Ben Aldridge, trumpet
Lecturer of music (trumpet). BA, Yale University; MM, Yale School of Music. Member of the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic and the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, as well as the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Utica and Catskill Symphonies. Performs with and arranges for the Catskill Brass Quintet. Charter member of the International Trumpet Guild. Recordings on Columbia and Redwood records.
Donald Robertson, low brass
Lecturer in music (low brass). Donald Robertson has been an Adjunct Lecturer in the music department at Binghamton University since 1974. He currently teaches all low brass instruments and coaches a low brass ensemble. He held a similar position at Hartwick College for ten years, and was the middle school band director in Sidney N.Y. from 1969 until 2006. Mr. Robertson received a BM from Ithaca College and a MM from Binghamton University. He has done post-graduate work at Yale University, Syracuse University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. His trombone teachers include Reginald Fink, John Swallow, Per Brevig and Bill Harris. Robertson is a member of the International Trombone Association and was invited to perform at International Trombone Festivals in Boulder Co. and Ithaca, N.Y. As a member of the Glimmerglass Trombone Quartet, he has also performed with the U.S. Army Orchestra and the U.S. Army Band at Eastern Trombone Workshops in Arlington, Va. Robertson is currently Principal Trombone with the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, and is a member of the Catskill Brass Quintet and the Glimmerglass Trombone Quartet. He is also frequently employed to back touring artists who perform in the upstate area. Private study on trombone with Reginald Fink, John Swallow, Per Brevig, and Bill Harris. Recipient of full scholarships from Yale Summer School of Music and the Aspen Music Festival. Currently principal trombone with the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra and a founding member of the Catskill Brass Quintet and the Hartwick Trombone Quartet. Served as principal trombone with the Tri-Cities Opera and the B.C. Pops Orchestras, and has performed with the Royal Philharmonic under Daniele Gati, the Aspen Chamber Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and many regional orchestras. Performed at the 1998 International Trombone Festival in Boulder, Colorado, and at the 2000 and 2001 Eastern Trombone Workshop in Arlington, Virginia. Free-lance performances with touring productions of the Ice Capades, Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, and the Moscow Circus and nationally known artists such as Bob Hope, Richard Klein, Dionne Warwick, Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Sergio Franchi, Vic Damone, Bobby Vinton, and Lori Morgan.
Brian Sternberg, french horn
Lecturer (French Horn). BS Ithaca College. Studied the French horn with John Barrows, Joseph Singer, Harry Shapiro, Gunther Schuller, Milan Yancich, John Covert, Robert Prins and Theo Rollins. Performed with such artists as Gary Graffman, Leonard Rose, Placido Domingo, Richard Leech, Toby Hanks (tuba), David Ohanion (French horn-Canadian Brass Quintet), Connie Stevens, Sergio Franchi, Enzo Stuarte, Robert Rauch (French horn), and Barry Tuckwell (French horn). Performing member with the Binghamton Philharmonic, BC Pops, Tri-Cities Opera and Binghamton Woodwind Quintet. Member of the music faculty since 1977.
Bruce Borton, choral and graduate director
Associate professor of music (director of choral activities, University Chorus, director of graduate studies in music). Other assignments include teaching voice and directing the undergraduate and graduate choral conducting program. Served as department chair from 1998-2004. BMusEd. (magna cum laude) Illinois Wesleyan University; MM (vocal performance) Southern Illinois University; DMA (choral conducting) College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. Studied conducting with David Nott, Robert Kingsbury, Elmer Thomas, John Leman, and Robert Shaw. 1983 thesis, The Choral works of Domenico Scarlatti, a nominee for the Julius Herford choral dissertation award. Previously on the faculty of West Georgia College. Fourteen seasons as a performing member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus, and from 1978 to 1988, served as rehearsal assistant to the chorus's music director, Robert Shaw. Assisted in the preparation of the chorus for performances and for its acclaimed series of recordings for the Telarc label. Served as conductor of the Binghamton Symphony Chorus from 1988-91, and continues to prepare choruses for Binghamton Philharmonic choral-orchestral performances. Choruses under his direction have toured throughout the United States and in Poland and Romania. His choruses have performed with The Catskill Symphony, and Binghamton Community Orchestra. Choral compositions and arrangements include published works with Broadman Press and Pro Art Publications. Active clinician and adjudicator in the New York area, and member of the American Choral Directors Association and Music Educators National Conference. He has been an active church musician, serving various churches for over 30 years. Member of the music faculty since 1988.
Peter Browne, chorus
Lecturer of music (Harpur Chorale). BA (Organ), Bard College; MM (organ performance), Binghamton University. Studied organ with Paul Jordan and M. Searle Wright, and choral conducting with David Buttolph and Sir David Willcocks. Accompanist for University Chorus, Binghamton University. Interim choral director at Binghamton University 1986-87. Organist and choir director, Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, Binghamton. Has appeared as conductor, accompanist and recitalist throughout eastern U.S. and Canada, and in England and Wales. Member of music faculty since 1998.
Michael Carbone, jazz
Lecturer of music (Jazz Ensemble director, jazz improvisation). BME Crane School of Music; MM (saxophone performance) Binghamton University. Private study with James Stoltie, J.R. Montrose and April Lucas. Director of middle school concert band and jazz ensemble and director of high school jazz ensemble in Johnson City School District. Private saxophone and jazz improvisation instructor. Member of Music Unlimited/Swing Street jazz groups, Central New York Big Band, Danny D'Imperio Big Band Bloviation, and leader of contemporary jazz group Cosa Nova. Served as guest conductor for Seneca and Tompkins County Music Educators Festivals, and as Saxophone/Jazz Improvisation Instructor for NYS School of Music of the Arts. Appeared with numerous artists, including Frank Foster, Al Martino, Natalie Cole, Tommy Tune, Mel Torme, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Engelbert Humperdinck, Slam Stewart, Nick Brignola, Steve Gilmore, Tom Whaley, Duffy Jackson, Jeff Jarvis, and Jacque Washington. Member of the music faculty since 1997.
Daniel Fabricius, wind symphony
Lecturer of music (wind symphony). BS from Mansfield University, MM from Ithaca College. Professor Fabricius has studied conducting with Donald Stanley (Mansfield University), Rodney Winther (Ithaca College), Stephen Peterson (Ithaca College), Arnald Gabriel (US Air Force), and Mallory Thompson (Northwestern University). He also serves as Director of Bands at Owego Free Academy where he has developed an outstanding instrumental music program that features a concert band, two jazz bands, and various chamber music ensembles. He is highly regarded in the region as a conductor, percussion soloist, and ensemble player. He has been a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic percussion section since 1982 but is also comfortable performing in popular, rock, jazz, and other styles. He has played as a free-lance percussionist, accompanying national touring artists such as Michael W. Smith, Tommy Tune, Jerry Vail, Lorrie Morgan, Ringling Brothers Circus, the Smothers Bothers, and Ella Fitzgerald. Professor Fabricius has served the New York State School Music Association as an All-State Percussion adjudicator for many years. He also serves NYSSMA as the Instrumental Jazz Reviews editor of The School Music News and is the Jazz Editor for the NYSSMA Manual. In addition to his collegiate work at BU, he has also served Ithaca College as a consultant, as a member of the Summer Session faculty, and as a cooperating teacher for over 30 student teachers. He also serves the Summer Music Academy at Ithaca College as a percussion instructor and jazz ensemble conductor. He has presented many clinics at music conventions and conferences and often serves as a guest conductor for honor band festivals. Professor Fabricius has been a member of the music faculty since 1992, serving as percussion instructor for twenty years before accepting the appointment as conductor of the University Wind Symphony.
Dr. David Ramael is Director of Orchestral Activities at Hofstra University. At Hofstra, he conducts the Hofstra Symphony Orchestra, the Hofstra String Orchestra, the annual Opera production, and he teaches orchestral conducting. He began his musical studies in his native Belgium. He studied trumpet and music theory at the Royal Brussels Conservatory, as well as musicology at the Free Brussels University. In 1998, he was awarded the prestigious Belgian American Education Foundation Fellowship for study in the United States. He chose the University of Minnesota to pursue a doctorate in musicology, and upon completion of all coursework he switched his emphasis to conducting. Dr. Ramael then obtained, in quick succession, the Master in Music and Doctorate in Musical Arts Degrees in conducting. Upon graduating from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Ramael worked as a freelance conductor in the greater Twin Cities area. He served as conductor of the Concertino Northeast with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, as well as music director of the Golden Valley Orchestra, the Lake Waconia Wind Ensemble, and the Twin CIties Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Ramael is also an internationally recognized authority in the fields of youth and amateur music making. In March 2012 he was appointed as Artistic Director with Gemini Youth Orchestras, where he conducts the premier Gemini Youth Symphony. In July 2012 he took the orchestra on a very successful tour to Paris, Antwerp and Amsterdam, and he has led the orchestra in performances at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, and Lefrak Hall. In September 2012, Dr. Ramael was elected as Chairman of the World Federation of Amateur Orchestras. This past summer he gave the keynote address at the 2nd International Orchestra Festival in Shizuoka, Japan, and he currently is organizing an international conference for Spring 2014 on the socio-economic impact of amateur music making. Dr. Ramael also enjoys a very active career as guest conductor. He has upcoming performances with the University of Binghamton Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing International Chamber Orchestra, Reflection Chamber Choir in Belgium, the Helicon Ensemble, and he will be conducting and teaching at the Gramercy Brass Summer Camp and the Peconic Summer Music program.
Timothy Perry, symphony orchestra
Conductor and clarinetist Timothy Perry is currently chair of the Department of Music and director of the University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. Professor Perry joined the Binghamton University faculty in 1986, became Professor of Music in 2002 and received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Creative Activities in 2005. Prior to coming to Binghamton Dr. Perry taught at Bemidji (MN) State University from 1981-1986 and was a member of the Catskill Conservatory (Oneonta, NY) from 1979-1981. Mr. Perry hold the DMA, MMA and MM degrees from the Yale School of Music where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller, John Mauceri and Arthur Weisberg and Clarinet with Keith Wilson. He holds the B. Mus. degree in Clarinet Performance from the Manhattan School of Music where he was a pupil of Leon Russionoff, and attended the University of Wisconsin as a pupil of Glenn Bowen. As Music Director, Dr. Perry has directed the University Orchestra since 1986, directed the University Wind Ensemble from 1986-2005 and led the Binghamton Community Orchestra from 1994-2004. As Clarinetist he served as United States Musical Ambassador and has presented at three world conferences of the International Clarinet Association. He currently serves as President of the Northeast Division of the College Orchestra Directors' Association (CODA) and as New York representative to the National Association of Music Executives of State Universities (NAMESU) and is a member of the International Clarinet Association. He remains active locally and internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and guest conductor.
Christopher Bartlette, music theory
Assistant Professor of Music (music theory). Ph.D., M.A. (music theory), Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. M.M. (choral conducting), B.A. (music), University of North Dakota. Previously on the faculty of Baylor University. Co-author (with Steven Laitz) of Graduate Review of Tonal Theory: A Recasting of Common-Practice Harmony, Form, and Counterpoint, published by Oxford University Press. Research interests include music perception and cognition, performance, and theory pedagogy. Articles appear in the journal Music Perception. Papers given at national Society for Music Theory and Society for Music Perception and Cognition conferences, as well as the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition and the International Conference on Music Communication Science. Fellow of the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory, member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies, and former member of the Executive Board of the Texas Society for Music Theory.
Jonathan Biggers, history/theory and organ/harpsichord
-see under KEYBOARD
James Burns, ethnomusicology and Interim Chair
Associate Professor of Music and Africana Studies (Ethnomusicology). BA University of Texas, Austin; Ph.D School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Professor Burns joined the Binghamton faculty in 2005, having previously lectured in African music and culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and in African drumming at Goldsmiths College. He is also a member of the Society for Ethnomusicology. As an active ethnographic researcher, he has conducted over 8 years of ongoing fieldwork in Ghana, Togo, and Benin with Ewe-Fon, Akan, and Dagbamba (Dagomba) ethnic groups funded by grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (U.K.) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (U.S.). Important publications from this research include the books Female Voices from an Ewe Dance-drumming Community in Ghana (Ashgate 2009) awarded honorable mention for the J.K. Nketia African music prize by the Society for Ethnomusicology (2010), and The Beard Cannot Tell Stories to the Eyelash: Creative Transformation in an Ewe Funeral Dance-Drumming Tradition (forthcoming); in addition to the journal articles, "Rhythmic Archetypes in Instrumental Music from Africa and the Diaspora" (Music Theory Online vol. 16/4, 2010), and "Doing it with style: an ethnopoetic study of improvisation in Ewe dance-drumming," (African Music vol. 9/1, 2011). Apart from these written publications, Professor Burns has also produced several audio-visual recordings of Ewe music including the highly regarded audio CD Ewe Drumming from Ghana: The Soup Which Is Sweet Draws the Chairs in Closer (2005 British Library/Topic Records), and music videos for the Dzigbordi and Dunenyo performing groups from the Volta Region of Ghana. Professor Burns is also a teacher and performer of traditional music from Africa the diaspora, and directs the Nukporfe African Dance-Drumming Ensemble at Binghamton.
Al Hamme, jazz history
Al Hamme served as director of the Jazz Music program at Binghamton University for over 30 years before retiring in 1997. A virtuoso performer on saxophones, clarinet, and flute, Hamme is well-known as a band leader, music educator, and concert artist. Hamme has recorded with Phil Woods, Tom Harrell, Slam Stewart, Bucky Pizzarelli, and has toured with the big bands of Les Elgart, Jimmy Dorsey, and Sammy Kaye. Hamme has performed with Liza Minelli, Natalie Cole, Clark Terry, Marian McPartland, and Bill Mays. He can be heard on various recordings on National Public Radio with Slam Stewart and Frank Wess. Hamme founded Music Unlimited in 1974 to provide musicians in the Binghamton area with an outlet to play modern big band jazz.
Drew Massey, musicology
Assistant Professor of Music (musicology). Ph.D., Harvard University. Specialties include American music, contemporary concert music, British music, music editing, and digital humanities. Monographs: John Kirkpatrick, American Music and the Printed Page (University of Rochester Press, 2013); Thomas Adès Essays (in progress). Articles in Indiana Theory Review, Journal of the American Musicological Society, Music & Letters, and Journal for the Society of American Music. Reviews in Salmagundi and Notes. External Awards: Woodrow Wilson Fellow (2004); Jacob K. Javits Fellow (2004); NEH Fellow (2010); Finalist, Housewright Dissertation Award (2011); AMS Publication Subvention (2012).
Paul Schleuse, musicology
Paul Schleuse Assistant professor of music (musicology). PhD (Musicology), City University of New York; MM (Composition), Manhattan School of Music; BA cum laude and BM cum laude, Rice University. Research specialties in music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the Italian madrigal and related genres, early opera, music in print culture, and theories of genre. Classes taught include the undergraduate music-history survey, graduate courses in music history and research, and courses on the music of Monteverdi, the history of opera, and minimalism in music. Publications include the critical edition of Orazio Vecchi's Selva di varia ricreatione (1590) (A-R Editions, 2012), Songs and Games: The Music Books of Orazio Vecchi (Indiana University, forthcoming), and articles in The Journal of Musicology and in the books Teatro dell'udito, Teatro del mondo (Mucchi Editore, 2010); Playing with Boundaries: Sexualities, Textualities, Art and Music in Renaissance Italy (Ashgate, 2013), and a collection of essays to accompany a new edition of Thomas Morley's A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke (forthcoming). Papers read at national and chapter meetings of the American Musicological Society, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music (awarded the Irene Alm Prize), The Renaissance Society of America, The Medieval & Renaissance Music Conference (UK), and by invitation to the International Conference for the Quatercentenary of the Death of Orazio Vecchi, Modena. Member of the music faculty since 2006.
Paul Sweeny, pop/music history
Steve Zank, history
Michael Carbone
See CONDUCTORS
Jonathan Biggers, organ/harpsichord & history/theory
Associate professor. Biggers is hailed as "one of the most outstanding concert organists in the United States," and maintains an active career as both a professor of organ and harpsichord and as a concert organist of the first order. He holds the prestigious Edwin Link Endowed Professorship in Organ and Harpsichord at Binghamton University (State University of New York), and has presented hundreds of concerts in church and university settings throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has appeared as a featured soloist with orchestras in both the United States and Canada, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic, and has been featured frequently on NPR ("Pipedreams"), the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), and on Radio and Television Suisse Romande broadcasts in Geneva, Switzerland. Scott Cantrell, formerly classical critic of The Kansas City Star, stated that Biggers' performances demonstrate "authority and eloquence," and further stated "were there more performers like this, the organ would be far less a minority interest". Dr. Biggers studied with Russell Saunders (Eastman School of Music, DMA), Lionel Rogg (Conservatory of Music, Geneva Switzerland; Fulbright study); J. Warren Hutton (The University of Alabama, MM and BMus), and with Wallace Zimmerman (Atlanta, pre-college); he has also worked extensively with Harold Vogel (Bremen, Germany) and with Arthur Poister (former Professor of Organ at Syracuse University). A prizewinner of dozens of competitions, he was notably awarded a unanimous first prize in the 1985 Geneva International Competition, one of the most prestigious music competitions for organ in the world; second prize in the 1982 American Guild of Organists National Organ Playing Competition; and a unanimous first prize in the 1990 Calgary International Organ Festival Concerto Competition, where he presented with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra the world premier performance of Snowwalker: A Concerto for Organ and Orchestra by Pulitzer prize-winning composer Michael Colgrass. A champion of new music for the organ, he has premiered other works by notable 20th- and 21st-century composers such as Richard Proulx (Chicago; Concerto for Organ and Orchestra), Craig Phillips (Suite for Organ, Brass and Percussion), Persis Vehar (Soundpiece for Organ), and David Brackett, former composition professor at Binghamton University (Nightworks for organ). Two highly acclaimed compact disc recordings of his work have been released by Calcante Recordings (Sleepers Wake! A Reger Perspective, featuring five major organ works by Romantic composer Max Reger; and Bach on the Fritts!, featuring major organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach). At present, Biggers is embarking on a three-year presentation of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach in a series of 15 concerts, four to six events per season for the next three academic years. Plans are also underway for the production of several other CD releases in the future, including a recording of complete Bach organ works.
Jinah Lee, piano
Born in Seoul, Lecturer Lee graduated from Seoul National University and gained her master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music where she continued as an associate instructor. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From the time she was in college, she has performed in concerts and recitals around the world, including her performance at Sunset Concert at Shandlee Music Festival in New York; a recital and an ensemble concert during the Concerto Italiano Music Festival in Caplarora, Italy; a recital at Art Cult Center, University of Vienna, in Austria; and a Prague International Music Festival. She made her New York Carnegie Hall recital debut as the winner of the Artist International Competition. The same year, she had a solo recital at Seoul Art Center in Korea. Recently, Lee has made her name better-known in the U.S. and Korean classical music scenes through a series of major recitals she has given, such as a recital at Phillips Hall at George Washington University; a solo performance in a concert with the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra at Krannert Art Center in Urbana, Illinois; in a Beethoven Sonata Series recital at Wooin Art Hall in Seoul; and at Alice Miller Hall at Northwestern University. She won the “Best Performance of Polish Composer” at the fifth Washington International Piano Artists Competition in 2007 and the University of Illinois Concerto Competition in 2006.
Diane Richardson, piano
-see under VOICE and OPERA
Michael Salmirs, piano and undergraduate director
Lecturer of music (piano). Founding member and artistic director of Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble. Recitalist and chamber pianist who has performed throughout New York and in Boston and Cleveland. Featured pianist on the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Sunday Chamber Series. Toured and recorded for the Syracuse Society for New Music. The recipient of several new works composed for and dedicated to him as a soloist and as a member of the Crawford-Salmirs Duo. Soloist with Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Studied at New England Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music. Teachers include Leonard Shure and Rebecca Penneys and composer Karel Husa. On the faculty at Hobart William Smith Colleges and at Syracuse University School of Music. Member of the music faculty since 1999.
Julie Licata, percussion ensemble
Julie Licata has served as Assistant Professor of Music at State University of New York, College at Oneonta since the Fall of 2008. She also teaches percussion ensemble and private lessons at SUNY, Binghamton University. At SUNY Oneonta, Julie teaches ensembles and private lessons that span a wide range of percussion instruments and styles, including West African drumming, Indonesian Gamelan, Brazilian Samba, solo marimba, concert percussion and drum set. Specific ensembles taught include the World Percussion Ensemble and the Classical Percussion Ensemble, as well as the SUNY Oneonta Drum Line. Julie also regularly teaches Music Cultures of the World and Music for Listeners, a survey of Western classical music. Previous teaching positions include Adjunct Professor at Texas Woman's University and Teaching Assistant at the University of South Caroline. Julie holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion (secondary emphasis in Ethnomusicology) from the University of North Texas, a Master of Music in Percussion from the University of South Carolina and a Bachelor of Music from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Primary teachers include Christopher Deane, Ed Soph, Ed Smith, Mark Ford, Robert Schietroma, Scott Herring and Robert Breithaupt. Current performance and research focus lies in contemporary music performance, specifically solo and chamber percussion music with interactive computer processing. In addition to contemporary music performance and research, Julie is also active in the field of ethnomusicology. Julie spent the summer of 2008 performing, recording and transcribing traditional drumming of the Ewe people of the Volta Region of Ghana. She is planning to return to Ghana during the summer of 2014 to continue her study of various regional music and dance styles, and specifically to study Ewe master drumming.
John Isenberg, piano/accompanist
John Isenberg, a native of Endicott, NY, holds a BA in Music and Italian, as well as an MA in Italian from Binghamton University. He served the Tri-Cities Opera in various capicities from 2001-2012, including Accompanist, Education Outreach Coordinator and Chorus Master. As Education Outreach Coordinator, he organized and performed over 300 touring performances throughout Upstate New York and northern Pennsylvania. He has performed with various other groups in the Binghamton area, including the Binghamton Downtown Singers and the Summer Savoyards. John has taught piano privately and in classroom settings. He taught Italian as part of a graduate assistantship at Binghamton University, and briefly at Broome Community College. For over 20 years John has been involved in music ministry in various Binghamton area churches. He is currently Organist and Choir Director at Sarah Jane Johnson Methodist Church in Johnson City.
William James Lawson, language and English diction
-see under VOICE AND OPERA
Chai-Kyou Mallinson, piano/accompanist
Lecturer (piano, accompanist). Chai-Kyou Mallinson joined the Binghamton University faculty in the fall 1974 semester. She was appointed to the rank of adjunct lecturer in 1986. She received the Service Recognition Award in 2002 and 2007. She received her MA in music from Binghamton University where she studied with Jean Casadesus, her BM degree in piano performance from Julliard School of Music where she studied with Alton Jones, and prior to that, her Licence d'Enseignement from Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, France, where she studied with Jean-Michel Damase and Jules Gentil. She teaches studio piano, and coaches and accompanies the undergraduate and graduate voice students. As a performer she accompanies the senior honors recitals and master's degree recitals. She has been an active performer of solo and ensemble concerts. She organized a piano trio group called the ‘Almost All American Trio' and performed four concerts in the spring of 2009. She was awarded an Individual Artist Award 2008-2009 by the Broome County (N.Y.) Arts Council. She received a four-year French Government Scholarship, the Fontainebleau American Conservatory Full Scholarship, and Tanglewood Summer School Full Scholarship. She is a winner of the Korean National Music Competition. She is on the board of judges for the National Guild of Piano Teachers Association. She is a member of the Music Teachers National Association and Southern Tier Music Teachers Association.
Margaret Reitz, piano/accompanist
Pej Reitz, pianist, is a native of the Binghamton Area. She received her bachelor and master of music degrees in piano performance with accompanying emphasis. She attended Boston University, New England Conservatory and Binghamton University. She has studied piano with Jean Casadesus, Victor Rosenbaum, Seymour Fink and Walter Ponce and accompanying with Allen Rogers. She has accompanied throughout the United States, in England, South America, Spain and at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. She was a winner of the Artistic Ambassadors Program by the United States Information Agency in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She was an official accompanist for the MTNA State and Eastern Division Competition held at Ithaca College. She has been a guest chamber music artist in Morges, Switzerland. She also was selected to attend the Accompanying Workshop for Singers and Pianists held at Northwestern University with Chicago Lyric Opera faculty and coaches. She was invited to the International Clarinet Conference to play a recital in Tokyo, Japan. She was a guest artist on the Cornell Summer Series. She was an official pianist at the International Double Reed Competition and Convention in 2007 at Ithaca College and was invited to play the 2009 Convention in Birmingham, England with the Glickman Ensemble. She recorded a CD with the Glickman Ensemble again this summer in Englewood, N.J. She was selected to accompany at the Interpretation of Spanish Music in conjunction with the University of Madrid in Grenada, Spain, coached by Teresa Berganza, and at Mannes School of Music. She was a guest artist playing two concerts in Granada, Spain, and accompanied the Barcelona Song Festival. She soloed with the Catskill Symphony at the Otesaga in Cooperstown, N.Y., under the direction of Charles Schneider last summer. This past summer she accompanied at The International Spanish Music Festival in Madrid, Spain. She has been on the faculty at Binghamton University since 1991, and Ithaca College School of Music since 1999. She is president of the local District VII Music Teachers Association and is an active adjudicator for the National Piano Guild Organization.
Roberta Crawford, viola
Lecturer of music (Viola). Roberta Crawford, violist, performs extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician. As associate director and a founding member of the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, Crawford has participated in over 100 solo, chamber and lecture-recitals presented by the ensemble since its formation in 1990. She is violist with the Mobius Ensemble, a resident piano quartet at Binghamton University which performs frequently on campus and throughout the region. She has performed with the Catskill Chamber Players, appeared often on the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s Sunday Chamber Music Series and was a guest performer with the Ariadne String Quartet. Crawford has played with the Portland and Syracuse symphonies and has served as principal violist for the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Recent activities include performaning in the world premiere of Fault Lines for piano quartet, written by award-winning composer James Matheson and presented at Cornell University’s Mayfest this past spring. An advocate of new music, Crawford has premiered numerous works featuring viola and has been the dedicatee of several works written specifically for her. She has participated in music festivals throughout the United States and in the Caribbean and has appeared in live performance broadcasts for public radio and television. A dedicated teacher, she has served as clinician, coach and adjudicator for numerous music organizations and as director of ViolaFest at Binghamton. Crawford served for five years as a faculty/artist for the NSOA ASTA String Institute at Ithaca College. She has been a guest faculty member at Phillips Academy, the Quartet Program, Ithaca College, and the Eastman School of Music and is currently coordinator of strings at Binghamton University.
Janey Choi, violin
Lecturer in music (violin), Janey Choi, Canadian violinist, gave her Carnegie Hall recital debut in 1997, as a winner of the Artists International Auditions and continues an active career performing on recital and chamber series, on Broadway and with such groups as the New York City Ballet, Ardelia Trio and the Teaching Artists Ensemble of the New York Philharmonic, with whom she has toured internationally to Japan and the United Arab Emirates, performing interactive educational concerts. The recipient of numerous awards including the Chalmers Performing Arts Grant from the Ontario Arts Council (Canada) and National First Prize in the Canadian Music Competition, she has participated in such festivals as Mostly Mozart, Norfolk, Taos, the Spoleto Festivals in the U.S. and Italy, Festival Musical de Santo Domingo, the Santa Fe Opera and the Sarasota Opera. An avid inter-arts and cross-genre collaborator, she is the music director of Thomas/Ortiz Dance, and has performed numerous times with the Parsons Dance Co., most notably at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at the New Victory Theater in Times Square. Recently, she initiated an inter-departmental collaboration with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, and the Binghamton University Music and Dance departments, performing a 50th anniversary gala for Binghamton University's Anderson Center for the Performing Arts. Her other interests have taken her to the visual arts world, developing and presenting an annual "Music + Art" show commissioning artwork based on chamber works. She has recorded and appeared with such mainstream performers as Bono (U2) and Quincy Jones, Adele, Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Enya, Elton John, Jay-Z, Sarah McLachlan, Lenny Kravitz and Kanye West; on the Grammys; MTV; Saturday Night Live; the Today Show; at Live 8, Radio City Music Hall; and Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Choi holds the distinction of being the youngest and only pre-college student ever accepted by her late mentor, Joseph Fuchs at The Juilliard School, where she graduated from the accelerated BM/MM program with the Joseph Fuchs Graduation Prize. Her other major teachers include Joel Smirnoff, Victor Danchenko, Harvey Shapiro and Arnold Steinhardt. She attained her doctor of musical arts degree at Rutgers University with full scholarship and was the recipient of the Graduate Fellowship Award. Strongly committed to education, she has been on the faculty of Binghamton University since 2006, and is a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has presented educational workshops for the College Music Society National Conference, Tokyo College of Music and Lincoln Center Institute. In her free time, she enjoys marathon and triathlon training, playing soccer and ice hockey.
Stephen Stalker, cello/bass
Adjunct Lecturer in music (cello, bass and chamber music.) Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, Manhattan School of Music. Past president of the New York Chapter of the American String Teachers Association; former strings chair of the New York State School Music Association; co-founder and officer of the Binghamton Cello Festival and the Southern Tier Music Teachers Association. Concerto appearances with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Catskill Symphony, Schenectady Symphony, Colgate Concert Orchestra, Binghamton University Symphony; former principal of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra in Ithaca, NY; performs regularly with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Recital and chamber music appearances in New York state and Pennsylvania. As a member of the Madison String Quartet, was Artist-in-Residence at Colgate University, finalist in the Evian International String Quartet Competition, finalist in the Naumberg Chamber Music Competition. As a member of the Catskill Chamber Players, has performed concerts at Weill Recital Hall in New York City, over 70 performances in New York state. Performed the complete Beethoven Piano Trio cycle at Binghamton University with Janet Brady and Walter Poncé. Currently performing with the Prometheus Ensemble, based in Danbury, CT.
Judy Berry, German diction
Adjunct lecturer in German diction
Maria Cook, Italian diction
Adjunct lecturer in German diction
William James Lawson, language and English diction
-see under VOICE AND OPERA
Carmen Swoffer-Penna, French diction
Adjunct lecturer in music and French (French diction). BA, State University of New York at Binghamton.
Bruce Borton, voice and choral
-see under CONDUCTORS
Mary Burgess, voice/opera
Associate professor of music (coordinator of vocal area, voice, opera). BMus Curtis Institute of Music. Private vocal study with Mme. Eufemia Giannini Gregory and Dick Marzollo. Special studies in opera and interpretation with Martial Singher and Herbert Graf. Recipient of scholarships from Brevard Music Center and Marlboro School of Music. Foundation grants from the William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation and from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation for Music. New York City Opera debut at age 22, while still an undergraduate at Curtis Institute of Music. European opera debut at Holland Festival in title role of Cavalli's L'Erismena. Appeared as soprano soloist with over two dozen U.S. orchestras, including Boston Symphony (with Seiji Ozawa), Cleveland Orchestra (with Lorin Maazel), Chicago Symphony (with Simon Rattle) and Cincinnati Symphony (with Klaus Tennstedt, James Conlon). Appearances at such prestigious festivals as Spoleto (Italy), Ravinia, Aspen, Casals, Blossom, Chautauqua, Marlboro and the Cincinnati May Festival, in repertory ranging from Bach to Mozart, Mahler, Ravel and Shostakovich. Leading roles with numerous regional opera companies; repertory includes 38 opera roles from Monteverdi to Virgil Thomson, in five languages, and over 45 works with orchestra. Recorded performances issued by CRI, CBS Masterworks, Columbia, Telarc, Sony Classics. Member of the music faculty since 1984.
Amanda Chmela, voice
Amanda Chmela, soprano, of Lindenhurst, N.Y., recently joined the music faculty at Binghamton University. Chmela received a BFA in musical theatre from SUNY Fredonia and then went on to complete a MM in opera performance from Binghamton University. Certified in Somatic Voicework™ from Shenandoah University, she currently has a private studio in Binghamton where she teaches contemporary commercial music. She has participated in the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute held at Sarah Lawrence College, and is an alumnus of Tri-Cities Opera’s Resident Artist Training Program. Performance credits include Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Barbarina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Ms. Pinkerton (The Old Maid and the Thief), Latitia cover (The Old Maid and the Thief), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Edith (Pirates of Penzance), Anne (A Little Night Music), Mrs. Cratchit (A Christmas Carol) and as the soprano soloist in Honegger’s King David.
John Mario Di Costanzo, opera
John Mario Di Costanzo began his first season as associate artistic director and conductor of Binghamton’s Tri-Cities Opera in 2010. Maestro Di Costanzo’s triumphant debut of La Bohème for Syracuse Opera earned him reinvitation over six seasons which have included performances of Carmen, Otello, The Magic Flute and Rigoletto. He returned to Syracuse to conduct another production of The Magic Flute in October 2008, and has most recently been acclaimed for his performances as a conductor for Sarasota Opera’s productions of L’elisire d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor. In 1988, he was appointed associate conductor for Toledo Opera, a position he held for six seasons. During his tenure with TO, he conducted Hansel and Gretel, L’elisir d’amore, Cendrillon, La cenerentola, Babes in Toyland and The Mikado. He has also performed with Opera Birmingham, Nashville Opera, Di Capo Opera, Brandenburg Opera and Liederkranz Opera. In addition to his conducting duties, Di Costanzo performs in recitals and coaches Italian opera repertoire in his New York City studio, preparing internationally acclaimed singers for their roles on stages of the world. He has also accompanied world-renowned performers in rehearsal and played in master classes for singing legends Licia Albanese and Renata Scotto. Di Costanzo is the artistic director for Long Island Opera. He led LIO’s first production of its renaissance: La Traviata in June 2010. He returned to Sarasota Opera in 2009 to conduct nine performances of L’elisir d’amore and in 2010 debuted as conductor for Opera Southwest’s Carmen.
Thomas Goodheart, voice/opera
Visiting assistant professor of voice. BM, MM Manhattan School of Music. Past voice faculty Purchase College Conservatory of Music 1999-2010. Baritone Thomas Goodheart has performed over 40 leading roles in opera and oratorio with companies throughout the United States including The Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Chautauqua Opera, New York City Opera National Company, Connecticut Opera, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, Des Moines Metro Opera, Artpark Opera and Tri-Cities Opera. Recent performances include the American stage premiere of the role of Bruno in James MacMillan's Opera Parthenogenesis. Leading roles include Marcello in La Boheme, Escamillo in Carmen, Germont in La Traviata, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, the father in Hansel and Gretel and Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. Goodheart has appeared as a guest soloist with symphony orchestras in the United States and South America. In New York City he has been a soloist at Avery Fischer Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Kaye Playhouse and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Concert credits include Orff's Carmina Burana, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony & Missa Solemnis, Haydn's Creation and Mendolssohn's Elijah. He has received awards from The Metropolitan Opera National Council, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Joy in Singing Competition, Bel Canto Opera Foundation, The Ezio Pinza Council for American Singers, The Chautauqua Concerto Competition and The Tri-Cities Opera. He has been a performer/teaching artist with the education departments of the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center Institute and the New York Festival of Song. Goodheart maintains a private voice studio in NYC and is on the voice faculty of the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute and C.W. Post College at Long Island University. His students have gone on to graduate study at the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Mannes College of Music, Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, Guild Hall (London, England) and the Opera Institute of Boston University among others. His students are currently singing professionally throughout the United States and Europe. He lives with his wife, soprano Jean Miller Goodheart, and their son Matthew.
William James Lawson, coach, English diction, sacred music, vocal pianist
Adjunct lecturer in music. BA with honors, Binghamton University, MA (performance studies) New York University. Studies in church music with M. Lee Suitor and M. Searle Wright, piano with Seymour Fink and Patricia Hanson, vocal coaching with Stevenson Barrett, voice with Curtis Streetman and Catherine Fitzmaurice. Served as assistant organist, University of Pittsburgh (Heinz Memorial Chapel). Organist and director of music Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church, New York City, since 1998. Publications include articles in The International Encyclopedia of Dance (Oxford University Press, 1998) and Ballet Review. Edited seven annual editions of Stern's Performing Arts Directory and three biennial editions of the Dance Magazine College Guide. Editions of music include Felix Draeseke's Sonata No. 2 in F Major for Viola and Piano, WoO 26, published (Wollenweber Verlag, 1996) and recorded (AK Coburg DR0001), and an 18th-century arrangement of Mozart's Gran Partita performed by the chamber ensemble An die Musik in New York City and at the Flanders Festival in Belgium. Served as librarian and research associate and wrote program notes for the Classical Band, a period-instrument orchestra in New York City directed by Trevor Pinnock. Current research interest is Anglican church music of the Victorian-Edwardian era. Member of faculty since 1998.
Diane Richardson, vocal coach & collaborative pianist
Associate professor of music - part-time (vocal literature, accompanying and coaching). BM Oberlin College; MA Teachers College Columbia University. Professional training at the Juilliard School studying vocal repertoire with Sergius Kagen, Robert Starer and piano with Adele Marcus. Studies at the Mozarteum, in Salzburg, Austria, and L'Universita Per Stranieri in Perugia, Italy. Toured extensively with leading artists throughout the United States and Europe. For more than a decade, an assistant conductor with the New York City Opera Company. Taught five years at the Yale School of Music. Served as assistant conductor in the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy; associated with the Santa Fe Opera Festival and the Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, since its inception in 1977. Holds concurrent faculty appointments at the Juilliard School and at Binghamton University. Member of the music faculty since 1983.
Hong Zhang, lecturer, Singing Chinese
Hong Zhang holds a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from Binghamton University, SUNY, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the founder and director of Song of Silk, a performance group that aims to bridge East and West. Zhang has been an active soloist in many concerts and groups, including the Shanghai Philharmonic Society, the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Eastern Silk. Zhang gives lectures and recitals on Chinese vocal music and culture and workshops on Teaching Chinese through Song nationwide and abroad. Currently a Senior Instructor of Chinese at Binghamton University, Zhang has received awards for Excellence in Teaching from Binghamton University and Outstanding Contribution to Chinese Language Education from Chinese Language Teachers Association. Her curriculum includes the ground-breaking course, Singing Chinese. Students of this class won awards at many competitions. In addition, Zhang has also co-authored Chinese through Song (SUNY Press) and Cultural Chinese: Readings in Art, literature, and history (Georgetown University Press).
Sarah Chandler, clarinet
Lecturer of music (clarinet). BM Northwestern University; MA the University of Iowa. Chandler has served as lecturer of clarinet at Binghamton University since 2007. She holds a BM from Northwestern University and an MA from the University of Iowa. Her teachers include Russell Dagon, Robert Marcellus and Clark Brody. She teaches private lessons and coaches chamber ensembles at Binghamton. She is a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic, the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed as substitute clarinetist with the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra. Her past orchestral experience includes the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, the New World Symphony and the Spoleto (Italy) Festival Orchestra. She was a prize winner at the International Clarinet Society Competition three times and won the grand prize in 1988. She also has pursued a career as an academic librarian, having most recently held positions at Binghamton University and Cornell University. She lives in Ithaca with her librarian husband and two young children.
John Lathwell, oboe
Lecturer of music (oboe). BM the University of Iowa; MM the Manhattan School of Music. Principal oboist of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (Ithaca, NY), the Binghamton Symphony, the Tri-Cities Opera and the BC Pops. Chamber musician throughout the central New York area with appearances as soloist with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Syracuse Society for New Music and the BC Pops. Private teacher of oboe, previously taught at Ithaca College. Primary teachers: Richard Killmer, oboe professor at the Eastman School of Music, and Joseph Robinson, principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic. Member of the music faculty since 1988.
April Lucas, saxophone
Professor of saxophone, Lucas performs as principal saxophonist and bass clarinetist with the Binghamton Philharmonic and the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra. She is co-founder and business manager of the Empire Saxophone Quartet and tours regularly with the New Sousa Band under the direction of Keith Brion, where she has appeared many times as soloist. As a member of these organizations, Lucas has presented clinics and workshops at universities and public schools throughout the United States and Japan. She has been a guest conductor for festival bands throughout New York state and Pennsylvania. She has been a past regional director for the North American Saxophone Alliance and has served on the faculties of Hartwick College and Broome Community College. Currently a music educator in the Susquehanna Valley Central School District, she has also served as an adjudicator for NYSSMA. Her recordings include releases with the Empire Saxophone Quartet, the New Sousa Band, the Saxophone Sinfonia and the Hudson Valley Saxophone Quartet. Lucas has also performed with the Catskill Symphony, the Utica Symphony and the Corning Symphony orchestras. She performed with the New Sousa Band, at the Ohio State Music Educators Conference in Cincinnati and at Ohio State University in Columbus. She will present clinics and workshops at both events. Lucas also conducted the Pennsylvania Honors Band, grades 7 and 8, at Blue Ridge High School in April 2008, and served as a woodwind adjudicator for the NYSTMA solo competition at Binghamton University in October 2007. During the past few years the Empire Saxophone Quartet has been a guest performance group at the National Saxophone Conference in Montreal, Canada; performed with the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC; with the Cincinnati Conservatory Wind Ensemble and the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton. Lucas has done several arrangements for the Empire Saxophone Quartet, including quartet accompaniments for the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton. Recordings include “Escape to the Center” ,“Winter Branches” (music by David Kechley), and “Classic Saxophone” with the Empire Saxophone Quartet; “Music from the Biltmore Estate” (works by Caryl Florio) with the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet,; The Saxophone Sinfonia” and “Holiday Homecoming” with the Saxophone Sinfoniea; and “The Original All-American Sousa” (Delos Label) with the New Sousa Band.
Georgetta Gatto Maiolo, flute
Georgetta Maiolo is a member of the faculty of Binghamton University and Broome Community College, teaching flute and directing flute ensembles. From 1977 to 1996, she held the position of assistant professor of flute at Ithaca College. She also taught flute at Hartwick College and West Virginia University. Maiolo is a graduate of Duquesne University and attended graduate school at West Virginia University. She studied with Bernard Goldberg, principal flutist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Marcel Moyse at Marlboro School of Music and Victor Saudek. At the age of 15, she made her solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Very Reverend Thomas J. Quigley Award, the NCMEA National music award, the Pittsburgh Tuesday Musical Club, the Enola M. Lewis Scholarship and the Mu Phi Epsilon Sterling Achievement Award. Maiolo is the principal flutist of the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra and Downtown Singers Orchestra. In addition to her playing positions, she concertizes as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Maiolo has been recognized for the breadth of her contributions to performance and music education. She has premiered compositions for flute by Jack Martin, Dan Locklair, Edith Borroff, Malcolm Lewis, Richard Herman, Jeffrey Nitch, Timothy Rolls and Paul Goldstaub. In 1985, Maiolo was honored to conduct the NYSSMA All-State Flute Choir. She served as the flute chairperson for the NYSSMA Manual from l981 to 2001. She is chapter advisor for Mu Phi Epsilon, Zeta Eta Chapter at Binghamton University. She is a “clinician” for the Selmer Company. She is a member of the National Flute Association. She has recorded for Crest Records and NPR. Her performances have earned her lavish praise: “Georgetta Maiolo provided some exquisite musical moments in her flute solos,” wrote Alice Mitchell in a review in the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y. “Georgetta Maiolo should be singled out for praise in her work with Soprano Louise Wohlafka in the ‘Mad Scene’ in Lucia. Her tone was like another lovely voice in the cadenza…Ms. Maiolo’s wonderful tone and musicianship were in evidence here and through the entire opera,” commented a critic for WSKG-FM radio. In the August 1999 Opera News review of the Tri-Cities Opera production of Die Zauberflote, William W. West stated “…with some lovely flute playing from Georgetta Maiolo”.
Timothy Perry, clarinet
-see CONDUCTORS
Martha J. Weber, bassoon
Martha Weber returned to teach bassoon at Binghamton University in 2006. She has also taught bassoon at Hartwick College. She is the band director at Ann G. McGuinness Intermediate School in the Union-Endicott District, where she is also a trained mentor for new teachers. Weber is a Certified NYSSMA Adjudicator. She received her bachelor's of music in music education and her master's degree in applied music from Ithaca College. She has done post-graduate work at the American Band College. Weber has studied bassoon with Edward J. Gobrecht, Jr., David Ross and Julie Gregorian. Weber teaches bassoon lessons, bassoon methods, bassoon reed-making and small ensemble coaching at Binghamton University. She is a master reed maker. She studied reed-making with Edward J. Gobrecht, Jr., Louis Skinner and Julie Gregorian. Weber is actively sought for bassoon and reed-making master classes. She maintains an active private bassoon studio in her home. Weber has been a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic and Tri-Cities Opera orchestras since 1985. She actively performs with her woodwind quintet, "The Fair Winds." She has also performed with the BC Pops, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Catskill Symphony, Utica Symphony and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. She maintains membership in the Music Educators' National Conference (MENC), for which she has had several articles published, New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA), and the International Double Reed Society (IDRS), for which she has been a presenter.
Jan Delli-Bovi, piano technician
Cheryl McGowan, secretary
Cheryl McGowan has been among the staff of Binghamton University for 20 years. Cheryl began her career in the Music Department in 1994. She then worked for the Graduate School (2008-2012), and Health Services (2012/13). She enthusiastically rejoined her position in the Music Department in March of 2013. She has an Associate's Degree from Broome Community College. Outside of work, Cheryl is most proud of being a mother and grandmother. She has 3 children and 2 granddaughters that are the lights of her life.
René Neville, assistant to the chair
René Neville holds a BA in English literature (folklore) with a minor in sociocultural anthropology from Binghamton University. She is involved in the local community theater scene and has worked, performed and choreographed for several theater companies and dance programs. For the last few years, she has provided movement classes for the Summer Youth Musical Theatre program, co-sponsored by the Music Department at Binghamton University. Neville founded and is the artistic director of Dance Stories, the resident dance company of the Endicott Performing Arts Center (EPAC). She is also a member of EPAC's Board of Directors and is host of a public affairs show on WHRW, Binghamton University's free-format radio station. She is also a member of the grant review panel for the Broome, Chenango, Otsego counties Council of the Arts Decentralization Grant program. In 2010, Neville was chosen as a Broome County Arts Council Heart of the Arts nominee. Play your music. Dance.
Marnie Wrighter, concert manager
Marnie Wrighter joined the Binghamton University Music Department staff in August 2005. She has a bachelor of business administration degree with a dual major in marketing and management from St. Bonaventure University. During her time at St. Bonaventure, she spent a semester abroad at Ealing College in London, England. Upon graduation, she became the sales coordinator for Hilton Hotel's Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. She was then promoted to the Rye Town Hilton as the director of the conference center where she won the prestigious Conference Center Market Sales Excellence Award from Hilton Hotels Corporation. In 1997, she moved back to her hometown of Endicott, N.Y., and accepted the position as the director of marketing at Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute. In 2004, she was published in Manchester's "Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women". From 2007-2009, she was the chair of the Ways and Means Committee for the Tioga Hills PTA and from 2009-2011, she was the chair of the PARP reading program. From 2007-2011, she was the chair of the Cultural Arts Committee where she also served as the stage manager, director and producer for the musical "Secret Garden - Spring Edition" with 70 participating students from the Tioga Hills Elementary School. This year she will serve as president of the Tioga Hills PTA. She is honored to work with the exceptional staff and faculty in the Music Department at Binghamton University.
