back to Contents

Features

Department mourns loss of composer Jennifer Fitzgerald

Jennifer Fitzgerald (Ph.D. 2005) died on December 23, 2007 in Savannah, of complications from cancer. Jen Fitzgerald studied composition in the department between 1999 and 2005, and when she died was an Instructor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where previously she had been a postdoctoral fellow. Fitzgerald's recent compositions included "Soundscraper Fanfare" for brass quintet and percussion, commissioned to open the new Granoff Music Building at Tufts University (where Jennifer did her undergraduate work), and "Having Once Been" for strings, piano and percussion, presented by the American Composers Orchestra (at the Whitaker New Music Readings). As a pianist/composer, Jennifer performed widely with pulsoptional, "Durham's Band of Composers." Her compositions were featured on pulsoptional's concerts, and a recent work "How Terrible Orange" is featured on pulsoptional's 2007 CD. Most recently, in addition to her teaching at Lawrence, Jennifer was a fellow in composition at the Aspen Music Festival, and a fellow of the American Opera Project's "Composers and the Voice" series. She composed the first parts of an opera, Mr. Hawthorne's Engagement, which were presented in New York in October. She hoped to complete the opera this year. For more on Jennifer Fitzgerald, please see her webpage, the pulsoptional webpage, or the American Opera projects blog devoted to her opera.

"Jennifer was beloved by the faculties at Duke and Lawrence, and by her fellow students," said Stephen Jaffe, Chair of the Deparment of Music. "What a terrible loss."

Memorial donations may be directed to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

Top • Contents

Jazz Ensemble director John Brown's new CD climbs the charts

John Brown, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Duke Jazz Ensemble, has reason to celebrate. On November 18, the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham was packed when he threw a CD release party for the John Brown Quintet's two most recent CDs: Merry Christmas, Baby and Terms of Art: A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Vol. 1. The party began with an opening performance by the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble, a group of twenty local high school musicians that Brown directs. A portion of the proceeds from the party were donated to the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program.

Terms of Art, which features the regular members of the Quintet: John Brown (bass) Ray Codrington (trumpet), Brian Miller (saxophones), Gabe Evens, (piano) and Adonis Rose (drums), has been garnering praise and climbing the charts since its release. It reached #8 on the JazzWeek charts last week, continuing its steady ascent. Brown plans to record two more tributes to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and with a distribution deal in the works, it seems a good bet that we'll be hearing more from the John Brown Quintet soon.

Top • Contents

Duke New Music Ensemble's [dnme] debut draws praise, audiences

The Duke New Music Ensemble, [dnme], was formed in Fall 2007 to bring together undergraduate and graduate students to perform music written in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as new works by Duke student composers. The group is the brainchild of graduate composer George Lam, who felt that students would be interested in performing, and hearing, more contemporary material. He envisioned an intimate atmosphere for performances, and the group's concerts this fall were held in Brody Theater on East Campus, a venue that only seats 65. George's assessment of student interest was correct, and after performing for standing room only crowds, [dnme] will move to Sheafer Theater in the Bryan University Center for its February 20 concert.

[dnme], a group of nine graduate and undergraduate students, collaborates regularly with faculty and guest artists from the Duke University Department of Music and other institutions across North Carolina. Guest performers in fall 2007 included saxophonist Susan Fancher, violist Reginald Patterson, and Jay O'Berski, a faculty member in the Department of Theater Studies. So far, [dnme]'s repertoire has been evenly divided between new works by Duke graduate student composers and works by some of the great names in 20th century music, including Piazzolla, Schoenberg, and Gorecki.

“The birth of a winning new music enterprise in Durham … this ensemble rocks!”
- Classical Voice of North Carolina

Top • Contents

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Robert Ward receives the Old North State Award from Governor Mike Easley

On Thursday, September 13, 2007, Governor Mike Easley turned the spotlight on the arts by bestowing the Old North State Award for dedication and service beyond expectation and excellence on composer Robert Ward on his 90th birthday.

Dr. Ward came to North Carolina in 1967 to head the recently established School of the Arts in Winston-Salem following the tragic death of the school’s founding president, Vittorio Giannini. Under his leadership, the school doubled its enrollment and rapidly became recognized as an international leader in arts education. In 1979, he became the Mary Duke Biddle Professor of Music at Duke University, where he could devote more time to composing and conducting.

In 1962, The Crucible, his opera based on the play by Arthur Miller, received the Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Critics’ Circle Award. Since that time it has been performed widely in North America, Europe and Asia. Many of Dr. Ward’s major works have been commissioned by North Carolina orchestras and opera companies.

A birthday concert for Dr. Ward was held at the Jones Theatre of the Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, NC. Performing artists included Fred Raimi, cello, and Eric Pritchard, violin, of Duke’s Ciompi Quartet accompanied by pianist Jane Hawkins and baritone William Stone, a North Carolina native who has been heard in most of the major opera houses of Europe and America, assisted by pianist Thomas Warburton, professor emeritus from the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Music.

Dr. Ward continues to compose, recently accepting a commission from the Durham Children's Choir and the Duke University String School for a new work based on William Blake's poem The Lamb. The piece premiered at the Duke University String School's holiday concert in December 2007.

Top • Contents

Comments or suggestions about this newsletter?
Email Elizabeth Thompson, Publicist, Dept. of Music