October 2011

Dance | Drama | Music

Dance

2010s

In August, Billy Barry (BFA ’11) joined Batsheva Ensemble, the junior company of Tel Aviv’s Batsheva Dance Company, and is touring Germany with the company this fall. 

In August, Craig Black (BFA ’11), who has joined Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, received the 2011 Lorna Strassler Award for Student Excellence, which includes a full scholarship for a professional advancement program at the School at Jacob’s Pillow, in Becket, Mass., plus a $2,500 stipend. 

Brittanie Brown (BFA ’11) and Arika Yamada (BFA ’09) participated in the creation of Company XIV’s Pinocchio: A Fantasy of Pleasures before taking part in a 24-performance run of the piece at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland. (For more Arika Yamada news, see 2000s.)

Julia Eichten (BFA ’11) was one of four choreographers in the 2011 Bessie Schönberg Individual Choreographers’ Residency program at the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard this past summer. For the culmination of the residency she presented a new work in early September and then returned to New York City to reset her senior production piece, Julie, at the 2011 Dumbo (Brooklyn) Dance Festival. Eichten has also joined Aszure Barton & Artists and will take part in the company’s U.S. tour in October and November. 

Alex Hille (BFA ’11) is now dancing with BJM Danse Montréal. 

After graduation, Jehbreal Jackson (BFA ’11) played Thad in Hairspray (July 22-August 13) at the Theater by the Sea in Matunuch, R.I.; he is now dancing with the Dance Theater of Harlem ensemble. 

Chuck Jones (BFA ’11) is dancing with Nederlands Dans Theater II, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands. 

Haylee Nichele (BFA ’11) worked with choreographers Kate Watson-Wallace and Charlotte Griffin (BFA ’97) during the Bessie Schönberg Individual Choreographers’ Residency at the Yard on Martha’s Vineyard this past summer. In September Nichele performed in Alien Suns, a short rock opera by musician and sculptor Rachel Mason, at New York City’s Dixon Place. 

Since graduation Gabrielle Salvatto (BFA ’11) has worked on a project with Company XIV; she also did an apprenticeship with Santa Monica Contemporary Ballet and KORdance in August. 

Cara Seymour (BFA ’11) has joined Momix, which will perform at New York City’s Joyce Theater in December. 

Grace Song (BFA ’11) has joined the Martha Graham Dance Company and is touring with it this fall in in Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, Turkey, Israel, and Italy. 

Zack Tang (BFA ’11) has joined Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco and is touring with the company nationally before embarking on its spring tour in Europe.

Kamille Upshaw (BFA ’11) is currently dancing with Rasta Thomas’s Bad Boys of Dance and will also be in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Faust, which runs from November 29 to January 19. 

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2000s

Brandon Cournay (BFA ’09) is dancing with both Morphoses and Keigwin + Company’s extended company.

Amaker Smith (BFA ’09) made his Broadway debut in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and also took part in the national tour of Dream Girls. 

Evan Teitelbaum (BFA ’09) is now dancing with Brian Brooks Moving Company

Arika Yamada (BFA ’09) choreographed and is dancing in Lotus Lives, a one-act chamber opera by Su Lian Tan (MM ’88, composition) that was commissioned by Middlebury College, where it is being performed through October 2. Yamada dances with Gallim Dance and will participate in a new work with that company as part of the conclusion of its one-year residency at the J.C.C. in Manhattan. 

The Trey McIntyre Project dance company, which includes members Chanel da Silva (BFA ’08), Lauren Edson (BFA ’03), and Brett Perry (BFA ’08), are the subject of the cover story of the August issue of Dance Magazine. The company performed at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series in August.

In July, Adam H. Weinert (BFA ’08) served as artistic associate and performed in choreographer’s Jonah Bokaer’s On Vanishing, which was created as a site-specific work for the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in response to the New York City museum’s exhibition “Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity.” 

Corey Scott Gilbert (BFA ’05) has left Alonzo King’s San Francisco-based Lines Ballet and is dancing with Cirque du Soleil. 

Gallim Dance founder and artistic director Andrea Miller (BFA ’04) taught a weeklong workshop on modern technique and Gallim Dance repertory at the Peridance Center in New York City. Next month, Miller takes her company to Summation Dance’s education and outreach festival Dancing Literate to perform excerpts from I can see myself in your Pupil. The festival will be presented at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Miller was one of five dancers featured in an August article in Dance Magazine called “The Turning Point: Five dancers on how they chose the college that was right for them.”

Shannon Gillen (BFA ’03) is teaching at Dance New Amsterdam in New York City. 

Anne Zivolich (BFA ’00), a member of San Francisco’s ODC/Dance, performed with the company, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, at New York City’s  Joyce Theater in August.  

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1990s

In August, John Heginbotham (BFA ’93), who dances with Mark Morris Dance Group, presented his work Closing Bell at the Inside/Out series at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Mass. (For more on Heginbotham, see the Q&A.)

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Drama

2000s

Laura-Leigh (Group 37), a.k.a. Laura L. Moser, appeared in John Carpenter’s film The Ward, written by Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen, which was released in the U.S. in May by ARC Entertainment.

In August, Breakfast, by Yusef Miller (Playwrights ’07), was presented at the Red Room in New York City. The play was developed through the Horse Trade Theater Group and directed by Zoey Martinson.

Sam Gold (Directing ’06) directed Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Williamstown (Mass.) Theater Festival in July.

Michael Markham (Group 35) appeared in a staged reading of David Ian Lee’s The Curing Room at Manhattan Theater Source in August.

Rutina Wesley (Group 34) is appearing in Jeff Talbott’s The Submission through October 22. The play, directed by Walter Bobbie, is at the M.C.C. Theater in New York City.

Recent films featuring Jessica Chastain (Group 32) include The Debt (Focus Features), which was directed by John Madden and written by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman, and Peter Straughan; and The Help (Dreamworks), which stars Viola Davis (Group 22) and also features Nelsan Ellis (Group 33).

In August, the Muse of Fire Theater Company presented an As You Like It, directed by Jemma Alix Levy (Directing ’00), in Ingraham Park, Evanston, Ill.

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1990s

Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling by Adam Rapp (Playwrights ’99) is at New York City’s Atlantic Theater Company through October 30. The production is directed by Neil Pepe.

In July, Gregory Wooddell (Group 27) and Jesse Perez (Group 29) appeared in Shakespeare on the Sound’s Much Ado About Nothing in Rowayton and Greenwich, Conn., in June and July. The production was directed by Joanna Settle (Directing ’97).

Enid Graham (Group 21) will appear in the Public Theater’s production of King Lear, which is directed by James MacDonald, from October 18 to November 20 at the Public’s Newman Theater. 

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1980s

In August, Allen Gilmore (Group 11), V. Craig Heidenreich (Group 9), and Richard Ziman (Group 10) performed in Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s repertory productions of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part One and The Three Musketeers, adapted by Linda Alper (Group 4), Douglas Langworthy, and Penny Metropulos from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. Henry IV was directed by Scott Wentworth and Musketeers was directed by Art Manke. Both productions took place in the Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen Theater in Santa Cruz, Calif. Marco Barricelli (Group 11) is the artistic director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

Four Juilliard alums were nominated for Emmy Awards. Andre Braugher (Group 17) was nominated for supporting actor in a drama for Men of a Certain Age; William Hurt (Group 5) for lead actor in a mini-series or movie for Too Big to Fail; Laura Linney (Group 19) for lead actress in a comedy for The Big C; and Elizabeth McGovern (Group 12) for lead actress in a mini-series or movie for Downton Abbey.

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1970s

Franklyn Seales (Group 3) is the subject of a new biography, Franklyn V.E. Seales, Life of an Artist, by Jean M. Dorsinville (iUniverse Publishing).

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Music

2010s

Quentin Kim (MM ’03, DMA ’10, piano) has been appointed assistant professor of piano at Pusan National University in South Korea. 

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2000s

This past January, Jessica Oudin (MM ’08, viola) began as section violist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

In April, Aaron Diehl (BM ’07, jazz studies) was named the 2011 Cole Porter Fellow in Jazz. The $50,000 prize includes a record deal with Mack Avenue Records and international performance opportunities.

Miranda Cuckson (Pre-College ’90; BM ’94, MM’01, DMA ’06, violin) performed Luigi Nono’s La lontananza nostalgia utopica futura with sound artist Chris Burns at New York City’s James Memorial Chapel at Union Theological Seminary as part of the Nono, MuchMore Warped festival in September. 

On September 20, cellist Alisa Weilerstein (Barnard-Columbia-Juilliard Exchange ’04) was named a 2011 MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Commonly known as the “genius award,” the no-strings-attached grant comes with support of $500,000 over five years. Weilerstein was one of 22 fellows selected this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

In May, Sony Classical announced a long-term recording agreement with David Greilsammer (BM ’02, MM ’04, piano), and his recording of Baroque and contemporary works for solo piano will be released in early 2012. In February, Greilsammer made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony performing Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 5 in D Major and No. 8 in C Major under the baton of Bernard Labadie. In May, he was a soloist with Switzerland’s Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen. In June, Greilsammer conducted the Geneva Chamber Orchestra at the Istanbul Music Festival and performed at the Théâtre du Nord in France’s Lille Piano(s) Festival. 

Young-Ah Tak ( BM ’01, piano) performed a recital at Hoam Art Hall in Seoul in April and at the Busan National University in Busan, South Korea in June.  In July, she was invited to teach and perform at the Piano at Peabody keyboard workshop at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.

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1990s

In July, Brian Resnick (BM ’97, MM ’99, percussion) began his new position as a partner at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. 

Viviana Guzman (MM ’90, flute) recently recorded an album of music for flute and guitar with guitarist Jeremy Jouve. The album is scheduled to be released in January under the Reference Recordings label. In August, Guzman’s 3-D music video received its North American premiere at the Moraga (Calif.) Jazz Festival. Later that month, she performed at the 39th annual National Flute Association in North Carolina and also gave a solo recital at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

In August, Anne Akiko Meyers (Pre-College ’87; Certificate ’90, violin) played the National Anthem for an audience of 42,000 at the Mariners-Red Sox game at Seattle’s Safeco Field. Later that month, she appeared in a live broadcast of ABC’s Windy City Live in Chicago and played a solo recital at Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall in Highland Park, Ill. The recital featured works by J.S. Bach, Jakub Ciupinski (MM ’08), Juilliard faculty member John Corigliano, Arvo Part, Astor Piazzolla, Ravel, and Somei Satoh.

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1980s

The Vecchione/Erdahl Duo, whose members are oboist Carrie Vecchione and double bassist Rolf Erdahl, performed a recital of music by Tim Goplerud (MM ’84, double bass) at the 2011 International Society of Bassists Conference at San Francisco State University in June. The following month, Goplerud’s Prelude, Prophecy and a Prayer was premiered by the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra as part of its 25th-anniversary celebration. The performance took place at Weber Music Hall at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. 

In July, the Park Avenue Chamber Orchestra, led by David Bernard (Pre-College ’82), received this year’s American Prize in Orchestral Performance for the community orchestra division. In May, Bernard led the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 at Avery Fisher Hall. In December, he and the orchestra will tour China.

Sara Davis Buechner (BM ’80, MM ’81, piano) gave two performances of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto in July with the San Francisco Symphony, at the Stern Grove Festival and Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Also in July, she performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the National Academy Orchestra in Hamilton, Ontario. In June, she gave a recital at the Atherton Performing Arts Studio in Honolulu, which was broadcast on Hawaii Public Radio. The following month, Buechner performed music of Joaquín Turina with the San Jose (Calif.) Chamber Orchestra at Le Petit Trianon Theater in San Jose. This month, she will be giving recitals at Baruch College in Manhattan; Bargemusic in Brooklyn; the Kay Meek Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia; the Wahler Bay Lodge in Galiano Island, British Columbia; and University of Vermont in Burlington. She will also be performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major with the Binghamton (N.Y.) Philharmonic at the Anderson Center Osterhout Concert Theater. She will appear with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks in a program of 1920s novelty music at New York City’s Club Cache. In September, she launched saradavisbuechner.com.

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1970s

Kenneth Frazelle’s (BM ’78, composition) Songs in the Rear View Mirror was performed by Anthony Dean Griffey (Advanced Certificate ’95, voice) and pianist Warren Jones at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater in May. The previous month, Frazelle’s first large-scale choral work, The Motion of Stone, received its North Carolina premiere at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts’ Crawford Hall, with James Allbritten conducting. In August, Frazelle was a composer-in-residence at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East in Bennington, Vt. At the conference, his Winter Turn received its premiere and his Piano Trio was performed by the artist faculty. 

In July, Victoria Bond’s (MM ’75, DMA ’77, composition) Trio: Other Selves was performed at Brooklyn’s Bargemusic by Trio Vela, whose members include Amy Barston (MM ’98, cello), pianist Olga Vinokur, and Asmira Woodward-Page (MM ’01, violin). 

In August, Jed Distler (Pre-College ’74) hosted the Mano-a-Mano Festival at the Cornelia Street Café in New York City. It included a recital by Jerome Kuderna (Pre-College, ’65; ’68, piano) featuring the works of Alden Jenks, Elliot Carter, and Milton Babbitt; a jazz and classical performance by William Komaiko (BM ’70, piano, MM ’72, ’77, composition) and bassist Dick Sarpola; and a performance of Simeon Ten Holt’s Canto Ostinato by Distler and Jung Lin (Pre-College ’92; BM ’96, piano). 

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1960s

Anthony J. Cirone’s (BS ’64, MS ’65, percussion) new book, The Great American Symphony Orchestra: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Its Artistry, Passion, and Heartache, was released in August. 

On October 12, Julie Holtzman (Postgraduate Diploma ’61, piano) will be performing music of George Gershwin, Billy Strayhorn, and Duke Ellington at New York City’s Metropolitan Room with bassist Boots Maleson and drummer Craig Haynes. 

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1950s

In August, Henry Grimes (’54, double bass) performed with his quartet, the Henry Grimes Now! Quartet, at New York City’s Black River Cultural Center as a celebration for the release of his latest album, My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains. 

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1940s

Gerald Fried (BS ’48, oboe) wrote the music and text for the show Spark, Shmark?, which had a two-week run in June at the Greer Garson Theater in Santa Fe, N.M. In July, Fried conducted and recorded his original score for the motion picture What?, which is in production with Duchy Parade Films, also in Santa Fe. 

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