Schleiffer to conduct final concert before retirement
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Huntington, Ind. "After 32 years of service in the Music Department at Huntington College, Dr. Marlene Schleiffer will retire in May. In celebration of her service to the College, a special spring concert will showcase Schleiffer as she conducts her final concert as director of the Wind Ensemble on Friday, April 15, 2005. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., in the Zurcher Auditorium of the Merillat Centre for the Arts. Admission is $8 for the general public, $4 for students. Tickets may be reserved by calling the Merillat Centre for the Arts Box Office at (260) 359-4261. Several of Schleiffer's favorite music selections are programmed for the special concert including a few marches by conductors Fillmore and Goldman. Sousa will be represented with Easter Monday on the White House Lawn. Some of the more serious selections include the symphonic poem, Universal Judgment by Camile de Nardis and Wagner's Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral. Nelhybel's Praise to the Lord, which ends the concert, was specifically selected to give a musical thanks to God for Schleiffer's years at Huntington College.
On the lighter side, the concert will feature Wood Up Quickstep, a short piece featuring a duel between trumpeter Jason A. Lucker and cornetist Matt Walter. In addition, Lucker will serve as assistant conductor for a group of international dances including Fandago by Frank Perkins, Hoe Down and Hora by Alfred Reed, and Gliere's Russian Sailors' Dance.
The Huntington College Jazz Ensemble, directed by local jazz musician Eric Clancy, will perform during a reception immediately following the concert. In 1989, Schleiffer encouraged Clancy to begin a jazz program, which they established together that year. As a favor to Schleiffer, the Jazz Ensemble will also perform during the concert with Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer and Benny Golson's Killer Joe.
Mr. Rich McConnell, senior director of gift planning at Huntington College, will narrate the concert. McConnell was one of Schleiffer's first students in 1973. He graduated from Huntington College with a music degree and served for several years as instructor of percussion at the College.
Marlene Schleiffer is a native of Chicago where she began serious oboe study with Ray Still, principal oboist of the Chicago symphony. As a full professor at Huntington College, she maintains an active teaching schedule, and continues to compose and perform as an oboist. As an administrator, Schleiffer was Chairperson of the Music Department at Huntington College from 1973 to 1994, where she set up degree requirements in preparation for accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music and worked heavily in the area of recruiting music students and on community participation in College activities, correlating these two areas as well. She was producer and co-founder of the Northern Indiana Opera Association from 1976-81, a fully professional company complete with orchestra, full costuming and staging. She has authored Essay for Orchestra (Composition Thesis); The Published Works of Timothy Swan (Musicology Thesis); The Instrumental Chamber Music of Bernhard Heiden (Musicology Dissertation), and a music history study guide used at Huntington College. Recent compositions include a volume of Old Songs for the Modern Church; 15 Transcriptions of Popular Classics for Double-Reed Choir (premiered at Huntington College, September 1998); Silver Sojourn for Flute (premiered in Fort Wayne, July 1999); and Suite in Seven Movements for Flute, Viola, and Bass Trombone (premiered in Fort Wayne, November 2000). She is a member of the American Musicological Society, the American Federation of Musicians Local 58, and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors.
Huntington College is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. Following a decade of growth and development, Huntington College will become Huntington University in mid-2005. U.S.News & World Report ranks Huntington among the top comprehensive colleges in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington College is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. Huntington is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and was named one of the 50 best Christian places to work by Christianity Today magazine.
