state, regional, and national
composition contests. He has published theoretical articles in state and national journals,
and is frequently sought after as a guest clinician and lecturer. Dr. Carroll currently serves
as President of the Southeastern Composers League.
Mark Engebretson, Associate Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at UNCG,
has recently undertaken composing a series of high-powered solo works entitled “Energy
Drink” and writing music for large ensembles. He was previously a freelance composer and
performer in Stockholm and Vienna, earning numerous commissions from official funding
organizations. His music has been presented at many festivals, such as Wien Modern
(Vienna), Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), Indiana State
University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, Indiana), the Florida Electroacoustic Music
Festival and ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan). Recent performances
include presentations by the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jacksonville
Symphony. His work “She Sings, She Screams” for saxophone and digital media has been
performed countless times worldwide and has been released on three compact disc
recordings. As a performer, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician
worldwide, and he is a former member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet. Dr. Engebretson
has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Florida and at the State
University of New York, College at Fredonia. He holds the DMA degree from Northwestern
University, and also studied at the University of Minnesota and the Conservatoire de
Bordeaux. His teachers include Michel Fuste-Lambezat, Ruben Haugen, Frederick L.
Hemke, Jean-Marie Londeix, M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska,
Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim.
Alejandro Rutty, Assistant Professor of Composition, joined the UNCG School of Music
faculty in 2007. Composer, conductor and music advocate, his output includes work in
avant-garde, classical, and Argentine traditional repertoires, as well as innovative
community-based projects. Ruttyʼs compositions have been played by the Minnesota
Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, Kiev Philharmonic,
National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Cassatt String Quartet, New York New Music
Ensemble, Quasar Sax Quartet, Phoenix Trio, and Amherst Saxophone Quartet among
others. He has appeared as a conductor with groups such as the June in Buffalo Chamber
orchestra, UNCUYO Symphony orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Catskill
Choral Society and Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. Recordings of Ruttyʼs music and
arrangements have been released by Capstone records, ERM Media, and Arizona
University Recordings. Until 2007, Rutty has been Assistant Professor of Music at Hartwick
College, Artistic Director of the Hey, Mozart! Child Composer Project, and Co-Director of
the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival. His education includes a PhD in Composition
at State University of New York at Buffalo, and degrees from The University of New Mexico
and Universidad Católica Argentina.
Harold Schiffman (b. 1928; Greensboro, North Carolina) has composed in virtually all
media. His commissions include those from such diverse groups as the Tallahassee
Symphony, the International Trombone Association, the Apple Trio, the Concertino String
Quartet, the Mallarmé Chamber Players, and the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro School of Music, as well as from a number of individuals including conductor
Richard Burgin, flutist Albert Tipton, soprano Janice Harsanyi, pianist Jane Perry-Camp,
and pianist/conductor Max Lifchitz (for North/South Consonance). The North Carolina
Symphony and the ARTEA Chamber Orchestra of San Francisco, among others, have
premièred his music. In January 1981, New York's Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, was the
site of a twenty-five year retrospective of Mr. Schiffman's compositions, with the
performance of both solo and chamber works there. Then in November 1992, the University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, honored him with an all-Schiffman concert of performances
ranging from large ensemble to solo. North/South Consonance celebrated Schiffman's
seventieth birthday with a 1998 New York performance by Jane Perry-Camp of excerpts
from Spectrum, My Ladye Jane's Booke (1992), which had received its complete première
in November, 1994, his seventy-fifth in 2003 with a program of his music in Weill Recital
Hall at Carnegie Hall, and his eightieth in 2008 with a program of his works at The Gilder
Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. In the same year, the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music presented a program of
Schiffman's music featuring the North Carolina première of Alma (2002), a cantata for
mixed chorus, mezzo-soprano solo, and orchestra. In June, 2000, Extravaganza (1998) for
three pianos, twelve hands, was the featured work at the University of North Carolina,
Greensboro, Focus on Piano Literature 2000. Other recent world premières include Alma
(mezzo-soprano Nadine Cheek Whitney, The Florida State University Philharmonia, The
University Singers, Alexander Jiménez, conductor; April 15, 2005, Tallahassee, Florida);
Concertino for Flute and String Orchestra (2004) (Lisa Hansen, flutist, the North/South
Chamber Orchestra, Max Lifchitz, conductor; New York, New York, January 9, 2005), and
the song cycle Blood Mountain (2007), Gayle Seaton, soprano, and Jane Perry-Camp,
pianist, New York, New York, March 9, 2008. Alma received its international première
October 16, 2008, in Győr, Hungary, by the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hungarian
National Choir, and mezzo soprano Katalin Halmai, with Mátyás Antal conducting. In
conjunction with that première the City of Győr honored Harold Schiffman with its silver
medal and a certificate from the Mayor in appreciation of the composerʼs contributions to
the cultural life of the City. In addition to performances in the United States, Mr. Schiffman's
music has been presented in Europe, Latin America, and the Far East. His publishers
include Associated/G. Schirmer, New York; Robert King (Alphonse Leduc, Paris); Southern
Music Co., San Antonio; Columbia Music Co., Chapel Hill; Harpa Hungarica, Bloomington;
and Andres Editions, Tallahassee. He is a member of ASCAP. Schiffman's symphonic,
choral, chamber, and solo compositions appear on recordings issued by North/South
Recordings (N/S R 1050, 1047, 1045, 1039, 1037, 1035, 1021, 1013, 1009, and 1001),
Centaur (CRC2204), and Amoris International (AISCVII). The six most recent of these CDs
include his cantata Alma (2002), Prelude and Variations (1970), and Chamber Concerto
No. 2: In Memoriam Edward Kilenyi (2000); Concertino for Oboe and Chamber Orchestra
(1977); his complete string quartets recorded by the Auer Quartet, Concertino for Flute and
String Orchestra (2004), Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2006), Double Concerto for
Horn, Bassoon and String Orchestra (1992), Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1997),
his Symphony No. 2: Music for Győr (2008), Ninnerella Variata (1956), Variations on
"Branchwater" (1987), Blood Mountain Suite (2008), and Overture to a Comedy (1983). Mr.
Schiffman received his education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The
University of California at Berkeley, and The Florida State University, Tallahassee. His
principal composition teacher was Roger Sessions with whom he studied at the University
of California, as well as privately in Berkeley and again later in Princeton, New Jersey,
following three years service (1951-54) in the U. S. Army. In Tallahassee, a further
influential mentor was Ernst von Dohnányi. Appointed to the faculty of the Florida State
University School of Music in 1959, Harold Schiffman retired from the position of Professor
of Composition in 1983 and was designated Professor Emeritus in 1985. He was founding
director of the Florida State University Festival of New Music in 1981.
Performer Biographies
Blue Mountain Ensemble is based in central North Carolina and brings together very
familiar faces to classical music audiences of this region and beyond. The ensemble
performs engaging repertoire from many style periods written for this combination of flute,
bassoon, and piano, but also seeks existing repertoire that adapts well to the ensemble
along with newly commissioned works. The name of the ensemble is taken from
exceptionally beautiful and diverse natural areas in Florida, Australia, and North Carolina
that hold special significance for the members, with each of these places carrying the name
Blue Mountain. Programming by the group mirrors the diverse environments of these areas
ranging from serene, young, old, laid-back and joyful, to rugged and intense.
www.bluemountainensemble.org
Carla Copeland-Burns currently enjoys an active freelancing career with several
ensembles including the North Carolina Symphony, the Opera Company of North
Carolina, and the Carolina Ballet among others. Burns serves as Piccoloist for the
Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Principal Flute in the Salisbury Symphony, and in
the ongoing chamber groups Blue Mountain Ensemble, Radford University Faculty
Chamber Players, and the Cascade Wind Quintet, a North Carolina Arts Council
Touring Roster Ensemble. A dedicated teacher, Burns has served on an adjunct basis
at Indiana State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Mars Hill
College, and served with the New England Music Camp faculty for six years. She
currently teaches flute at Radford University in Virginia and coaches chamber music at
the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop. Prior to moving to North Carolina, Burns
maintained an active recital schedule, as a teacher and guest artist on flute and
baroque flute, while based in the Boston and Cincinnati areas. Following her time in
Cincinnati she became the Principal Flute for the Midland-Odessa Symphony in Texas
and then relocated to the Greensboro, NC, area in fall 1994. Burns holds a Bachelor of
Music with Honors degree from the Florida State University and the Master of Music in
Flute Performance from the New England Conservatory. Her teachers include Charles
Delaney, Lois Schaefer, Carol Wincenc, Nadine Asin, Jack Wellbaum and Stephen
Preston.
Michael Burns (see composer biography)
John Salmon on the UNCG piano faculty since 1989, has distinguished himself as
both a classical and jazz artist. Critics have cited his “mastery and virtuosity” (La
Suisse, Geneva, Switzerland), called him a “tremendous pianist” (El País, Madrid,
Spain), and praised his ability to “set his audience on fire” (News & Courier,
Charleston, South Carolina). He has appeared at the International Bartók Festival in
Hungary, the Festival Internacional de Música del Mediterráneo in Spain, and at
festivals across the U.S. His performances have been broadcast on the national radio
stations of Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, New
Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the Ukraine; and on National Public Radio's
“Performance Today,” WFMT in Chicago, and WNYC in New York. Prizes include the
Premio Jaén, as well as awards from the Busoni and Maryland competitions. He holds
the Solistendiplom from the Freiburg (Germany) Hochschule für Musik, the Master of
Music degree from The Juilliard School, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from
The University of Texas. Salmon has championed piano pieces by many
contemporary composers, especially Dave Brubeck who dedicated two pieces to
Salmon. His two compact discs of Brubeck's piano music (Phoenix PHCD 130; and
Naxos 8.559212) have received widespread critical acclaim.
Tadeu Coelho currently teaches at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He
has served as associate professor of flute at the University of Iowa from 1997-2002, as
assistant professor of flute at the University of New Mexico from 1992-1997, and as visiting
professor at the Ino Mirkovich Music Academy in Croatia. Mr. Coelho frequently appears as
soloist, chamber musician, and master clinician throughout Europe, Asia, and the
Americas. He has performed as first solo flutist of the Santa Fe Symphony, Hofer
Symphoniker in Germany, and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy, among others,
including guest appearances with the Boston Symphony in the summer of 1996. A recipient
of many awards and scholarships, Rockefeller Foundation, Fideicomiso para la cultura
México/EUA, USIA/Fulbright, LASPAU, and CAPES, Tadeu Coelho received his Doctor of
Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Julius Baker and
Ransom Wilson. Started on the flute by his father, Dr. Coelho also studied with Keith
Underwood, Thomas Nyfenger, Andrew Lolya, and Arthur Ephross. Mr. Coelho gave his
New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in April of 1992. In his native
Brazil, Coelho studied also with Spartacco Rossi, João Dias Carrasqueira, and Jean Noel
Sagaard. Tadeu Coelho is an avid proponent of new music and the music of the Americas.
He has commissioned, performed, and recorded works by notable composers. His solo
CDs include:
Azules: Enchanting Latin Music for the Soul for Flute and Harp
Nocturnes: Romantic Works for Flute and Piano
Modernly Classic: Mid 20th Century Works for Flute and Piano
Eighteenth-Century Flute Sonatas
Life Drawing: Works for Solo Flute
¡Rompe!: Chamber Music for Flute and Clarinet from Mexico
Tadeu Coelho Plays Flute Music from Brazil.
Flutists of the World: Paganini Caprice No. 24
He can also be heard performing works by Thomas Delio on 3D Classics and Villa-Lobos
on Albany Records with his brother, bassoonist Benjamin Coelho. Tadeu Coelho has
published the complete works of Pattápio Silva and other pieces for solo flute as well as
collections of daily exercises with accompanying CDs. His published works are available at
Flute World and Carolyn Nussbaum Music Co. Tadeu Coelho is a Miyazawa artist and
performs on a 14 K gold instrument with platinum riser.
Deborah Egekvist earned the BM from Lawrence University, the MM at the Eastman
School of Music, and the DM at Florida State University. She has taught at Marshall
University in Huntington, West Virginia, and at the University of Oklahoma at Norman.
Active as a soloist and chamber musician, Egekvist has performed throughout the United
States, Germany, Canada, and the Asian South Pacific. She has appeared as soloist with
the Minnesota Orchestra, the Green Bay Symphony, the West Virginia Symphonette, the
Aurora Symphony, and the Huntington Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed as
principal flute of the Huntington Chamber Orchestra, the Greensboro Symphony, and the
EastWind Quintet at UNCG. In June 1989, Egekvist made her New York debut at Carnegie
Recital Hall.
Jane Perry-Camp, pianist, has performed throughout the United States and in Europe as
soloist and chamber musician. She appeared in Alice Tully Hallʼs 1981 retrospective of
Harold Schiffmanʼs compositions, in the 2003 Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall all-
Schiffman concert, and in the 2008 Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum
all-Schiffman celebratory concert where she and soprano Gayle Seaton premièred
Schiffman's song cycle Blood Mountain (2007). For North/South Recordings she recorded
three of Schiffman's works (from 1982, 1992, 2000) that were written for or commissioned
and premièred by her. For the recently released North/South Recording, Harold Schiffman
at 80!, she and soprano Gayle Seaton recorded his Blood Mountain song cycle. Her
playing has been described as "strong, understanding, expressive" (The American Record
Guide); "with every kind of clarity" (Piano & Keyboard); "both deft and poetic" (Musical
America); Turok's Choice called her a "top-flight pianist." Perry-Camp's studies with
Edward Kilenyi and repertoire with Ernst von Dohnányi were at The Florida State
University, where she taught from 1980 to 1996.
The Red Clay Saxophone Quartet was formed in 2003 in North Carolina when the fates
conspired to bring four internationally recognized saxophonists together in Greensboro.
The RCSQ takes its name from the area's luscious red soil. The Quartet's repertoire
features music by composers as varied as Ben Johnston, Burton Beerman, Mark
Engebretson, Lenny Pickett, Alejandro Rutty, Ben Boone, Steve Reich and Gavin Bryars.
Mark Engebretson (see composer biography)
Susan Fancher's work to develop the repertoire for the saxophone have produced
dozens of commissioned works by contemporary composers, as well as published
transcriptions of music by composers as diverse as Josquin Desprez, Ben Johnston
and Steve Reich. She has worked with a multitude of composers in the creation and
interpretation of new music including Terry Riley, Michael Torke and Charles
Wuorinen, just to name a few, and has performed in many of the world's leading
concert venues and contemporary music festivals. Her extensive discography
includes a solo CD entitled Ponder Nothing on the Innova label and a recording on
New World Records of Forever Escher by Paul Chihara. Susan Fancher is a regularly
featured columnist for the nationally distributed Saxophone Journal. Her principal
teachers were Frederick Hemke, Jean-Marie Londeix, Michael Grammatico and Joe
Daley. She is a clinician for the Selmer and Vandoren companies, and teaches
saxophone at Duke University.
Robert Faub is an accomplished classical soloist, chamber musician and jazz artist.
He was formerly the alto saxophonist with the widely acclaimed New Century
Saxophone Quartet, with whom he performed extensively throughout the United
States and in the Netherlands. He appears on New Century's recordings A New
Century Christmas and Standards. As a soloist, he gave the first performance of Ben
Boone's concerto Squeeze with the University of South Carolina Symphony, adding to
a long list of works he has premiered. His recording of Andrew Simpson's Exhortation,
included on Arizona University Recording's America's Millenial Tribute to Adolphe Sax,
was "immaculately played," according to The Double Bassist magazine. Robert is the
Director of Bands at Caldwell Academy in Greensboro, NC. He also shepherds an
accomplished studio of young private students, plays extensively with local jazz
combos and appears regularly with the North Carolina, Greensboro and Winston-
Salem Symphonies.
Steven Stusek is Associate Professor of Saxophone at the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. He performs frequently with Dutch accordion player Otine
van Erp in the duo 2Track, was director of Big Band Utrecht and is a founding member
of the Bozza Mansion Project, an Amsterdam-based new music ensemble. The list of
composers who have written music for him include Academy Award winner John
Addison. His many awards include a Medaille d'Or in Saxophone Performance from
the Conservatoire de la Région de Paris, winner of the Saxohone Concerto
competition at Indiana University, Semi-finalist in the Concert Artists Guild
Competition, Vermont Council on the Arts prize for Artistic Excellence, and Finalist in
the Nederlands Impressariaat Concours for ensembles. His teachers include Daniel
Deffayet, Jean-Yves Formeau, Eugene Rousseau, David Baker, Joseph Wytko and
Larry Teal.
Soprano Gayle Seatonʼs repertoire ranges from medieval music to world premières at
Carnegie Recital Hall and elsewhere. In her 2003 All-Harold Schiffman appearance at Weill
Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, she presented two new arias composed for her and a
chamber song cycle, Peacock Pie (1983). Further, she premièred Schiffman's song cycle
Blood Mountain (2007) which also was written for her, at his celebratory 2008 all-Schiffman
concert at the Gilder Lehrman Hall of The Morgan Library & Museum, and thereafter she
recorded the song cycle for the recently released North/South Recordings CD Harold
Schiffman at 80!.
She is at home both on the recital and concert stage, and in opera, operetta, and musical
theater. Her roles have included the Countess (The Marriage of Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan
tutte), Violetta (La Traviata), Mimi (La Bohème), and Elsie Maynard (Yeoman of the Guard).
Among her musical theater credits are the roles of Amalia Balash in She Loves Me, Lily in
The Secret Garden, Guidoʼs Mother in Nine, Cinderella in Into the Woods, both Adelaide
and Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, and Maria in The Sound of Music.
In addition to performing, she teaches voice at The Florida State University, where she is
the Program Director for Music Theatre in the College of Music. Her former students are
currently performing on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as in touring companies and
regional theatre all over the United States. Most recently her student Montego Glover
has earned rave reviews as the leading lady in the new musical Memphis which opened on
Broadway this Fall. Gayle is a proud member of Actorsʼ Equity.