Faculty — Theory/Composition
Ting Ho Ting Ho, a New Jersey Distinguished Artist (1988), has received composing grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the American Music Center and Meet-the-Composer. He is the recipient of the Louis Lane Prize, and his works have been performed at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, and in concerts and new music festivals in the United States and Europe. Born in Chungking, China, he composed a two piano work that was featured in a Voice of America broadcast to the Orient. In 1991, Prof. Ho's composition Wild Geese Alighting was the required Chinese performance piece for children eight years old or younger at the Sixth Annual International Young Artist Piano Competition Featuring Chinese Music held in Washington, DC. Prof. Ho received his Ph.D. in music composition from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester (NY). He is a new music specialist, adjudicator and consultant for numerous community and educational arts organizations and schools.
Michael Albaugh Michael Albaugh recently served as the Director of Music at Interlochen Center for the Arts. From 2001 to 2008, he oversaw all musical and educational programming for the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Interlochen Arts Camp, as well as teaching composition and music theory. He received the National Teacher Recognition Award in 2005 from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts on behalf of the United States Department of Education. His composition students are currently studying in the top music programs in the country and include two Presidential Scholars in the Arts in the last four years. A ProMusica International Grant recipient, he has also conducted field research in West Africa, studying Ewe music and culture in Kopeyia, Ghana. He holds a B.A. from West Liberty State College in music education and guitar performance, studying with Nels Leonard. He holds an M.M. in composition from Bowling Green State University with an emphasis in music technology, studying with Marylin Shrude, Burton Beerman and Samuel Adler. He holds a D.M.A. in composition from West Virginia University, with an emphasis in music theory, studying with John Beall and Andrew Kohn.
Robert Aldridge Robert Livingston Aldridge has written over sixty works in many musical genres that have been performed worldwide. His honors include awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Among his many works are Leda and the Swan (2003); Clarinet Concerto (commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and premiered by David Singer in 2005; Naxos recording 2010), and his opera, Elmer Gantry (premiered by the Nashville Opera in 2007). Elmer Gantry received unanimous praise from the New York Times, Wall St. Journal and Opera News. Recent performances have taken place in Milwaukee, Houston and Minnesota. His music has been performed at New York City’s Lincoln Center and has recently been conducted by Keith Lockhart and performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich. His oratorio, Parables, was premiered by the Topeka Symphony in 2010. He was a founder of the Composers in Red Sneakers (Boston, MA), an internationally recognized composer consortium. He received a Doctorate in Composition from the Yale School of Music, a Master's Degree from New England Conservatory. He has been composer-in-residence at the Brevard Music Festival (NC) since 2006 and at CU NOW (Boulder, CO). He served as Founding Director of the Cali School of Music from 2006-2009.
Dean Drummond Dean Drummond attended the University of Southern California and California Institute of the Arts. He studied trumpet with Don Ellis and John Clyman, composition with Leonard Stein, and worked as musician for and assistant to the composer Harry Partch. He performed in the premieres of Partch's Daphne of the Dunes, And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma, and Delusion of the Fury, and on both Partch Columbia Masterworks recordings made during the late 60's. He has performed and recorded extensively with Newband, which he co-founded with flutist Stefani Starin in 1977, and served as director of the Harry Partch Instrumentarium and taught theory and composition with an emphasis on microtonal music. His music has been recorded on Innova, Mode, and Music and Arts, and performed throughout the world including at Avery Fisher, Alice Tully and Carnegie Hall in New York. He has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Library of Congress, and the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. Drummond has produced and music-directed Harry Partch's The Wayward, Daphne of the Dunes, Oedipus, Delusion of the Fury, and his own The Last Laugh, a live film score for the silent film by F.W. Murnau. He has produced and performed on recordings of music by Harry Partch and John Cage and premiered new works by Cage, John Zorn, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lasse Thoresen, Mathew Rosenblum, Elizabeth Brown.
Ruth Rendleman Ruth Rendleman was educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Manhattan School of Music, and Columbia University. She is a specialist in the performance of eighteenth-century music. She has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities for research and studies at the University of Maryland and has served on the faculty of the Aston Magna Performance Institute. She has performed as a solo artist and in chamber recitals throughout the New York metropolitan area. Her tours abroad have included performances in Korea, China (where she was artist-in-residence at the Shanghai Conservatory), and Australia. In the New York Times, Joseph Horowitz wrote that: "The performance showed force and fluency, consistently communicative. Her work had a firmness of design and continuity of emotion." Her interest in contemporary music led her to commission her colleague, Ting Ho, to write a piano sonata for her. She has received two major commissions from the N.J. State Arts Council for new piano works. Prof. Rendleman founded Montclair State's Preparatory Center for the Arts and Stokes Forest Music Camp. She has served as the music coordinator of the New Jersey School of the Arts and served on the board of the College Music Society. She also served as chair of the Committee on the Status of Women for the College Music Society.
Crystl Baltazar Pianist Crystl Sonomura Baltazar maintains the roles of both performing artist and educator. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, she is a graduate of the University of Hawaii and holds doctorate from from the Eastman School of Music. As a collaborative arts specialist, she accompanies and coaches in many of the voice and instrumental studios in the department, as well as performing with faculty in recital. As a soloist, Ms. Baltazar won awards in the Young Keyboard Artist's Association and International Piano Recording Competitions. Also notable are collaborations in recitals with International Horn Competition Winner, Karl Pituch, and masterclass studies with Dalton Baldwin and Malcolm Bilson. She has performed in several concert series, as well as seasons with the Honolulu Symphony and Chamber Music Hawaii. Her teaching credits include Nazareth College and the New Jersey School of Arts. In addition, she freelances for various vocal, choral and chamber venues in the New York metro area.
Patrick Burns Patrick Burns (b. 1969) teaches courses in orchestration, counterpoint, and music composition at the Cali School, and also teaches instrumental music in the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools. His compositions for symphonic band are performed by bands of every level throughout the country. The United States Army Band, "Pershing’s Own", has performed his music in Washington, D.C. and at Carnegie Hall. His music has also been performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. He has been featured as guest conductor and clinician with public school, community, university and honor bands in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and has recorded and, as director of Imperial Brass, has concertized with world-renowned brass artists Philip Smith, Warren Vache, Roger Webster and Chris Jaudes. Patrick’s music has appeared on Bandworld magazine’s Top 100 list of band compositions twice and is published by G. Schirmer, Daehn Publications, FJH Music Company, Wingert-Jones Music and TRN Music Publisher. The Instrumentalist and School Music News have also printed favorable reviews of Mr. Burns’ band music and The Classical New Jersey Society Journal has praised his chamber music. His music can be heard at his websites.
David Dabbon David Dabbon is a composer/arranger in New York City. He was part of Roundabout Theatre Company’s second Workshop of Tin Pan Alley Rag. David Dabbon has worked at Pittsburgh CLO as part of the music staff for the past three summer seasons, some productions include: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat starring Shoshana Bean and David Osmond, Oklahoma, White Christmas, and The Full Monty. He was the arranger and conductor for the Richard Rogers Award ceremony, honoring Shirley Jones. David Dabbon was also arranger for PCLO’s annual Gene Kelly Awards 2008 and 2009. He worked on the Goodspeed Opera House revival of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. From 2006 to 2008, he was on the faculty at Pittsburgh Musical Theater, teaching music and tap classes to students interested in the arts. He earned a Master’s in Choral Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University studying with Dr. Robert Page and a Bachelor’s from the Hartt School of Music in CT in Musical Direction and Composition. For three years David Dabbon was brought in as an instructor for the University of Hartford’s Educational Main Street program. Currently, David Dabbon is teaching Sight Singing for Actors, part of Pace University’s Music Theatre Program. He is the composer of the new musical American Family (Festival Winner) written with his collaborator Tom Bruett.
Marla Meissner Marla Meissner has been awarded degrees from Ithaca College
Eric Olsen Eric Olsen (M.M., Jazz Studies, Indiana University, M.M., Piano Performance, Indiana University, B.M. in Piano Performance with an Organ Minor, Syracuse University) is distinguished as both a classical and jazz pianist, organist, composer, and conductor. Mr. Olsen is Music Director and Organist at Union Congregational Church in Montclair, where he has conducted numerous major works with chamber orchestras, featuring musicians from the New Jersey Symphony. He has composed classical works for chorus, piano, and organ, and jazz works for various ensembles. He has performed as a classical and jazz pianist at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Knitting Factory, and overseas in France, Germany, New Zealand, and India. Mr. Olsen has recorded six classical albums and four jazz albums, and has worked with many outstanding jazz and classical artists, including Eliot Zigmund, George Garzone, Glenn Davis, Ed Cherry, David N. Baker, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Kevin Maynor. His latest recording is Dyad, a duo album with saxophonist Lou Caimano. Paquito D’Rivera, Grammy winning saxophonist and composer, says of Dyad: "Caimano and Olsen go back and forth through the too often forbidden borders between Classical and Jazz, with the ease of a couple of North-Mexican coyotes crossing the Rio Grande." Mr. Olsen has been a featured soloist with the Livingston Symphony, the Central Jersey Symphony, and the Orchard Park Symphony. He has been a featured jazz performer at the AT&T, Berk’s, and Asbury Park Jazz Festivals.
Amy Reich Amy Reich studied composition with William Thomas McKinley at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She received a Ph.D. from Harvard University where her principal teachers were Earl Kim and Leon Kirchner. Her works have been performed by the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Collective, Dinosaur Annex, Josquin Cage and presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Series and Composers in Red Sneakers (of which Ms. Reich was a founding member). Ms. Reich has received grants from Meet-the-Composer, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, the American Harp Society and Harvard University. She has also been the recipient of a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center. Martin Sedek
Adjunct Professor Composition Music in Film 973-655-7212 turrinj@mail.montclair.edu Joseph Turrin - Website Joseph Turrin is active as a composer, orchestrator, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. His works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, St. Martin-in-the-Fields Academy Orchestra. Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Baltimore Symphony, Gewandhaus-orchester (Leipzig, Germany), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Turrin has appeared as a conductor with the Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New Orleans, Detroit, and New Jersey Symphonies; he has performed as a pianist on many recordings and as orchestral pianist for the New Jersey Symphony. His compositions for film and theater include scores for Alan Alda's film A New Life, Little Darlings, Weeds (with Nick Nolte), Tough Guys Don't Dance (Directed by Norman Mailer), Verna-USO Girl (with Sissy Spacek and William Hurt and nominated for 3 Emmy Awards), Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Kingdom of Shadows (narrated by Rod Steiger), Broken Blossoms (1919 silent film classic directed by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish) and for the restoration of the silent film classic Sadie Thompson. Other silent film classics that he has scored include, Diary of a Lost Girl, Intolerance and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His work in musical theater includes performances on Broadway with Michael Feinstein as well as the score for Frankie, with a libretto by Broadway legend George Abbott. |
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