Winter 2009 eNews: InterNetzo
Alumni and Friends: News and Goods

Gabriel Bolkosky (Visiting Artist ’01-04) recently performed a series of concerts in Michigan. He also presented practicing workshops based on Simon Fischer’s book for advanced string players. In early December he taught at the Singapore International String Conference.

Noémie Brun (WS ’06-07) writes: “I'm writing you to tell you a funny story... I was with some friends Friday evening in a local hangout. And then I saw that someone was staring at me. And I knew I had seen him somewhere, but I didn't remember where and I wasn't really sure I knew him. Then he said, "New Hampshire!? Summer music camp? Walden?" And suddenly, I recognized him: it was Peter Evans (Visiting Artist ’07-08), the trumpeter! How small the world is! Isn't it incredible? In that small place in Geneva, I met Peter Evans! He told me he was on a tour in Europe and that he was playing a solo concert the next evening in this same venue. So the next day, I texted Charlotte (Cadieux) and some friends and we went there to listen to his concert - and it was amazing!”

Alan Chan (TTI ’04, ’06) received his D.M.A. from University of Southern California in December. He also premiered two pieces in Taipei and San Francisco.

Claire Chase’s (Visiting Artist ’05-08) ensemble ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble) began a new residency in November at Northwestern University. The residency kicked off with a chamber music concert of works by Northwestern composition faculty. The group also began a new chamber music series at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Each concert coincides with a different MoCP exhibition, and features a different soloist or collaborative sub-set of the thirty-member ensemble. ICE also just released their new CD, Abandoned Time, on the New Focus label in November. www.newfocusrecordings.com/abandonedtime.php

Andrea Clearfield (Visiting Composer ’06) traveled to Los Angeles in February for the premiere of her new work Dream Variations with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Debussy Trio. It is a work for chorus, flute, viola, harp and organ, set to poetry by Langston Hughes. Her next Salon is on Sunday, February 15th at 7:30 pm in Philadelphia. For more info, visit www.internationalopus.com/Andrea_Clearfield/

David Conte (Visiting Composer ’99, ’02) wrote An Exhortation, which was performed at the inauguration of President Barack Obama by the combined San Francisco Girls Chorus and San Francisco Boys Chorus. An Exhortation is a setting of excerpts of President Obama’s Grant Park speech. You can hear an NPR interview with David about his new work for Chanticleer, The Homecoming: In Memoriam Martin Luther King, by clicking here.

Shawn Crouch (WS ’93-94, ’96; staff ’97, faculty ’99-00, ’02, ’05-07, TTI ’08) had his work featured in a number of concerts this season including Cantori New York and the Kansas City ensemble newEar. He also has a recording set for release in March by PARMA Records’ imprint Navona. The featured piece is City Columns, a new work for chamber orchestra played by the Moravian Philharmonic. Grammy Award-winning choral ensemble Chanticleer will premiere a new work in March in San Francisco. A pre-concert event on March 21 for the Walden community is in the planning stages. Find out more by contacting us at events@waldenschool.org.

Miranda Cuckson (Visiting Artist ’08) performed in the Sequenza21 concert in December at the Good Shepherd Church in New York. She also performed Elliott Carter’s Duo for violin and piano with Steve Beck at the Library of Congress as a part of Sequitur’s concert. She will also perform the 10 sonatas of Beethoven in three concerts, at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, this winter and spring. See her MySpace page for details.

David Dueñas (TTI ’04, ’07) a member of the San Francisco Guitar Quartet, performed with the ensemble in the VGo Recording Concert Series concerts in December in San Francisco.

Stacy Garrop (WS ’87-88; faculty ’96) has two premieres this winter: String Quartet No.3: Gaia, performed recently by the Biava Quartet at the University of Idaho, and In Eleanor’s Words, a large chamber ensemble work with texts by Eleanor Roosevelt, performed by Indiana University’s New Music Ensemble with mezzo-soprano Buffy Baggott on February 7.

Terry and Rebekah Greene (TTI ’05-07; WS Faculty ’99, ‘01) joined the Astoria Symphony in 2008. Rebekah performs with the One World Symphony and recently participated in a masterclass with renowned bassist François Rabbath at Stonybrook. She is also currently a beauty consultant for Mary Kay.

Tom Lopez (WS Faculty ’99-01, WS Administration ’99-08, TTI faculty ’05-08) announces the release of Oberlin Conservatory’s TIMARA (Technology in Music and Related Arts) faculty retrospective disc.

Teresa McCollough (TTI ’05; visiting artist ’01; parent ’08) performed with Gianna Abondolo in a solo recital featuring works by George Crumb, Olivier Messiaen and George Gershwin, as well as Bay Area premieres of works by Belinda Reynolds, Mark Winges and Michael Finnissy in December in San Francisco.

John McGinn (WS ’79-80) joined the faculty of Austin College in Sherman, Texas, this past fall as a tenure-track composer/theorist. He was previously on the faculty at Clark University. He premiered his solo piano piece Without a Net at three institutions last February and finished a 20-player work for the Inscape Chamber Music Project of Bethesda, Maryland, for a premiere in April 2009. Hear John's choral work Midnight Birth here.

Ned McGowan (Visiting Artist ’01-04) formed a new music group, Gandhi Bazaar, for a tour through the Music World Series Foundation. He writes: “In combining five musicians with various backgrounds in jazz, classical, improvised, traditional Indian, Turkish and Flamenco, I have tried to create a form of chamber music which uses approaches from all of these genres.”

Nat Osborn (WS ’00-03) graduated from Skidmore College cum laude in May with a double major in music and history. He spent the summer bartending and playing jazz piano in a restaurant. He had a fantastic trip to Ireland (but only after being ejected from the U.K. for being a suspected illicit traveling troubadour without a work permit). He has been commissioned to write a film score for an independent film.

Sam Pluta’s (WS staff ’01-02; WS faculty ’03-08) ensemble Wet Ink is celebrating their 10th anniversary this season. They kicked off the celebration with three concerts and a CD release party for The Language Of, a new CD including works by Sam, Jim Altieri (WS faculty ’02, ’06-07), Alex Ness (WS staff ’03, faculty ’05-07) and others on Quiet Design Records.

The Prism Quartet (Visiting Artists ’93-94, ’99, ’05) performed a series of concerts in Philadelphia and New York with guest artists including Music from China. The ensemble premiered Memo6b by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands. The group also shares this news: “PRISM has just completed two recordings due for release in the next few months. First to be released will be "Concertos for Saxophone Quartet" featuring the world premiere recordings of William Bolcom's Concerto Grosso and Steven Mackey's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, on Innova Records. Following that will be our first recording for New Dynamic Records, featuring works composed for PRISM by Kati Agocs, Zack Browning, Roshanne Etezady, Ross Feller, Kristin Kuster, and Rand Steiger.”

Christopher Rouse (Advisory Council ’02-09) joined the Peabody Institute as Distinguished Composer-in-Residence. During the 08-09 school year he is giving masterclasses to Peabody composition students as well as a presentation on his work.

Vivian Adelberg Rudow (JCC ’50-51) curated the Baltimore Composers Forum in December at the Baltimore Museum of Art with Keith Allan Kramer and Benjamin Russell’s Music Inspired by Franz West Exhibition. The evening included multimedia performances, beatboxing, and poetry as well as creative responses to DJs. Vickie’s flute and tape work, CALL FOR PEACE, will be performed by Andrea Ceccomori in Rome this winter or spring. This fall saw multiple performances of her works in Baltimore, Kentucky, and on live webcast. For more news on Vickie’s doings, visit her website.

Gregory Shiff (WS '96) writes: "I just did a mix for the amazing band, Cruel Black Dove! Its been released on the music blog RCRDLBL." Download and listen to his mix here.

D.J. Sparr (WS ’91) wrote DACCA:DECCA:GAFfa for flute, oboe, clarinet, glockenspiel, xylophone, 12-string guitar, 6-string guitar, violin, viola and cello. This work was written as part of his residency for New Music Detroit’s “Strange Beautiful Music II” which took place in September. http://djsparr.com/DACCADECCAGaFfA.htm

Kate Stenberg, Charlton Lee, and Eva-Maria Zimmerman (Visiting Artists ’06) performed Messiaen Illuminated this fall in San Francisco as part of a ChamberBridge concert.

Meighan Stoops (Visiting Artist ’04,’06-08; TTI ’06-07) performed in the Cantori concert this fall in New York. The concert visited Old Europe with motets from the Italian Renaissance and music by Bruckner and Rachmaninoff. The program also featured Michael Dellaira’s USA Stories plus a trilogy of new works by New Yorkers Shawn Crouch, Beata Moon, and Vincent Peterson, celebrating our "city that never sleeps."

John Weaver (JCC ’66-68, Advisory Council ’02-08) was honored in October by receiving the Distinguished Alumni Award of Union Theological Seminary, the school where he received the Master of Sacred Music degree (summa cum laude) in 1968. Also, in November he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Baltimore City College High School, his alma mater. He is celebrating the 60th year of his affiliation with his concert management.

Transitions:Major Life Events in the Walden/JCC Family

November was a big month for Walden weddings. June Bonacich (WS Faculty ’97 and ’08, TTI ’06-07) married Joselle Monarchi is a small ceremony in Dolores Park in San Francisco.

Amanda and Shawn Crouch were married in Garrison, NY in November.

Russell Nadel (WS ’00-01, TTI ’05-06) and Tara Francke, were also married in November in St. Paul, MN.

Renée Favand (WS ’85, ’87-90; WS faculty ’93-97, ’99, ’05-07; TTI ’08) and Corin See were married on October 4, 2008 in upstate New York.

Margery Zierler and Dr. Kenneth Zierler, parents of Peggy Zierler Rosenthal (JCC ’56-58) both passed away in January 2009.

The Walden School welcomes news and information from members of the Junior Conservatory Camp and Walden School communities to include in our print and online newsletters. News may be sent via mail or email. We will publish your contact information only if you specifically request that we do so. Please send info to alumni@waldenschool.org or The Walden School, 31A 29th St., San Francisco, CA 94110. We reserve the right to edit submissions and regret we cannot publish all information provided. For more news and event listings, go to www.handoverhand.org.

Copyright 2007-2010, The Walden School, All Rights Reserved.

Gabriel Bolkosky

Terry and Rebekah Greene

Teresa McCollough

The Prisim Quartet

June Bonacich and Joselle Monarchi

Renée Favand and Corin See