Rochester, NY — The Eastman School of Music announces the appointment of eight distinguished performers and scholars to its 2004-05 faculty, effective July 1, 2004:
Edward (Ted) Christopher will be filling a new position as assistant professor of opera, working under the guidance of Benton Hess and Steven Daigle. As a singer, he has appeared throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe in repertoire ranging from Baroque opera to American music theater. A member of the Juilliard Opera Center and the San Francisco Opera Merola Program, he also has collaborated with such artists as Ned Rorem, Frank Corsaro, and Gerard Schwarz, and has been featured on recordings with such ensembles as the Czech Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Berlin Rundfunksinfonie Orchester, the BBC Singers, and the Ohio Light Opera. His directing credits include productions and scenes with New England Lyric Operetta, the Ohio Light Opera, and Eastman Opera Theatre. Christopher received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, and is working toward his DMA degree at Eastman.
Melina Esse comes to the musicology department at Eastman as assistant professor, having just received her Ph.D. in music history and literature from the University of California at Berkeley where she was an instructor and teaching assistant. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, including many for outstanding teaching, Esse’s special interests include opera and melodrama; film sound; the “diva” in pop, opera, and jazz; music gender and sexuality; and music criticism and cultural exchange in and through music. She has been published in the Cambridge Opera Journal and the American Musicological Society, and has presented at the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, Feminist Theory and Music, and the San Francisco Opera. Esse received her master’s degree in music history and criticism from the University of Virginia, where she taught keyboard skills and created performing scores for a recorder ensemble.
Caterina Falli has 10 years of experience in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), a position that she will fill at Eastman as assistant professor. Since 1992, Falli has taught at California’s Chabot College, San Francisco State University, and at the Academy of Art College, teaching reading, writing, international business communication, and leading ESL study groups for art courses. Prior to these positions, she was the ESL program director for the American Language Academy in Berkeley. Her academic degrees are from San Francisco State University and McGill University (Montreal).
Constance Haas is no stranger to Eastman, having been visiting professor of voice (part-time) this past academic year, and as a sabbatical replacement for Professor Carol Webber in Spring 2003. Haas’ operatic roles have taken her to the opera companies of Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, San Francisco (Merola Program), Anchorage, Milwaukee, and at the University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University. Haas also has been featured as a recitalist and oratorio soloist with such orchestras as the Seattle Symphony, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Spokane Symphony, among others. She received her master’s degree and her DMA in vocal performance from the University of Washington in Seattle. Other professional training includes vocal work in Sienna, Italy, and private study with Mary Curtis-Verna, Lucille Evans, Frank Guarrera, and Professor Kohn in Salzburg. In addition, Ms. Haas had four years of study in the Alexander Technique and has given workshops to singers and actors. Haas comes to Eastman as associate professor from her most recent position at the University of Wisconsin (Madison).
Soprano and Eastman alumna Karen Holvik returns to her alma mater as assistant professor of voice. Since earning a master’s degree and performer’s certificate in opera, Holvik has pursued an eclectic musical career, touring extensively in the U.S. and Europe singing both popular and classical repertoire including concert music, oratorio, and operatic roles. She has appeared with many regional opera companies and at various music festivals, and has been a champion of contemporary American music. In that capacity, Holvik has premiered works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Stewart Wallace, Ricky Ian Gordon, James Sellars, and Richard Wilson. She has appeared on television, radio and in concert with the popular recital series, the New York Festival of Song, and can be heard on recordings by Koch International Classics and RCA Red Seal in a Richard Tucker Gala Concert marking her Avery Fisher Hall debut. Holvik spent five summers as an Opera Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, where she was a student of Jan DeGaetani and Arleen Auger, and has since returned as a guest artist, appearing with baritone William Sharp. Most recently, Holvik taught voice at New York University and Vassar College.
Chien-Kwan Lin has been named assistant professor of saxophone, having been a part-time instructor of saxophone since 2002. Lin has appeared as soloist with many American ensembles including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Tanglewood Music Center Festival Orchestra, New World Symphony, Portland (ME) Symphony, as well as the Boston and Rochester Philharmonic orchestras. Lin recently presented the joint world premiere of Michael Colgrass’ Dream Dance with the United States Continental Army Band, and premiered two commissioned works by Lei Liang and Brian Cobb at the 2003 World Saxophone Congress. A talented violinist as well, Lin won top prizes four consecutive times in Singapore’s National Music Competition (1981-1989). Lin holds a performer’s certificate from Eastman, where he is completing his doctoral degree. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he was the recipient of the George W. Chadwick medal, bestowed upon the Conservatory’s most outstanding graduate.
Dariusz Terefenko has a unique joint appointment as assistant professor in the departments of jazz studies and contemporary media, and music theory. Already having double master’s degrees from Eastman (MM in jazz, 1998; MA in theory, 2003), Terefenko received his Ph.D. in theory this year with a specialty in Keith Jarrett’s transformation of standard tunes. In his new position, Terefenko will be teaching jazz history, theory and improvisation through the jazz department, and intermediate keyboard skills and tonal improvisation through the theory department. He already has been a teaching assistant at Eastman since 1996. As a pianist, Terefenko frequently returns to his native Poland to present lecture-recitals on the history of jazz at the University of Krakow and the University of Katowice. He also has given recitals at Poland’s prestigious Festival of Polish Piano Music.
Holly Watkins comes to Eastman from the University of California at Berkeley, where she received her Ph.D in music history and literature. Her interests vary from European and American art music of the 19th and 20th centuries, to German opera, to rock and alternative music from the 1970s onward, to German industrial music and politics in the 1970s and ’80s. From 1999-2003, Watkins was an instructor and teaching assistant at UC Berkeley, during which time she published and presented a variety of papers for such organizations as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Nineteenth Century Music, the American Musicological Society, and the Fellows Groups at the Townsend Center for the Humanities. Since 2001, she has been managing editor of the musicology journal Repercussions. Watkins was a recipient of numerous awards and honors at UC Berkeley — including the nationally competitive Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Dissertation F
ellowship — and at the University of Virginia, where she received her undergraduate degree in physics.
The Eastman School of Music educates talented musicians from around the world who become leaders and innovators in all fields of music. Established in 1921 by Eastman Kodak Company founder and visionary George Eastman, the School — part of the University of Rochester — has achieved international prominence through its enduring commitment to the highest standards of artistry, scholarship, and leadership. For more information on the Eastman School, visit www.rochester.edu/Eastman.
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