posted Apr 11, 2011 1:53 PM by Ward Miller
The University of South Alabama Concert Choir, in collaboration with members of the Mobile Opera Chorus, performed in Beethoven's Symphony #9 with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra on April 9 and 10, 2011. Standing ovations from capacity crowds greeted both their performances. Maestro Scott Speck said “Without a doubt, that's the best choral sound we've ever had with the Symphony.”
The USA Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Laura Moore, most recently performed with the MSO for their December Pops Concerts in December 2010. This collaboration will continue in the spring of 2012, when the Concert Choir will perform Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Mobile Symphony.
For information on the USA choral program, please contact Dr. Laura Moore, Director of Choral Activities, at lauramoore@usouthal, or at 460-6361.
(Photo by Ben Harper) |
posted Feb 23, 2011 11:20 AM by Ward Miller
Five USA Department of Music students were finalists in the annual Alabama Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing Student Auditions held at the University of Alabama on February 18-19. The students competed against other singers from universities and colleges statewide. Auditions in both classical and musical theatre singing styles were held. Over 380 auditions took place over the two day period. Winners in the classical categories were Nicholas Brownlee (First Place, Senior Men) and David Burtt (Third Place, Freshmen Men). Winners in the musical theatre categories were Gabriela Merz (First Place, Freshmen Women), Tyler Peterson (First Place, Freshmen Men) and Emily Muncaster (Second Place, Sophomore Women). Ms. Muncaster is from the studio of Linda Zoghby, Ms. Merz is from the studio of Joyce Sylvester, and Brownlee, Peterson and Burtt are all from the studio of Dr. Thomas Rowell. |
posted Feb 14, 2011 12:11 PM by Andra Bohnet
Dr. Rebecca Mindock, recently appointed Assistant Professor of Double Reeds, won the highly competitive audition on February 9 & 12 for the solo English Horn/2nd Oboe position with the Mobile Symphony. We are proud to have another USA Department of Music faculty member as a member of the symphony, further strengthening the close ties between the Department and the greater Mobile arts community. Bravo, Dr. Mindock! |
posted Jan 24, 2011 1:39 PM by Ward Miller
University of South Alabama Department of Music alumnus Andre Chiang of Mobile won the Arkansas District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday, January 15. Chiang, a 2008 graduate of USA, will compete in the Mid-South Regional Met Auditions on Saturday, February 5, in Memphis, Tennessee.
While at USA, Chiang was part of the Mobile Opera Developing Artist Program and performed three roles with the company. He was the winner of the LaGrange Symphony Young Artist Competition, the Verdi Award winner in the Orpheus Vocal Competition at Middle Tennessee State University, 1st place winner at Alabama NATS, and performed the role of Belcore in USA Opera Theatre's production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. He was a voice student in the studio of Dr. Thomas Rowell, Coordinator of Vocal Studies and Director of USA Opera Theatre.
Mr. Chiang completed a Master's Degree in Voice Performance in 2010 at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, New York, where he sang principal roles in two mainstage productions and studied voice with renowned Metropolitan Opera baritone Mark Oswalt. He was also chosen as the winner of the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music, and will perform with the Manhattan School Orchestra on January 28th. He was also a finalist in the Liederkranz Foundation Lieder/Artsong Competition as well as the national winner of the Franco-American Vocal Academy Grand Concours de Chant Competition in 2010.
Currently, Andre is a Resident Young Artist with Shreveport Opera in Shreveport, Louisiana. He will perform as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni, El Gallo in The Fantasticks, and as Sciarrone in Puccini's Tosca. He performed the role of Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Tuscia Opera Festival in Viterbo, Italy in 2009, and was also a Young Artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis during the summer of 2010. |
posted Jan 24, 2011 7:16 AM by Ward Miller
University of South Alabama Department of Music student Nicholas Brownlee was the first place winner of the Gulf Coast Regional Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New Orleans, Louisiana, held Sunday, January 23 at Loyola University. Brownlee, a student in the voice studio of Dr. Thomas Rowell, will advance to the National Semi-Final round to be held at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, New York during the second week of March, 2011. If chosen to advance, he will perform live in a national broadcast of the Grand Finals round onstage at the Metropolitan Opera with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra on Sunday, March 13, 2011. Five Grand Finalists are chosen as winners, each receiving a cash prize of $15,000 and the potential opportunity to study in the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
Brownlee, a bass baritone, performed "Come dal ciel precipita" from Verdi's Macbeth and Mozart's "Non piu andrai" from Le Nozze di Figaro in yesterday's competition. He was immediately invited to perform on a Master Class held at Loyola University on Monday, January 24, with competition judges Gayletha Nichols of the Metropolitan Opera, Ruth Golden of Long Island University, and Nicholas G. Russel, Artistic Director of Boston Lyric Opera.
"We're very proud of Nick's accomplishments," said Dr. Greg Gruner, USA's Chair of the Department of Music. "This is just another outward sign of and reward for the hard work and excellent teaching happening in the vocal area here at South Alabama. Congratulations to Nick and to Dr. Thomas Rowell, his teacher."
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posted Dec 19, 2010 6:57 AM by Ward Miller
From Mr. Thomas Harrison's December 19th, 2010 article in the Mobile Press-Register: Nick Brownlee wanted to be a choral conductor, not an opera singer.
Opera was, well . . . stuffy.
“I hated it,” he says. “I hated opera. I hated the thought of it. I was a choral guy, not an opera guy — mainly because of the stigma that belongs to it. I’m kind of a down-home guy . . . the country accent and stuff, and opera notoriously gets the stuffy, high-edge, if you will Springhill, oh-eighter-type mentality. That’s what I thought it was.”
How quickly things change in the world of performing Arts.
Brownlee, then 18 and fresh out of Theodore High School, was “very much a raw talent,” says Thomas L. Rowell, assistant professor of music and coordinator of vocal studies at the University of South Alabama. The kid had a genuine enthusiasm for singing, “but I don’t think he had any exposure to opera,” says Rowell.
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posted Oct 25, 2010 10:45 AM by Ward Miller
The University of South Alabama Department of Music is pleased to announce that Nicholas Brownlee, a 21 year-old junior Vocal Performance major, was chosen as one of six winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions for the New Orleans District on Saturday,October 23, 2010 at Tulane University. Brownlee, a bass-baritone, was chosen from an audition slate of thirty-five singers from across the United States, and will proceed to the Gulf Coast Regional Finals on January 23, 2010. The winner of the regional finals will advance to the National Semi-Finals competition in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera.
The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is a program designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist in the development of their careers. The auditions are held annually in fourteen Regions of the United States and Canada. Many of the world’s foremost singers, among them Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Deborah Voigt and Dolora Zajick have received awards from the National Council. Annually, approximately 100 former auditioners appear in Metropolitan Opera productions.
Mr. Brownlee is a native of Mobile, and studies voice with Dr. Thomas L. Rowell, Area Coordinator for Vocal Studies and Director of USA's Opera and Musical Theatre. |
posted Aug 19, 2010 7:54 AM by Peter Wood
The USA Trumpet Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Peter
Wood, performed at the 35th annual conference of the International Trumpet Guild in Sydney,
Australia July 4-13. The ensemble was made up of USA students Jessica Alexander,
Thomas Finch, Tray Fox, Len Jenkins, and Cody Salter and was assisted by
Davidson High School student David Sayers, who also competed in the ITG Youth
Solo Competition. One of only about a dozen university ensembles chosen from
all over the world, the group was invited to perform after having submitted a
successful audition recording last fall. They played on Saturday, July 10 as
the opening prelude performance for a concert of the Sydney Brass and were
received enthusiastically by an appreciative audience of fellow musicians.
Dr. Wood, associate professor of music at USA, was an active
participant throughout the conference as well. He played the World Premiere
performance of The Concept of Anxiety, a
new work for solo trumpet and piano by Massachusetts composer Robert J.
Bradshaw. He also taught a trumpet master class for local students and teachers
at The Music Place, one of the largest music stores in Australia, and played in
the grand finale performance of the conference, the “Festival of Trumpets,” in
which trumpet professors and performers from all over the world play together
in mass trumpet ensembles.
In addition to performing, the USA students were able to
observe other performances and lectures by some of the world’s great artists at
the conference, the only major international event of its kind. The students
were able to visit all the major sights of Sydney; and on their last day in
Australia, they hiked through the rainforest of the famous Blue Mountains,
where they saw koalas, kangaroos, and other exotic wildlife. It was a
spectacular and memorable trip for all involved and something for which the USA
Music Department is extremely proud. |
posted May 16, 2010 11:06 AM by Ward Miller
 USA Percussionist Ben Ivey is the winner of the 2010 Symphony of the Mountains Concerto Competition in Kingsport, Tennessee. Ben will perform Ney Rosauro's Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra with the Symphony of the Mountains on the 2010-2011 year subscription concert series. Ben was one of 3 finalists chosen from across the country.
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posted May 16, 2010 11:05 AM by Ward Miller
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updated May 16, 2010 2:00 PM
]
In June 2008, the Fourth Annual guitar Competition in Grodniki, Poland required each entrant to perform one of the works of Professor Owen Middleton, Guitar instructor at USA. Here is Andreaz Golewinski, winner of the competition, performing Professor Middleton's Tombeau. |
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