In Celebration of Emily Dickinson - Dec 10, 2008

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Presented by the Northport Arts Coalition and
the Northport Public Library

A dramatic reading of selected poems

Poet and Actress, Janice Bishop

Musical Selections

"It was not death" by Michael Eglin	Mezzo-Soprano, Kara Cornell Pianist, Daniel Ragone
"I sing to use the waiting" (from Songs & Doubles) by Donald Bohlen	Soprano, Ruthann Turekian Pianist, Daniel Ragone Clarinetist, Gene Keyes
"Out of the morning" by Jane Leslie	Mezzo-Soprano, Kara Cornell Pianist, Jane Leslie
"There Is A Word" by Carmen Jude Aquila	Soprano, Ruthann Turekian Pianist, Daniel Ragone
Two Tales of a Delusional Narcissist: by Herbert A. Deutsch “A Little Madness in the Spring” “I Took My Power”	Tenor, Bruce Solomon Pianist, Daniel Ragone
"Heart, we will forget him" by Aaron Copland	Soprano, Ruthann Turekian Pianist, Daniel Ragone

All text selected from the work of American poet Emily Dickinson, (1830-1886.)

The Performers

Janice Bishop, poet and actress, has had poems published in journals across the United States, in Canada, Ireland, and most recently in Wales and England in the Swansea Poetry Magazine. Recent performances have been as Tiresias in Seamus Heaney's Burial At Thebes and as Saint Mary Margaret in The Eucharist by Arcadia Films.

Kara Cornell, Mezzo-soprano, performs in operas, recitals and orchestra concerts around the country. Highlights have been performances with Capital Opera (Albany), Center City Opera (Philadelphia), Union Avenue Opera (St. Louis) Hubbard Hall Opera (Cambridge, NY), The US Naval Academy and The Brooklyn Philharmonic. A lover of new music, Kara has premiered many works, including the solos for Sacred Songs and Interludes, available on CD Baby. Kara was a founding member of The Northport Opera. She has degrees from Carnegie Mellon and Stony Brook University. Kara is an adjunct professor of voice at Russell Sage College. (www.karacornell.com)

Gene Keyes, Clarinetist, attended the Manhattan School of Music and received a Bachelor's in Performance and Master's in Music Education. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera , American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonia, Westchester Philharmonia, New Jersey Symphony, and Long Island Symphony. He has worked in the Broadway Musical Theater recording industry and in various commercial engagements in the New York area. He has served as the Musical Director and Conductor of The Symphonic Band of Bay Shore/Brightwaters. Keyes lives in East Northport.

Daniel Ragone, Pianist, received his education at Penn State University and the University of Illinois. He has accompanied singers in all major New York concert halls and in Europe, where he recorded his first CD in 1990. Affiliations include the Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition for Singers, the Rome Opera Festival, and The Center for Contemporary Opera. Recent credits include preparation for the world premiere of Hester Prynne at Death by Stephen Paulus and the Carnegie Hall world premiere of the music of Croatian composer Bozidar Kunc. He has given master classes at SUNY Stony Brook and Suffolk County Community College and teaches at Five Towns College.

Bruce Solomon- Tenor, studied music at the Juilliard School, Queens College and the Manhattan School of Music. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully hall and Avery Fischer Hall in New York and with the Lake George Opera festival. Bruce is a resident of Huntington and is a frequent performer at Opera Night in Northport.

Ruthann Turekian, Soprano, has sung with Central City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Des Moines Metro Opera as well as many in the NY area. The New York Times proclaimed of her in Wagner’s Tannhäuser with Manhattan Opera, “The best of the singers was Ruthann Turekian, who delivered herself of a quite respectable account of Elisabeth, joyful hall-greeting, anguished prayer and everything in between.” She received a BM from Queens College and a Masters from Manhattan School of Music. She has performed with the Northport Opera Company and regularly for Opera Night

The Composers

Carmen Jude Aquila earned his BM in composition with honors from SUNY Fredonia, where he studied composition with Donald Bohlen. At Bowling Green State University he was apprenticed to Marilyn Shrude, Burton Beerman, and Mikel Kuehn. His MM in composition was awarded with honors in 2000. Preamble, his first orchestral work, was premiered under the baton of Edwin London. He was awarded the 1998 Victoria Bohlen Memorial Award for Composition. The Toledo Symphony has programmed several of Carmen’s orchestrations in recent years. Carmen teaches at Villa Maria College of Buffalo and at Erie Community College.

Donald Bohlen was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan and received degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Princeton University. Bohlen has written for a wide variety of musical media including chamber music, choral and solo vocal works, and compositions for solo piano, opera and music for film. As Chair of Composition at the School of Music, SUNY at Fredonia, he established a nationally recognized program for the training of composers. Bohlen founded the ETHOS New Music Society and has been faculty advisor in the Society’s presentation of new music for thirty years.

Herbert A. Deutsch earned a Bachelor's at Hofstra University and a Bachelor's and Master's from Manhattan School of Music. A pioneer in electronic and multimedia composition, he collaborated with Robert Moog in 1964 on the first Moog Synthesizer. In 1965 he gave the first live concert performance on the Moog at Town Hall and the first synthesizer ensemble concert at the MOMA in 1969. He is the author of three books and forty published articles on electronic music and is a Professor Emeritus at Hofstra University, where he was Department Chair. He is the recipient of Hofstra's George Estabrook Distinguished Alumni, Award and numerous "Meet The Composer" and ASCAP Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from BB Kings for his contributions to electronic music; He is a L.I. Music Hall of Fame Music Educator of Note.

Michael Eglin holds degrees in piano and composition from SUNY Fredonia and from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has studied with Donald Bohlen, Joel Feigin, and Bill Kraft, and studied early music with Alejandro Planchart. Active as a conductor and singer as well as a composer, Eglin presently serves as Director of Music and Organist at El Montecito Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara, CA as well as Artistic Director of the men’s vocal octet, Adelfos Ensemble. His choral works are published through Santa Barbara Music Publishing.

Jane Leslie has been honored with several ASCAP Awards and Meet the Composer grants for her compositions. Her music has been performed in concerts throughout the country and the New York area,most recently at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. Her albums, Dreamsongs, and Southampton Sunset, are featured in radio broadcasts and on the internet. Leslie holds two degrees from Juilliard and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She has been on music faculty at Nassau Community College, and is currently a pianist, composer and teacher on Long Island. (www.janelesliemusic.com.)

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Coordinators: Michelle T. Whittaker and Steven C. Schmidt