Graduates, cont.

Click here for more photos!

After spending three years at the ISM completing his MDiv, including a semester spent abroad in Cambridge, England, Mark Cutolo (MDiv) will be spending his summer as an intern teacher of world religions at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire in their Advanced Studies Program. Starting in August, Mark, who is a transitional deacon in the Episcopal Church, will be starting a residency program in chaplaincy at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York, NY.

After graduation, Marie Dalby (MAR)  moved to California, where she is originally from, to pursue a career in something-yet-to-be-determined. She is currently investigating book publishing opportunities, as well as the possibility of starting her own company that incorporates wine, food, and the arts. She says, “The ISM was a wonderful place to study interdisciplinarity, and I look forward to putting this integrated historical and artistic knowledge to work in some sort of ‘cultural communication’ career.”

 

Dominick DiOrio (MM-choral conducting) will remain at the ISM for one more year in the MMA program. During this past year, Dominick has enjoyed working as co-director of the Marquand Chapel Choir and ensemble manager of the Yale Camerata. Next year, he will continue his conducting work as Director of the Battell Chapel Choir and principal assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata. He plans to spend the summer studying at the Conductors Institute at Bard College, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Berkshire Choral Festival Vancouver, while also completing his MMA thesis on aspects of pitch in Penderecki's choral music.

Jessica French (MM-organ), has served as assistant organist at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven. After graduation, Jessica will move to Bronxville, New York, serving as Organ Scholar at Christ Church Bronxville. There, she will accompany, conduct, and teach the various choristers and singers in the music program, as well as play for services. She will also begin work at Young and Arts, a performing arts program for young children, by teaching voice and piano.

During his time at the ISM, Ryan William Jackson (MM-organ) has studied organ performance with Thomas Murray as a recipient of the Robert Baker stipend. Over the course of the last two years, Ryan has distinguished himself in a number of competitions and has performed numerous recitals in the United States and Canada, and was recently announced as the winner of the prestigious 2008 Godfrey Hewitt Scholarship. During his time at Yale, Ryan spent a term as one of the organ scholars at Christ Church New Haven and, since August 2007, has served as organist for the University Church in Battell Chapel. For the School of Music, Ryan taught lessons to secondary organ majors and served as a teaching assistant in the Hearing program. This September, Ryan will begin studies in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the Juilliard School in New York City as a recipient of the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship where he will study with ISM alum Paul Jacobs

William Parker Kitterman (MM-organ) hopes to channel his brilliant ISM education directly into an equally brilliant church music and concert career. In September he will be competing as a finalist in the Musashino-Tokyo International Organ Competition. This summer he is moving back to New York City with his wife Imali.

Christian Lane (MM-organ), is committing what some might consider a grave sin: he is giving up his Yale Blue for Harvard Crimson. Effective fall 2008, Chris has been appointed Assistant University Organist and Choirmaster at Harvard University, and as an integral member of the staff at Harvard's Memorial Church, he will play and direct many of the church's sung morning prayers. He will also serve as primary accompanist for the Harvard University Choir at Sunday services and university functions. In addition, Chris has been selected to compete in the first-ever Canadian International Organ Competition, with the final three rounds occurring this fall in Montreal. While at Yale, Chris served as Assistant Organist at Trinity Church on the Green and regularly worked with the Yale Schola Cantorum.

Sooyeon Lee (MM-choral conducting) is remaining open to several possibilities. She is currently waiting for the results of her applications to full-time church jobs in the United States and France. If she stays in New Haven, she will prepare for auditions for DMA programs in either orchestral conducting or choral conducting. Sooyeon’s primary goal is to serve as a church musician and direct both orchestra and choir for the advancement of sacred choral music.

In his words, Micah Luce (STM) “further increased his status as world's smartest person by completing yet another degree. Three masters level degrees? Wow! That's smart!” He completed his thesis on the comparison of cinema spectatorship and biblical textual reception (particularly in ancient cultures) with “a rousing 80 pages of masterpiece-like prose.” Taking his newfound knowledge of American spectatorship in the cinema, Micah “will probably change the way that the entire world thinks of movies, television, and all things visual."

After three years and two degrees at Yale, Andrew Pester (MAR) will be taking the next academic year off from formal education to prepare his applications to PhD programs in musicology. He is looking forward to “reading the laundry list of books that have been waiting patiently on my bookshelf for the past four years.” He is ever grateful to the ISM for the countless opportunities and, (in the most literal sense of the word), life-changing experiences of the past few years.

Nicholas William Lauer (MDiv) studied literary arts at the ISM, focusing in particular upon interpretive approaches to the New Testament. Upon graduation Nick will join the staff of Trinity Baptist Church in New Haven, CT to pursue full-time vocational ministry.

Birger Radde (MM-voice) plans to move to Berlin and build up a career as freelance singer with a special focus on early music in both concert and opera. His upcoming engagements include concerts with such notable German ensembles as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Vocalconsort Berlin, Batzdorfer Hofkapelle and RIAS Kammerchor. He is also working together with the Louisville Bach Society/Kentucky. In addition, he plans to start playing tennis and is working on strategies to get permanently cheap airline tickets between Berlin, Paris and London to see his partner Marc.

Hillary D. Raining (MDiv) will be serving as an assistant priest at Trinity Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, PA with her husband Ken and their six-month old daughter, Delia. Hillary would like to thank the ISM for all of their support during her three years of study. She has had a wonderful experience learning with scholars of so many different disciplines.

Michael Barton Renner (MAR) will be moving to Nashville with his fiancee Nicole Barrick. They will be wed mid-August of next year. Bart is thankful to have had the opportunity to go to the Balkans and would like to thank the professors and staff of the ISM especially Lidija and Ivo Novakovic for capping a wonderful ISM experience.

Melanie Scafide Russell (AD-voice) plans to pursue varied performance opportunities in oratorio, operetta, early music, and theater, as well as to continue her work in church music and teaching voice when she returns from Oregon Bach Festival this summer. Her favorite experiences at the ISM were the two phenomenal European tours in which she was allowed to participate, first to sing with Schola Cantorum in Southwest France and then the study trip to the Balkans, both of which allowed students to interact with locals and to really experience the culture's richness firsthand. Most of all,

(continued next column)

 

ALUMNI NEWS | JOB LISTINGS | CALENDAR