CLASS OF 2007
Bravo!
Gregory Camp
Gregory Camp graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude with a double major in music and international affairs, along with minors in Italian and history. He participated all four years in GW's choral program, touring with the choir to South America and eastern Europe. His senior year he was choir publicist, and received the Harmon Choral Award. He studied voice with Dr Robert Baker, and prepared a senior recital of Venetian Baroque music. During his junior year, Gregory studied abroad for a semester each in Paris and Rome.
Gregory's capstone project "Gregorian Chant Under the Neumatic Drill," completed as part of the University Honors Program's Enosinian scholarship, consisted of learning and teaching the sensitive rendering of Gregorian chants from their earliest written sources. The project culminated in a performance by fellow GW students at St Paul's K Street.
Gregory is crossing the pond next year on a full Clarendon scholarship to attain a masters degree in musicology at Oxford University.
Matt Corica
Dan DeCurtis
Originally from New York, Dan DeCurtis graduated in music and English, concentrating on American literature of the 19 th and 20 th centuries in the latter department. He was a student of soprano Millicent Scarlett and a member of the University Singers, with whom he toured Croatia, Slovenia and Venice, performing a solo piece from his senior recital while on tour. Also with the USingers, he performed on TNT's nationally televised Christmas in Washington for the President and First Lady.
Dan was a member of the GW opera program, performing in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (Dr. Spinelocchio/il Notario), Barber's A Hand of Bridge (David), Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus (Dr. Falke), and Dreamland (Schunard from La Bohème and Sharpless from Madama Butterfly). He appeared in the Theatre Department's production of Cy Coleman's City of Angels (Gilbert/ Mahoney). H e was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and worked at the Kennedy Center and as a legal intern. He also spent a semester in Florence studying Italian language and culture.
For his capstone project, Dan prepared and presented a voice recital entitled At a Crossroads: Reflections on Endings and New Beginnings. The recital covered a range of styles and notes and was conceived in response to the ominous presence of the inevitable "unknown" fast approaching during his and his peers' senior year. The program highlighted and commented on the many different periods of transition that occur in any individual's life and featured works from both the opera and musical theatre repertoires.
Dan is in New York working as a paralegal for the immigration law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Hoping to join the ranks of singing attorneys everywhere, he plans to enter law school in the next few years.
Joe Dietrich
Angela Hanks
Rachel Hirsch
A Presidential Arts Scholar in voice, Rachel Hirsch completed her degree with a major in music and a minor in theater. She was a member of the University Singers (president, fall 2005), the Chamber Choir, and the GW Troubadours (assistant music director and president). She sang soprano solos for the USingers, participated in PAS, honors, and all-voice recitals, and sang in the premiere of Democracy with the Washington National Opera. She performed in GW productions of John Brown’s Body (narrator), Merrily We Roll Along (Scotty), Once on This Island (Erzulie), Urinetown (Hope Cladwell), and Dreamland (Musetta). She also toured Argentina and Uruguay with the Chamber Choir and Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy with the USingers.
Rachel studied at the Universita Catolica, Accademia Nazionale della Musica in Milan for six months and at the Tisch School of the Arts Cap21 summer program for musical theater.
For her capstone, Rachel researched, wrote, programmed, and performed a cabaret production, "Emotional Dump Truck," at Busboys and Poets in DC. She is currently living in New York pursuing a career in musical theater.
Jennifer Hoffmann
Jennifer Hoffmann completed a double major in music and political science, and was a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. As a Presidential Arts Scholar, she performed in the department’s honors recital, toured South America and Europe with the Chamber Choir and University Singers, and sang in the premiere of Democracy with the Washington National Opera. She also participated in the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy and Bel Canto Northwest in Oregon. Roles at GW included Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Geraldine in A Hand of Bridge. In opera scenes, she portrayed Mimi (Puccini), Donna Anna (Mozart), and Violetta (Verdi). She also performed in the mainstage musical revue, Revolution on Broadway. Choir solos included Bach’s Magnificat, Vaughan-Williams’ Mass in g minor, and Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Jennifer’s capstone project, “Unconventional Heroines,” was a recital of opera, art song, and musical theatre that examined the concept of female distinction and rebellion. She studied characters whose defiance of social constraints challenged traditional notions of “appropriate” female behavior, appearing as Marguerite (Gounod), the Countess (Mozart), Violetta (Verdi), Maria (Bernstein), Fantine (Schönberg), Manon (Massenet), Carmen (Bizet), Rusalka (Dvořák), and Alissa (Milhaud), and performing songs by Copland, Schubert, Weill, and Porter.
Jennifer is pursuing graduate study in vocal performance at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Maria Liberovsky
Melissa Marquardt
Betsey Perlmutter
A Distinguished Scholar of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Betsey Perlmutter made the dean's list eight times and graduated magna cum laude, completing a major in music with a minor in theatre. A Presidential Arts Scholar in theater, she studied voice and piano and sang soprano in the University Singers and Chamber Singers.
In 2005 Betsey performed in the Washington National Opera production of Scott Wheeler's Democracy. At GW she sang in City of Angels, Shakespeare in Love (for which she composed her own songs), Revolution on Broadway, and Merrily We Roll Along. She also toured Argentina and Uruguay with the Chamber Singers and Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy with the USingers.
As a Gamow Undergraduate Research Fellow, Betsey conducted fieldwork in rural South Africa, investigating the power of music as a vehicle for social change. She created an original musical theater piece based on changing gender roles among black youth eleven years post-Apartheid. She spent a semester studying at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy and served as an arts administration intern at Chorus America. She was also assistant director of a joint production with the Department of Theatre and Dance, John Brown’s Body.
Betsey’s capstone essay was entitled “Deconstructing 'highbrow' and 'lowbrow': Musical stratification in twentieth-century America and its relation to the music and aesthetic of George Gershwin with reflections by Leonard Bernstein.” She presented a senior recital, "A Total Embrace"--piano and vocal works by Gershwin and Bernstein, to compliment her capstone.
Bestey plans to move to Boston to create a diverse career including vocal performance and musicology, focusing on cross cultural aspects in the arts. She hopes to return to Africa as well.
Alex Stalarow
Ben Thornewill
