KU Connection

School of Fine Arts News

KU design student wins top scholarship award
Alumnus takes top prize in international organ competition
KU graduate creates opera company
Joyce Castle featured on benefit CD

KU design student wins top scholarship award

A KU graphic design student recently received a student scholarship worth $1,000 from the American Institute for Graphic Artists (AIGA), an association for graphic designers.

Laura Rottinghaus, an undergraduate visual communications and graphic design major, was named the AIGA Kansas City scholarship recipient for 2007. Rottinghaus won the scholarship after her portfolio was chosen from a group of competitors. The $1,000 award money may be used toward school supplies such as tuition, books, hardware and software.

This is the second year in a row that a KU design student has won the AIGA scholarship award. In 2006, design alumna Julie Vinh won the coveted award.

"I am happy I could carry on the tradition of KU students winning this award," said Rottinghaus. "I think it says a lot about the design program and teachers we have at KU."

"We are very pleased that Laura has received the AIGA student scholarship," said Patrick Dooley, professor of design at KU. "Only one student per year in the KC metro area receives this award from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the largest and most recognized of graphic arts professional organizations, and we cannot think of a more deserving student for this prestigious award. In and out of the classroom, Laura has set herself apart from the many other talented student designers in the KC metro area through her creativity and hard work."

Design department chair Greg Thomas added, "We are pleased Laura has received recognition for her hard work. Acknowledgement of Laura's skills illustrates to the professional and academic communities that KU is the place for serious design study."

KU alumnus takes top prize in international organ competition

Robert Horton, a 2003 School of Fine Arts graduate with a DMA in organ performance, on Sept. 7 won first place in the 5th annual Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Horton, who is an assistant professor of organ at Dordt College, in Sioux Center, Iowa, qualified for the finals of the competition and traveled to Kaliningrad to compete in the Concert Hall of Kaliningrad Philharmonic Society. Seven finalists competed for top honors.

Horton performed Dieterich Buxtehude’s Te Deum laudamus, BuxWV 218, Jehan Alain’s Intermezzo, Tariverdiev’s “Quo vadis” from Chernobyl Symphony and Bach’s Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr, BWV 664, and was awarded the top prize of $5,000 and a statue carved from local Kaliningrad amber.

In addition to his first-place honor, Horton also received a handful of awards from the competition, including the Moscow State Government’s Special Prize, the Omsk Philharmonic Society’s Special Award, the Special Award of St. Jacobi Kirche, Lubeck, the Special Prize of Foundation Art of the Good and the Kaliningrad Audience Prize. Horton was invited back to perform in Moscow, Omsk and Kaliningrad in December as a reward for the Special Awards and Special Prize.

Horton expressed his admiration for the city of Kaliningrad and its rich appreciation of music.

“Kaliningrad is a model for arts management in the 21st century and I hope to see more places following their lead,” said Horton. “They have encouraged a broad base of corporate and community support; the public turns out in droves for concerts and genuinely appreciates fine music-making.”

The Mikael Tariverdiev Organ Competition, named after the Russian film composer, is held once every two years in the Hall of Kaliningrad Philharmonic Society. Kaliningrad was selected as the site of the competition because of its convenience for European traveling and because it is surrounded by countries with rich organ traditions, such as Poland and Lithuania.

KU graduate creates opera company

No sets, no costumes, no staging—concert opera is all about the music. Now, thanks to a KU graduate, people around the state will have the opportunity to enjoy it.

Stanford Felix, f’82, who earned a doctorate in voice performance from KU in July is the founder and artistic director of the Kansas Concert Opera. Felix is now an assistant professor of voice at Emporia State University, and the Kansas Concert Opera’s headquarters are in Emporia.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a while,” Felix said of bringing concert opera to the Midwest. “I was in New York for 13 years, and I did concert opera there. It’s very popular there and in Europe.”

Concert opera is the performance of an opera score without staging. The singers perform in concert dress and are accompanied only by a pianist or small orchestra. Because of this, performances don’t cost a lot to produce and are easy to take on the road.

This is precisely why Felix formed the new company. He said each Kansas Concert Opera production will be performed twice. One performance will always be in Emporia. The second performance will take place in a different Kansas town each time. The Kansas Concert Opera’s debut was Puccini’s “Tosca” in September.

Joyce Castle featured on benefit CD

Joyce Castle, professor of voice at the University of Kansas, is featured on the new release “Flesh & Stone: Songs of Jake Heggie,” a recording of Heggie’s works that includes “Statuesque,” the song cycle commissioned by KU for Castle.

Castle, f'61, premiered “Statuesque” in December 2005 at KU with Heggie at piano. This is the first time the song cycle has been available on a recording. “Statuesque” was written by Heggie, an acclaimed composer and pianist who has penned such operas as “Dead Man Walking” (2000) and “The End of the Affair” (2004). “Statuesque” includes five works about sculptures of women and features an ensemble of seven instruments: flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, violin, cello, bass and piano.

The CD launched Oct. 15 in New York City. A celebration of the release also will be held there featuring performances by Heggie, Castle and other artists from the release, including Vince Gnojek, KU professor of saxophone, who appears on the “Statuesque” recording. All proceeds from the CD will go to Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS, a nonprofit organization that engages the performing arts community to raise funds for AIDS-related services across the United States and is a fundraising program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

“Flesh & Stone: Songs of Jake Heggie” will soon be available for purchase online by visiting the classical section of the Web store on the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Web site, www.broadwaycares.org, or by contacting Americus Records at 202-237-2722.

Castle is currently at the New York City Opera rehearsing Massenet’s “Cinderella” (Cendrillon), which opens Oct. 27 and will be dedicated to the late opera singer Beverly Sills. Castle was chosen to moderate the memorial reception that follows the opening night performance.

Visit the School of Fine Arts Web site for more information.