FACULTY ROSTER
Gold Medalist of the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition, pianist Dr. Spencer Myer is garnering stellar audience and critical acclaim from around the globe, rapidly establishing himself as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation. Spencer Myer’s upcoming season includes return engagements with the Wyoming and Bozeman Symphony Orchestras, debuts with the Springfield, Juneau and Acadiana Symphony Orchestras, recitals throughout the United States, and his fifth return tour to South Africa. He has been soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Indianapolis, Knoxville, New Haven, Phoenix, Santa Fe and Tucson Symphony Orchestras, and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra. In May 2005, his recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. In 2004, Spencer Myer captured First Prize in the 10th UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa. Winner of the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association, he is also a laureate in the 2007 Kapell, 2005 Cleveland and 2005 Busoni International Piano Competitions. He was a member of Astral Artists’ performance roster from 2003-2010, having won their 2003 national auditions. An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Blair, Miami, Jupiter and Pacifica string quartets. He has enjoyed a growing reputation as a vocal collaborator since winning the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition. Spencer Myer is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and The Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin. His Doctor of Musical Arts degree was conferred by Stony Brook University in 2005. He has served on the piano faculties of the Baldwin-Wallace and Oberlin Conservatories of Music. His debut CD for harmonia mundi usa - music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy and Kohs - was released in the fall of 2007. Spencer Myer is a Steinway Artist. (www.spencermyer.com)
Distinguished pianist Dr. Christine Utomo has performed solo and chamber music in Indonesia, USA, and Europe, at Balai Sarbini Jakarta, Alfred Newman Recital Hall, USC United University Church, Ruïnekerk Bergen, Revelin Fort, The Rector’s Palace, Ratusz Staromiejski w Toruniu, Teatro Comunale di Cassalmaggiore. She has performed with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and the Torun Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming concerts will be featured in Austria, Germany, Poland, and Indonesia, including performances with clarinetist Marcel Luxen; piano trio with violinist Bin Huang and cellist Wendy Law; violist Han Oh and clarinetist Eugene Pook, among others. Past highlights included road show on Sumatra with cellist Tina Guo, soloist with conductor Noorman Widjaja performing Schumann Piano Concerto and Beethoven piano Concerto no.2, and with Przemyslaw Fiugajski (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no.1); duo with violinist Iskandar Widjaja and cellist Gabriel Schwabe. Her recording of Chopin Introduction and Polonaise and Astor Piazolla Le Grand Tango with Tina Guo was released in 2010. She is a Laureate of 2000-2007 USC Dean Scholarship, 2007 MURI, 2008 J.D. Feuerstein Scholarship, prize awards at MTNA Piano Competition, MTAC Piano Concerto Competition, National Indonesia Yamaha Piano Competition. Completed DMA in piano at the University of Southern California, studied with Norman Krieger. She has also worked with notable international pedagogue such as Andrez Jasinski, Bernd Goetzke, Mikhail Voskressenky, Ekaterina Popowa-Zydron, Ilja Scheps, among others. She is currently the Artistic of P.T. Irama Music Studio (Medan), founder and artistic director of Associazione Musicale Amadeus.
Pianist Iswargia R. Sudarno is not only known as a pianist, but also as an educator and program director and designer of the program's activities in music. As a pianist he has performed on four continents, and became a soloist with several orchestras in the country such as Nusantara Chamber Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Indonesia, Jakarta Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and the Art Institute of Indonesia. In addition, he also served as a tutor Nusantara Chamber Orchestra, the academic director of the International Music Foundation, and the music director of the National Youth Orchestra of Indonesia. Born in Bandung, Iswargia started piano lessons there, first with his mother Wibanu, then Partosiswojo, John Gobée, and Oerip S. Santoso. After completing his bachelor’s degree in architecture at the Institut Teknologi Bandung, he continued his education for Masters In Music at the Manhattan School of Music, New York, United States, under the guidance of legendary pianist and pedagogue Karl Ulrich Schnabel. During the summers, he also studied with renowned pedagogue pianists, such as Bela Siki at Johanessen International School of the Arts (Canada), Gabriel Chodos and Rita Sloan at the Aspen Music School (United States), and Robert Levin in the Mozarteum International Summer Academy (Austria). He also received a scholarship from the DAAD to deepen his musical knowledge at the Staatliche Hochschule für Music Freiburg, Germany, under the guidance of Hansjörg Koch. Today, besides serving as academic director of the Jakarta Conservatory of Music, he is also a lecturer and master teacher at Jakarta Conservatory of Music, University of Pelita Harapan, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. He frequently gives master classes in several major cities in Indonesia and also in Asia International Piano Academy and Festival in Korea. His students have won prizes in competitions in the Asian region and internationally.
Pianist Adelaide Simbolon obtained her first piano instruction from Flora Khouw. She took piano lessons with Edmon Euhim during her father’s diplomatic assignment in Moscow, Russia. Upon her return to Jakarta, she continued musical education at the School of Music Foundation Education Music under the guidance from Laura Hima, S. OeripSantoso, and Iravati M. Sudiarso. After that Ade continued her musical studies at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she studied with Carolyn McCracken-Forough and Jeffery Peterson. At UWM she also received guidance chamber music from The Fine Arts Quartet. During the year of 1985 and 1986 she obtained a scholarship to attend 'summer camp' in Adamant Music School in Vermont and received assistance from William Chaisson from Rice University in Houston. In 1987 Adelaide obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Performance with distinction. Upon returning to Jakarta, she taught at her alma mater YPM Music School until 2001. In 1992 she obtained a scholarship for 3 months from the Austrian Embassy in Jakarta to study under Hans Kahn at Hochschule fur Music und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Since 2003 until now she had become faculty at the Conservatory of Music Jakarta. She is an active chamber musician, and has collaborated with various musicians from within and abroad.
Composer Slamet Abdul Sjukur (Born in 1935 in Surabaya), is the founding father of contemporary Indonesian music. He studied and worked in Paris under Olivier Messiaen and Henri Dutilleux. He was a lecturer at IKJ (Institut Kesenian Jakarta). He has been living in Jakarta and Surabaya as a freelance composer, teacher and music critic. Developing the idea of minimax in music, his compositions are "notable for their minimal constellation of sounds and for their numerological basis which indicate the composer’s interest in a new ‘ecology of music’. This idea views limitation not as obstructions but as a challenge to work with a simple material, maximally. His honours include the Bronze Medal from the Festival de Jeux d’Automne in Dijon (1974), the Golden Record from the Académie Charles Cros in France (1975, forAngklung) and the Zoltán Kodály Commemorative Medal in Hungary (1983). More recently, Gatra magazine named him a Pioneer of Alternative Music (1996) and he was made an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2000) and a lifetime member of the Akademi Jakarta (2002). Some of his prominent students include Rahayu Supanggah, Gilang Ramadhan, and Soe Tien Marching.
Born in New York City, and raised in Yonkers, NY, composer Joshua Saulle began composing at age 11 after seeing the film Amadeus. He has written music for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, percussion, voice, chorus, orchestra, and film. His music has been performed at venues across the US, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. In 2011, his choral piece i am a little church will be performed at the Chorus America National Conference. In 2009 he made his international debut with performances of Angel’s Touch; Intermezzo for piano in Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. His choral motet Ubi Caritas took second place in the San Francisco Conservatory’s Sixth Biannual Choral Composition Competition, and his piece Air for Unaccompanied Viola was featured in the April 2009 issue of Journal of the American Viola Society. Joshua studied composition with Gerald Shapiro at Brown University, and with Dan Becker and David Conte at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Other teachers have included Johannes Somary, Michael Czajkowski and Chester Biscardi. Not only a composer, Joshua has long been a proponent of contemporary music, as a founding member and president of the Original Music Group at Brown University, and as a former Board member of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Joshua resides in San Francisco where he also teaches piano, and sings with the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco. Joshua has also guest conducted the Lakeside Avenue Baptist Church Choir and The International Orange Chorale.
Website: www.joshuasaulle.com.
Website: www.joshuasaulle.com.
Dr. Nathan Leaf (conducting) is the Director of Choral Activities at North Carolina State University, where he conducts three choirs and teaches voice. Dr. Leaf brings a broad array of conducting experience to the podium, having conducted chamber choirs, large choirs with orchestra, musical theater, opera, and wind ensembles. He was previously on the music faculties of University of Wyoming and Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. In addition to teaching, Leaf has earned critical acclaim as the chorus master for the Raleigh-based North Carolina Opera. A frequent guest conductor and clinician, his work with young singers emphasizes thoughtful musicality and healthy vocal production. A tenor, Leaf is a member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus in Eugene, Oregon, performing on their recent series of recordings of Haydn masses on the Hänssler Classic label. In recent seasons, he has also performed with Conspirare-Company of Voices in Austin, Texas, the Tucson Chamber Artists in Arizona, the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus in New York City, and in the Triangle area with the North Carolina Master Chorale Chamber Choir. In 2004, he toured Central Europe as member of the Swedish male choir Orphei Drängar. He occasionally appears as a tenor soloist in both concert and recital settings. Dr. Leaf earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Valparaiso University (Indiana) and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in choral conducting from The University of Texas at Austin. A former Bruton Graduate Fellow, his research has been widely published, including in a feature article in Choral Journal, the primary publication of the American Choral Directors Association.
Website: www.ncsu.edu/music/faculty/leaf.html
Website: www.ncsu.edu/music/faculty/leaf.html
Hailed for her “soaring soprano,” Kathryn Mueller has appeared as a soloist with the New Mexico Symphony, Arizona Opera, Phoenix Symphony, Washington Bach Consort, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and Firebird Chamber Orchestra, and the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera. In 2009 she made her international debut during a musical Peace Tour across Indonesia with the Swara Sonora Trio, and months later gave concerts in Central Mexico with the period orchestra Capella Guanajuatensis. An accomplished ensemble singer as well, Kathryn has sung with Seraphic Fire, the Handel and Haydn Society, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Kathryn holds music degrees from Brown University and The University of Arizona. She is featured as a soloist on recordings by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tucson Chamber Artists, and Seraphic Fire, including Seraphic Fire’s Monteverdi Vespers album that reached #1 on the iTunes classical chart. For four years Kathryn was a teaching artist for Opening Minds through the Arts, a student achievement and school improvement program that integrates the arts into the core curriculum in the Tucson, AZ public schools. For more information, visit www.kathrynmueller.com.
Dr.Nathan Krueger, Baritone, holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and the University of New Mexico, and will graduate with a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Arizona. Currently he is on the voice faculty at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This past season, he appeared as baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Oshkosh Chamber Singers, as a soloist with the Madison Bach Musicians, and as Melchior in Milwaukee Opera Theatre's productions of “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” He also performed as a member of the Milwaukee Florentine Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago Choruses. In the past, he has performed with Arizona Opera, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Tucson Chamber Artists, and performed roles with L'opera Piccola in Chicago, Opera Southwest, Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Chicago Chamber Opera and performed in two productions with the Santa Fe Opera Showcase. In 2009 he made his international debut during a musical Peace Tour across Indonesia with the Swara Sonora Trio. In addition to his busy performance schedule, Mr. Krueger worked for five years as an Opera Artist in Tucson United School District's Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA) program, a nationally recognized arts integration program. This summer Mr. Krueger will direct Humperdinck's “Hansel and Gretel” for Southeastern Wisconsin Performing Arts and will perform as a featured artist in the Milwaukee Florentine Opera’s “Music by the Lake” series.
Eric Christopher Perry, tenor, is consistently recognized for his thoughtful expression of words and effortless coloratura singing. He is highly active in oratorio, concert and bel canto operatic performance; recently reviewed as “exuberant” and “sweetly sung” in his Boston solo debut- Bach’s “Mass in b minor” at historic Old South Church [Boston Musical Intelligencer]. Theatrical credits include The Sorcerer(Alexis), Don Pasquale (Ernesto), Sunday in the Park with George (George), Friar I in the East Coast orchestral premiere of Buoso’s Ghost by Michael Ching, and recently La Cenerentola (Ramiro), broadcast on WKBQ-Phoenix's "Saturday at the Opera" program. Mr. Perry's concert repertoire includes Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium (Evangelist and Arias), Schubert's Mass in G Major, Janáček's The Diary of One who Disappeared and Schumann's Szenen aus Goethes Faust. He has appeared with the Martina Arroyo Foundation, Opera New Jersey, Salisbury Singers, Arizona Lyric Opera Theatre, Arizona Bach Festival, Fredonia Bach and Beyond Festival, Scottsdale Musical Arts, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Phoenix Chorale, and is a new addition to the choral roster of Boston Baroque. Last season he made his national symphony solo debut in Krása's Brundibár with the Phoenix Symphony. In June of 2011 he was awarded the Ivars Taurins Fellowship for participation at the Tafelmusik Summer Baroque Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he performed the role of the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion. Instructors include Gerald Thomas Gray, David Britton, William Hite, and Thea Fenton Wheeler. He currently is a Lecturer of Musical Theatre/Voice at the University of Ballarat Arts Academy in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Mr. Perry is a proud member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, men's national music fraternity. [www.ecpmusic.com]
Born in California and raised in Japan, Panama, Georgia and Texas, dancer and actor Kendahl Ferguson has trained in dance, fitness and yoga in all corners of the globe.
Beginning with his undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire, Kendahl Ferguson continued his dance training in Texas and Korea while simultaneously serving in the United States Armed Services. A subsequent move to New York City led to positions in dance companies including Exit 12, Mooney/Cooley Dance, and currently Michael Mao Dance. He recently joined renowed choreographer David Gordon's Pick-up Performance Company for their re-staging of "Dancing Henry Five", critically acclaimed by New Jersey's Star-Ledger and the Chicago Tribune.
As a choreographer, Mr. Ferguson’s work has been featured in numerous prestigious venues, most notably New York City’s Fashion Week 2011. He continues his fitness and yoga training in New York currently, while pursuing work as a film and TV actor, recently he appeared as a principal dancer in the feature film "Coming Up Rose".
Beginning with his undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire, Kendahl Ferguson continued his dance training in Texas and Korea while simultaneously serving in the United States Armed Services. A subsequent move to New York City led to positions in dance companies including Exit 12, Mooney/Cooley Dance, and currently Michael Mao Dance. He recently joined renowed choreographer David Gordon's Pick-up Performance Company for their re-staging of "Dancing Henry Five", critically acclaimed by New Jersey's Star-Ledger and the Chicago Tribune.
As a choreographer, Mr. Ferguson’s work has been featured in numerous prestigious venues, most notably New York City’s Fashion Week 2011. He continues his fitness and yoga training in New York currently, while pursuing work as a film and TV actor, recently he appeared as a principal dancer in the feature film "Coming Up Rose".
Hailed by the Arizona Daily Star as a pianist with “technical prowess, balletic grace, warm tones, and unwavering devotion to the score,” pianist Aryo Wicaksono (Festival Artistic Director) has performed in venues and festivals internationally and throughout the United States. Recent highlights include performances with the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra (Prokofiev 3rd) in Jakarta, the United Arab Emirates Philharmonic Orchestra (Prokofiev 1st), Surabaya Symphony Orchestra, a solo recital on the prestigious Embassy Series in Washington D.C., and a sold-out orchestral debut with the St. Petersburg State Symphony in Russia (Prokofiev 1st). He also recently toured solo in Indonesia and the East Coast with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Mr. Wicaksono has held artist-in-residence positions at South Western College in San Diego and at the American University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. He has performed with the Civic Orchestra of Tucson, the Tucson Symphony, the Arizona Symphony Orchestra, the Arizona Wind Ensemble, and the Arizona Percussion Ensemble. As a musical director he won the Arizona Daily Star’s “Mac Award” 2006 for Best Musical, and the Tucson Weekly "Best Musical” for 2006-2007. In addition to his busy performance schedule, he worked for six years as an Opera Artist in Tucson United School District's Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA) program, a nationally recognized arts integration program.Upcoming engagements include recitals and residencies in San Francisco and Vancouver, and a tour of Indonesia in the Fall 2011. As a composer, he has made scores for short independent Japanese film “Dream of an Hour”, and has some of his music set into ballet by Teatro Jaguar Luna and other ballet schools in the U.S. and abroad. He was pianist-composer in residence for the American Academy of Ballet School this July 2011.For more information, press reviews, and touring schedule, please visit Aryo’s website at www.aryo-wicaksono.com. He lives in NYC and works for NYU Tisch Ballet School and 92nd St Y Harkness Dance.
Composer Dr. Nancy Van de Vate was born in the United States and now lives permanently in Vienna, Austria and is one of the world’s outstanding women composers. She currently teaches music composition at the Vienna Institute for European Studies and has been a faculty member at 11 universities in the United States and Indonesia. Her opera, All Quiet on the Western, premiered in Osnabruck in 2003 and was performed there ten times to great critical acclaim. In January 2005 her new chamber opera, Where the Cross Is Made , based on the play by Eugene O 'Neill, was selected by the National Opera Association (USA) as the winner of its biennial international competition for new chamber operas. Her 26 orchestral works include the well-known Chernobyl , which has been performed world-wide and in the United States at the Chautauqua. She has also created a large body of solo and chamber music for a variety of instruments and ensembles. A much sought-after speaker , she participated in the World Music Council meeting in Los Angeles in October 2005 and is widely respected as a juror. She serves as President and Artistic Director of the international recording company , Vienna Modern Masters , which she founded in 1990. Founder of the International League of Women Composers in 1975, she steadfastly continues her advocacy of women composers with the Nancy Van de Vate International Composition Prize for Opera and through the inclusion of many works by women composers on the Vienna Modern Masters label.
Pianist Renny Sie has performed numerous recitals in Indonesia, Japan, and USA. Her earliest accomplishment was performing at IJOC Gala Concert in Nemu No Sato, Japan at the age of eleven years old. Renny holds a BA degree from Cal State Univ, Fresno where she then accepted the school's scholarship and teaching assistantship offer to continue pursuing her masters degree. She began teaching her first college level class when she was 21. In 2009, she received a Masters degree in Piano Performance with honors. She was awarded numerous scholarships during her studies in California State University, Fresno. She was also featured in Fresno's KVPR's (part of National Public Radio) program "Young Artist Spotlight," where she performed live on radio.In 2009, Renny accepted a full scholarship offer and teaching assistantship from the prestigious Frost School of Music, University of Miami to pursue her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Keyboard Performance with the world's renowned Santiago Rodriguez. She is due to receive her Doctorate in May 2012. Aside from being an active performer, she has also taught at Cal State Fresno, University of Miami, UMiami Young Musicians’ Camp, and UMiami Preparatory Program. Currently, Renny’s actively involved on several projects, among which are her dissertation titled “Francis Poulenc’s Nocturnes for Piano: a Performer’s Guide,” a dance collaboration project with Renny's own solo piano transcripstions of Astor Piazzolla's tangos, and a chamber music project performing Wendy Mae's Ten Grand Pianos. Her principal teachers include Andreas Werz, Santiago Rodriguez, Antoinette Perry, and Evelyne Brancart. More information can be found on www.rennysie.com
Emily Good Perkins is a coloratura soprano and an Adjunct Professor of voice at American University of Sharjah (UAE). She is also the founder and director of the AUS Vocal Guild with whom she has directed numerous musical theater and opera scenes productions. In May 2011, she directed the first Arabic musical at American University of Sharjah by the late Mansour Rahbani. Emily has taught master classes and workshops in Arizona, USA; Muscat, Oman; Sharjah, UAE; and Jakarta, Indonesia. She has performed with the Rome Festival Opera; Intimate Opera Los Angeles; Temple University Opera; Philadelphia orchestra; American Institute of Music in Graz, Austria; Tucson Symphony Orchestra; University of Arizona Opera; United Arab Emirates Philharmonic Orchestra at Emirates Palace (Abu Dhabi); Nassim al Saba (Arabic choir), and in solo recital at American University of Sharjah. She received her Bachelors and Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from Temple University in Philadelphia and The University of Arizona in Tucson. She has studied the Italian Bel Canto technique under the tutelage of Mary Kay Schmidt (Minnesota).
Dr. John Perkins is an Assistant Professor of music at the American University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. He conducts the AUS Choral Ensemble, the AUS Community Chorus, and the UAE’s first Arabic four-part choir, Nassim al Saba. Dr. Perkins’ research focuses on Lili Boulanger, French symbolism, conducting technique, and Arabic choral music, and cross-cultural music education. His new arrangement of Lili Boulanger’s Psaume 130, Du fond de l’abîme and Arabic choral arrangements have been internationally premiered. Dr. Perkins holds a D.M.A. degree in choral conducting from the University of Arizona, a M.M. in choral conducting from Temple University, and a B.M. in theory and composition from Westminster Choir College.
