Lucretia Opera Augmented by Related Programs November 11, 12</h1> <article> <h1>Lucretia Opera Augmented by Related Programs November 11, 12</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:04 +0000</p> <span>Lucretia Opera Augmented by Related Programs November 11, 12</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:04-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Mounting an opera is no small feat. Months of preparation go into taking a work from concept to stage, and the effort of countless people is required to present four spectacular performances each semester.</p> <p>In the case of �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater’s upcoming production of the Benjamin Britten opera <i><a href="/news/oberlin-opera-theater-presents-rape-lucretia-november-11-15">The Rape of Lucretia</a></i>—which runs Wednesday through Sunday, November 11-15—those preparations extend far beyond the stage.</p> <p>Thanks to the efforts of faculty and administrators from multiple corners of campus, a series of complementary programs has been organized to help audiences contextualize the content in <i>Lucretia</i> from a variety of perspectives.</p> <p>The programs follow the success of �鶹��Ƶ Opera Theater’s fall 2014 production of Kurt Weill’s <i>Street Scene</i>; that opera served as the cornerstone of a similar series of related talks and other events dubbed “<a href="/news/wild-about-weill-oberlin-honors-composer-special-events">Weill Week</a>.”</p> <p>The <i>Lucretia</i> activity centers around three main events: a panel discussion that explores the relevance and implications of <i>Lucretia</i> in modern times, another focusing on musicological aspects of Britten’s opera, and a gallery talk and self-guided tour devoted to art depicting tragic women throughout the ages.</p> <p>The first program, <b>Violence and Virtue: Framing Lucretia in the 21st Century</b>, focuses on the significance of the production in contemporary America and in what ways it can inspire productive conversations. It features a panel made up of �鶹��Ƶ faculty members representing an array of disciplines: Carol Lasser (history), who serves as director of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at �鶹��Ƶ; Claire Solomon (Hispanic studies); Wendy Kozol (comparative American studies); and Renee Romano (Africana studies and comparative American studies). It takes place at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 11, in Stull Recital Hall, on the third floor of Bibbins Hall (77 West College St.).</p> <p>“The advantage of being a college and conservatory combined is that we have the structures to really have these conversations,” says Meredith Raimondo, �鶹��Ƶ’s Title IX coordinator and the facilitator of the panel. Raimondo oversees �鶹��Ƶ’s system for responding to and preventing all forms of gender-based harassment and discrimination. She sees her job as a way of fulfilling �鶹��Ƶ’s mission to educate—and to help remove all barriers to education.</p> <p>Among the themes Raimondo expects to see emerge in the discussion are the relationship between sexual violence and war, how we look back at myth and history, and how we use creative work as a way to process and move beyond violence as a solution. <i>Lucretia</i> not only holds historical significance, she adds, but it also functions <i>transhistorically</i>. “Gender-based violence is a longstanding problem,” says Raimondo, “so I have a real belief that some of the solutions lie in art.”</p> <p>A second discussion, <b>Reading Britten: <i>The Rape of Lucretia</i> in Context</b>, explores musicological and theoretical perspectives on the work and addresses such issues as why tragic women have played key roles in opera throughout the ages. The panel includes Danielle Ward-Griffin, assistant professor of music history at Christopher Newport University, and three members of �鶹��Ƶ’s faculty: <i>Lucretia</i> director Jonathon Field and music theorists Andrew Pau and Jan Miyake. Reading Britten takes place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 11, in Hall Auditorium (67 N. Main St.), immediately preceding the opening-night performance of the opera at 8.</p> <p>“We choose stories that are powerful,” says Miyake, the panel’s moderator, who adds that it is important to preface the performance with a clear sense of why the story is important and what power it has. <i>Lucretia</i> occupies an important and complex space: Tragic female roles are omnipresent throughout the history of opera, after all.</p> <p>Finally, a gallery talk and self-guided tour called <b>Women in the Ancient World</b> focuses on tragic depictions of women in works throughout history, using examples from the collection of the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Curated by Andaleeb Banta, the series includes the painting “Death of Lucretia” (attributed to Domenico Beccafumi, c. 1515) and a pictograph called “The Rape of Persephone” (Gottlieb, 1943), among others. The talk will be led by Professor of English Nick Jones and includes Banta and Assistant Professor of Classics Chris Trinacty. It takes place at noon Thursday, November 12, at the Allen Memorial Art Museum (87 N. Main St.).</p> <p>In addition to the upcoming programs, the two cast members playing Lucretia—Rebecca Printz (Wednesday/Saturday cast) and Micaela Aldridge (Friday/Sunday cast)—received guidance from counselors at the Nord Center’s Sexual Assault Services, to better understand the psychology of victims like the opera's <i>Lucretia</i>. Nord Center counselors will attend each performance of the opera to serve as a resource to all guests.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-11-05T12:00:00Z">Thu, 11/05/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Faith Roberts</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2378">Allen Memorial Art Museum</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28876">Music Theory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=32971">Opera Theater</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/music-theory" hreflang="und">Music Theory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Photo-Illustration by Jacob Gilbert '15</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Herbert Henke '53, Longtime Conservatory Professor, Dies at 84</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:25 +0000</p> <span>Herbert Henke '53, Longtime Conservatory Professor, Dies at 84</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:25-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Herbert Henke devoted 36 years to teaching as a member of the �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory faculty, but his influence on students and colleagues spanned far beyond his conservatory years. He adored the life of an educator, and he embraced each opportunity he encountered.</p> <p>“I always found great satisfaction in teaching: children or adults, any subject matter,” the professor of eurhythmics told <i>�鶹��Ƶ Alumni Magazine</i> shortly after his retirement in 1998. “I love the variety that teaching offers, the search for new ways of imparting information, and the development of skills.”</p> <p>Henke remained firmly rooted in �鶹��Ƶ for most of his life, but he traversed the globe frequently to share his gifts. In 1973 he served as music consultant to the National Center for the Arts in El Salvador. Five years later, he worked with the National Youth Symphony Program in Costa Rica. He led the chorale at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia, and he filled in for former students as a teacher at the American School in London, in addition to stints teaching in Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.</p> <p>"I didn't know I was going to come to �鶹��Ƶ and see the world," he quipped at the conclusion of his final semester in 1997.</p> <p>In his early years on the �鶹��Ƶ faculty, Henke taught conducting, keyboard skills, and techniques in secondary music education. With the retirement of �鶹��Ƶ eurhythmics professor Inda Howland in 1974, Henke began to devote great energy to the century-old Swiss approach to musical training that emphasizes movement. He became an internationally respected teacher of eurhythmics and found his expertise in great demand throughout the world. For nearly two decades before and after his retirement, he taught annual summer classes in eurhythmics at Carnegie Mellon University.</p> <p>“Herb brought a gentle passion for music and music education to his teaching,” says Associate Professor of Music Education Jody Kerchner, whose �鶹��Ƶ career began as Henke retired. “Herb remained committed to the cause of preparing future music teachers, frequently returning to our conducting and music education classes to share his expertise.”</p> <p>Kerchner and her colleagues honored Henke in 2002 with the conservatory’s first Distinguished Music Education Alumni Award. “We have cherished and will now miss his friendship, collegiality, musical sensitivity, and calm wisdom that were his hallmarks,” she says.</p> <p>Henke grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Parma and earned three degrees from �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory—bachelor’s degrees in music and music education, and a master’s in music education—followed by a PhD at the University of Southern California. Initially a teacher in the Cleveland public schools, he accepted his first faculty position at the University of Maryland, where he taught for four years before returning to �鶹��Ƶ to teach in 1962.</p> <p>An accomplished singer who was active in the local community, Henke served multiple stints as music director of First Church and performed for years as a bass soloist in �鶹��Ƶ and Cleveland. His well-rounded musicianship made him all the more beloved among those who knew and learned from him.</p> <p>“Herb was a wise and generous presence among the faculty and a legendary teacher to countless students,” says former colleague Steven Plank, �鶹��Ƶ’s Andrew B. Meldrum Professor of Musicology. “His teaching, be it of music education or eurhythmics, was inspired by a deep love of music-making and, I suspect, an instinctive understanding of the ways in which music touches our humanity.</p> <p>“In this way, he touched us all, and he will be remembered with great fondness and admiration.”</p> <p>Henke died August 16. He is survived by his wife, Sabra Lee Chambers ’53, whom he met at �鶹��Ƶ and married the year they graduated; their daughter, Lia Lowrie; and six grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, Kevin Henke ’77, and daughter, Jeanine Neumann.</p> <p>A celebration of Henke’s life will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, September 12, at First Church in �鶹��Ƶ.</p> <p>In lieu of flowers, Henke’s family welcomes donations to the Herbert Henke Merit Scholarship in Music Education, which supports students who show great promise in the field of music education. Learn more at www.oberlin.edu/giving/donate or call 800-693-3167.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-08-22T12:00:00Z">Sat, 08/22/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2414">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28876">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/music-theory" hreflang="und">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Conservatory Mourns Loss of Professor Emeritus Gil Miranda</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:04:10 +0000</p> <span>Conservatory Mourns Loss of Professor Emeritus Gil Miranda</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:04:10-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:04">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:04</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Gil Miranda, who devoted the last 17 years of his rich and varied career to teaching music theory at �鶹��Ƶ, died on March 29 after a brief illness. He was 82.</p> <p>A native of Lisbon, Portugal, Miranda graduated from the School of Law at Lisbon University and the National Conservatory of Music, then studied composition and music theory with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Upon returning to Lisbon, he practiced law and taught at the St. Cecilia Academy of Music.</p> <p>Miranda immigrated to the United States in 1975, focusing his career on music. He held professorships at the University of California, Santa Cruz; Dartmouth College; and the �鶹��Ƶ Conservatory, where he taught Aural Skills until 2000. Throughout the years, he customized each course to the specific students in attendance, and he devised new plans for each class every week.</p> <p>"He was a demanding teacher in the best sense of the word; he inspired his students to expect the same quality in his teaching that he expected of them in their work," says Marilyn McDonald, �鶹��Ƶ professor of violin and a longtime friend of the Miranda family. "He was an inspiration to all in the vigorous manner with which he lived life."</p> <p>In his life and in his work—and perhaps even in the basque beret that contributed to his signature look—Miranda expressed great pride in his native country. He was dedicated to studying the music of Portugal, including composer Jorge Croner de Vasconcellos, about whom he published a monograph in 1992. More recently, he edited two editions of the composer's music; the last of them, <i>Works for Voice and Instruments</i>, was finished this year and was shared with Miranda at the hospital.</p> <p>“He was ardent in his devotion to this work, and he brought to it the zeal of a musical scholar and also a native son,” says �鶹��Ƶ Professor of Musicology Steven Plank. “Colleagues will remember him as a devoted faculty member and a gentle friend.”</p> <p>An �鶹��Ƶ resident since 1983, Miranda and his wife Sharon delighted in spending summers together at their cottage in New Hampshire. In retirement, Miranda became active in various community groups, including the Peace and Justice Committee, the Community Peace Builders Program, and the Interfaith Hospitality Network. He was also a member of the Views from �鶹��Ƶ group, which submits columns to the <i>�鶹��Ƶ News Tribune</i> on various sociopolitical topics.</p> <p>In addition to his twin passions for music and law, Miranda was a talented jeweler who was fond of fashioning pieces for his wife, their children, and friends.</p> <p>Impeccably prepared for seemingly any circumstance, Miranda years ago composed a canon to be played at his memorial. He titled it "Farewell to Clef Reading." The piece will be performed in his honor at a date to be determined.</p> <p>Miranda is survived by his wife and two daughters: Marta of Seattle and Joana of New York. A Mass in his honor will be held on Monday, April 21, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in �鶹��Ƶ.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2014-04-01T12:00:00Z">Tue, 04/01/2014 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Conservatory Communications Staff</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28876">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/music-theory" hreflang="und">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">the Miranda family</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>