Names in the News is a biannual compilation of interesting and unique accomplishments of Settlement Music School students, faculty, staff and board.
Use the online form to submit your entry to Names in the News, or send a message to:
Dave Allen
Publications and New Media Manager

July 2012-June 2013

Students

Anni Zhang, piano student of Oleksandra Ivakhiv at the Willow Grove Branch, played piano in the pit orchestra for J. R. Masterman High School’s production of Once Upon a Mattress in March 2013.

Shira Johnston, violin student of Lynne Budnick Lennon at the Willow Grove Branch, was awarded Student of the Month for November 2012 at Cheltenham High School in Wyncote. Shira currently sits first chair in the first violins in the orchestra, tutors and mentors other violin students, and has been active volunteer with voter registration drive at her school.  She plans to study engineering in college and to continue playing violin.

Anne Hunter, recorder student of Carol Peters, attended the Amherst Early Music Summer Festival Baroque Academy, a one-week program for advanced students, where she performed as second bassoon in Amherst's production of The Patience of Socrates, an opera by G.P. Telemann. As a student in Amherst's Central Program, she took part in master classes on recorder with Reine-Marie Verhagen (Royal Conservatory of The Hague) and in 17th-century repertoire with cornettist Bruce Dickey.

Baritone David Buzaglo, 18, former student of Judith Turano, has received a scholarship to attend Oberlin Conservatory as a voice performance major in the fall of 2012. He also participated in Oberlin's summer opera program in Arezzo, Italy during the summer of 2012.

Tenor Pulkit Gupta, voice student of Susan Rheingans, was chosen to participate in the All-South Jersey Chorus for 2013 and was selected for the Quartet in Burlington County Regional High School's production of "Anything Goes."

Mezzo-soprano Lauren Donahoe, a voice student of Susan Rheingans, played the lead role of The Cat in the Hat in Conwell Egan High School's production of "Seussical the Musical," and starred as Kate in Neshaminy Summer Stock's production of "Kiss Me Kate." Lauren also won second place in the Senior Girls Music Theater Division of the High School competition sponsored by the New Jersey Chapter of the National Assocation of Teachers of Singing in February and this spring, she sang with the Philadelphia All-Catholic Honor Choir.

Giuliana Alleva, piano student of Harue Sato, had a role in a recent indie film "Sleeping With The Fishes." The film will be released in 2013.

Faculty, Staff and Board

Sam Ruttenberg, percussion faculty at the Mary Louise Curtis and Camden branches, had his invention, HingeStix® Practice Drumsticks, picked up for national distribution by nationally renowned drumstick manufacturer Vic Firth. The launch of HingeStix, a practice tool designed to improve grip and finger technique, was announced at the 2013 National Association of Music Marketers trade show in Anaheim, California.

“A Codex of Silent Voices,” a recording of compositions by piano faculty Adam Berenson and featuring performances by Berenson and percussion faculty Bill Marconi, received a favorable review in All About Jazz magazine in February 2013. The review is available online here.

Andrea Carlson, guitar faculty at the Germantown and Willow Grove branches, received the Robert Hazard Original Song Award from the Montgomery Bucks Music Awards in November 2012. A panel of 10 judges gave her song “Mysterious Moon” the highest score.

July 2011-June 2012

Students

The Dolce Trio, comprised of violinst Sue Youn, cellist Nina Chae-Gordon, and pianist Kelly Zhang and coached by Jean Louise Shook, won first place in the Tri-County Youth Festival Competition.

At the same competition, Kara Yoo, flute student of Ilya Ovrutsky at Willow Grove, won first place in the Junior Division, and Austin Haley Berman, violinist in the Myer Schwartz Advanced Study Ensemble at Willow Grove, coached by Sandra Carlock, won first place in the Senior Strings Division.

David Buzaglo, former student of Judith Turano at the Germantown and Willow Grove Branches, has been selected as a semifinalist in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program in the Arts. In May, the U.S. Department of Education will announce the finalists. He also was a finalist in the YoungArts Program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities earlier this year.

Immanuel Mykyta-Chomsky, 10, piano student of Harue Sato and music theory student of Roberto Pace has been selected to join the Keystone State Boychoir. In April and May, he performed as a member of children's chorus for the Opera Company of Philadelphia's production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca at the Academy of Music.

Rebekah Lee, 17, piano student of Sandra Carlock won the high school division of the Philadelphia Biblical University Young Artists’ Competition, entitling her to perform with the PBU Symphony Orchestra this past May. Rebekah performed the first movement of the Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, by Edvard Grieg.

In June, Isaiah Price, 15, voice student of Judith Turano, traveled to South Africa as soloist with the Keystone Boychoir to sing for Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday.

Pharaoh Williams, voice student of Reginald Pindell, received a scholarship to participate in this year’s Summer Opera Program at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Pharaoh traveled to Italy as part of the program and was a featured artist in a concert at Casa Verdi in Milan.

Mezzo-soprano Lauren Donahoe, 17, voice student of Susan Rheingans, sang the leading role of Vi in the Neshaminy Summer Stock production of “Footloose” in July.

Board, Faculty & Staff

Robert Capanna Fundamentals of Music Distinguished Faculty Chair Roberto Pace in early 2011 completed a new work for piano quartet commissioned by Ben and Carol Auger for the Auger Contemporary Music Ensemble under the direction of Linda Reichert. This piece was performed by a faculty quartet at the Karin Fuller Capanna Faculty Recital in October. Pace recently returned from the Summerkeys program in Maine, where, in addition to giving a series of lectures on modern classical music, he performed works by Fukushima, Barber, and Martinu with his wife, flutist Eve Friedman.

In February 2012, voice faculty member Susan Rheingans, mezzo-soprano, performed Brahms' Zwei Alto Gesange with violist Russell Hoffmann and pianist Clipper Erickson as a guest of the Newtown Chamber Orchestra in Newtown, PA, and in March, Ms. Rheingans was a guest artist of The Opera Project in a concert of arias performed in Stockton, NJ.

Percussion faculty Sam Ruttenberg in July was featured on the Phillies pre-game show Behind the Pinstripes, with Scott Palmer. He played live cuts of original music from his recording “Outta Here!”

Martha Glaze Zook, artist teacher in music for the Kaleidoscope preschool arts enrichment program, was awarded a scholarship by the American Orff Schulwerk Association to attend the 2011 JaSeSoiry (Orff Association of Finland) music World Village celebration, held in Valkeala, Finland, in August.