Annual Masterworks concert April 18 to feature chorus, orchestra and alumni soloists

The School of Music at SUNY Fredonia will present its annual Masterworks Scholarship Benefit Concert by the College Symphony Orchestra and Masterworks Chorus on April 18, 2010 at 4 p.m. in King Concert Hall.

Combining the talents of instrumental and vocal students with faculty and alumni soloists under the direction of Dr. David Rudge, the concert will feature Variations on a Theme by Haydn by Johannes Brahms and Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

This years’ Masterworks Scholarship Benefit Concert includes a distinguished cast of soloists from across the country including soprano Barbara Kilduff (’81), faculty member and mezzo-soprano Laurie Tramuta (’82), tenor Alan Schnieder, and baritone Erik Angerhofer (’02). The Masterworks Chorus, consisting of over 100 student performers, has been prepared by Dr. Gwendolyn Coleman Detwiler.

Completed just three years before the composer’s death in 1824, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the best-known and revered works from the 19th century. Much longer than previous symphonic works and the first to utilize voices, the symphony had a profound impact on future composers such as Wagner, Mahler and Brahms. Beethoven had first thought of setting Fredrich Schiller’s poem “An die Freude” (“To Joy”) in 1793 at the age of 22, but it wasn’t until a year before the completion of the symphony that he wrote the theme that is introduced in the massive fourth movement that has been described as a “symphony within a symphony.”

“Beethoven sets the voice more like an instrument, he doesn’t set it keeping in mind the limitations of the vocal instrument,” said director of the Masterworks Chorus, Detwiler. “It’s not that the vocal parts are so long, but the vocal range is extremely challenging.” Rudge, added “It’s really encouraging to have the forces to do this work.” “For many people who haven’t played a Beethoven Symphony, to start with Beethoven’s 9th is really a privilege.”

At the time Brahms was completing Variations on a Theme by Haydn, he had already published several well-received sets of variations on themes of Schumann, Handel, and Paganini, but this work marked the turning point in his career as an orchestral composer. In 1870, Brahms was shown a set of wind divertimenti that were assumed to have been written by Joseph Haydn (but were more likely written by a student of his) and he copied down the tune from one of the works. He finished a two-piano set of variations for himself and pianist Clara Schumann in 1873 and finished the orchestral version soon after. Consisting of a theme followed by eight variations and a finale, the Variations is the first set of independent variations for orchestra by any composer.

Artist Biographies:
Dr. David Rudge, Director of Orchestral Activities, conductor of Opera at the State University of New York at Fredonia, and Music Director of the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra, has conducted orchestras on five continents to critical acclaim. As Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Guatemala he was credited with the dramatic rebirth of that orchestra. Described as “dynamic” and “electric,” Guatemala’s Prensa Libre wrote “it has been many years since we have heard a symphony orchestra play with such inspiration.”

Dr. Rudge founded the Eastminster Chamber Orchestra, and was Assistant Conductor of the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Columbia Lyric Opera and Ballet, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. During that time he was noted for his “Bernstein-like intensity” by The State, Columbia, SC. He was chosen several times to prepare the Beethoven Chamber Orchestra for the International Workshop for Conductors in ZlÌn, Czech Republic. He has guest conducted the West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra in Mariánské Lázne, CR, and, as a two time winner of the International Opera Conductors’ Competition, he was invited to conduct a complete production at the Silesian State Opera in the Czech Republic, and to lead the Vratza Philharmonic in Bulgaria.

Dr. Gwendolyn Coleman Detwiler is currently an Associate Professor of Voice at the State University of New York at Fredonia School of Music. As a choral conductor, Dr. Detwiler founded the SUNY Fredonia Women’s Choir and has been an active participant in the restructuring of the current Masterworks Chorus. In 2001, the Women’s Choir received the Culture of Peace Convocation Grant to commission and debut Let Evening Come by esteemed American composer, Gwyneth Walker. Last season, the choir performed the world premiere of Robert Deemer’s America Windows with the Fredonia Chamber Orchestra. In addition, Dr. Detwiler has conducted the Masterworks Chorus, preparing major concert works for performance with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. She is a frequent clinician and conductor for conferences and choral festivals. Dr. Detwiler is a recipient of the SUNY Fredonia Revolutionary Woman on Campus Award and the Outstanding Professor Award.

As a soloist, Dr. Detwiler has appeared in concert with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Detwiler made her European debut as the soprano soloist for the Klassiche Musikfest’s performances of Haydn’s Die Jahreszeiten and Beethoven’s Mass in C at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria. This season, she performs in concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic, with the LIVE from the Garden Recital Series in St. Louis, Mo, (broadcast live nationally) and in Cocoa Beach, Fl, she will sing Mozart’s Mass in c minor. This summer, she looks forward to serving on the faculty of Luxembourg’s Vianden International Music Festival.

Biographies

Barbara Kilduff

Coloratura soprano Barbara Kilduff enjoys a sparkling career in opera, oratorio and song recital on both sides of the Atlantic. Her voice has been praised as "bright and "silvery", soaring effortlessly with "crystalline coloratura". An experienced and versatile actress, this native New Yorker, following many years performing in Europe, now resides with her husband and two children in Andover, Massachusetts, where she continues to add to her opera roles (most recently Norina, Morgana and Lucia) and broaden her repertoire in oratorio.

National winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council auditions, she went on to win first prize in the Munich International Competition and the silver medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Ms. Kilduff debuted with the Bavarian, Vienna and Hamburg State Operas, as Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, a role she repeated in Basel, Vancouver, Athens and Cologne.

Laurie Tramuta

Laurie Tramuta, mezzo soprano, has been an adjunct member of the voice faculty at SUNY Fredonia for the past twelve years. She holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as well as a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia. Ms. Tramuta has performed a variety of operatic roles with the Western New York Opera Theater at Artpark, the Greater Buffalo Opera, the Erie Opera Theater, the Fredonia Hillman Opera, and with Opera Sacra. She has also appeared as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Erie Chamber Players, the Buffalo Choral Arts Society, the Orchard Park Chorale, the Fredonia College Symphony, the Orchard Park Symphony and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. In the spring of 2004, she performed the role of Mrs. Grose in Britten's opera Turn of the Screw as part of the NuSound Music Festival. In April of 2006, Ms. Tramuta appeared as the alto soloist in the Mozart Requiem with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, under maestro Glen Cortese. In November of 2006, she performed the title role in Bizet's Carmen with the Hillman Opera at SUNY Fredonia. She has also appeared as alto soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Bethany College Choir in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Ms. Tramuta teaches full-time elementary general and choral music in the Fredonia Central School District. In addition, she has served as guest conductor for various All-County festivals throughout Western New York and also as an adjudicator for several area music festivals. In August of 2007, Ms. Tramuta was appointed as Patron Chair for the Hillman Memorial Music Association. She is currently a member of the New York State United Teachers, the Chautauqua County Music Teachers Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Alan Schneider

Tenor Alan Schneider has appeared in opera, operetta, and music theatre productions with many companies in his native New England and elsewhere, including Opera Boston, Sarasota Opera, OperaDelaware, Florida Grand Opera, The Huntington Theatre Company, The North Shore Music Theatre, Opera New England and Boston Bel Canto Opera. He has most often appeared with Boston Lyric Opera, appearing in La Traviata, Lucie de Lammermoor, Salome, Don Carlos, Carmen, La rondine, and Rigoletto in the course of six seasons with the company.

In addition to stage works, Mr. Schneider has given a number of recitals, in Massachusetts, New York, Georgia, and St. Thomas, USVI. He has also appeared in concert with the Kalamazoo, Springfield (MA), Chautauqua and Omaha Symphonies, The Bellingham (WA) Festival of Music, Providence Singers, Albany Pro Musica, The Shakespeare Concerts, and the long-running Mohawk Trail Concerts in Charlemont Massachusetts.

Thomas Erik Angerhofer

Thomas Erik Angerhofer has been praised by audiences and critics throughout Europe and North America for the virility of his voice and the honesty of his portrayals. “A powerful and sweet baritone”, his versatility as a singing actor spans all major genres and periods, from the operas of Handel and Heggie to the music of Mozart and Mahler. Recent operatic appearances include Marcello in La Boheme, Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, and Joseph de Rocher in Dead Man Walking. Concert appearances include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Mozart’s Requiem. Favorite Musical Theater roles include Raul in Phantom of the Opera, Cinderella’s Prince / Wolf in Into the Woods, and Emile deBecque in South Pacific.

Erik is currently a member of the Voice Faculty at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, where he teaches studio voice and opera workshop. He has also taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where is a Doctoral Candidate in Voice Performance and Pedagogy.