Faculty News

Detail of panel one in the lobby of Old Cabell Hall
The Student's Progress by Lincoln Perry

This year, composer Matthew Burtner's ecoacoustic composition projects led him to record the sound of melting ice on Alaska’s Arctic Ocean and lava flows in Guatemala's volcanos. He is currently a Howard Foundation Fellow of Brown University and he was recently awarded the prestigious Provost’s 2009/2010 21st Century Humanities Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin. In 2009 so far his music has been performed in Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, India, South Africa, Namibia, and throughout the US (including Alaska and Hawaii).

In May, Adam Carter will receive the Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His ensemble, the Tarab Cello Ensemble, has been contracted to release a debut cd with Bridge Records, on which Adam Carter will be a featured soloist. In the fall Mr. Carter will be performing a series of duo recitals with violinist, Jeannette Jang in Virginia and North Carolina.

John D'earth recently completed Don't Let This Chance Go By - poetry by Kabir & James Joyce, a 15 minute piece commissioned by the Kandinsky Trio, for violin, cello, piano, operatic soprano Nancy McDuffie, and beatbox artist Shodekeh. The piece was performed twice at Virginia Tech's Squires Auditorium. This summer D'earth will be directing CAYJO (the Ch-ville/Albemarle Youth Jazz Ensemble) for the third year since he founded the summer jazz program to help young musicians, in the area, stay active when school is closed.

Nathan Dishman was recently selected as one of six international participants in the prestigious Alessi Seminar. Joseph Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic, hosts this bi-annual seminar in Albuquerque, NM. Participants in past years have come from Canada, Mexico, Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States. In January of 2009, Dr. Dishman's book A Guide to Daily Maintenance for Trombone was published by Kagarice Brass Editions. He also actively writes reviews for the International Trombone Association quarterly journal.

Aaron Hill gave guest oboe master classes at the University of Texas, University of North Texas, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Iowa. He was also featured as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Charlottesville, performing Vivaldi’s Concerto for Oboe in C Major. This summer he will perform with the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, Ash Lawn Opera, and Ensemble of ACJW (Academy of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and Weill Music Institute).

Elizabeth Roberts (bassoon) continued to coordinate CUSO's outreach programs for youth during 2008-2009 season. Over 5000 area children were served through the Youth Concerts and Preludes School Visits. She is grateful to her many colleagues who offered programs in the schools this season through Preludes. Also, Ms. Roberts performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2008, the Virginia Symphony in March 2009, and will return to the Banff Centre in July 2009.

Joel Rubin¹s recent CD anthology, Hasidic-Orthodox Music from the Festival of the Torah in Jerusalem, received the German Record Critics¹ Prize, Quarterly List 4/2008. He is currently co-editing the proceedings of the ³Hearing Israel: Music, Culture and History at 60² conference for Min-Ad:Israel Studies in Musicology. Other recent publications include chapters in Early Twentieth-Century Brass Idioms: Art, Jazz, and Other Popular Traditions, and ³I Will Sing and Make Music²: Jewish Music and Musicians Throughout the Ages. In November he will tour Holland and Belgium, including a performance at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Recent performances of Judith Shatin’s music have occurred at the New York Electroacoustic Festival, Mannes Conservatory, the Olin Museum in Maine, the Feminist Theory 10 conference at UNC Greensboro, and the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. Her Rotunda, a film collaboration with Robert Arnold, based entirely on images and sounds of the Rotunda and Lawn collected over an entire year, was premiered at the Sweetwater Theatre in Fort Wayne, Indiana during the 2009 SEAMUS conference. Upcoming premieres include her Spring Tides, for interactive electronics and chamber ensemble, by Da Capo Chamber Players at Merkin Hall.

After leading the University Singers on a seven-city, eight-day concert tour – which included performances in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Richmond – Michael Slon has spent much of his first sabbatical working on a Leonard Bernstein project. Research trips have taken him to Boston and the Library of Congress, and in April he took part in a panel on Bernstein’s Mass at Cornell University. He also spent time at IU’s School of Music, and looks forward to bringing a semester’s worth of new ideas back to UVa.

Kate Tamarkin, Music Director of the Charlottesville and University Symphony, has a passion for teaching conducting. She will be returning for the fourth time to the faculty of the Conductor's Institute of South Carolina this coming June. She also recently produced a DVD outlining the conducting method of one of her primary teachers, Paul Vermel. It is entitled "Conducting with Clarity and Musicality with Maestro Paul Vermel". Part of the production was made possible by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Mimi Tung teaches advanced piano. Her students play regularly in recitals and master classes at UVA and elsewhere. Last year, in Old Cabell Hall, Mimi performed major sonatas by Schubert, Beethoven and Prokofiev, also the Schubert’s Trout Quintet. Her recital for Wednesday Music Club Soiree raised $3000 for their scholarship fund. She will perform the Chopin Piano Concerto #2 with Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra in 2010. A board member of the Tuesday Evening Concert Series, Mimi is active in selecting performers and programs.

Richard Will travels to the New Zealand School of Music on May 22-24 to be the keynote speaker at a conference, "Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Forms of Expression." In September 2009 he begins a residency at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, NC, working on a book on Mozart performance.