B’er Chayim Temple Presents Free Concert
Featuring Local Musicians on April 22nd at 3:00 PM.
B'er Chayim Temple is very pleased to present a free chamber music concert for voice, keyboard, cello, organ solos/duets, and works for piano and cello on Sunday, April 22nd, 2012. Highlighting the program are works by George Frederick Handel, Antonin Dvorak, Israeli composer Naomi Shemer, Felix Mendelssohn, and Rudolf Karel. Performers include organist Mark Steiner, singer Ryan Mullaney, pianist/organist Dr. Joan DeVee Dixon and cellist Dr. Ellen Grolman, each of whom will make brief, informal remarks about the pieces that are to be played.
Although admission is free and no tickets are required, donations to the "Backpack Program" of the Western Maryland Food Bank will be accepted. B'er Chayim Temple is a supporter of the program as part of our community social action efforts. In this program, backpacks are filled with kid-friendly food for students to take home over weekends and holidays for themselves and often their siblings. Programs like these help children get by until they can return to school – and to the free or reduced-cost meals offered there.
Joan DeVee Dixon is Professor of Music and Faculty Advancement Associate for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Frostburg State University. As a pianist and organist, she has performed in England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Israel and Japan. She is a featured artist for the International Dvorak Society’s American Spring Festival throughout the Czech Republic. She also tours extensively with pianist Alice Fiedlerová of Prague as a part of the Festival of Mutual Inspirations: Dvořák, spearheaded by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC. One of their upcoming performances will be at Music at Penn Alps in Grantsville on Saturday, August 25, 2012. Dr. Dixon has released twelve CDs, many of which feature Emma Lou Diemer’s settings of Hebrew psalms. These recordings are often heard on radio broadcasts such as Pipedreams. When not on a bench, Dr. Dixon can be found riding her Trek Madone Bicycle (just like Lance but not as fast). For more information, please visit:
www.joandeveedixon.com.
Following an appointment at the Eilat Conservatory of Music in Israel, Ellen Grolman joined the music faculty of Frostburg State University in 1983. Active in musicological research, specifically in the field of women composers, she is the author of A Catalogue of Published Works for String Orchestra and Piano Trio by 20th century American Women Composers (1993), editor of a two-volume set of six string trios (1996-97) by 18th-century composer Maddalena Lombardini-Sirmen, and author of a 2001 (Greenwood Press) bio-bibliography of composer Emma Lou Diemer. Her 2007 bio-bibliography of composer Joan Tower (Scarecrow Press) won the 2008 Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. Dr. Grolman has held the position of Reviews Editor for the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music since 1995; she is also a contributor to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed. (2000), the Encyclopedia of American Women Musicians (2002), and The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed. (2011).
A native of Western Maryland, Ryan Mullaney currently resides in Cumberland where he serves as Director of Liturgical Music at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Parish, supervising a staff of eight part-time musicians and musical worship at five churches. He is also co-founder and co-director of Mountainside Baroque, A new early music collective based in Cumberland, Maryland. He holds a Master of Music Degree in Choral/Orchestral Conducting from Temple University, where he was named Elaine Brown Scholar in choral music, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance from Towson University. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, The Conductors Guild, and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
Mark W. Steiner was raised in Cumberland, began taking piano lessons at age 10, and began to play the organ for services at Saint Patrick's Catholic Church during High School. He received a Bachelor's degree in History and a Minor in Music Education from Frostburg State University while studying organ with the late Cylde English at West Virginia University. Mark moved to Baltimore in 1981 to become Director of Music at Second English Lutheran Church and received another Bachelor's degree in Organ Performance at Towson University. In 1985 he moved back to Cumberland to become Director of Music at Emmanuel Episcopal Church and found Steiner-Murphy Organ Company. His organ building business has grown to over 75 service clients over a four-state area and includes rebuilding and new instruments in churches, schools, temples and private home
