Saturday, February 11 at 8pm, UGA Chapel
Classic City Jazz, UGA’s vocal and instrumental jazz group, celebrates Valentine’s Day with swingin’ jazz standards, ballads, and blues. Audience members can have a jazz solo dedicated with an additional donation.
Two works by Roger Vogel, a member of the composition faculty at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, were performed recently.
On November 13, Vogel’s First Light for oboe and piano was performed by oboist Janice Crews and pianist Rocío del Moral in Rio de Janeiro. at the IV Festival Internacional de Sopros at the Centro Cultural Justiça Federal. The Soliloquy for saxophone was performed on November 13 by Farrell Vernon at the Stroede Center for the Arts in Defiance, OH.
Director of Bands John P. Lynch recently guest-conducted the Concert Band of the United States Army Field Band at a concert in Maryland.
From the Field Band:
The Concert Band of the United States Army Field Band had a different sound during Friday’s performance at River Hill High School in Maryland. The band performed a challenging program of 20th century American Music, featuring the music of Aaron Copland, John Mackey, and more. But the reason for the unique sound was not due to the difficulty. Instead, it had everything to do with the guest conductor.
Dr. John Lynch, Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Georgia, was scheduled to work with the Concert Band for four days before the concert. When he arrived, however, he was asked to prepare the Concert Band in just three days.
Mary Leglar, chair of the music education area and Associate Director for Academic Programs, was honored last week by her colleagues with the Distingushed Career Award, presented at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference in Savannah.
A longtime member of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music faculty, Leglar has been widely published in music education journals and currently serves as editor of Georgia Music News.
Monica Hargrave, instructor of Harp at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, has been chosen as a judge for the Peabody Awards, considered one of the most prestigious prizes in electronic media (radio,television, interactive and new media). The Peabodys annually receive over 1,000 entries judged by 30 committees made of UGA faculty, staff, and students. Hargrave will be part of a team judging documentaries.
Congratulations to two students from UGA who placed in the MTNA Southern Division Competitions!
Tubist David McLemore, a student of David Zerkel, was declared Winner in the MTNA Young Artist Brass Performance Competition. Martha Gardner, violin, a student of Levon Ambartsumian, was declared Alternate in the MTNA Young Artist String Performance Competition.
The competitions were held at Mississippi College in Clinton, MS, on Jan. 13-16.
After a national election held in December, Mitos Andaya was elected to the office President-Elect of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO). The organization serves approximately 800 members and addresses specific needs of university/collegiate choral conductors and other choral professionals through various forums and biennial national conferences.
Mitos Andaya with Lorraine Bracco
School of music faculty member Mitos Andaya was one of three guest conductors in the nation to conduct Walt Disney World EPCOT’s Candlelight Processional during the 2011 holiday season.
In addition to the Voices of Liberty, WDW Orchestra, the Cast Choir, and guest high school choirs from across the nation, she worked with celebrity narrators actress Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos, Good Fellas), and Broadway actress/dancer/singer Chita Rivera (West Side Story, Sweet Charity).
Dr. Olin G. Parker, Professor Emeritus of Music, and Associate Director Emeritus of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, was honored with a Presidential award from the American Music Therapy Association. The AMTA’s Presidential Award is given to recognize individuals who, while not practicing music therapists, support the ideals, goals, and profession of music therapy.
Parker’s tenure at UGA has involved teaching myriad classes in music education and related areas, as well as supervising decades of student teachers and serving on doctoral and masters’ committees. His research, primarily in the field of psychoacoustics, have yielded some 50 professional journal publications. He has also presented and lectured in more than a dozen countries.
Parker joined the UGA music faculty in 1964, and though retired, continues to teach Psychology of Music when needed. He holds the Bachelor of Music from Bethany College, and the Master of Music Education and Doctor of Education degrees from the University of Kansas.
[Photo: Dr. Olin G. Parker with AMTA President Ronna Kaplan.]
The Hugh Hodgson School of Music and the Musicology-Ethnomusicology Student Association co-sponsored a colloquium on one of the School of Music’s most influential figures, Edwin Gerschefski (1909-1992). “(Re)introducing Edwin Gerschefski,” presented by Dr. Craig Parker of Kansas State University and Dr. Franklin Greene, director of Georgia Singers, was a discussion of Gerschefski’s life, works, and teaching. The colloquium was organized by Associate Professor of Music David Schiller.
Gerschefski, a composer and pianist, graduated from Yale with degrees in music and philosophy. After his graduation, he studied composition with renowned pedagogue Joseph Schillinger. Later, Gerschefski served as director of the schools of music at Converse College and the University of New Mexico. He came to Athens in 1959, serving as director of the School of Music until 1972, and remaining on the faculty until 1976.
A prolific composer, Gerschefski wrote orchestral, choral, band, solo, chamber, and film music. Some of Gerschefski’s best-known works include his Septet for Brass, Half Moon Mountain, and Two Hundred Years, composed for America’s bicentennial and premiered at the Kennedy Center in 1975.
Learn more: Edwin Gerschefski talks about maturing as a composer. (Transcript from This I Believe, mid 1950s.)
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