SENIOR RECITAL FEATURES TWO MALE VOCALISTS

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents a senior vocal recital featuring two male singers on Sunday, October 26 at 4 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts (formerly known as the Arts & Humanities Building). The recital is free and open to the public. 

Tenor Caleb Stout and baritone Andrew Shaffer will be assisted by Deb Logan for this concert.  Both singers are vocal music education majors and study voice privately with Denise Milner Howell. Caleb is a graduate of North Adams High School and is from Winchester, Ohio.  Andrew is a graduate of Wooster High School in the neighboring city of Wooster, Ohio.

The recital program will include solo pieces performed by each vocalist as well as duets. The concert will begin with the duo singing classical songs such as "Santa Lucia," "O sole mio," and "Funiculi, Funicula."  Each vocalist will then perform solo selections with Caleb singing pieces from Joseph Haydn, Robert Franz, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Hundley and Rick Ian Gordon; and Andrew performing selections from W. A. Mozart, Jules Massenet, Camille Saint-Saens, Poldowski, Charles Ives, Robert Saari and Roger Quilter.  The concert will conclude with a duet of Robert Lopez's "You and Me" from the musical The Book of Mormon.

ASHLAND SOPRANO KATHRYN MOUNTS PERFORMS SENIOR RECITAL

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents a senior vocal recital featuring Ashland High School graduate and Savannah resident Kathryn Mounts on Sunday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. The recital is free and open to the public.

With a double-major in musical theatre and vocal music and a minor in history, Miss Mounts studies voice privately with Denise Howell at Ashland University. Accompanied by pianist Deb Logan, the concert program will include a variety of classical pieces from Bellini, Mozart, Lotti, Poulenc, Obradors and Arnold Cooke along with musical theatre selections including Girl in 14 G, If You Hadn't But You Did from On the Aisle, Won't Say I'm in Love from Hercules and Let it Go from Frozen. 

AU VOCALISTS WIN AT OHIO NATS COMPETITION

Several Ashland University voice students were award winners at the Ohio NATS (National Association of teachers of Singing) competition held April 6, 2013 at Kent State University.  With over 300 performers and their voice teachers attending, all participating students performed before judges and received comments regarding their singing. At the awards presentation, Ashland University's name was called out three times:

• Johanna Regan, student of Stephanie Sikora - 2nd place, Upper College Musical Theatre category 1
• Katie Mounts, student of Denise Howell  - 2nd place,Upper College Musical Theatre category 2
• Fatima Imani Smith, student of Stephanie Sikora - 1st place, Freshmen College Women Category II

FEBRUARY'S SENIOR RECITALS FEATURE A FLUTIST, A BARITONE AND A TENOR

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents three senior recitals in February featuring a flutist, a baritone and a tenor. All of the recitals are free and open to the public and are held in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts (formerly known as the Arts & Humanities Building).

Flutist Lisa Mongiardo begins the February senior recitals on Sunday, February 10 at 3:00 p.m. She will be accompanied by pianist Susan Gregg for her program including music by Handel, Bloch, Colquhoun and Godard. She is a music education major from Collins, Ohio, a graduate of Edison High School and studies privately with flute instructor Jane Berkner. 

At 5:00 p.m. on February 10, baritone Bret O. Cowden will be accompanied by pianist Pavlina Draganova. Bret will perform pieces from Handel, Mozart and Beethoven to Rodgers & Hammerstein. He is a music major with a theatre minor and studies privately with Voice Professor Stephanie Sikora. He is a graduate of United Local High School and is from Paris, Ohio. 

Tenor Derek Jackenheimer presents his senior recital on Sunday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m. Derek is a resident of Ashland and graduate of Ashland High School. He is a music education major and studies privately with vocal instructor Denise Howell. He will be accompanied by pianist Deb Logan.

JANUARY RECITALS BEGIN THURSDAY NIGHT

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents several student recitals and a faculty recital in January featuring vocalists, a percussionist and organist.  All of the recitals are free and open to the public.  The student recitals are held in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts (formerly known as the Arts & Humanities Building), and the faculty organ recital is slated for the Jack and Deb Miller Chapel. 
 

The student recitals begin on Thursday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. with a junior recital by soprano Kathryn Mounts.  She will perform with pianist Deb Logan and fellow soprano Erin Lingenfelter including classical pieces from Rossini, Shubert and Debussy to contemporary works by Ricky Ian Gordon and Stephen Schwartz. Kathryn is a graduate of Ashland High School and is a musical theatre and vocal performance major studying privately with vocal instructor Denise Howell.  

On Sunday, January 27 at 2:30 p.m., soprano Katie Vargo will perform her senior recital with pianists Pavlina Draganova and Kyle Gould, and Maggie Rickard on oboe.  Katie is a music education major and studies privately with vocal instructor Dione Bennett. She graduated from Riverside High School (Painesville, OH).  

Dr. Timothy Guenther

At 4:00 p.m. on January 27, University organist and instructor of music Dr. Timothy Guenther will perform a faculty recital on organ and harpsichord in the Jack and Deb Miller Chapel. In addition to serving as the University Organist since 1996, Dr. Guenther also teaches applied organ and harpsichord, as well as courses in fundamentals of basic musicianship, and serves as accompanist as needed for the University Choir, Chamber Singers and Ashland Area Chorus. He holds degrees in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and The American Conservatory of Music. He frequently performs as keyboardist for both the Ashland Symphony Orchestra and the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra. Rostered as an Associate in Ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he currently serves as Organist and Director of Music Ministry at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Columbus. He is active professionally in the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the Hymn Society, the Organ Historical Society, the Reed Organ Society, the American Theatre Organ Society, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He also performs regularly on the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ at the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield. 

Also on January 27 at 7:30 p.m., percussionist Matthew Dawson will present his senior recital.  Matthew is from Perrysville, Ohio and is a graduate of Lexington High School.  He is a music education major studying privately with percussion instructor Jeff Neitzke.

MUSIC FACULTY COMBINE TALENTS FOR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE RECITAL

Directed by Arie Lipsky, several faculty members from the Ashland University Department of Music combine their talents with Lipsky for a chamber ensemble recital on Sunday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital.  The performance is free and open to the public.

The program begins with the faculty wind quartet performing Gioacchino Rossini’s “Quartet No. 6 in B-flat” featuring Arie Lipsky on flute; Thomas Reed, clarinet; Ian Hoy, bassoon; and Michael Metcalf, horn.  A faculty trio with soprano Denise Milner Howell, cellist Arie Lipsky and pianist Megan Barth will then present Johannes Brahms “Two Songs, Op. 91.”  Combining many elements of jazz with ragtime, the faculty trio of Thomas Reed on clarinet; Arie Lipksy, cello; and Pavlina Draganova, piano will perform Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music.”  The program will conclude with a sextet playing the four movement suite of Bohuslav Martinu’s jazz ballet “La Revue de Cuisine” including Prologue (Marche), Tango, Charleston and Final.  The sextet features violinist Jane Reed, cellist Arie Lipsky, clarinetist Thomas Reed, bassoonist Ian Hoy, Amanda Bekeny on trumpet and Pavlina Draganova, piano.

Known in the Ashland area as the music director and conductor for the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Arie Lipsky is a native of Haifa, Israel, where he received extensive training as a cellist and flutist.  He holds degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Music which he received before serving in the Israeli armed forces as a tank commander. After moving to the United States, Arie served as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and graduated from there with distinction.  During this period he also assumed conducting responsibilities with the Ohio Light Opera.  He moved to Buffalo, New York in 1984 to become the Philharmonic's principal cellist and, in 1990, also became the Resident Conductor, a position he held for twelve years.  Maestro Lipsky is currently in his fifteenth season as Music Director and Conductor of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, and also in his eleventh season as Music Director and Conductor of the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Symphony.