The late John Maloy was a professor of voice at the Eastman School of Music from 1966 to 2005. Before his death in January 2012, he taught many singers who have gone on to national and international fame. Many are planning to return to Eastman to pay tribute to their beloved teacher when the Voice and Opera Department offers “A Celebration of John Maloy’s Life” on Saturday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the School’s Kilbourn Hall. A reception will follow the event. Admission is free.
At Eastman, Professor Maloy served as chair of Eastman’s voice department from 1977 to 2002 and received the School’s Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003. He retired in 2005 and was named Professor Emeritus of Voice that same year. His students include Renée Fleming, Anthony Dean Griffey, Nicole Cabell, James Courtney, and many other distinguished singers.
“John Maloy led the Voice Department with grace, dignity, and an honorable professionalism that inspired the best in all of us, solving problems and meeting challenges, all while teaching a full load,” said Professor of Voice Carol Webber. “He was proud of every one of his students. His legacy lives on in each of them.”
Highlights of the “Celebration of John Maloy’s Life” will include:
- A recording of John Maloy singing a Brahms song
- Performances by one of Maloy’s first students – James Courtney, a bass-baritone who has sung nearly 2,000 performances at the Metropolitan Opera – and his last student, Bernard Holcomb, now with the Chicago Lyric Opera program
- Prize-winning baritone Randall Scarlatta will perform Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach with the Ying Quartet.
- Current faculty members Robert Swensen, tenor, and Russell Miller, pianist, will perform a group of Schumann songs.
- Current Eastman students will sing two favorite operatic excerpts: the trio from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and the duet from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers. Performing are sopranos Elizabeth Smith and Adelaide Boedecker, mezzo-soprano Melissa Fajardo, baritone Thomas Lehman, who won the 2011 Friends of Eastman Opera Competition, and tenor Matthew Grills, a winner in the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions who also took first prize in the 2012 Lotte Lenya Competition.
- In addition, tributes from opera luminaries Renée Fleming and Marilyn Horne will be read, and further reminiscences will be shared during the program and at the reception.
Before joining the Eastman faculty in 1966, Professor Maloy sang more than 1,000 performances with opera companies throughout Germany and Switzerland. He also gave recitals over North German and Austrian radio, did concert appearances in Spain, and made recordings in London. Over the course of his career, Professor Maloy amassed a repertoire of 35 operatic and 10 oratorio roles. He continued to perform while teaching, appearing as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and in the popular summer series “Opera Under the Stars,” held in Rochester’s Highland Park. He gave recitals and sang as a guest soloist with Eastman School ensembles.
“John Maloy’s presence continues to be felt in the voice and opera department,” according to Steven Daigle, department chair. “His leadership and influence on all the students he nurtured and taught during his long tenure at the Eastman School of Music will have a lasting impact on vocal music throughout the world. Those who had the good fortune to work with John will remember his sincere generosity, positive spirit, and selflessness.”
# # #
“A Celebration of John Maloy’s Life.”
Music and memories of the late singer who taught at Eastman from 1966 to 2005.
7:30 p.m.
Kilbourn Hall
26 Gibbs St.
Free