ALUMNI NEWS
Names are listed under year of graduation in alphabetical order
of last name.
Please submit your updates to finearts@grinnell.edu
(please indicate your major and grad year)
Class of 2005
Joe Geni ‘05 is an assistant reporter for the Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun (the world's largest newspaper), covering the United Nations. He lives in Manhattan, records music in his apartment, and is searching for a band to perform with in his spare time. He reports that he is using quintal chords and messing with guitar audio using techniques learned in Intro to Composition and Electronic Music at Grinnell.
Class of 2004
Ari Hart '04 is applying for graduate programs in education
while working in a temporary position as program director at the
University of Illinois at Chicago Hillel. He is also writing about
music for an Internet magazine and composing commercial music
on his own.
Lindsey Kuper '04 completed the Chicago Lakeshore Marathon in 2005.
Nick Liebman '04 is studying for a Master’s degree in music composition at Butler University starting in the fall of 2006. Nick was one of four composers selected for a $1,500 commission from the Foundation for Universal Sacred Music to compose a new choral work with instrumental accompaniment premiered in New York City in the fall of 2004. Following graduation, he held a position as Operations Manager and College Sales Associate at Carmel Music and Entertainment.
Nick Malinowski '04 has been selected to serve in the "Teach
for America" program. After a period of training this summer,
he will teach elementary school in the Mississippi Delta for the
next two years. He hopes, after then, to attend graduate school
in vocal music performance.
Pete Pennington ’04 is applying for graduate schools in music composition. He currently has a job leading groups of behaviorally challenged adolescents on backpacking trips in Central Oregon The Grinnell Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eric McIntyre, premiered Pete’s Fanfare for Orchestra as part of Grinnell College Commencement weekend events in May 2004.
Colin Seiler '04 has taken a one-year position as editorial assistant
for the NBC affiliate station in Los Angeles.
Class of 2003
John Basler '03 is applying for grad schools in music composition. He lives in San Rafael CA, playing in a band called "Merfolk" that performs frequently in the Bay Area.
Joe Benson '03 is applying for graduate programs in mathematics.
Brian Bers '03 is pursuing certification as a recording studio engineer. He worked as a studio engineer for a year at a non-profit youth center called Chops in Santa Rosa, CA running their Protools system. He lives in San Rafael CA, playing in a band called "Merfolk" that performs frequently in the Bay Area.
Matt Cook '03 is singing with the University of Minnesota Chamber
Singers, a select mixed ensemble of 28 members, while pursuing
graduate studies at the University of Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs. He reports that classes are going
well and that he is adapting to city life. He eventually will
attend law school.
Esther Rosenow '03 has left her job in concert production at the Cleveland Institute of Music and is now working for the Cleveland Orchestra.
Shawn Sigler ‘03 and Kristen Sigler had their first child, a son, in 2005.
Class of 2002
Inger Bergom ‘02 married Spencer Piston ‘01 in October 2005 at Herrick Chapel. They are moving to Ann Arbor, MI where Spencer will pursue a Political Science PhD at the University of Michigan focusing on American Politics.
Michael Busha '02 is a graduate student in physics at the University
of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Ally Carnes '02 is studying choral conducting privately with John
Rommereim in Grinnell during the fall of 2002.
Phillip Hales '02 is studying for a Master's degree in double
bass performance at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Devin Hughes '02 has returned to the Midwest after a year of studies
in Vienna. He studied trombone with a member of the Vienna Philharmonic
and performed in small ensembles at the Institute for European
Studies. Repertoire included a brass arrangement of excerpts from
Mozart's Requiem as well as Stravinsky's L'histoire
du soldat, in which Devin conducted the "Royal March." Devin also sat in on a conducting course at the Musik Universitat
and was invited to participate in a conducting masterclass in
Romania, where he conducted Beethoven's 1st Symphony in rehearsals
and in concert.
Ryan Jones '02 has been admitted to the Master of Music degree
program in music theory at the Mannes College of Music in New
York City.
Natalie Kneip '02 is teaching in St. Louis during 2002-03, under
the auspices of the "Teach for America" program.
David McClelland '02is pursuing a bachelor of science degree in renewable energy systems studies at Oregon Institute of Technology.
Lauren Orndorff '02 was back on campus in February with several
presentations on her experience as a Grinnell Corps teacher (English
and math) at St. Rodrigue High School in Losotho. Upon her return
to the U.S., she resumed intensive work on ceramics and found
herself teaching pottery. She also holds a part-time job as organist
and choir director, gives private lessons on banjo and piano,
continues to work on classical guitar, and is looking for an accessible
harpsichord.
Class of 2001
Sarah Baker '01 performed in a piano concert with Lisa
Spector in May 2001, Half Moon Bay, CA.
David Bradley '01 is pursuing a degree in acoustical engineering
at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Peter Broadwell '01 had taken courses in musical analysis while
pursuing a degree in computer science at the University of California-Berkeley.
He is now applying for graduate programs in musicology and music
theory.
Rachel Chacko '01 is completing her D.M.A. degree in flute performance
at
the University of Colorado at Boulder, expecting to graduate in May of
2007.
She will take the comprehensive exams for a Ph.D. In music theory over
the
summer of 2007 and intends to continue teaching as an instructor at
Boulder
while completing her dissertation. She has worked as a summer intern at
the
Colorado Music Festival and finished her masters degree in flute
performance
from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Paul Chaikin '01 is studying in the graduate program in ethnomusicology
and working as a T.A. at Brown University.
Robert Felty '01 is a musician on the crew staff of Carnival Destiny,
San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Molly M. Gallogly '01, finishing her third year of medical school
at Case Western Reserve University, continues playing shawm in
CWRU's Collegium Musicum and co-directs a musician's guild in
Cleveland's chapter of SCA that accompanies Renaissance dancers
and performs choral music. Molly and her fiancé Tim
Miller are planning a December wedding, to include recorders
and a vocal solo by Molly's sister, Sarah, who sings in Columbia's
Collegium Musicum and with the NY Continuo Collective.
Hudson Heatley '01 is working for the National Civilian Community
Corps, an AmeriCorps project. She works in education, environmental
work, disaster relief/public safety, and unmet human needs in
the western U.S.
Margaret Higginson '01 is working as an assistant to a Seattle
investment manager. She is studying voice with Mary Curtis Verna
in Seattle and is loving every minute of it. She is auditioning
for graduate schools in vocal performance during the fall of 2004.
After working on some exciting repertoire she never thought she
would sing--for instance, "Caro Nome" from Rigoletto
and the first aria from Lucia di Lammermoor -- she muses
that she may be turning into a lyric coloratura. Quite an identity
shift!
Gant Luxton '01 is pursuing a degree in immunology and microbial
pathogenesis at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Garrett Shelton '01 is the director of marketing and sales for
the small independent jazz label Sunnyside Records in New York.
Geoffrey Sparks '01 completed his M.A. in Acoustics at the Peabody
Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University in May 2004. He plans
to stay in the D.C. area for a year and then seek a job at a firm
that works on large-scale performing arts projects.
Matthew Peters Warne ‘01 is a composer, digital media artist,
and freelance media production consultant. In 2004, he received
an M.S. in Instructional Design Technology from the Georgia Institute
of Technology. He currently lives in Providence, R.I., where his
wife Rebecca Warne Peters is pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology
at Brown University. He is applying for further graduate studies
in electronic music, multimedia, and composition. Matthew’s
recent work includes thick/N with Harry Smoak, a responsive
media social space installed for the 2004 GVU Convocation at the
Georgia Institute of Technology. Current research focuses on performers’ experience of gestural agency in music and responsive media environments.
The project With a Wave of My Voice saw the design of hardware
and software instruments for measuring vocal performance phenomena
and the composition of Calling Crick(alerbel)ets, for voice
and computer, was performed at the Wesley Center for New Media.
He continues to collaborate with the Topological Media Lab directed
by Dr. Sha Xin Wei and with international art research groups,
including Sponge. His Web site is at http://www.matthewwarne.com.
Class of 2000
Aline Aprahamian '00 studies voice with Stephen King at Rice University while working as Associate Artistic Administrator for Houston Grand Opera. At HGO, she deals with the artists who perform in productions, working on visa processing for foreign artists, contracts, travel/housing/rental cars, and anything the artists need once in Houston. She also handles all aspects of chorus administration. In her off hours, she works as a Hospice volunteer and is running again after a lapse following her completion of the Chicago Marathon several years ago.
Jacob Bertrand '00 is a student in the graduate program in microbiology
at the University of California-San Francisco.
John Bryant '00 works as a paralegal in the General Counsel's
office at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington,
D.C. He is applying to Masters of Architecture programs for
the fall of 2004.
Andrew Ettenhofer '00 is Music Director for Fig Media, Inc.
in Chicago, where he lives with his wife Kimberly and his dog,
Ella. Fig Media services private parties/corporate events/etc.
with deejays, digital video, dance, art design, and overall
planning. As Music Director, Andrew has a hand in many aspects
of the operations, including sales, administration, production,
management, and even deejay-ing on occasion. He reports that
it is a perfect place for a liberal arts guy because he is forced
to wear many different hats.
Molly Gardner '00 is staff writer for the Garden City Telegram
in Garden City, KS. She also produced and recorded her own CD
of original folk-rock music. She worked at a used bookstore
in Colorado Springs, taking philosophy classes at the University
of Colorado, and applyied to graduate programs in philosophy.
Leah Hrachovec '00 has completed her second year in the M.Div.
program at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta and will
be interning at Oakhurst Presbyterian Church this summer.
After playing baroque flute in Grinnell’s Collegium and
at the University of Louisville, she has her own baroque flute
and is looking forward to playing with an organist/harpsichordist
in Atlanta. She’s also playing modern flute with
a small group for Taize worship services.
Dani Long '00 working in site survey archeology in Mesa Verde,
NM, is co-founder of an early music ensemble in Cortez, CO.
Recently they performed at a May Day Renaissance Faire involving
period dress, a reading of the Canterbury Tales, and a requisite
accompanying round of mead. Dani also co-hosts two radio
shows, Motherbeat (women’s music) and the Classic Rock
Hour.
Christian Petersen ‘00 and his band, The Max Funk Institut, performed at the launching party for the On Your Feet Project, dedicated to expanding volunteerism and social activism in the Boston area.
Cody Robertson, who would have graduated in 2000 had he finished
at Grinnell, is living in Flagstaff, AZ. He is teaching private
cello lessons and working in a music store repairing and refurbishing
violin family instruments. Last October, he composed a
soundtrack for a local theatre production of Boy Gets Girl. He plans to relocate to Tucson where he will attend the
University of Arizona in cello performance for his masters after
which he wants to continue teaching and writing music.
Patrick Shea '00 has released the CD Look Back Fair Pilgrim, backed up by his Austin-based band Saturn Expedition.
Geoffrey Sparks '00 has been accepted into the M.A. program
in acoustics at the Peabody Conservatory of Music for fall 2002.
Tyler H. St. Peter '00 is Development Associate for Chicago
Chamber Musicians, Chicago.
Class of 1999
Peter Calaway ‘99 is a new account representative at the Cord Blood Registry in San Bruno, CA. He married Sarah Teas ‘99 in 2005.
Matt Horstman '99 is teaching English at two high schools
in rural Japan. In his spare time he has taken up playing the
trumpet for the high school band during assemblies and other events.
Roy Huggins '99 has established an enterprise creating Web sites
for businesses in Iowa. One of his first clients is a firm recently
established in Grinnell that markets tandem bicycles nationally.
Jonathan Knipping '99 is working as music composer for Past Tree
Incorporated, a firm in suburban Chicago that develops computer
games.
Leslie Kadish '99 plays with the Schubert Club gamelan in the
Twin Cities.
Steve McCaslin '99 had been managing the Cinema in Grinnell and
hoped to move to China at the end of the summer to teach English.
Melissa Roberts '99 is Communications Coordinator for Non-profit
Solution in St. Paul, MN. She and Ben Chiri celebrated their marriage
in June 2001.
Jeffrey Tyner '99 is a graduate student in molecular/cellular
biology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Class of 1998
Theodore Bradford '98 is Co-manager of Cheapo Disc,
St. Paul, MN. He was manager of Applause Music in St. Paul, MN.
Nathan Germick '98 is senior web developer with Vitesse Learning
in San Francisco.
Andrew Hicken '98 completed his master’s degree in ethnomusicology at the University of Texas-Austin and is now enrolled in the Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He married Elizabeth Mackey ‘98 in December 2005.
Amy Kucera '98 sings and plays keyboard with The Pryde, which
has developed a repertoire of performances and educational programs
that they present on tour and from their home base in Ann Arbor,
MI. Amy is currently developing a private teaching studio and
a masterclass that presents her educational model to private music
teachers in the area. She completed part of a composition for
three women's choruses and soloists that has won Bowling Green
State University's annual concerto competition. The two completed
movements were premiered in 2000 by the BGSU women's chorus as
part of the university's 21st annual new music and art festival.
Amy is a graduate student in composition and choral conducting
at BGSU and is directing a choir at Owens Community College. Her
Fugue for two flutes was presented at the Mid-America Composers
Festival last October.
Greg Lind '98 has released a CD, Boy With Guitar, on LlamaStar
Records.
Nana Mensah '98 is applying for graduate programs in vocal performance while continuing work as a research technician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, specializing in genetics of infectious diseases.
Aron Racho '98 is a software engineer in Portland, OR. He is currently active in a number of musical groups, including a blue-grass outfit.
Abigail Tapia '98, second solo CD, One Foot Out the Door, came out to strong reviews in 2005. She is touring the country and building an audience, hoping to break into Nashville as a songwriter. Visit www.abitapia.com for updates on her shows, reviews, and samples of her music.
Class of 1997
Alison Burek '97 is the receiving editor for Woman
in the Moon Publications.
Charlie Clark '97 works for Toyota Technical Center, a research
branch of Toyota, in their Technology department. Charlie married
Carla Talarico '99 in September 2002 and has been living in Ann
Arbor, MI, as Carla completes her masters at U of Michigan. He
still plays and sings at open mic nites where ever he can find
them and is headed to a studio soon to record some of his songs.
He was an elementary school teacher at Davis School in Grinnell;
he completed his teacher certification at the University of Northern
Iowa.
Daniel Daughtry-Weiss '97 and his wife Lisa have a son Matthew, born November 2005. Daniel is a consultant with Dare Mighty Things, a company that provides management consulting services that help clients implement social solutions. (Read more) In 2006-2007 Daniel performed with the Bach Sinfonia in concerts of Mozart and Handel and premiered works written for his baroque-style cello.
Emily Daus Ferrigno '97 has completed her coursework for the Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. Her dissertation research focuses on drum 'n' bass, a genre of electronic dance music. She has worked for the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. She married Christopher Miller in 2005.
Rachel Green '97 is teaching English in Jalapa, Mexico, and singing
with a local music group.
Rebecca Harms '97 is working towards an M.S. in Environmental
Science and Policy at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
She was pianist in a trio in spring 2002 and hopes to do some
more chamber music.
Brian Mundy '97 and his electronic band recently appeared on The
Jim Lehrer News Hour. He is a senior Web developer for Vitesses
Learning Inc., San Francisco.
Joel M. Pargot '97 works for the Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale,
MS.
Michael Redfern '97 is technical training coordinator for Earthlink
in Pasadena, CA.
Class of 1996
David Collman '96 is a 2nd year surgical resident at
Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco, Oakland and
Walnut Creek, CA. He studied podiatry for four years at the California
College of Podiatric Medicine in San Francisco and will finish
his residency at Kaiser in 2005. When not learning how to fix
ankle fractures, reconstruct painful flat feet, salvage the diabetic
foot, or work on research papers, he finds time to play classical
and jazz piano. After leaving Grinnell, David was a member of
an acid jazz ensemble called Vegas Lounge, along with Grinnell
alum Aaron Kassover. They cut a live CD, put some of their music
on MP3.com, and enjoyed several months atop the acid jazz charts.
He also taught piano and sold pianos in Madison, WI, for a while.
Jeffrey Lake '96 is pursuing a Ph.D. in botany from the University
of Georgia-Athens.
Lesley Bumbalough Zlabinger '96 will begin a master's program for vocal performance at Queens College/CUNY in the fall. Recent performances include recording Cupid & Psyche and Alexander the Great, two world-premiere operas by Matthew Pittsinger; singing the role of Belinda in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas; performing as a soloist in Handel's Messiah; and performing in Bernried, Germany, as part of the Elysium International Summer Academy. You can find Lesley online at www.myspace.com/lesleyzlabinger.
Tim Motika '96 has spent most of his years since graduation developing
software. He is currently taking a break from that to work on a satire
about the President going to Hell called The President and Hell's Petting
Zoo. He
reports that he is not particularly political, but that the subject matter
is great fodder for creative forays. His previous political commentary was a
song about Bill Clinton written for his Harmony class at Grinnell right
before the previous Bush was ousted. He is now married (Oct '04)
to a Pomona College econ alum and harpist, Meryl, who almost went to
Grinnell.
Tom Zlabinger '96 has accepted a tenure-track position at York
College in Jamaica, NY, teaching jazz performance, music history,
and music theory. In April, he returned to Grinnell as an alumni
scholar, presenting his research on Sonny Rollins and Duke Ellington.
Over the past year he has been involved with establishing the
Jazz Forum series at York, which allows students to learn from
and perform with such legends as Roy Ayers, Antonio Hart, Arturo
O'Farrill, Ray Vega, and others. During the summer of 2005, Tom
will be directing the Summer Jazz Institute for emerging New York
City public high school musicians at York. In addition to all
this, he continues to slug away at his doctoral studies in ethnomusicology
at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Class of 1995
Over several summers from 1998-2001, Jill Abramson '95 created
and directed the choir at Building Bridges for Peace, an organization
bringing together Arab and Israeli teenage girls for peaceful
dialogue. They have performed in Denver and Jerusalem. In May,
2002, Jill was invested as a cantor and received her Masters
of Sacred Music from the Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute
of Religion where her thesis, "Sing Out, O Barren One"
-- The Longings of Sarah, Rachel and Hannah in Music and Text
was accepted with Honors. She is now the Cantor of Congregation
Sukkat Shalom in Wilmette, IL. She will marry Jonathan Malamy
'93 on May 25, 2003 in Minneapolis.
Gabriel Klavun '95, founder of the Berkshire Music Project in
2000 in Great Barrington, Mass., has recently completed his
first film, Primal Legacy, which he scored himself, along
with writing and directing. His web site can be found at www.gabrielklavun.com,
which also contains a number of songs for download.
Arlo Leach '95 has released his fifth album, a collection of
original rock songs called Rolywholyover.
He lives in Chicago and teaches guitar and ensemble classes
at the Old
Town School of Folk Music, where his new jug
band class has been turning heads. During the day, he works
as a web developer for Ebony and Jet magazines.
Andrew Rosacker '95 teaches junior high and senior high school
choral music as well as junior high general music in Milton,
VT, a small town 15 miles north of Burlington. He completed
his master's degree, with certification to teach music, from
Rutgers University. In September 2003, his wife Lisa gave birth
to their first child, Sophia.
Dan Sharp '95 is filling a leave replacement position in ethnomusicology at Bowdoin College during 2006-07. Dan received his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Texas-Austin, where he directed the UT Brazilian Ensemble. He received a Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Research Fellowship to study how cultural tourism affects musicians in northeastern Brazil, carrying out his research in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
Tomas Suchomel '95 lives in Brno, Czech Republic, and has now
begun his ninth year with the Czech Philharmonic Chorus of Brno,
one of the only two professional concert choirs of the country.
In 2004, which has been declared the Year of Czech Music, the
Choir's program has featured such highlights as concerts with
the London Symphony Orchestra under Kurt Masur (the thunderous
applause of the sold-out Royal Albert Hall is impossible to
forget!) and with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Nicolaus Harnocourt;
the Choir also participated in a production of Wagner's
Parsifal. Anyone interested is welcome to visit www.choirphilharmonic.cz
. Apart from music, Tomas continues translating, mostly in the
area of political science, philosophy and history.
Class of 1994
Catherine Mendelsohn '94 and Don Clewett were married on December
27, 1997. She is a graduate student at Washington University in
St. Louis from which she received a master's degree in physics
and is currently pursuing a Ph.D.
Timothy Polashek '94 is Assistant Professor and director of the electronic music center
at Lehman College in Bronx, NY. He recently recorded a new album of his music, titled “Wood and Wire” (Albany Records, 2006), which
includes the following compositions: Porcupine Quest (2002), Piano Sonata
(2005), Garden Rain (2005), Kite Sonata for Two Pianos (2003), A Few Moments
Inside (2005), and Sockets Nocturne (2004). Tim’s recent performances
include Sonata for Tape at the Fifteenth Annual Florida Electroacoustic
Music Festival at the University of Florida School of Music (April 2006) and
the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States 2006 National
Conference and Festival at the University of Oregon School of Music (
March 2006); Hot-Tempered Arpeggios at Spark Festival of Electronic Music
and Art 2006 (Minneapolis); Stanzas for Alto Saxophone and
Interactive Music System at New York University’s Composers Forum Concert
Series, Black Box Theater (Feb. 2006); Minute Percussion
at the 24th Concordia University Electroacoustics Festival (Montreal,
Canada, Oct. 2005); and A Miniature Odyssey and Minute Percussion on the
Radio Broadcast, Martian Gardens, Massachusetts Public Radio (July
2005). His recent articles include “Beyond Babble: A Text-Generation Method
and Computer Program for Composing Text, Music and Poetry,” Leonardo Music
Journal, Vol.15, No.1 (2005) and “An Integrated Technique for Transitional
Synthesis Between Non- Pitched and Pitched Timbres,” Journal SEAMUS (The
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States), Vol. 18, No. 2
(2005).
Vineet A. Shende '94 has accepted a tenure-track position teaching
composition and music theory at Bowdoin College, starting in August
2002. He has received a commission from the National Symphony
Orchestra for a composition to be performed on June 5, 6 and 7
of 2003 with Leonard Slatkin conducting. He also has a commission
to compose a piece for the Eastman Wind Ensemble. His Vayu, for
woodwind quintet, premiered at Grinnell College's Sebring-Lewis
Hall in February 2002, performed by the Polaris Wind Quintet.
Akiko Takai '94 moved from Tokyo to New York City in March 2000.
She has been working at the United Nations Population Fund as
a programme officer in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention.
Henry Throop '94 completed his Ph.D. in Astrophysical and Planetary
Sciences at the University of Colorado. His dissertation was on
Light Scattering and Evolution of Protoplanetary Disks and Planetary
Rings. He was a member of the team at the University of Colorado
that witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time, using
the Hubble Space Telescope. Their work was reported internationally
in spring 2001 in papers such as the London Independent, New
York Times, and Washington Post.
Jim Tipton '94 is creator of Find
A Grave, a website that receives about 25,000 unique visitors
a day. The site grew out of Jim's hobby of visiting cemeteries
and the graves of famous people. In addition to listing the gravesites
and causes of death of thousands of famous people, the site allows
visitors to create online memorials for loved ones, including
virtual flowers and photos. There are currently 2.5 million memorials
listed.
Class of 1993
Chris Jackson '93 has accepted a tenure track position in choral
conducting at Adams State College in Colorado.
Holly Kellar ’93 is Vice President in charge of marketing, sales, and new business development at Artsmarketing Services, Inc., based in Toronto. Her job involves traveling and working with clients and prospective clients throughout the US and Canada, consulting on telemarketing/telefunding and how it fits into the overall marketing or fundraising campaign. Her firm is currently running the subscription telemarketing campaigns for Washington National Opera and The Cleveland Orchestra. She held previous positions as Director of Marketing for Season Development with the Oregon Symphony and Director of Marketing and Communications with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.
Jonathan Malamy '93 has become the Director of Education at
the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL. He
will marry Jill Abramson '95 on May 25, 2003 in Minneapolis.
He serves on the board of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
He is the rabbi of B'nai Vail Congregation in Vail, CO.
Peter Willmert '93 is market manager at Berringer Wines Estates in Napa, CA. He and Marlo Cohen have a daughter, Ilenia Sophia Willmert, born in 2004. Pete completed his M.B.A. at Northwestern University's Kellogg School.
Class of 1992
Bass player Joshua Burke '92 has released an independent CD, Five Songs Changes Nothing, with his band Henrietta.
Nathan J. Cook '92 is working towards a master of music degree
in cello performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University,
Houston.
Steven A. Elkin '92 is the Development Associate at the Plymouth
Music Series in Minneapolis.
Christopher N. Jackson '92 is a graduate student in choral conducting
at the University of Arizona-Tucson.
Emily McGary '92 teaches mathematics at Evanston Township High
School, IL. She married Mark Allman in August 2002.
Baritone Tom
Meglioranza '92 sang the role of Jesus in Andrew Parrott’s
March 2005 New York Collegium performance of Bach’s St.
Matthew Passion at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New
York City. The New York Times review praised Tom as singing
“beautifully and warmly as Jesus.” He sang Copland’s
Old American Songs in the National Symphony Orchestra’s
New Year’s Eve concert at the Kennedy Center on December
31, 2004. The conductor was Murry Sidlin. Tom performed an all-Schubert
recital with pianist Reiko Uchida on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial
Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center in October 2004.
The concert was broadcast live on WFMT-FM. In March 2004 he performed
the lead role of Chou En-Lai in the New England premiere of John
Adams's opera Nixon in China, presented by Opera Boston
and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Richard Dyer of the Boston
Globe declared the production an "Artistic Triumph",
adding "Thomas Meglioranza delivers Chou En-lai's interior
music with quiet rapture". The Boston Herald described
the production as "A Breathtaking Treat… As Nixon and
Chinese Premier Chou En-lai, Andrew Schroeder and Thomas Meglioranza
matched the celebrated achievements of Boston favorites James
Maddalena and Sanford Sylvan." Opera Online wrote
"Andrew Schroeder who made his debut with Opera Boston as
Nixon and Thomas Meglioranza who made his debut as Chou En-lai
each delivered strong performances and make a strong case for
composers to write more compelling baritone leads." In 2003,
Tom performed with soprano Anna Christy and the Orpheus Chamber
Orchestra in Bach's Cantata 152, Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn,
at Trinity Church on Wall Street in New York and was featured
prominently with the New York Collegium, directed by Andrew Parrott,
in works by Henry Purcell. Other 2003-2004 performances were Messiah
and Carmina Burana with the Houston Symphony, Bach's Mass
in B Minor with the Baltimore Choral Society, Barber's Dover
Beach with the Concertante Chamber Players, and Beethoven's
Christus am Ölberge with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia
Baroque. Tom also appeared as Samuel Pepys with the New York Collegium,
and in critically acclaimed recitals at Weill Recital Hall at
Carnegie Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. Check out New
Trinity Baroque's CD of Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, a new
release featuring Tom as Aeneas.
Class of 1991
Ellie Gravitz '91 received an M.B.A. in nonprofit management from
the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN.
Pete Haney '91 is working on a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University
of Texas-Austin. His dissertation concerns Mexican-American vaudeville
and tent shows in San Antonio about a century ago.
Ernest Ho '91 is a Senior Financial Analyst for The Good Guys
Inc., Brisbane, CA.
Jillian Kong-Silvert '91 is an Associate Attorney for Baltimore
attorney Mark Surti. She also won a seat on the Howard County
Democratic Central Committee.
Emily Nehus '91 is a graduate assistant in the music school at
Indiana University. She won an audition to become a violin instructor
for Indiana University's String Academy.
Class of 1990
Margaret Jean Dahlberg '90 received a master's degree in piano
performance at Northwestern and now resides in Seattle.
Sam Perlman '90 is Economic Development Manager for the Door County
Economic Development Corporation in Wisconsin and writes for Door
County Living magazine and arts reviews for the Door County
Advocate. Sam is also a member of the Grinnell College Alumni
Association Council. He married Mariah Goode '90 in September
2002. Mariah is a founding partner of GBH Consulting, LLC. Their
first child, Thelonious (Theo) Jacob Goode, was born on Wednesday,
January 19th, 2005. He is a healthy, active, hungry and beautiful
baby boy!
Class of 1989
Patricia Fong '89 is a section violinist in the Louisville Orchestra,
where she has been employed full time for the past two years.
Anya C. Grundmann '89 is the Executive Producer for NPR Music in Washington, DC. She formerly worked as Supervising Editor for NPR's Performance Today and completed a year-long National Arts Journalism Fellowship, funded by the Pew Foundation, at Columbia University during the 2002-03 academic year.
Rebekah Willett '89 has received a master's and a Ph.D. at the
Institute of Education, University of London.
Class of 1988
Brian Dunn '88 has had a song from his electronic music
project, DREAMDAZE, featured on National Public Radio's All Things
Considered. Many of his electronic songs are published by Raw42,
a UK-based music publisher. His song "Automobiling Jazz Dancing
Nightlifers" was featured on the Canadian TV show ZeD in
October 2003.
Mark Gerth '88 and Samantha (Massingale) Gerth '90 are parents
of a son, Warren Eric Gerth, born January 25, 2000. They live
in Aurora, IL. Samantha has just received her Master's Degree
in College Student Personnel from Loyola University Chicago. She
is looking for part time or consulting work. Mark has incorporated
as Gerth Consulting Services, Inc., specializing in RPG programming.
His office has a great view south and east from the 48th floor
of the Sears Tower). Son Warren is fond of his four note (1, 3,
5 and octave) plastic saxophone and has yet to learn to play the
mbira his parents bought for him.
Shirley Hamilton Mier '88 passed her Ph.D. prelims in composition
at the University of Minnesota in 2004 and has a Doctoral Dissertation
Fellowship to support her while she works on her dissertation,
a song cycle for soprano and orchestra. Her wind band composition,
Theme and Deviations for Band, won the 2004 H. Robert Reynolds
National Wind Ensemble Composer's Competition. It was performed
in Carnegie Hall in May 2004, and Shirley did a composers' residency
in conjunction with the event. In February 2005, the work received
three additional performances, at Symposium 30 for New Band Music
in Richmond, Va., at a concert of the Indiana Wind Symphony, and
at the Society of Composers Incorporated regional conference in
San Antonio. In March 2004, Shirley supervised the second production
of her original musical Soulless, Bloodsucking Lawyers,
which premiered to great acclaim at the Twin Cities Fringe Festival
in the summer of 2003.The St. Paul Pioneer Press described the
2004 production as "a riotous musical lampoon of big-time
law firms with catchy tunes and hilarious lyrics." Read more
about Shirley's work and career at http://www.shirleymier.com.
Class of 1987
Timothy Black '87 is the Advocacy Director in the Government Affairs
department at the University of Oregon. His responsibilities include
activating and coordinating the alumni network for state and federal
legislative purposes and researching and writing legislative policy
papers and reports.
Tracey Collins '87 is an instrumental music instructor at John
Ireland School, Hopkins, MN. She recently received her master's
degree in music education from the University of Minnesota. She
was band director at the interdistrict downtown school in Minneapolis.
She also directs the South Washington County Community Band and
teaches keyboard. Tracey studied harpsichord at Grinnell
and at the University of Michgan before pursuing the Master's
of Education degree that led her to fulfill a lifelong interest
in band direction.
Class of 1986
David de Young ‘86 authors a blog covering the music scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul, HowWasTheShow <www.howwastheshow.com>, which was nominated as the best Minnesota Music Media/Website and earned an award as the Best Locally Generated Web Site in 2005 from City Pages, the Twin Cities alternative weekly. Recently he began a stint on a local radio station sharing his reviews for a show dedicated to local music.
London-based lutenist Jacob Heringman '86 has a new
website at www.heringman.com.
His summer 2003 engagements include a Spanish tour with The Dufay
Collective, a dual recital with Ronn McFarlane at Early Music
Vancouver, a teaching appointment with Musica Antiqua at the Cambridge
Early Music Summer Schools, concerts with the Brisk Recorder Quartet
and countertenor Michael Chance at the Utrecht Early Music Festival
and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and concerts with the Newberry
Consort in Chicago. He is finishing a three-year training course
at the Alexander Technique Studio in London and has two new solo
CDs out: The Art of the Lute Player and The Siena
Lute Book (AVIE 0036). Samples can be heard on www.heringman.com.
Jake and his lutes have recently appeared in Istanbul, Palma,
France, York, Wimbledon, at Durham University, on tour in the
Netherlands, on the cover of the latest Lute Society Quarterly
, and at Abbey Road (laying down guitar tracks with John Williams
for the soundtrack of the next Harry Potter film) where Paul McCartney
was seen as well! Concerts and teaching this summer will be at
the Beverley Early Music Festival, the Lute Society of America
Lute Festival (including duets with lutenist Ronn McFarlane),
the York Early Music Festival (with singers Catherine King and
Charles Daniels), the Alicante Guitar Festival, the Cirencester
Early Music Festival (with the Rose Consort of Viols), Dartington
Summer School, the Radovijica Early Music Festival, the Lincoln
Early Music Festival, and the Cambridge Early Music Summer School
(with Musica Antiqua of London). To top it all off, he and his
wife, gambist Susanna Pell, are looking forward to welcoming their
first child.
Andrew Hopson '86 designed sound for the world premiere of Trying
at Victory
Gardens in Chicago. When the show moved to New York, the year-end
2004 Zagat Theater Survey rated it the second best Off-Broadway
production. Andrew composed the music for the NBC-TV documentary
The Birth of Legends, showcasing the battle between Indiana State's
Larry Bird and Michigan State's Magic Johnson at the 1979 NCAA
hoops championship in Salt Lake City. The movie aired on many
NBC affiliates in March on the weekend of the 2004 NCAA men's
basketball finals. For the film, Andrew wrote about 40 minutes
of music for orchestra, rock orchestra and marching band. His
work as a theatrical sound designer and composer this past winter
took him to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he worked on
Royal Family and the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago where
he worked on Trying. Between shows, he plays Mr. Mom, caring,
along with his wife Amanda, for his new daughter Maggie, born
in January 2004. He resigned from the Indiana Repertory Theatre
and to pursue a freelance career in sound design and composition.
He has designed and scored shows at Actors Theatre of Louisville
(Beauty Queen of Leenane), Milwaukee Rep (All My Sons),
Indiana Rep (He Held Me Grand, Copenhagen and A Christmas
Carol), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Present Laughter), Utah
Shakespearean Festival (Hay Fever, Harvey and Man of LaMancha)
and the Phoenix Theatre (Proof, Over the Tavern and Washington-Sarajevo
Talks). Next season he has shows at Geva theatre, Oregon Shakespeare
Festival, Indiana Rep, Actors Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse in
the Park and American Stage Theatre. He recently recorded and
edited a CD of organ music called Around the World in Eighty Ranks
by Matt Dickerson and is currently working on recordings for The
Anthology of Women Composers, due to be published by Indiana University
Press in the next few months. Andrew and his wife, Amanda Aslund,
have bought a house in Indianapolis. Their new child, Margaret
Lee Hopson, was born in January of 2005.
Howard Lange '86 is employed as assistant to the director at the
Department of Missions and Evangelism of the Antiochian Orthodox
Christian Archdiocese of North America. In addition, he is the
protopsalti (lead cantor) at St. Athanasius Orthodox Christian
Church in Santa Barbara, California, and is a tonsured reader
(the lowest order of clergy in the Orthodox Church). As protopsalti,
Howard sings and conducts small a cappella ensembles for a variety
of church services, and organizes the parish’s cantor program.
He reports that he now receives a stipend for this previously
unpaid position, and is thrilled to call himself a professional
musician!
Susan Mertzlufft '86 is finishing her dissertation for a Ph.D.
in Accountancy at the University of Illinois.
Class of 1985
Anthony Gatto '85 teaches composition and performance
at Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, Calif. He received a commission
from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis for his multimedia work
The Making of America, which premieres in 2006. He has
also received recent commissions from the string quartet Ethel,
the chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, the Minneapolis Guitar
Quartet, the orchestra Dancing in Your Head, the MATA Festival
2002 for guitarist Michael Nicolella, the Minnesota Orchestra,
the Bakken Trio, and the University of Minnesota Percussion Ensemble.
Anthony received his D.M.A. in musical composition from Yale University,
received a Bush Artists Fellowship and an Aaron Copland Award,
and carried out a residency at Yaddo Artists Colony.
Anthony Hyatt '85 is a performing artist for Arts for the Aging
and co-director of Quicksilver, a senior citizen improv dance
company.
Marc Lambert '85 is General Manager at GM Recordings, Newton Centre,
MA.
Soprano Amy Johnson '85 made her Carnegie Hall debut in January 2006 siging a benefit performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, organized to raise funds and awareness for the survivors of the October 2005 earthquake in South Asia. She sings the role of Tosca opposite Jerry Hadley in Lyric Opera of San Antonio's fall 2006 season. Amy is a cofounder and partner of Impresario Productions, LLC, an independent production company that produces 4-8 operas each season. She gave a voice master calss at the Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford in the fall of 2004. She sang Berg's "Lulu Suite" with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra in January 2005, and in the fall of 2005, performed as Abigail in the Mobile Opera's production of The Crucible. She sang the lead role in Puccini's Tosca with the Nashville Opera in October 2003 and with Kentucky Opera in the spring of 2004. She also sang the roles of Fiodiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte with the Indianapolis Opera and Liu in Puccini's Turandot with Opera Tampa in the spring of 2004. Her Tosca performances reprise the role she sang in a New York City Opera "Live from Lincoln Center" telecast over PBS several years ago. Amy is represented by George Martynuk Artists Management.
Laura Paglin’s ‘85 documentary No Umbrella, a street level view of the 2004 Election Day debacles, drew cheers and rage at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film showed also at the 2006 Cleveland International Film Festival and the 2006 Sydney International Film Festival in Austrailia and won the ‘Jury Award for Best Short’ at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, considered the premiere documentary film festival in the US. Laura’s documentary Shadow of the Swan — A Composer’s Story, which chronicles the triumphs and travails of the late contemporary classical composer Dennis Eberhard, premiered at the Calgary International Film Festival and won a Crystal Heart Award at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival. Now Laura is in production on Java Wars, a feature documentary about three hippie entrepreneurs who plot to take over the country’s largest drug cartel – coffee.
Lynne Sadlek Charles '85 continues painting and exhibiting in
Connecticut galleries and Owen Charles '85 has started on an M.B.A.
degree. Calling upon their respective experience with harpsichord
and wind instruments, they've included musical instruction in
their full parenting activities. Lynne's whimsical pen-and-ink
illustrations still grace the department's music ensembles brochure.
The couple adopted, in the summer of 2002, its second child and
first son, Gideon Min-Jae Lawrence.
Class of 1984
Anthony Gatto '84 had his composition, The Necessary
Angel, selected for the American Composers Forum's Orchestral
Reading Project, co-sponsored by the Plymouth music Series of
Minnesota and The Jerome Foundation. He is the Twin Cities Chapter
Director of the American Composers Forum and Artistic Director
of NONCOM NEW MUSIC, a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting
new music of all styles. He recently premiered a work, Music for
Strings and Percussion, at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis.
He has upcoming commissions for a saxophone quartet for both the
Ancia Quartet and the Vienna Quartet, and a new work for Melomania
(2 saxophones, cello and piano) based in Chicago. He has also
recently received a generous grant from The Jerome Foundation
to start an ensemble dedicated primarily to his own work. The
ensemble (2 violins, 2 cellos, electric bass, 2 saxophones, 2
keyboards, percussion) will present concert music and stage works
in collaboration with directors, choreographers and filmmakers.
His email address is agatto@aya.yale.edu.
Joseph Therrien III '84 is a faculty member at the Brookline Music
School, Brighton, MA.
Class of 1983
Anne Richards '83 graduates with a Ph.D. in English
(rhetoric and professional communication) from Iowa State University
in August 2003. Her dissertation is a study of music in film and
other media titled titled "Before Words: Rhetorics of Sound,
Sight, and Spirit." Information on Anne's work is available
at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~arichard/homepage.html.
She plans to continue her study of film music in whatever academic
job she finds for fall 2004. She has three main plans for 2003-04,
during which she will take a breather from teaching and administering.
WIth an English colleague, she will co-edit a collection of essays
on reading visual images. With a friend from philosophy, she will
write a book on multiculturalism's twists and turns. And she hopes
to put the last touches on a novel and send it on its rounds.
Class of 1982
Peter Erspamer '82 has written a chapter on "Music
as a Locus of Social Conflict and Social Connection in Friedrich
Torberg's Suessking von Trimberg" for the book Literature
and Music, edited by Michael J. Meyer (Amsterdam: Rodopi,
2002.)
Karen Kintner Bucky '82 has a new position as Reference Librarian
at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, and is singing
more beautifully than ever. She was back on the Grinnell
campus in September 2003 on the sad occasion of the memorial service
for her mother, Anne G. Kintner, late Burling Library librarian
and archivist. Karen’s impressive contributions to
the service included a poignantly reflective tribute to Anne in
the text and music of Mahler’s “Ich atmet’ einen
linden Duft!”Susan Farrier Rotar ‘80, author of a
comprehensive study of the linguistic layers in the Oxford Chanson
de Roland, (Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, 1985) and
The Medieval Charlemagne Legend: An Annotated Bibliography
(Garland/Routledge, 1993) teaches writing and other aspects of
English in Rhode Island and works on her own novels, short stories,
and poetry. In her Grinnell days, Sue wrote music to medieval
texts and sang with the Collegium.
Class of 1981
Kristin Layng Szakos '81 is editor of The Appalachian
Reader and sings with the Virginia Consort, a semiprofessional
choral ensemble. She resides in Charlottesville, Va.
Class of 1980
Lynn E. Gutter '80 is Media Relations Manager for Clarice
Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College
Park, MD.
Evan Solomon '80 appeared on A&E's "Breakfast with the
Arts" as pianist for violinst Sarah Chang and cellist Han-Na
Chang. He also appeared as harpsichordist on the February 2003
broadcast of PBS's "Live from Lincoln Center: Perlman at
the Penthouse." He continues to serve as staff accompanist
at The Juilliard School.
Class of 1979
Keith Graves '79, Baroque violinist, was pictured in
the summer 2001 issue of Early Music America, along with
other reuniting members of Ars Musica, the first Baroque orchestra
formed in the U.S. The occasion was a Super Bowl Sunday concert
in Ann Arbor, and it's becoming a regular January tradition.
Class of 1978
Amanda Amend '78 is a Spanish Instructor in the Department
of Modern Languages at Saint Michael's College in Burlington,
Vermont.
Class of 1977
Frederick Hersch '77 played a week of unaccompanied jazz piano performances at New York’s Village Vanguard in February and March of 2006. The New York Times published a glowing review on March 2, reporting that Hersch “has evolved his solo playing over the years into something special. It plays games with the listener's brain, and can make music seem to spill over into the other senses.” Hirsch produced a three-CD set of jazz piano solos, Songs Without Words, on Nonesuch that was #17 on the Jazz Times list of the top 50 jazz CD's of 2001.
Elizabeth Holt '77 is a soprano living in Glenside, PA, who sings
with the Lady Chapel Singers (performing arm of Voices Found:
the Women's Sacred Music Project), the Princeton Singers, Voces
Novae et Antiquae, and the American Repertory Singers. She also
teaches private lessons in piano and voice and is a certified
speech pathologist.
Pat Irwin '77 is a film/television composer and also a guitarist/keyboardist with the B-52s. In 2005, he completed the music for a new film written by, and starring, Margaret Cho. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and is called Bam Bam and Celeste. He is composing the music for a new network TV show being produced by Barry Levinson, to air on the WB. The show is set in a small liberal arts college in New York City and is called "Bedford Diaries." Another project involves composing music for an upcoming Cartoon Network show called My Gym Partner's A Monkey. Pat has written music for many independent films, including My New Gun, But I'm a Cheerleader, and Arresting Gena. His musical scores for cartoons such as Rocko's Modern Life receive critical scrutiny in The Cartoon Music Book (Chicago Review Press, 2002). He wrote the music for a Cartoon Network special called The Groovenians which included Paul Reubens and Dennis Hopper as vocalists, creating the theme with the B-52's.
John Rensenhouse ‘77 sings and acts the roles of Scar and Pumbaa in the touring company of the Broadway musical The Lion King.
Class of 1976
Kenneth L. Winokur '76 is a percussionist performing with and
managing the Alloy Orchestra in Cambridge, MA.
Tom Cole '76 is a Washington deejay with his own radio program
titled, G Strings, which features the music of such guitarists
as Wes Montgomery, Stanley Jordan and David Grisman. Tom is on
the air Sundays from 9 AM to 12 PM on Station 89.3, WPFW.
John B. Gourlay '76 is the publisher of Stereophile in
Santa Fe.
Class of 1975
Richard Cleaver '75 was ordained August 30, 2003, as
the Orthodox Catholic Church of America's first priest from Iowa.
Fr. Richard leads Sunday liturgical worship in the early Christian
tradition and also celebrates the prayer office of Great Compline
on Wednesday nights in Herrick Chapel. A grants and development
writer for the college, Fr. Richard still finds time to
appear as bass soloist in early music concerts and to participate
in the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble as both singer and instrumentalist.
He is the author of Know
My Name: A Gay Liberation Theology (Westminster
John Knox, 1995). He received an M.A. in advanced Japanese studies
from Sheffield University in England.
Elliott Lewis '75 died August 6, 2000, from accidental drowning
in his pool at home in San Jose, CA. An active jazz pianist and
composer, Lewis formed the group Real Time which released a CD
in 1991. He also produced his own CD, Voyages, and played
backup on numerous other albums. Lewis was sales director for
several leading high tech companies, including Williams Advanced
Materials, where he was western regional director at the time
of his death. He is survived by his wife Denise and his 11-year-old
son Bradford. Memorial donations may be made to the Breast Cancer
Foundation, 5005 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, TX 95244.
Class of 1974
David L. Clampitt '74, together with co-author Norman
Carey, received the 1999 Emerging Scholars' Award from the Society
for Music Theory for the article "Regions: A Theory of Tonal
Spaces in Early Medieval Treatises," Journal of Music
Theory (1996). He is now editor of the Journal of Music
Theory and Assistant Professor of Music Theory in the Music
Department at Yale University. He performs frequently as a violinist
in chamber and orchestral ensembles.
Avram C. Machtiger '74 is Director of Development for the Pittsburgh
Civic Light Opera.
Class of 1973
Elizabeth Aubrey '73 edited Songs of the Women Trouveres,
published by Yale University Press in April 2001. She is a
faculty member at the University of Iowa School of Music.
Ronald Medvin ‘73 teaches English full time at Sickles High
School in Tampa, Fla., and is an adjunct professor at the University
of South Florida-Tampa. He has also been accepted into the Mater
Chorale of Tampa Bay, a nationally acclaimed 160-voice chorus.
Greg Olsen ‘73 has released a CD, Sendero, with original
music composed and performed with his friend Mark Fields. Greg
plays guitars, dulcimer, harmonica, percussion, and banjo, while
Mark performs on Native American flutes. Other musicians fill
in on piano, bass, and percussion. Greg lives in Asheville, N.C.
Claire Rosenbush Scott '73 is Music Director for First Coast Chorale,
a small group that focuses primarily on medieval and remaissance
music. She continues as adjunct faculty at the University of North
Florida.
Class of 1972
Brian Hill '72 is Manager of Copyrights & Permissions
for the Music Department at Oxford University Press in New York.
In March 2005 he performed as soloist in Lars-Erik Larsson’s
“Concertino for Horn and String Orchestra” with the
Dubuque Community String Orchestra. While in Dubuque, he held
a masterclass for horn players, sponsored by the Northeast Iowa
School of Music.
Peter Keepnews '72 has been writing about jazz for 25 years. He
is the former managing editor of Jazz magazine and a former senior
editor at Billboard, where he also wrote a weekly jazz column.
He has written about music and popular culture for The New
York Times, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Down Beat, and
The New York Post, where he was a reporter for three years
and the jazz critic for five. He has written the liner notes for
more than 100 jazz albums and is a contributor to The Encyclopedia
of New York City and the forthcoming Oxford Companion to Jazz.
He is currently writing a biography of Thelonious Monk.
Floyd Slotterback ’72, professor of music at Northern Michigan
University since 1986, conducted the world premiere of Jackson
Berkey’s The Wind at the October 2004 installation
of NMU’s new president. During his years at NMU, Slotterback
has commissioned and performed major choral works by Dave Brubeck,
Finnish composer Aatso Almila, and others.
Class of 1971
Jim Hartog ’71 has been a professional saxophonist
(primarily baritone) for 25 years, with 3 records under his own
name, 7 with the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, and several dozen
more as a sideman in various settings.
Carla (Coffey) Slotterback ‘71 is a violin teacher in Marquette,
MI.
Class of 1970
Sam R. Chandler '70 opened an art studio, Chamwood Studios, in
Tuscon, December 5, 1998.
Gary M. Giddins '70 is the author of Bing Crosby: A Pocketful
of Dreams, which Little, Brown published in January 2001.
He was a featured commentator throughout Ken Burns's monumental
series on jazz, broadcast nationwide on PBS in early 2001. Giddins
won the National Book Critics Circle award, a Ralph Gleason Music
Book Award, and two Bell-Atlantic Jazz Awards in 1999 for his
book Visions of Jazz: The First Century.
Thomas Greenfield '70 writes and hosts a weekly segment on folk
music for Rochester Public Radio. He is dean of the college, professor
of English, and folk guitar instructor in the school of performing
arts at SUNY Geneseo near Rochester.
Kathleen Schaff Broadwell '70 is a Teaching Principal with the
Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Sioux Center.
Class of 1969
Jeffrey Dunn '69 attended a performance of his composition "Ozymandias"
at Merkin Hall in New York. The song was part of a recital by
Ann Kirschner given in May of 1999.
Ann J. Kirschner '69 performed in Merkin Concert Hall at Abraham
Goodman House, New York City, May 9, 2000.
Class of 1968
Walter Bradford '68, president and co-owner of Bradford
Organ Company of Evanston, IL, was featured in an article in the
Winter, 2002 Grinnell Magazine.
Robert Katz '68 died in March 2002. He had retired as principal
actuary at the World Bank and served on the executive committee
of the board of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Class of 1964
Carolyn Bryan Young ‘64 taught music and directed the orchestra for 19 years at Highland Park High School in Topeka, KS. She is now devoting her professional attention to landscape photography.
Jean Reff Donaldson '64 is a composer whose works were
performed recently at the Idaho Falls Music Center.
Class of 1963
Hennepin County District Judge Steve and his wife,
Myrna Sumption Aldrich '63 also have two new chips, granddaughter
Emma Catherine, '16, and Maxwell David, '18, Bailey-Aldrich. (Others
of you with grandchildren will recall that Aldrich sang Lord Tolloler
in the 1962 Grinnell production of Iolanthe.) Son David
has sung roles ranging from Harold Hill to John Styx. Steve has
joined his adult sons, Jeff and David, as members of the Great
Northern Union Chorus, Hilltop, Minnesota. A men's chorus of 85
voices, GNU performs a cappella music of all forms. In Kansas
City this year, GNU finished 4th in the international barbershop
chorus competition. Two of its quartets finished in the top 21.
If singing or hearing this uniquely American style of precise,
ringing harmony in the Minneapolis area piques your interest,
contact jaldrich@visi.com or visit the GNU website.
Class of 1962
Ann McMurray Balderson '62 has retired as an orchestra
instructor and is now a freelance cellist.
Class of 1960
Janet Ault '60 has retired after 22 years as Orchestra
Director at Mount Vernon (IA) High School. She continues to teach
violin at her home and the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City.
Elana R. Gravitz '91 is program director of Nokomis Healthy Seniors,
a living at home/block nurse program in Minneapolis.
Herbie Hancock '60 returned to his hometown of Chicago in April
2004 for a week-long residency, playing two dates in Orchestra
Hall and making additional appearances in smaller settings. Hancock
was the subject of the cover story by Howard Reich in the Chicago
Tribune Sunday Magazine for March 21, 2004. Reich writes that
the influential jazz pianist's "knack for careering between
complexity and simplicity, between art and entertainment, has
won him nine Grammys, three gold and two platinum records, one
Oscar and enough plaques to cover several walls of his home, a
short stroll from the Sunset Strip." In the article, Hancock
describes his shift at Grinnell from a science major to his vocation
as a musician: "The straw that broke the camel's back was
in 1957, my second year at Grinnell, when I decided to put together
a big band... I had these 16 musicians who didn't really know
how to play jazz. So I had to rehearse all the sections of the
band myself and teach them how to phrase. And that was after I
had to listen to all these Count Basie records and copy the parts
to write up the charts. It trained my ear like crazy, but I never
went to classes, so I was getting a D in one class and everything
else I was flunking -- the handwriting was on the wall... I saw
what was driving me, what was pulling me like a magnet, where
my real heart was, and as much as I liked science, jazz was the
thing." He was the subject of NPR's "Jazz Profiles"
radio show on June 14, 2002. The show described him as "arguably
the most influential practitioner of modern jazz piano since Thelonious
Monk." Excerpts are available online at www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/hancock.html.
Hancock toured his show Directions in Music in the fall of 2001,
celebrating the 75th birthdays of John Coltrane and Hancock's
mentor Miles Davis. At the same time, he released "Future
2 Future," a CD offering his distinctive takes on hip-hop,
drum 'n' bass, and world beat.
Class of 1959
Liane Ellison Norman '59, honorary Doctorate of Humane
Letters '91, board member for Early Music America and fundraiser
for Chatham Baroque in Pittsburgh, moderates a panel on early
music fundraising at the Boston Early Music Festival in June.
Her article "Put the Money Where Your Music Is" appears
in the summer 2001 issue of Early Music America.
John Peterson '59 died in October 2001. He was a retired foreign
affairs analyst and singer in the Choral Arts Society of Washington,
D.C. With the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard
Slatkin, they premiered John Corigliano's Second Symphony at the
Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall in March 1999. In May, they performed
Janacek's Glagolitic Mass. The group's recording of Corigliano's
First Symphony with the NSO won a Grammy in 1997.
Class of 1957
Darrell Fisher '57 was featured in the Mason City
Globe Gazette for his crusade to collect 76 trombones for
the Meredith Willson Museum, Music Man Square, Mason City, Iowa.
Class of 1955
Allen Kellar '55 has retired after more than thirty
years as choral director at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA.
Class of 1954
Since retiring in 1989, Arthur Albert Dercksen '54 remains active
in music in Clarksville, Arkansas as a choral director and bassist
for the town's symphony orchestra.
Roger L. Perry '54 and James J. Ploss '54 collaborated on the
musical play The Triumph of Polly-The-Plain, which was
presented by the Larimer Arts Center in Palatka, FL, Dec. 4-6,
1998. Perry wrote the music and Ploss wrote the book and lyrics.
Class of 1953
Merle Fischlowitz ’53 serves on the board of
the San Diego Opera. He and his wife Teresa were recently honored
as Volunteers of the Year by the San Diego Opera.
Class of 1952
E. Ann Good Lord '52 has served for 42 years as concert moderator
for the Naperville (IL) Municipal Band.
Delores Sorenson Dickson '52 teaches piano in Moorhead, IA.
Class of 1951
Andrew Billingsley '51, author of Black Families
in White America, was honored for his scholarship on African-American
families by the University of Maryland Department of Family Studies
at a one-day forum titled "One More River to Cross: African-American
Families in the Twenty First Century." Dr. Billingsley is
a professor and former chair of the department and is currently
a Fulbright Scholar in Ghana.
Sara "Sally" Corl Hogan '51 has completed her autobiography
which includes artwork, poetry and music.
Jo Lee Reid Scarborough '51 was awarded the Partners in Excellence
Award from the Opera Guilds International for her outstanding
volunteer work. She lives in Des Moines, IA.
Class of 1950
Philip Nelson '50 is a consultant for arts and humanities
at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and is interim
executive director of the North Carolina School of Science and
Mathematics.
Dr. Douglas R. Peterson '50 has retired as an Emeritus Associate
Professor of Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after
teaching at UNLV for 36 years. He continues with the Southern
Nevada Musical Arts Society, a choral-orchestral ensemble that
he has directed for 36 years. Their 2003-04 season of six concerts
included the German Requiem by Brahms, Judas Maccabeus
by Handel, and concerts of American folk song, opera, Christmas
music, and chamber music. In 2003, Dr. Peterson was recognized
for significant contributions to the arts in Nevada by Governor
Kenny Guinn, Senators John Ensign and Harry Reid, and Representative
Shelley Berkley.
Class of 1949
Paul A. Martin sings with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus. He lives in East Aurora, NY.
Class of 1948
Beverly Burd Stubbee ‘48 served as chair of The Joy of Music, a two-day event that featured lectures and performances related to the world of music, presented by Duke University faculty and associates. The Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement sponsored the event.
Class of 1946
Margorie Blumenschein Miller recently passed away peacefully
at her home in Chandler, AZ. After graduating from Grinnell and
marrying Ronald Miller, she moved out west and taught education
at Griffith Elementary School for 25 years.
Class of 1941
Martha Plum Kearney '41 died in August 2001. She was
a retired vocal music teacher in Jefferson, IA.
Class of 1939
Thomas Eaton '39 has produced a cassette of poems and
songs called Tom Eaton RIDIN. It is available by writing
to Eaton at BeeHive Route, Box 140, Nye, MT 59061.
Class of 1938
Ruth Casey Schurtz '38 died in January 2002. She was
a retired elementary music teacher living in El Paso, TX.
Class of 1937
Martha Macgoey Sollenberger '37 died in June 2001.
She was a retired music teacher and glee club director in Lawrenceville,
NJ.
Edwina F. Wills '37 passed away in December 2002. Her memorial
service took place in Milwaukie, OR.
Class of 1936
Thelma Huber Culver '36 died in December 2001. She
was a retired music teacher living in Fort Dodge, IA.
Class of 1934
Irma Cooper '34 died in May 2002. She was a vocal instructor
at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria,
a member of the music faculty at Ohio State University, and a
trustee for Opera Columbus. She endowed Grinnell College's annual
Frances Collins James Award for outstanding student vocal performer.
Class of 1931
Louis Bath '31 died in Klamath Falls, OR, in December
2001. He was a retired trumpet player.
Class of 1929
Ruth Norton Bauerbach '26, age 97, of Phoenix, passed
away June 11, 2000. Ruth was born March 30, 1903, in Muscatine,
Iowa. She was an Organist at Grace Lutheran Church and a member
of DAR, Arizona Country Club, and the Orpheus Club. She was born
and raised in Muscatine, Iowa.
Daryl Dayton '26 of Claremont, CA, passed away in October 2000.
His career was as a pianist, teacher, and internationally known
lecturer on American music.
Please send us information
about you and your accomplishments to be included in our Alumni
News. Thank you.
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