Alums

Alums, your classmates want to read about you! Please send your bios and photos to Daniel Kazez.

2000s

Karen Bailey (BA in Music ’03) teaches Suzuki violin at the Arts Conservatory in State College, Pennsylvania. She received Suzuki certification at the Ithaca College (New York) Suzuki Institute. email

Seth Colaner (BM Composition ’05) recently attended a conference entitled “Composers in Community: A Festival of New Music” (hosted by Northwestern College; cosponsored by the Iowa Composers Forum and the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers), where his piece Psalm 22 for soprano and organ was performed. The conference was held at Northwestern College (Orange City, Iowa) in the fall of 2006. Seth is currently pursuing a masters in music composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he is a student of Mark Engebretson. email

Luke Dennis (BA in Music and Theatre ’00) is Education and Outreach Manager for Victoria Theatre in Dayton, Ohio and he is Opera Overtures and pre-performance lecturer for Dayton Opera. alum photo Luke has taught music and theatre at the middle school and undergraduate levels, served as vocal coach to a troupe of improvisational actors, worked as Reference Specialist for the Harvard University Theatre Collection, and worked as Education Manager for Boston Lyric Opera. Dennis and his wife Sally Oldham (BA in Music ’98) founded the Alarm Clock Theatre Company in Boston in 2001. This theatre company was awarded the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Local Fringe Production in 2005. Luke completed the coursework for a Ph.D. in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory at Tufts University, where he focused on nineteenth-century opera and musical theatre performance traditions. While at Tufts, he received the university’s Outstanding Contribution to Undergraduate Education Award, for which he gives credit to his models and mentors at Wittenberg. In 2003, he presented a paper on The Mikado at the the 27th Comparative Drama Conference at Ohio State and a paper on Porgy and Bess at the Far West Popular Culture Conference in Las Vegas. Luke has lectured widely on operetta and the development of the American musical, including talks at Boston Public Library and at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. email

Bethany Dourson (BA in Music ’03) is Youth Music Director at Monfort Heights United Methodist Church, on the outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Amanda Evans (BME ’05) is working on a masters degree in library and information science with a focus on music librarianship while serving as a Senior Library Assistant at the Kent State University Music Library in Kent, Ohio, where she is responsible for supervising circulation, processing reserve materials, assisting with collection management, reference assistance, and hiring and training the staff of student employees. She recently attended the Music Library Association annual conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Amanda lives in Tallmadge, Ohio. email

Kristen (Gleeson) Williams (BME ’01) teaches elementary music at Graham South Elementary School, in St. Paris, Ohio, where she teaches music to all students in grades 3 through 5 and directs a 4th- and 5th-grade choir that meets after school. In addition, Kristen is director of the Champaign County Youth Choir and she leads the choir and directs the praise team and praise band at Urbana Church of the Nazarene. email

Brad Hall (BM ’05) is director of music at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio. alum photo Following a national competition, Brad won the 2004 Ruth and Paul Manz Organ Scholarship while a student at Wittenberg. He continues to study organ and plans to pursue graduate work in sacred music at the University of Notre Dame. Brad recently performed with the Wittenberg Choir, under the direction of Donald Busarow, and presented an organ recital as part of the 50th anniversary of Weaver Chapel. email

Chris Henke (BME ’00) is Director of Choirs for Springfield Local Schools in Holland, Ohio (just outside of Toledo). He is also organist and accompanist for Olivet Lutheran Church in Sylvania, Ohio. Augsburg Fortress recently published Chris’s composition “When The Storms of Life Are Raging” for SATB choir with soprano solo. The work is dedicated to Wittenberg music professor Donald Busarow and the Wittenberg Choir. Chris is married to fellow Witt alum Kathryn E. Stoneback (BA in Music ’98), who is a full-time stay-at-home mother to their three children. Katie also runs a successful eBay business from home. email

Sean Kelley (BME ’01) is Director of Bands for the West Clermont Local School District, a large, suburban area near Cincinnati, Ohio. His responsibilities include oversight and management of all band activities at Amelia and Glen Este High Schools and he is the Technical Director for the state-of-the-art Glen Este Performing Arts Center, which presents theatrical and musical productions. Sean previously served as Director of Bands for the Hillsboro City School District, where his concert and marching bands consistently received superior ratings at Ohio Music Education Association and Mid-States Band Association events. Sean is an active composer and arranger, and has written for concert and marching bands, percussion ensembles, indoor drum lines, and choral groups. He is a member of the Ohio Music Education Association, Music Educators National Conference, Mid States Band Association, and the Central States Judges Association. email

Carly Kuhn (BM ’06) teaches at Vance Music Studios in Lakewood, Ohio. While a student at Wittenberg, Carly took a semester abroad to study music history, performance, and culture in Vienna, Austria.

Jaime Langston (BME ’07) is teaching choir and general music at Wilson Middle School in Newark, Ohio. email

Greta May Eber (BME ’01) taught K-4 general music at Brantwood Elementary in Riverside, Ohio for four years and writes (Jan. 2007), “I am now a stay-at-home mother for my two-year-old son and newborn daughter. I am choir director at my church in Huber Heights, Ohio, and I enjoy performing in church and at weddings.” email

Erin Mowrey (BA ’04, Music and Economics) received a masters degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations at the Institute for Labor and Industrial Relations (University of Illinois, Urbana) in December of 2005. She accepted a position with General Mills upon graduation and has been Assistant Human Resources Manager with the company in their Wellston, Ohio facility since January of 2006. “Although music is not at the forefront of my career, toting my harp to occasional weddings and other events helps keep me energized and motivated!” email

Justin Peters (BM Composition ’02) is conductor of upper and middle school choruses at Lincoln School for girls in Providence, Rhode Island, where he also teaches music history, digital video editing, and theater. alum photo An active arranger, songwriter, and composer, Justin’s musical Shower premiered in 2005. Justin is a member of the Providence Singers, one of New England’s premier symphony choruses (it is the host for the National Endowment for the Arts’ “American Masterpieces” festival). With the Providence Singers, Justin performed Dave Brubeck’s Gates of Justice (with the composer and his quartet) at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2004. The Singers’ second appearance with Brubeck, at Lincoln Center in New York City, included the world premiere of Brubeck’s The Commandments. Other world premieres by the Providence Singers include Trevor Weston’s Ma’at Musings and O Daedelus, Fly Away Home, Julian Wachner’s Jubilate Deo, and Chistopher Trapani’s O now the drenched land wakes. From 2002 to 2003, Justin was also active with the Boston Pops festival choruses, appearing at their July 4th festivities on the Esplanade in Boston, as well as at holiday concerts at Symphony Hall (Boston) and throughout Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Justin is still an avid supporter of the Wittenberg Choir and recently hosted them, for the second time, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, during their 2006 spring tour. email

Georgia Petroudi (BM ’01), from Nicosia, Cyprus, earned a Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield (U.K.). Her thesis was entitled Revised Works of the 20th Century. Georgia explains: “The aim of my thesis in historical musicology was to analyze and compare selected works of the twentieth-century repertoire which underwent revision and reworking, and to explore the reasons behind these revisions.” email

Roberta Rowland-Raybold (BM ’04) is director of music and organist at West Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, New York.

Christopher M. Scheuermann (BA in Music ’01) is Production Coordinator at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. email

Sarah Schick (BA in Music ’06) is doing graduate work in arts administration at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana.

Rebecca H. Weaver (BM ’00) lives in New York, where she is Adjunct Instructor of Music at Alfred University and director of the Almond Union of Churches Chancel Choir. She received a degree in voice performance summa cum laude at Wittenberg and then a Master of Arts degree in voice pedagogy at Ohio State. Rebecca, a dramatic soprano, has been in master classes with Dan Franklin Smith, John Douglas, and Carol Webber and has received coaching from Bliss Johnston Virago, Russell Miller, and Robert McIver. She has performed with the OSU Chorale and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes (Corning, New York). She has sung the Vivaldi Gloria, Bach Magnificat, and Fauré Requiem with the Alfred University Orchestra. In 2006, she sang the Mozart Requiem in Alfred and Hornell, New York, and in Bradford, Pennsylvania. A founding member of the Orpheus Chorale and member of its advisory board, Weaver recently sang the solos in the Rutter Requiem in the Chorale’s inaugural performance. A member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, she won third place in the Advanced Division of the 2006 N.A.T.S. competition for Central New York and Finger Lakes region. Ms. Weaver directed the Steuben County (New York) All-County Senior High Mixed Chorus in 2006 and for several years has adjudicated voice for Allegany County and Steuben County solo festivals. Ms. Weaver made her international debut in June 2005 with a recital in Varna, Bulgaria. She will pursue doctoral studies in voice performance in the fall of 2007. email

1990s

Eugenia (Ginny) Andino Caban (BA in Music ’97) alum photo teaches choir and general music at Perry Middle School in Perry, Georgia. “My experiences at Wittenberg,” Ginny writes, “certainly prepared me for this achievement. I wanted to share this with you all, because your success as teachers became my success as a professional.” A trained singer, she adds that, “Even though I’m not performing as much as I would like, my work ‘backstage,’ making it all happen, is exciting and rewarding. We have over 100 performances a year, a Music Education Forum, Percussion Festival, Clarinet Festival, Opera, as well as guest artist recitals, student and faculty recitals, master classes, and special events.” Ginny began working for the Conservatory three years ago as Activities Coordinator, and she thanks her voice teacher, Prof. Gwen Scheffel, “for being an example and mentor.” Ginny’s son, Jorge Luis, “takes tap dance and loves to sing.” email

Marcy Baruch (BM ’91), a singer-songwriter in Denver, Colorado, has received rave reviews for her CDs and live performances: alum photo “A crystalline voice, gifted with passionate phraseology, and an adaptability to play venues both grand and intimate, Marcy Baruch is a must see (or rather hear) musician in the pop folk category” (Riff Music Magazine). “This Denver area performer’s second full-length CD has a buoyancy upon which her strong, melodious voice floats, reminding some of us of Dar Williams and Shawn Colvin” (Music Connection Magazine). Album of the Month: “Marcy Baruch strides confidently through her kick-up-the-dirt songs with steel-toed vocals and a carefree, reckless zest for life” (Allen Foster, Songwriter’s Monthly). “Baruch takes her music-making seriously, and has carefully crafted an inviting record and a tight band that reflect her talent for songwriting, lyrical phrasing, and melody” (Judy B., GoGo Magazine). “Clearly is one of the best independent CD’s I’ve heard this year“ (Alex Teitz, Editor-In-Chief, FEMMUSIC.com). Regarding Marcy’s CD Clearly: “This is the best new album I’ve listened to in a long while” (Tim Noyce, GoGirlsMusic.com). email

Daniel Boomhower (BA in Music ’98) is Performing Arts Librarian and Head of the Music Library alum photo at Kent State University. He serves as liaison to the School of Music, the School of Theater and Dance and to Kent/Blossom Music (an advanced training institute for professional music training operated by Kent State, in cooperation with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Blossom Music Center). Dan is responsible for collection development, instruction, and specialized reference assistance in music, theatre, and dance. He holds two masters degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: one in musicology and one in library and information science. Before working at Kent State, Dan was Assistant Music Librarian at Princeton University. email

Dan Fogarty (BME ’90) teaches at Red Oak Elementary in Nashville, North Carolina. alum photo For more than a dozen years, he has taught pre-school through 12th grade areas such as general music, chorus, and show choir. In addition to music, Dan has a masters degree in School Administration from East Carolina University (Greenville, North Carolina), where he was a Principal Fellow. email

Dianne (Frank) Williams (BM, BA ’96) was a double major at Wittenberg, earning a Bachelor of Music in flute performance and Bachelor of Arts in English, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a masters degree in flute performance at the University of Akron, and was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society. Dianne recorded her first CD, Simplicity, in 2001. alum photo Minneapolis-based music critic Bill Binkelman, reviewing the CD on his web journal Wind and Wire, said Simplicity is “a solid and enjoyably unpretentious collection of well-known melodies. What elevates this album of ‘standards,’ played on silver flute (by Williams) and various other instruments, is both the creative arrangements and the overall feeling of sincerity and warmth on the part of the artist. She’s one ‘helluva’ good flutist.” Flute Talk wrote this in November 2001: “The arrangements are interesting and Williams’s flute performance is excellent. Her lovely tone-quality suits this recording.”

Dianne released her second album, Tinsel, in 2002 “featuring well-known and lesser-known traditional holiday melodies from around the world.” The album generated 40 concert bookings in days. Dianne’s third CD, Lovesong, a collection of romantic melodies chosen from classical, folk, and popular sources, prompted the journal International Musician to state that Dianne was becoming “America’s Favorite Flutist.” It praised her arrangements as “completely original.” Dianne maintains a studio of private flute students in Canton, and she has taught several courses at the college level, including music theory, at Mount Union College. She is an active participant in after-school informational programs through the Canton Symphony Educational Outreach program and is an associate flutist with several professional orchestras, including Columbus, Akron, Canton, Ashland, Mansfield, Wheeling, and Tuscarawas. email

Michael Godina (BA ’98) is Vice President and General Manager of the Chicago Theatre and he works for TheatreDreams, a Tony-award winning, multifaceted company based in Chicago that specializes in venue management and Broadway producing, as well as concert, Broadway, and dance promotion. TheatreDreams also operates the Kodak Theatre (Home of the Academy Awards) in Los Angeles and works with many of the largest promoters in the world, such as Clear Channel, Anchutz Entertainment Group, House of Blues, and JAM Productions. Prior to this position, Michael was employed by the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts in Ohio. email

Elizabeth Mumford Cowan (BM ’90) earned a masters at Southern Methodist University and Graduate Diploma at the New England Conservatory, with additional study at Westminster Choir College and the Chautauqua Institute. alum photo She has taught at Florida International University and the New World School of the Arts in Miami. Elizabeth has sung with opera companies across the U.S., including the Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera, and has been the featured singer in master classes for such well-known teachers as Robert Merrill, Margaret Harshaw, Martina Arroyo, Shirlee Emmons, and Rosalind Elias. Cowan was the 1994 Metropolitan Opera District winner in Dallas, was named the North Texas Singer of the Year, and was the featured recitalist for the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) convention at North Texas State University. A winner of the Wagner Society solo competition in Dallas, a Dallas Opera Guild career grant winner, and a concerto competition winner at SMU, she was also a finalist in the San Antonio Vocal competition and the D’Angelo vocal competition. Cowan has been an adjudicator for many major vocal competitions, and her own students have sung around the world and have won major national and international singing competitions. She has worked with such notable conductors and stage directors as John Copley, John Crosby, Marc Astafan, Dejan Miladinovic, and John Moriarity, and has performed with singers such as Frederica von Stade, Dawn Upshaw, Kevin Langan, Timothy Noble, and Erie Mills. Elizabeth is on the voice faculty at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. email

Cindy Olson Larson (BA ’91) received a M.Div. degree and a masters degree in church music at Trinity Lutheran Seminary (Columbus, Ohio). She is Minister of Music at Grace Lutheran Church, in Hastings, Michigan, where she plays organ and piano for services and directs the choirs. Since 2005, Cindy has been Director of the Hastings Kids’ Choir (an after-school ensemble for 3rd to 5th graders, with 55-70 singers) at the Community Music School of Hastings, where she has recently begun teaching piano and flute. email

Jean Pretz (BA in Music, BA in Psychology ’97) alum photo is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, where her research focuses on intuition, creativity, and expertise. She teaches classes in cognitive psychology. Dr. Pretz received a Ph.D. from Yale University in 2004. While in graduate school, she served as church musician at Resurrection Lutheran Church in New Haven, Connecticut, and sang with the Yale Camerata. Currently she substitutes as a church musician and sings with the Bloomington-based choir Cantus Novus. email

Kevin Rizzo (BME ’98) teaches at Moton Elementary School, in Brooksville, Florida. He is also a percussion instructor at Nature Coast Technical High School.

Ashley Schomburg Hill (BME ’98) received a masters degree in music education with Kodály emphasis from Capital University in 2004, along with Level III Kodály Certification. She is currently teaching general and vocal music at Reid Primary and Middle School in the Clark-Shawnee Local School District, Springfield, Ohio. She and her husband, Jason, live in Springfield, where Ashley also coaches volleyball, and sings in several choirs. email

Gregory Slawson (BM ’92), a pianist and composer, is a member of the Cleveland, Ohio alum photo ensemble Kassaba, which combines elements of classical, jazz, and other music genres. The group released its second CD, Dark Eye, in March of 2007. Kelly Ferjutz of CoolCleveland.com called the CD “infectious, imaginative, improvisatory, jazzy—you name it. Just when you think you might wander off and do something else, the music reaches out and grabs you, forcing you to pay attention.” The group’s concert venues include Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York City, New England, Toronto, and Belfort, France (at the Festival International de Musique Universitaire). Greg was a music and psychology double major at Wittenberg, and he earned a masters in piano performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM). He was a finalist in ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composers Competition and won a prize in the IBLA Grand Prize-European International Composers Competition. In 2000, the Dayton Jazz Orchestra commissioned Greg’s work Archipelago, a concerto for piano and jazz orchestra, which he premiered with the ensemble. In 2002, he composed Prelude e Danza for pianist Anita Pontremoli and violinst Arnold Steinhardt (of the Guarneri String Quartet), for a world premiere at CIM. email

Elisabeth Stewart Robertson (BM ’96) earned a masters degree in vocal performance at the University of Illinois and she trained for five seasons at Interlochen Arts Camp, Interlochen, Michigan, with an emphasis in vocal performance and opera. Elisabeth has been a full-time vocal instructor at the Cincinnati Music Academy since 1998, guiding several of her students to contest and competition wins at Ohio Music Education Association and Overture Award events. Elisabeth has performed with Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble and was employed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for four years, in the Group Sales Department. She is a member of the Victory Choir at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. A career advancement for her husband Matt will soon take Elisabeth, Matt, and their daughter Ellen to Ft. Collins, Colorado. They are all eagerly anticipating the Western “great outdoors”! email

Robert F. Stockton III (BM ’90) is a music teacher at Holy Angels School and Lehman Catholic High School, and he teaches at Sarver’s Music, in Sidney, Ohio. He received a masters degree in music education at Wright State University, in Dayton, Ohio. email

Kimberly Twesme (BM ’91) lives in alum photo California and has performed in a variety of theatrical productions in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas including My Fair Lady, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and the world premiere of Requiem by John-Kevin Hilbert. Kimberly has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus since 2003, performing such works as Mahler’s Second Symphony, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Verdi’s Requiem. In 2004-05 she appeared in the Opera San Jose productions of Tosca and The Flying Dutchman. email

Heather Vulgamore Rager (BME ’90) teaches theatre and music at New Market Middle School, in Frederick County, Maryland.

1980s

Nancy Atkins Joy (BME ’81) received a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Wittenberg, then completed a masters degree in horn performance at New Mexico State University, where she is now Horn Professor. Nancy is principal hornist of the Las Cruces Symphony at NMSU, and Second Horn of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and El Paso Opera Company. In 1998 and 1999, Nancy was a featured clinician at the New Mexico Music Educators Association All-State Music Festival, where she gave two clinics on horn pedagogy. Nancy is the owner of the “Horn of Joy” music studio, teaching private horn from beginning through high school level and is a frequent clinician and solo performer in the Southwest. She has given solo performances with the Coronado High School Symphonic Band, Clovis High School Band, Mayfield High School Symphonic Winds, Mesilla Valley Concert Band, and NMSU University Singers. Nancy performed two solos at the Western United States Horn Symposium in Las Vegas, and she was a featured guest artist at the International Horn Symposium (IHS) in June, 2005. Ms. Joy was elected from the IHS membership as a member of the Advisory Council and also serves as the International Horn Symposium Coordinator for the IHS. She is on the board of directors for the Interactive Video Audition Service International (IVASI) and presents clinics and demonstrations internationally for this company. Ms. Joy is a Conn-Selmer Educational Artist.

In her first year at New Mexico State University, Nancy created a new Horn Choir which has been very active in premiering new works. The NMSU Horn Choir was invited to perform at the International Horn Society Workshop in Athens, Georgia in 1999. Nancy commissioned all new works for the Choir to perform in three different concerts at the Symposium. From this performance, the horn choir was invited to be a premiere performing ensemble at the 2000 IHS Convention in Beijing, China. Most recently, the Choir performed at AIR Horns in Arizona and the International Horn Symposium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in June 2005. email

Tenor Mark Carlisle (BS in Music Education ’80) teaches studio voice and directs the Chamber Singers at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. He received a Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan and Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. alum photo Dr. Carlisle has sung extensively as tenor soloist in recital, oratorio, and major choral works with such ensembles as the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, Austin Choral Union, Austin Pro Arte, and the Terre Haute Choral Society. He has conducted numerous performances with Indiana State’s Madrigal Singers and Sycamore Singers, and served as music director for Opera Workshop performances of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Copland’s The Tender Land, and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Carlisle is active throughout Indiana as a vocal and choral adjudicator at both the high school and collegiate levels, and has served as guest conductor-clinician for such events as the Wabash Valley Christmas Choral Festival, the Turkey Run Choral Festival, and the Wabash County Honors Choir Concert. He serves as vice president of the Indiana chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. email

Gregory A. Carpenter (BM ’84) is Executive Director of Opera Colorado. He received a Master of Music degree from Michigan State University in 1986 and alum photo did post-graduate studies in opera performance at the University of Maryland and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Austria. Greg joined the staff of Opera Colorado as Director of Development in 2004 and became Executive Director in September of 2007. He is responsible for overseeing all administrative operations of the company, guiding a staff of fourteen full-time employees. Greg previously served as Opera Colorado’s Director of Development, managing the company’s fundraising efforts. His accomplishments include exceeding fundraising goals for two consecutive years by more than $100,000, doubling the number of individual donors, and securing corporate and foundation sponsorships. He is currently leading the five-year strategic plan process for the company.

Prior to joining Opera Colorado, Greg worked for three years as the Manager of Development with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. His previous work experience also includes two years as the Arts and Events Manager with the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland and as a professional opera singer from 1986 to 1998, singing leading and supporting roles at Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Theatre of North Virginia, Cleveland Opera, and Lyric Opera Cleveland. Carpenter is currently chairman of the fundraising committee for the National Performing Arts Convention, member of Curious Theatre Company’s special events committee, and a member of OPERA America. email

Philip Cordell (BM ’81) teaches piano to more than 60 students through the Community Music School at Capital University. As a professional pianist, Philip accompanies for Jones Middle School in Upper Arlington, Ohio, serves as pianist and organist for St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, and accompanies degree recitals at the Capital University Conservatory. Since 1998, he has taken part in several faculty recitals, three of which led to professional recordings. As a National Certified Teacher of Music with MTNA/OMTA, he leads Pianorama ensembles, adjudicates for Scale Olympics, District Festival, and performs various other teaching duties with that organization. Philip earned a masters in performance/pedagogy and composition at Ohio University. He has composed and performed many works for solo piano and chamber ensembles. email

Stephen and Linda (Keck) Cordle (BME ’80) are active at Cross Roads Methodist Church, a new congregation near the Pittsburgh airport. Steve serves as pastor, plays keyboard, and oversees the music program. Linda sings as soloist and in the choir and plays keyboard. She also teaches privately part-time. All three of the Cordle sons play at least one instrument each.

Patrice Crowell Ross (BME ’80) studied music education and flute at Wittenberg. She earned a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Ph.D. in Comparative Arts at Ohio University. Dr. Ross is professor of humanities and music coordinator at Columbus State Community College (Ohio), where she oversaw the formation of a gospel vocal ensemble. She also directs a small church choir. email

Rhonda Ficca (BME ’81) is a music teacher and choral director for New Brighton Elementary School in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, with over 25 years of experience. alum photo Miss Ficca initiated the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District V Elementary SongFest in the 1990s. She is a member of the New Brighton Education Association (P.R. Chair), Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for Women Educators (Vice President, Communications and Practical and Fine Arts Chair), Beaver Valley Community Concert Association (Board of Directors), Beaver County Arts Education Consortium (Governing Board Member and Steering Committee), New Brighton PTA (Executive Board), Teacher Excellence Center New Brighton District Coordinator, Pennsylvania State Education Association, National Education Association, Pennsylvania Music Education Association and Music Educators National Conference. For over 10 years, Rhonda has been Co-Chairperson of the Caring Team for Children for the New Brighton Area School District, raising money for uninsured children ages 0-18. She also serves on the Health and Wellness Council as a member and Secretary. Miss Ficca has been a presenter for in-services for the New Brighton Area School District and the Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit. She is the Music Director and is a frequent soloist at Beaver Falls Christian Assembly and Past President of the Dorcas Women’s Ministries for 15 years (currently Vice President, Musical Director, Children’s Church Teacher, and sound system manager). Miss Ficca was the Choral Director for three years with the United Hosannah Ministries as well as the Musical Director for seven years for the New Brighton Ministerial Annual Thanksgiving Service. Her fifth grade students continue to perform every year at the Townsend Park in New Brighton for the Annual Memorial Day Service to honor veterans. Miss Ficca has received many awards: the Lee Canter Award for Assertive Discipline (1995), New Brighton Area School District PTA Founders’ Day Award (1995), Teacher Excellence Award from the Teacher Excellence Foundation for Southwestern Pennsylvania (2000), awards for Teacher of Distinction (2001 and 2002), Random Acts of Kindness Award from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (2001), Album of Distinction for Delta Kappa Gamma Society for Women Educators (2001 and 2002), a Beaver County Peace Links Award (2001 for her efforts teaching peacemaking skills to children), and a Beaver County Sheriff’s Department Award for outstanding devotion to NBASD elementary students for drug prevention (2003). In 2002, she was an Athena Award nominee. In 2006-2007, Miss Ficca was a nominee from the New Brighton Area School District for the Pennsylvania Southwestern Teacher Excellence Center. Ficca was named to the ’03, ’05, ’07 Who’s Who of American Women and the ’08 Who’s Who in American Education. email

Carl E. Guenther (BME ’80) has recorded an album of piano music (a blend of traditional hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs) to raise money for the American Cancer Society in memory of his wife who died recently. Carl performs regularly with a praise band.

Soprano Laurie Hays (BME ’83) has performed with the Carmel Bach Festival, Monterey County Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Master Chorale, alum photo and Oahu Choral Society (Honolulu). Her most recent operatic roles include Annina in La Traviata, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Edith in Pirates of Penzance, and Ida/Sally in Die Fledermaus. Her recent performances in musical theater include Pippin (Fastrada), Carousel (Nettie), The Music Man (Mrs. Paroo), Camelot (Nimue), The Secret Garden (Rose), Fiddler on the Roof (Tzeitl), and Sweeney Todd (Quintet). Ms. Hays’ performances in oratorio include the Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, St. Matthew, and St. John Passions, Schubert’s Mass in G, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, and Fauré’s Requiem. Hays directs the 100-voice Annapolis Youth Chorus (a division of the Annapolis Chorale and Chamber Orchestra), which recently sang at Carnegie Hall under the direction of John Rutter. Hays is the Upper School music and choral director at The Severn School in Severna Park and is a soloist at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis. She lives in Severn, Maryland, with her husband, Kevin, and their three daughters, Meghan, Brenna and Kelly. email

Marc Heeg (BM ’84) is an active pianist, conductor, and teacher. After Wittenberg, Heeg earned a masters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a D.M.A. at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and he completed additional studies at Cornell, Harvard, and Tübingen University (Germany). alum photo Dr. Heeg has performed as a soloist in the U.S., Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Egypt, and Japan. He has accompanied singers associated with many of the world’s great opera companies—the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Wiener and Berliner Volksoper, Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Bayreuther Festspiel, San Francisco Opera, Houston Opera, Covent Garden Opera, Cairo National Opera, and Vienna State Opera. As a chamber musician, he has played with instrumentalists from the Pro Arte, Cavani, and Manhattan string quartets, as well as instrumentalists from some of the major orchestras of the U.S. (Chicago Symphony, Colorado Symphony, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony), Germany (Munich Symphony), Austria (Vienna Philharmonic), and Japan (Kyoto Philharmonic and Osaka Philharmonic). Dr. Heeg was resident artist and choral director at Doshisha University in Japan and taught piano in Kyoto. He worked in Egypt under the auspices of the American Embassy and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture as resident-artist at the Cairo National Opera House, and he performed at American University in Cairo.

Dr. Heeg taught and performed with the faculty of the Internationales Jugend-Festspieltreffen in Bayreuth, subsequently relocating to this home of Richard Wagner’s international opera house. Heeg coached, collaborated, and performed throughout Germany. Dr. Heeg has received many prizes, scholarships, grants, and awards for both his performing and academic talents. His research has addressed a gamut of interests, including Viennese history from Metternich and the Biedermeier Era through the Fin-de-Siècle; the American avant-garde (Cage, Cowell); Schubert and Liszt; and performance practice from the late 1770s to the 1890s. In the tradition of Taoist philosopher-musicians, Dr. Heeg received certification in both Japan and America in traditional Chinese medicine, Taoist studies, and Zen Shiatsu, with additional studies in shamanistic healing techniques. He has taught Chinese medicine and lead seminars in mental and spiritual healing practices. Through artistic residencies and various appointments, Dr. Heeg has made his home in places as diverse as Kyoto, Cairo, Bayreuth, Tucson, Denver, and now in Cyprus, where Dr. Heeg is Assistant Professor of Piano at Eastern Mediterranean University in northern Cyprus. email

Holly Helderman Leach (BME ’88) retired from her position as an elementary school music teacher near Cincinnati to care for her three young children. Holly and husband Alan live in Norwood, Ohio, with Caitlin, age 6, and twins Mandy and Tanner, age 3. Holly is active in children’s ministry at Sharonville United Methodist Church as well as Grace United Methodist Church in Norwood, leading music for Sunday morning and Wednesday evening worship as well as Vacation Bible School. In 1998 she completed a Master of Education degree at Xavier University with an emphasis in Montessori Education. Holly attends the National Conference of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association whenever possible and hopes to return to teaching after all of her children enter school. email

Jean Hildebrand Moran (BA ’80) completed a masters degree in music education at Bowling Green State University, where she worked extensively in piano pedagogy and music theory. She previously taught in the preparatory department at Heidelberg College. Jean has been a clinician at Capital University and Kent State University Suzuki Institutes since 1990, and is employed as a music specialist with the Sandusky City Schools. She is the mother of two Suzuki daughters.

Robert A. Hobby (BM in Church Music ’85) is Director of Music at Trinity alum photo English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana, a congregation of nearly 3500 members. His responsibilities include playing for worship services, overseeing the graded choral program, and managing concerts. During his tenure, he has established a choral series at Trinity (with 16 composers commissioned so far), hosted a regional convention of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, produced four recordings, and expanded the church’s opportunities for music ministry. Hobby received a masters degree in organ performance from the University of Notre Dame in 1987. His organ teachers have included Donald Busarow and Craig Cramer, and he has studied composition under Donald Busarow, Richard Hillert, and Andrew Carter.

Mr. Hobby has published over 100 compositions, with Augsburg Fortress, Choristers Guild, Concordia, G.I.A., MorningStar, Northwestern, Pavane, and Warner Brothers. His music has been heard on nationally syndicated radio programs such as “The Lutheran Hour,” “Pipe Dreams,” and “Sing for Joy.” Hobby has played at several of the national conventions of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, for national and regional conventions of the Association of the Lutheran Church Musicians, and for conferences of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He has been a featured artist with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, performing Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Haydn’s Organ Concerto No. 2 in C. He has presented clinics on service playing and creative hymn singing throughout the U.S. and is currently Chair of Young Lutherans Sing, a national summer choral program for children. He also serves as a member of the Program Committee for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Robert and his wife, Jennifer, are the proud parents of three daughters: Hannah, Lydia, and Elizabeth. email

Loretta Jones Henderson (BME ’89) is a music teacher with Kettering (Ohio) City Schools and serves as director for the Kettering Children’s Choir. She lives in Huber Heights, Ohio.

Barbara Kaufmann Larson (MSM ’80): see Brian R. Larson (MSM ’78)

Judith Limbacher Horne (BA ’85) teaches and coordinates the pre-school music program at St. John’s Church, in West Chester, Ohio.

D. Scott Loose (BME ’80) received a masters in music from West Chester University in 1989. He is currently a director of instrumental music in the Lampeter-Strasburg School District, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. alum photo From 1981 to 2001 he directed the Lampeter-Strasburg High School Band, which won numerous awards (including the 1998 and 1999 state championships in the Cavalcade of Bands) and served as honors band for such events as the opening ceremonies of the Penn State Farm Show and Governor Tom Ridge’s inaugural parade. He is currently director of the Martin Meylin Middle School Band. Scott performs with the Lancaster Brass Quintet, the Lancaster British Brass Band, and (as principal trumpeter) at the Fulton Opera House. His trumpet teachers have included Walter Geer, Bart Woomert, Richard Chenoweth, Charles Pagnard, Dick Shearer, and Kenneth Laudermilch. Many of Scott’s students have become successful music educators. Scott is a past president of the Lancaster-Lebanon Music Educators Association and is an active judge with the Cavalcade of Bands, where he has also served as Vice President. He arranges music for many local ensembles. Scott resides in the town of Willow Street, Pennsylvania, with his wife Deb and five dogs. He recently became a grandfather. email

Lisa Ludwig Wichman (BME ’84) is a music teacher and choral director with the Kinnelon (New Jersey) School District. She is also organist and children’s choir director with King of Kings Lutheran Church in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.

Doreen Mattson (BME ’81) teaches vocal and general music at the School of Fine Arts in Willoughby, Ohio. Doreen did graduate work at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati and has Level I Orff-Schulwerk Certification. She studied at Lakeland Community College and with Irving Bushman at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Doreen has also taught in Lake County, Ohio schools.

Melanie Moon Wilt (BME ’88) taught middle school vocal music for several years in Reynoldsburg, Ohio after graduating from Wittenberg and sang in the Columbus Symphony Chorus and Columbus Light Opera. Next, she served as music director at a Presbyterian church, had an active voice and piano studio, and especially loved directing high school musicals and summer community theater, all while working at her family’s printing company in Greenfield, Ohio. In 1996, Melanie married Chad Wilt, a band director, and, Melanie reports, “we made beautiful music together, not to mention three beautiful kids—Parker, Lydia, and Pearson.” The family moved to Lewis Center, Ohio in 1999, where Melanie is a stay-at-home mother, occasional vocal soloist in the area, very active choir participant, and a praise team singer at Grace Brethren Church in Powell, Ohio. email

Gayle Morton Holtman (BME ’86) is Director of Districts and Residencies with VSA arts of Indiana, where she sets up artist residencies in schools and coordinates other programs and projects. Gayle volunteers as a tutor at St. Gabriel Catholic School and is a youth leader at Trinity Episcopal Church in Indianapolis. email

Debra Nesbitt Alexander (BA ’80) an educator and songwriter, has been teaching piano, guitar, and songwriting for over 20 years. Debra has fostered alum photo the progress of many songwriters and musicians by leading workshops and conducting lessons as a Regional Coordinator for the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). She currently serves as a mentor for Toronto’s School Alliance of Student Songwriters. As an active professional songwriter, Debra oversees her own music publishing company and is busy promoting her song catalogue. She recently signed a single song contract with SONY Music Publishing for “You Can Cry” (co-written with singer-songwriter/producer David Leask), a song which won the 2004 NSAI Single Song Showdown and placed second in the Unisong International Songwriting Competition in the country/folk category. David and Debra’s song “Are You Ready To Love” made the compilation CD Best of NSAI 2005 released by the Nashville Songwriters Association International. “Something So Sweet,” co-written with Maple Blues Vocalist of the Year Suzie Vinnick, was released across Canada as the first single from the CD Real Divas Volume II/Torchlight Volume II in March 2005, and appears on Suzie’s album 33 Stars.

After graduating from Wittenberg, Debra studied publishing at Oxford University. Extensive solitary travel throughout the deep South and along America’s eastern seaboard as an Acquisitions Editor and College Textbook Sales Representative fueled her songwriting. A decision to concentrate on her songwriting craft then led her to Nashville, where she once had the good fortune of waiting table for Minnie Pearl and met many songwriting legends. She wrote tunes on a weekly basis for the live comedy theater show “Avant Garage,” soaked up the songwriting atmosphere, joined the Songwriters Guild of America and the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and concentrated on craft. In addition to Wittenberg, Debra has studied at the Berklee College of Music, University of Texas, and Austin Community College. She spent five years at a New England boarding school working with teens and adults as a music teacher, choral accompanist, and learning skills specialist. Debra now works part time as an academic tutor in a learning center in Toronto, Ontario, and combines her knowledge of learning styles with music instruction, to develop a curriculum aimed at encouraging musical self-expression, creativity, and confidence. To reach Debra, please visit Word Maven Music.

Kim Petot (BM, BME ’81), a pianist and singer, specializes in early childhood music. She teaches at the All Newton Music School in West Newton, Mass., and is director of their Summer Creative Arts Program. Kim arranges and sings for the music group Silk Tones and she sings with her church choir. Kim with her husband Ross (’80) live in Natick, Mass. email

Ross Petot (BM ’80), earned a masters degree at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. alum photo He focuses on jazz and stride piano and performs as a regular member of The Blue Horizon Jazz Band, John Clark’s Wolverine Jazz Band and, more recently, The Back Bay Ramblers. Ross has performed in numerous jazz festivals throughout the country both as a band member and as a featured soloist. He teaches at the All Newton Music School in Newton Massachusetts and performs frequently throughout the New England area. The Bar Harbor Times wrote that Ross’s “energy and lightning-fast hands on the keyboard left the audience breathless when he was set loose in a solo turn” Ross has made several recordings, including Red Hot Band and Cuttin’ Up (with the Back Bay Ramblers) and Stride Piano (a solo CD). email

Holly Pratt (BA ’81) earned a masters degree in composition at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where she met two other musicians, a flutist and cellist, with whom she formed the musical ensemble Lyrica. alum photo Her family’s Welsh roots generated a strong interest in Wales, its language, music, and culture, and an interest in performing Renaissance and Baroque harp music. Holly has performed such music in Britain many times and eventually earned the Ph.D. in musicology from the University of London. Holly combined her many interests into Lyrica’s mission, and the ensemble is now a non-profit organization which has developed a wide range of programs to serve diverse groups: “For example we have concerts especially for churches with an interest in their history, a library program, interactive sessions for senior centers, special hands-on programs for people with disabilities, and our extremely popular school programs that give hands-on instrumental experience to kids, even in districts where music has been cut from the budget.” Lyrica released its first CD, The Crystal Spring (in Welsh, Y Ffynnon Risial), devoted to arrangements of Welsh and English traditional music. Read more about Holly’s Harps. email

Steven Keister Shaner (MSM ’84) is Director of Music and Arts Ministries at alum photo Mount Olivet United Methodist Church in Arlington, Virginia. He has served as ecumenical church musician at churches of several different denominations. He has been minister of music and organist at St. Joseph Parish (Jasper, Indiana) and Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ (Bethesda, Maryland). Steven has conducted touring adult, children’s, and youth choirs (as well as handbell choirs), and he has performed organ recitals at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, the Washington National Cathedral, and other venues throughout North America and Europe. He is a graduate of Shenandoah University Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia with a double major in music education and organ performance. Dr. Shaner has studied church music, composition, improvisation, and organ with Donald Busarow, Steven Cooksey, Trudy Faber, Jerald Hamilton, David N. Johnson, Marilyn Keiser, and Oswald Ragatz. He is a frequent organ recitalist, church music clinician, choral conductor, and artistic director for hymn festivals. Steven earned a Doctor of Sacred Music degree at the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend, Indiana. email

Robin Strickler (BME ’83) studied piano at Wittenberg with William Walters, who also encouraged her interest in East Asian Studies and social justice. After four years teaching music at Magsig Middle School in Centreville, Ohio, Robin returned to school and got a masters degree in English Linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While she worked her way through school, she developed a second career for herself—in administration and training for after-school programs. Robin worked on developing new programs for 800 elementary school children in Madison’s After School Program, now called the Wisconsin Youth Company. A move to Colorado led her to similar programs with the YMCA and, eventually, a stint as personnel manager at Boulder’s YMCA. In 1996, she took a job in English as a Second Language at Kansai Gaidai University (Wittenberg’s sister school in Japan), where she taught English for eight years and learned Japanese.

In 2001, on a return trip to the USA, Robin met John Rutsindintwarane, a Rwandan Lutheran pastor who was studying Conflict Transformation. When they decided to marry in 2003, her life made a major geographical shift—to east Africa. In 2005, Robin founded the Rwanda School Project, an NGO (non-governmental organization) focused on quality secondary education in Rwanda. She now lives in Rwanda and will be the Head of School for a secondary school in the city of Rwamagana which will use Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound as its pedagogical framework and will focus on environmental sustainability. Robin is studying Kinyarwanda (the chief spoken language in Rwanda), enjoys chatting with Japan International Cooperation Agency volunteers in Japanese, and loves birdwatching. Robin invites any Wittenberg music alums who’d like to develop a secondary school choir in east Africa’s mountainous “Land of Eternal Spring” to contact her! email

Linda Venable-Boehk (BM ’80) received the D.M.A. in voice at the University of Michigan in 1992. She has a private voice studio of about 50 students. She writes: “My education at Wittenberg was a very valuable experience for me. In fact, much of what I learned at Wittenberg (diction, literature, performing skills, etc.) carried me through the rest of my education.”

Phyllis J. Warner (MSM ’80) completed 21 years of teaching organ, piano, and keyboard pedagogy as an adjunct faculty member at Cedarville University (Cedarville, Ohio) in 2006. She now teaches music appreciation at Edison State College in Piqua, Ohio.

John Whittlesey (BA ’85), baritone, performs regularly in opera, concert and recital in the greater Boston area. alum photo He has appeared with the Boston Lyric Opera, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Cape Cod Opera, New England Light Opera, Longwood Opera, Masterworks Chorale, Choral Arts Society, and the Concert Singers of Lynn. He has most recently performed Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Mozart’s Requiem. His recent operatic performances include Silvio in I Pagliacci for Cape Cod Opera, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Menotti’s The Telephone and The Medium, and the premieres of The Letter and The Game by Brian Hulse, A Question of Love by Charles Shadle, and Verlaine and Rimbaud by David Paul Gibson. Upcoming appearances include The Old Maid and the Thief and Britten’s Curlew River. John is the Founder and Artistic Director of Intermezzo: The New England Chamber Opera Series. John holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Wittenberg University and a masters in health administration from Xavier University. email

Don Widmer (BA, Music and English ’88) is Library Director at Vandercook College of Music in Chicago. He earned a masters in music history at Bowling Green State University and an M.S. in library and information science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Don serves on the Education Committee of the Music Library Association and is Past Chair of the Technology, Archives, Preservation and Sound Committee of the Music Library Association Midwest Chapter. He is actively involved in the Chicago Area Archivists and the Chicago Area Solo Librarians. He was a 2004-2005 participant in Synergy: The Illinois Library Leadership Initiative. email

Charles T. Witmer (BM ’80) is organist and director of music at Centenary United Methodist Church in Quincy, Florida.

Paul Wolfe (BM ’76, MSM ’82) is a program assistant at the national headquarters of the American Guild of Organists in New York City and Organist/Director of Music at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross in Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island.

Rändel Wolfe (MSM ’84) is Director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelors degree in music from California Lutheran University before coming to Wittenberg. After Wittenberg, he earned dual D.M.A. degrees from the University of Kansas and did post-graduate work at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and California State University, Bakersfield. Before joining Trinity, Dr. Wolfe served as the Director of Music at St. Anselm’s Chapel at the University of Kansas Episcopal Student Center, as well as Director of Worship and Music at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (Lawrence, Kansas), staff accompanist and vocal coach for the University of Kansas Department of Music, and organist with the Kansas City Symphony. Wolfe directs the Choristers division of the acclaimed Berks Classical Children’s Chorus and performs organ recitals throughout the country. He gave a debut performance with the Reading Symphony Orchestra in 2000.

Robyn Zimmann (BME ’81) is Operations Director for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. alum photo She has been assistant principal hornist with the orchestra since 1981. Robyn also plays 4th horn with the Lima Symphony Orchestra and has been a freelance performer in the Springfield-Dayton area for over 25 years, performing in shows at the La Comedia Dinner Theatre, Dayton Playhouse, Wright State University, Clark State Performing Arts Center, Victoria Theatre, and the Schuster Center. Robyn’s career as a guitarist spanned 17 years with four different bands, with performances at numerous venues in five states and several recording projects. Prior to taking on the administrative role with the Springfield Symphony, Robyn’s career path also included stints in the retail music business, as marketing director for a chain of 11 photo/video stores, and most recently 10 years as a systems analyst in the IT department of the Dayton Daily News. email

1970s

Ray Adams (BMS ’77) earned an M.A., M.F.A., and D.M.A. from the University of Iowa. alum photo He served as Director of Music and Organist at the Community Church of Vero Beach for 19 years, from 1983 to 2002. Currently, he is Assistant Director for Artistic Development at the Indian River Charter High School, Schumann School for the Visual and Performing Arts, a school devoted to dance, drama, music, and the visual arts. Adams is the founding director of both the Vero Beach (Florida) Choral Society and the Academy for the Performing Arts. The Choral Society has made four musical tours of Europe and has performed with Dave Brubeck and Sir David Willocks. The Academy is an accredited school for students of all ages who are interested in music. Dr. Adams helped develop the Indian River Symphonic Association, which brings renowned artists and orchestras from around the world. In 1992, Dr. Adams was selected as the second Southern Bell/Classic 89 FM Patron of the Arts to receive the Virtuoso Award. In 1997 he was awarded the Professional Leadership Award by the Cultural Council of Indian River County. Adams lives in Vero Beach with his wife Phyllis (BA ’78). email

Julie-Ellen Anderson (BME ’73) teaches music at West Bath School in Bath, Maine. She received a masters degree in education at the University of New England (Biddeford, Maine) in 2002.

Marjo Anderson (BME ’76) is co-pastor of Tabor Lutheran Church in Branford, Connecticut, where she co-founded the Tabor Community Arts Center in 1997. In 2002, she was persuaded to start a praise band at the church, for which she recruited (among others) her husband Mark Dollhopf for vocals/guitar, their older son Hans for percussion, and their younger son Conner as her backup pianist. “It actually ended up being great fun,” she writes, “and when we moved our contemporary service to the main time slot, attendance grew by 12%.” Pastor Marjo Anderson’s vocal outlet has been the Yale Alumni Chorus (founded by her husband in 1998) which has performed throughout the world, including China, Russia, Argentina, and Great Britain. email

Janet Beck Kaltenbach (BME ’78) is general manager of the American Boychoir, one of the finest of such ensembles in the United States. The group has recorded more than 60 CDs, has appeared numerous times on national television and radio, and has performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and many other ensembles.

Judith Burbank (BM ’73) is Artist-in-Residence at Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina. alum photo She is active as a concert singer in Charlotte, Asheville, and Winston-Salem. Burbank has recently sung Poulenc’s Gloria with the Hickory Choral Society and Handel’s Messiah with the Green Bay Symphony. In Fall of 2004, she returned to Wittenberg to sing a recital in the Music Department’s Krieg Hall, with music by Debussy and Strauss, plus German operetta and William Bolcom’s Caberet Songs. Burbank holds a masters degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. She lived in Germany for an extended period, performing and teaching, and singing in several German opera houses, including Heidelberg (Theater der Stadt), Erfurt, and at the Salzburg Landestheater. She has performed a variety of soprano operatic roles, including Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, Marie in Berg’s Wozzeck, Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz, Marguerite in Berlioz’s Faust, Malinka Janacek’s Die Ausflüge des Herrn Bourcek, Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Venus in Wagner’s Tannhaüser.

In the U.S., Burbank has performed with the Pittsburgh Opera, Augusta Opera, Intermountain Opera of Bozeman, Montana, New England Opera, New England Operetta, New Jersey State Opera, National Opera of North Carolina, and the touring National Opera Company of the New York City Opera. Judith has performed in recital in France, England, and Germany. In the spring of 1999 she gave a lecture-recital at Rutgers on Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, especially the vocal techniques used by the female lead Marie (a role that she sang in Heidelberg and Erfurt, Germany). Judith especially enjoys the serious works of noted film composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold and she gave a recital featuring his seldom sung Abschiedslieder (Farewell songs) in Minneapolis. She also gave private classes while in Minneapolis at Augsburg College, specializing in German diction for singers. Judith is currently a candidate for the D.M.A. degree at Rutgers State University (New Jersey). email

Steve Butts (BME ’78) has held teaching positions at Sinclair Community College and the University of Dayton. alum photo In 1981, he resigned these positions to pursue a full-time performance career. Since then, he has performed over 5000 shows as a singer and bassist for various rock groups. He has appeared with, or opened for, such acts as Golden Earring, BTO, Leon Russell, Weather Report, Grand Funk, Tina Turner, and Rare Earth. In addition to live performance, he has done extensive television and radio work and has 53 recording credits. Steve also owns and operates Stone Ridge Studios. email

Gary L. Callahan (BM ’72) is assistant dean for the School of Education and associate professor of music education at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. He was recently elected arts and sciences chair for the National Network for Education Renewal Tripartite Council

Linda Calvert Eriksen (BM ’72) studied piano with William Walters, organ and alum photo harpsichord with Trudy Faber, and voice with Michael Chang while at Wittenberg, where she was a member of the national music fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota. She earned a masters in piano performance at Boston University in 1974 and continued her education by taking numerous courses at Westminster Choir College in conducting and church music. Linda has worked as a church musician, professional accompanist, and instructor in piano and organ. She has held positions in both Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches and has recently accepted the position of Director of Music Ministries at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. For several years, Linda served as accompanist for Ridge Light Opera, a semi-professional theater company in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, performing The Mikado and “September Song,” an evening of light opera. She has played for the Stony Hill Players performances of The Mikado, The Magic Flute, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Suor Angelica. Linda is staff accompanist for the Millburn High School (New Jersey) honors recitals and concerts. Over the past few years, she has been assistant director and accompanist for the Summit Chorale and has played for the South Mountain Chorale, the Choral Arts Society, Calvary Chorale, New Jersey Youth Chorus, and numerous professional and amateur soloists and instrumentalists, and both school and community productions in New Jersey. She serves on the executive board and is the certification exam coordinator for the Metropolitan New Jersey Chapter of the AGO, is an active member of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, American Choral Directors Association, and Choristers Guild, and sings with the Harmonium Choral Society under the direction of Dr. Anne Matlack. Linda is a resident of New Providence, New Jersey, where she lives with her husband Ray and their three grown children: Christian (a police officer in the city of Summit), Diana (a graduate of Gettysburg working in Human Resources for Ajilon in New York City), and Scott (place kicker on the Lycoming College football team). email

Catherine Cox (BM, ’72) majored in voice at Wittenberg. Since then, she has had a distinguished career on the stage and in television. Acclaimed for her Broadway performances, she has appeared in a variety of musicals, including Oh! Coward, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1987. In 1983, she created the role of Pam Sakarian in Baby, for which she received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. She received a Drama Desk nomination for the role of Viola in George Abbott’s Music Is, and she appeared as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! in 1980 and in Footloose on Broadway. Catherine succeeded Glenn Close in the role of Chairy Barnum in the long-running Broadway hit Barnum and appeared with the national touring company of City of Angels, where she played the roles of Oolie and Donna. Her television credits include The Guiding Light and The Cosby Show. Miss Cox appeared in the A. R. Gurney’s play Love Letters in Chakeres Theatre at Wittenberg with Wittenberg alum James Rebhorn, who graduated in 1970 with a double major in political science and theatre.

Nancy Cripe Davis (BS in Music Education ’70) is Coordinator for Wittenberg’s Center for Musical Development. She received a masters degree at University of Dayton. email

India Dennis D’Avignon (BME ’74) earned a masters in Piano Pedagogy and Choral Conducting at Ohio State. She teaches class piano at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, having previously served as professor and keyboard department chair at Capital Universiy in Columbus, Ohio. India has performed throughout the United States and abroad, accompanying on the piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, and harp, including performances at the Festival International de Musique (Nancy, France), Festival International de Sarrebourg (France), Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC), and International Mozart Symposium (St. Gilgen, Austria). D’Avignon has presented research papers at the Music Teachers National Conference and at conferences internationally. The Glass Music Ensemble, with India as director, appears on the CD Christ Hall (Hommage à Marc Chagall). D’Avignon co-produced Titanic Records’ CD of Alexander Reinagle’s The Philadelphia Sonatas.

John Douglas (BM ’77) has appeared as piano accompanist with such performers as William Parker, William Lewis, and Victoria Livengood, in hundreds of concerts, in such venues as Carnegie Recital Hall, live NPR Broadcasts, the Kennedy Center, and lecture-recitals in Europe. At the age of 23, John joined the faculties of both the Boston and New England Conservatories, where he taught French, German, and Italian repertoire, accompanying, and diction. alum photo At the Boston Conservatory he was appointed Head of the Musical staff of the Opera Department under John Moriarty, and his career began to turn to conducting. Outside of academia, Douglas’s positions have included Assistant Conductor for Central City Opera (Colorado), lieder instructor for the American Institute of Musical Studies (Graz, Austria), Chorus Master for the Boston Concert Opera, Italian Coach for Boston Camerata, Co-Director of the American Opera Theater of Boston, Musical Assistant of the Goldovsky Opera Workshop, English diction instructor and coach for Chautauqua Opera (New York), and audition accompanist for the Santa Fe, Chicago Lyric, Lake George, and Central City Opera Companies. In 1987, he was named Artistic Director of the Merrimack (Massachusetts) Lyric Opera, a position he left in 1991 to become the Music Director of the Ash-Lawn Highland Summer Opera Festival in Virginia.

John received a masters degree in music at Bowling Green State University, and he has studied coaching with John Moriarty, piano with Jerome Rose, and conducting with Attilio Poto. John is currently Associate Professor of Voice and Opera (and Music Director of Opera Theater) at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he is both Director of the Apprentice Program and Chorus Master at Lake George Opera (Saratoga Springs, New York). As the winner of the Temple University’s 2006 Creative Achievement Award, the Temple Times wrote this: “As Temple Opera Theater’s music director and conductor since 1989, Douglas has helped create opera productions that have earned national honors and critical acclaim. Two of Temple Opera’s recent productions, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (2003) and Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz (2004), claimed top honors—Temple’s first ever—in the National Opera Association’s last two Opera Production Competitions, the only national opera competitions of their kind.” email

Stephen Folkemer (BA ’74, MSM ’76) studied at the Spandauer Kirchenmusikshule in Berlin, Germany for a year (1974-1975) and earned a M.Div. (1980) and D.Min. (1988) at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (Pennsylvania), where he is now Director of Music and Associate Professor of Church Music. alum photo The Reverend Dr. Folkemer serves as principal organist for the Seminary’s 36-rank Andover tracker instrument and has directed (since 1986) the 30-voice Schola Cantorum of Gettysburg, which specializes in Lutheran liturgical music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Folkemer studied composition with Jan Bender at Wittenberg University and with Heinz Werner Zimmerman in Berlin. His project for the D.Min. degree was Of the Land and Seasons, a folk-song paraphrase setting of Holy Communion which is now used by congregations throughout the country. Folkemer has published original compositions with Chantry Music Press, Augsburg Fortress, Concordia Publishing House, G.I.A. Publications, and MorningStar Music Publishers. Some of Dr. Folkemer’s arrangements of hymns can be heard on the live CD recording Hymns of History and Hope, a 2001 hymn festival performed by the Schola Cantorum and Seminary choirs in honor of the 175th anniversary of the Seminary. From 1982 to 1985, Folkemer served as co-pastor (with his wife the Rev. Beth Bergeron Folkemer) at the Bendersville Lutheran parish. He has served as part-time music director, choir directory, and/or organist at numerous congregations, as well as at Gettysburg College. Dr. Folkemer has been director of music at the Gettysburg Seminary since the fall of 1979 and is currently church organist at St. Mark Lutheran Church, in Hanover, Pennsylvania. He and his wife are the parents of three children, Joel, Margaret, and Nathan. email

Janet Frye Benedict (BM ’70) raised four sons after leaving Wittenberg. alum photo In 1988, she received her education certification at Cleveland State University. Since then, she has been teaching, serving as church organist, children’s choir director, and bell choir director at several different churches, and she has been teaching piano. Janet received a masters degree in music education from Case Western Reserve University in 1997. She is the Music Specialist at Slate Ridge Elementary in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, where she also directs a 100-voice children’s choir, an Orff Group, and a Handchime choir. She performs regularly with the classic rock group called “Playback.” email

Sandra Gibson (BM, BME ’77) grew up in northwestern Ohio, with deeper roots in the West Indies. After attending Wittenberg, she received a masters in historical musicology from Northwestern University and completed doctoral work at UCLA. alum photo Gibson began her work in arts presenting and cultural programming at the American Film Institute, where she held several senior-level programming and operational positions, managed a seven-acre, four-building campus with a $10.9 million budget, and ran the Independent Filmmaker and Distribution Program, an NEA re-granting program.

In 1990, Gibson was appointed Executive Director of the Public Corporation for the Arts (Long Beach Arts Council, California). She served as a consultant to the City of Long Beach for cultural affairs and the arts and helped the city create its first community cultural plan in 1993. While working in Long Beach, Gibson took an interest in state arts advocacy and was appointed to the advisory boards of the California Arts Council and the National Association of Local Arts Agencies. Next, she joined the newly formed Americans for the Arts, as its Executive Vice President and CEO. Her responsibilities included strategic planning; program and resource development; human, technological, and financial systems; and external relations.

In 2000 Gibson was appointed President and CEO of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters which joined with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in 2001 to sponsor the first nationwide survey of the performing arts. To promote global arts exchange, Arts Presenters joined with Cultural Contact (US-Mexico Fund for Culture) to form the Gateway to the Americas Initiative, which works to create new opportunities for integrating Latin America into the promotion and expansion of the performing arts in the international arena. Art Presenters also works closely with the National Music Partnership (a collaboration with seven of Arts Presenters’ sister organizations that strives to connect music to all people by building stronger musical institutions and presenters, by creating an infrastructure of guidance and support for its constituency) and the Performing Arts Research Coalition (a collaborative project of five national arts service organizations to improve and coordinate the way performing arts organizations gather information; funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts). Gibson and husband, Steve Bittle, live in Maryland with their two sons, Geoffrey and Austin.

Lisa Hanson (BME ’77) earned a masters at Cleveland State University and D.M.A. at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has adjudicated for the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), served as clinician in Cleveland-area festivals, and is President of OMEA District 4. At Lakewood High School (Lakewood, Ohio), her Symphonic Mixed Choir has consistently received the highest ratings possible (I) in the most difficult entry class (AA) at the State OMEA Large Group Adjudicated Event. They have been invited to a variety of festivals and have performed nationally, most recently in Chicago and in old town Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. The Lakewood High School Chamber Choir and Vive L’Four (a men’s quartet), both under Hanson’s direction, performed in the rotunda of the Ohio State Capitol Building at the swearing-in ceremony for Governor Ted Strickland in January 2007. Lakewood High School’s Symphonic Mixed Choir was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall (May, 2007). email

Keith Herrmann (BM ’73) is the composer of the Broadway musical Romance/Romance, for which he received a Tony nomination and won an Outer Critics Circle Award. The show, which received a total of five Tony nominations (including Best Musical Score and Best Show) has been produced at London’s West End (at the Gielgud Theatre), and in Australia and Japan. alum photo Keith has served as composer, vocal arranger, and musical supervisor of Onward Victoria, which ran both on and Off-Broadway, and for the cult favorite Prom Queens Unchained!. He was the first pianist of Broadway’s Cats and performed on its Grammy Award winning cast album as both pianist and synthesist, later becoming its conductor as well. Other credits include work as conductor for Whoopee!, conductor and keyboardist for The Magic Show, and musical supervisor of Censored Scenes from King Kong. Keith scored the ABC-TV After School Special Taking a Stand, which resulted in an Emmy Award for its creators, and Romance/Romance for A&E (the Arts and Entertainment Network), for which he received a Telly Award. He is represented on the Tri-Star animated holiday video Buster and Chauncey’s Silent Night.

At Wittenberg, he tried out his early composing efforts with the Jazz Ensemble and with Catharsis (a rock band made up of fellow music students). As a performer, Keith has played for such notables as Joel Grey, Betty Buckley, Nell Carter, Andrea McArdle, and many others, including Wittenberg stars Catherine Cox and Jane Seaman, at Wittenberg’s Rathskeller and in New York City. Keith is stilll chasing his dream of writing a colossal Broadway hit, which could generate millions for years to come! Herrmann’s new musical Suspect enjoyed a sold-out run at the New York International Fringe Festival and his Lucky Lindy, a new musical about the aviator hero Charles Lindbergh, has just been optioned by the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia for inclusion in its 2008 season. email

Daniel Hannemann (MSM ’76) has been Director of Music Ministry at Emmanuel Lutheran Church (Lincolnton, North Carolina) since 1979. He plays for all services, directs three vocal and three handbell choirs, works with instrumentalists, and oversees an annual concert series sponsored by Friends of Music at Emmanuel. Daniel has been active on several local arts boards and on several committees of the North Carolina Synod-ELCA. He is a former dean of the Charlotte Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and a charter member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He conducts workshops on various aspects of church music and is active as a private teacher, adjudicator, accompanist, recitalist, traveler, and gardener. Hannemann marked his twenty-fifth anniversary at Emmanuel with the recording of two sacred piano CDs, A Savior is Born and Good News Piano, both available directly from Daniel Hannemann, 216 South Aspen Street, Lincolnton, NC 28092. email

Joan Holder McConnell (BM ’78) is an instructor of piano and organ, as well as staff accompanist, at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. She is organist and music coordinator at Tiffin’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Joan is married to Doug McConnell (BA ’76).

Jill Janda Kanner (BME ’71) recently retired as music teacher and department chair for Beachwood (Ohio) City Schools.

Marsha Johnson Weiss (BM ’75) earned masters degrees in music at both the New England Conservatory and Lesley University. She teaches in the Chelsea Community Schools and is a music therapist at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston.

Brian R. Larson (MSM ’78) and Barbara Kaufmann Larson (MSM ’80) live in Port Orange, Florida. Brian serves as cantor at All Saints Lutheran Church and recently served as region 2 president of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. Barbara is director of music at Emmaus Lutheran Church, in Orange City, Florida.

Rebecca Mudd Lewis (BM ’76) is an MTNA Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano, specializing in elementary through high school students. She holds a masters in piano performance and pedagogy from Northwestern University and has taught a variety of music courses at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. She is a board member of the Pittsburgh Piano Teacher Association and, as the former Pennsylvania Music Teacher Association Chair for Arts Awareness and Advocacy, she lectures and writes on the benefits of music study. Rebecca frequently adjudicates piano festivals and competitions, is published in Keyboard Companion and American Music Teacher, and reviews educational music software for Alfred Publishing. email

David Liles (MSM ’74) received a bachelors degree in church music and voice at Trevecca Nazarene University alum photo before attending Wittenberg and a D.M.A. in voice performance from Ohio State after Wittenberg. Dr. Liles has taught in public schools (in Ludlow, Kentucky) and at the Stamps-Baxter School of Gospel Music during their summer programs. Since 1969, he has served as minister of music in Ohio and Kentucky. He is currently Director of Chancel Choir and Resounding Bells at First United Methodist Church in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Liles is on the faculty of Mt Vernon Nazarene University, where (as of 2006) he has taught for 30 years. He writes: “My years at Wittenberg were life changing, especially the time I spend with Orcenith Smith and being in Wittenberg Choir, under John Williams.” email

Tamara Makdad Albrecht (BM ’77; BME ’78) is a Lecturer in music history and organ at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia, as well as Director/Instructor for alum photo the university’s Children’s Music Development Center. She is also Organist/Choirmaster at Atlanta’s St. Bede’s Episcopal Church. Ms. Albrecht received a masters degree in music from Northwestern University. She is certified in Level I Orff, Level III Early Childhood Music and Movement Association, and in Musikgarten. For over thirty years she has been active as a workshop leader for children’s church and classroom music, a studio organ and piano instructor, and a classroom teacher. In the summer of 2005 Morningstar Music Publishers released her children’s choir resource book, entitled Singing Through the Church Year. This 150-page volume includes many original compositions for the liturgical year and ideas for developing children’s choirs and youth choirs. Albrecht composed the music for the four-act play/cantata The Grief and the Promise, which recently won first prize at Unfinished Works (an international World AIDS Day competition in Los Angeles). The libretto/story was written by André Nahmias, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at Emory. The work received three performances in Atlanta in 2006. Tamara writes about her work with Nahmias: “The combination of music and text hits the core of what we’re dealing with; to me, there’s no better way than music to convey emotion. I meshed different historical styles of music: There’s organum, which is a kind of medieval chant, and there’s African drumming. There are hand bells, which are a more Western kind of instrument, and a xylophone, which is modeled after African instruments.” email

Doug McConnell (BA ’76) is Professor of Theory/Composition and Chair of the Department of Music at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio. He has also taught at Mississippi State University, St. Mary’s College, and the University of Dayton. alum photo His compositions have been performed throughout the U.S. and internationally, including Canada, England, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Russia. In the United States, Doug’s commissioned works have been premiered by the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus, Indianapolis Symphony and Chorus, and Dayton Bach Society, as well as a number of college faculty artists and ensembles. Dr. McConnell has written for a variety of performing mediums, but he especially enjoys writing for voices; his work in this area includes a variety of works for chorus. He has also composed several song cycles, including Langston’s Lot, a song cycle for tenor voice, alto saxophone, and piano based on the poetry of Langston Hughes. McConnell has composed for the theater as well: incidental music for several plays and two operatic works, including his most extended composition, Lily, a ninety-minute opera based on a short story by Walter Wangerin.

Doug has been the recipient of several teaching honors, including a Faculty Achievement Award for Undergraduate Teaching from the Mississippi State Alumni Association and a Grisham Faculty Achievement Award. He won the Composition Prize awarded by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters in recognition of his chamber composition Songs of the Beloved. Most recently, he was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Roger Wagner Choral Composition Competition for his choral piece, Look to this Day!, which was recently published by Gentry Press. The Ohio Music Teachers Association chose Doug as their Ohio Composer of the Year for 2006. For this honor, Doug has been commissioned to compose a new work; he has elected to provide a composition for piano trio, which will receive its premiere at OMTA’s state convention in Columbus, in November of 2006. Doug has enjoyed artist residencies at several institutions in the past, including the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Millay Colony for the Arts. He is most grateful to be professionally employed as a musician and teacher some thirty years after his graduation from Wittenberg. His biggest regret: “there is never enough quality time to compose, especially since I went into administration!” His primary joys: “premieres of new compositions (when I can squeeze them in) and my wonderful family.” His wife, Joan Holder McConnell (BM ’78) works with Doug on the music faculty at Heidelberg, teaching organ, music theory and aural training. Joan and Doug have two teenage daughters, Rachel and Susan. email

Yasuko Nakayama (MSM ’70) lives in Japan where she does intensive volunteer work in church music for the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC), at both the district and national level. She worked to revise the Lutheran Hymn Book in Japan in 2000 and made a Karaoke CD-ROM of all 502 hymns that includes all of the hymn texts in Japanese. She is a member of the Japan Hymn Society and a member of the working committee to represent the Lutherans, an interdenominational society that includes the Japanese Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, Cumberland, United Church of Christ, and others. She is the lead committee member of the “Lyra Precaria” of Japan, dealing with music and thanatology (matters dealing with dying, death, and grief). Yasuko has been involved in a program, new in 2006, to train students in a manner holding to the Christian faith to serve people who are suffering from a terminal disease in Japan’s non-Christian society. In addition, Yasuko has (for more than ten years) made monthly musical (singing) visits to a Lutheran senior citizen’s home. Yasuko sings a great variety of music, from classic to pops, sacred to secular. For nearly 20 years, she has served as an interpreter to many conductors, singers, and artists from overseas to perform Handel’s Messiah, in order to raise funds to help the Japan Volunteer Center assist citizens of developing countries. Yasuko Nakayama serves as an organist and choir director of the Japan Evangelical Musashino Lutheran Church, Tokyo. She is married, with three children and three grandchildren. A piano student of Yasuko, Kaoru Hoshino, recently graduated from Wittenberg. email

Anne Nispel (BM ’79) Anne Nispel is visiting assistant professor of voice at Michigan State University. alum photo She has performed more than thirty opera roles, including Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Despina in Così fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. In a review of her New York recital debut, The New York Times wrote, “Ms. Nispel has…a clear, attractive timbre, ample power and a good command of languages.… She also has a fine sense of style. In her opening group of Purcell songs and Handel arias, she sang with the crisp articulation and careful shading modern performances of Baroque music require. [Her singing] had a charged, dramatic quality, and the soprano brought a silky sensuousness to…Poulenc’s ‘Courte Paille’.” Anne has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Alabama Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Lansing Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Pennsylvania Festival Orchestra, and Virginia Symphony. She has performed more than thirty leading roles with opera companies throughout the U.S., including the Kentucky Opera, Virginia Opera, Mississippi Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Portland Opera, Kansas City Lyric Opera, Cleveland Opera, Opera Company of Mid-Michigan, Chattanooga Opera, Dayton Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Toledo Opera. Anne made her Canadian debut with a series of concerts at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec. In conjunction with baritone Harlan Jennings, Anne has released a CD of American Art Songs entitled Crosslights of American Song.

Mary Kay Olson Lake (BM ’72), soprano, is Director of Opera Workshop and Assistant Professor of Voice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. alum photo She did graduate work at Northwestern University and earned a earned a masters degree at Ohio State. Her voice teachers and coaches have included Richard Alderson, Paul Hickfang, Helen Swank, Barbara Corbin, and Walter Foster. Her operatic training was with Michael Chang, John Gay, and Boris Goldovsky. Mary Kay is an active recitalist and soloist, and she performs opera and musical theater roles in regional and university opera theaters. She has sung with the Cecilian Singers, the Tuesday Musical Club Women’s Chorus, and the Huntsville Bach Choir. Lake has performed as guest soloist with the SHSU Chorale (at the 2006 Texas Music Educators Association Convention), the SHSU Wind Quintet (at the 2005 International Flute Convention), the Houston Masterworks Chorus, and the Brazos Symphony Orchestra. Prior to teaching at Sam Houston State, Mary Kay taught at Ohio State and North Harris College. In addition to her teaching duties, she has served as music director and pianist/organist for several churches in the Woodlands, Texas area. email

Robert C. Oster (BME ’74) teaches at Jenison Junior and Senior High Schools in Jenison, Michigan, where he directs a male chorus for grades 7-9, alum photo a treble choir, chorale, and advanced women’s chorus, and teaches a 7th-grade general music class called “Music In Our Lives,” based on a curriculum that he designed and wrote. Before Jenison, he served as director of vocal music for grades 7-12 for Lakewood Public Schools in Lake Odessa, Michigan (from 1974 to 2000). Since 1999, Bob has served as a member of the Michigan School Vocal Music Association’s executive board of directors (where he has been in charge of state events), and he is currently active as an adjudicator, guest conductor, and clinician throughout Michigan. In 2000 and 2005, he was invited to be an adjudicator for UNIFEST, a music festival held at the University of Saskatchewan; he was elected to conduct state honors choirs in 1987 (SATB, high school) and 1996 (SATB, junior high and middle school); and he was the recipient of MSVMA’s Carolyn Leep Scholarship in 1992. Bob was a finalist for Michigan Teacher of the Year in 1998, and the Michigan School Vocal Music Association honored him as their Teacher of the Year in 2004. He is artistic director and conductor of the Lakewood Area Choral Society, an adult choir that he founded in 1986 that now has over 120 members. Robert Oster received a masters degree at Western Michigan University in 1981 (with choral emphasis) and a DMA in choral conducting at Michigan State University in 1995. He and his wife Joanie live in Hastings, Michigan. email

Paul Otte (MSM ’75) is Minister of Music at Peace Lutheran Church in Hutchinson, Minnesota, having previously served parishes in Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri. Paul has written for The Choral Journal, Cross Accents, and Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish. His music has been published by Belwin-Mills, Augsburg-Fortress, and Concordia Publishing House. Paul has been active in the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians since its inception, directs the Crow River Singers, and serves on the board of the Crow River Area Youth Orchestra. He writes, “Wittenberg was very formative for my career in church music. Friendships and colleagues from those days continue to be major influences in my life and that of my family.” email

Jeffrey Pannebaker (MSM ’74) is Director of Music and Linda Haines Pannebaker (BM ’72, MSM ’74) is Director of Children’s Choirs, both at Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. alum photo Jeffrey received a bachelors degree in music education from Penn State and a masters and Ph.D. (in historical musicology) from the University of Pittsburgh. His teachers have included June Miller, Frederick Jackisch, Trudy Faber, Jan Bender, and William Haller. Dr. Pannebaker served as Director of Music and Christian Education at First Lutheran Church in Johnstown, Pennsylvania from 1974 until 1988. He is an Associate in Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, he served two terms as National Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of the 2005 Biennial Conference. He has presented workshops, organ recitals, and hymn festivals throughout the eastern United States. His doctoral dissertation, “Early Lutheran Music in America: The Hymnody of the General Synod,” examines the hymn repertory of the English-language Lutheran Churches that composed the General Synod in nineteenth-century America. alum photo In addition to her Wittenberg degrees, Linda Haines Pannebaker studied church music at the Kirchenmusikschule in Berlin, Germany. Her teachers have included Frederick Jackisch, Trudy Faber, Jan Bender, and Karl Hochreither. She served as Director of Music at First English Lutheran Church (Lockport, New York) from 1974 until 1976 and as Junior Choir Director at First Lutheran Church (Johnstown, Pennsylvania) from 1977 until 1988. She is an Associate in Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In addition to directing the children’s choirs, she is a pre-school teacher and music resource person for the Saint Luke Christian Day School. Linda has led children’s choir workshops in several synods. The Pannebakers are parents of two children, Emily and Aaron.

Lourin Plant (BME ’76) is Assistant Professor at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, where he teaches conducting, choral literature, and studio voice. He has served as coordinator of the vocal division and conductor of the Rowan University Concert Choir and Chamber Choir. Ensembles under his direction have performed at regional music conferences, at the New Jersey State Legislature (four appearances), and at Carnegie Hall (three appearances). Plant earned a masters and D.M.A. in choral conducting at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He has served as Assistant Director of the Chicago Children’s Choir and has taught at Sinclair Community College (Ohio) and Humboldt State University (California). alum photo Dr. Plant is a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Marian Anderson Guild, American Choral Directors Association, and New Jersey Music Educators Association.

Dr. Plant performs regularly both as countertenor and baritone. He has performed with the Cincinnati Opera, Dayton Opera, Philadelphia Classical Symphony, Voces Novae et Antiquae (Philadelphia), and Piffaro (a Renaissance band); in the touring ensembles of Michael Crawford, Barbra Streisand, and Russell Watson; and at the Cincinnati May Festival and Amherst Early Music Festival. He has performed in ensembles with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and with the Philadelphia Singers Chorale (at the Philadelphia Academy of Music). Dr. Plant’s presentations on African-American spirituals have been featured in state, regional, and international conferences, and his articles have appeared in the Journal of Singing (National Association of Teachers of Singing) and in the magazine Classical Singer. His conducting, Renaissance harp playing, and solo and choral singing are featured on the CD Magdalene and the Other Mary: Songs of Holy Women (Church Publishing, 2005). During a concert tour of Ukraine, Plant performed African-American spirituals at conservatories in Kharkiv, Poltava, and Sumy. email

Susan Potter Phillips (BME ’77) is a music therapist at Baptist Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Robin Rausch (BM ’78) is a Music Specialist at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. A piano major at Wittenberg, she went on to earn graduate degrees in music history (Bowling Green State University, Ohio) and library science (University of Maryland, College Park). She is a contributing author to A Place for the Arts: the MacDowell Colony 1907-2007 (2007); American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States (2001); and Music History from Primary Sources: A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives (2000). From 2001 to 2002 she was a fellow in the Library of Congress Leadership Development Program. She served as Assistant Music Librarian of the Edinburgh City Library in Scotland during a one-year job exchange from 1996-1997. While living in Edinburgh she sang with both the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus. Robin has sung with the Choral Arts Society of Washington since 1991.

Steve Rich (BM ’77) received a masters degree in music education in 1984 at the University of South Carolina. alum photo He is an active clarinetist and saxophonist, and he performs in many styles, including classical, pop, Dixieland, modern jazz, and big band. Steve has performed across much of the midwest and Canada with the Buddy Young Orchestra and he has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, the Port Royal Sound Dixieland Jazz Band, Cheryl at Cheryl’s Le Cabaret, Terry Grant (“All That Jazz”), Fred Nimmer’s Swingtime Orchestra, the John Fox Orchestra, the John Bell Orchestra, and many other groups.

Dale and Twila Rider (MSM ’73) were, to their knowledge, Wittenberg’s only husband-wife Master of Sacred Music graduates during the program’s existence. Dale initially pursued study at Wittenberg for coaching in composition with Professor Jan Bender. Dale and Twila Rider were assigned housing as backdoor neighbors of Jan and Charlotte Bender and enjoyed teasing “The Professor” after getting him to admit to what they saw him do several mornings in the fall: Jan picked up and counted 1,000 beautiful fall leaves (all before breakfast) and then completed his morning routine of composing a minimum of 10 measures of music before taking a jaunt to the School of Music for lessons or classes. Dale served Dr. Frederick Jackisch as Graduate Teaching Assistant and was Chapel Organist from 1971 to 1973. Both Dale and Twila studied with Professor John Williams (choral conducting) and with Dr. William Walters and Elmer Blackmer (graduate research and numerous courses on church music). alum photo And they greatly enjoyed studying voice with the ever-popular Aurora Smith (who, because of her education at Union Theological Seminary, brought her students into the teacher-student lineage of Dr. Clarence Dickinson, whom she served as graduate teaching assistant in New York City).

The Riders share many fond memories of very special Witt faculty, students, and events. Dale cherishes the memory of being asked to work with and accompany vocal music chair Dr. Orcenith Smith in two off-campus concerts and being mentored in music publishing by Rev. Dr. Frederick and Georgia Otto at Chantry Music Press. This association led to the Riders’ apprenticeship at Henniger Music Engraving Studio in Wiesbaden, West Germany (during the summer of 1974) and the establishment of Rider Music Graphics and White Harvest Music Publications. Subsequent engraving work included projects for Augsburg-Fortress, Chantry, Concordia, Broude Brothers, White Harvest, and Herald House (publishing division of the RLDS/Community of Christ denomination for which they engraved the 1981 volume Hymns of the Saints). Both Dale and Twila have combined work for schools and universities with church music posts (as organists and choir directors with combined positions in ELCA, Episcopal, American Baptist, Disciple of Christ and RLDS churches). For many years, the Riders were members of the Board of Directors of the Independence Concert Series which hosted Professor Trudy Faber in a wonderfully performed concert of harpsichord and organ music at the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri. Both Dale and Twila have served as volunteer staff organists for more than twenty years at RLDS/Community of Christ world headquarters, presenting half-hour demo organ recitals and playing for worship services at The Temple and The Auditorium, whose 5,800-seat Conference Chamber is home to the 114-rank Æolian-Skinner pipe organ installed in 1959, which was the voice for 37 consecutive years of the radio broadcast “The Auditorium Organ.” The Riders have two daughters, both of whom love and make music: Anna Elizabeth (very active in musical theater and ballet) and Tiffany Noel (a publication design specialist). email Dale, email Twila

Constance Rhyne-Bray (BM ’74) earned a masters in music at Florida State University. She is Instructor of Music and Director of Opera Theatre at Queens University of Charlotte (North Carolina). email

Peggy Lockman Sanders (BME ’73) is minister of music at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Laura, Ohio.

Carol Sargent (BM ’72) is a member of Schola Cantorum on Hudson (in Jersey City, New Jersey), and serves on their board of directors as vice-chairman. In addition, she is Director of Advancement at Far Brook School, an independent, coeducational day school in Short Hills, New Jersey. email

Jane Scharding Smedley (MSM ’76) has been Organist-Choirmaster since 1980 at St. Peter Catholic Church, the oldest Catholic church in Memphis, Tennessee. The church has a 1923 Casavant pipe organ with four manuals and 34 ranks, as well as a four-rank portative chapel organ. A former dean of the Memphis chapter of AGO (American Guild of Organists), Jane now serves as the chapter’s Placement Coordinator and chair of the Scholarship Committee. She holds the CAGO (Colleague) and ChM (Choir Master) certificates from AGO. In 1992, Jane was named Member of the Year by the Director of Music Ministries Division of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the organization for musicians serving in the Catholic Church. Jane is married to Dr. Bruce Smedley, a musicologist and choral conductor. Both serve on the Board of Directors of the Sewanee Church Music Conference. email

John F. Schuder (BM ’70) received a Master of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary in 1972 and a D.M.A. at the Juilliard School in 1978. He has served as Minister of Music of the Scarsdale Congregational Church since 1972 and he also serves as Director of Music of The Interchurch Center in New York City, where he administers a Wednesday Noonday Concert Series, directs the Interchurch Center Chorus, and plays for major services. In addition, he is organist at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, also in New York City. From 1982 to 1997, Schuder was on the organ faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

Jane Seaman (BA ’72) received a Professional Diploma in Voice and Opera at the Juilliard School. alum photo She teaches voice in the Theatre Arts Department at Marymount Manhattan College. In fall 2006, she taught in the Department of Drama, Theatre, and Dance at Queens College, teaching their Musical Theatre Workshop and she has taught at LaGuardia High School as director of Opera Workshop. Jane has taught for the Collaborative Arts Project 21 in Manhattan, at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, for the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s “Creating Original Opera” program, and she continues to teach private vocal technique at Jane Seaman’s International Voice Studio. Michael Feingold (in The Village Voice) wrote, “The best performance [in Street Scene] is by Jane Seaman, as the frustrated heroine: Here is a performer whose singing is never an excuse to stop acting for a moment, and whose acting is never a cover for musical inferiority.” Jane is a member of the New York Singing Teachers’ Association, Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and United Federation of Teachers. email

Karie Schroer Templeton (BME ’76) earned a masters in music at Ithaca College and has done additional graduate study at the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester). She is instructor for middle school choral and musical theater programs at Pittsford Middle School, choral instructor for Music Horizons, and teaches at the Eastman Community Music School. Karie has been active with the Eastman Children’s Chorus, Eastman Youth Chamber Singers, and Eastman Children’s Choir Camp.

Linda Siegfried McClarren (MSM ’71) She received her BME from Mt. Union, Alliance, Ohio. She retired after 35 years as an elementary music teacher at West Branch School in Beloit, Ohio. She is organist and director of music at Kountz Memorial Lutheran Church in Louisville, Ohio.

James B. Snell (NME ’79) is music supervisor and choir director with the Orange School District in northern Ohio.

Philip Spencer (BM ’75) is Professor in the Fine Arts Department of Joliet Junior College (Illinois), alum photo where he is conductor of the JJC Chorale and director of choral and vocal music. He teaches world music, beginning voice class, applied voice, and applied jazz piano. Prior to JJC, Spencer was chair of the music department at Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa, and a full-time church musician in several Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois congregations. Spencer earned a masters degree in music at Yale University, has completed an academic year of music study in Berlin, Germany, and has done doctoral work in choral conducting and pedagogy at the University of Iowa. He has composed works for many of his choirs and his music has been published by Augsburg Fortress and Choristers Guild. As an active conductor, organist, and educator, Spencer has regularly appeared as guest artist and workshop leader. He is active in the American Choral Directors Association and serves on the Illinois ACDA Board of Directors as South Suburban District Chair. email

Ruth A. Stoltzfus (BM ’71), at right, is Program Coordinator at the School of Music of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. alum photo She earned a masters in music at the University of Iowa and did post-graduate work at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik (in Detmold, Germany) and at Yale University. email

Janet L. Sturman (BM ’78), below, serves as Associate Professor in the School of Music and Dance at the University of alum photo Arizona and sits on the Board of Directors of the Society for Ethnomusicology. She earned a masters degree at Hunter College in 1980 and a Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1987. At the University of Arizona, Janet coordinates the honors program for the School of Music, serves as culture track advisor for the International Studies degree, and teaches courses in ethnomusicology, musicology, and general studies. She is the author of Zarzuela: Spanish Operetta, American Stage, published the University of Illinois Press in 2000. Her other publications and research focus on Latin American and the traditions of the southwest U.S., addressing the relationship between musical performance and ethnic identity, as well as the impact of technology and transnational economies. As a recent consultant and visiting professor at the University of Costa Rica, School of Musical Arts, she has begun studying the role of music performance and scholarship in economic development in Central America. email

Jordan Tang (MSM ’71) earned a masters degree in composition at Cleveland Institute of Music in 1973, and a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Utah in 1979. He taught for several years on the faculty of Missouri State University (Springfield, Missouri), teaching theory and composition and conducting. Next, he was conductor of the Charlotte Pops Orchestra and Music Director Youth Symphony of the Carolinas. Jordan is now Music Director of the Jackson Symphony (Tennessee) and the Music Director Paducah Symphony (Kentucky). He has also made conducting appearances with the Nashville and Memphis Symphonies and with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, including recording his own symphony No. 3. email

Karen S. Weaver (BM ’79) teaches music in Seven Hills, Ohio.

Wayne L. Wold (MSM ’79) is Associate Professor at Hood College (Frederick, Maryland), where he has been teaching music theory, composition, organ, and harpsichord since 1990. alum photo He is active as a church musician, composer, author, performer, and clinician. Wayne serves as Director of Chapel Music at Camp David, the presidential retreat, and has over 200 compositions published by fourteen different companies in the U.S. and Australia. These compositions include 20 volumes of works for organ, 30 choir anthems, a children’s musical, a recorder suite, and several hymn tunes. Wold is also a published poet, and many of his hymn and anthem texts are in print and widely used. He performs on organ and harpsichord as a soloist and in ensembles, and he leads several hymn festivals each year. He has performed at New York City’s Lincoln Center and with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and in several churches in Germany, Austria, and France. He has served as a clinician for the Choristers Guild, the American Guild of Organists, the Hymn Society, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and numerous publishing companies. He has been president of Region One of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (for four years), has been on the editorial committee of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, and is past dean of the Central Maryland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Wayne holds a bachelors degree from Concordia College (Moorhead Minn.), an M.S.M. degree from Wittenberg, and a D.M.A. from Shenandoah University (Winchester, Va.). He is the author of two books, Tune My Heart to Sing: Devotions for Choirs Based on the Revised Common Lectionary and Preaching to the Choir: The Care and Nurture of the Church Choir, both published by Augsburg Fortress. email

Pamela Yarnell (MSM ’78) teaches piano as Adjunct Instructor at the College of Wooster. Before receiving her MSM degree at Wittenberg, Pamela received a bachelors degree in music at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Pamela has served as full-time and part-time organist and choir director at many churches in Michigan and Ohio, and she performs regularly as solo recitalist, chamber musician, and accompanist to collegiate choirs and opera companies. email

Stephen Yenger (BM ’75) is chair of the piano department and coordinator of faculty and guest recitals at the Community Music Center of Boston. He received a masters degree in music at Boston University. email

1960s

Douglas J. Bower (BM ’69) recorded an album of Christmas music with the Jackson High School Choral Department of Massillon, Ohio, for Delta Records of Chicago. Each year, Delta chooses one high school choir in the Midwest to make their Christmas album. Mr. Bower provided the organ accompaniment.

Patricia J. Deihl (BS in Music Education ’61), a retired music teacher, directs a community choir that sings in churches and nursing homes, as well as a festival choir that has toured the United States and Europe.

Margaret Frease Steele (BME ’62) has taught vocal music for many years, first for two years in Springfield and then (after raising two sons), in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, starting in 1978 (while also directing choirs in Cleveland and Detroit). She has sung with semi-professional choirs in Wisconsin and Michigan. Margaret writes, “Perhaps one of my most memorable opportunities was to sing with Robert Shaw in Cleveland as part of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. I sang with the group the two years that Shaw lived in Cleveland and conducted every rehearsal; he personally auditioned all members every year. Each week he gave us notes and comments which pertained to the music we were preparing. The week after one particularly poor rehearsal, his comments were in the shape of a dagger. Those are cherished keepsakes.” Margaret retired in June, 2006, after working in Grosse Pointe for 28 years. Her years included service as elementary music teacher, high school choral director, music department chair, and music supervisor, culminating in the position of fine arts coordinator for the district. email

John F. Geib (BM ’68) is music director at Epiphany Episcopal Church in south Florida.

Sarai Grimes-Rader (BM, MSM ’68) is retired after serving as a professional church musician in Springfield, Ohio, churches over forty-two years. She also served as staff accompanist and instructor in the Music Department at Wittenberg. She and her husband, Don, reside in Rogers City, Michigan, where they enjoy sailing their racing yacht, White Cat and cruising the Great Lakes. email