Faculty and Department News
New Faculty Members
The Department of Music and Theatre Arts has two new faculty members whose talent and experience will continue UW-Eau Claire's reputation for excellence in the performing arts.
- Nicholas Phillips - applied piano
- Jessica Riley - applied voice
UW-Eau Claire Music Professor Receives
Commission to Compose New Work
Dr. Ethan Wickman, assistant professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, recently received a $6,000 commission from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University to compose a new work for the Avalon String Quartet.
- Ethan Wickman - theory and composition
Nicholas Phillips, Assistant Professor of Music
Dr. Nicholas Phillips is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he teaches applied and class piano. Active as a solo and collaborative pianist, Dr. Phillips is quickly building a reputation for his innovative recital programming, engaging lecture-recitals, and his interest in introducing and reviving works and composers outside the mainstream repertoire.
Committed to making music accessible and meaningful to audiences, Dr. Phillips strives to show how the piano and its repertoire fit into broader cultural contexts. This interdisciplinary approach is seen most recently in his dissertation, “Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words Revisited: Culture, Gender, Literature, and the Role of Domestic Piano Music in Victorian England,” and his paper presentation at the 2007 Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Conference titled “The Influence of Technology in the Nineteenth Century on Piano Instruments, Technique, and Repertoire.”
A native of Indiana, Dr. Phillips began formal piano lessons at Indiana University at the age of ten. He holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music (Doctor of Musical Arts), Indiana University (Master of Music), and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude).
Before joining the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Dr. Phillips taught applied and class piano at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Indiana University.
Jessica Riley, Assistant Professor of Music
Canadian mezzo-soprano Jessica Riley is in the final stages of her doctoral degree in Vocal Performance at Indiana University, with minor field concentrations in Stage Direction and Music Education. For the past two years, Ms. Riley taught voice at Western Washington University in Bellingham. She has also served on the faculty of Indiana State University, where she taught voice and Song Literature, and was an Associate Instructor of Voice while studying at Indiana University. Ms. Riley joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire the fall of 2007 as an Assistant Professor of Music and Theatre Arts where she teaches Applied Voice, Techniques of the Singing/Speaking Voice and works with the Opera Workshop Ensemble.
As a performer, Ms. Riley returned to Lyric Opera Cleveland in the summer of 2006 to perform the role of Edith in "The Pirates of Penzance" and that of the Redwood Daughter in "Florida." In 2005, she performed the role of Berta in "The Barber of Seville," and was praised for her "winning" performance and her voice "suggesting a future Rosina." Recently, she sang as the alto soloist in Vivaldi's "Gloria" with the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra. She returned to sing a program of arias with them this past spring.
Other recent engagements include a performance at WWU of the Brahms "Liebeslieder Waltzes", with dance choreography by Mark Morris, and a solo recital at the Winnipeg Art Gallery with pianist Kimberly Carballo. Ms. Riley was also the alto soloist in the Mozart Requiem at Seattle Town Hall.
In addition, she has sung as an apprentice with the Sarasota Opera Association, the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, the Bloomington Early Music Festival and in several Indiana University productions. Past roles include Mother Marie (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Ruggiero (Alcina), Third Lady (Magic Flute), Nettie Fowler (Carousel), Ilona (She Loves Me), Jenny Parsons (Down in the Valley), Effie (Ballad of Baby Doe), Mother Goose (Rake's Progress), Grandma (Polly Patchwork), and the Badessa (Suor Angelica). She has twice toured Kentucky schools in an educational outreach effort to bring opera to children and teenagers. Beyond her musical endeavors, Ms. Riley has worked as an Oral Communications Evaluator, and she won the High School World Public Speaking Championships in England in 1994. Recently, she co-directed Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi" and Ned Rorem's one act opera, "Three Sisters" at WWU.
Ms. Riley is also a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, NATS.
Ethan Wickman, Assistant Professor of Music
Dr. Ethan Wickman, assistant professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, recently received a $6,000 commission from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University to compose a new work for the Avalon String Quartet.
The Barlow commissions, awarded annually, are highly competitive. Only 12 composers were awarded commissions this year out of 135 applicants in the general and LDS program categories.
Wickman met members of the Avalon String quartet, described by The Washington Post as "one of the most exciting young string quartets in America," when he was a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University South Bend. The Avalon String Quartet was in residence there at the time. Currently they are in residence at Northern Illinois University and perform frequently in Chicago.
The idea for the contemporary piece Wickman said he was planning grew out of his interest in the artistic implications of Eastern religion and yoga practice. Wickman's wife is a yoga instructor.
"The piece will be a conceptual one, inspired in part by the Hindu greeting Namaste, which roughly means the light (or divine) within me salutes the light within you," Wickman said. "I started thinking about a piece in which the color of one instrument anticipates and salutes the color of the next."
Wickman said the piece also will have to do with the Hindu idea of Devi, the mother or supreme goddess representing the female aspect of the divine, which Hindus believe balances the male aspect and provides protection. He has started the first movement of the piece, which he expects will be 12-15 minutes long when completed.
"I have been envisioning that one movement will be quieter and more meditative than the others," Wickman said.
According to Wickman, he is expected to complete the composition in time for an April 2008 premiere of the work at NIU and Chicago's Symphony Center.
"The Avalon Quartet also will come to UW-Eau Claire to perform the piece next spring," said Wickman, noting that the quartet will conduct a master class for UW-Eau Claire string and composition students while on campus.
Wickman joined the UW-Eau Claire music faculty in 2006 and teaches music theory and applied composition. He currently works with nine students majoring in music composition and three other music majors. More information about his background and accomplishments is available at on the music and theatre arts Web pages.
This will be the second Barlow commission for Wickman, who composed a piece titled "Atomic Variations" for Flexible Music, a New York-based chamber ensemble, in 2005.
--New Bureau, Nov. 2007
