News: BRAG News (Boastful Reporting of Activities & Gigs)

College of Music Tours, Performances, Master Classes

March-May 2008

• In March, Suren Bagratuni, professor of cello and co-chair of the string area, gave a recital with Peabody Conservatory Professor of Piano Boris Slutsky in Castelnuovo, Italy.
• Derrick Gardner, assistant professor of jazz trumpet, attended the Oneida Jazz Festival in March. He was an adjudicator for 35 middle school and high school jazz ensembles and held a jazz trumpet master class. He also performed with the Director's Jazz Ensemble along with Tom "Bones" Malone, Bill Moring, and David Pietro.
• In April, Melanie Helton, associate professor of voice, received rave reviews for her performance of selections from Verdi's La Traviata with the Ann Arbor Symphony. Read review
• The Jazz Octet I and Jazz Orchestra I ensembles are going on a multi-city tour of Japan in May. The invitational tour includes sharing concerts with several major college and high school jazz groups.
• Raphael Jimenez, assistant professor of conducting and associate conductor of MSU orchestras, conducted the Florida premiere of faculty member Ricardo Lorenz's Rumba Sinfonica with Cuban group Tiempo Libre and the Lynn University Philharmonia at the Festival of the Arts BOCA 2008 in March. A review from the Sun-Sentinel stated: "The orchestra opened with a sultry, pulsing performance of the Mexican composer Arturo Marquez's Danzon No. 2."...."The Lynn University Symphonia, conducted by Raphael Jimenez, played a professional sheen rarely heard from student ensembles." The Festival of the Arts BOCA 2008 included artists such as Sir Glenn Galway, Joshua Bell, Renee Fleming, and the Russian National Orchestra.
• In April, Joseph Lulloff, professor of saxophone, gave the world premiere of Donald Freund's Sunscapes at the Koger Center for the Performing Arts, performing as soloist with the University of South Carolina Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Donald Portnoy.
• Ava Ordman, associate professor of trombone and chair of the brass and percussion area, premiered a new concerto for trombone, woodwind octet, double bass, and percussion with the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. The piece, titled "Taking Sides," was written by Matthew Tommasini. The performances took place in April in Birmingham and Grosse Pointe.
• Judy Palac, associate professor of music education, and undergraduate students Erin Little, Jessica Dezess, and Kristen Terreri went to Cornerstone School in Detroit, in March, to work with string students from grades 3-8, and to consult with teachers.
• In March, Derek Polischuk, assistant professor of piano and director of piano pedagogy, and two students from the piano pedagogy program, Amanda Harris and Marina Ionescu, conducted a master class at Cornerstone School in Detroit for group piano students preparing for the Federation Festival.
• George Vatchnadze, assistant professor of piano, will appear in June as a guest artist in Orange County's Pacific Symphony's all-Rachmaninoff program.

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