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 1990s Garrett Fisher's '91 Moon in the Bucket was released by 16 Visions Records last year to critical acclaim. Seattle Weekly praised the "haunting melodies;" the Seattle Times hailed its "delicate percussion work." Bruce Reid, writing in The Stranger, says that the CD's "hushed, mesmerizing blend of Western and Eastern music with its plaintive, Highlands-sounding oboe, quietly forceful percussion, and lonely Koto may well be the loveliest thing Fisher has written yet." The recording also features three vocalists with Garrett on the Harmonium. Last summer Garrett was in Sweden recording the first opera of his planned trilogy, The Passion of Saint Thomas More, released this year by the independent classical label BIS (www.bis.se). The second work in the series, The Passion of Saint Sebastian, premiered in 1996 at Seattle's On the Boards. Garrett is acting director of the Fisher Ensemble, who this spring produced The History of America in One Act, an original film. For more information about Garrett's music visit www.fisherensemble.org. Kendall Marie Kookogey '95 received a master of music degree in vocal performance from the University of Georgia. In March 2000 she won the grand prize in the Young Artist division of the Orpheus Competition in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and, in April, third prize in the Singer of the Year competition in Shreveport, Louisiana. Kendall made her international debut in Salzburg, Austria as the Countess (Die Grafin) in Die Hochzeit des Figaro. Included among the other roles she has performed are Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus and Mimi in La Boheme, both with the Athena Grand Opera Company (Georgia). A. Michael Palmer '97 has been busy since his move to Valparaiso, Indiana. In addition to working at a local music store, he has performed as bass trombonist with the Millar Brass of Chicago, the Illinois Symphony, Windiana, and served as interim band director at Hebron Junior/Senior High School. He is author of "A Tribute to the Life of Raymond Eugene Premru," a feature article published in this spring's International Trombone Association Journal. Aaron Copland award-winner David Schober '97 spent a month last spring in residence at the Copland House in Westchester County, New York. He has received numerous commissions for his compositions, including one from the Minnesota Orchestra (for leaping greenly spirits, performed in 1999) and a Naumburg Foundation commission for the Miró String Quartet. The four movements of his quartet for the Miró, based loosely on the artist's paintings, are titled The Garden, Scherzo and Trio, Constellations, and Encircled. David reports that the March world-premiere performance of the work at Alice Tully Hall was "amazing . . . nearly flawless." David also received the Wayne Peterson Prize in Composition. Halfway through a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, David is teaching undergraduate theory and working on a concerto for eighth blackbird. He can be reached by E-mail at dschober@umich.edu. 2000s  Huang
Ruo '00 directs and conducts the International Contemporary
Ensemble (ICE) in New York. The ensemble, which Huang founded, includes
David Bowlin '00, Spencer Myer '00, Duke Lee '00,
and Joshua Rubin '99. The group performed in New York
City at Alice Tully Hall earlier this year in a program featuring
Huang's work. His YUEH FEI – Concerto no. 1 for Eight
Players, received its Chicago premiere in September at the Museum
of Contemporary Art by Chicago Pro Musica (with Chinese Erhu soloist
Betty Xiang) and was reprised in October at the Cultural Center in
Chicago. Ted Shen of the Chicago Tribune included the concerts
on his "10 best classical concerts of the year" list, writing
that Huang's work "stole the show with its brash percussive
romps and unexpected (yet totally sensible) Buddhistic chants."
In April, Huang's piano solo piece Left..., performed
by Chuan Qin, received its Asian premiere in Hong Kong's City
Hall. |