Mary Lynne Allen (BA, BM '94) is a graduate assistant for the keyboard department at West Chester University (Pennsylvania), where she will receive her master's degree in piano pedagogy in May 1999. Allen also teaches piano and preschool music at the Darlington Fine Arts Center in Wawa, Pa., which is run by Oberlin alumna Diana Sophocles Hemmenway.

 

Mihajlo Arsenski (Artist Diploma '97) has relocated to Paris, where, following a European audition tour, he was accepted at the Opera Studios of The National Opera in Paris and The State Opera in Zurich. Recently, he performed in a production of Mussorgski's Boris Godunov as a guest of the Frankfurt State Opera Chorus in Germany.

In the Macedonian capital of Skopje, Arsenski performed a recital of arias with the Macedonian Opera Orchestra, and performed as soloist at The Festival of Macedonian Contemporary Music. Last July, his performances in the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with The Macedonian National Opera and Arvo Partís Stabat Mater International Ohrid Summer Festival were highly acclaimed by the critics. He was a semifinalist of the Sorantin San Angela Symphony Competition in 1996.

Mihajlo Arsenski '97

Randall E. Avers (BM '96) won first prize in the 1998 Yamaha Music France Competition and was chosen Laureate of the Prix du Public at the XX'eme Concours Internationale de Guitare Rene Bartoli. He was the recipient of the 1997-98 Harriet Hale Wooley Scholarship from the Foundation des Etats-Unis in Paris, France. In April 1998, Avers toured Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia, performing 12 concerts and master classes as an Artistic Ambassador of the United States. He introduced his "packed house" audiences to music by American composers including Gershwin, Joplin, Harrison, Krouse and Brubeck. His performances and interviews were broadcast on international radio and television. Avers recently was the featured performer of Roderig's "Concierto de Aranjuez" with the Tuscarawas Philharmonic and gave solo performances at the Oberlin Conservatory, University of Akron and at the Southwest Music Festival in San Antonio, Texas. He also presented 10 concerts and master classes in a community outreach program in Austin, Texas. Avers is currently a third year student at the Conservatoire National Superieure de Musique in Paris.

 

Kevin Michael Bleau (BM '92) is currently the full-time arranger for the United States Air Force Band of Liberty in Bedford, Mass. Before that, he taught music at Phillips Academy, where he continues to conduct musicals. Big River received a four-star rating from the Scotsman after his first performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Bleau's Songs of Nature, funded by a grant from the International Horn Society, was performed in February at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/ 2nd Presbyterian Chamber Music Series.

 

Sylvia Bloom (BM '93) recently appeared with the Erie Symphony, Erie, Penn., as the soprano soloist for Polenc's Gloria and in Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Bloom also recently completed a run of Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco.

 

Kevin Daniels (BM '96) recently became the receptionist and adminstrative assistant of New York City's Mid-American Productions, an independent producer of classical music concerts at Carnegie Hall. He continues to freelance at Trinity Baptist as a rehearsal pianist. He will make his Lambs' Theater debut as an accompanist for their Christmas review in early December. He hopes to give a series of recitals in the spring at local churches. E-mail: KJD319@aol.com

 

Tenor Juan Carlos Franco (AB '94) debuted with Cleveland Opera in a 1995 production of Die Meistersinger and has since appeared in many of the company's outreach performances. He has also performed with Lyric Opera Cleveland, Opera de Columbia, Columbian National Opera and the Ohio Light Opera, where he was acclaimed for his debut as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado. He was a 1995 finalist of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition.

 

 

Justin Hines (BM '95) lives in New York City where he recently earned his M.M. and the Pablo Cassals award for distinguished service to the community, from the Manhattan School of Music. He works as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic's education department, and teaches percussion for the Midori and Friends Foundation. Hines has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the New York Metamorphosis Orchestra, the Manhattan Virtiosi and the Connecticut Ballet Orchestra. He has a great time performing his childrens' introduction to percussion Rhythm 'Round the World around greater New York. Hines lives with former class of 1995 president Eli Akira Kaufman. E-mail: JustinJayHines@Hotmail.com

 

Singer Gloria Martin (BM '97) has joined the Atlanta Opera Chorus this season in the October 1998, production of La Traviata. She was recently hired as a staff singer at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, and is a new music teacher at Peachtree Presbyterian Preschool.

 

 

Andrés Mojica (BM '92) is director of music at the First Presbyterian Church in Neenah, Wisconsin. He directs and coordinates most of the church music ensembles. Mojica holds an M.M. in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music and is pursuing a master's degree in choral conducting. E-mail: amojica@juno.com

Andrés Mojica '92
Photo: Louis Ouzer

Heidi Pintner (BM '94) earned a doctorate in flute performance from Florida State University last August. Her doctoral treatise was entitled "The Life and Teachings of Flutist Michel Debost." She teaches flute and flute choir at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.

 

Kevin Stalheim (BM '76) founded Present Music in 1982 and serves as its artistic director. Present Music is a Milwaukee-based 16-member ensemble that has grown to become one of the nation's foremost new music groups that commissions, performs and records the music of our time. The group's programs emphasize the music of living composers performed in a provocative and entertaining context. Present Music also brings composers to Milwaukee to work in residence with the ensemble. The group emphasizes a strong commitment to the creation of new work and nurturing emerging composers; it has commissioned 15 major new works. Its annual performance schedule includes subscription series in Milwaukee and Madison, an expansive educational program for elementary through college age students, free neighborhood concerts in community locations, and tour performances in Wisconsin, the U.S. and overseas. Its Milwaukee and Madison concerts are recorded annually for broadcast on both Wisconsin and National Public Radio. The group has published three CDs, including a collection of compositions by American-Turkish composer Kamran Ince and a collection of compositions by Michael Torke on the Argo label, on which Present Music performs Torke's The Telephone Book. Awards and recognition have included: acceptance into the National Endowment for the Arts three-year Advancement Program, performance in 1992 at New York's "Bang on a Can" new music festival, four major awards from the Reader's Digest/Meet the Composer Commissioning Program, a six-year participation in the National Performance Network, a tour invitation from the American Embassy in Japan to the Interlink Festival in 1992, nationwide broadcast on National Public Radio, and annual awards from the Aaron Copland Foundation.

Donita Volkwijn '90

Soprano Donita Volkwijn (BM '90) has been awarded a 1999/2000 Adler Fellowship from the San Francisco Opera Center. She was a 1998 Merola Opera Program participant, a 1995 national winner of the Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition and a 1994 district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Volkwijn earned her master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her repertoire includes Pamina in The Magic Flute, Frasquita in Carmen, Adina in The Elixir of Love, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Anne in The Rake's Progress and Marianne in Tartuffe.

 

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