TAMUK alumni newsletter Fall 2012

The faculty of the TAMUK music department: Left to right: Oleg Proskurnya, Oscar Diaz, Brian Shelton, Melinda Brou, Ann

Fronckowiak, Kellie Lignitz, Greg Sanders, John Cord, Joachim Reinhuber, Elizabeth Janzen, Ken Williams, Darin Hoskinsson, Randy Fluman,

Justin Benavidez, Insook Nam, Paul Hageman, James Warth, Jennifer Sholtis. Not in this picture: Jason Kihle.

Request for New Music Building to be submitted to the Texas Legislature Texas A&M University-Kingsville will request funding to build a new music building. The Texas Legislature will convene in January, 2013 and TAMUK will submit a Tuition Revenue Bond (TRB) request for $42 million to build the new facility. This effort is being led by our university president, Dr. Steven Tallant, who is a great supporter of our music program. If funded, the new building would be built on our present site and would extend out into the parking lot. From our initial plans for the building, it is estimated that the new facility would triple the current size of our facilities and would include a 400-seat recital hall, four large rehearsal halls, three ensemble rehearsal halls, six classrooms, 40 faculty studios, 60 practice rooms, electronic keyboard lab, computer classroom, recording studio, and lots of storage spaces for instruments, equipment, and music. Please express your support for our new building request at every opportunity.

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Jazz Band I invited to perform at TMEA

For the fourth time since 1995, Jazz Band I has been invited to perform at the TMEA Convention in February, 2013. The last time JBI performed at TMEA was in 2009 and the recording from that performance garnered the band its second DownBeat Magazine Award for Outstanding Performance. The band is tentatively scheduled to perform on Wednesday, February 13 at 8:30 PM in Lila Cockrell Theatre. The performance slot is one of the earliest in the convention, so we will be trying to “get the word out” so that we have a good crowd for which to perform. Tentative plans are to have Byron Stripling, trumpet, as our guest soloist. We hope to see all of our alumni, friends, and supporters at the concert!

Alumnus, Ronnie Rios is TMEA Band Vice President

Ronnie Rios, head band director at Harlingen High School, was elected as the Band Vice President of TMEA for the next biennium. Ronnie received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from TAMUK in music education and has been a highly successful band director for the past 25 years. Congratulations Ronnie!

BAND NEWS The TAMUK Bands had a successful 2011-2012 year, and we are looking forward to more success this year. The Javelina Marching Band will perform at seven football games again this year, including a performance at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington. The band will also perform at exhibitions in Laredo, Victoria, and the Rio Grande Valley. This year's show is "British Superbands" and features the music of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and the Who. It is sure to be epic! The concert bands are looking forward to a great year of music-making. They will perform three concerts in the fall semester. The first concert was on Thursday October 4 and included a wide variety of music from Ron Nelson, Walter Piston, Vincent Persichetti, Darius Milhaud and Justin Freer. The second concert on November 13 will feature Professor of Trombone Dr. Oscar Diaz performing the classic Trombone Concerto by Derek Bourgeois, as well as Paul Hindemith's Symphony in B-flat. The Wind Symphony will close out the semester with a performance at the annual holiday concert on November 29. All concerts are in Jones Auditorium and are free and open to the public. For more information about these and other band performances, visit the band website at www.tamukbands.com. Brian Shelton, D.M.A. Director of Bands and Supervisor of Student Teachers Texas A&M University-Kingsville (361) 593-2160 (office) (361) 593-2816 (fax) brian.shelton@tamuk.edu

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TAMUK TRUMPETS Dr. Cord recently auditioned and won the position of 3

rd Trumpet with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra.

The trumpet studio was represented by current students Frank Segovia, Daniel Garcia, Aracely Rodriguez, Cassondra Lopez and Jaime Ochoa as semi-finals competitors in the ensemble division of the 2011 National Trumpet Competition in Fairfax, VA. Congratulations to our alumni for their new job appointments: Lucio Diaz is now a member of the band department staff at Hidalgo High School, and Steve Gutierrez at PSJA High School. Cassondra Lopez recently completed her student teaching at Edinburg High School. Daniel Garcia was recently accepted into the jazz studies department at the University of Texas at Austin to begin work on a master’s in jazz performance degree. Three of our studio members had the distinct honor of being invited to the Rodney Mack Outer Banks Trumpet Retreat in North Carolina in January of this year. Daniel Garcia, Aracely Rodriguez and Frank Segovia participated in private lessons, masterclasses and sectional coachings from some of the finest brass players in the world including Jens Lindeman, Kurt Dupois, Jose Sibaja and Rodney Mack. The TAMUK Trumpets performed at the Corpus Christi Cathedral for an audience of over a thousand people in April of this year. The program included works by Holst, Ross, Bach and others, as well as pieces arranged by Dr. Cord. The studio has commissioned a piece from Dr. Elaine Ross, Prof. of Theory and Composition at Washington University. This piece will be premiered during a two-day composer residency at TAMUK in the Fall of 2012 and will be performed at the National Trumpet Competition in March of 2013. Congratulations to TAMUK sophmore Felix Cruz for being selected and performing with the 2012 DCI World Champion Blue Devils this summer. www.tamuktrumpets.com: pictures, videos, sound recordings. Feel free to browse.

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TAMUK TROMBONE STUDIO

Contributing to a long tradition of excellence, The TAMUK Trombone Choir under the direction of Dr. Oscar Diaz was given an Honorable Mention Award from the 2010 Emory Remington International Trombone Choir Competition. In the same year, senior trombone music education and performance major, Rolando Velazquez also received an Honorable Mention award from Robert Marstellar International Trombone Competition. Throughout the years, the trombone choir has performed and been invited to the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Fort Myer, VA, the Big 12 National Trombone Festival, and the Texas State Trombone Symposium. The choir also performs on a regular basis for many schools in the South Texas Area. We are also proud to announce that the trombone choir has accepted another invitation to perform at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in March of 2014. The TAMUK Bones are a 5-6 piece jazz trombone ensemble with full rhythm section. The Bones members are comprised of the trombonists from the award winning TAMUK Jazz Band I by audition. The Bones have performed at the Texas Jazz Festival, the TAMUK Jazz Festival and also perform on tour with the TAMUK Trombone Choir. In the spring of 2012, three senior trombone music education and performance majors were accepted into the University of Texas and The University of Northern Colorado on scholarship to pursue a Master in Music Performance.

For added enrichment, we often have guest trombonists give recitals and master classes at TAMUK. Recent visiting artists have included Trombones de Costa Rica, Saint Louis Brass Quintet, Bill Reichenbach, Minor 4th Trombone Quartet, Ilan Morgenstern, Wycliffe Gordon and many more. In the next couple of years, The Trombones de Costa Rica will be back, and Bones Apart are in the works to perform at the school plus many more.

Video links to performances by TAMUK trombones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvrP4TrIrPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxJYw7kFlI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjbuWh9d9KM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNEDo-IY6jA

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TUBAS AND EUPHONIUMS

Eugenio Castellanos, Jr. (Tuba, BM 2012) has accepted a position as Assistant Band Director at PSJA Southwest Early College High School. Michael Zapata was selected to participate in the Phi Mu Alpha National Convention in Orlando, FL in July 2012. He was chosen as one of four tuba players in the Sinfonia Wind Ensemble from applicants across the nation.

Percussion News

The Texas A&M-Kingsville Percussion Ensembles, under the direction of Randy Fluman and Jason Kihle, will be performing their Fall concert on Wednesday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Bellamah Music Building Recital Hall. Admission is free. Guest artists, SO Percussion, will be performing in Jones Auditorium on Monday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. SO Percussion brings their internationally acclaimed contemporary classical performance to Kingsville. Admission is free. Visit the TAMUK Drumline Website: www.tamukdrumline.org

HORNS!!

Horn senior, Victor Moyeda, is one of our drum majors this year. In addition, Victor is one of two recipients of the Beth Baker Scholarship for having a 4.0 GPA. TAMUK Horn Society is very active this fall. Our new officers are Ismael Perez, Ruben Diaz, Tracy Barraz and Orlando Medrano. Contact me via Facebook (at Jennifer Ratchford Sholtis) to be added to the TAMUK Horn Society group. Look forward recent photos of the horns this year to be added soon! The horns are working toward raising funds and preparing for the 45th International Horn Symposium in Memphis TN July 29-August 3, 2013. (We are really going to visit Graceland and Beales St. Hahaha!) Besides the TAMUK Horn Ensemble performing at the symposium, one of our quartets will try to make the finals of the Ensemble Competition. As individuals, a handful of students will send in an audition tape for the finals of the solo competition and some of the same students will be competing in the orchestra excerpt competition. Whew! Lots of prep and hard work! As for Dr. Sholtis, she is waiting to hear whether her presentation proposal and performance proposal will be accepted. Fingers crossed on all. If we manage to get into everything, we will be VERY busy and will proudly represent Texas A&M Kingsville! Go Javelinas Horns!

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CLARINET NEWS

Kellie Lignitz selected the 2012-2013 Texas All-State low-clarinet etudes and presented a clinic on the etudes at the Texas Bandmasters Association convention in San Antonio in July. She also participated in the 2012 International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest in Lincoln, Nebraska where she gave a presentation on pedagogy and twenty-first century innovations in teaching clarinet. The presentation focused on web-based materials and the use of technological devices such as mobile apps and websites to facilitate teaching. While at the festival, she performed in the world premiere of Ben Stonaker's "Geometric Fragments No.4" for forty-four contra clarinets. Kellie is the co-author of Clarinet Cache, a regularly featured column in the International Clarinet Association's quarterly publication "The Clarinet." She also manages a supplementary blog where all of the printed columns can be viewed and accessed on the Internet at www.clarinetcache.com

DOUBLE REED

During the 2011-2012 academic year Dr. Ann Fronckowiak, Assistant Professor of Oboe and Music Theory, gave numerous solo, chamber, and orchestral performances on and off the TAMUK campus. In July 2012, she was a featured performer at the International Double Reed Society in Oxford, Ohio as a member of Duo Cuentista. Duo Cuentista is an oboe and percussion duo that also includes Dr. Jason Kihle, Assistant Professor of Percussion and Assistant Director of Bands. During the year, the duo gave recitals in Kingsville and was invited to perform at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In March, Dr. Fronckowiak performed the Bach Double Concerto with Dr. Oleg Proskurnya and the Kingsville Symphony Orchestra, and in February, she performed in a faculty chamber ensemble recital. The TAMUK oboe and bassoon studios also had a very busy year. They performed on campus in a student chamber ensemble recital and off campus in a local nursing home. In February, the oboe studio also helped Dr. Fronckowiak host the 2

nd annual Oboe Day in the Rio Grande Valley. The event included student and faculty

performances and a reed-making workshop led by guest artist, Jonathan Marzluf. This past April, Amanda Trevino from Edinburg gave an excellent senior oboe recital.

This year, Dr. Ann Fronckowiak and the TAMUK oboe studio will hold many free events open to the public. A student chamber ensemble recital will take place on campus on November 27, 2012 at 6:30. On December 1, 2012 at 11:00am, Duo Cuentista will perform at the Kingsville Public Library. The concert will feature a world premiere by New York composer, John Bacon, and a performance by TAMUK music majors, Amanda Trevino and Mario Trevino. In January 2013, Dr. Fronckowiak will host the 3

rd annual Oboe Day in the Rio Grande Valley. She will also

perform in recital with new Assistant Professor of Flute, Dr. Elizabeth Janzen. The recital will take place on April 2, 2013 at 8:00 in the campus music building. If interested in attending any of these events, please contact Dr. Ann Fronckowiak at ann.fronckowiak@tamuk.edu or 361-593-4868.

Watch Duo Cuentista perform: http://youtu.be/3ga3ubvt0CM

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FLUTES Change is in the air at the TAMUK flute studio! The flutists wish Dr. Naomi Seidman, their mentor for the past several years, a fond goodbye and best wishes, as she has accepted a position at Pennsylvania State University. The incoming teacher is Dr. Elizabeth Janzen, a Canadian-born flutist who has spent the last decade teaching and performing in New York City. All of the members of the studio have made a wonderful effort to be as welcoming and supportive as possible as Dr. Janzen settles in. The studio’s first monthly studio class of 2012-2013 met at the end of September with a focus on technique. The class was a great opportunity for everyone to get to know each other a little better, and get more familiar with some basic technical challenges, from both a performance and a pedagogical perspective. Upcoming classes will feature discussions about interactive performances, orchestral excerpts, extended techniques and pedagogical approaches. Dr. Janzen and the studio, along with the TAMUK Flute Society, are focusing their attention this year on raising funds for new instruments; we are in desperate need of a good alto and bass flute! Through a variety of support funds, grants and fundraising efforts, we hope to have at least one new instrument by the end of the year. If you would like to help out, please contact Dr. Janzen at (361) 593-4562 and introduce yourself!

OPERA AND VOCAL NEWS

Twenty-eight Opera Workshop students sang, danced and acted their way through three fully staged and costumed one-act operas during the Spring 2012 semester: Daniel Shore’s An Embarrassing Position, Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial By Jury. The group went on tour to Orange Grove, Victoria, Cuero and Rockport in February and then presented four performances of the works on the weekend of April 20-22 in Smith Recital Hall, A&M Kingsville Campus.

Among our Vocal students’ many summer musical activities, junior Vocal Performance and Vocal Music Education major Francisco Prado was accepted into the prestigious Siena Summer Music program in Italy to study Italian, conducting and voice during July and August 2012. He received college credit for courses taken there and was chosen to sing solos for concerts in Switzerland and Italy. Also in July and August, junior Vocal Performance and Vocal Music Education major Edelmiro Cavazos performed with SummerStock Austin in the ensembles for the musicals Chess and Legally Blonde. Students have also auditioned into and participated in summer programs at Utah Festival Opera and Austin Lyric Opera in the past three years.

PIANO NEWS

Our “Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance with Emphasis on Piano Pedagogy” program is in full swing. As one of the very few undergraduate programs of its kind in Texas it will help to get well-trained piano teachers into underserviced areas in South Texas. Right now there are three majors in the program, and a number of other students have taken the piano pedagogy classes as electives. For questions, please feel free to contact Dr. Reinhuber at kujr2002@tamuk.edu. Dr. Reinhuber is keeping up a busy performing schedule. After performing Beethoven’s 1

st piano concerto in

Germany in September, he played in a faculty recital with Drs. Williams, Froncowiak, and Cord in October. November 4

th he will perform the Bach D minor concerto with the KSO chamber orchestra. He is scheduled to play

the Stravinsky concerto for piano and winds in Kingsville in the spring, and Bartok’s first piano concerto in Laredo next fall. Congratulations to Frank Cano for accepting the position as choir director and piano teacher at the Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi. Watch Dr. Reinhuber perform: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLZDbJlpfs&feature=plcp

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CHOIR NEWS

The Javelina Choirs had an exciting and busy 2011-2012 school year under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Williams. The Javelina Chamber Singers took part in a university and community 9/11 Memorial Concert in September. The Javelina Concert Choir and Javelina Chamber Singers took a tour in October to San Antonio and Corpus Christi performing music from the Americas. November and December featured a Holidays Around the World Concert and the Music Department’s Christmas Concert. The spring semester 2012 included an Americana Concert with jazz vocals presented by the Javelina Chamber Singers and a performance with the Wind Symphony of Randall Thompson's A Testament of Freedom. The year ended with a performance of Schubert's Mass in G Major. The choirs in concert: http://www.tamukchoirs.com/concert-choir.html

News from the Kingsville Symphony Orchestra The Kingsville Symphony Orchestra is about to begin its 7th season. KSO includes students from TAMUK Department of Music, faculty members and local professional players. With the season’s theme “The Year of the Dance”, the orchestra will feature music of Rossini, Sibelius, Beethoven, Bernstein, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, as well as Latin folkloric dance music. Dr. Oleg Proskurnya is the orchestra’s Artistic Director and Conductor. It is his second season with KSO.

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How to reach us:

Texas A&M University Kingsville

Department of Music

MSC 174, 700 University Blvd., Kingsville, TX 78363-8202

Phone: (361)593-2803 email: music@tamuk.edu

Music Department Faculty/Staff Contact List

Room # Phone Email Borchardt, Sheri 112 2803 kaslb02@tamuk.edu Benavidez, Justin 216 2820 justin.benavidez@tamuk.edu Brou, Melinda HR 218 2824 melinda.brou@tamuk.edu Cord, John 217 2805 john.cord@tamuk.edu Diaz, Oscar 215 2817 kfod000@tamuk.edu Fluman, Randy 109 2670 kfjrf99@tamuk.edu Fronckowiak, Ann HR 216 4868 kuaf2006@tamuk.edu Kihle, Jason HR 103 2171 jason.kihle@tamuk.edu Hageman, Paul 113 2806 paul.hageman@tamuk.edu Hoskisson, Darin HR 214 2159 kfdth00@tamuk.edu Janzen, Elizabeth 208 4562 elizabeth.janzen@tamuk.edu Lignitz, Kellie 213 4854 kellielignitz@gmail.com Nam, Insook 114 2807 insook.nam@tamuk.edu Proskurnya, Oleg 146 5026 oleg.proskurnya@tamuk.edu Reinhuber, Joachim 218 2822 joachim.reinhuber@tamuk.edu Sanders, Greg 212 2156 gregory.sanders@tamuk.edu Shelton, Brian HR 105 2160 kfbms01@tamuk.edu Sholtis, Jennifer 219 2786 kfjrs00@tamuk.edu Warth, James 214 2821 kfjrw00@tamuk.edu Williams, Ken 224 2814 kenneth.williams@tamuk.edu