AIR

Performing Arts at Stevens

Music Staff

Athena Kim (Piano Artist-in-Residence) Born in Frankfurt, Germany and studied piano in Germany, South Korea, and the United States. She received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, a Masters of Music in Piano Performance from University of Southern California, a second Masters in Piano Pedagogy, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with a cognate in Music Theory from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was a teaching assistant for Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy departments teaching undergraduate music major students, and was also a piano instructor for the Piano Laboratory Program at University of Illinois where she taught all ages from all levels. She also served as adjunct professor at Blackburn College, Carlinville, Illinois. She had a Carnegie debut at Weill Recital Hall and has performed in numerous concerts as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Germany, England, Russia, and South Korea. She was awarded in national piano competitions, Yukyoung Piano Competition and Samick Piano Competition in South Korea. She had studied with Vitaly Margulis, Ian Hobson, Charles Asche, Kumbong Kim, Heyryung, Kim, and James Avery. Her piano pedagogy study was guided under Reid Alexander. She is also a member of Music Teachers National Associations and College Music Society.

Gerald (Jerry) Ficeto (Bands Director), percussionist and conductor, has performed in over 100 stage musicals. He has performed throughout the tri-state area with numerous big bands, jazz groups and area orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Livingston Symphony and Hanover Wind Symphony in such venues as Lincoln Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Symphony Hall, and PNC Arts Center. As a free-lance percussionist he regularly travels from Philadelphia to New York City and Atlantic City to the Catskill Mountains. As a Composer and arranger, Ficeto orchestrated the original musical Singers in the Shadows. He continues to arrange, conduct, perform and produce musical projects for film, theater and commercials. Currently a teacher of music in the Kearny Public Schools, his students range from the beginner to the adult professional. A sought-after clinician, his coaching reaches numerous music programs throughout the state. Ficeto earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Montclair State College in Music Education and a Master of Arts Degree with a concentration in conducting from New Jersey City University, where he studied with the renowned Broadway conductor/percussionist Nicholas Cerrato.

Bethany Reeves (Choir Director and Voice) Ms. Reeves is Stevens' Artist-In-Residence for Voice and the Stevens Choir Director; she also teaches music courses for the College of Arts and Letters. As a solo soprano Ms. Reeves has most recently appeared as a recitalist in Portland, Oregon, and as La Novizia in Suor Angelica and Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann at Rutgers University, where she is a doctoral candidate. She has sung roles from the standard operatic repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Menotti, as well as challenging new works with the American Chamber Opera Co, and has several credits as a stage director for opera and theatre. She is a member of the Actors Shakespeare Company, a professional ensemble in residence at New Jersey City University, for whom she is an actress and a coach for voice, text, and self-staging techniques. Ms. Reeves holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Arizona State University, and is a member of the New York Singing Teachers Association, American Choral Directors Association and National Association of Teachers of Singing.

David Leibowitz (Orchestra Director) is the founder and Music Director of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra (now in its 19th year) and has been the Principal Conductor of the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra since 2004. He is on the faculty of the City College of New York, where he directs the CCNY Orchestra, and the Westchester Summer Vocal Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. In addition, he is on the conducting staff of the Maud Powell Music Festival in Illinois and, in Italy, he has served on the conducting staff and faculty of the Siena Summer Music program and the Rome Festival, leading opera, ballet, and concert performances. He has led concert, opera, and ballet performances throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Europe, with such ensembles as the Orchester Pro Arte (Vienna), The Pleven (Bulgaria) Philharmonic, The Masterplayers Orchestra (Switzerland), the Orquestra Sinfonico de la Ciudad de Mexico, and the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra. In the NYC area, he has led the Astoria Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Greenwich Village Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, and Centre Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Leibowitz received his MA from the City University of New York's Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College where his main studies were in performance and musicology. While there, he was awarded a teaching fellowship and was named a Presidential Scholar of the University. Recently, Mr. Leibowitz was an award-winner in the 2011 American Prize Competition in Conducting and Orchestral Programming.

Aysegül Durakoglu (Piano Artist-in-Residence) Aysegül Durakoglu, pianist, received her Bachelors degree from the Istanbul State Conservatory where she later served on the faculty as a Professor of piano. As a recipient of a scholarship from the Turkish Government, she came to the United States to pursue her graduate studies. She graduated from the Juilliard School with a Master of Music degree and received her PhD from New York University.
Her teachers at Juilliard include Adele Marcus and Gyrogy Sandor; in Istanbul, Verda Ün and Judith Ulug; and Gregory Haimovsky at New York University. As a member of NYU Chamber Music Society she has performed in numerous concerts at Merkin Concert Hall and Weill Recital Hall. As a soloist she performed at the Festival of Atlantics in New Jersey, at Hancock Auditorium in Los Angeles, and on the "Listening Room" program on WQXR. Ms. Durakoglu's recent appearances include highly successful recitals and an orchestral concert with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, as well as radio and television broadcasts. Most recently, she has performed concerts featuring works of Turkish polyphonic music composers at Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, International Arts Club of Washington, Performance Arts Center in Washington. Her repertory includes works which represent the multi-faceted characteristics of Turkish polyphonic music composers, such as Adnan Saygun, Cemal Resit, Rey and Ilhan Mimaroglu. The recipient of The 1992 NYU Chamber Music Society Award, Ms. Aysegül Durakoglu is available as a soloist, as well as for orchestral concerts.