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[Gennaro, Peter]

(b Staten Island, NY, Jan 14, 1923; d Chicago, Oct 29, 2008). American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and ballet company director. He began to study dance after meeting Robert Joffrey while on military service in Seattle, and continued this study in New York at the School of American Ballet and with the modern dancers May O’Donnell and Gertrude Shurr. He became a founding member of the faculty of Joffrey’s school, the American Dance Center, and of Joffrey’s first dance group, which later became the Joffrey Ballet. He also performed on Broadway and with New York City Opera. After retiring as a performer in 1964, he focused on the choreographic work he had begun in 1961 with the ballet Ropes, to music by Charles Ives. As chief choreographer of the Joffrey Ballet, he created ballets that celebrated the company’s youthful verve and vitality, frequently utilizing scores by American contemporary composers. Among his most popular ballets were ...

(b Galesburg, IL, June 28, 1940). American conductor, educator, and administrator. He was an Indiana University School of Music faculty member from 1969 until his retirement in 2005, serving as Director of Bands from 1982. He is currently the President of the Midwest Clinic, an international band and orchestra convention. Prior to his Indiana University appointment, he taught public school music in Iowa, Ohio, and Illinois.

Under his leadership the Indiana University Wind Ensemble earned an international reputation for outstanding performances at significant conferences in the United States and Japan. He has frequently conducted in Japan, and has served as the regular guest conductor of the Musashino Academia of Music in Tokyo since 1990. He has been the president of the American Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, Indiana Bandmasters Association and the Big Ten Band Directors Association. He was the 2008 honoree of the Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts of the National Band Association, and was awarded the Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor (...

(b Detroit, MI, Jan 1, 1929; d Detroit, MI, July 2010). American singer, educator, choral director, and composer. He worked tirelessly to promote and preserve the works of African American musicians through coalition building and artistic entrepreneurship by founding the Brazeal Dennard Chorale and cofounding the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s “Classical Roots” concert series in 1976. Dennard attended Highland Park Junior College (1954–56) and he received his undergraduate (1959) and master’s (1962) degrees in music education from Wayne State University. He first gained exposure to music through attending church choir rehearsals with his mother. He studied piano and voice with Dean Robert L. Nolan and later sang with the Robert Nolan Choir. His professional career began at age 17 as conductor of the Angelic Choir at Peoples Baptist Church in Detroit. From 1951 to 1953 he was responsible for the music for all chapel services while serving as a corporal in the US Army in Virginia. Beginning in ...

(Marie )

(b Birmingham, England, Jan 29, 1939). English soprano, vocal teacher/coach, and stage director. She studied at the Royal College of Music and the Juilliard School; while a student she made her professional debut in 1964 in the first New York performance of Kát’a Kabanová. Her Covent Garden debut in 1966 was as the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and she first sang with Sadler’s Wells Opera (later the English National Opera) as Micaëla in 1970. She appeared widely in the United States, and her repertory included Countess Almaviva, Mařenka, Mimì, Butterfly, Pamina, Tosca, Musetta, Nedda, and Hanna Glawari. Her voice has been described as strong and clear, yet warm, and her considerable talent as a singing actress has made her a leading interpreter of the operas by Leoš Janáček. Her recordings include Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Royal Opera Covent Garden Orchestra and Chorus, and Britten’s ...

(b Balandugu, Guinea, West Africa, 1950). Drummer, director, and teacher of Guinean birth. Mamady Keïta began his official apprenticeship with the village djembéfola at the age of eight. By his late teens, he was lead drummer of Ballet D’Joliba. By 22 he became the company’s first drummer to act as artistic director. Upon his retirement from the ballet in 1986, Keïta played briefly for the national ballet in Côte D’Ivoire before settling in Belgium where he founded an international djembé school called Tam Tam Mandingue.

Keïta came to live in the United States in 2004. At his first official workshop as an American resident, Keïta announced: “I spent fifteen years cleaning up the djembé drumming in Europe. Now it is time to do the same in America.” Despite the growing popularity of the djembé, Keïta was surprised by the lack of understanding about its history and music within American drum circles. Keïta, together with six other ...

(b Harrisburg, PA, March 2, 1921; d Westport, CT, Sept 16, 2017). American singing actress, producer, stage director, and teacher. Possessing a wide range of performing skills, she was known for undertaking challenging operatic roles such as Birdie and Regina in Mark Blitzstein’s Regina (1949, 1953, and 1958) and Lizzie in Jack Beeson’s Lizzie Borden (1965). She worked on Broadway, in light opera, on radio and television, and at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Lewis attended Penn State University and was encouraged by its Glee Club director to audition for a scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she went on to study with Emilio de Gogorza. After her teacher suddenly left the Institute, Lewis auditioned and made her debut with the Philadelphia Opera Company at the age of 19 in the role of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. A remarkably quick study, Lewis absorbed music and words in any language almost on the spot, a gift to which she attributed most of her early success. In ...

(b Indianapolis, IN, Oct 25, 1917). American music educator, administrator, and conductor. He graduated from Indiana State Teachers College (BA 1939) and George Peabody College for Teachers (MA 1946, EdD 1966). He taught high school music and social studies in Westfield, Illinois (1939–41), and was supervisor of music for the Shenandoah County, Virginia schools (1941–54) and president of the Virginia Music Educators Association (1952–4). While on the staff of the Music Educators National Conference (1955–84), he served as assistant executive secretary, director of professional programs, and three times acting executive director. He was responsible for 73 national and regional conferences and the MENC Student Member Program, and served as the staff liaison for MENC’s seven associated organizations. In addition to his educational and administrative work, Morlan produced soldier shows in the Pacific Theater for the US Army Special Services during World War II. He was also the founding conductor of the Mormon Choir of Washington, DC, and is now conductor emeritus. He conducted the McLean (Virginia) Choral Society and guest conducted combined choirs for the Interfaith Concert at the Washington Hebrew Congregation (...

(b Fredericia, Denmark, May 13, 1930; d Oct 12, 2012). Danish double bass player, educator, and music administrator. In the early 1950s he performed and recorded with the baritone saxophonist Max Brüel and the trumpeter Jørgen Ryg and was then a member of the Radiodanseorkesteret (1954–5), Ib Glindemann’s big band (1957), and Finn Savery’s trio (1957–8, 1960). From 1959 he worked in duos and led trios, one of which performed at the festivals in Antibes–Juan-les-Pins and Comblain-la-Tour in 1960; he also led the band Radiojazzgruppen from its inception in 1961 until 1966, when he began working in programming for Danmarks Radio (see Radiojazzgruppen). Moseholm was the leading double bass player in Denmark in the 1950s, and his playing may be heard to advantage on the album Trio Suite (Artist 505), recorded in 1970 with the drummer Jørn Elniff and the pianist Arne Forchhammer. From ...

(b Northwich, Cheshire, May 17, 1912; d York, May 9, 2004). English writer on music and music educationist . He was educated at Christ’s Hospital (1924–30) and read English, music and history as an organ scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge (1930–34; MusB 1933). He was director of music at Stranmillis Teachers Training College, Belfast, from 1934 until 1937, when he took the MusD at Trinity College, Dublin. From 1937 to 1944 he was music adviser to the city of Stoke on Trent. In 1944 he became director of music at Wolverhampton College of Technology; there he also formed a choir which gave many performances, particularly of lesser-known works by Handel. Since 1970 he has been a visiting scholar and lecturer at numerous colleges in the USA.

Young was an exceptionally fluent and prolific writer. His books include short popular biographies and several volumes for younger readers. Many of his more substantial writings are based on a lively, fresh and industrious, if not always highly discriminating, examination of source material; these include original research on Elgar and useful surveys of the British choral tradition and British music generally. As a composer Young was equally prolific: his works include a Fugal Concerto for two pianos and strings (...