From: lampson@tellabs.com (Dave Lampson)
Subject: REC.MUSIC.CLASSICAL BIOGRAPHICAL COMPENDIUM - Part 2 of 2
Organization: Tellabs, Inc., IL
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 22:25:14 GMT


Werner Icking          (icking@gmdzi.gmd.de)
-------------

I was born in 1943.  When I was 10 or 11 my parents "convinced" me
that it would be funny for me to play the violin.  I got a really bad
violin - no it wasn't a violin, it was a Schachtel!  One choice I had was
to go to a teacher who was known to be severe and rigorous, and therefore I
decided to take another! Today I know that this was very bad, because for
children it is much more easy to learn playing the violin than for adult,
when the flexibility of the muscles and bones has diminished.

But at that time I made this wrong decision.  I had lessons for 5 or 6
years, got a better (factory made) violin, played in the (bad) high-school
orchestra but with less and less interest.

So I stopped playing the violin - and started playing piano without lessons.
I played dance-music, spiritual, and jazz and founded a small band at the
beginning of the sixties.  At that time you couldn't buy cheap synthesizers
or a drum computer - you had to make the music all by yourself.  In
practicing I learned a lot about harmonies - but couldn't name them!

Then came a long time without making music, up to the time I re-started
playing a little bit on the violin - just for fun (for what else?).
That was in 1976, and in 1980 I found a piano player who looked for other
musicians to play together with.  We tried to play a lot of sonatas for
violin & piano (Haendel, Scarlatti, Mozart, ...)

After some time I knew that it would be necessary to take lessons.  That was
in 1984 and I found a good teacher at the music school of our small town.
She is now the concertmaster of the (amateur) Kammerorchester der Musik-
schule der Stadt Bonn, where I play the 1st violin.  But first, starting
at end of 1986, I played in the 2nd violin from the last to the first
chair.  In the meantime I played in another orchestra, too.  It's a smaller
one: 9 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli - but here I'm (have to be) the concert-
master (primus inter pares).

And because I have lessons my week is full of self-made music:
Monday lessons, Tuesday rehearsal in Bonn, (every 2nd) Thursday together
with the pianist, Friday rehearsal with the small orchestra in Siegburg.
On the weekend I have to practice and play together with my children.
Ann (16) plays recorder and violin, Julia (13) piano.

The Bonner orchestra gives concerts in Bonn and especially those towns
which have a partnership with Bonn.  We have had concerts in Salzburg (1987),
Rome and Firenze (Florence?) (1988), Maidenhead (near London, 1989), Rome
and Frascati (near Rome, 1990), Saint Cloud (near Paris, 1991), Potsdam
(near Berlin, 1991).

Because I studied mathematics and physics I have some knowledge about
physical aspects of violin and music and mathematical aspects of music.
Because I've dealing with computer science since 1966, I use computers
e.g., for typesetting music with Mu(sic)TeX.

Oh yes, not to forget: for some years I have had a better violin and a
good bow - what most forget! The violin may/can? be a French Sylvestre
from 1899 - that means that it isn't build by the famous Sylvestre who
lived earlier but by one of his descendants.

I have a bulk of sheet music because I often visit Budapest where my wife
was born.  Up to now you could buy sheet music there for low prices with
often high quality.  In addition, the are some places where you can buy
second hand sheet music - sometimes very interesting old editions.  If
someone is interested I may post a list of the sheet music I have.




Bill Johnson          (mwj@lanl.gov)
------------

I'm a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (Ph.D., nuclear
chemistry, U of Rochester 1979) and an amateur musician, it being easier 
to make ends meet and enjoy oneself that way than by being a professional
musician and amateur scientist. :-)  I'm a poorish pianist, lapsed but at one
time fair-to-middling woodwind player, moderately proficient bass/baritone,
and have been known to wave a conductor's baton erratically at church choirs
and school music groups from time to time, generally without lasting damage 
to same.

Currently I perform almost exclusively with the Sangre de Cristo Chorale 
(Santa Fe, NM), which I also serve as "Development Officer" on its board of 
directors.  I've also sung with a number of other New Mexico choral groups 
and the odd barbershop quartet, and have done a limited amount of solo work 
in the course of these engagements.

Born 1952, married into a musical family (wife sings and used to be a cellist
until she broke a wrist, two in-laws with voice degrees), and proud daddy of
two boy sopranos.  My musical tastes run to choral music of the Renaissance
and Baroque, notably that of Vivaldi (who really did write choral music other
than the "great" Gloria! :-) ), G. Gabrieli and Schuetz, but I will cheerfully
listen to practically any singing that doesn't sound like it's emerging through
the singer's nose (or some other inappropriate orifice).




Chris Johnson          (kupixel@oread.cc.ukans.edu)
-------------

I am Chris Johnson but more commonly known as pixel, from Robert Heinlein's
_The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_.  I am 20 years old and have the misfortune
of residing in Kansas, where I attend KU.  I come from an entirely non-
musical family; an abortive experience with the piano in elementary school
proved that I would continue in this tradition.

My musical tastes gravitate toward the Beatles, industrial (I regularly
post on rec.music.industrial), and Russian composers.  I am a Russian major,
but that is completely coincidental to my tastes.  My favorite composer is
Chaikovskii, and i listen to Rimski-Korsakov, Stravinskii, and Mussorgskii
among others; but i'm not exclusive--i enjoy Beethoven, Bach, Haydn, etc. 

I am relatively new to classical music (growing up with a mother who
introduced me to the Doors and the Clash made it interesting) but I am
slowly building my knowledge as well as my CD collection.




Bob Kosovsky          (kos@cunyvms1.gc.cuny.edu)
------------

I was born, raised and educated in New York City.  From infancy I was
always listening to music.  The first pieces of classical music that I
learned were two 78-rpm sets I retrieved from the neighbor's garbage:
Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik conducted by Beecham, and Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9 conducted by Weingartner.  The first vocal recording I
recall was "Un bel di" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly sung by Jeanette
MacDonald (oh well, live and learn).

I began violin lessons when I was 9, but switched to piano when I was
12 because "I needed the harmonies."  For my bachelor degree I attended
the Mannes College of Music where I majored in music theory (graduated
1979), then onto Queens College for a Master's, also in music theory
(graduated 1985), another Master's degree, this time in library science
from Columbia College (1990), and I'm currently a Ph.D. candidate at the
Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  My major has been
music theory, but my dissertation will be about the radio music of
Bernard Herrmann.

Currently I'm a part-timer in three places:  the Music Division of the
New York Public Library (where I'm currently processing the papers of
Bruno Walter), and a faculty member of the Mannes College of Music and
Hunter College.

Professionally, my areas of interest are the history of music theory
with a special concentration on 18-19th centuries, Schenker and Schenker
Analysis, film music, radio music.

I don't have a favorite composer, though I hold Beethoven and Bach and
Mozart to be up on top.  Lately, as of Dec. 1991, I'm listening a lot
to Mahler, Wagner, and of course, Bernard Herrmann.




Winslowe Lacesso          (lacesso@cs.ualberta.ca)
----------------

Born 61-11-03, Edmonton, Alberta

Made to take a few piano lessons (when young), which I ended up enjoying
tremendously, & spent much of teens teaching myself all sorts of pieces.
Don't have much real talent, but compensate with mega-patience & keen
determination.  Played flute, oboe, piano, & bass guitar in school bands.
Not all simultaneously, of course!  Muchly into rock/pop in teens/early 20s.

Left off music making after leaving high school & the family piano.  Worked
at misc.useless.jobs till recession of '82; upon which, laid off, finished
matric & obtained, in '87, BSc. Cmput.Sci (Specialization, Numerical
Analysis); during course of which I experienced a growing distaste for
rock/pop, & a great passion for Baroque/Greg.chant/Renaissance/jazz/celtic.

Worked in Calgary for 2 years, while finally getting real & actual
instruction in flute & some in oboe, plus singing lessons (which v enjoyed).
Took up NSERC scholarship in '89, moving back to Edmonton.  Currently
finishing MSc; research area is Computational Geometry, while amusing self
in education/research in music/literature/poetry/philosophy.

V**2 hope to return to Calgary before this year is out, restart flute &
singing lessons, also have a darn good try at violin lessons.  Possibly
obtain decent kbd & teach myself again just for my own amusement.  Oh, yes,
& get a job to pay for all this & otherwise support me & cats.  Have jammed
a few times with other amateur musicians, & find it such pleasure that a
major aim is to connect with other enthusiasts to play Baroque/classical
music for our own enjoyment/instruction, possibly as volunteer/charity
(i.e., seniors homes).

Should I ever marry, I rather hope it'd be to a man who has a devotion
to music or at least a strong artistic streak.  Should anyone see fit to
caution me against considering this for reasons all too obvious to them,
but of which I am ignorant, I would v**2 appreciate hearing about it!!




Lawrence David Lampson          (lampson@tellabs.com)
----------------------

Born February 5, 1957, Lawton, Oklahoma.

Began studying trumpet at the age of 10, then switched first to baritone,
then to trombone.  Largely self-taught except for one high school course
in contrapuntal harmony, and private performance lessons.  Played in
marching, concert and stage bands in high school; concert band and
trombone choir for my first year in college.  Taught myself transposition
and arrangement by writing out popular pieces for rock band and stage band
from piano and sketch scores.

Gave up performance for degrees in nuclear engineering and mathematics
from the University of Oklahoma.  However, my interest in recorded and
live music, and music history, continued unabated.  Though I was exposed
to classical music from an early age, my passion for the classics
surfaced only about 11 years ago.  Since then I've devoted a large
portion of my leisure time to attending concerts, reading biographies,
and collecting recordings of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic
instrumental repertoire.

Worked for the past 11 years as a software engineer and system analyst
in the nuclear, aerospace, and now, telecommunications industries with
specialization in realtime simulation and modeling.

Currently living in Naperville, Illinois with two dogs, five cats, and,
oh yes, my wife.

Even though I still enjoy rock, hard rock and jazz, my listening these
days is primarily pre-20th century classical music.  I have a wide range
of interest in composers from early Baroque through the Neo-Romantic,
particularly those composers that have been largely forgotten for one
reason or another.  My most recent special interest is in the composers
of the second New England School - Paine, Chadwick, Beach, MacDowell, etc.
My current project is to develop a complete Vivaldi catalog cross-reference
database.

I also maintain the recommended CD lists and some other information at FTP
site cs.uwp.edu (131.210.1.4) and the rec.music.classical biographical
compendium (this list).




Vance Maverick          (maverick@cs.berkeley.edu)
--------------

Born Nov. 21, 1965, Zuerich, Switzerland; raised Los Angeles, CA.

Indifferent piano student from early years; some composition around
age 8, but beginning seriously only at 13, when I discovered how much
attention listening to the fifth Brandenburg could absorb.  Study in
harmony and ear training in LA; pieces for high-school orchestra, etc.

Entered Yale 1982 as a composition major, but bailed out of the
department after a year; too much history/theory bias for my impatient
Romantic teenage conception of music.  Earned BA in linguistics, but
carried on in composition class, learning a lot from certain teachers,
particularly David Hicks.

Worked as a programmer for the next three years, among other things
collaborating with David on a MIDI sequencer for the IBM PC.  Some
composition in this interval, primarily piano/vocal.  Decided
computers were interesting, began graduate school at UC Berkeley CS
Division in 1989.

Currently on leave until fall 1992; studying privately with David
Sheinfeld in San Francisco -- finally learning all that stuff I
resisted in my teens, finding it entirely appropriate.

My listening tastes are both eclectic and picky.  The time is long
gone when I listened only to classical music, but it's still the
core of my listening habit -- particularly twentieth-century music.
Similarly, my own composition shows influences of lots of classical
music, but also the alternative versions of mode, tonality, and melody
in "world music" and jazz.




Tony Movshon          (movshon@nyu.edu)
------------

Born in New York, 1950.  I'm a Professor of Neural Science at NYU, and a 
musical amateur.  My parents were both very interested in music, especially 
my father, who wrote for OPERA, HIGH FIDELITY and MUSICAL AMERICA in the 
'60s and '70s.  I successfully resisted serious music until my junior year
in high school, when I became captivated by Mahler and then rapidly 
introduced myself to the classical literature with my parents' willing 
help.  Turns out that I had learned more through the door over my 
unreceptive years than I thought, and I kept finding myself over the years
hearing "new" pieces of music that I actually knew well.  That still happens
now and again, but I think it's just my memory failing.

Although I wrote an occasional piece of criticism and dabbled in conducting 
while I was at University in England, I'm really just a listener.  My 
grounding in theory is sparse, and I came to my interest in music too late 
to learn any instrument other than the guitar.  Children flee and strong 
men weep when I try to sing.

I remain fond of large late-romantic symphonic music, and of 19th-century 
German opera, especially Wagner.  My main musical fantasy is to conduct 
Die Meistersinger at Bayreuth.  But my top ten always includes Haydn, 
Mozart, Ravel, and Schubert.  I'm blind to most of the baroque and to 
most post-1945 music, but I freely admit that those are character defects.




Iain Neill Reid          (inr@eccles.caltech.edu)
---------------

 Date of birth - 1 April 1957
 Place of birth - Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire
 Nationality - Scots
 Education - Perth Academy 
             St. Andrews Univ. (B. Sc. 1979, Astronomy)
             Edinburgh Univ. (Ph. D., 1983, Astronomy)

Spent 4 years working at Sussex University/Royal Greenwich Observatory
(when the latter was at Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex) and moved to Pasadena, 
California in 1986.  Been working at Caltech/Palomar Observatory since then. 
No formal musical training.
 
 Musical Activities - 

I sing tenor in a local community choir and was party to the founding of an 
(informal) madrigal/renaissance music group at Caltech (Cantores Atri Mortis 
- The Singers Of The Black Death).  Also took up the clarinet again a couple 
of years ago (after a lapse of some 16 years+).  And I've been listening to 
music and collecting recordings since the early 1970s.

 Particular interests - 

Renaissance vocal music, Beethoven, Haydn, Berlioz, Sibelius, British music 
since the Victorian revival, French 17th C

 Particular idiosyncrasies - 

I'm a Toscanini-phile (as may have become apparent).  I don't set him up 
as god, but his interpretations get closer to the heart of most pieces than 
most.  And I think Haydn is one of the most under-rated composers around...




Bruce Rodean          (rodean@fc.hp.com)
------------

My mother is a pianist and organist.  She's been a church organist
forever or so it seems.  I learned to play piano at a young age and can
still read music but have not played seriously for some time.  I took up
the trombone around 10 or so and was part of a sibling orchestra--older
brother on trumpet, older sister on flute, me on trombone, younger
sister on violin, and youngest sister on bassoon--with Mom on piano
conducting.  I played trombone in a local stage band until braces forced
me to quit.

I'd classify myself as a seat-of-the-pants classical CD collector.  I
either like it or I don't.  I categorically dislike opera (a friend once
remarked that "it would be OK if they just didn't sing") and I find solo
and small ensemble (e.g. quartets) works usually boring.  I fanatically
read reviews in Stereo Review, CD Review, and Fanfare (and even r.m.c)
looking for stuff that might pique my interest.  I also borrow
recordings from the public library.

My CD collection runs from Acoustic Alchemy to ZZ Top.  It is mostly
rock/pop, but classical is the second largest group with reggae a
growing third.  Jazz and new age are next, along with a few country
artists and some soundtracks.  I have CDs of the classical biggies
(Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Handel) but have also tried out some lesser
known composers like Bantock, Martinu, Delius, and Zemlinsky.




Henry D. Shapiro          (shapiro@unmvax.cs.unm.edu)
----------------

Associate Professor of Computer Science
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Office: (505) 277-3052
Home:   (505) 268-8993

Musical Tastes: In approximate decreasing order of interest:
  chamber music (string quartets in particular)
  large romantic orchestral works (Mahler, Bruckner, etc.)
  Mozart and Wagner operas
  20th century orchestral works (Shostakovich, Prokofiev, etc.)
  choral works
  ...all other forms of classical music...

Musical Education: Amateur.  Very serious listener.  Since in chorus from
  time to time.  Used to play flute and violin (high school -- 30 years ago).




Greg Skinner          (gds@cs.ucla.edu, gds@la.tis.com)
------------

I was born in 1961 in NYC.

Currently I am learning piano and singing baritone in the UCLA Campus Choir
(an adult community choir whose members are primarily UCLA faculty and staff).
Our repertoire consists of spirituals and classical pieces.  I sang in the
UCLA Men's Glee Club for a year before that.  We performed anthems, show
tunes, international folk songs, spirituals, and classical pieces.  Before
I started UCLA, I hadn't done any music performance since high school, where
I sang in our concert and madrigal choirs.  I played tenor and baritone sax
in junior high in our concert band, jazz band, and the Queens county junior
concert band.  The first instrument I learned was the recorder, which I
basically taught myself starting from age four or so.

I do not follow classical music closely.  I enjoy the classical choral pieces
I've performed.  I also enjoy listening to (and playing) most Bach preludes,
fugues, etc.  However, I am much more interested in r&b, funk, pop, and gospel
music.  Yet, I'm very interested in vocal technique, so I enjoy discussing it
here (or elsewhere) whenever it pops up.  I also enjoy discussing music theory
and music career possibilities.

I have thought about getting (at least) a BA in music, (possibly) specializing
in conducting, but also studying composition and voice.  However, I haven't
made any serious plans.  I'd also like to learn a few more instruments, such
as guitar, bass, and xylophone, and learn sound engineering.  I haven't
decided what kind of career I might want to have in music, but conducting,
composing, arranging, and performance are appealing to me right now.




Harold Smoliar          (harold.smoliar@db1.speech.cs.cmu.edu)
---------------

I am 34 years old.  I have been the English hornist of the Pittsburgh
Symphony since September 1979.  Before that, I was the principal oboist of
the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira of Rio de Janeiro for one season.  I
graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1978 where
I studied the oboe with John de Lancie, now former principal oboist of
the Philadelphia Orchestra.  I am married to an oboist, Virginia [formerly
Proschan] who received her Masters from Temple and studied with Richard
Woodhams, principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  We have twin
daughters who study the piano [they are 6 1/2 years old].  I play jazz
piano for fun and profit, occasionally, in the Symphony Jazz Trio, a group
that I organized.

[Brother of Stephen Smoliar - see below. ed.]




Stephen Smoliar          (smoliar@iss.nus.sg)
---------------

Born July 8, 1946, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I cannot remember if I learned to read music before or after I learned to
read English.  I DO remember doing both before I got into school thanks
to the encouragement of my parents, who also got me started on children's
concerts, local Gilbert and Sullivan, and the occasional ballet.  I did
not take to my childhood piano lessons and moved on to clarinet, saxophone,
and choral singing during my school days.  I gave them all up when I
entered MIT figuring that I would have to put all my time into studying
and joined the campus radio station as my primary extra-curricular activity,
giving them their first program of 20th century music.

Life at MIT was a matter of trying to be a good student and trying to apply
what I learned to music.  This culminated in my doctoral thesis under Marvin
Minsky, "A Parallel Processing Model of Musical Structures."  After that,
my life became a losing battle to raise support for the sort of music
research I wanted to do, the University of Pennsylvania probably being my
greatest scene of disappointment.  I gave up on the academic world, did
software engineering research at General Research Corporation in Santa
Barbara and artificial intelligence for Schlumberger in Ridgefield,
Connecticut (not too far from Ives' house).  I became part of the bulletin
board community after I moved to the Information Sciences Institute in
Marina del Rey, and that part of my world has followed me to Singapore
where my multimedia research has finally allowed me to return to serious
thoughts about music.  In the midst of all this, I returned to the piano
with a more serious attitude.

The academic side of me still worries about publications.  Work based on
my thesis appeared in the JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY.  My work at Penn found
its way to COMPUTERS AND THE HUMANITIES and COMPUTER MUSIC JOURNAL.  My
most recent article will be appearing in IN THEORY ONLY, and I am doing
my best to keep up with the conference and workshop scene.  Also, I now
have a Macintosh which talks to my Yamaha Clavinova (I could not take my
Baldwin to Singapore), primarily in Max.

[Brother of Harold Smoliar - see above. ed.]




Max Stern          (lms@torreypinesca.ncr.com)
---------

I was born in 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest of six children.  Our
parents were both amateur musicians (oboe, clarinet, piano, cello), and
music was always in our life: playing, singing, records, radio, and trips
to Severance Hall.  I remember, for example, that the Metropolitan opera 
broadcasts with Milton Cross were on our radio every Saturday.  In other
words, my parents provided a music-rich environment, and it's still one
of the things I am most grateful to them for.

My great aunt, Mollie Brudno, was an impressaria in Cleveland.  Once, when 
I was pre-teen age, I went to a concert with Artur Rubinstein that she had produced.  After the concert, I went down front, where Aunt Mollie asked, 
"Well, Maxie, how did you like it?"  My reply, "It was pretty good", became
a family legend -- the boy who thought Rubinstein was only "pretty good"!

I took piano lessons for about six years, from age 9 to 15.  At one point, 
my parents asked a teacher about my musical talents.  "Well," said the 
teacher diplomatically, "Maxie will never be another Horowitz..."  And 
so it turned out.

I still play piano, but only for recreation, and I have been singing in one
or another chorus essentially continuously since I was ten, including a 
brief membership in the Harvard Glee Club under Eliot Forbes.  I also play 
guitar (I own a Takamine) and folk-sing, occasionally performing and/or 
leading a sing-along.  And for the last two years, I have been getting into 
Square Dancing in a big way.

I have never composed, but I once harmonized for SATB a melody that I found
in a compendium of Jewish liturgical songs, and heard it sung by the chorus 
I belong to.  I think it came out pretty well.

If forced to identify my favorite composers, I would name Bach, Brahms, and 
Prokofief; but there are many others I love.  In fact, my taste is  fairly 
broad and eclectic, but the center of my musical universe is defined by
those three names.

By profession, I am a systems software programmer in the Large Computer
Products Division of NCR.

I am engaged to be married on September 20, 1992.




Carl Tait          (tait@cs.columbia.edu)
---------

Born 20 April 1962 in Manhattan.  My family moved to Atlanta in 1964
and has stayed there ever since.

I'm a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Columbia University, hoping 
to defend my thesis - "File Systems for Mobile Computing" - and to leave 
Manhattan (permanently, this time) in Fall 1992.  I'm also a computer 
programmer with IBM Boca Raton, and my Ph.D. studies have been supported 
by IBM's Resident Study Program.

For reasons that remain unclear, the first musical instrument I chose to 
study was the bagpipe; lessons began enthusiastically at age 8.  Over the
next few years, I won several medals in both solo and band competition, 
but eventually got pretty tired of the instrument's limited capabilities.

I started piano lessons at age 13, and initially planned to major in 
music in college.  Ultimately, however, I switched over to computer
science and received my bachelor's degree with honors from Harvard
in 1984.  While an undergrad, I studied piano privately with Gabriel
Chodos, chairman of the piano department at the New England Conservatory.
Currently, I'm working with Edith Oppens, mother of pianist Ursula Oppens.

I play recitals and enter competitions as my schedule permits.  I was
one of only 23 pianists chosen to compete in the 1990 National Chopin
Competition (an utterly terrifying experience), and played the opening
recitals of the 1991-92 Guest Artist Series at Atlanta's DeKalb College.
I've also been featured several times on Atlanta Public Radio station WABE.

My musical tastes are pretty conventional: particular favorites are
Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert, and Rachmaninoff.  I enjoy listening to
Bach, but find his music tedious to learn and nerve-wracking to perform.
I like twentieth-century music of the Bartok/Prokofiev bent, but derive
no pleasure from the "rocks falling on the piano" school.  I've never
been much of an opera fan, though my mother sang in the chorus of the
Metropolitan Opera for five seasons before I was born.




Timothy Takahashi          (ttak@uhura.cc.rochester.edu)
-----------------

(1966- )

Doctoral student in Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester.
Dissertation topic: The Dynamic Behaviour of a Disk Rotating near a
Surface.

Even when I was a very small child, I am told that I had a fascination
for two things - things that went round and round, and music.  At the age
of 18 months, I was known to sit and listen to my fathers records while
watching the record spin 'round and 'round and 'round.

I became seriously interested in music in my early high school years.  My
parents had not encouraged any music lessons in my youth, so as I result
I am one of the worlds worst pianists.  However, I did get drafted into
my High School choir after taking Music Theory as a sophomore.  I have
participated in various vocal groups ever since, currently a 8 year
veteran of the University of Rochester (formerly Men's) Glee Club.

Musical tastes: Bach through Rachmaninoff, early Jazz and boring
mainstream Pop.  Current kick, recordings from the 78 era.  Favourite
conductor: Leopold Stokowski.  I have a medium largish record collection:
750 LPs, 200 78s and am firmly opposed to digititis and the CD. I have
designed and built my own stereo electronics (vacuum tube), read
rec.audio.high-end, and listen to acoustical 78s on a windup Victrola.
My penchant for anachronism extends into other my other hobbies;
favourite photographic toy - 1959 Rolleiflex; "pet" car - 1979 Volvo.

P.S. If you think your CD player makes scraping sounds as if the disk is
 rubbing against something inside; you're right!




Gregory Taylor      (uunet!cs.wisc.edu!vme.heurikon.com!gtaylor%heurikon.uucp)
--------------

Born 8/21/53 Louisville, KY

Wore a patch over his right eye as a youth in lieu of surgery to correct
a slightly crossed and lazy eye.  The compensatory mechanism remains a
constant thematic thread.  Nonmusical parents, unless one counts Christmas
records and the occasional Elvis movie at the drive-in - Bachelor's in
Painting from Wheaton College 1975 - Work history since then has largely
consisted of stints as a waiter/keyboard player in a North Carolina bar
band/tech in cryogenics and quadropole steering magnets at Fermilab/Bell
Labs/Cornell University Theory Center [writing grants, answering questions
on networks in the days before they were intelligent/Astronautics
Corporation/Heurikon Corporation [where I toil as a technical writer/editor]
- Took occasional electronic music seminar when possible [Robert Ceeley at
the New England Conservatory, Peter Rothbart at Ithaca College] Active in
the "cassette culture" movement in the early 1980s [I even got my name in
John Schaefer's book, but he lost my address] - wrote for OP and Option in
the 80s - at the Institute of Sonology [89] in Den Haag until my wife's
Fulbright money ran out and we headed home - Studied central Javanese
gamelan with Sumarsam, Martin Fellowes Hatch [Cornell], R. Anderson Sutton,
B. P. Minarno, and A. L. Suwardi [University of Wisconsin] - currently host
a radio program of some 5 year vintage of late 20th century music with no
respect for genres whatsoever on the local Pacifica affiliate.  When I
have a moment, I'm attempting to learn to work with Cmix in the splendid
isolation of the midwest [thank G*d for decent correspondents like Paul
Lansky, Bill Parod, Frances White, and email!].  My idea of a good time:
Cornelius Cardew, John Tavener, Kaaija Saariaho, James Tenney, Sundanese
music, Paul Lansky, Eno, Feldman, Terry Riley, Takemitsu, Thomas Tallis,
Andriessen, Bryars, Partch, Cage, and what Ge Gan Ru I've heard.  Not a
big fan of Opera [except for Laurie Anderson] though I liked the sets
for Penderecki's "Paradise Lost."  This Corigliano guy may be on to
something as well.  All of the above is provisional and marginal - as
are my tastes, I suspect.  I'm one of those awful folks who came to High
Culture by way of Cage and tried to work backwards, with limited success.
I'm a bad person to discuss the music of dead, white, Northern Europeans
with.  That's why I graze here.  My wife's in Dutch lit and literary
theory, and what critical apparatus I bring to this place must certainly
reflects the artifacts of connubial bliss [marrying me is her only
recorded lapse in taste] as does my current choice of habitation [it's
where she is, and I'm a faculty spouse for whom technical writing provides
the mobility to pursue She Whom I Love as she makes her way through the
scholarly world] Cointreau on Ice/Don DeLillo's "Mao II"/thinning - the
proper revenge for those of us with long hair in th 70s.  I can maintain
only a ratty little braid/Japanese pop, definitely/"Reading Minds: English
Literature in an age of Cognitive Science"/Fragrant Shrimp/It tends to
Merlots, generally.




Michael Thorn          (mthorn@madvax.uop.edu)
-------------

I was born into a family of music hobbyists, my mother being an amateur
singer and my father an amateur trombonist.  Both are classical music
enthusiasts with a rather large record collection, so I was introduced
to lots of classical music at an early age.  (To this day I will still
hear melodies and recognize them, but not know what they are.)

I started taking lessons on piano at age five or six, basically because
my parents told me "You're going to."  I hated it and quit after a year.
Then, in third grade, I (voluntarily) started playing the trumpet.

In high school I became interested in composing... mainly through
improvising at the piano, as well as in an electronic music course I
took for three years.  My senior year, my first opportunity to hear
one of my "works" (actually it was just an arrangement of the Pachelbel
Canon in D for concert band) arose, and I took it.  It was played by
the Santa Clara County Honor Band; unfortunately, the conductor (my
high school band director) was a complete blundering idiot and the
performance was terrible.  This put me off composing for a while.

I applied and was accepted to the Conservatories at Oberlin and the
University of the Pacific; I elected to attend the latter, as a major
in music education.  After a year and a half of dabbling in boring
education classes and attempting to play several different instruments
(bassoon, clarinet, oboe, tuba, trombone, percussion, and piano, to name
a few), I decided to change my major to composition.  I'm *much* happier
now.  I study with Curt Veeneman and Ron Caviani, both of whom are
excellent composers themselves whom I admire very much and I am learning
a great deal from them.

Although my principal instrument is still trumpet, I don't like my teacher
here, and I find the instrument to be profoundly frustrating anyway.  I
also take piano lessons, and I'm more and more becoming attracted to that
instrument.

I work at a public radio station on campus, in the production department -
putting together service announcements, promotional stuff, and doing live
and studio recording.  I am also student-in-charge of the MIDI studio.  I
like my job *much* more than my classes!

My musical taste is quite varied...I mainly listen to "industrial" music,
such as Skinny Puppy, Doubting Thomas, Ministry, Throbbing Gristle, etc.
I also enjoy rock and jazz (Miles Davis' _Kind Of Blue_ is one of my
all-time favorite albums), and I enjoy a quite a variety of classical
music.  If I were forced to pinpoint my favorite composers I guess I
would say Paul Hindemith, Fisher Tull, Gustav Mahler, and Frank Zappa.
Also, although I do not generally enjoy most of his music, I find Samuel
Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ to be one of the most beautiful, moving
pieces of music in the repertoire. (Especially as conducted by Leonard
Bernstein.)

Mainly I find that I enjoy *performing* classical music more than I enjoy
*listening* to it - since it is so much more complex than pop or rock, it
is much easier for me to understand it and really get into it when I am
playing it.  My favorite pieces I have performed include Fisher Tull's
_Sketches on a Tudor Psalm_, Paul Hindemith's _Symphony no. 1_ for wind
ensemble, Schubert's _Unfinished Symphony_, Bizet's _Carmen_, and
Copland's _An Outdoor Overture_.

For brief amounts of time I can listen to _any_ kind of music; but as a
whole, it is safe to say that I am not interested in Country/Western,
opera, or musicals at all.  I like a little rap, but not too much, and
I can't stand most of what gets played in the top 40.  And as a general
rule, I am more likely to enjoy a piece of classical music if it was
written in the 20th century; I find most Baroque and Classical music
quite boring - yes, even Mozart and Bach.  Although I do enjoy the
_Toccata and Fugue in D Minor_, especially as performed by The Canadian
Brass.

I have one sister who is a fanatic of jazz and the Greatful Dead.  I
don't have any pets, although I always wanted a dog.  And I enjoy reading
a lot.  My current favorite is _The Real Frank Zappa Book_, which I
recommend to absolutely EVERYBODY, except maybe Tipper Gore.  The man
is a genius.




Jennifer Turney          (turney@cs.cornell.edu)
---------------

Recreational pianist; chimesmaster (19-bell chime); dabble in recorder
and sing occasionally.  Soon finishing PhD in Computer Science at
Cornell.  Started piano lessons at five, stopped at sixteen after
switching teachers and not being happy with the new one.  I've done
lots of accompanist work, starting with choirs in sixth grade and
musicals in eighth.  Right now I work primarily with the local Gilbert
and Sullivan group (Cornell Savoyards), which is great fun, and
sometimes help out a local elementary school music teacher.

My father played drums in a jazz band as a teen and has an extensive
jazz record collection; I can remember there being some classical
recordings mixed in, but not many, so I think the piano lessons were
the main introduction for me.  As a student at Mills College, in the
San Francisco Bay area, I had lots of opportunities to hear good
music, took a couple of theory courses and was introduced to grand
opera, a hobby which I try to actively pursue (as far as a grad
student's limits will allow).  My range of familiarity, both in opera
and classical music in general, is not particularly broad, but those
pieces I do know I know very well -- the music library here is a fine
resource for music scores.

I own only a few CDs, which is just as well since I don't yet own a CD
player (I don't think I'll be able to hold out much longer).  Judging
by the music I actually own, I'm principally a classical/romanticist:
Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Mahler, Chopin, Debussy.  But I love to play
baroque piano music (much more than listen to it).  I also like jazz
(with a preference for stuff in the last, oh, thirty years), musicals
(especially Sondheim), and intelligent modern rock (i.e., where some
non-trivial amount of thought has been devoted to the lyrics and
music).




Raymond S. Tuttle         (ray@gawain.cif.rochester.edu)
-----------------

Born in Utica, New York (blecch!) October 27, 1962.

Childhood experiences with classical music: playing my Dad's records to
death (Bruno Walter's Beethoven, the Saint-Saens "Organ" Symphony with
Biggs and Ormandy, "Aida" with Milanov and Bjoerling, etc.)  Then I
learned how to read.

I am the worst piano player who took ten years of lessons.  But I sing OK.

Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at
the University of Rochester, where I do research, supervise a residential
life housing unit, chair an HIV Peer Education Program, and log on to the
computer much too much.

I am an obsessive "serious record collector" because I have a subscription
to "Fanfare"!  At least that's what the cover says . . .




Maarten van Loon          (vanloon@cwi.nl)
----------------

I am 23 years old (born 6-24-1969 Amsterdam).

I studied Applied Mathematics at Delft University of Technology.  I
graduated from University in september last year and now I am working
as a Ph.D. student at the Centre for Mathematics and Information 
Technology (CWI) in Amsterdam.  I am doing research on numerical
treatment of air pollution modelling.  So I am working on very actual
subject....

My greatest hobby is classical music.  I play the organ for more than
17 years now (I started when I was 5).  Since about 10 years I am also
organist in my own Reformed church in Haarlem - 20 km. from Amsterdam.

My favorite composer is Bach. He not only composed great organ music,
but also a lot of other beautiful compositions.  I like most his vocal
works, like the Passions, the h-moll messe etc.  This religious music 
strengthens me sometimes in my faith.

Of course, not only Bach was a great composer - but most of you probably
realize that.  In general, I prefer baroque music and also the classics
like Mozart and Haydn.  I have however great difficulty with appreciating
modern music.




Francois R. Velde          (velde@gopher.stanford.edu)
-----------------

Born November 11, 1965 near Paris, France. Education through high school 
and college in and around Paris.  My college education was in what the French 
call engineering, and what looks to anyone else like math.  After finishing 
my engineering school in 1987, I came to Stanford for a Ph.D. in economics, 
which I completed in June 1992.  I have been appointed assistant professor 
at the Johns Hopkins University starting September 1992, and will therefore 
leave the Bay Area pretty soon :-(  I currently live in San Francisco, with 
my wife.

My musical life began at age 14. My parents listened to classical music 
consistently, but never tried to actually educate or guide me.  One night, 
the radio was playing Brahms' 3d violin sonata, and I felt for the first 
time this peculiar mix of intense nostalgia and wonder.  My parents informed
me that they had the complete Kammermusik of Brahms, which I started 
discovering LP by LP, moving from the sonatas to the sextets.  I then 
discovered Beethoven's symphonies, and I was hooked on classical music. 
The major steps were then: age 16, Mahler because of Death in Venice; same 
age, bel canto opera at the urging of a history teacher; age 20, early music 
(pre-Bach), because of a new set of friends I met in college.  My tastes have 
been moving further and further from the 19th century since that time (I 
currently reside in the 17th century, but I gladly listen to anything from 
Gregorian chant to Bartok). 

My main means of discovery are by buying CDs, on a student's budget, so I 
have been slow to discover.  I also go to concerts, opera performances.  To 
my great regret, I never learned an instrument (short-lived attempt at violin 
in my teens), and I have not had serious classes in music or history of music. 
All I know comes from CD notes.

I discovered rec.music.classical recently, and, quite aware of my limitations, 
I try to use it as a means of learning more about music.  




Gabe M. Wiener          (gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu)
--------------

I was born on June 3, 1970 in New York City.

My father has always been a music lover, but could never play a note.
My mother was a music teacher, pianist, and studio musician for many
years, so there was always music around when I was growing up.  I
learned to read the staff when I was very young...perhaps 6 or 7.  I
studied the piano about that time but did not take to it at first.  I
began studying the recorder when I was 8 and still play to this day.

Although I was involved in music in high school, my interest in it did
not flourish until I got to Columbia.  Although I knew the music of
many eras and composers quite well just from casual listening, it
wasn't until I took Columbia's required Music Humanities course that
my knowledge started to gel and my "passion" for music began to grow.

My main performance activity has for many years been choral singing.
I suppose I started doing that in grade school, and continued right up
through high school and college.  As an undergraduate at Columbia, I
was the manager of the Barnard-Columbia Chorus for three of my four
years.  I also began to sing in various "ringer" jobs around NYC while
in school, so in the course of my undergraduate years I was exposed to
a very broad choral repertoire and got my sight-reading up to a high
facility.

My undergraduate major was in music, and I graduated this past May.
My musical interests (both performing and scholarly) fall mostly in
the renaissance and baroque, and if I decide to do graduate work in
music (something I'm still considering), I'll probably end up
specializing in something from those eras...eventually.

Although my principal performance outlet is voice, I do play the piano
a little (I'm still working on a few of the Bach inventions), and
still consider myself fairly proficient on the recorder.  I've played
in consorts and other ensembles here and there.

I'm also a working recording engineer.  I routinely do live concert
recordings, as well as post-production.  I've been interested in audio
equipment for as long as I can remember, and I first began reading
about recording and how professional tapes are made when I was in high
school.  In my earlier years at Columbia I began to observe recordists
in action and to learn from them.  Eventually I also took classes at
the Institute of Audio Research and earned a certificate from them.

My other interests include electronics, ham radio, a little computer
hacking, etc.  I collect both rare and modern recordings, and also
have an extensive antique telephone collection going back to the
1880's.  When I was in high school I was a serious programmer, but I
got out of that in recent years.  I still do some graphic design
consulting, layout, and some occasional hardware jobs, but most of my
free-lancing these days is in recording, since I enjoy it more, has
fewer practitioners (and thus a bigger market), and pays better. :-)




Richard Wilmer          (rwilmer@gateway.mitre.org)
--------------

I am a singer (Bass, Bass-baritone) and voice teacher.  Some particular
areas of study and experience where I hope to serve as a resource are Bel
Canto (especially Bellini), French vocal music (opera, song, operetta),
Wagner, and Verdi.  The opera roles I have sung most often are Melchior in
Amahl (22 perf), Don Giovanni (20 perf), and Golaud in Pelleas (11 perf).
However, my recent singing teacher, Zinka Milanov, helped me change from
baritone to bass, and I now sing different parts in those three operas
(Balthazar, Commendatore, and Arkel).

I played piano and records from very early childhood, and initially went
to Paris to study piano and composition (I worked with Nadia Boulanger for
three years).  I worked as a musical comedy singer from 1975-1981 until I
began singing opera roles.  Annually I teach a course coaching singers
through complete opera roles.  I have a part-time job as an editor at the
MITRE corporation (Arlington, VA), which is why I am on the net.

 OPERA ROLES -
   1992 GIANNI SCHICCHI - (Simone) - George Washington U
   1991 AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS - (Balthazar) - Prince George's
                                                     Civic Opera
   1991 PARSIFAL - (Gurnemanz) - Wagner Master Classes in Bayreuth
   1991 TRISTAN UND ISOLDE - Act II (Marke) - Wagner Master Classes
                                              in Bayreuth
   1991 PARSIFAL - Excerpts (Gurnemanz) - Liederkranz Club, Catholic
                                          University, American Opera
                                          Scholarship Society
   1989 CIBOULETTE - Excerpts (Duparquet) - L'Opera Francais
   1988 AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS - (Melchior) - Prince George's
                                                    Civic Opera
   1987 LES P'TITES MICHU - (Gaston) - L'Opera Francais
   1986 FAUST - (Mephistopheles) - Potomac Valley Opera
   1985 IL TROVATORE - (Ferrando) - Potomac Valley Opera
   1985 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO - Act II (Guardiano) - Westmoreland Concerts
   1984 TALES OF HOFFMAN - (Coppelius) - Vienna Light Opera
   1984 DON GIOVANNI - (Don Giovanni) - Potomac Valley Opera
   1984 LA SONNAMBULA - (Rodolfo) - Potomac Valley Opera
   1981 THE DEVIL AND KATE - (Vradny) - Sokol Opera (Kennedy Center
                                        Terrace Theatre)
   1981 GIANNI SCHICCHI - (Spinelloccio) - Washington Opera Theatre

 OTHER ROLES -
     LA BOHEME - Benoit, Alcindoro
     MIGNON - Lothario
     I PURITANI - Giorgio
     PELLEAS ET MELISANDE - Arkel
     MY FAIR LADY - Henry Higgins

 TEACHERS -
     Voice Training - Zinka Milanov (1983-1989), Bruce Brewer (1975-81)
                      Paul Derenne, Josephine Lucchese
     Current Coaches - Wendy Glaubitz, Donald Boothman, Muriel von Villas
     Wagner Master Classes in Bayreuth with Anna Reynolds and Jean Cox
     Composition and Accompaniment - Nadia Boulanger
     Opera Workshop - Jean Giraudeau (Ecole Normale de Musique)
     Operetta - Fanely Revoil (Paris Conservatory)

 VOCAL CONTEST PRIZEWINNER -
     Concours Leopold Bellan, U.F.A.M, Maitres du Chant
     Concours Internationale de la Melodie Francaise

 FRENCH RADIO - (L'O.R.T.F)
     The Ghost of Vera - (de Musset)
     Concert des Melodies d'Erik Satie et Henri Sauguet




Ellis Workman          (elw@mayo.edu)
-------------

Born 1950 (South Bend, Indiana)
Married with 3 children
Education:
	BME Indiana University School of Music (1972)
	MFA (trumpet performance) University of Minnesota (1980)
	BS (Computer Science) Winona State University (1983)

Taught public school instrumental music in Illinois, Michigan, &
Minnesota from 1972-1981.  Current position is a senior programmer/analyst
in the Biomedical Imaging Resource, Mayo Clinic.  Co-principal trumpet
in Rochester (MN) Symphony Orchestra.  Special interests are brass
performance practices and brass chamber music.  The biggest musical
thrill of life was playing the first trumpet part in a performance
of the Bach B minor Mass.




Carol Gee Zarbock          (czarbock@unlinfo.unl.edu)
-----------------

37 - Lincoln, Nebraska

B.A. in music (76), Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa
voice emphasis, minor in bassoon & piano
academic minor in psychology

M.M. (5/92) in Voice Performance, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
(transferred in 1/2 way through program from University of Colorado-Boulder)

Sang formerly in the dramatic coloratura fach, switched to lyrico spinto
in 91.

Noted studio teachers:  Diane McNaron Collins, Maralin Niska, Donna
Harler (current)

Noted academic teachers:  Barbara Doscher (vocal pedagogy), Pamela Starr
(musicology), Karl Kroger (research & bib)

Lived and traveled abroad, extensively.

Future plans:  Have been accepted as a Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology
at the University of Queensland (Brisbane) to study with Dr. Helen Payne.
Australian Aboriginal music emphasis.  Currently in the Fulbright
competition so I can afford to go!

Would like to be a professor, anywhere in the world, to teach non-Western
music to students--broaden their horizons and all that.  I believe
world-wide culture to be getting interested in preserving both our
biological and cultural diversity as the planet "grows smaller."
Cross-disciplines such as ethnomusicology will probably serve that
function in that trend towards the end of the century, I anticipate.

Sepcial interests:  Mozart, ethnic music, computers, research
& writing, travel, my 3-1/2 year old daughter, Astara.



-- 

Dave
lampson@tellabs.com

For detailed lists of Recommended Classical CDs, Basic Repertoire and Buying
Guide access cs.uwp.edu (131.210.1.4) by anonymous FTP, or email me for info.

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