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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.
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.
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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
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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.
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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