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Judith Hill Bose, Director of Education Cantata Singers two-pronged Education Program has given thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students in urban Boston schools the opportunity to give voice to their own studies and life experiences by composing their own music, as well as learning about and listening to vocal music of high quality and compelling content. All our programs connect the musical endeavors of composition and performance to skills, concepts and themes in the core curricular areas of literacy, social studies and numeracy. Now celebrating its 15th year in Boston’s inner-city schools, Classroom Cantatas pairs children with teaching artists from the Cantata Singers to compose and perform the words and music of their own original cantatas. Students choose a relevant story or theme, shape it in their own words, and then set the text to music. True to Cantata Singers’ commitment to contemporary composers and the commissioning and performing of new works, this program helps young students realize their potential as actual creators of musical works. They then perform their pieces for several audiences, developing skills and experiencing the pleasures and challenges of rehearsal and performance. Cantata Singers On Tour On Tour brings marvelous voices and supporting companion workshops into hallways, classrooms and auditoriums throughout the city. Beginning in 2006-2007 with Bach’s Coffee Cantata, and continuing this year with I Never Saw Another Butterfly, On Tour offers pre-performance workshops that introduce students to themes and historical relevance of the work. Students then attend a performance featuring talented Cantata Singers ensemble members. Click here for program information for I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Classroom Cantatas A CANTATA? WHAT'S A CANTATA? How many fourth graders know what on earth a cantata is, let alone how to compose one? Well, if they happen to be some of the fortunate students who take part in the Cantata Singers' “Classroom Cantatas” program, they know not only what a cantata is (and will actually admit to it), they know how to choose the texts, compose the music, put it all together, and how not to die of fright when performing it in front of an audience! ABOUT THIS UNIQUE PROGRAM Founded in 1992 out of Cantata Singers commitment to contemporary music and living composers, “Classroom Cantatas” introduces students to the processes of musical composition and performance preparation. During an intensive 12-session residency, Cantata Singers teaching artists, who are members of the chorus, work with students in small groups to help them write a collection of songs based on a unifying theme (a “cantata”) that the students later perform for an audience of their peers, teachers, parents, and community members. Classroom Cantatas serves as a model of respectful collaboration and problem solving while providing a creative way for children to express their fears, hopes, and observations about the world around them. What makes this music education program so special? It enables students, through the creative process, to express their own ideas and feelings; it strengthens the students' reading, writing, and comprehension skills (used in text choice), analytical and interpretive skills (used in music composition) and skills of presentation; and it fosters cooperation between students from diverse backgrounds — all the while increasing their understanding of and interest in vocal concert music. The cantata themes, ranging from water pollution to bravery and social injustice, underscore the relevance and deepen the students' understanding of the core curriculum. “Classroom Cantatas” also enhances the students' self-esteem as they see their project grow from a jumble of words and notes to a professional-looking score — and ultimately gain the confidence to perform in front of their peers, teachers and family members. A BRIDGE TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY— AND BEYOND Classroom Cantatas connects students with members of the local community, who are invited to attend their cantata performance, as well as to the city at large and other schools in the Boston Public School system. In sharing their personal stories of hope, sadness, or courage in face of adversity, children have the chance to be heard beyond the walls of their school. Each year, the children sing their cantatas in a performance class at New England Conservatory (before attending a dress rehearsal of a Cantata Singers' concert), and Emerson Elementary School students perform their cantatas (before Mayor Menino, no less!) at the historic Shirley-Eustis House in Roxbury. Cantata performances have also taken place at the Huntington Avenue Y and the Museum of Science. In recent years, Classroom Cantatas has collaborated with the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum — a values, literacy, and writing program for 6th graders in the Boston Public Schools that reinforces the importance of courage in their own lives. A select number of Classroom Cantatas participants who took part in Courage Curriculum were invited to perform their courage-based cantatas at the high-profile Courage Curriculum Awards, and their cantatas were included in the widely-distributed book, The Courage of Boston's Children: Award-Winning Essays on Courage by Students in the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum. ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENTS As an approved program in the Boston Public School's Comprehensive School Plan, Classroom Cantatas fits precisely into the Boston Public Schools' City-Wide Arts Standards: at all levels, students are expected to study music composition and performance. And, in order to pass from one grade to another, students must log a certain number of arts hours. They must also produce a piece of art for their graduation portfolio. The stakes are higher now than they have been in the past, with the focus on improving student achievement and meeting these newly implemented standards. Classroom Cantatas provides schools and teachers with the tools and the all-important opportunity to meet these new challenges. This inspiring program brings out the best in students and visibly demonstrates, in both the students' performance and their written cantata, what they are capable of doing. The Cantata Singers also offers free or significantly reduced concert tickets to all participating teachers and students. It's heartening to see increasing numbers of students and their families taking advantage of the ticket offer — and, more importantly, developing a life-long love of music. Classroom Cantatas has a number of people and organizations to thank for its success: the students, teachers and school administrators who have embraced this non-traditional approach to music education; Cantata Singers trustee Elizabeth Hodder for guiding the effort; and dedicated teaching artists from the Cantata Singers chorus. Classroom Cantatas is supported, in part, by a grant from the Linde Family Foundation. 2007-2008 PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School
Neighborhood House Charter School, Dorchester, MA Ludwig van Beethoven Elementary School A sampling of comments from student participants: “I like the group song because it was good and I thought we were a great team. The song made me feel happy and I felt proud as we sang in class.” “We put different ideas in different parts of the song. I worked well with the others by having good ideas.” “I like my group song because it has good rhythm and it makes me feel like dancing.” “I like that it sounds like an opera, because of how loud and long it was. It made me feel like a real composer, or an artist. At some points we were disagreeing. One thing that I did to work well with the group was to listen to everyone's advice including the teacher's.” “I felt happy when I was performing because that was the first time I sang for people and sang on stage.” “I really appreciated that the Cantata Singers came to our school and I really enjoyed singing to the people I knew and the people that I didn't know.” “I think the names and the feelings really mattered to people because it was the people we loved. I would like the Cantata Singers to know that we made a beautiful wonderful and best cantata.” “I liked my group's song because just thinking about it makes me feel with great pride to know I helped make the song.” “I like my group's song because it has high and low parts and it has expressions that make me feel happy. We worked like we were brothers and sisters.” (Click here for Classroom Cantatas photo album.) Cantata Singers Education Staff Director of Education and soprano, Judith Hill Bose, sang with Cantata Singers for two seasons while a graduate student at New England Conservatory, helping to found the “Classroom Cantatas” program in 1992. She returned to Boston in 2005, after more than a decade of performing and arts education work in New York City. Currently in her fourth season with this ensemble, she became Director of Education in 2006. Here in Boston she can also be heard singing with Cappella Clausura and with the Church of the Advent Choir. Most recent solo engagements include Lizzie in The Coffee Cantata of Bach and Lucy in Menotti's The Telephone in Buffalo, NY, soprano soloist in the Messiah with the Riverside Choir in NYC, in the zarzuelas Cabezudos y Gigantes, L'Alegria de la Huerta, and Doña Francisquita in Napa, CA and in the contemporary chamber piece Owl in Love (Jon Deak) with members of the Buffalo Philharmonic. In New York she also performed Rose Maybud in Ruddigore with the Village Light Opera and Adele in Die Fledermaus with the New York Opera Forum, was a member and soloist with the choir of Riverside Church, and was a song recitalist on the Landmark Festival Series. Before settling in Manhattan, Judith toured for two and a half seasons with the National Opera Company where her favorite roles included: Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Musetta in La Boheme, Hero in Beatrice and Benedict, and Anne Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor. She also starred in operettas for three seasons with the Ohio Light Opera, where her portrayals included Helen in La Belle Helene, Manja in Countess Maritza, Julia Jellicoe in The Grand Duke, and Louisa Giovanni in The Song of Norway. Judith has appeared as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance with the Atlanta Savoyards, as soloist with the North Carolina Symphony, the Raleigh Symphony, in recital on WBFO radio in Buffalo, NY, at the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals, and at the Bel Canto Institute in New Paltz, NY. In addition to performing, Judith is involved in many educational pursuits. She holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a MM from the New England Conservatory of Music. Her teaching experience includes work with the New York Philharmonic, the Choristers of St. Bartholomew's Church, the New York Festival of Song, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Opera Guild, as well as consulting for other arts and educational institutions. She was a master teaching artist for the Lincoln Center Institute for nearly ten years, and is finishing a PhD in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Education Program Manager and mezzo-soprano, Sara Wyse-Wenger (MM in Vocal Performance, New England Conservatory) is in her fourteenth season with the Cantata Singers, appears frequently as a soloist in its Chamber Series, and has coordinated the “Classroom Cantatas” program since 1997. She has performed many recitals, is alto soloist for Payson Park Church, and her professional opera roles include Nicholas in Tales of Hoffman and Orpheus in Gluck's Orpheus and Euridice. Sara directs the Joyce Kilmer Elementary School Chorus in one of Boston 's public schools in West Roxbury, a 150 voice chorus she co-founded in 1994. As a Kindermusik teacher and coordinator of the Kindermusik program of the School of Creative Arts since 1997, Sara has helped many families with children from newborn to age seven flourish in their love of music. Through her interest in connecting Seniors and families with young children, she initiated and teaches many Kindermusik classes in nursing homes and assisted living centers in the greater Boston area. “Classroom Cantatas” Teaching Artists Praised for “a voice that shows not only power and range, but subtlety,” soprano Megan Beltran recently relocated to the Boston area and is actively performing with a variety of regional organizations. Previously, she resided in Copenhagen, Denmark where she appeared at the Statens Museum for Kunst, the Absalon Kirke, Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium and with Stand Up Opera in Nørrebro. In the summer of 2007, Ms. Beltran joined the Ash Lawn Opera Festival as an Apprentice Artist. She will return for the 2008 summer season to sing the role of Frasquita and cover the role of Micaela in Carmen. Previous operatic appearances include the roles of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Gretel (Hansel & Gretel), and Damigella (L’incoronazione di Poppea). Light opera credits: Phyllis (Iolanthe), Mabel (Pirates of Penzance), Rose Maybud (Ruddygore) and Peep-Bo/Yum-Yum (Mikado). Ms. Beltran was a Regional Finalist in the Pacific Region of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions. She has received awards from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the East Bay Opera League, the Bay Area NATS Festival, OperaWorks Summer Intensive Workshop, the UCLA Department of Music, and the Burlingame Music Club. Ms. Beltran is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, where she completed a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles with majors in both Music and English. Kumi Nokariya Donaghue, soprano, is in her twelfth season singing with the Cantata Singers and has been a teaching artist with “Classroom Cantatas” for the past two years. Kumi is a native of Tokyo, Japan and has voice and education degrees from Toho Conservatory of Music in Tokyo. She is a former member of the Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre and has worked with one of its founders, Teiichi Nakayama. She has also appeared with other organizations throughout Japan. Since relocating to United States 1991, she has performed with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and has appeared as a soloist with the Trinity Concert Singers, the Masterworks Chorale and the Nashua Symphony Orchestra and Choral Society. She has performed a number of recitals in the Greater Boston area including with the Cantata Singers' Chamber Series and the MIT Chapel recital series. She is a longtime member and soloist for the choir at St. Agatha Church (Milton, MA), and has performed at many churches throughout the Boston area. As an educator, she was a music teacher as well as a voice coach in several choral groups in Japan. She teaches voice and piano as a private instructor and is currently a music teacher at Magic Years Nursery School (Braintree, MA) and a pianist for the chorus program at Joyce Kilmer Elementary School (West Roxbury, MA). She has also served as an evaluator at Milton Young Musicians' Festival (Milton Academy). Kumi has a daughter and an American husband whom she met in Tokyo. She enjoys gardening, sewing and drawing. She teaches and volunteers at the Japanese Language School of Greater Boston (Medford, MA). Mezzo-soprano Carola Emrich-Fisher has been a solo recitalist throughout New England and Germany. She has appeared with several Opera Companies, such as Boston Bel Canto Opera, Bronx Opera, and Golden Fleece Opera. Ms. Emrich-Fisher has been singing with the Cantata Singers for four seasons and also performs with other Boston ensembles, such as the Handel and Haydn Society and the Libella Quartet. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree with honors from NEC and a Master’s Degree with distinction from the Longy School of Music. This year is her first as a lead teacher in the Classroom Cantatas program. Mezzo-soprano Catherine Hedberg has been singing with the Cantata Singers since 2001, and working as a teaching artist with “Classroom Cantatas” since 2003. She is an active performer in recital, oratorio, and chamber music, and has been heard in the major concert halls of Boston and on Boston radio station WGBH. Recent solo engagements include Bach's Cantata No. 34 with Cantata Singers in Jordan Hall, the role of Dameta in Caldara's Amarilli Vezzosa with the Musicians of the Old Post Road, a program of Bach cantatas with the Newport Baroque Orchestra, and Bach's Cantata No. 146 under the direction of Ton Koopman in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. She has been presented in works including Mozart's Requiem and Solemn Vespers, Handel's Messiah, several Haydn masses, Duruflé's Requiem, the Brahms Neue Liebeslieder Waltzer, and Liszt's Via Crucis, with organizations such as Cantata Singers, Symphony Pro Musica, Masterworks Chorale, Lawrence Choral Arts Society, Andover Choral Society, and the Handel Society at Dartmouth College. In recital, Catherine's repertoire spans from music of the Spanish Renaissance to new music by American composers. She has a particular interest in Spanish song and has presented well-loved and lesser-known works of Iberian composers in the United States and Spain. Catherine has appeared in the Cantata Singers Chamber Series, King's Chapel Noontime Series, and the Harvard Business School Concert Series. Amanda Keil, mezzo-soprano, is seen regularly in recital in New York on the ARTEK Midday Music series, in Boston at King’s Chapel and MIT Chapel, and as part of the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Concert Series. She frequently collaborates with lutenist Scott Lemire on programs of lesser-known Renaissance and Baroque songs. Upcoming appearances include Juno in Eccles’ Semele with Boston University Baroque Orchestra, and a recital at the Gibson House Museum. Ms. Keil attended the Intermezzo Young Artist Program, where she drew praise for her performances of Florence Pike in Albert Herring and the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte. In 2006, she performed Ottavia in scenes from L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Seattle Accademia d’Amore. This spring, Ms. Keil premiered a new opera by Peter McMurray commissioned by two Boston chamber opera companies – Boston OperaHub and Juventas. In her first year with Cantata Singers, Ms. Keil serves as a Teaching Artist in their Classroom Cantatas program, and performs outreach concerts with Music at Eden’s Edge. She received her Master’s degree of Music in Voice and Historical Performance from Boston University, and holds a Bachelor of Music in French horn from The Hartt School. Susan Kattwinkel Navien, soprano, graduated from the University of Lowell with a Bachelor of Music in Education and Vocal Performance, magna cum laude. Her teaching experience includes work at St. Joseph 's School, All Saints Parish, Haverhill, MA, in both general and liturgical music. She has been a teaching artist for the Cantata Singers' “Classroom Cantatas” program since 2003. Currently a student of Monique Phinney, Susan has performed with the First Congregational Church, Winchester, MA, Cantata Singers, and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston, MA Festival Choir. She has also been heard in concerts, recitals, weddings, and funerals throughout Eastern MA and Southern NH. Originally from Glen Ridge, NJ, Susan grew up in an Air Force family and lived for a time in Ankara, Turkey. She is married to an organist and is the mother of four children. Her hobbies include sewing, needlework, home improvement, reading, and working with the Girl Scouts of America. Joshua Taylor, baritone, is a native of North Carolina and a current Masters candidate at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. Mr. Taylor is a first-year member of Cantata Singers, and in addition to performing on the Chamber Series and the Touring Production, has joined the teaching faculty of the outreach endeavor Classroom Cantatas. Mr. Taylor recently made his solo debut in Boston’s Symphony Hall, appearing as a guest artist with the Boston Pops Orchestra on its holiday mainstage series, under the baton of Keith Lockhart. Other recent engagements include singing Fiorello in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Boston University Opera Insitute. Baritone Nathan Troup is currently enjoying his second season with the Cantata Singers and his first year on the faculty of “Classroom Cantatas.” Nathan has earned degrees from Susquehanna University and Boston University, with additional studies at the Chautauqua Institute. Recent roles include his Jordan Hall debut as Basilio/Don Curzio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with L’Orchestra da Camera Boston in celebration of the composer’s 250th birthday, and Enoch Snow in The Reagle Players’ production of Roger’s and Hammerstein’s Carousel, starring Shirley Jones, for which he received a 2006 Independent Reviewers of New England nomination for Best Supporting Actor. A multiple-first place winner of the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition, Nathan has sung in the Boston University Opera Institute’s productions of Idomeneo, Don Pasquale, Lucas Foss’s The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins. He sang the role of Le Marquise de Lisle in the European premiere of Dominick Argento’s Casanova in July of 2003 with the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. This season Nathan’s debuts with New England Opera Intermezzo in Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River, performs with the Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble, performing and teaching as a part of the ensemble’s outreach program, and joins Boston’s Cantata Singers under the direction of David Hoose performing works of Bach and Harbison. Nathan sings in the Emmanuel Music Bach Cantata Series, under the direction of Craig Smith, in addition to performing on the organization's Chamber Music Series. Nathan has been part of the ensembles of Opera Boston and the Boston Lyric Opera and made his solo debut with the Boston Lyric Opera in 2006 in Massanet’s Thaïs. Additional opera credits include Tamino in The Magic Flute, Mr. Angel in The Impresario, and the Sailor in Dido and Aeneas. A native of Pennsylvania, Nathan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Jacque Wilson, mezzo-soprano, is in her third season with the Cantatas Singers and started working with “Classroom Cantatas” in the fall of 2007. She holds a Masters degree in Opera Performance from The Boston Conservatory and a Bachelors degree in Vocal Performance from California State University, Northridge. She is an active performer in the opera and oratorio community. Some of her most recent solo appearances include Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana with both Granite State Opera and Chorus Pro Musica at Jordan Hall, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Worcester Opera Works, and Alto Soloist in The Messiah with Assabet Valley Master Singers. She is currently on the private voice faculty at Franklin School for the Performing Arts and Robinson’s music, while maintaining a private voice studio in her home. Home | About Us | Concerts | Tickets | News | Education | Recordings | Contact | Donate Now Last Update:
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