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Frank Archer contact Frank Archer is Visiting Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Director of Choral Music at Sweet Briar and an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Hampden-Sydney College. He came to Hampden-Sydney in 2003 from Caldwell College in New Jersey, where he was Associate Professor of Music, and from St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where he served as Organist and Choirmaster for twenty-one years. Mr. Archer is a 1973 graduate of Hampden-Sydney and was Glee Club president during his senior year. In addition, he earned the Master of Music degree with distinction from Westminster Choir College and the Choirmaster's Certificate from the American Guild of Organists. His organ teachers were Arthur Poister and William Hays. He was elected to Omicron Delta Kappa, the leadership honor society, as an undergraduate, and to Pi Kappa Lambda, a music honor society, as a graduate student. Honors include the Guild Award from the American Guild of Organists for the highest score on the Choirmaster's examination, and the Caldwell Cup, given by Caldwell College for exemplary service to the institution and its students. Mr. Archer is an active recitalist, often heard as an accompanist with his wife, Mary Ann, and as a concert organist. He and Mary Ann gave the world premiere of Robert Baksa's Piccolo Sonata in New York at the National Flute Association convention, and they have recently given recitals at Hampden-Sydney, Louisiana State University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Alabama at Huntsville, and Virginia Commonwealth University. As a conductor, Mr. Archer led the Men's Chorus on successful tours of England in 2004 and Italy in 2006 and has combined them in recent years with the Mary Baldwin and Randolph-Macon Woman's College choirs for major works by Handel and Mozart. The Men's Chorus will join the Roanoke Symphony Chorus and Orchestra in a performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana next year. |
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Frank CoffeyAdjunct Instructor:Music contact Frank Coffey received a Bachelor of Music degree from Richmond Professional Institute and a Master of Music Education degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. Mr. Coffey served four years in the United States Navy as Flute Instructor at the U. S. Navy School of Music at Little Creek, Virginia. While serving there, he performed with the Faculty Concert Band and Woodwind Quintet. Mr. Coffey retired from the Appomattox County Public School system after directing the instrumental band programs in grades 5-12 for 30 years. He has also served as an adjunct music instructor at Longwood College, Lynchburg College and Sweet Briar College. He currently teaches Flute, Clarinet and Saxophone here at Sweet Briar. He is an active member of the National Flute Association and a retired member of the Music Educator's National Conference. Mr. Coffey performs regularly with the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra and various other instrumental groups in the area. He also performs with his jazz group "Frank Coffey and Company". He is a published photographer with a special interest in Wildflowers. |
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Michael HavensAdjunct Instructor:Music contact Michael Havens was born in Roanoke. He began his studies on guitar around age 12. After graduating from high school, he received a scholarship to study classical guitar with Dr. Robert Trent at Radford University. There he gained experience working with various ensembles, experience in teaching, and enjoyed studying the Renaissance Lute. After graduation he moved to Cincinnati to work towards his Master's degree at the College Conservatory of Music on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. He was accepted on full scholarship and awarded a teaching assistantship. Currently, Mr. Havens lives in Roanoke and maintains a full schedule of guitar students at Radford University, Sweet Briar College, and Randoph-Macon Woman's College. He also lends time to teach for Martin Music in Roanoke as well as maintaining a private studio at home. He performs regularly as a soloist, member of his acoustic guitar duo Entre Nous, as well as member of his classical guitar and flute duo Con Eleganza. |
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Jeffrey IngberVisiting Assistant Professor of Music contact Jeffrey Ingber attended Brooklyn College, Queens College and Princeton University. He pursues interests in musical composition and music theory, including both Western and non - Western music. In addition to collecting books and vintage watches, he would very much like to achieve the level of Chess Expert, after which he looks forward to the prospect of pouring himself a quantity of very expensive single malt scotch, and glancing long and knowingly at his chess computer. |
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Jonathan GreenDean of the College, Professor of Music contact Jonathan D. Green is Dean of the College and Professor of Music at Sweet Briar College, where he received the 1999 Award for Excellence in Teaching. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Fredonia School of Music, studying voice with David Evans; a Master's degree from the University of Massachusetts where he was an Ornest Fellow, studying voice with Jon Humphrey and Dorothy Ornest, and composition with Robert Stern and Salvatore Macchia. Dr. Green received the Doctorate of Musical Arts in conducting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he was a University Excellence Fellow, studying conducting with William Carroll, Richard Cox, and Robert Gutter; and composition with Eddie Bass. As a composer, Dr. Green has received awards from ASCAP, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. His works include numerous songs, choral works, three piano concertos, and seven symphonies. Selected works have been published by C. Alan Publications, Bernel Editions, Ltd., and Treble Clef Press. Dr. Green is the author of five music-reference books: A Conductor's Guide to Choral-Orchestral Works: The Twentieth Century, parts I and II, A Bio-Bibliography of Carl Ruggles, A Conductor's Guide to the Choral-Orchestral Works of J. S. Bach, and A Conductor's Guide to the Choral-Orchestral Works of the Classical Period, Part I: Mozart and Haydn. He is a member of ASCAP, the College Music Society Conductors Guild (board member), and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. |
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Mimi HermosaMusic Instructor contact Mrs. Hermosa was born in New Jersey and graduated from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, with a major in voice and conducting, and a minor in organ. She received post graduate and performance training for three years at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also did graduate work in vocal pedagogy at Westminster Choir College and Oberlin College under Richard Miller. During the seventies, Mrs. Hermosa spent three years in Venezuela while her husband, Agustin, was an international business manager there. After coming to Lynchburg, Mrs. Hermosa was Music Director and Soloist at Peakland Baptist Church for 22 years and soloist at Agudath Sholom Synagogue for fifteen years. She also was an Artist-in-Education for Amherst Public Schools during the late eighties. Mrs. Hermosa is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and has taught at Sweet Briar College for over 15 years. She has also taught at Randolph Macon Woman's College, Liberty University, and Lynchburg College. Mrs. Hermosa has performed extensively in Virginia. While teaching at Lynchburg College, she performed faculty art song recitals annually. Most recently she was a featured soloist in Evening with Mozart at Lynchburg College in celebration of the 250th birthday of Mozart. At Sweet Briar College, she has also performed faculty recitals with Dr. Rebecca McCord and Professor Allen Huszti. Mrs. Hermosa has been alto soloist on numerous occasions with the Bedford Choral Society, the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society, the Rockbridge County Choral Society, the Schola Cantorum of Waynesboro, the Virginia Consort at the University of Virginia at Cabelcomposer at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Mrs. Hermosa lives with her husband in Lynchburg, Virginia, has three married children and five grandchildren. |
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Marcia Jones ThomPart-time Faculty:Music contact Soprano Marcia Jones Thom has performed leading and supporting roles with Des Moines Metro Opera, Tennessee Opera Theatre, Kansas City Civic Opera, The Ashlawn-Highland Opera Festival in Virginia, Chattanooga Opera, Nashville Opera Association, Kentucky Opera, and Opera Memphis. Solo appearances include concerts with the Middle Tennessee Symphony, the Nashville Symphony and the Memphis Symphony, and a performance with Amy Grant in 1996 for the opening of the Nashville Arena. She has toured extensively with Opera Iowa as a performer and teaching artist. Equally at home on the musical theatre stage, Ms. Jones Thom is an Equity actress and has performed with Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Theatre Memphis, and Circuit Playhouse in Memphis. In 1991, Ms. Jones Thom made her Alice Tully Hall debut in New York City as a winner of the Liederkranz Competition and in 1998 was named the Vocal Recipient of the Tennessee Performing Arts Commission Grant Awards. In April of 2002, The Nashville Scene named Ms. Jones Thom the Outstanding Opera Singer in Nashville. Students of her studio have been accepted at the Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Indiana University, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, University of Miami, The Tisch School at New York University, University of Southern California, Carnegie Mellon University, and North Carolina School of the Arts. Ms. Jones Thom has previously taught in a special music education program under the auspices of Vanderbilt University and as a Teaching Artist with the Humanities Outreach Program of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. She has adjudicated competitions for the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Guild and the Belmont University School of Music and has taught master classes for the University of Memphis and the Southern Division of American Choral Director's Association. |
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Rebecca McCordProfessor of Music (434) 381-6115 contact Rebecca McCord is a multi-faceted pianist, having performed as solo recitalist, chamber musician, duo pianist, and soloist with orchestra in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Making her debut at the age of nine, Dr. McCord has made guest artist appearances with over thirty orchestras including Dallas, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Houston, Eastman Philharmonic, Rome Festival and Tanglewood under such prestigious conductors as Erich Leinsdorf, Sir John Barbirolli, David Effron, Guy Fraser Harrison and Max Rudolf. As a young pianist, she was prizewinner in over twenty competitions, including the Naumburg, Bloch Young Artist, Masters Young Artist, Naftzger Young Artist, MTNA, and NFMC. She is a founding member of Trillium, The Commonwealth Trio, Tanglewood Trio, Lyric Quartet and the McNutt-Bohon Piano Duo. She has performed with the Fry Street Quartet, the James Quartet, and the Garth Newel Quartet. Among the works that she has premiered are Koschka Suite, Jonathan D. Green; La maîtresse des marteaux, Jonathan D. Green; Toccata, James Legg; and Florilegium, Book II, Verne Reynolds. Dr. McCord received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Oklahoma City University, where she studied piano with Ernestine Holmes Scott, voice with Florence Birdwell, and chamber music with Stephen Stalker and Kenji Kobyashi. She was named a Presidential Scholar and was the recipient of a full scholarship to OCU. During her undergraduate years, she also studied piano with Adele Marcus at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She earned the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Piano Performance and Literature, as well as the prestigious Performer's Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. At Eastman, she studied piano with Barry Snyder and Cecile Staub Genhart, accompanying with Robert Spillman and Samuel Sanders, chamber music with Abram Loft and John Celentano, and voice with Jan deGaetani. During her doctoral studies, Dr. McCord was a Graduate Assistant in Studio Piano and Choral Conducting Assistant to Donald Neuen. Her performance of Brahms' Ziguenerleider with the Eastman Chorale is on the Pantheon label. She was named a Leopold Schepp Scholar and Outstanding Graduate Student at the Eastman School of Music. Since 1985, Dr. McCord has been on the music faculty of Sweet Briar College. She has served as Director of the Gager Community Concert Series, the Chamber Music Series, and the Institute for Piano Performance & Pedagogy. Dr. McCord served as departmental chair for many years. In 1998, Dr. McCord was recipient of Sweet Briar's Faculty Fellowship and the first-ever post-doctorate fellowship at the Eastman School of Music. Dr. McCord has broad and varied musical interests, which are reflected in her course offerings. Among the courses she has taught are Studio Piano, Rudiments of Music, Piano Pedagogy, Jazz Piano, Introduction to MIDI, Elementary & Advanced Theory, Forms & Analysis, Honors Seminar in Jazz Studies, Interdisciplinary Seminar in Shakespeare & Music, Interdisciplinary Seminar in Women & Music and Introduction to Film Music. Dr. McCord regularly serves as clinician, master class teacher, and adjudicator for MTNA organizations throughout the U.S. She is currently President of the Central Virginia Music Teachers Association. |
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Edward Mikenas (434) 381-6351 contact Ed Mikenas has been a studio musician in NYC, toured the country with various artists, performed, recorded, and produced music in a variety of settings for over 30 years. As a Bassist and/or a percussionist, Ed has performed or recorded with many different artists. |
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Walter Pennock (434) 381-6351 contact Walter has a B.S. Music Education from West Chester State. He has teaching experience of over 20 years in public and private schools in N.J. Pa. and Virginia in classroom, vocal and instrumental as well as private instruction. He has also served as a trombone instructor at Lynchburg College, and performed professionally as a vocalist, trombonist, choir director and conductor. He founded the Blue Ridge Brass and perform regularly with groups such as the Lynchburg Symphony, Mill Mountain Theater, and have adjudicated many times, including the last seven years for the Governor's School for the Performing Arts. |
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Scott Perry (434) 381-6351 contact California-born Scott Perry holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music and is currently a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University. An active freelance musician, he has performed with orchestras throughout the West and the Midwest, including the Seattle Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Scott has performed on three continents for audiences which have included heads of state, royalty, and even the Pope. Scott is currently the Principal Oboe of the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra, the oboist of the Albemarle Ensemble, and is a member of the music faculty at the University of Virginia. |
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Nick RossAssistant Professor (434) 381-6121 contact British pianist Nicholas Ross, Assistant Professor of Music at Sweet Briar College and Chair of the Music Department, has performed extensively in Europe and the United States, both as soloist and chamber musician. Recent concerts included solo recitals in Corrales, New Mexico; Houston, Texas; Virginia Tech; and Sweet Briar College in Virginia. His first solo CD American Impressions: Music from the Whalehead Club, recorded on an historic 1907 Steinway, was released on the Soundside label in 2003. Ross was also featured as piano soloist on the Denver Theatre Company's video The Arts Matter, which was intended to prevent proposed cuts to the Arts in Colorado. His latest recording John Powell: Early Piano Music will be released by Centaur Records this summer. Ross teaches music theory and applied piano at Sweet Briar College. Apart from his performing interests, he is also involved in scholarly research focusing on a range of topics, including the use of proportional structures in the music of Claude Debussy and the piano works of the controversial figure John Powell. Ross earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and also holds degrees in piano performance from the Twente Conservatoire (UM) in Holland and Trinity College of Music in London (DipTCL), as well as a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics from Twente University. His primary piano professors were Benno Pierweijer, John Bingham, and John Perry. |
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Virginia SchweningerPart-time Faculty:Music Virginia Schweninger received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Harp Performance from Stephens College, Columbia Missouri, where she attended on a full music scholarship from the Samuel B. Mosher Foundation. There she studied with acclaimed classical and jazz harpist, Mimi Allen, who was a protegé of the late Carlos Salzedo. Virginia went on to study harp with Dr. Carol McLaughlin in Los Angeles where she entered the emerging world of "pop harp." Developing a very successful career as a professional harpist, Virginia has performed for over thirty years in orchestras, ensembles, choirs and as a soloist. She was Principle Harpist with the Burbank Symphony, the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra and has performed with legendary entertainers Sammy Davis Jr., Jerry Lewis, Melissa Manchester, Carmen Dragon, Rudy Friml and Kenny Rogers. Virginia created the successful Los Angeles booking agency, Calliope Artists Management, where she represented classical, jazz and pop musicians. Since relocating to Central Virginia, she has established a busy harp studio utilizing her training in both the French and Salzedo schools of harp. Her experience with the Alexander Technique also contribute greatly to her development of a very healthy and joyful approach to teaching and performance. |
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Peter WorfordPart-time Faculty:Music contact Peter is currentlly an adjunct professor of cello at Sweet Briar College. He is also currently the principal cellist of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra. He studies with Robert Newkirk the principal cellist of the Kennedy Center Orchestra and performs solo recitals on a bi-annual basis. Peter's full time job is as an engineer with Georgia-Pacific. |
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