In memorial - James Sellars

James Edward Sellars, the imaginative and original composer, outspoken commentator on music and art, and demanding but inspiring teacher of hundreds of students at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, died at his Hartford home on February 26, 2017. He was 76. In the last years of his life, he suffered from a degenerative nerve disease, which left him increasingly immobile and unable to read or listen to music, though he retained his incisive and sometimes cutting wit to the end.

Sellars was born at the Sparks Memorial Hospital in Fort Smith Arkansas on October 8, 1940 to Wayne Edward Sellars and Omah Dodson Sellars. Known as "Buddy" to his friends and family until he was in his thirties, he was drawn to music at an early age. He remembered Beethoven's Fur Elise as an early favorite. When his father took him as a boy to a record store to buy his first record of classical music, he asked the clerk for something sad - the clerk recommended the Pathetique Symphony by Tchaikovsky, who remained a favorite composer of his for the rest of his life. In Fort Smith he studied piano with Ester Graham who recognized his musical talent and recommended that he study music composition.

After high school, he moved to New York City. He first attended Julliard but quickly switched to the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Ludmila Ulehla and David Diamond. During the 1960's he lived with his life partner Gary Knoble in Brooklyn Heights where, in addition to his musical studies, he was music critic for the Brooklyn Heights Press, choral director of the First Unitarian Congregation Society, and owner of a photographic studio on Montague Street. He took a Masters Degree in Music at Southern Methodist University and a PhD in Composition and Theory at the University of North Texas.

In memorial - Joan Glazier

Joan Leopold Glazier was an icon to generations of The Hartt School family.
She passed away peacefully at her home Saturday, March 25, 2017.

 The Daughter of Kurt A. and Henriette Leopold, Joan was born on November 4, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York and resided in West Hartford, CT. for much of her life.

 Joan was a graduate of Hall High School, class of 1953 and attended the University of Connecticut and The Hartt School (then Hartt College) receiving her Bachelor of Music Education in 1958.
A noted performer for over 50 years, Joan was a soloist with the Hartford Symphony and had leading roles in opera productions with the Hartt Opera Theater and the Connecticut Opera Association. She also performed with the Chamber Song Ensemble, summer stock music theater and appeared in concerts on radio and television. She was church soloist for 23 years, and sang in the Emanuel Synagogue High Holiday choir.
 
In addition to her performing career, Joan was member of the voice faculty of the Hartt School at The University of Hartford from 1964 until 2000, and also served as their academic advisor/evaluator for undergraduate studies from 1980 until her retirement. Joan was a devoted and beloved teacher and mentor at Hartt for decades and is fondly remembered as "Mother Glazier". Her legacy and voice will live on in all of her students.
 

2017 Alumni Award - Martha Summa

Martha Summa ('83) has been selected to receive the 2017 Hartt Alumni Award. Dr. Summa's career combines her passions for performance, education and music therapy. This honor will be awarded to Martha at the 2017 Commencement exercises in May.  Congratulations to Martha!


For additional information on Martha, see her website.  http://marthasumma.com/index.html
Here is a Ted Talk that Martha gave.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCM4JPmPJcI

5 Questions with Jason Solomonides

Mr. Solomonides graduated from the University of Hartford College of Engineering, Technology & Architecture (CETA) with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Minor in Piano Performance from The Hartt School in 1985.  Jason is a long time student of Prof. Raymond Hanson, Chairman of Piano Emeritus at both Julius Hartt and the Hartt College School of Music; studying with Prof. Hanson from 1975 to 1988.  He is currently living in Cromwell, CT with his wife Dr. Kerry O’Neal and twin daughters, Alexis and Keira, ages 4 ½.

What have you been up to since you graduated from Hartt?

I am currently Chief Engineer, Controls & Diagnostics - Pratt & Whitney (P&W) – United Technologies Corporation (UTC); with a proud 32 year tenure and am the recipient of 4 technical patents.  As Chief of Controls, I have the program management and technical responsibility for the design, development and deployment of the Control & Diagnostic Systems and Software for all of P&W's commercial and military engine programs.

After graduating from the University of Hartford I completed my M.S.E.E from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1988 and went on to complete the Executive M.B.A program at the University of Connecticut in 2000.

Since graduating from Hartt, I have had also had an active musical career.  In addition to performing numerous solo recitals across Connecticut between 1985 and 1998, I was invited to performed as part of the prestigious Asylum Hill Music Series in Harford in 1991, and performed a solo United Way Fund Raiser Piano Recital called “Sonatas and Sweets” in 1994 at the Werner Centennial Theatre in Simsbury, CT, sponsored by UTC and was interviewed live on-air by Ray Dunaway of WTIC-AM, prior to the concert.
What are you involved with right now?
I was invited to give a lecture and perform a solo recital as part of the annual Mason & Hamlin University conference held at the piano factory in Haverhill, MA on September 15 & 16, 2016 and recently received the honor of being named a Mason & Hamlin Artist.  I am currently recording my active repertoire for the company, and in the process of producing a series of PianoDisc recordings. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkP65I5BsNirTcv-nAHm4BXXsCbB_EbAJ

I continue to talk with and study with 97 year old Prof. Raymond Hanson!

What is most memorable about your time at Hartt?

Probably my most memorable moment while attending the Hartt School of Music was winning the Hartt School of Music Concerto Competition entering my Senior Year as an Engineering Major, and subsequently performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in Eb with the Hartt Symphony Orchestra, guest conducted by Maestro Frank Collura on March 7 & 8, 1985.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YqQ-OpIQBk&t=2s&index=1&list=PLkP65I5BsNiq8-p9W3fyJKgMc7oqXCdQO

Of course, having studied at the Hartt School for so many years, there were many other memorable moments.  Performing solo recitals, as part of the Bach-Liszt and Mozart-Prokofiev recital series, at the ASK House on Prospect Ave. – including a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K.503, with Prof. Anne Koscielny, accompanying. Still fresh in my mind was performing and participating in Master Classes with Dr. Moshe Paranov at Millard Auditorium.  During my high school years at Julius Hartt, I studied the violin for five years with Prof. Abraham Mishkind and was awarded First Prize – Piano at both the Hartford Symphony Competition (1981) and Performer of Connecticut Competition (1981). I was also chosen to perform the Grieg Piano Concerto in Am, with the Greater Hartford Youth Orchestra, conducted by Prof. Bernard Lurie on May 10, 1981.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udKjPrt8jXM&list=PLkP65I5BsNiq8-p9W3fyJKgMc7oqXCdQO&index=6

What did you learn during while at Hartt that you did not appreciate or recognize until after time passed and you had some time to reflect?

Partnerships with Arts Orgnizations Continues with Concert at Infinity Hall

One of the things Hartt has done in the past few years, and that it will continue to do, is establish partnerships and working relationships with area arts organizations.  Students contribute to the success of these organizations and, in turn, they receive valuable professional experience while still in school.  Some of the examples are partnerships with The Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Theater, and the Stamford Symphony. 
Another important relationship is the one Hartt has with Hartford's Infinity Hall & Bistro.  This Saturday, Dec. 3, will be a great day at the venue featuring current students from Hartt's jazz division and a performance by alumnus Javier Colon.  Please support these concerts.  If you haven't been to Infinity, you are in for a treat.

 

Hartt History: 1936 - 1955

1936 - Julius Hartt retires as director of The Hartford Musical Foundation and the name of the foundation is changed to The Julius Hartt Musical Foundation in his honor.


1937 - Alfred C. Fuller becomes a member of the Board of Trustees.

1938 - The Board purchases 187 Broad Street in Hartford from the Hartford Seminary.  Dedication exercises are held and feature Harold Bauer, one of the world's greatest pianists, with the Hartt School Chorus and Orchestra.  Samuel Berkman is appointed Dean of the Julius Hartt School of Music.

Moshe Paranov is appointed Music Director at WTIC.

1939 - Irene Kahn, accomplished ensemble player and accompanist, joins Moshe Paranov in the first of many highly acclaimed duo-piano recitals at the new Broad Street location.

1940 - By vote of the Connecticut State Board of Education, Hartt becomes the first independent institution in the state with the right to confer the Bachelor of Music degree.

Alfred Einstein, preeminent German musicologist and critic, joins the Hartt faculty.

1942 - Dr. Elemer Nagy joins the Hartt faculty.  The first Hartt opera production, a double bill, is presented.  The program features the first American performance of Franz von Suppe's Ten Maidens and No Man, Moshe Paranov conducting, and the first Hartford performance of Paul Hindemith's Here and There, with Hindemith conducting.

Hartt History: 1895 - 1935

1895 - Morris Perlmutter is born on Pequot Street, Hartford, CT.


1909 - Julius Hartt moves to Hartford from Boston and assumes the position of organist at Asylum Hill Congregational Church.

Morris Perlmutter begins work as a pianist in theatres and hotels in Hartford and, later that year, becomes the conductor of the Good Will Club Orchestra whose artistic advisor is Julius Hartt.

1912 - Morris Perlmutter debuts at Hartford's Unity Hall on Pratt Street in a performance of Beethoven's G Major Piano Sonata.

1914 - Julius Hartt becomes Music Editor for the Hartford Times.