Beth Porter (Chair)
Beth Cram Porter has been appointed chair of the Department of Music and Worship after serving as chair of the department since July of 2007. Beth Cram Porter teaches studio voice and directs the Women's Choir at Cedarville. An accomplished soprano soloist with a distinguished career on the stage, Porter was recently invited to be the featured soloist at the White House Day of Prayer ceremony where she sang for President George W. Bush and his invited guests. She has toured abroad as a soloist with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, and since 2003 has been a member of the Oregon Bach Festival Choir under the direction of Maestro Helmuth Rilling. Mrs. Porter received her M.A. degree from Western Carolina University and has been at Cedarville since 1997.
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Lori Akins
Lori Akins is principal flutist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, flutist with the Ohio Valley Symphony Orchestra, and is an associate musician with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. Akins earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree and Master of Music degree in flute performance from The Ohio State University. She serves on the faculties at Cedarville University, Heidelberg College, and Wittenberg University where she teaches flute and directs flute choirs. In addition, she is a recitalist on the faculty performing artist series at each institution. Prior to these appointments, she taught at Capital University and Muskingum College. Mrs. Akins maintains a private flute studio and is a frequent adjudicator, flute clinician, and freelance flutist throughout Ohio. She has performed at the 2007 Albuquerque National Flute Association Convention and is currently Secretary of the NFA, also having served as General Competitions Coordinator.
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Connie Anderson
Connie Anderson serves as the director of the keyboard pedagogy program. She is a nationally certified teacher of OMTA/MTNA and administrates a large private piano studio. She has been involved in church ministry with her husband and is an active adjudicator for the National Guild Auditions, National Federation of Music Clubs, and Ohio ACSI. She maintains an active presence at both the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and National Keyboard Pedagogy Conference. Earning her undergraduate degree from Cedarville College and an M.M. from Wright State University in 1994, she has taught at Cedarville full time since 1999.
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Lyle Anderson
Dr. Anderson serves as coordinator of choral studies and conducts the Concert Chorale and Men's Glee Club. He is an authority on choral conducting and theory pedagogy and is active as a choral clinician and guest conductor throughout the Midwest. He earned his Ph.D. in music theory from The Ohio State University in 1977 and has been at Cedarville since 1970.
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Chuck Clevenger
Dr. Clevenger teaches studio piano to music majors and the core course on the arts, Introduction to the Humanities, which all students of the University take. In addition to his teaching, he maintains a full concert schedule that takes him around the country. Dr. C is also a painter and has taught elective courses in the art program. You may view his work on his commercial web site: www.clevengerstudios.com. He received his D.M.A. from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in 1985 and has been at Cedarville since 1982.
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Bruce Curlette
Dr. Curlette is an active performer who has been featured on national venues such as the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium and the national conference for the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. Dr. Curlette has also taught the clarinet studio at The Ohio State University while its current professor, James Pyne, was on sabbatical. Prior to his tenure at Cedarville, Dr. Curlette was a member of the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra. He received his M.M. degree in clarinet performance from Eastman School of Music in 1981 and his D.M.A. degree in clarinet performance from The Ohio State University in 1991. Dr. Curlette has studied with James M. Pyne, D. Stanley Hasty, Gervase de Peyer, and Carl H.C. Anderson and has been on the Cedarville music faculty since 2001.
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Sheridan Currie
Sheridan Kamberger Currie is the principal violist of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. She has performed as chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras since her concerto debut in 1997. In 1998, Mrs. Currie was the Time Warner String Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, and was the winner of the Nakamichi Viola Concerto Competition there. Other competition awards include first prize in the 1998 Geraldine B. Gee International Viola Competition, where she also won second prize in 1995 and 1997. Currie has a passion for performing chamber music. From 2000 to 2005, she was a member of the Lake String Quartet. A founding member of the Masala String Quartet, she enjoyed working closely with such composers as Bruce Adolphe, Gerhard Samuel, John Corigliano, and Evan Chambers. In addition to world premiere performances of works by Adolphe and Samuel, the Masala Quartet gave the European premiere of Chambers' First String Quartet. Mrs. Currie has also recorded twentieth century music on the Vienna Modern Masters label. After earning her Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Baltimore Symphony principal violist Richard Field, she moved to Cincinnati where she studied extensively with Masao Kawasaki and Catharine Carroll at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. During that period, she earned a Masters degree and also served as teaching assistant for the Kawasaki/Carroll viola studio. Sheridan enjoys teaching viola and violin privately, and is currently an Instructor at Cedarville University, where she teaches viola and has coached chamber music.
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Jackie Davis
Jackie Davis received her B.M. degree in harp performance from the University of Florida and did her graduate work in harp performance at the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. She has been a Visiting Instructor of harp at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio since 1992, and is also an Adjunct Instructor of harp at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jackie is currently principal harpist with the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra. She has served as principal harpist with the Middletown Symphony Orchestra and second harpist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. She continues to perform as an extra player for all these organizations. Jackie maintains an active freelance schedule, playing for touring artists and Broadway shows in the greater Cincinnati area.
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Mike DiCuirci
Mr. DiCuirci serves as the director of the Symphonic Band and founder of the Jackets Pep Band. He also serves as coordinator of instrumental ensembles for the music department. He is an experienced music educator, author of two beginning band method books, and a trombone and euphonium artist. Currently, he is serving as the part-time minister of music at Faircreek Church in Fairborn, Ohio. He received his M.M. from the University of Michigan and has been at Cedarville since 1979.
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John Filbrun
John attended Wright State University as a music performance major from 1984-1985. He graduated from Musician's Institute in Hollywood, CA in 1987. He has been a private guitar instructor since 1988 and currently teaches at McCutcheon's Music Studios located in Centerville, OH. he has performed with numerous bands and a solo guitarists since 1988.
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Lisa Grove
Lisa Grove is principal oboist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Symphony's Woodwind Quintet. She has performed in orchestras throughout Ohio including the Columbus Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Canton Symphony and Ohio Valley Symphony. Lisa also teaches oboe at Wittenberg University. She received bachelors degrees in both music education and performance at The Ohio State University and a masters degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Her teachers were Robert Sorton and Cindy DeAlmeida. Lisa has also performed in such venues as Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall while in graduate school.
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Amy Hutchison
Amy Hutchison has been teaching and performing piano for over 25 years. Her teaching venues have included The Ohio State University, Cedarville University, Clark State Community College, and Amy's Piano Studio. She has been actively involved in church worship ministries for many years, and is currently serving with the Axis Worship Ministry at her local church. Her undergraduate degree is in piano performance and she has a master’s degree in piano pedagogy from the Ohio State University (2002).
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Austin Jaquith
Dr. Jaquith joined the Cedarville faculty as Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition in 2009. Having received degrees in composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M), University of Houston (M.M), and Indiana University (D.M), Dr. Jaquith is passionate about music. Several of his compositions have received honors and prizes including String Quartet No. 2 (SCI/ASCAP Composition Commission, Regional Winner), String Quartet No. 3 (AFMC Emil and Ruth Bayer Composition Competition), and more recently his orchestral work Blaze of Autumn (Dean’s Prize in Orchestral Composition). Currently Dr. Jaquith is completing on a commission for the El Paso Youth Symphony for performance in November 2010, and recently had his trumpet octet Shades of Red performed in Sydney, Australia as part of the ITG 2010 Conference by Charlie Pagnard, several other local trumpet professors, and some Cedarville Alumni. This fall, he will be participating in SCI's Region V Conference, composing a clarinet solo for colleague Bruce Curlette, and composing a violin concerto for colleague Jun Kim. In addition to composition, Dr. Jaquith enjoys running, cycling, and playing the piano.
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Chet Jenkins
Chet Jenkins earned a B.A. in saxophone performance from Cedarville University where he studied with Jerry Rogers and Harold Ashenfelder. He did his graduate work at Ohio University, where he studied saxophone with Matt James and conducting with John Climer. As a classical saxophonist, Chet has participated in the commissioning of new works for saxophone by Gunther Schuller, Shih-Hui Chen, Howard Frazin, and John McDonald. He currently maintains an active schedule as a freelance musician throughout central and southwest Ohio. He has also performed in a variety of sacred settings as a soloist and with various ensembles throughout the country as well as in Russia and Belarus. In 2009, Chet enjoyed returning home to Alaska to serve as the director of the same Region II Honor Band he performed in throughout high school. Since 2000, Chet has taught saxophone at Cedarville and has served as assistant director for the Symphonic Band and Jazz Band. He also teaches saxophone and woodwind methods at Ohio Christian University and has previously taught at Wittenberg University.
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Jun Kim
Professor Kim serves as assistant professor in violin and conductor of the University Orchestra and has played numerous recitals and concerts throughout the United States and Canada. He has also played in masterclasses of Cho-liang Lin, Pamela Frank, Federico Agostini, and Sergiu Schwartz. He has won prizes and awards including the Starling Competition, the CCM Concerto Competition, and the Tuesday Musical Competition of Akron. Professor Kim is also the recipient of the Aspen Music Festival Fellowship, British Columbia Cultural Scholarship, and the Peabody Merit Scholarship, among others. Professor Kim earned a bachelor of music in violin performance from Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, a master of music from Indiana University, and an artist diploma in violin from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He is currently completing his doctor of musical arts in violin performance with an orchestral conducting cognate at CCM. Professor Kim has served as violin teaching assistant to Dr. Won-Bin Yim at CCM and the Aspen Music Festival, and he has served as violin faculty in CCM's preparatory department. His teachers include Won-Bin Yim, Miriam Fried, Victor Danchenko, and Ik-hwan Bae.
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Michael LaMattina
Michael LaMattina currently holds the position of Principal Percussion and assistant Timpani with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Percussion with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, in Boulder, Colorado. Additionally he has performed as a substitute and extra percussionist with the Cincinnati Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony. Past positions have included Principal Percussion with the Canton Symphony, section percussion with the Erie Philharmonic, Principal Timpani/Percussion with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, and section percussionist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Michael teaches privately at his home studio in Dayton and maintains a private studio Centerville,OH. He recieved a BM in percussion performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1999, and a Master's Degree in Percussion from Cleveland State University in 2001. He resides in Dayton with his wife Lori.
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Dave Matson
Dr. Matson is a musicologist, experienced choral director, minister of music, lecturer on the humanities, and reviewer of University textbooks. He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1978 and has been at Cedarville since 1965.
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Andy Millat
Andy Millat's varied experiences and training in jazz, rock, chamber music, and military band, as well as the symphonic field, have prepared him to perform and teach a broad range of styles. Originally from Dayton, Ohio he gained his first orchestral experience as co-principal trombonist of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. This experience planted the seed for his future success in the symphonic field. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music in 1977 with a degree in Jazz and Studio Music, and continued his studies under Buddy Baker at the University of Northern Colorado, from which he graduated with a Master of Music degree in 1981. He was Principal Trombone of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in 1987 and was also a member of the award-winning Carillon Brass Quintet from 1987-1990. In 1990, he won the audition for Principal Trombone of the Columbus Symphony. In Columbus, he also performs frequently with the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra. His teachers have been Tony Chipurn, John Daley, Buddy Baker, Paul Piller, Bernard Schneider, and John Rieger. In addition to teaching at Cedarville, he also teaches at Ohio University in Athens.
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John Mortensen
John Mortensen received his doctorate in piano performance from the University of Maryland and has served at Cedarville since 1995. His special interests at the piano include Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzolla, and the jazz improvisations of Oscar Peterson. His students learn a natural and coordinated approach to piano technique which prevents injury and allows for unprecedented freedom and facility at the keyboard.
Mortensen also performs and teaches Irish and American roots music. He plays mandolin, octave mandolin, Irish flute, Irish button accordion, 5-string banjo, Uilleann pipes, and Irish whistle. He leads The Demerits, Cedarville University's premier Irish and American roots ensemble, and teaches America's only college-level traditional Irish music session class.
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Roger O'Neel
Dr. O'Neel is the director of church music and worship programs. He has served for 11 years as a full-time minister for worship and has a wealth of experience and knowledge in all aspects of traditional and contemporary worship. He received his Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996 and has been at Cedarville University since 2002.
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Andrea Padgett-Eble
Andrea Padgett is an active freelance musician throughout the Midwest as an orchestral and chamber Horn player. She is the current Adjunct Horn Professor at Cedarville University. She received her B.M. from the University of Dayton and her M.M. from the University of Wisconsin. Andrea has performed as a soloist with the University of Dayton Orchestra, held the role of principal Horn at the University of Wisconsin, and performed with numerous orchestras including the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Charlie Pagnard
Mr. Pagnard serves as the conductor of the Brass Choir and teaches studio trumpet. He is also the principal trumpet of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, section trumpet in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's summer pops series, and a member of the Carillon Brass Quintet. He received his M.M. degree from the Eastman School of Music and has been at Cedarville since 1977.
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Larry Pitzer
Lawrence Pitzer has studied classical guitar with Ramon Estrada, Miguel Alboniz, and Jeffery Van, and has attended lute master classes with Paul O’Dette and Ronn McFarlane. He has also studied recorder and early music with Shelly Gruskin and Scott Reis. Lawrence performed with the "Hyland Ensemble" from 1985 to 1993 and currently performs with "Wind in the Woods", an early music ensemble, and "Alegría" a guitar duo / lute duo. He holds a BFA degree from Miami University. Lawrence Pitzer began teaching guitar at Wittenberg in the fall of 1971, from 1972 to 1985 he taught guitar at Wright State University and since 1985 has taught guitar at Cedarville University.
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Daniel Sachs
Daniel Sachs was born in Basel, Switzerland. He earned his first degree in piano performance in his home town followed by studies in Paris, France and Lübeck, Germany. In 2005 he completed his doctoral degree in piano performance at the College-Conservatory of Music (University of Cincinnati), where he studied with Prof. James Tocco. He currently teaches piano at Cedarville University and at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. He has performed extensively in Europe and the United States as soloist and collaborative pianist.
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Mark Spencer
Dr. Spencer teaches private voice and brings a wide range of vocal experience, including oratorio, opera, and musical theater, to the department. He is an experienced minister of music and concert artist. He received his D.M.A. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has been at Cedarville since 1993.
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Crystal Stabenow
Crystal Stabenow (Mezzo soprano) serves as our adjunct instructor of voice. She holds a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, where she graduated Magna cum laude. Her principal teachers included Eileen Davis, Dr. Robin Rice, and Dr. Margaret Kennedy-Dygas. She also performed in masterclasses for Ruth Drucker and the late Richard Miller. Throughout her studies Crystal performed major roles in numerous operas, from Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea at OSU to Southern Ohio Light Opera's production of The Gondoliers. Since 2005 she has been an active member of the Opera Columbus professional chorus, and also performed with their Education and Outreach program. As a soloist she has premiered works at the Port Clinton Performing Arts Festival, and particularly enjoys singing German Lied.
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Steve Winteregg
Dr. Winteregg, who earned his D.M.A. degree from The Ohio State University in 1987, serves as chair of the department and professor of composition. Dr. Winteregg is an award-winning composer and has had many of his compositions performed around the world. He has also served as Principal Tuba in the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined the Cedarville University faculty in 2004.
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Sandy Yang
Dr. Yang joined the Cedarville music faculty in 2009 as assistant professor of music history. She teaches courses in classical Western music history, global music, church music, and opera and oratorio literature. She also directs the Junior Seminar for the B.A. in music major. Dr. Yang received her M.A. and Ph.D. in musicology from the University of California at Los Angeles.
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