Ed Alton - 2014 Hartt Alumni Award Recipient

Bachelor of Music,
Double Bass/Composition '81
Hartt Alumni Award 2014

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 The Hartt School is pleased to announce that Ed Alton, BMus ’81 will be honored with the 2014 Hartt Alumni Award at the annual Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18, 2014. The award honors an alumnus who has achieved professional and critical recognition of distinguished professional accomplishments as an artist, scholar, or educator in an area of the performing arts.

Mr. Alton has sustained an impressive career in the Los Angeles TV, film and recording industries for nearly thirty years. To date, he has composed scores for over 530 episodes of 31 different prime time network TV series and performed as bassist on over 70 feature film soundtracks. His career has been distinguished by numerous accolades including five ASCAP Top TV Composer Awards, an Emmy Nomination, and several Gold & Platinum record awards.

Hartt Guitar Department - 50th Anniversary Celebration

The following post is copied from the Alumni Newsletter of The Hartt School's Guitar Department.  I am re-posting it here to further encourage everyone to attend the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Guitar Department.
 
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Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration

Hello all,

Plans are moving surprisingly smoothly for our fiftieth anniversary celebration. Thanks to grants from the Augustine Foundation and LaBella Strings as well as contributions by several of our alumni we are $1000. away from raising the necessary $14,500. needed to underwrite the cost of Andrew York’s concert and the commissioning of Frank Wallace’s incredible eight-part work, As it Could Be, for the celebration. I’m hoping that many of you will be able to contribute to the fund so that we can reach our goal. No gift is too small or too large. If you are so inclined, please make the check payable to the University of Hartford and send it to me % The Hartt School, 200 Bloomfield Ave., W. Hartford, CT 06117. I would like to be able to say that all of the money raised came from Foundations or alumni.

 What do we have planned?

 Friday, April 11: 7:30 Auerbach Auditorium:  Solo Recital by Andy York.

 We begin the celebration with a concert by Andy York.  Andy has been a friend of the department for many years and has graciously altered his fee to meet our limited resources. After the concert, we will hang out at the Republic, our new hangout just one mile from the University.

 Saturday, April 12:

Saturday we have a full schedule of events. All events are in Millard
     9:00 AM -11:00AM Open rehearsals At this point we are not sure what groups performing that evening will be rehearsing.
     11:30-12:30: Suzuki guitar presentation. Nick Cutroneo
     12:30-1:30:  John LaBarbara. New music for guitar
1:30- Break
      2:00 -5:00: Rehearsal for Attic by Andrew York alumni, students, faculty community. This will be the concluding work
     on this evening’s program

 5:00- 7:30: Dinner Break: If enough people are interested, the Republic will make the restaurant available to us for dinner.

 8:00 PM: Anniversary Concert: World Premiere of Frank Wallace’s As It Could Be, made possible by a grant from the 

Augustine Foundation.

1) Changes Upon the Guitar, violin, viola and seven guitars
2) A Tune Beyond Us, violin, viola and guitar
3) A Wisp in the Underground, guitar solo    
4) If to Serenade, flute and guitar
5) Tom-tom, c'est moi, percussion and guitar
6) The Whirling Noise, viola and guitar   
7) Crying Among the Clouds, guitar solo
8) A World Quite Round, guitar quartet

NOTES

These eight works comprise As It Could Be, a chamber suite dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and it's founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary.  Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song. I chose to use this incredible testimony to art as inspiration and have selected titles for all 8 pieces from the poem. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Let us imagine a future as it could be.

The concert will conclude with a performance of Attic, by Andy York performed by students, area guitarists, and alumni of the department.

 If you will be attending and want to play in the guitar orchestra, (which I hope many of you will) please send Chris an email so that we can send you your part. (ladd@hartford.edu.Our goal is to have at least fifty guitarists on stage performing. If you are timid, rest assured that we will have a core group that has rehearsed and will cover all of the parts. They will be happy to help you during the rehearsal to get you comfortable for the performance. For those of you who have not been doing much with the guitar, this work was written for amateurs. There are several pretty basic parts in the work. If you’re still not sure, let Chris know and he will email you a part to see if your are up to the challenge.

Hartt's Honorary Degrees Given in the 2000s

Between 2003 and 2009, Hartt awarded 5 Honorary Degrees.  The recipients were: Wynton Marsalis; Oscar Ghiglia; William Anthony Waters; Henry W, “Hank” Jones; and Donald Sinta.



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2003 Wynton Marsalis

I don't think Mr. Marsalis needs an introduction.

Here is a link to Mr. Marsalis' website.


2004 Oscar Ghiglia

Oscar Ghiglia, an Italian classical guitarist, spent time in residence at Hartt.
  

 Additional information on Mr. Ghiglia can be found on his Wikipedia page.


2005 William Anthony Waters

Maestro Waters was a truly deserved recipient of the honorary degree from Hartt after his many years as a leader in the Connecticut arts community (which is not to say his music career and talents were limited to Connecticut, as he enjoys a career well-beyond the borders of the Nutmeg State).

Additional information about Maestro Waters can be found here.

2014 NYC Alumni Reception with Dean Flagg

Here is one photo from the alumni reception held a few weeks ago in NYC.  It was a terrific turnout and a great opportunity to reconnect with some UHa and Hartt alumni.  Thanks to Dean Flagg for hosting the event and Ryan Bauer-Walsh for his efforts in organizing and advertising!

It was also great to see Robert Black (alumnus and current faculty), Peggy Lyman-Hayes (former dance faculty) and Stephen Pier (current faculty).

The entire photo album on flickr is here.

Hartt Performances - Spring 2014 Live Streaming Performances

Join Us For Our Live Streamed Performances This Spring The Hartt School opens 2014 with an exciting new initiative to share the incredible work of its students and faculty more broadly. Each semester, a schedule of live streaming events will be announced, allowing those near and far to plan ahead to experience some of the 400 performances The Hartt School offers each year. Hartt is already the largest producer of high quality performing arts in Connecticut, and with this initiative, will be sharing that quality with more people through the Internet. We invite current families, prospective students, and alumni to sit back and enjoy!!   You can access the live stream here. Programs will be available in PDF form on the site before each event.

Thursday, January 30, 2014, 7:30 - 10:00 p.m. The Hartt Opera Theatre Presents Street Scene by Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes and Elmer Rice

 

Friday, March 7, 2014, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. The Dance Division Presents Senior Dance Concert Works by student choreographers and composers

 

Friday, April 4, 2014, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. The Music Performance Division Presents The Hartt Symphony Orchestra Works by Gioachino Rossini, Aaron Copland, Richard Rodgers and Ludwig van Beethoven

MORE PERFORMANCE AFTER THE BREAK

 

Hartt Alumnus - Marcos Carreras and the Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival

Hartt alumnus, Marcos Carreras, created the Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival six years ago.  WIAF is the largest high school a cappella competition in America.  This year's festival will take place this Saturday at the Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford.

Marcos reports that last year's competition sold out in ten days, so they have made arrangements for streaming this year's competition live across the country at 6:30pm at http://whctv.org/  

Congratulations, Marcos!

Spring 2014 Performance - Highlights

Below are some highlights from the Spring 2014 Hartt performance calendar.  There are multiple performances at Hartt nearly every night of the semester, so this is just a sampling of the performance from the Music Division and the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series. 

Hope to see you at some of these performances.

January 30 – February 2 – Alfred C. Fuller Music Center/Millard Auditorium

Hartt Opera Theatre presents Kurt Weill's Street Scene, with music direction by Doris Lang Kosloff and stage direction by Lawrence Edelson.

February 6 – Alfred C. Fuller Music Center/Millard Auditorium

The Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series – Sybarite5.  One the fastest-rising chamber music ensembles in the United States, the string quintet (quartet plus bass) Sybarite5 has been earning rave reviews and cheering audiences from coast to coast. After winning the prestigious Concert Artists Guild Competition last year (the same competition previously won by Imani Winds, eighth blackbird, and many other now-celebrated artists) the group enjoyed a raucous, sold-out debut performance at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Its latest album, Everything in its Right Place, is a collection of Radiohead songs arranged expressly for them.

February 14 & 15 – Lincoln Theater

Hartt Collage - An Evening of Continuous Music, Dance, and Theatre.  Hartt’s gift to the community, Hartt’s annual Collage Concert features continuous music, dance, and theatre. This concert is FREE, but tickets are required. Early reservations are recommended.

March 1 – Trinity Episcopal Church, 120 Sigourney St., Hartford

Music for a Large Space (a public gathering) by David Macbride.  The premiere performance of Music for a Large Space (a public gathering) for winds, brass, percussion, vocalists, and audience by Hartt faculty composer David Macbride, with the Hartt Symphony Band (James Jackson, Director) and the Hartt Independent Singers (Matt Cramer, vocalist leader).

March 7 - Cathedral of St. Joseph, 140 Farmington Avenue, Hartford

Mozart Requiem – The 140 voices of The Hartt School choruses and the Soli Deo Gloria Orchestra, the cathedral's resident chamber orchestra, will present an inspirational program featuring Mozart's Requiem under the direction of Edward Bolkovac, The featured soloists will include Louise Fauteux, soprano, Hartt alumni Judy Bowers, mezzo soprano, and Craig Hart, bass, as well as current Hartt doctoral student Jerron Jorgensen, tenor. The concert will also include additional incidental music by Mozart and Albinoni.