McMaster
Helen and the late Harold McMaster established this endowed professorship in spring 2000. Helen McMaster, a long-time Perrysburg resident, has supported the arts at BGSU for many years. In 1992 she served as honorary chair of Bowling Green’s Campaign of the Arts, to which the McMasters donated $150,000.
Generous friends of BGSU, she and her husband previously donated to programs in music, business, science and the Center for Photochemical Sciences. They established the Harold and Helen McMaster Professor of Photochemical Sciences position in 1993, helped to purchase a photoelectron microscope for the center in 1992 and gave the University a $1 million gift for the McMaster Endowment Fund, which supports the chemical sciences, in 1985.
College professors in vocal, choral or opera may nominate endowed professors (follow the link for more details).
2012–2013 Endowed Professorships in Vocal and Choral Studies
Samuel Ramey
For over three decades, Samuel Ramey has reigned as one of the music world’s foremost interpreters of bass and bass-baritone operatic and concert repertoire. With astounding versatility he commands an impressive breadth of repertoire encompassing virtually every musical style from the fioratura of Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo, which was the vehicle of his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in 1984, to the dramatic proclamations of the title role in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, which he sang in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera televised by PBS. Mr. Ramey’s interpretations embrace the bel canto of Bellini, Rossini, and Donizetti; the lyric and dramatic roles of Mozart and Verdi; and the heroic roles of the Russian and French repertoire.
Past McMaster Endowed Professors
Libby Larson
Libby Larsen (b. 24 December 1950, Wilmington, Delaware) is one of America’s most performed living composers. She has created a catalogue of over 400 works spanning virtually every genre from intimate vocal and chamber music to massive orchestral works and over twelve operas. Grammy Award winning and widely recorded, including over fifty CD’s of her work, she is constantly sought after for commissions and premieres by major artists, ensembles, and orchestras around the world, and has established a permanent place for her works in the concert repertory. As a vigorous, articulate advocate for the music and musicians of our time, in 1973 Larsen co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composer’s Forum, which has become an invaluable aid for composers in a transitional time for American arts. A former holder of the Papamarkou Chair at John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, Larsen has also held residencies with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. Click for a gallery of Libby Larsen's visit.
Ann Baltz
Ann Baltz is founder and artistic director of the nationally acclaimed performance training program, OperaWorks. A master teacher of performance skills and operatic improvisation for opera companies, conservatories and universities, Baltz has been heralded as one of the leading opera educators in America today. She is a frequent presenter at the Classical Singer’s Conventions, and has been featured as a speaker for Opera America’s seminar “Building a Career: Strategies for Success.” Representative schools where she has presented workshops include the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston University, Westminster Choir College, Rice University and the San Francisco Conservatory.
Alice Parker
Composer, conductor and teacher Alice Parker began composing early, and wrote her first orchestral score while still in high school. She graduated from Smith College with a major in music performance and composition, then received her master’s degree from the Juilliard School where she studied choral conducting with Robert Shaw. Her life-work has been in choral and vocal music, combining composing, conducting and teaching in a creative balance. Her arrangements with Robert Shaw of folksongs, hymns and spirituals form an enduring repertoire for choruses all around the world. She serves on the board of Chorus America, and was recently honored by the Eastern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association. Parker has published books on melodic styles, choral improvisation and “Good Singing in Church.”
Margo Garrett
Pianist Margo Garrett is well known to audiences for her frequent performances in chamber, sonata and vocal recitals. She will present a two-day residency at Bowling Green on Oct. 8 & 10, 2007. The large roster of internationally known artists with whom she has long performing relationships include sopranos Kathleen Battle, Barbara Bonney, Elizabeth Futral, Beverly Hoch, the late Judith Raskin, Lucy Shelton, Dawn Upshaw, Benita Valente, mezzo Shirley Close, tenor Anthony Griffey, violinists Jaime Laredo and Daniel Phillips, violist Paul Neubauer, cellists Sharon Robinson, Matt Haimowitz and the late Stephen Kates. Her recordings can be found on Albany, CRI, Deutsche Grammophon (1992 Grammy for Best Vocal Recital), Dorian, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch and Sony Classical. Active for many years in the world of contemporary music, she has performed the premieres of more than 30 works.
Vance George
Vance Y. George is recognized internationally as one of the world’s leading choral conductors. He has conducted throughout the U.S. as well as Europe, Australia and Asia. During his 23 years as conductor with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the group was hailed as one of the finest in the world. On their behalf he accepted two Grammy awards for Best Choral Performances in 1992 and 1995 for Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem. Highly regarded as a teacher of conducting George has taught and presented workshops and lectures at many universities including the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, Eastman School of Music, The San Francisco Conservatory, Cincinnati Conservatory, Kent State University and the University Berkeley-California.
Jon Fredric West
Leading heldentenor Jon Fredric West (‘74) presented a two-day residency at Bowling Green on Oct. 4–5, 2006. During the residency he gave a recital and held master classes.
A Dayton native, West holds a bachelors’s degree in performance from BGSU. He attended the Opera Theater Program at the Manhattan School of Music for his master’s degree and completed postgraduate studies at the Juilliard Opera Theater. He has received grants from The National Opera Institute, The Sullivan Foundation and an award from The Liederkranz Foundation.
West has established himself as the world’s foremost Siegfried in Richard Wagner’s Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. He recently sang the role as part of the complete Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York under James Levine. He came to the Met after triumphant performances in both operas at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, led by Zubin Mehta. With pianist and former BGSU Artist-in-Residence Jerome Rose, he recently recorded Schubert’s Winterreise on Medici Classics.
West has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony (at the Ravinia Festival), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk, Houston, San Francisco, Saint Louis, Boston, Pittsburgh, Toronoto and Cincinnati symphonies. He has sung under the batons of James Conlon, Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, Andrew Davis, Walter Weller, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Eugene Ormandy, Leonard Slatkin, Seiji Ozawa and Lorin Maazel.
Marilyn Horne—Inaugural Professorship
Opera News has called her “maybe the most influential singer in American history” and in fall 2005, she taught students at the College of Musical Arts.
Famed singer Marilyn Horne returned to Bowling Green Oct. 4–6, 2005, as the inaugural artist of the Helen McMaster Endowed Professorship in Vocal and Choral Studies. She last visited BGSU in December 1996 when she gave a sold-out recital on the Festival Series.
Currently focusing on a “master teacher” career, Horne spent several days privately coaching voice students in the College of Musical Arts. She also conducted two master classes featuring many of these same students.
Horne’s five-decade career in opera, concert and recital has been celebrated throughout the world for the power and artistry of her unique and dazzling mezzo-soprano coloratura.
Hansen Series
The Dorothy E. and DuWayne H. Hansen Musical Arts Series Fund was established in 1996 to bring to the campus and the Bowling Green community significant representatives of the musical arts to share their talents with undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Musical Arts and with residents of the community.Dorothy Hansen is an alumna of the College of Musical Arts, while DuWayne Hansen is a former chair of the Department of Music Education.
2013 Hansen Musical Arts Series Guest
While Bill McGlaughlin is most widely known for his work in broadcasting (host of Peabody Award winning St. Paul Sunday and Exploring Music (both heard on WQXR) as well as programs from Wolf Trap and the Library of Congress, he is proud to have begun his professional life as an honest musician, playing trombone with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony. In addition he spent twenty five years as an orchestral conductor with posts ranging from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra to twelve seasons as Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony. Over that period McGlaughlin received numerous awards for adventurous contemporary programming from ASCAP and has the symphony-board-inflicted scars to show for it.
Past Musical Arts Series Guests
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony, becoming the first woman to head a major American orchestra. Called a “born communicator and effective proselytizer for music” by The New York Times and a “lively entertainer as well as a powerhouse musician” by The San Francisco Chronicle, Alsop has spent a lifetime dedicated to music. She will take up the post of Chief Conductor of the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra, Brazil's premiere orchestra, at the start of the 2012 season. She can be heard regularly as a commentator on NPR’s Weekend Edition program, “Marin on Music,” BBC’s Radio 3 and XM Satellite Radio.
Branford Marsalis
The Festival Series and the Hansen Musical Arts Series join forces to bring world-renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis to Bowling Green! Marsalis has always been a man of numerous musical interests from jazz, blues and funk to classical music projects. The three-time Grammy winner has continued to exercise and expand his skills as an instrumentalist, composer and the head of Marsalis Music, the label he founded in 2002 that has allowed him to produce both his own projects and those of the jazz world's most promising new and established artists. Has also received a 2010 Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a 2010 Tony Award for his participation in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's Fences! Whether on the stage, in the recording studio, in the classroom or in the community, Marsalis represents a commitment to musical excellence and a determination to keep music at the forefront.
Nancy Giles
Nancy Giles delights TV audiences with her social commentaries and theater fans with her solo pieces. She is a funny, perceptive and provocative observer of today's world. Giles has made her mark dismantling misconceptions about race, feminism and sexism. Her one-woman New York stage show, Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism, was called "smart and unforgiving" by the Village Voice. Her acclaimed work on CBS Sunday Morning has provided the largest audience yet for her unique blend of laugh-out-loud humor and common sense wisdom. On topics ranging from popular culture and body image to creativity and stereotype, Giles says, "I want to make people laugh and I want to entertain them, but I also want to provoke thought and discussion."
Benjamin Zander
Benjamin Zander, conductor, teacher and speaker, teaches on faculty of the New England Conservatory and is artistic director of the joint program between NEC and Walnut Hill, a boarding school for the Performing Arts. During his 35-year tenure as conductor of the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic, he has taken the orchestra on 13 international tours, made five commercial recordings and several television documentaries for PBS. Zander is conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. The BPO has recorded five extremely successful CDs, all of which are listed in the Penguin Guide of the Best Recordings of the Past 20 Years. Zander has established an international reputation as a guest conductor and has a unique relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London with whom he is recording a series of Beethoven and Mahler symphonies for the Telarc label. He also has an extensive speaking career, traveling the world lecturing to organizations on leadership. The best-selling book, The Art of Possibility, co-authored with his partner, leading psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, has been translated into 16 languages.
Terence Blanchard
A world-renowned trumpeter/composer/band leader and Blue Note recording artist, Terence Blanchard is the most prolific jazz musician to ever compose for motion pictures. Born and raised in New Orleans, where he studied with the Marsalis brothers at the famed New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, he won a scholarship to Rutgers University and immediately began performing in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. Two years later he succeeded Wynton Marsalis in the legendary Jazz Messengers, before forming his own influential groups. He originally began performing on Spike Lee’s soundtracks, including Mo Better Blues in which he ghosted the trumpet for actor Denzel Washington.
Anne Midgette and Greg Sandow
Anne Midgette is a classical music reviewer for The New York Times, where she also occasionally reviews theater. A freelance critic and arts writer, she has written frequently for The Wall Street Journal, Town and Country, The Los Angeles Times, Opera News, OpernWelt, ARTnews, and many other publications. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in Classical Civilization, she lived for 11 years in Munich, Germany, reviewing opera, music and art throughout Europe for the Wall Street Journal and Opera News, doing freelance work for everyone from Deutsche Grammophon to the BBC, editing a monthly magazine, and writing several travel guidebooks. After returning to New York she worked as classical music editor for the now-defunct music-on-demand site MusicMaker.com, as well as writing and reviewing for Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Die Welt (in German) and other above mentioned publications, before becoming the first woman to review classical music for the Times on a regular basis in 2001.
Greg Sandow has been one of the few music critics in America with a national reputation for writing about both classical music and pop. He’s also been one of the few classical critics who challenges the old assumptions of the classical music world. His writing has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times Book Review and The Wall Street Journal, where for many years he was a regular contributor. In pop music, he’s been chief pop critic of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and both music critic and senior music editor of Entertainment Weekly.
Howard Gardner
Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Howard Gardner is widely recognized in educational circles for his theory that humans have eight relatively autonomous intelligences rather than just one that can be assessed by standard instruments. He visited BGSU for a mini-residency Sept. 7–9, 2005.
Gardner has written many books on developmental psychology, including the development of creativity in children and adults, and is also well regarded for his work with artistic development. He is a founding member and senior director of Harvard’s Project Zero, which is focused on systematic studies of artistic thought and creativity.
In recent years, Gardner has embarked on a study of “GoodWork”—work that is socially responsible as well as excellent in quality.
Craig Schulman
Singer and actor Craig Schulman, whose Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and Jekyll & Hyde, visited BGSU for a mini-residency Oct. 4–5, 2004.
A veteran of Broadway productions, national and international tours in such starring roles as Jean Valjean, the Phantom and Jekyll & Hyde, Schulman presented educational activities for high school and college students, as well as a live public performance.
Schulman conducted master classes with BGSU voice and theater students, as well as worked with several talented high school students nominated by their teachers. He also spoke with students enrolled in an introductory opera class, sharing his experience in switching back and forth between the worlds of opera and musical theater.
Inaugural Guest — Bob McGrath
The College of Musical Arts hosted a three-day mini-residency by Bob McGrath of Sesame Street fame on Sept. 3–5, 2003.
Appearing for more than 30 years on Sesame Street, McGrath is one of the original hosts of the groundbreaking children’s show. He was recently inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and is the recipient of the American Eagle Award by the National Music Council, as well as the Fame Award, presented by the National Association of Music Educators for furthering the cause of music education.
McGrath attended an invitation-only dinner co-sponsored by the College of Musical Arts and WBGU-PBS; met with students from the Arts Village, a University residential learning community; held an interactive presentation for approximately 400 first- and second-grade students from the Bowling Green City Schools; presided over storytelling at the Wood County Public Library, and spoke at the College of Musical Arts’ Fall Convocation.