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Noted for his "vividly colorful" and "first rate" performances, Andrew Altenbach has gained acclaim as a conductor of operatic and symphonic literature as well as a collaborative pianist. He now serves as the Resident Conductor of the Minnesota Opera and will music direct Die Entführung aus dem Serail this season with The St Paul Chamber Orchestra in the pit. He recently guest conducted with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and will conduct the St. Cloud Symphony in February as well as a concert with the Musical Offering Chamber Music Series this October. Mr. Altenbach recently returned from his first summer at the Santa Fe Opera. He served on the music staff there as assistant to the principal conductor, Edo de Waart, David Effron and Karen Shaw and was an associate conductor and coach for the opera program.
Mr. Altenbach has conducted at the Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Music Academy of the West Vocal Program, Indiana University Opera Theatre and Opera on the James. He has been an assistant conductor at the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera and the Cincinnati Opera. In the fall of 2007, Mr. Altenbach became the associate conductor of the esteemed Minnesota Opera where he assisted all guest conductors and conducted a performance of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet to rave reviews.
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On Wednesday, September 23, soprano Karen Fergurson will give a masterclass to SIUE vocal students. The masterclass will take place from 3:30 - 5:30 in Dunham Hall, 1109, and is free to the public.
American-born soprano Karen Fergurson began her musical training at age six as a pianist. In fact, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance. Her vocal talents were quite apparent, however, and she then pursued a Master of Music degree in opera. Ms. Fergurson’s professional operatic debut was in 1996 with the Wolf Trap Opera Company as a Filene Young Artist, singing the roles of Madame Cortese in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims and Alice Ford in Falstaff.
In May 2002, Karen Fergurson became an ensemble member of the Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück, where she has sung, among others, the roles of La Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Micaela (Carmen), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Miss Mary Lloyd (Die Herzogin von Chicago), Gilda (Rigoletto), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Die Feldmarschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Amelia (Un ballo in maschera), Desdemona (Otello), Jenufa, Saffi (Der Zigeunerbaron), Gabrielle (Wiener Blut), Hanna Glawari (Die lustige Witwe), Miss Mary Lloyd (Die Herzogin von Chicago), Madame Lidoine (Dialogues des Carmelites), La Bergère (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), Chirinos (Hans Werner Henze’s Das Wundertheater),1st Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Gräfin Mariza and the title role in the world premiere of André Werner’s Lavinia A.
Her complete biography is available at http://www.agenturklein.de/karen-fergurson/&lang=en.
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On Monday, January 26th, international baritone John Packard will be featured on the SIUE Coffee Concert series. He will also give masterclasses to SIUE voice students on Tuesday, January 27th. This project is funded by SIUE Excellence in Undergraduate Education. Below is his biography:
American baritone John Packard garners international prominence on the opera stage. Creating the acclaimed role of Joseph de Rocher in the San Francisco Opera world premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking, the San Francisco Chronicle proclaims his voice to be full of “...ferocious power and insistence,” and The New York Times affirms his characterizations as “...deeply and vividly affecting.” He recently reprised the role with Semper Oper in Dresden, Vienna at Theater an der Wien, Pittsburgh Opera, New York City Opera, Baltimore Opera, and can be heard on the world premiere recording on the Erato Disques label.
In his recent debut as Rigoletto, Opera Magazine said, “...a superb Verdi baritone in John Packard – a seamless voice, with character and a gleaming upper register. There are surely big things ahead for him.” He has recently added several new roles to his repertoire including Lescaut in Manon Lescaut, Ezio in Attila, Count DiLuna in Il Trovatore, Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera, Iago in Otello, Michele in Il Tabarro and Di Posa in Don Carlo.
In the 2008-2009 Season and beyond, he performs Braxton in Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur at the Wexford Festival; makes his role debut as Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd at Teatro Rossini in Lugo, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro Comunale di Modena; reprises Joseph de Rocher in Dead Man Walking with Semper Oper in Dresden; makes his debut as Owen Hart in Dead Man Walking with the Houston Grand Opera; and performs Germont in La Traviata at the Duluth Festival Opera. In the 2007-2008 Season, he performed Joseph de Rocher in Dead Man Walking with Semper Oper in Dresden and Vienna at Theater an der Wien, Germont in La Traviata with the Duluth Festival Opera, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Opera Columbus, and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Baltimore Opera. In the recent 2006-2007 Season, Mr. Packard performed Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Kentucky Opera, Germont in La Traviata in Theatre Erfurt in Germany, High Priest in Samson et Dalila with Dayton Opera, Emille de Becque in South Pacific with Fresno Grand Opera, and Germont in La Traviata with the Akron Symphony.
Previous noted engagements include Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with New York City Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Dallas Opera and in his Italian debut with Venice's prestigious La Fenice; the title role in Rigoletto with Hawaii Opera Theater; Don Alfonso in Così fan Tutte with Opera Pacific; Henri in Chabrier's Le roi malgré lui with the American Symphony Orchestra; the title role in Death of Klinghoffer with Opera Onafhankelijk Toneel in Rotterdam; Silvio in I Pagliacci with Nashville Opera; George in Of Mice and Men with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City; and Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he made his New York City Opera debut as Marcello in La Bohème, and toured twice with the company as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and as Marcello in La Bohème.
His European debut took place in Paris with Orchestre Colonne as Silvio in a concert performance of I Pagliacci, under the baton of Antonello Allemandi. He added Valentin in Faust to his repertoire in a new David Alden production at the Wiener Volksoper. As Marcello in La Bohème, he appeared with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and with the New Israeli Opera in a production directed by Franco Zeffirelli. In Israel, Mr. Packard also sang his first performances of Carmina Burana with the Haifa Symphony.
Mr. Packard is the recipient of a recipient of the Robert Jacobson Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and he has been a winner of the Puccini, Loren Zachary, MacAllister, and Liederkranz competitions.
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First Prize: Curtis Cave, senior men
Honorable Mention: Keith Wehmeier, senior men
Semifinalists: Mikaela Sullivan, Lindsey Boczek
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On December 4th and 5th, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Professor Gary Arvin came as a guest artist to SIUE to give private coachings and masterclasses for all SIUE voice students. This project was funded by SIUE Excellence in Undergraduate Education. Below is give biography:
Gary Arvin studied Lieder at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, vocal coaching at the University of Illinois, and voice and languages at Indiana University.
He was coach/assistant conductor for the Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Mr. Arvin served as accompanist for singers in recitals throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Scandinavia, including the major concert halls of Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Helsinki, Seoul, New York, Boston, and Chicago.
He was a master class assistant for Gérard Souzay in French mélodie, Hans Hotter in German Lieder, and Sir Peter Pears in the vocal works of Benjamin Britten. Mr. Arvin has recorded for ORF (Austria), National Radio of Finland, National Radio of the Czech Republic, and Sung-Eun (Korea) and has received a Fulbright Grant, ITT International Fellowship, and National Endowment for the Humanities grant.
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On Wednesday, September 17, 2008, acclaimed performer J.D. Steele will present a masterclass to SIUE students involved in Music and Theater. Admission is free and all are welcome. Below is his biography:
J.D. Steele is a singer, songwriter and producer who has performed and recorded with Prince, Donald Fagan, George Clinton, Mavis Staples, Kim Carnes, Fine Young Cannibals, The Sounds of Blackness and many other artists. He is best known as the producer and writer for his family musical group The Steeles. J.D. and the family toured the international hit show "Gospel at Colonus" with Morgan Freeman around the world before finally landing Broadway in 1988 for a successful nine-month run. Mr. Stelle is an Archibald Bush Fellow for music composition and has written ten musicals for the stage. He is also a choral director and tours a group of youth from Nairobi, Kenya called Shangilia. He has performed on stages all over America, in Spain, Italy, London, Moscow, South America and many other cities and countries. J.D. Steele has been commissioned on ten original musicals and collaborated on a sixth. J.D. Steele's music ranges from Jazz to Gospel and R&B. His new CD "Songs" is an eclectic blend of Jazz and R&B. His performances are highly energetic and passionate.
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Sandra Sliker Bouman, associate professor of music, died June 22 at her home in St. Louis after a valiant fight against breast cancer. It has been said that Bouman’s work at SIUE was marked by a drive to improve the quality of instruction in her field and to diversify opportunities for professional development, culminating in the creation of a new certificate program in vocal pedagogy aimed at the needs of working school teachers. She was 68.
Serving as a judge of the Metropolitan Opera’s Regional Auditions in Minneapolis, and conducting a workshop with the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, Bouman also was central to an expansion of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis’s “Artist in Training” program for high school students as that program expanded into Southwestern Illinois.
A native of Philadelphia, she was reared in York, Pa., and attended Penn State University. For several years, she taught elementary and secondary music in the public schools of suburban New York and continued her studies at the Juilliard School. She took extra work in New York as a professional choral singer with the Camerata Singers and the Collegiate Chorale. She was in the choir that Leonard Bernstein utilized in a recording of his Chichester Psalms with the New York Philharmonic.
Bouman returned to Penn State in 1965 to earn a master’s and an MFA in music. In 1967 she began a college teaching career at Johnson State College in Vermont, where she remained until 1986. She also held an appointment on the voice faculty of Middlebury College from 1972 through 1978, and at Dartmouth College from 1979 through 1996. In 1975-76 she earned a diploma in French vocal music at the Ravel Academy in southern France, studying with the renowned teacher, Pierre Bernac. Later, Bouman coached extensively with the renowned John Wustman in Champaign, Ill.
Singing extensively in concert, performing solo vocal recitals, operas, oratorios, and chamber music well into her sixties, Bouman appeared in productions with Vermont Opera Theatre, Opera North, Dartmouth Summer Theatre, and, in 1995, in Robert DeCormier’s production of Viktor Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis, which toured Vermont before a final performance in New York’s Merkin Hall. In 1991 she joined the voice faculty at the University of Vermont, remaining there until her move to SIUE in 1996. During that period, Bouman was a soloist with the Panama National Symphony, and she began regular appearances for 10 years as a featured soloist at the International Music Festival in Pitten, Austria.
A memorial service was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 2, at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Vocal Performance Music Student Assistance Fund at SIUE or to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis Artist in Training Program. For more information about or assistance with making a gift to the SIUE fund, contact Marilyn Marsho, director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences, (618) 650-5048.
We will miss her.
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SIUE Voice Students Anita Lin and Michelle Palm claimed 1st and 2nd prizes in the Spring NATS Musical Theater Competition at Stephens College in Columbia, MO.
Congratulations to both!
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The Vocal Artist Masterclass Series has multiple objectives. First, to allow undergraduate voice students to work with renowned and highly trained artists in the field of vocal study. Students will participate in a masterclass setting in which visiting artists will work one-on-one with designated students on matters of technique, musical style, diction, performance practice and dramatic interpretation. Second, the series will allow undergraduates to engage in question and answer sessions with the artists, thereby gaining valuable career knowledge.
Potential artist candidates for the Vocal Artist Masterclass Series include: American soprano Christine Brewer, master teacher Costanza Cuccaro, vocal coach Gary Arvin, and American tenor Eric Cutler.
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On February 24, 2008 SIUE hosted the St. Louis Chapter NATS auditions. SIUE was represented by the following 9 singers who claimed 1st and 2nd place in their respective divisions:
Emily Ottwein, 1st place
Brian Kapp, 2nd place
Curtis Cave, 1st place
Keith Wehmeier, 2nd place
Stephanie Long, 1st place
Allison Wamser, 2nd place
Erin Haupt, 2nd place
LaVell Thompson, Jr., 1st place
Stephanie Davis, 1st place
CONGRATULATIONS to all who participated and to the winners!
