KSU Opera Newsletter
2015
THANK YOU!
A big thanks to so many
who have supported KSU Opera
by
donating and attending performances.
The funds developed have been put to good use. Opera students and faculty have been busy with
enriching activities, fulfilling the mission which we envision, to promote opera and assist and
encourage students and faculty. The KSU Opera Newsletter will give you a glimpse of the exciting
opportunities your dollars and encouragement have provided, and will keep you up-to-date on
student and faculty achievements and performances.
Future donations may be made the the KSU Opera Fund and sent to the School of Music, Theatre
and Dance, McCain Room 109, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506
S
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Traveling far and wide to learn and be inspired!
Ivy Calvert (Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance)
Druid City Opera Workshop
Tuscaloosa, AL
Drew George (Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre)
Student Abroad Study: Bridging Music and Structures
Prague, Czech Republic
Rachel Hunt (Bachelor of Arts in Music/Vocal Performance)
Asian Summer Opera Project
Bejing, China
Erin Koolman (Masters of Music (2015) in Vocal Performance)
Redwoods Opera Workshop
Mendocino, CA.
FAVA (Franco-American Vocal Academy)
Paris, France
Madison Moore (Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance)
Harrower Opera Workshop
Atlanta, GA.
IVY CALVERT wrote of her experience:
I attended Druid City Opera at the University of Alabama directed by Paul Houghtaling,
From May 20 to May 28th. Druid City Opera is a scenes program including classes in dance, yoga,
acting, stage combat, French diction, Audition Techniques and opera business. I participated in two
scenes. In the first, I played Anne in a duet from The Merry Wives of Windsor by Nicolai. In the
second, I played Amy in a duet from Little Women by Adamo. I received coachings from collaborative
pianists Richard Masters and Kevin Chance from Virginia Tech University and the University of
Alabama. Druid City Opera was an incredibly encouraging environment filled with fantastic faculty. It
gave me an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and grow more than I thought possible in little
over a week. They focus on making students a complete performer. I feel confident and inspired after
attending Druid City and cannot wait to bring the things I learned back to K-State. Contest winners and Award recipients
KSU Orchestra Aria Contest Winner 2015
ERIN KOOLMAN Master of Music (2015) in Voice Performance
Erin performed with the orchestra on April 21, 2015
CHRISTIAN BLACKBURN Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance
Christian performed with the orchestra on December 9, 2014
Department of Music Honors Recital 2015
RACHEL HUNT (Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance)
Lloyd W. Muir Memorial Music Scholarship - Outstanding Senior for 2015-16. KARIS DOLENZ Bachelor of Music Education NATS Na'onal Semi-­‐finalist in Musical Theatre -­‐ Compe''on, July 7,
in Greensboro, NC
NOAH LINDQUIST Bachelor of Music Education CONGRATULATIONS to NOAH !
who placed 3rd nationally
in the College/Private Musical Theatre Men Category during the NATS
National Students Auditions in Greensboro, NC. Noah was one of fourteen
undergraduate students from across the country to advance to the semifinals, and one of three selected for the final round. Special thanks to David
Ollington and Amanda Arrington for assisting in Noah's audition preparation.
More good news, Noah will be a sophomore this coming school year! Last
Fall, as only a Freshman, performed the role of Anthony in the School of
Music, Theatre and Dance production of Sweeney Todd.
Featuring
CHARISSA BERTELS
Alum of the KSU Department of Music
Class of 2003
Charissa received the Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre at
K-State She was most recently seen in the ensemble of
Encores' Lady Be Good at New York City Center and will be
recording the cast album, featuring Tommy Tune! She
recently had the pleasure of performing as a singing and
dancing nun in the opening number of the Lucille Lortel
awards, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Lortel awards
and Nunsense! along with its creator, Dan Goggin. Charissa
continues to foster new musical theatre through readings and
concerts and is currently chairing the committee of B-Side
Productions' inaugural New American Musical Award as well
as collaborating on her own original one-woman musical, My
80-Year-Old Boyfriend.
FACULTY
BRINGING YOU UP-TO-DATE
Reg Pittman, Head of the Voice Division and Director of KSU Opera
Theatre.
Reg is currently President-Elect of the National Opera Association, and
will become President at the next national convention scheduled for
January 2016 in Indianapolis. He also serves as Governor of the West
Central Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).
He will be directing The Consul by Gian-Carlo Menotti for the next K-State
Opera production. The opera will be held March 3-6, 2016 in Chapman
Theatre. Gian-Carlo Menotti’s opera and Cold War-era thriller won the Pulitzer
Prize for Music in 1950, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best
Musical Play and ran for more than 280 performances on Broadway. It
depicts a woman in an unnamed totalitarian country trying desperately to
secure a visa so she, her child, and her mother may join her dissident
husband across the border. Also, Opera Workshop will present a performance of scenes on October
16th in All Faith's Chapel.
Cheryl Richt, Instructor of Voice, School of Music, Theatre and Dance
Soprano Cheryl Richt holds vocal performance degrees from the
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (MM, BM), and while a student of
Phyllis Bryn-Julson, was awarded the Graduate Performance Diploma in
vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore,
MD.
Ms. Richt has been an active recitalist in central Germany and performed
regularly as the soprano soloist for the Giessener Collegium Musicum in
Giessen, Germany. While in Germany, she was on faculty at the Frankfurt
International School in Oberursel and also had an active private studio. Since moving to Manhattan she has enjoyed artistic collaborations with
fellow K-State faculty and area vocal ensembles. A dedicated teacher, Ms.
Richt is a member of both the National Association Teacher’s of Singing
and Music Teachers National Association.
Amy Rosine, Associate Professor of Voice, Music Theatre and Dance.
Amy, with Kimberly Kramer, Professor, Architectural Engineering and
Construction Science, led a study abroad course, "Bridging Music and
Structures: Prague," on a 14-day trip to Prague, Czech Republic. The
course met once a week during the Spring 2015 semester and began with
students identifying common terms between music and structure such as
line, form, and theory. Course content focused on specific structures and
composers identified with the areas visited. Because the students were
from music and engineering, we studied some venues that were identified
with specific composers, such as the Rudolfinum, where Dvorak
conducted the inaugural concert, and some structures of only architectural
interest. Prague venues included St. Vitus Catheral, Municipal House, and
Karlstejn Castle. In Kutna Hora we visited St. Barbara Cathedral, Bone
Church, and the fortress around Terezin. The students studied composers
Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček and Eben, then attended performances at the
National Opera, Mirror Chapel of the Klementinum, the Rudofinum (Czech
Philharmonic) and the National Marionette Theatre (a performance of Don
Giovanni). Prague was the chosen country because the structures and
music culture offered historical examples from Medieval to the current
century. Seven students participated in the program and based on their
feedback, the course and trip were very enlightening. The instructors hope
to offer the course in two years and travel back to the Czech Republic, or
visit Austria. Patricia Thompson, Associate Professor of Voice, School of Music,
Theatre and Dance
Dr. Patricia Thompson sang with the Calgary, Canada-based ensemble
Luminous Voices on several different projects recently: a recording
session for a world premiere by Zachary Wadsworth entitled The Far
West, in April, and then returned to Calgary for a concert in May. She will
be returning to Carmel, California for her tenth season with the Carmel
Bach Festival, for concerts including J.S. Bach's St. John Passion, several
masses by Martin and Stravinsky, and will be reprising her role as the
Third Lady in a concert version of Die Zauberflöte. Carmel is a great
place to be during the hot Kansas summers! In August, Dr. Thompson will
begin her fifth season with Spire Chamber Ensemble, a vocal ensemble
made up of singers from around the United States for concerts in Kansas
City. Spire will be traveling to Manhattan as part of First Presbyterian
Church's Artists Series. The concert is Friday, August 28 and hope to see
you there! NEW TO THE FACULTY
All three are former students in music at K-State!
Janie Brokenicky,
Janie received the Bachelor of Music Education and Secondary Education
Mathematics in 2007 and the Master of Music in Vocal Performance and
Choral Conducting in 2012, both from K-State.
She began her teaching career at Riley County High School where she
taught voice and choir for 5 years. For the past three years she has been
employed as Assistant Professor of Choral Music at Tabor College in
Hillsboro, KS. Her duties included directing the women's choir and
teaching music theory, aural skills, choral methods and materials, and
applied voice. In addition to teaching, Janie continued to perform as a
guest soloist with the Wichita Chamber Chorale and Flint Hills
Masterworks Chorale. She is a member of the Flint Hills Trio with cellist
David Littrell and pianist Amanda Arrington. The trio performed several
area recitals in 2013-2014 including a recital on the Hale Library Concert
Series. This summer Janie will perform a joint recital with tenor Michael
Davidson and sing the role of David in Handel's Saul as part of the Ad
Astra Summer Concert Series in Russell, KS. However, the greatest
achievement for Janie and her husband Cole was the birth of their
daughter, Ava, in June 2013.
Janie is very excited to join the voice faculty at Kansas State this fall to
teach studio voice and sections of music theory. She is also founding the
Flint Hills Children's Choir, a choir for unchanged voices grades 5-9. They
will begin rehearsal this fall. As a past runner up in the National
Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award auditions for young
professional singers, she will compete again spring 2016 in those
auditions.
Bryan Pinkall
After spending a year as an Instructor of Music at K-State, Dr. Bryan
Pinkall was hired back by K-State in 2014 as an Assistant Professor. Since then, he has continued to teach private voice lessons and two
Italian diction courses at K-State while traveling extensively to perform
and to pursue other artistic endeavors. Since his rehiring, Dr. Pinkall
received his solo Carnegie Hall debut with the National Festival Chorus,
and following his work as Manager of Performance Operations and
Direction for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Opening Ceremony, he and the rest
of the ceremony direction team was nominated for four Primetime Emmy
Awards, winning the Primetime Emmy for Best Lighting Direction. He was
additionally named a Faculty Member of the Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences and the Topeka Capital Journal named him 2014
Distinguished Kansan of the Year in the Performing Arts. In late 2014, Dr. Pinkall was a soloist with the Kansas City Symphony in a
tribute concert with the National World War I Museum celebrating the
fallen heroes of the Great War. He performed as King Kaspar in Amahl
and the Night Visitors with Opera Sacra, and more than 350 people
attended his solo fundraising gala concert for his home school district,
USD 428, raising nearly $20,000 for students in Great Bend, KS.
As Kansas Governor of the National Opera Association, Dr. Pinkall
attended the NOA National Convention in Greensboro, NC in early 2015. This year also saw the release of the Kansas City Chorale’s new album,
All Night Vigil, with Dr. Pinkall performing as a soloist and chorister. The
album debuted as #1 on the Classical Billboard Chart in March.
Recently at K-State, Dr. Pinkall performed a recital of Frank Sinatra songs
with the Thundering Cats big band, and he helped to produce K-State
Rhapsody, which has raised over $100,000 for scholarships and
performing opportunities for K-State students. This June, after performing
at the Boston Early Music Festival, he returned to K-State to act as
Administrative Director of the 37th Summer Choral Institute, which
sponsored the first ever State Day of Singing in Kansas on June 26th. Dr.
Pinkall is excited to begin a new semester of studio teaching in the fall as
his students will be competing for roles in local productions and in
regional and national music competitions.
David Wood
This has been quite a year for Collegium Musicum. I’m so very happy and
honored to have the opportunity to direct this group of which I was a
member during my undergraduate years at K-State.
In our first semester together, the ensemble focused on Advent and
Christmas music from the 13th to 17th centuries. It was a very challenging
program representing many different styles and languages, and we were
thrilled with the standing-room only crowd in Kirmser Hall. We also
repeated a portion of the concert on the Festival of Holiday Music - the
first time Collegium has appeared as part of that event but definitely not
the last!
By Spring 2015 we had grown to nearly 30 singers, representing current
students, K-State faculty and staff, and many faithful community
members. Our concert repertoire this past semester took the ensemble
further afield than the usual “early music” by venturing into late 18th and
early 19th century American music and exploring the music of the
abolitionist movement and Kansas emigration. The concert was held in the
historic First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, to another standing-room
only audience. Three days later we repeated the concert in Kansas City,
Missouri, where we were invited to perform as part of the first season of
Country Club Congregational UCC’s Fine Arts Series. We’re looking
forward to a great year in ’15-’16 with continued growth and the
reintroduction of a crucial instrumental component of the Collegium
Musicum. Fall will see us performing music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier
with a chamber orchestra as part of an inaugural K-State Baroque Gala
concert. And we are very excited to be part of the consortium of university
and community organizations who were awarded the honor of being the
Kansas site host for the Folger Library’s "Shakespeare First Folio!”
exhibition tour. As part of that momentous event next February, the
Collegium will be offering a concert of music from the time of
Shakespeare.
This has been a very successful year for Collegium Music and the
revitalization of historical performance practice at K-State.