Performance

VOICE

Beverly Hay
Keith Jones
Susan Lyle
Rebecca Turner
Valerie MacPhail 

Beverly Hay
Daniel Professor of Voice
DM, Indiana University
MM, BA, University of South Carolina
beverly.hay@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9002
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 201

Soprano Beverly Hay, Daniel Professor of Voice at Converse College, holds a doctorate in vocal performance from Indiana University, where she was a pupil of Martha Lipton, Jean Deis and John Wustman, and has performed with many symphony orchestras and opera companies throughout the Southeast and Midwest, as well as being an active recitalist with over forty entirely different recital programs to her credit. In February of 1991 she was lecturer at the Bicentennial Mozart-Kongress in Salzburg, Austria, and in 1992, under the sponsorship of the Bermuda department of Cultural Affairs, taught the first master classes in voice ever to be held on the island. In the summer of 2004 she taught voice and diction as a member of the Operafestival di Roma in Rome, Italy. She has also given master classes in Goslar, Germany.

Her singing translations of La Boheme and Cosi fan tutte have been performed by the Converse Opera Theater. Her students have been winners in many competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera district auditions, Santa Fe Young Artist Apprentice program, Palmetto Opera Competition, Columbia Philharmonic Young Artist Competition, Athena Competition, and many others. Each year her students have won places in the NATS state and regional auditions, and several of her former students are enjoying active performing careers with companies such as Covent Garden, La Scala, Chicago Lyric Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.

"My goal is to help each individual student achieve his or her most beautiful individual sound in as natural a way as is possible, while instilling a love of the repertoire and of truth in music."

Keith Jones
Associate Professor of Voice and Choirs
Conductor of Converse Chorale, Spartanburg Festival Chorus
DM, Indiana University
MM, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
BM, Furman University
keith.jones@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9121
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 108

Throughout his professional life, tenor Keith Jones has brought distinction to his performances in opera, oratorio, and recital. He has sung with Opera Omaha, the South Carolina Opera, Opera Lite of Hilton Head, Indiana University Opera Theatre, Converse Opera, and in Boris Goldovsky's Opera Scenes Programs with the San Antonio Young Artists Festival. One of South Carolina's busiest oratorio singers, he has been the tenor soloist for some of the most important premieres of the state including the Britten War Requiem and the Beethoven Missa Solemnis. His several dozen performances with the leading orchestras of the state and with the Piccolo Spoleto Festival have won him wide acclaim and the description, "a lustrous component of our musical life." He is a member of the South Carolina Arts Commission's "Community Tours Artist Roster" for the years 2001-2003 and will present around the state a series of recitals featuring American art song and musical theatre.

A native of Newport News, Virginia, he graduated from Furman University (BM), Southern Seminary (MCM) and Indiana University (DM). Dr. Jones is an assistant professor of music at Converse College where he teaches voice and directs the Spartanburg Festival Chorus.

Susan Lyle 
Associate Professor of Voice
Director of Choral Activities
DMA, University of Oregon
MM, Peabody Conservatory of Music
BA, Kalamazoo College
susan.lyle@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9173
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 203

 "Mignon" by Hugo Wolf (accompanied by Dr. Melanie Foster Taylor)
*Download Windows Media Player

Susan Lyle has numerous performances to her credit as a solo artist performing with such organizations as the Baltimore Opera Company, the Annapolis Opera, the Calgary Bach Festival Society and the Handel Choir of Baltimore. She was a first place winner in the Annapolis Opera competition and has been fellowship recipient at the Tanglewood Festival in Massachusetts. While in Canada, she was involved in the formation of two art organizations: the Debut Opera Company and the Calgary Bach Festival Society, serving as artistic director, soloist and conductor. She has performed solo recitals to critical acclaim in the United States, Canada, Austria, and most recently in Coburg, Germany and Charleston, SC. In May of 1996, she was a featured artist at the Cleveland Institute of Music Art Song Festival.

Dr. Lyle earned her Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the doctorate from University of Oregon, Eugene in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting. She is an associate professor of voice and director of choral activities at Converse College, where she has sung as a soloist in performances of The St. Matthew Passion and Elijah. Recent operatic performances for Converse Opera Theatre include singing the role of the Prioress in Poulencs Dialogues of the Carmelites, the title role in Bizet's Carmen and Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart for The South Carolina Opera Company. Dr. Lyle is also a conductor of opera serving in the pit for Converse's production of La Traviata in 1999. In June of 1999, Susan Lyle was a guest conductor for a live radio broadcast concert with The Hungarian Radio Chorus in Budapest, Hungary. In the same summer, she led a three-week performing tour of Germany, Austria and Hungary with the Converse Chamber Singers.

Dr. Lyle has appeared as a soloist with the Symphonic Choral Society of Columbia, Opera Lite of Hilton Head Island and the Long Bay Symphony of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She is a member of the international music fraternity Pi Kappa Lamda and an active member of NATS, the National Association of Teachers of Singing. 

"Ms. Lyle displayed a large and secure soprano that rang excitingly through the room. She was down-right imposing in the songs by Liszt, Cornelius and Brahms and her trip through Hugo Wolf's Kennst du das Land was thrilling!"
-Charleston - The Post and Courier

"A voice of great expressive power and enormous dynamic range."
- Coburg, Germany - Coburg Neue Presse

Rebecca Turner
Associate Professor of Voice
Director of Converse Opera Theatre
MM, University of North Texas
BM, Shorter College
rebecca.turner@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9001
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 208

Soprano Rebecca Turner, a recent member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, came to singing by way of the piano. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance, piano pedagogy, and vocal performance from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, as well as a Master of Music degree in piano performance and accompanying from the University of North Texas in Denton. Upon completing her studies in Denton, Ms. Turner began vocal training in order to become better equipped as a vocal coach. This led her back to Shorter College for a vocal performance degree and after four short years of study, she landed her first professional contract as a member of the solo ensemble with the opera company of Bremen, Germany. She performed there for four years before moving to Düsseldorf. 

With over 500 performances to date, Ms. Turner’s repertoire is extensive, including the lead soprano roles in such operas as Der fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Der Freischütz, Aida, Il Trovatore, La Forza del Destino, Simon Boccanegra, Turnadot, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, La Gioconda, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Eugene Onegin, Dialogues of the Carmelites and Peter Grimes. In addition to Bremen and Düsseldorf, she has performed in the opera houses of Frankfurt, Cologne, Hannover, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Kiel, Münster, Graz, Basel, as well as the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai, China, where she was the first soprano in China's history to perform a Wagner opera. Her concert repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Dvorak’s Requiem, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Rückertlieder, Strauss's Vier letzte Lieder, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie and Wagner’s Wesendoncklieder. Recital venues have included the United States, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland and Mexico. 

Performances for the 2009-2010 season included concerts in Colorado, Florida and North and South Carolina with the American Chamber Players; and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Sarah Ioannides. In the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, Rebecca Turner presented many recitals and master classes, most recently a master class series and recital in Dublin, Ireland; a master class and recital at the University of Texas Brownsville; and a recital at the Escuela Superior de Musica in Matamoros, Mexico. In the 2006-2007 season, along with numerous recitals and master classes, she was the soprano soloist in a Christmas Gala performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as well as Brahms's Requiem with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra of Tacoma, Washington. She was also heard in concert performing Duparc songs with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra and as soprano soloist in Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. Her recent professional activity has included performances of Der Fliegende Holländer in Düsseldorf and Kiel, Lohengrin in Bremen, Verdi’s Requiem in Pforzheim, Dvořák’s Requiem in Münster, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the South Texas Symphony in McAllen. In June of 2008, she was a Guest Artist and Master Class Clinician for the Saltnotes Stageworks Festival at Indian Head, Maryland, and during the summer of 2004, she was the Music Director and Assistant Stage Director for productions of Copland’s The Tender Land and Britten’s Noye’s Fludde for the Shenandoah Performs Arts Festival at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.  Ms. Turner’s students have sung with major opera companies around the world, including those of Berlin, Leipzig, Hannover, Brussels, and Strassbourg, as well as the New York City Opera, Des Moines Opera, and Utah Summer Opera Festival. In 2002 and 2003 she served on the voice faculty of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, a summer training institute sponsored by the Lutheran Music Program in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was Visiting Instructor of Voice at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas for the spring of 2004, Associate Adjunct Professor of Voice for the 2004-2005 academic year at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, Associate Professor of Voice at West Virginia University in Morgantown from 2005-2007, and is currently associate professor of voice and director of opera at Converse College in Spartanburg, SC.

Valerie MacPhail 
Lecturer in Voice
DMA, University of South Carolina
MM, The Florida State University
BA, The College of William and Mary
valerie.macphail@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9168
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 207

Soprano Valerie MacPhail received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of South Carolina, studying and coaching with Walter Cuttino and John Keene. She holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Florida State University, and the BA from The College of William and Mary in Virginia. 

She has sung with regional orchestras, including the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra. As a chamber musician she has performed on the Brevard Music Center Chamber Music Series and with the Tallahassee Bach Parley, as well as on numerous faculty recitals. She has been featured in oratorio and recital performances in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

She has appeared with the South Carolina Opera Theatre, The Spartanburg Repertory Company, and the Converse Opera Theatre, where recent roles include the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Sister Constance in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone, and Donna Ximena in Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni. She created the role of Beatrix Trenholm in the world premiere of To Him Who Waits, by Dr. S. David Berry, Petrie School of Music faculty member and composer. 

Dr. MacPhail has had students accepted at prestigious music schools, including the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music. She enjoys helping all of her students find pleasure in singing, and in discovering how much their voices can do, technically and expressively.

KEYBOARD STUDIES

Douglas Weeks, piano
Brennan Szafron, organ
Paula Morgan, piano pedagogy
Sharalynn Hicks, class piano
Mildred Roche, accompanying

Douglas Weeks  
Babcock Professor of Piano
DM, Florida State University
Licensé de Concert, Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris
MM, Indiana University
BM, Illinois State University
doug.weeks@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9006
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 205

Douglas Weeks performs Chaconne in D Minor by Bach/Busoni

Babcock Professor of Piano, Douglas Weeks has also coordinated piano studies at the Brevard Music Festival in Brevard, NC since the summer of 1987. He has performed throughout the Southeastern US and in Panama, Switzerland and Puerto Rico both as soloist and as a member of the Converse Trio. He has also performed and taught in thirteen countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia under sponsorship of the US Information Agency. In the spring of 1999, Dr. Weeks taught for four months at the Conservatory of Music, Cairo, Egypt, as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. He returned to Egypt in 2005 to teach at Cairo's Helwan University.

A prize-winner in the Robert Casadesus (now Cleveland) International Piano Competition, Dr. Weeks also competed in the VI International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron Music Honorary Fraternity and a two-time recipient of the SC Arts Commission's Artist Fellowship in Music. He has been awarded the Kathryne Amelia Brown Award for excellence in teaching at Converse College and a SC Commission on Higher Education's Distinguished Professor Award. His articles have appeared in Clavier and in the on-line journal, Piano Pedagogy Forum.

Douglas Weeks holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois State University, the Master of Music degree and a Performer's Certificate from Indiana University, the Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, and a License de Concert from the Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris, France. His teachers include Abbey Simon, Jack Radunsky, Edward Kilenyi, Tong Il Han, Rosina Lhevinne, and Maria Curcio Diamand.

Excerpts from performance reviews:

Lowell Liebermann Piano Concerto No. 2 (Winterthur Symphony, Conductor Michael Christie): “Douglas Weeks took on seemingly effortlessly and in a masterful fashion the enormous demands the piece made on the pianist” (Der Landbote).

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 (Greenville Symphony, Conductor Edvard Tchivzhel): “He displayed a pianistic arsenal to make child's play of the concerto's technical challenges. From the first note of the stormy orchestral exposition to the joyous coda, Weeks’ control was total. Soloist, conductor and orchestra mined all the jewels from this imposing work. Weeks’ performance was much appreciated by his audience” (Greenville News).

Brennan Szafron
Instructor of Organ
DMA, University of Michigan
MM, Yale University
BM, University of Alberta
brennan.szafron@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9021 (Music Office)

A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Brennan Szafron is the first full-time organist and choirmaster of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Spartanburg, SC, a position he has held since August 2003. At this church, he is responsible for playing the organ for all services, directing two adult and three children’s choirs, and directing and arranging music for the instrumental and hand chime ensembles. He took a group of adults to New York City where on August 20, 2006 they were the choir-in-residence at Grace Church, Broadway. He will continue choir trips in the future.

Brennan’s earliest training as an organist began in Ottawa in 1990, when he took his first year of lessons with Danielle Dubé at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. He finished high school in Regina, where between 1991 and 1994 his teachers were Verleen Baerg, Gordon Wallis, and Harold Gallagher. While in Regina, he took on his first professional positions which were as organists of St. Peter’s Anglican Church and Christ Lutheran Church.

Before coming to Spartanburg, Brennan Szafron was the assistant organist and choirmaster of Christ Episcopal Church, Grosse Pointe, MI, with whom he toured France and Switzerland in the summer of 2003. He studied with Robert Glasgow as a student at the University of Michigan. At Yale University, while earning his Master of Music degree, he studied under Thomas Murray and Martin Jean. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree, with distinction, from the University of Alberta, where his teachers were Jacobus Kloppers and Marnie Giesbrecht. At the age of 21, he became a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

Brennan Szafron is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. While at the University of Alberta, he received several Beryl Barns memorial scholarships and at Yale, he received the Edwin Stanley Seder memorial scholarship. He was the third prize winner of the 1997 Royal Canadian College of Organists National Competition and the 1998 recipient of the RCCO John Goss Memorial Scholarship for advanced organ study outside of Canada. In 2008, he received the third prize in the first ever RCCO National Improvisation competition and competed in the Marcello Galanti International Organ Competition in Mondaino, Italy.

In November 2004, Brennan played the Barber Toccata Festiva and Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 with the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic orchestra, and in July 2005, gave a recital at First Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC. On September 11, 2005, he gave a recital at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He has also performed on the 1998 Organ a la Carte series at Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary, AB, performed a 2000 recital in Regina, SK in commemoration of the death of J.S. Bach, and performed at St. James Cathedral in Toronto, ON just before the 2001 RCCO National Convention. He was a featured recitalist in the L’organo series for the 2006 Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, and a recitalist at North Greenville University on October 2nd, 2006. More recent programs have been on the Pro Organo series of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, Ottawa Centre, the Cliffs Community chapel at Glassy Mountain, South Carolina, St. Thomas Church, New York City, and Holy Family Catholic Church, Hilton Head Island. In August 2009, he played at First Presbyterian Church, Gastonia, NC as part of the Charlotte AGO chapter’s summer recital series.

Brennan Szafron is represented by Concert Artist Cooperative of Sebastopol, CA.

Mildred Roche
Director of Accompanying
MM, Boston University
BM, Converse College 
mildred.roche@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9008
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 105

Mildred Ann Roche holds a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Converse College and a Master of Music in vocal accompanying from Boston University, where she studied with Allen Rogers.

While in Boston, she served as coach/accompanist for the Boston University Opera Theater, as staff accompanist for the BU Vocal department, and worked with many local opera and choral groups. Mrs. Roche was a coach/accompanist for the Brevard Music Center Opera Workshop from 1981-1987, and principal coach of the group from 1988-1996.

Besides her duties at Converse, Mrs. Roche has been music director for many of the productions of the Spartanburg Repertory Company, a community opera/operetta group. She has worked with singers and directors such as Phyllis Curtin, John Haber, Richard Cassily, Shirlee Emmons, Frederica von Stade and Thomas Dunn, and she has performed in recital with Mark Oswald and Sylvia McNair.

STRINGS

Sarah Johnson, violin
Miles Hoffman, viola
Brenda Leonard, cello
Jan Mixter, bass
Patrick Flynn, guitar
Emily Waggoner, harp

Sarah Johnson
Associate Professor of Violin
sarah.johnson@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9165
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 102

Sarah Johnson, a gifted child performer, made her debut with the Minneapolis Symphony at the age of ten. Hailed as “quintessentially romantic and uncommonly witty” she has received accolades throughout the US, South America and Europe for her “first rate fiddling” (New York Times). In addition to her international and regional touring, Ms. Johnson also served for nearly a decade as founder and director of the critically-acclaimed and very popular “Sarah Johnson & Friends” chamber music series at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, SC.

Ms. Johnson is an active proponent of music by women as well as a performer who regularly premieres new works, having given premieres of concerti in Atlanta, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, DC, Iowa, California and Minnesota. She was actively involved in commissioning and premiering the Violin Concerto (1993) by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward.

In1994, she released her first compact disc on the Albany Label, entitled “Scarlet and Blue” which featured the Robert Ward Violin Concerto. Her second CD “American Romantics” features the music of Arthur Foote and Amy Beach and was released in 1995. In the spring of 1996 she made a five-city tour of Brazil, under the auspices of the State Department, playing the music featured on that CD.

She made her European debut at the Spoleto Festival in Italy at the personal invitation of Gian-Carlo Menotti following her performance of his violin concerto, a performance which was featured on the CBS Morning News.

She was the first recipient of the South Carolina Performing Artist Fellowship and has toured the region extensively on the Southern Arts Federation, North Carolina and South Carolina Touring programs. In the early 1980’s she served as a NC visiting artist and as the Artist-In-Residence in Camden, South Carolina in a pilot program funded by the SC State Arts Commission and that local community.

In 1997 she was awarded a Regional Artist grant by the Winston-Salem Arts Council to promote the American romantic repertoire in Europe. After an initial trip to Brussels, an accident interrupted her performing career for a year. Then, in March of 2000, fully recovered, she and pianist Jane Hawkins toured to South Africa. There, as guest artists at the Franschoek Chamber Music they performed and taught under the auspices of the University of Cape Town and promoted the summer release of Fiddler's Galaxy. This CD features the music of young North Carolinian composers Kenneth Frazelle, who wrote the eponymous work, and Aaron Bachelder as well as pre-eminent American composers, Robert Ward and Lukas Foss.

A former member of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Converse Trio and a founding member of the South Carolina Chamber Orchestra, Ms. Johnson is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Ivan Galamian, Jaime Laredo and members of the Guarneri Quartet. Further studies were made in New York City with Erica Morini and the Beethoven scholar, Karl Ulrich Schnabel. While in New York she freelanced and played with the Orpheus Ensemble.

Ms. Johnson has taught on the visiting faculties of the Eastman School of Music, Duke University, and the College of Charleston. She has participated in the festivals of the Grand Tetons, Eastern Music Festival, Piccolo and Spoleto Festivals, Summer Scenes on Roanoke Island, Cabrillo Festival, Bear Lake Festival, the Austin Chamber Music Festival, Gateways, EVIVVA! and ArtsIgnite in Winston-Salem, An Appalachian Summer and Summer Music in Blowing Rock and the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Festival and Workshop. She is currently an Associate Professor of Violin at the Petrie School of Music at Converse College and a member of the Artist Faculty of the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Miles Hoffman
Associate Professor of Viola
MM, The Juilliard School
BA, Yale University
miles.hoffman@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9279
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 209

Miles Hoffman appears frequently as viola soloist with orchestras throughout the country, performing a broad repertoire that includes music of Bach, Berlioz, Bloch, Bruch, Mozart, Penderecki, Telemann, Vaughan Williams and Walton. As Music Commentator for National Public Radio’s flagship news program, Morning Edition, he is regularly heard by a national audience of some 14 million people (read and listen to recent commentaries on the NPR website), and he has been a featured lecturer for orchestras, universities, chamber music series, festivals and many other organizations. He has also been a featured guest on the wildly popular "Walter Edgar's Journal," which is aired on South Carolina's National Public Radio affiliates.

His musical commentary, “Coming to Terms,” was heard weekly throughout the United States for thirteen years – from 1989 to 2002 – on NPR’s Performance Today, and his book, The NPR Classical Music Companion, is now in its eighth printing from the Houghton Mifflin Company. He has also contributed articles to the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wilson Quarterly, among other publications. Mr. Hoffman is violist and artistic director of the American Chamber Players, with whom he regularly tours the United States and Canada. With the American Chamber Players he has recorded works of Mozart, Bruch, Bloch, Stravinsky, and Rochberg for a series of compact discs produced by the Library of Congress and distributed internationally on the Koch International Classics Label. In May of 2003 Mr. Hoffman was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Centenary College of Louisiana in recognition of his achievements as a performer and educator.

A graduate of Yale University and the Juilliard School, Mr. Hoffman has won prizes in the National Arts Club and Washington International Competitions. He made his New York solo recital debut in 1979 at the 92nd Street Y, and has since appeared in recital in many cities. He played the first American performance of Krzysztof Penderecki’s “Cadenza” for solo viola and the first Washington area performance of the Penderecki Viola Concerto, and he has had works written for him by composers Bruce Saylor, Max Raimi, Roger Ames and Seymour Barab, among others. In 1982 he founded the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival, which he directed for nine years, and which led to the formation of the American Chamber Players.

Both when traveling as a soloist and on his tours with the American Chamber Players, Mr. Hoffman presents children’s programs, classes and master classes in schools and universities around the United States. He lives in Spartanburg with his wife and two daughters.

Hoffman appeared at the College with the American Chamber Players on the Friends of the Petrie School of Music Series in 1998, 2000, and 2002, and a week as Artist in Residence – guest conductor and soloist with the Converse Symphony Orchestra – in May of 2006, and again as guest conductor in March of 2007.

He served as Dean of the Petrie School of Music from 2007 to 2010.

Brenda Leonard
Instructor of Cello
MM, Northern Illinois University
BA, Northern Illinois University

Brenda Leonard is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in cello performance from the University of South Carolina, where she is a student of Robert Jesselson. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees from Northern Illinois University, studying with Raya Garbousova and Marc Johnson, cellist of the Vermeer Quartet. Ms. Leonard also teaches cello and music theory at North Greenville University.

Ms. Leonard is an active performer in the Upstate as a member of the Spartanburg Philharmonic, where she is associate principal. She also plays for Greenville Symphony and Asheville Symphony, and performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician with particular interest in twentieth century music for unaccompanied cello. She has taught at Clemson University, Anderson University, and Frankfurt (Germany) International School, and maintains a private studio.

Jan Mixter
Instructor of Bass

Patrick Flynn
Instructor of Guitar

Emily Waggoner
Instructor of Harp

WINDS, BRASS, & PERCUSSION 

Christopher Vaneman, flute
Kelly McElrath Vaneman, oboe
Karen Hill, clarinet and saxophone
Frank Watson, bassoon
Anneka Zuehlke, horn
Jens Larsen, trumpet
Arthur Haecker, trombone and euphonium
John R. Holloway, tuba and euphonium
Adena Shoemake McDaniel, percussion

Christopher Vaneman
Associate Professor of Flute and Musicology
DMA, MMA, MM, Yale University
BM, Eastman School of Music
chris.vaneman@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9038
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 202

Christopher Vaneman completed his studies at Yale University, where he studied with Ransom Wilson and from which he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Chris holds MM and MMA degrees from Yale as well as an Honors BM from the Eastman School; he has also attended the Salzburg Mozarteum and Belgium's Conservatoire Royal, where he studied under a grant from the Belgian American Educational Foundation. He studied at Eastman with Bonita Boyd, in Brussels with Jean-Michel Tanguy, and in Salzburg with Andras Adorjan. He has also studied contemporary flute techniques with Robert Dick in New York and Baroque performance practice and ornamentation with Barthold Kuijken in Belgium.

He is flutist of the Converse-based chamber group Ensemble Radieuse (whose first CD, Inbox, features three newly-commissioned works, and who were awarded Third Place in the National Flute Association's 2006 International Chamber Music Competition) and the New York-based Echo, and teaches during the summer at Pennsylvania's Performing Arts Institute. Chris has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Germany and Denmark as well as in the United States and served as principal flutist of the Reigate Festival Orchestra in England, among other ensembles. 2005-2006 performances took him to England, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Texas, as well as North and South Carolina.

Chris is also an engaging writer on musical subjects, and has supplied program notes for a number of compact discs and innumerable concerts; the Tokyo Quartet used his notes for its cycle of Beethoven performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Kelly McElrath Vaneman
Chair, Department of Musicology and Composition
Associate Professor of Oboe and Musicology
DMA, MMA, MM, Yale University 
BM, Baylor University
Email: kelly.vaneman@converse.edu
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 101
Phone: 864.596.9005

Karen Hill
Lecturer in Clarinet and Saxophone
karen.hill@converse.edu
MM, University of Michigan
BM, Northwestern University
karen.hill@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9129
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 111

An active performer, Karen Hill is currently the Principal Clarinetist of the Spartanburg Philharmonic, Principal Second Clarinetist of the Asheville Symphony and a member of the Arbor Wind Trio. She has appeared as a soloist with the Spartanburg Philharmonic, Brevard Chamber Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, and the Converse Symphony Orchestra. In the past she also served as Principal Clarinetist with the Hendersonville Symphony, the Brevard Chamber Orchestra, and the French Broad River Woodwind Quintet. A freelance musician in the area for over 20 years, she also has performed with the Asheville Lyric Opera Company, Augusta Symphony Orchestra, Augusta Opera Company, Charleston Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Greenville Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and the South Carolina Philharmonic.

Karen has been on the faculty at Converse College since 2000 and prior to that time taught at Brevard College, Mars Hill College, Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, Union, and the School for Gifted Students in the Arts. A high school graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Mrs. Hill holds degrees in clarinet performance from Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, where she was a full-tuition Fellow. She is a former student of the world-renowned clarinetist Robert Marcellus.

A summer music enthusiast throughout high school and college, Karen spent her summers at music festivals such as the Banff Center, Brevard Music Center, Interlochen , Music Academy of the West, and the School of Orchestral Studies, a summer affiliate of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has also performed at Piccolo Spoleto, the Cullowhee Music Festival, and at Wild Acres, as a Woodwind Quintet Artist in Residence

Currently, Karen spends her summers on the faculty of the MasterWorks Festival as the Director of Chamber Music. She also serves on the Board of Directors of its parent organization, the Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship. She lives in Gaffney, SC, with her husband Chip, also a clarinetist, and their three boys.

Frank Watson
Instructor of Bassoon
BM, Furman University
MM, University of Southern Mississippi
frank.watson@converse.edu
Phone: 864.596.9021(Music Office)
Office: Blackman Music Hall, Room 230

Frank Watson, Instructor of Bassoon, has had a long and varied career as a professional musician. He has been a member of the Greenville Symphony for over 40 years, and a member of the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra for nearly 20 years. A talented multi-woodwind specialist, Mr. Watson has played with such notable and varied musical artists as Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Robert Goulet, Bob Hope, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo, Glenn Campbell, The Manhattans, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, as well as the touring companies of West Side Story and Chicago.  

Mr. Watson retired from a 34-year public school teaching career with 32 years spent teaching Band in Spartanburg School District Six. Mr. Watson has served as an Adjunct Instructor at Furman University, Limestone College, Presbyterian College, in addition to Converse. Frank has studied with several respected woodwind artists including Dr. Robert Chesebro (Furman University); Dr. Donald Munsell, Dr. William T. Gower and Dr. Joe Barry Mullins (University of Southern Mississippi); Mr. William Polisi (NBC Symphony); Mr. Carl Vendetti (Charlotte Symphony). Frank holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Furman University (Major in Woodwind Performance) and a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern Mississippi (Major in Bassoon Performance). An avid golfer, Mr. Watson was the 2002 Spartanburg County Senior Amateur Champion, and enjoys playing golf as often as possible.

Anneka Zuehlke
Instructor of Horn
BM, Curtis Institute of Music
MM, Yale School of Music
Phone: 864.596.9021(Music Office)

Anneka Zuehlke was born and raised in Northern Virginia, in the national capitol region. She began playing the horn in fifth grade with her elementary school band. Her serious commitment to music developed in the robust music programs in Fairfax County and Northern Virginia, and the opportunity to study under Sylvia Alimena of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Now committed to a professional career, Anneka went on to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying with Myron Bloom (formerly of the Cleveland Orchestra) and Jerome Ashby (New York Philharmonic). While at Curtis, she played with a number of professional ensembles, including the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Reading Symphony and the Haddonfielf Symphony.

After earning her bachelor's degree in music from Curtis, she received her master's degree at the Yale School of Music, where she studied with William Purvis, and was awarded the John Swallow Prize for outstanding brass performance. While at Yale, Anneka performed with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Hartford Symphony in addition to her university ensembles.

In May 2004, upon completion of her studies at Yale, Anneka won the position of Principal Horn with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. In addition to holding the position of Principal Horn in Greenville, Anneka also serves as the Principal Horn of the Spartanburg Philharmonic and Third Horn in the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and Horn teacher at Converse College.

Jens Larsen
Instructor of Trumpet
MM, Rice University
BM, Old Dominion University

Arthur Haecker
Instructor of Trombone and Euphonium
MM, University of Michigan
BM, Eastman School of Music

Prior to Arthur Haecker's appointment at Converse, Arthur was Principal Trombonist of the Amman Symphony Orchestra in Amman, Jordan. Before joining the ASO, Arthur enjoyed a successful performing career in the United States, performing with such groups as the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, The Illinois Opera, and the Illinois Symphony. In addition, Arthur has participated in the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Brevard Music Center, and the Southern Illinois Music Festival. He has also shared the stage with artists such as Ray Charles, Arturo Sandoval, Patrick Sheridan, and Christine Brewer. In addition, Arthur performed on the Grammy Award winning recording of William Bolcom’s “Songs for Innocence and Experience.” A champion of new music, Arthur has commissioned and recorded over a dozen works for solo trombone.

An accomplished chamber musician, Arthur has been a member of many brass quintets and choirs throughout the United States including the Aurora Brass, the Converse Brass Quintet, the Arbor Brass, and the Old Capitol Brass.

In addition to his extensive performing experiences, Arthur also prides himself on his teaching, and the success of his students. He is currently the low brass professor at the National Music Conservatory in Amman. Before coming to the NMC, Arthur served on the faculties of Hillsdale College, Millikin University, and Converse College. In addition to this, Arthur has enjoyed the last ten summers as the trombone instructor at the Performing Arts Institute in Kingston, Pennsylvania.

Arthur is currently completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Iowa.

John R. Holloway
Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium
MMEd, Florida State University
BM, Furman University
john.holloway@converse.edu
Phone: 864.414.3449

John Holloway has 28 years of experience in music education. During this time he has accumulated a rather wide range of experiences, teaching at various points in his career high school and junior high band, elementary music, world music drumming, junior high strings and chorus.

As a performer, Mr. Holloway has played tuba for the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra since 1981. He also performs with the SPO Brass and the Emerald City Brass Quintet, and he regularly subs for many area ensembles. He is a founding member of the Spartanburg Community Band and served as its music director for its first two seasons. He has served as a performer, soloist, conductor, clinician and adjudicator for many years in South Carolina and Georgia.

Mr. Holloway is a member of MENC, SCMEA, SCBDA, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Phi Beta Mu. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Furman University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda. At Florida State he studied conducting and wind ensemble literature with Carl Bjerregard and tuba with David Wilson.

Mr. Holloway is a native of Bennettsville, South Carolina. He currently teaches K-6 General Music, Junior High Band and Afro-Caribbean Drumming at Campobello-Gramling School in Spartanburg District One.

Adena Shoemake McDaniel
Instructor of Percussion
MMEd, University of Southern Mississippi
BM, Georgia State University
adena.mcdaniel@converse.edu

Adena Shoemake McDaniel is adjunct instructor of percussion studio at the Petrie School of Music of Converse College. In addition to her responsibilities of teaching the percussion dtudio at the Petrie School, she is currently teaching music at Houston Elementary in Spartanburg School District 7. She is also teaching the Spartanburg High School percussions sections. Prior to her move to Spartanburg, Mrs. McDaniel was a free-lance private teacher and drumline instructor to many Metro-Atlanta area high schools.

As a performer, Mrs. McDaniel performs with the Converse Wind Ensemble, the Converse Symphony Orchestra, and the Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed in the “World’s Largest Marimba Orchestra” under the direction of Fredrick Fennell in West Point, NY, and toured with the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corp in 1998.

Mrs. McDaniel graduated from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA with a Bachelor of Music degree in education, and a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is a member of Music Educators National Conference and the Percussive Arts Society.