FACULTY NEWS
Volume 16 of Bridge Records’ Complete Crumb Edition, released last month, comprises first recordings of two of George Crumb’s most recent works. Mr. Crumb’s 2009 song cycle Sun and Shadow is performed by soprano Ann Crumb, the composer’s daughter, and Marcantonio Barone, of the Conservatory’s piano faculty; and his Voices from the Heartland (American Songbook VII), a cycle of hymns, spirituals, folk songs, and American Indian chants for vocal soloists, piano, and percussion quartet, is performed by Ms. Crumb and baritone Patrick Mason, with Mr. Barone and percussionists of Orchestra 2001 conducted by James Freeman.
In November, Bryn Mawr Conservatory voice teacher Perry Brisbon performed a recital at the Woodmere Art Museum in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. His program paid tribute to two legendary singers with strong ties to Philadelphia, Mario Lanza and Paul Robeson.
Later that month, Mr. Brisbon was ordained to the ministry at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
In March, he was tenor soloist in Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in a performance with the Drexel University Chorus and Orchestra.
Bronwyn Fix-Keller, of the Conservatory’s voice faculty, was the harpsichord soloist with Camerata Ama Deus in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto № 5 in September.
In March, Bryn Mawr Conservatory flute teacher Lisamarie McGrath performed on both classical and Native American flutes at the Haiku Night of Second Saturday Poets in Wilmington and on various flutes from around the world at a concert of the ensemble Mystic Pulse at the Birdsong Peace Chamber in Pottstown.
Tim Ribchester, the Conservatory’s Vocal Repertoire coach, is in his inaugural season as Music Director and Conductor of the Delaware County Symphony. In June, he conducted Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro with the Delaware Valley Opera Company in their first collaboration with a professional orchestra.
Mr. Ribchester was the Chorus Master for the 2014 production of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and he was also Chorus Master for the Russian Opera Workshop’s performances of Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini at AVA last summer. This past fall, he was rehearsal pianist for productions of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at AVA and Puccini’s Tosca at the Baltimore Lyric Opera.
STUDENT NEWS
In October, Allister Barnes, a piano student of Marcantonio Barone, performed with his parents, violinist Meichen Liao Barnes of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and cellist Derek Barnes of the Philadelphia Orchestra, in a trio concert given at Rydal Park for the benefit of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Jane Brooks, a voice student of Perry Brisbon, participated in the Berkshire Music Festival last summer, performing music of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Alyssa Carey performed with her violin teacher, John Sergovic, at a dinner benefit at the Black Cat Café to raise money for PALS Animal Rescue in Devon. Ms. Carey and Mr. Sergovic also performed in a music seminar for young inner-city students from the Steppingstone Scholars program, at the William Penn Charter School.
This past January, pianist John Carson, who studies with Marcantonio Barone at the Conservatory, performed the Ballade № 2 in B minor by Liszt to dedicate the new Steinway concert grand piano recently donated to The Hill School in Pottstown, where he is a senior. In the fall, John will matriculate as a major in piano performance at St. Olaf College, where he was awarded a merit scholarship on the basis of his audition.
Aashna Chakraborty, a flute student of Lisamarie McGrath, is a member of the Spring-Ford Intermediate School Jazz Band.
While attending classes at the Harvard University Secondary School last summer, Smriti Chauhan, who studies voice with Perry Brisbon and violin with Paul Reiser, was chosen to sing in the Harvard Summer Choir in a concert at Sanders Theater on the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
William Cosgrove, who studies violin with John Sergovic at the Conservatory, will play in the 2014 program of the Archdiocesan String Orchestra this spring.
Dan Kralik, a piano student of Daina Dodbiba, is a pianist in the Conestoga High School Jazz Ensemble. He was chosen to perform two piano solos in the High School’s Winter Concert.
Stephen Li, a student of Marcantonio Barone and a junior at Haverford High School, is the pianist of the Honors Trio at the Temple Music Preparatory Division’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians. Last March, the Trio performed on a professional concert series at the Mainstay Cultural Center in Rock Hall, Maryland. They have been invited for a return engagement this May.
This March, Stephen performed Mozart’s C minor Piano Concerto with the Independence Sinfonia Orchestra under the direction of Mo Jerome Rosen at the Upper Dublin Performing Arts Center in Fort Washington.
Longan Loi, a piano student of Marcantonio Barone, accompanied the Sandy Run Middle School Chorus at their winter concert in December.
Madeleine Pelchat, who studies voice with Judith Malis and piano with Daina Dodbiba, was selected to perform in the 2014 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Region VI Chorus in February.
In 2013, Mary Punshon, a voice student of Kathryna Barone at the Conservatory, enjoyed continuing success as an interpreter of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. In April she sang the role of Elsie Maynard in The Yeoman of the Guard with the Ardensingers, and in June she sang the role of Tessa in The Gondoliers with the Savoy Company at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and at Longwood Gardens.
Last summer, Elizabeth Rappaport, a voice student of Perry Brisbon, sang in a performance of Bach’s B minor Mass at the Berkshire Music Festival.
Asunta Rossi, a violin student of John Sergovic, was crowned Miss Light of the Firefly’s Outstanding Teen for 2013. As part of the competition, Asunta performed a violin version of the song “Viva la Vida” by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin.
This year, Nicholas Wu, a piano student of Marcantonio Barone, is the pianist in two chamber ensembles at the Center for Gifted Young Musicians at the Temple Music Preparatory Division. One of his groups was selected to play a movement of Dvořák’s A Major Piano Quintet, Opus 81, in a masterclass given by the Jasper Quartet, at Rock Hall on the Temple University campus this past January.
David Xu, a piano student of Marcantonio Barone, received First Honorable Mention in the age 16-18 division of the 2014 West Chester University of Pennsylvania Annual Pre-Collegiate Piano Competition
Noah Xu, a third-grader at Penn Valley Elementary School and a piano student of Mackenzie Carlson, performed a piano piece by Dmitri Kabalevsky in his school’s “Penn Valley Idol” concert in February.
Jeffrey Xue, a piano student of Marcantonio Barone, is accompanist of the Concert Choir and the Chorale at Conestoga High School.
Eric Zhao, a piano student of Marcantonio Barone, accompanied the fifth-grade chorus at Tredyffrin/Easttown Middle School this winter.
Ethan Zhao, who studies piano with Marcantonio Barone, organized and performed in a concert for the residents of Rosemont Presbyterian Village in March.
