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Stetson University Presents Comic Opera Albert Herring

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Stetson Opera Theatre and Orchestra perform together

Stetson University Opera Theatre and Orchestra will perform the Benjamin Britten comic opera, Albert Herring, at DeLand High School Theater Center. Two performances are scheduled: Friday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m.
Albert Herring is set in the imaginary East Suffolk, England, town of Loxford at the turn of the 20th century. The townsfolk, unable to find a suitably chaste May Queen, turn instead to find a May King, and settle on Albert – blameless son of a widowed shopkeeper. Albert tries unsuccessfully to refuse the honor, and a series of humorous events begins at the ceremony after butcher’s assistant Sid laces Albert’s lemonade with rum. Later, armed with his prize money, Albert sets off to find adventure and celebrate his new-found independence.
“Albert Herring is one of the great ensemble operas, requiring strong vocal and musical skills from every member of the cast,” said Craig W. Maddox, Ph.D., associate professor of voice at Stetson University. “From the singers’ point of view, I think this is the most ambitious opera Stetson has presented… I don’t know of another purely undergraduate music program that would even attempt this show,” Maddox said, noting that Stetson will use two completely different casts for each performance because of “the depth of our talent pool” currently at Stetson.
“That is one of the reasons why this show was chosen,” Maddox explained. “It offers wonderful and challenging roles to 20-plus singers. The title character, tenor Albert Herring, is certainly the largest and most challenging role. However, this is an ensemble opera with many scenes involving nearly all of the cast. I’ve jokingly compared this opera’s cast to a football team: Albert is the quarterback, but it takes every player to make this team run effectively.”
This is Britten’s second chamber opera, composed in 1947, and is in keeping with the composer’s favorite subject, the loss of innocence.
“The score contains some of Britten’s wittiest musical invention and his gifts for parody and caricature, already evident in Peter Grimes, are given full reign,” according to the Britten-Pears Library.
Two performances are scheduled: Friday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26, at 3 p.m., both at DeLand High School Theater Center, 800 N. Hill Ave., DeLand, FL 32724. Tickets are $10 for Adults; $8, Seniors (62 and older); $5 students; no charge for 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased at Stetson.edu/music-tickets.

Gerard Marino to perform at Stetson University

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Interactive Academy Award winner, Stetson alumnus will debut new music

If you have ever played any of the God of War series of video games – or heard or watched others playing them – then you are familiar with Gerard Marino’s most famous musical work. Marino won an Interactive Academy Award for Best Score for the music in the first game in that series, as well as the Game Audio Network Guild’s Music of the Year Award.
The Stetson University alumnus moved to Los Angeles in 1999 seeking a career in writing music for movies, but six years later the Los Angeles Philharmonic was performing his music to a sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl. The National Symphony Orchestra has performed Marino’s music at the Kennedy Center. In fact, orchestras on six continents have played the orchestral suite of God of War themes. And now, it’s Stetson’s turn.
For the performance at Stetson University, Marino arranged some of his video game and film scores for seven string musicians in the Stetson Chamber Orchestra. “Some of them have never been played by an orchestra before. Every single one of these is debuting for the first time here,” he said. The list of Marino’s credits for his music includes multiple video games, motion pictures, television, advertising and interactive.
Also, he will debut a personal project that has been in the works for a couple of months – mixing electronic dance music with video game music in a mash-up, a recording that digitally combines and synchronizes music from different songs.
“This will be the first time I play it in public, first time I’ve even let anyone know I’m doing it,” said Marino, who plays the keyboard, sings and knows a little guitar and ethnic flutes.
“We’re bringing the actual rock ‘n roll and the orchestra together, and doing it live,” he said. “It’s a first time for all of this. I’m totally excited and jazzed to do it but I also have enough nervousness that I could really just crash and burn on this,” he said with a laugh.
Marino’s performance is for the Stetson School of Music’s Sounds New concert series, which showcases new music and artists. The event is Friday, Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m., in Lee Chapel in Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, Fla., 32723.
About Stetson University
Founded in 1883, Stetson University is the oldest private university in Central Florida, providing a transforming education in the liberal arts tradition. Stetson stresses academic excellence and community-engaged learning, and consistently earns high marks in national rankings. Stetson encourages its students to go beyond success to significance in their lives, the lives of others and their communities. Stay connected with Stetson on social media.

21st Annual Piano Scholars Festival Launches at Stetson University

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World-renowned Steinway Artist Michael Rickman plays Friday

Stetson University School of Music will present the 21st Annual Piano Scholars Festival, a part of the Great Pianists at Stetson series, Friday through Sunday, Feb. 3-5, at Lee Chapel in Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., DeLand, Fla., 32723. All performances are free and open to the public. 

Friday, Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m.

The weekend kicks off with Steinway Artist and Stetson University Professor of Music Michael Rickman, D.M.A. This will be Rickman’s last solo recital in Lee Chapel as a professor of music. Rickman has achieved critical acclaim on three continents as a “resourceful and sensitive pianist, technically in control and emotionally rewarding,” and for his “masterful technique and unswerving control…a happy combination of the head, hand and heart, he is an intelligent, even intellectual performer…” 

Rickman will be performing a piano arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring and Partita No. 4 in D Major by J.S. Bach as well as Etudes Symphoniques by Robert Schumann and Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel. 

Saturday, Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m.

Piano Scholars Recital

This concert will showcase 18 of the Stetson’s piano scholars, representing all levels of study, performing works from composers of the 19th and 20th centuries including Chopin, Brahms, Mussorgsky, Scriabin, Debussy, Prokofiev and Bartok.

Sunday, Feb. 5, 3 p.m.

Alumni Piano Recital

This concert features eight talented and accomplished alumni of Dr. Rickman’s studio performing such works as Transcendental Etude No. 8, “Wilde Jagd,” and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 by Franz Liszt; Rondo in A Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Danseus de delphes and L’isle joyeuse by Claude Debussy and others. 

About Stetson University
Founded in 1883, Stetson University is the oldest private university in Central Florida, providing a transforming education in the liberal arts tradition. Stetson stresses academic excellence and community-engaged learning, and consistently earns high marks in national rankings. Stetson encourages its students to go beyond success to significance in their lives, the lives of others and their communities. Stay connected with Stetson on social media.

deSilva to Speak on Grace at Stetson University

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Presentation sponsored by Religious Studies Department

David A. deSilva, Ph.D., will present a lecture, “Grace: the Free Gift That Costs Us Everything,” on Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Stetson Room of the Carlton Union Building, 131 E. Minnesota Ave., DeLand, Fla., 32723. The presentation is part of the Department of Religious Studies’ Christian Theology Lecture series, and is free and open to the public.

David A. deSilva, Ph.D.
David A. deSilva, Ph.D.

deSilva is the Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. He is the author of 25 books and has been involved in several major Bible translation projects, serving as the Apocrypha editor for the Common English Bible and working on the revision of the Apocrypha for the English Standard Version.
The Christian Theology Lectures was endowed in 1975 by an anonymous Florida donor for the purpose of bringing to Stetson’s DeLand campus speakers who will provide a better understanding of and engagement with the Christian tradition. For information about the lectures contact Mitchell Reddish, Ph.D., O.L. Walker Professor of Christian Studies and chair of the Department of Religious Studies, 386-822-8932 or [email protected].

Stetson University Selects Noel Painter as EVP and Provost

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Long-time faculty member now leads Stetson’s Academic Affairs strategy

Stetson University announced today that Noel Painter, Ph.D., has been selected to be the university’s new executive vice president and provost.

Noel Painter
Noel Painter

“Dr. Painter has done a remarkable job in the interim executive vice president and provost role and has demonstrated his well recognized integrity, intelligence energy and passion for excellence,” said Stetson President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D., in making the announcement. Painter has been serving in the interim position since June 2016 when former provost Elizabeth Paul, Ph.D., left the university after seven years to become the president of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
Libby said that launching another national search, “would be unlikely to bring us someone more competent or visionary than Dr. Painter,” and that his appointment “puts us firmly on a forward course of excellence.”
“I am exceptionally honored to have the opportunity to represent Stetson University as provost,” said Painter. “Having been part of this great institution for over 17 years, I am confident that we are positioned to be leaders in 21st century education, and that our passionate faculty, staff, student and administrative community will continue to make great strides forward.”
Painter joined the faculty of Stetson University School of Music in 1999, and served as associate dean in the School of Music from 2007-16 when he was asked to step into the interim provost position. He also served as interim dean in the School of Music during much of the 2012-13 academic year. In those roles, he was integrally involved in many university initiatives, committees, and task forces, including work on faculty salary, governance, enrollment and financial aid, student success, accreditation, policy, and curriculum revision.
At the 2015 Sharing Excellence Colloquium, Painter presented his research on Accommodations as an Opportunity for Creativity and Deeper Inclusion for All Students (with Stacy Collins), and at the 2016 Academic Chairpersons Conference he presented Making Decisions That Faculty Support: Healthy Systems for Administrative Collaboration (with Thomas Gilmore Masse, D.M.A.).
In 2009, Painter was awarded the William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching. It is the most prestigious honor given to a Stetson University faculty member at the DeLand campus and represents excellence in classroom teaching, professional growth and competency, intellectual stimulation given to the academic community outside the classroom, and service to students and the university as a whole.
Prior to his arrival at Stetson, Painter taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. As a result of his commitment to teaching and scholarship, Painter was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, the Sloan Scholarship Award and the Edward Peck Curtis Teaching Award, the highest graduate award available to graduate assistants at any of the University of Rochester’s six campus branches.
Painter received his Ph.D., M.M. in percussion performance, and M.A. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester), and a B.M. from Furman University.