Search Results

[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 Kansas City, MO, Jan 23, 1940). American artist and educator, co-founder in 1989 and artistic director of Inner-City Arts in Los Angeles. He holds a BA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the University of Cincinnati. Working in Los Angeles since 1976 he has built several instruments, based on the hurdy-gurdy principle, which he plays in solo performances and in duets with his wife, Gail Bates. The first was a drone instrument (1976), in which a bow operated by a pendulum moves across a string. The Fuser (1978) uses a similar idea: each note on its two 40-note keyboards operates a ‘finger’ at a different point along the length of one of two strings, which are bowed by treadle-operated, rosined wheels. The hollow tubing of the framework adds to the effect of two dome-shaped resonators, one at each end of the instrument. Two people play the Fuser, which measures about 3.5 × 1 × 1.25 metres. The Converter (prototype ...

(b Elgin, IL, May 25, 1914; d DeKalb, IL, Feb 17, 2003). American music educator, scholar, and administrator. He obtained degrees in instrumental music (BS 1937) and in education and English (MA 1939) from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and in musicology from University of Michigan (PhD 1950). He taught music and English in the public schools of Griffith, Illinois (1938–41), and in the laboratory school at Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (1941–3). After serving in the US Army during World War II (1943–6), he completed his doctoral studies and joined the music faculty at the University of Michigan (1949), where he established a leading doctoral program in music education and directed 51 doctoral dissertations. He served as dean of the School of Music (1969–79) and retired from the faculty in 1984. Britton was president of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) (...

(b Stocksund, Aug 5, 1927). Swedish composer, teacher and writer on music. After studying the piano with Y. Flyckt and theory with Eppstein, he read musicology at Uppsala University, taking his doctorate in 1953 with a thesis on the ritual of the nuns of Vadstena. He studied composition with Blomdahl (1947–51), Orff, Petrassi and Deutsch. Thereafter he was a university lecturer (1965–9) and cultural attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Bonn (1970–73). Elected a member of the Swedish Royal Academy in 1964, between 1975 and 1985 he was professor of composition at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm, and its director from 1987 to 1993. As an administrator he has served as chairman of Fylkingen (1956–9), chairman of the Society of Swedish Composers (1963–9), a director, chairman and secretary of the Swedish section of the ISCM (1960–69...

(b Selma, AL, Jan 6, 1936; d Baltimore, MD, July 15, 2004). American choral director. Before embarking on his career as a celebrated choral conductor, Carter completed degrees at the Hampton Institute, Juilliard, and Peabody. After graduate school he joined the faculty of Knoxville College, where he led a choir that made numerous US tours. In 1970, he began his 34-year tenure at Morgan State University. Carter, known as a relentless perfectionist, turned the college’s small and inexperienced choir into one of the nation’s top ensembles.

Under Carter’s leadership, the Morgan State University Choir toured the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. They appeared three times at the White House, performed an outdoor mass celebrated in Baltimore by Pope John Paul II, recorded with the Chicago SO, and toured Russia, where they performed a concert version of Porgy and Bess with the Baltimore SO. In addition to his work at Morgan State, Carter was also president of the Maryland Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, faculty member at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and headmaster of the music school of New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore. He has also appeared as guest conductor with the Detroit Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra, performing his own orchestral/choral arrangements....

(b Bayamon, Puerto Rico, June 21, 1923). Puerto Rican craftsperson and arts advocate. Murray calls himself a “craftsman,” in part to honor of all the creators of musical instruments and traditional paraphernalia as well as the performers that have enriched the vast history of Puerto Rico. While his interests do not lie solely in music, they include all of the fields that encompass these traditions. He attended the University of Puerto Rico and then left to study at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was invited to return to the island in 1962, when he took the position of Director for the Crafts Division of the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture. He also funded the Office of Crafts Development at Fomento (now known as the Puerto Rican Industrial Development Corporation). He has traveled widely, contacting craftspeople from many fields throughout the country, organizing their efforts, and perhaps most importantly, developing crafts festivals to showcase their accomplishments. Having previously taught at the Center for Advanced Studies of the Caribbean, he currently works at the University del Turabo, where he encourages students to learn, document, and support crafts of all types. For his efforts, he has received the ...

(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 Vinton, IA, Sept 15, 1929; d Tallahassee, FL, Sept 6, 2012). American band director and educator. Following studies at Cornell College (BME 1951), Northern Iowa University (MA 1955), and the University of Oklahoma (DME 1969), Croft taught for 21 years in the public schools of Iowa and Wisconsin, the last 18 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where he developed a widely admired program. He joined the faculty of the University of South Florida in 1972, moving to Florida State University in 1980, serving both schools as Director of Bands until retiring in 2003. He has appeared as a clinician, adjudicator, lecturer, or guest conductor in 46 states, Europe, Mexico, Canada, Israel, Brazil, and Australia.

A member of the American Bandmasters Association and Phi Beta Mu, Croft is a past president of the National Band Association (1986–88) and the College Band Directors National Association (...

(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 ...

(b Cincinnati, OH, Nov 2, 1917; d McLean, VA, April 15, 2004). American music educator and administrator. He graduated from Yale University (BA 1939), Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (MEd 1941), and the University of Cincinnati (EdD 1951). He taught public school music in Cincinnati (1941–2) and Camden, Ohio (1946–7), and at Austin Peay State College (1947–58, department head 1951–8). In 1958 Gary joined the Music Educators National Conference staff and was executive secretary from 1968–75. He coordinated the Arts and HEW project (1976–7), was copyright consultant to the National Music Publishers Association (1976–c2003), and education consultant to the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. He was adjunct professor at Catholic University (1982–2002). His books include Careers in Music Education (1962), Vignettes of Music Education History (with Karl Ernst, 1964...

(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 Guntersville, AL, May 2, 1934). American music educator and administrator. He earned his Bachelor’s (1956), Master’s (1963), and Doctoral (1979) degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He taught at Del Mar College, Texas (1960–69), and was director of the School of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University (1973–6) and chair of the Music Division at Southern Methodist University (1976–83). As dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (1983–2007), he launched new graduate programs, the highly successful Festival Miami, an internationally renowned Salzburg Summer Program, preparatory programs for strings and keyboard, and UM MusicTime, an early childhood program that serves hundreds of preschool children throughout greater Miami. During his tenure as dean, Hipp raised over $100 million in donations, including a $33 million “naming” contribution, at the time the largest single gift to a university-based music school. Hipp also served as a commissioner, treasurer, vice president, and president of the National Association of Schools of Music, and was a visiting evaluator at approximately 70 music schools. He was named a distinguished alumnus by the University of Texas at Austin (...

(b Gjirokastra, Oct 20, 1935; d Turin, Aug 2, 1997). Albanian composer, administrator and teacher. Essentially self-taught in his early years, he became the first significant Albanian composer to study exclusively in his home country, entering the newly-founded Tirana Conservatory in 1962 and studying there with Daija until 1966. He then taught counterpoint and composition at the conservatory (1966–73), subsequently serving as sub-director of its parent body, the Superior Institute of Arts (1973–7). His most significant post was as music secretary of the Union of Albanian Writers and Artists (1977–91); he later also served as artistic director of the Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Tirana (1991–2). From 1992 until his death he taught theory and composition at the Conservatory. He founded the Evenings of New Albanian Music in 1992.

As music secretary during Albania's period of cultural isolation, Ibrahimi showed himself a capable administrator, exerting a positive influence on Albania's musical life. Though obliged by his office to defend socialist realism, during his official travels abroad he tried, as much as was possible, to keep up with international musical developments, experimenting in secret with atonality (e.g. in the Cello Sonata, ...

(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 Hollywood, CA, March 11, 1937). American impresario. Educated in comparative literature and French, he joined the faculty, in 1961, of the Allen-Stevenson School in New York, where he became Head of the Lower School. Kellogg moved to rural Cooperstown, New York, in 1975, the year Glimmerglass Opera staged its first performances in a local high school, and volunteered to source props for the fledgling company. In 1979 he was appointed its general director. Kellogg presided over the 1987 construction of the 900-seat Alice Busch Opera Theater, designed by Hugh Hardy, which signaled the company’s evolution from a community organization to a major international festival. By its seventh season in the new theater, Glimmerglass Opera had established a two-month rotating repertory season of four new productions each summer. Kellogg’s 26-year tenure saw productions of rarities by composers ranging from Francesco Cavalli to John Philip Sousa, as well as innovative approaches to standard repertory led by directors including Martha Clarke, Mark Lamos, Jonathan Miller, and Christopher Alden. In ...

(b Stromsburg, NE, Aug 27, 1926; d Coral Gables, FL, May 4, 2009). American choral director, teacher, composer, and writer. He earned degrees from the University of Nebraska (BME 1948, MM 1951) and University of Iowa (PhD 1957). He taught music in the public schools of Valentine, Nebraska (1948–52) and Shenandoah, Iowa (1952–5), and at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado (1957–60), and California State University, Hayward (1960–67). He was director of choral activities at the University of Miami (1967–93), where he led the UM Singers on 21 international concert tours and in numerous other performances, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and national conventions of professional organizations. Kjelson also conducted honor choirs in 40 states, and founded and conducted the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami (1970–2006). He was inducted into the Florida Music Educators Association Hall of Fame (...

(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 Washington, DC, Jan 21, 1942). American music educator and administrator. He graduated from Boston University (BFA 1962, MFA 1963) and Pennsylvania State University (EdD 1970), and received an honorary doctorate from Duquesne University (1997). He taught at Boston University (1964–6), Pennsylvania State University (1966), and Texas Tech University (1967–9). He was executive director of the National Art Education Association (1971–82) and is executive director of the Music Educators National Conference (1983–). Mahlmann led MENC through a period of growth to more than 70,000 active, retired, and collegiate members. He conceived the “National Anthem Project: Restoring America’s Voice,” intended to re-teach Americans the words to the national anthem and promote understanding of the value of music education. He is chairman of the board of the National Music Council, Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, and National Coalition for Education in the Arts, and is a member of the advisory board of the Hartt School, the president’s council of the National Association of Music Merchants, International Music Products Association, From the Top, and the advisory council of the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau. Mahlmann publishes extensively and has been interviewed by ...

(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 ...