Matthew Kraemer '99 Named Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra's New Music Director
PUBLISHED ON Mar 26 2015
Matthew Kraemer ’99 has been named Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO).
“The Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra is a dynamic organization comprised of superb musicians providing its audience an impressive variety of music and concert formats,” he said. “This position would undoubtedly be highly attractive to any conductor, but I am also drawn to the ICO because of my sincere affection for the rich and varied repertoire available to chamber orchestra.”
Appointed Music Director of the Butler County (Pennsylvania) Symphony and the Erie (Pennsylvania) Chamber Orchestra in 2012, Kraemer has reinvigorated both ensembles with innovative programming and elevated artistic standards. His active guest conducting schedule has included appearances with many of the nation’s finest orchestras, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, Indianapolis, Saint Louis, and Virginia symphony orchestras, as well as Canada’s Mississauga Symphony and Hamilton Philharmonic and in Europe with the Vidin Philharmonic and the Orquesta de Cadaqués.
Kraemer also spent five years as associate conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic, which under his watch experienced exponential growth in its award-winning education concerts program. Prior to his appointment in Buffalo, he served for three seasons as associate conductor of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
The Indiana native is noted for his “musical sensitivity” and “energized sense of interpretation.”
“I'm thrilled about our new Music Director,” Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Vice President of Audience Development and owner of Meridian Music Craig Gigax said. “He represents a new beginning to the ICO and Indianapolis, and will bring energy, ideas, relationships with soloists, and an innovative vision.”
The Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra’s mission is to advance and promote music composed for the small orchestra through professional concert performances and education programs. The ICO also provides accompaniment to many area arts and educational organizations.
Broadcasts of its concerts can be heard on WFYI-FM (90.1) on Monday evenings.
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822
Matthew Kraemer '99 Named Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra's New Music Director
Jimmy Page Said Listen. To Her Delight, They Did.
PUBLISHED ON Mar 05 2015
There’s a lady who’s sure Jimmy Page’s endorsement is gold. And her name is Caroline (Hauss) Taylor ’97.
Taylor, who majored in Music Business at Butler, is the business manager for the Louisville (Kentucky) Leopard Percussionists, a performing ensemble featuring about 65 student musicians ages 7-12 who play xylophones, vibraphones, drums, and other instruments.
In November, the Leopards posted a six-minute video of the students performing portions of three Led Zeppelin songs – “Kashmir,” “The Ocean,” and “Immigrant Song.” Somehow—they don’t know how—Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page saw the video. On February 20, he posted it to his Facebook page along with this message: “Too good not to share. Have a rocking weekend!”
Before then, the video had about 7,000 views. It now has had more than 3.5 million, and the Leopards have been inundated with donations, merchandise orders, and media attention from as far away as England.
“It’s completely unexpected and sort of turned us on our head, but all in a good way,” Taylor said. “My business degree has served me very well through all of this.”
Taylor grew up in Louisville and played piano from the time she was 6. Her piano teacher in high school encouraged her to pursue a music business degree because “she felt like it had a broader purpose—and maybe a more lucrative outcome than being a piano teacher.”
Taylor—she was Caroline Hauss back then—looked for a program and found Butler.
“I feel like I got a great education,” she said. “I felt like it was a tough program because music and business don’t really overlap in many areas, so it was a pretty intense double-major.”
The summer before her senior year, she interned with the San Francisco Opera. That turned into a full-time job after graduation, and she spent the next three years there. She went from the opera company to a dot.com to working for a doctor in the mornings and teaching piano in the afternoons.
“I really missed having music and the arts tied into my job,” she said.
Along the way, she married Darren Taylor, a professional stagehand, and they had their first child, Chloe. But Chloe, who’s now 8, suffered a stroke in utero and was born with serious disabilities, so they decided to move to Louisville to be closer to family.
Taylor had planned to be a stay-at-home mom, but her cousin, Diane Downs, who founded the Leopards in 1993, offered her a part-time, mostly work-at-home position taking care of the organization’s monetary, music licensing, and grant-reporting duties.
That was six years ago, right around the time her son, Brando, was born. (He will be joining the Leopards later this year.)
It turned out to be a nice, low-key job. Then the Zeppelin video hit, and “it’s been crazy ever since,” she said. “And of course the kids themselves just feel like rock stars, which is very exciting.”
In April, the Leopards will do their “Big Gig” fundraiser (with special guest cellist Ben Sollee). They typically sell about 900 tickets in a 1,400-seat theater, but Taylor expects this year’s event to be a sellout.
They sent Jimmy Page an invitation, as well as a T-shirt, a video message from the kids, and some handwritten thank-you notes.
“We don’t really expect much of a response,” Taylor said. “But it would be crazy if he did.”
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822
Butler to Honor 11 for Service to the University
PUBLISHED ON Sep 03 2015
Nine Butler University alumni and former President Bobby Fong will be honored on September 25 at the Alumni Awards Recognition Program for extraordinary professional achievement and service to the University and their communities.
This year’s winners are:
Ovid Butler Society Foundation Award
Will ’06 and Emily (McIntyre) ’06 Turner
Ovid Butler Society Mortar Award
Nancy Brown ’72 and Darrell Pieczko
Joseph Irwin Sweeney Alumni Service Award
Bradley A. Hamann ’04
Hilton Ultimus Brown Alumni Achievement Award
Nadja Halilbegovich ’02
Katharine Merrill Graydon Alumni Service Award
Barry G. Hohlfelder ’66
Robert Todd Duncan Alumni Achievement Award
Joseph N. Allegretti ’59
The Butler Service Medal
Bobby Fong
The Butler Service Medal
Ann Wagner Harper ’63 MS ’68
The Butler Medal
Sanford “Sandy” Rader ’53
The awards will be presented at the Howard L. Schrott Center for the Arts at 6:00 PM as part of Homecoming Weekend festivities.
More about the winners and their awards follows.
Will ’06 and Emily (McIntyre) ’06 Turner (Ovid Butler Society Foundation Award)
Emily, who earned her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the College of Business, was captain of the cheerleading squad and active in Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority while at Butler. After graduating, she worked for GE Supply, later called Gexpro, as a contract implementation leader. She served as a student mentor in the Starfish Initiative for four years and is an active member of St. Luke’s Methodist Church in Indianapolis. In 2007, Will and Emily created the Richard McIntyre Endowed Book Fund to honor Emily’s late father. In 2012, Will and Emily had their first child, and Emily has been a full-time mom since then.
Will, who was Freshman Male of the Year in 2003 and a Top 100 Student in 2005 and 2006, earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance at Butler. He was captain of the men’s golf team and a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He started as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch after Butler and is now First Vice President of Wealth Management, focusing his practice on financial planning and investments for individuals and institutions. Will has been a member of Butler’s B-Association, Ovid Butler Society Executive Committee, and the Young Alumni Board, where he served as President.
The Ovid Butler Society Foundation Award honors one person or couple (age 40 and younger) who demonstrate leadership and generosity to Butler University.
Nancy Brown ’72 and Darrell Pieczko (Ovid Butler Society Mortar Award)
Nancy Brown, who studied English at Butler, is a current member of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors. She is a past member of the OBS Executive Committee. While a student at Butler, her activities and honors included Alpha Chi Omega, Dean’s List, Alpha Lambda Delta, Sigma Tau Delta, Mortar Board (President), History Club, Literature Club, Spring Sing (Director), Geneva Stunts (Co-Director).
Brown earned a Master of Arts in Public Relations at Ball State University in 1981 and went on to a career in corporate communications. She worked at First Chicago/NBD Corp. from 1978–2000, leaving there as a vice president, and became Director of Corporate Relations for ITT Educational Services. She retired from ITT in 2007.
Darrell Pieczko formerly worked as Director of Market Research for INB Financial. Brown and Pieczko live six blocks from the Butler campus and enjoy the atmosphere that the Carillon contributes to the neighborhood.
The Ovid Butler Society Mortar Award honors one person or couple each year who demonstrate great vision, leadership, and generosity to Butler University.
Bradley A. Hamann ’04 (Joseph Irwin Sweeney Alumni Service Award)
Brad Hamann, Managing Broker for Hamann Sense LLC, decided to attend Butler following a Butler Business Scholar’s Weekend. He majored in marketing and minored in psychology. As the bulldog mascot, he traveled to the men’s basketball team’s first Sweet Sixteen in 2003. Brad was recognized as a “Resident Assistant of the Year” in 2003 before becoming the Assistant Coordinator at University Terrace, serving approximately 150 students during his tenure. Brad was twice honored in the “Top 10 Outstanding Male Students” in 2003 and 2004.
Hamann continues to support the College of Business, Student Affairs, and Young Alumni Board, where he served as Vice President and President. He helped establish a scholarship, form a task force on alumni needs, and create the “Ambassador” program to engage members. Hamann met his wife, Andrea E. (Sands) Hamann PharmD ’08 as a client referral in 2009. They married in 2013 and reside in Butler Tarkington.
The award he is receiving is named for Joseph Irwin Sweeney, whose student career was cut short when he suffered an untimely death in summer 1900 prior to his senior year. It goes to an alumnus or alumna who has graduated within the past 15 years.
Nadja Halilbegovich ’02 (Hilton Ultimus Brown Alumni Achievement Award)
Nadja Halilbegovich was 12 years old when the war broke out in her native country Bosnia. Throughout the next three and a half years, she and all the citizens of the capital Sarajevo suffered from continuous shelling and the deprivation of basic needs. During the war, she began sharing her poetry and diary entries on the National Radio. Soon, she had her own radio show called “The Music Box.”
At 14, Halilbegovich’s diary was published in Bosnia. She became known as the “Bosnian Anne Frank,” and the Dutch National Television network created a documentary about her life. In late 1995, Halilbegovich escaped the war and came to live in the United States. That summer, the sequel to her diary entitled Dreamer’s Insomnia was published in Bosnia. She continued to speak and share her experiences.
She earned bachelor’s degrees in theatre and music performance from Butler University and was recognized as the first-ever student recipient of a “Woman of Distinction Award.”
The Hilton Ultimus Brown Alumni Achievement Award honors alumni who have exited the University within the past 15 years and have made major contributions to a career field or to society.
Barry G. Hohlfelder ’66 (Katharine Merrill Graydon Alumni Service Award)
Barry Hohlfelder retired in 2008 after nearly 37 years as a television producer for NBC. His credits include producing “Sixth Hour News” for WNBC-TV in New York, writing news for WMAQ-TV in Chicago’s Channel 5 News, and news producer at WMAQ, where he produced special projects for Jane Pauley. He won a national Emmy in 1982 for an “NBC Nightly News” series called “College Sports, the Money Game,” and a local Emmy for co-hosting a series of championship high school football games with Greg Gumbel.
At Butler, where he was a radio and television major, he was a news director and anchor at WAJC-FM; appeared in two theatre productions; received a radio writing award sponsored by WXLW radio at the 1966 Honors Convocation; won a WIBC Radio Newscasting Award; and received the Alpha Epsilon Rho Senior Achievement Award in radio.
He is past Chair and a current member of the Jordan College of the Arts Board of Visitors and the current Chair of the College of Communication Board of Visitors. He also is President of the Jordan College of the Arts Alumni Community and has served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors.
The Katharine Merrill Graydon Alumni Service Award is presented to an alumnus or alumna of more than 15 years for outstanding service to Butler University.
Joseph N. Allegretti ’59 (Robert Todd Duncan Alumni Achievement Award)
Joe Allegretti graduated cum laude from the College of Pharmacy in 1959. He is the Past President and COO of Laser Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Crown Point, Indiana, and was President Emeritus of Laser Pharmaceuticals LLC, a new entity. He also was the Secretary/Treasurer of the Ribordy Drug Store chain for more than 13 years. In his early years, he worked as a pharmacist at East Side Pharmacy and Portage Professional Pharmacy in the Portage Clinic, all affiliated with Ribordy Drugs.
Allegretti was Chairman and Director of the Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (COPHS) Board of Visitors for a combination of six years. He and his wife, Annette, have three sons: Carl, Paul, and Jim—all Butler University graduates. Carl ’83 is a Certified Public Accountant and Partner and CEO of Deloitte Tax LLP. Paul ’88 is a pharmacy graduate and is currently an Emergency Room Physician and Director of the Emergency Room Program for Midwestern University. James ’92 is a Certified Public Accountant and Partner with Deloitte LLP. All three sons played football for Butler.
For the past 25 years, Joe and Annette have provided various scholarship support to a Butler student majoring in Pharmacy or Business from Northwest Indiana. For the past 15 years, they have endowed a scholarship through the Crown Point Community Foundation for a student from the Crown Point area going to Butler University. They have also donated white coats to Butler Pharmacy students entering the professional phase of their education and supported the Athletic Department in the past.
The Robert Todd Duncan Alumni Achievement Award is presented to a Butler alumnus or alumna of more than 15 years for outstanding contributions in a career field or to society.
Bobby Fong (The Butler Service Medal)
When Bobby Fong became President of Butler University in 2001, he was the only Asian American president of a private university in the United States. His decade as President of Butler was highlighted by highly successful financial management and strategic planning initiatives. The University implemented a new core curriculum, which included an Indianapolis service component; built or renovated a facility each year; completed a $154 million comprehensive campaign; and sustained an athletic program distinguished by its balance between academic achievement and competitive excellence.
He opened the Center for Faith and Vocation and the Center for Citizenship and Community, which became national models for involving students in faith and service to community, respectively. Under Fong’s leadership, Butler began its relationship with Shortridge High School, the Community Arts School, and, with a grant from the Lilly Endowment, its Pharmacy Outreach program.
The Butler Service Medal recognizes emeriti faculty or retired faculty and staff (alumnus or non-alumnus) for a lifetime of distinguished service to Butler University and to the community.
Ann Wagner Harper ’63 MS ’68 (The Butler Service Medal)
By the time Ann Wagner Harper got to Butler, she had already established herself as a local celebrity in music and broadcasting. Among her credits, she was the first female vocalist on television in Indiana, on WFBM (Channel 6); and first female disc jockey in the state, on WFBM radio, where she conducted on-air interviews with such personalities as Patti Page, The McGuire Sisters, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, and Bill Haley and the Comets.
When rock ’n’ roll hit, she decided to give up radio and finish her college education at Butler University. (She had started college at the University of Louisville in 1944 after winning a voice contest sponsored by the Louisville Courier Journal and WHAS, but moved to Indianapolis in 1947 to sing with the Art Berry Orchestra at The Columbia Club.) She earned her bachelor’s degree in speech, then taught high school, and completed her master’s degree at Butler in education and speech.
After graduation, the manager of WAJC, Butler’s student-run radio, asked her to join the faculty in radio and television broadcasting. She advised students and taught announcing and radio production. She later introduced two new courses, broadcast law and music in broadcasting. Starting as an instructor, she became a full professor, her proudest professional accomplishment. In 1985, she was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. She retired from Butler in 1988.
Sanford “Sandy” Rader ’53 (The Butler Medal)
Sandy Rader has practiced law in New Jersey for 45 years. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a member of the Strategic Air Command Flight Crew from 1954–1956 and has been an Air Force Reserve Officer and Retiree Officer since 1956. Rader is currently the Director of Retiree Services and Affairs at Joint Military Base McGuire-Dix, Lakehurst, New Jersey, overseeing services for approximately 70,000 retirees and veterans.
At Butler, Rader organized the 1952 Junior Prom. He also served as president of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity; was a member and officer of the Arnold Air Society of the Butler Air Force ROTC Detachment; was an Air Force ROTC officer and on the Air Force ROTC staff in his senior year; was a house boy at the Delta Gamma house and a soda jerk at the C-Club; chaired one of the Greek caucuses on campus politics; and was a representative on the Interfraternity/Sorority Council.
The Butler Medal, the highest honor conferred by the Butler University Alumni Association, recognizes individuals for a lifetime of distinguished service to either Butler or their local community while at the same time achieving a distinguished career in their chosen profession.
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822
PUBLISHED ON Jun 01 2018
Stirling Matheson '09, who already has dancer and writer on his resume, is adding a new credit: film director.
Absolution, his short film of a dance Sarah Farnsley '10 choreographed, will premiere at the Dances With Films independent-film festival in Los Angeles on June 8 at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre.
"It's a very different kind of directing," said Matheson, who danced with Ballet Theatre of Maryland, founded Ballet Theatre of Indiana in 2014, and has written for Dance magazine, among other publications. "I'm used to directing my company, and that's about training it to be repeatable so that it goes right for the one shot you get on stage. But we had five hours to do this, which was a new experience, for sure."
The film, which runs almost seven minutes and features five Butler University graduates among the company, visits the House of the Rising Sun, which in folklore is an allegory for purgatory. There, in the pouring rain, all the dancers are grappling with their guilt and figuring out how to forgive themselves for whatever went wrong in their lives. As they come to terms with their issues, they can go off into the purple light and the rest of the afterlife. But for some people, that takes more time than others.
Absolution debuted as a dance piece about two years ago during a Ballet Theatre of Indiana performance at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. As he watched, Matheson was struck by the details and angles in the choreography. He began to envision it as a film.
""I had some ideas of exactly what I wanted in lighting, which was different from the stage version," he said. "The original version was stark white side light. I thought it would end up looking dead on film. There was a bit of symbolism in the colors that we used, that pale melancholy blue-gray on the right side of the frame and then as they traveled from right to left, they went into that more ethereal death and rebirth-looking purple.""
He describes his role in the production as "translator" between Director of Photography Bryan Boyd and Farnsley, who made sure the film was true to her choreography.
They shot the film from 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM on a night when "it was 60 degrees and I was literally spraying them with a sprinkler the whole time," Matheson said. "They're some pretty tough ladies."
The dancers include Michelle Quenon '15, Anne Mushrush '15, Lauren Nasci '14, Audrey Robson '14, Christina (Presti) Voreis '14, and Catherine Jue '15. They're all part of the Ballet Theatre of Indiana company, which concluded its fourth season this spring.
Matheson said the Indianapolis debut of the film version of Absolution will likely take place during Ballet Theatre of Indiana's fifth season, which will be announced this summer. He suggested that people who want to see the film check out Ballet Theatre of Indiana's website.
"I'm never mad when people go to btindiana.org and sign up for the newsletter if they want to see us flail our limbs in person, rather than on the screen," he said, laughing. "I mean, that's what dancing is—it's limb-flailing. But good limb-flailing."
Media contact:
Marc Allan MFA '18
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822
Lights! Camera! Action! Dance!
Stirling Matheson '09, Sarah Farnsley '10 combine to turn a dance into a film.
Stirling Matheson '09, Sarah Farnsley '10 combine to turn a dance into a film.