RESONANCE - THE E-NEWSLETTER OF THE SHEPHERD SCHOOL OF MUSIC



All of us at The Shepherd School of Music would like to thank you for your ongoing support of our talented, young musicians. Thanks to the generosity of our Shepherd Society members in 2006-2007, we were able to offer competitive scholarship packages to our new and returning students for this coming fall! We wish you a summer filled with a perfect combination of exciting adventures and moments of relaxation...and we look forward to seeing you back in Houston in September!

The Nominating Committee Members were as follows: H. Irving Schweppe, Jr., M.D., Chairman; Cynthia Allshouse; Lilly Andress; Charlotte Rothwell; and Vicki West

The New Slate of Officers (2007-2009): Lynne Hudson, Chairman; Vicki West, President; Ann Bookout, First Vice President; Frank Herzog, Membership Vice President; Phoebe Tudor, Special Projects Vice President; Judi Holmes, Secretary; Ginger Blanton, Treasurer; John Miner, Historian; Cynthia Allshouse, Member at Large; Anne Duncan, Member at Large; Charlotte Rothwell, Member at Large; Robert Yekovich, Executive Director; Genevieve Demme, Membership Vice President Emeritus.

2007 Class of Fifteen: Lilly Andress, Jean Clarke, Molly Crownover, Anne Duncan, Sidney Faust, John Guida, Frank Herzog, Frank Hood, Cora Sue Mach, Margaret Pack, Courtney Lanier Sarofim, C. Richard Stasney, Y. Ping Sun, Sheridan Williams, Cyvia Wolff. 

New to the Advisory Board: Kent and Linda Anderson, Mary Attwell, Anne Chao, Joe Nelson, Philip and Fran Peterson, Irving and Pete Schweppe.Thank you all for your help and support!

CHINESE DELEGATES ATTEND SHEPHERD SCHOOL SPRING OPERA

This past March, Rice University was honored to host a prestigious delegation of Chinese leaders for the inaugural meeting of the China-Rice Advanced Leadership Forum, a joint university leadership program. Twenty-six Chinese university presidents, chairmen and vice chairmen, and high officials from the Ministry of Education and the National Academy of Education Administration participated in this year's forum.  These leaders hailed from the top 30 universities located throughout China. The delegates themselves represented an impressive variety of backgrounds, experience, and scholarship.

During their visit to Rice University, the participants wanted to examine our perspectives on how to build leading, world-class private and public universities by achieving academic and operational excellence in a diverse, global community.  While these issues served as the focus of their visit, the Chinese delegates did make time to visit The Shepherd School of Music and attend our production of Kurt Weill's opera, Street Scene.  They also enjoyed a tour of our school hosted by Dean Robert Yekovich and Associate Dean Gary Smith, as well as a demonstration of the Grand Organ by Professor Clyde Holloway, and solo performances by Ying Fu, violin and Wenli Zhou, piano.   

To view pictures from their visit, click here, and to learn more about our visitors, click here.

SHEPHERD SCHOOL RETURNS TO THE KENNEDY CENTER WHILE STUDENTS AND FACULTY PREPARE FOR MAJOR SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS AROUND THE GLOBE

The 2006-07 academic year may be officially over, but our Shepherd School faculty and students haven't slowed down a bit.  On May 27th The Shepherd School of Music made its fourth concert appearance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  This year's participants included: Aaron Blake, tenor; Scott Dixon, double bass; Eugene Joubert, piano; Jeffrey Stephenson, oboe; and The Kailas String Quartet (Jory Fankuchen, violin; Stephanie Fong, violin; J.T. Posadas, viola; and Emmanuelle Beaulieu Bergeron, cello).  The concert was made possible through the Kennedy Center's Conservatory Project, which features exceptional young artists being cultivated by America's top music programs.  For more information about the Conservatory Project and to see the Shepherd School's performance on the web, please visit:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/conservatory.html

With former Shepherd School Admissions Director Matthew Loden now enjoying the fresh mountain air of Aspen, Colorado as the Aspen Music Festival and School's Director of Operations, the Shepherd School recently welcomed Bradley Blunt as the new Director of Music Admissions.  In reality, Brad Blunt is neither new to the Shepherd School or to the position; he was our Music Admissions Director during the 2001-2002 academic year, and we are delighted to have him return to the role.  We asked him to share a few words with us about the Shepherd School and the admissions process here.  Here's what he had to say: 

I am tremendously happy to return to the Shepherd School to serve as Director of Music Admissions. The field of admissions is often represented by numbers: the number of applicants, the percentage of applicants admitted, grade point average, test scores, and so on. Admissions is really about people, however, and this is one of the few music schools of its level that understands that. By building strong relationships with prospective students, the Shepherd School's faculty and admissions staff are able to make the decisions that serve the best interests of both the school and the students themselves.

Welcome back, Brad!

SHEPHERD SCHOOL OF MUSIC SCHOLARSHIP INITIATIVE

Competitive merit-based scholarship packages for prospective students enable the Shepherd School to successfully recruit some of the most talented young artist-scholars in the world.  As a result, raising funds for new scholarships remains our highest fundraising priority at the Shepherd School.  Building on the momentum gained through our 30th Anniversary Gala celebration, the Shepherd School continues to make strides towards reaching its 10 million dollar scholarship initiative goal.  

The Shepherd School of Music was recently featured in a Rice publication entitled, Scholarships @ Work.  The article clearly defines the Shepherd School's goals, and demonstrates ways in which donors can participate in the initiative.   

Please click here to read the entire Scholarships @ Work article.  The Shepherd School feature can be found on page 2.

To learn more about the scholarship initiative, or to find out other ways to contribute to the Shepherd School, please contact Stephanie Ann Jones, Director of Development at: sajones@rice.edu or 713-348-4992.

ASSOCIATE DEAN GARY SMITH CONSIDERS TO THE QUESTION.. "WHERE DO THEY GO AFTER THEY GRADUATE?"

Last week Bill VerMeulen (our horn professor) told me that of the thirteen nation-wide symphony orchestra horn positions that have been open recently, ten have been filled by Shepherd School alums.  So, I thought in this newsletter we would take a quick look at what some of our recent orchestral musicians are doing since their graduation from Rice.  Caveat:  This is by no means a comprehensive listing of our alumni playing with professional orchestras.  I've only included a handful of some American orchestras you all will recognize, because we have far too many success stories to share in this format. Also, in future editions of RESONANCE, I'll plan to cover other areas of study as well, i.e.,voice, keyboard, musicology, composition, etc.  Stay tuned for more! 

Best,
Gary

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: 
Thomas Hooten, principal trumpet

Boston Symphony Orchestra: 
Lucia Lin, violin;  Benjamin Levy, double bass; Jason Snider, fourth horn

Chicago Symphony Orchestra: 
Hermine Gagné, violin; Wendy Koons Meir, violin 

The Cleveland Orchestra: 
Martha Baldwin, cello; Scott Dixon, double bass; Marisela Sager, assistant principal flute; Michael Mayhew, associate principal horn; Hans Clebsch, horn

Los Angeles Philharmonic: 
Elizabeth Cook-Shen, second horn

New York Philharmonic: 
Thomas Jostlein, assistant principal utility horn

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra: 
Ming-Feng Hsin, violin; Sylvia Danburg, associate principal second violin;  Milan Milisavljevic, assistant principal viola; Kari Jane Docter, cello; Samuel Magill, cello 

National Symphony Orchestra: 
Heather LeDoux Green, violin; Ira Gold, double bass

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra: 
Emily Ho, violin; Angie Smart, violin; Jooyeon Kong, second violin; David DeRiso, double bass; Sarah Hogan, double bass; Andrew Gott, assistant principal bassoon; Andrea Kaplan, assistant principal flute

San Francisco Symphony: 
James Gaffigan, associate conductor;  Adam Dimitz, oboe; Ben Freimuth, clarinet

SAVE THE DATES: Shepherd Society Events 2007-2008

Opening Night: October 5, 2007

Meet and Mingle: October 25, 2007

Spirit of the Season: November 30, 2007

Young People's Concert: February 23, 2008

Fusion 2: April 17, 2008

Annual Meeting: April 29, 2008