Performer Profiles - Spring 2015 Season
Coming February 4, 2015:
Melissa Tuckey
Poet
 About the Author:
Melissa Tuckey is a poet, writer, translator and literary activist living in Ithaca, New York. She is author of Tenuous Chapel a book of poems selected by poet Charles Simic for ABZ First Book Prize (forthcoming March 2013); and Rope as Witness, a chapbook published by Pudding House Press. In addition, she's a co-translator (with Chun Ye and Phillipe et Fiona Lorrain) of Dead Moon, a book of poems by Yang Zi, a contemporary Chinese poet. Melissa Tuckey has a background in environmental activism, and is a co-founder (with Sarah Browning and others) of Split This Rock, a national organization dedicated to poetry of provocation and witness.
(Profile and photo source: Poets&Writers - http://www.pw.org)
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
MacFarlane Auditorium, DePerno Hall
Event calendar listing >
|
Back ♦ Top of Page
|
Coming February 11, 2015:
Jesse Sprole
Piano ♦ Classical to contemporary
About the Performer:
 Pianist Jesse Sprole received degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from SUNY Fredonia (B.M. 2003) and Ithaca College (M.M. 2005). He taught and played in Fredonia and around western New York before returning to his hometown of Baldwinsville, NY. In 2008, he moved to Clinton and joined the teaching staff of Hamilton College, where he enjoys the vibrant academic atmosphere and the time to balance teaching with working on solo endeavors. Jesse regularly performs on Hamilton College faculty recitals and was recently featured in a graduate lecture and piano recital at Ithaca College. Jesse also collaborates with other musicians in the area, including soprano Nancy James.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
|
Back ♦ Top of Page
|
Coming February 18, 2015:
Jessica Penner
Novelist
 About the Author:
Jessica Penner earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Her first novel, Shaken in the Water (Foxhead Books) was named an Editors’ Choice by the Historical Novel Society. She has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in Wordgathering, Luna Luna, The Fiddleback, Bellevue Literary Review, Rhubarb, Center for Mennonite Writing, the anthology Tongue Screws and Testimonies, among others. She received Honorable Mentions in fiction and nonfiction from Open City and Bellevue Literary Review, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in New York City.
(Profile and photo source: author's blog - jessicadawnpenner.squarespace.com)
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
MacFarlane Auditorium, DePerno Hall
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming February 25, 2015:
Society for New Music - Tyler Ogilvie
Composer, horn ♦ Classical to contemporary with a multimedia twist
About the Performer:
 Tyler Ogilvie received his collegiate training in music from Ithaca College. In 2005, Ogilvie earned his bachelor degree (B.M.) in music education, with which he served the public schools of New Jersey and Connecticut before returning to Ithaca College to further pursue his studies in horn performance (M.M.).
Currently, Ogilvie serves on the music faculties of Susquehanna University and Dickinson College, teaching horn performance studies and chamber music. During his tenure, he has also taught music theory and brass methods. In the summer, he instructs horn at the Susquehanna University Wind Ensemble Institute, as well as the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy Intermediate Division. Ogilvie is principal horn in the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and frequently performs with Symphoria! (former Syracuse Symphony Orchestra). He has appeared as a featured soloist throughout New York state and freelances regularly with regional orchestras and ensembles throughout New York and Pennsylvania.
In addition to his freelance orchestral work, Ogilvie composes electroacoustic compositions that utilize sound effect processors, pre-recorded soundtracks and visual multimedia elements (www.tyviemusic.com). He specializes in bringing his own brand of music/visual art to youthful audiences, having presented school assemblies throughout New York and Pennsylvania. His aim is to connect music cross-curricularly to the sciences, math, nature, history and the visual arts. Ogilvie was inducted to the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society in 2010. His principal teachers include Alexander Shuhan and Edward Albinski.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming March 25, 2015:
Jonathan English, tenor
Sar-Shalom Strong, piano
Schubert’s Die Winterreise
About the Performers:
 Jonathan English is a part time assistant professor of music at the Syracuse University Setnor School of Music. Born in Syracuse, New York, Jonathan English entered the Eastman School of Music to study voice.
As a tenor Jonathan English has performed a wide range of musical styles – from opera, symphonic and oratorio, to art song, choral, Broadway, and modern vocal chamber music. He has been a soloist with: Boston’s Cantata Singers, under David Hoose; the Syracuse Opera Theatre under Christopher Keene and Steven White; Oswego Opera Theatre under Juan Francisco La Manna; Rochester Philharmonic under Isaiah Jackson, and The Pennsylvania Sinfonia under Alfred Mann. Mr. English gave the American Premiere of Johann Rosenmüller’s cantata In te domino with lutanist Paul Odette, and the Boston Premiere with organist James David Christie.
Mr. English is especially proud of his association with new music. He has premiered works by composers such as Samuel Adler, Steven Albert, Warren Benson, Sydney Hodkinson, Daniel Pinkham and Stanley Walden. Additionally, English has been a critically praised stage director. He is also on-air talent for WCNY FM and Television, and serves on the board of directors for the Joyful Noise Concert Series.
 Sar-Shalom Strong is well known to east coast audiences as both a soloist and a collaborative pianist. In a career spanning over 25 years, he has had the privilege of collaborating with international artists such as flutists Judith Mendenhall and Gary Shocker, trombonist Joseph Alessi, violinist Sarah Crocker, singers Helen Boatwright, Peter Vandergraaf, and Sanford Sylvan, as well as a multitude of the fine musicians who live and perform throughout upstate New York. In March 2013, he performed a solo recital for the Walker Lecture Series in Concord, NH, where he has also appeared several times as a collaborative artist. Locally, he performs with the Society For New Music, where he has been involved in the premiere of many new works, and also appears on programs for Civic Morning Musicals, the Skaneateles Festival, A Little Summermusic, The Oasis Center of Syracuse, Hamilton College, and Utica College. He has performed orchestral keyboard with virtually all the orchestras in the area, most notably for almost ten years with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of both the Jewell Piano Trio and the Southwick Trio. Recorded performances with Society for New Music on Innova Records and with soprano Janet Brown on Russetbush Records have met with considerable acclaim.
Currently Lecturer in Piano and Coordinator of Staff Pianists for Hamilton College, where he has taught since 2001, and previously associated with Colgate and Syracuse Universities, Mr. Strong maintains a strong commitment to teaching and encouraging aspiring younger musicians: pianists, singers, instrumentalists, and composers. He is active as an adjudicator and vocal coach, and also has been the accompanist/music coach for West Genesee High School since 1997. In December 2012, he was selected to a panel of judges for the Humans in Space Youth Art and Music Competition sponsored by NASA.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming April 1, 2015:
Ronald Caravan, clarinet and saxophone
Sar-Shalom Strong, piano
Songs by Richard Strauss and Samuel Barber
(Please note: Soprano Judith Kellock will not appear due to an illness.)
About the Performers:
 Ronald L. Caravan is an instructor of music at the Syracuse University Setnor School of Music. He has been on the faculty since 1980, teaching clarinet and saxophone and directing the Syracuse University Saxophone Ensemble. He earned the performer’s certificate on clarinet from the Eastman School of Music as well as the doctor of musical arts in music education and Master of Arts in theory.
As a performer, Dr. Caravan has broad experience as a solo and chamber music recitalist as well as a clinician. He also regularly performed with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra as a saxophonist. He is recorded in performance with the Saxophone Sinfonia (Golden Crest and Dorn Productions) and the Aeolian Saxophone Quartet (Ethos Recordings) and recently completed mastering an eight-volume set of CDs of clarinet and saxophone music that will see commercial release in the near future. As a composer, Dr. Caravan has numerous works published for clarinet and saxophone and is particularly well known for his music and teaching materials dealing with unconventional sound resources on the single-reed instruments. He also developed and markets Caravan Mouthpieces for clarinet and saxophone, a line of mouthpieces designed for symphonic-style applications that have achieved considerable popularity among advanced students and professionals throughout the United States as well as internationally.
Dr. Caravan has served as president of the North American Saxophone Alliance and is presently woodwind review editor for the New York State School Music News. He also serves the New York State School Music Association as an all-state certified adjudicator.
Sar-Shalom Strong is well known to east coast audiences as both a soloist and a collaborative pianist. In a career spanning over 25 years, he has had the privilege of collaborating with international artists such as flutists Judith Mendenhall and Gary Shocker, trombonist Joseph Alessi, violinist Sarah Crocker, singers Helen Boatwright, Peter Vandergraaf, and Sanford Sylvan, as well as a multitude of the fine musicians who live and perform throughout upstate New York. In March 2013, he performed a solo recital for the Walker Lecture Series in Concord, NH, where he has also appeared several times as a collaborative artist. Locally, he performs with the Society For New Music, where he has been involved in the premiere of many new works, and also appears on programs for Civic Morning Musicals, the Skaneateles Festival, A Little Summermusic, The Oasis Center of Syracuse, Hamilton College, and Utica College. He has performed orchestral keyboard with virtually all the orchestras in the area, most notably for almost ten years with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of both the Jewell Piano Trio and the Southwick Trio. Recorded performances with Society for New Music on Innova Records and with soprano Janet Brown on Russetbush Records have met with considerable acclaim.
Currently Lecturer in Piano and Coordinator of Staff Pianists for Hamilton College, where he has taught since 2001, and previously associated with Colgate and Syracuse Universities, Mr. Strong maintains a strong commitment to teaching and encouraging aspiring younger musicians: pianists, singers, instrumentalists, and composers. He is active as an adjudicator and vocal coach, and also has been the accompanist/music coach for West Genesee High School since 1997. In December 2012, he was selected to a panel of judges for the Humans in Space Youth Art and Music Competition sponsored by NASA.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming April 8, 2015:
Junior B Sharp Music Club
Talented area music students ♦ Classical to contemporary composers
About the Performers:
 The Junior B Sharp Musical Club was established in 1916 by the Senior B Sharp Musical Club to augment the musical offerings of the schools and private teachers for talented music students in the area. Through regular monthly meetings, the Jr. B Sharp Club gives its student members opportunities for solo and ensemble performance, contact with other outstanding area music students, and involvement in special feature programs and workshops presented by guest professionals.
Junior B Sharp’s annual concerts have raised funds for a variety of local and international organizations. Local organizations include the Utica Zoo, the House of the Good Shepherd, the Utica Symphony, and the Parkinson's Project of the Presbyterian Home. Other Charities benefiting have been the Music Therapy Project at NYC homeless shelters, Heifer International, Doctors Without Borders, the Mr.Holland's Opus Foundation, and Golisano Children's Hospital. www.bsharpcny.org
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming April 8, 2015:
A Taste of the Arts
Celebration of creativity across campus
About the Event:
 Brought to you by The Department of Performing and Fine Arts, A Taste of the Arts will showcase student art work from the 2014-15 academic year. This is a multimedia event, including visual artwork, poetry, theatre, and music. The event will included an eclectic roster of musical performances. In addition, we will be providing a sampling of various cultural cuisines represented at Utica College, and in the local community. The Utica College Chemistry Department will be creating foods for sampling using Molecular Gastronomy.
The event will start at 1:30 p.m. in the Ellen Clarke Lounge and Strebel Auditorium. It is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome.
Event begins at 1:30 P.M.
Strebel Lounge and Auditorium, Ralph F. Strebel Student Center
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Special Thursday Evening Event and Location
Coming April 16, 2015:
Suzanne Cleary
Poet | Winner of the 2014 Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize
About the Performers:
 Suzanne Cleary was born and raised in Binghamton, NY. Her book Beauty Mark was published in 2013 as winner of the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry by BkMk Press (University of Missouri-Kansas City). In addition to winning the Eugene Paul Nassar Prize, Beauty Mark received the 2014 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. Her previous books are Trick Pear (2007) and Keeping Time (2002), both published by Carnegie Mellon. Her poems have appeared in journals including The Atlantic, Georgia Review, New Ohio Review, Poetry International, and Poetry London, and in anthologies including Best American Poetry, Poetry 180, and Don’t Leave Hungry: 50 Years of Southern Poetry Review. Recipient of a Pushcart Prize, she is Professor of English at the State University of New York at Rockland, and also teaches as core faculty in the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program of Converse College.
Event begins at 7:30 P.M.
Carbone Family Auditorium
ECJSC Building
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming April 22, 2015:
Daniel Asa Rose
Nonfiction writer
About the Author:
Daniel Asa Rose, an NEA Literary Fellow for 2006, was born in New York City and graduated from Brown University. He won an O. Henry Prize and two Pen Fiction Awards for his first story collection, Small Family With Rooster. His first novel, Flipping For It, a black comedy about divorce from the man's point of view, was a New York Times New and Noteworthy Paperback. In 2002, he published Hiding Places: A Father and his Sons Retrace Their Family's Escape From the Holocaust. Come hear him read from and discuss his latest book, a dark comedy about medical tourism, Larry's Kidney: Being the True Story of How I Found Myself in China With my Black-Sheep Cousin and his Mail-Order Bride, Skirting the Law to Get Him a Transplant - and Save His Life.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
MacFarlane Auditorium, DePerno Hall
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming April 29, 2015:
Utica College Concert Band
Michael J. DiMeo, director
About the Performers:
The Utica College Concert Band was founded by Dr. Louis Angelini in 1981. Frank Galime then directed the band until his retirement. Currently the band is directed by Michael J. DiMeo, retired director of bands from New Hartford High School. At New Hartford High School, Michael helped their marching band become State Champions on four occasions. He has devoted his time to several competitive marching band circuits and received two outstanding soloist awards as Head Brass Instructor/Soloist for the Syracuse Brigadiers Drum and Bugle Corps. In addition to directing the Utica College Concert Band, Mike conducts the New Hartford Citizens Band in the summer and was a member of the versatile group “Classified” (which was recently inducted into the Rome Arts Hall of Fame.)
The Utica College Concert Band has a well-balanced instrumentation and includes students, local music educators, members of the Utica College staff and local community. The band, for students, can be taken as a liberal arts course for credit or just as an audit.
The Band plays music from the standard band literature that is both challenging and musically rewarding. They usually perform once per semester at the Professor Harry F. and Mary Ruth Jackson Lunch Hour Series. Other regular performances include an annual Concert for Veterans and a combined concert with MVCC Concert Band. The Band also performs programs for local events and at senior citizen communities such as the Masonic and Presbyterian Homes.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
Coming May 6, 2015:
Utica College Concert Choir
David Kolb, director
Alane Varga, accompanist
About the Performers:
Please join us for this special performance of the Utica College Choir, directed by David Kolb.
David Kolb 
a graduate of Hamilton College with double concentrations in music and mathematics, has taught math at Mohawk Valley Community College, and directed choirs for the Utica Maennerchor and the Stone Presbyterian Church in Clinton. He is currently the Director of Music for First Presbyterian Church in Rome.
After several years’ hiatus, the Utica College Concert Choir was reconstituted in fall 2010, with David as its director.
He is also a frequent performer in local theatrical productions and sings with the local music ensemble Above Standards. David was a featured soloist in the production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors in Syracuse and in the Hamilton College and Community Masterworks Chorale’s performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams Fanstasy on Christmas Carols performed at Hamilton College.
 Alane Varga, piano accompanist, is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. Alane attended Slippery Rock State College for her Bachelor’s degree in Special Education and her Master’s in Counseling Services. Alane began her career at Utica College in fall 1983, as a counselor in the Academic Support Services. She was cofounder with Dr. Della Ferguson of the Womyn’s Resource Center at Utica College. In 2011, Alane was appointed Dean of Students at Utica College. She is now the College's Dean for Diversity and Student Development. Alane's musical experience includes serving as accompanist in a variety of venues, including community coffee houses, musicals performed at Utica College reflecting her love of Broadway, and the UC Lunch Hour Series.
Event begins at 12:30 P.M.
Library Concourse
Event calendar listing >
| |
Back ♦ Top of Page
| |
