Class of 2006
Bravo!
The Class of 2006 is the first class of students to complete Bachelor of Arts degrees under a revised music major program that includes senior independent "capstone" projects and an accompanying seminar. The seminar allowed the seniors to reflect on their projects and their musical education in general, discuss their work with the department community, critique each others' study in progress, and explore issues they will encounter as musically knowledgeable and engaged citizens.
The profiles below outline the accomplishments of our nine music majors and an outstanding jazz studies minor. Nine of these students studied at GW on a merit award, either a Presidential Academic Scholarship or a Presidential Arts Scholarship. Three of them completed double majors, four are headed direct to graduate school in music, and two were tapped for Phi Beta Kappa.
We're proud of these graduates. Here they are and what they've achieved.
Scott Bender
Scott performs classical, jazz, rock, and metal on guitar and bass, played in several GW shows, and completed a jazz studies minor. He was a member of the Honors Program and worked at GW as a community facilitator, office assistant, and dean's intern.
Scott also composes modern music. His capstone project is a string quartet "in X Flat Minor," a piece in three movements and two interludes for two violins, viola, cello, and guitar, which he performed this spring with a student string quartet.
Scott presently works at Georgetown's Washington Harbor.
Zach Borichevsky
Zach double majored in music and political science. A tenor focused on opera, he performed on the department's honors recital, was a finalist in the National Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition (2006), toured Eastern Europe and South America with the GW chorus, and sang an all-male a capella group, Emocapella. His solo work included the Bach Magnificat and the Stravinsky Mass, and his roles included Stone in City of Angels, Zangara in Assassins, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, and El Gallo in The Fantasticks, among other roles. He received the department's Harmon Choral Award for performance and leadership in vocal music.
Zach's project was a recital, "From Time to Time." On his theme, he writes, "[It's about] different interpretations of the same material over time. So, from time to time, different people come up with different ways of saying the same thing." Over the course of the program, he appeared as Romeo (Shakespeare and Gounod), Tom Rakewell (Stravinsky), Almaviva (Rossini), and Music Man Harold Hill (Willson) to explore plot, concept, motivation, and mood. Emocapella performed part of the program with him.
Zach is pursuing graduate study in vocal performance at Yale.
Andrew Darcey
Andrew has been immersed in the theater-especially the musical theater-at GW for four years. He has performed with the Generic Theatre Company, Forbidden Planet Productions, SPADE, and the Department of Theatre and Dance. His roles included Autolycus in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale and Agwe in Once on this Island by Ahrens and Flaherty. He was a member of the Student Theatre Council and soloed with the GW chorus at the Kennedy Center and on tour in South America.
Andrew's capstone project was a production of "tick, tick, . . . Boom!," an autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larsen, the composer of Rent. He played Larsen himself.
Andrew is in New York working in arts administration and the theater.
Stephanie Engelbrecht
Stephanie was selected for Phi Beta Kappa, the Golden Key Honor Society, and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She minored in art history and spent a semester in Paris studying art and music. Her musical interests are voice, piano, harp, and composition and she was a member of the GW University Singers.
Stephanie's senior voice recital included a performance of her capstone project composition, a five-song cycle for voice and piano on poetry by Brian Andreas. Some of the songs use serialism, non-serial atonality, and "extended" piano techniques.
Stephanie is currently co-writing an epistolary novel and plans to continue with composition.
Sara Kane
Sara double majored in music and French. She was assistant music director of the a capella GW Sirens, sang on the department's honors recital, and in productions of the Department of Theatre and Dance. She toured Eastern Europe and South America with the GW chorus and sang in Scott Wheeler's Democracy with the Washington National Opera. She performed in modern dance and served as accounting manager for the student newspaper, The Hatchet.
Sara's project was a recital and essay on Mozart's operatic heroines. She studied their personalities, situations, and strengths and weaknesses as portrayals of late 18th century style. She used her insights in a recital of arias for Isis, Pamina, the countess, Susanna, and Despina from four of Mozart's most famous operas.
Sara is in graduate school in vocal performance at the Catholic University of America.
Jonathan Kantor
A history major with a minor in jazz studies, tenor saxophonist Jonathan Kantor was a member of the professional Matt Grason Quartet and played gigs at DC venues such as HR-57, Twins, the Islander, Staccato Bar, and Blues Alley. He played bass and horns in a bluegrass band with his twin brother, David Kantor, the Bear Mountain Pickers. He played at the East Coast Jazz Festival and classical clarinet with the Bermuda Philharmonic.
Jon played in many GW jazz groups, including King James and the Serfs of Swing and Los Gringos. He played for GW's Parents' Weekend, Dick Golden's jazz radio show, President's Night (with the Glenn Miller band, Neil Sedaka, and Carol Channing), in two Theater Department plays, and at campus events for Africa United, Save Darfur, the AIDS Coalition, and many others. He won the department's 2006 Barry Manilow Award for musical achievement.
Jon's senior recital featured the department's top jazz group (the "Uebercombo") and his sax teacher, Peter Fraize. Half of the pieces were Kantor originals and the recital was held at DC's HR-57 club as part of the GW Jazz Festival.
Jon had an internship at BB King's Blues Club in Times Square and at the Blue Note jazz club in New York. He will work in PR at the Blue Note while pursuing graduate work in performance at New York University.
Suzanne Post
Suzanne was a first place winner (2004) in the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association competition. She regularly sang in the University Singers, in opera productions and scenes, and in the department's honors recital. She minored in psychology.
Suzanne's project, "You think you know a woman?" examines "innocent" and "worldly" women in opera. Focused on historical context, musical style, and character relationships, she presented her conclusions in an essay and a recital. Her characters were Adele (R. Strauss), Michaela (Bizet), Lił (Puccini), Juliet (Gounod), Norina (Donizetti), and Cunigonde (Bernstein).
Suzanne is in graduate school in vocal performance at Northwestern University.
Leslie Fay Vaeth
A double major in music and dramatic literature, Leslie was selected for Phi Beta Kappa, the Golden Key Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Alpha Phi international fraternity, and the Order of Omega Greek Leadership Honor Society (secretary). She sang with the University Singers and in productions with the Department of Theatre and Dance. She was music director of the GW Sirens, an a capella singing group.
Leslie's project was "Teaching The Telephone." She designed, directed, and sang in a production of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Telephone and then took the piece to a local middle school to teach students opera basics "with an emphasis on breaking down the stereotypes of opera set up by our society."
Leslie plans to pursue graduate work in arts administration in the fall of 2007.
Joshua Wilkie
Josh plays guitar and drums and worked in electronic music, music recording, and production. He was a pitcher on GW's varsity baseball team. His project is a three-movement electro-acoustic composition (for instruments and electronic sound) loosely based on Hector Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique. In his words, "The piece is programmatic and the story told is a true story about my father. It is an emotionally expressive piece showing the fall of a man and his rise to new heights by facing adversity." He performed it at the department's electronic music studio concert.
Josh has signed as a free agent with the Washington Nationals baseball team.
David Wilson
Dave was a Presidential Arts Scholar with interests in popular music from the 1950s to today. He was music director of the award-winning a capella vocal group Sons of Pitch, stage manager for the University Singers, and a member of the chamber choir, wind ensemble, and percussion ensemble. He spent a semester studying music and dance at the University of Cape Town, South Africa and presented an account of his encounter with music-making in Africa to the ethnomusicology class.
For his project, Dave recorded and mixed 10 tracks of the Sons of Pitch's work and researched copyright law as applied to mechanical and performing licenses for student groups.
Dave plans a career in audio engineering and production.