Past president Daron Hagen, in remarks to the Board of Directors at the Foundation's Annual Fall Meeting today at the offices of Schiff, Hardin in New York City, thanked the board for their support during his term, and noted their achievements during that time, including the creation of the ASCAP/LLF Composition Contest, the launching of the media division VoxNova, and the Foundation's first New York Benefit. "I am particularly proud of the professionalism and dedication of our board members, how hard they have worked to fulfill the Foundation's many functions, and the vibrant sense of cooperation and enjoyment we've all brought to our work together."
Peter Kazaras, artistic director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, and LLF board member stated, "As President of the LLF, Daron Hagen’s inextinguishable enthusiasm, unflagging energy, and thoughtful sense of discretion and kindness have been invaluable assets to the Board in its transition period. Daron has an uncanny ability to recognize your strong points and to play to them... He has demonstrated again and again what a tactful and wonderful leader and teacher he is."
Craig Urquhart, an active member of the board also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Hagen: "Daron Hagen’s tenure as the Chairman of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation was remarkable in that he led the Foundation in a creative and far-reaching way. In doing so he has handed over a more solid reinvigorated LLF to Ms Maxwell, our incoming president."
Russell Platt, LLF Board secretary welcomed Ms. Maxwell as incoming president: "In our meetings, Linn Maxwell has impressed me not only by the breadth of her notable career but by the obvious clarity of mind she has brought to her high-level experience as a supporter of vocalists and vocal music. I am confident that she will be a judicious leader of the Foundation in the coming years."
Daniel Gundlach spoke for the entire board when he said, "I greatly look forward to working closely with Ms. Maxwell, who has already shown herself to be a perceptive and creative thinker and a capable and confident leader. And I echo my fellow board members in their profound appreciation for Daron Hagen’s prodigious accomplishments during his tenure as president of the Foundation."
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Succeeding Daron Hagen as the Lotte Lehmann Foundation's new president, Linn Maxwell, a mezzo-soprano, has performed on the stages of major orchestras, opera companies and recital halls across the United States and 25 foreign countries. She has also performed cabaret and one-woman shows in New York City and in March 2006 made her European cabaret debut at the International Theater, Frankfurt, Germany. A native of Indiana, Ms. Maxwell has been a soloist with the orchestras of Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle, Oregon, Puerto Rico, San Antonio, Kansas, Rochester, Denver, Brooklyn, Minnesota and the Orchestra of the U.N.A.M of Mexico City.
In demand with oratorio and choral societies, Ms. Maxwell has appeared with the Bach festivals of Rochester, New York (for twelve seasons), Oregon (with Helmuth Rilling), Kalamazoo and Carmel. She is the founder of the Grand Rapids Bach Festival, has appeared with the Oratorio Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center, the Pro Arte Chorale at Carnegie Hall, the Oratorio Society of Utah in a nationally televised performance of Handel’s Messiah from the Mormon Tabernacle, and on several occasions with Musica Sacra at New York’s Lincoln Center. In recent seasons she has sung the Mozart Requiem with the Sofia, Bulgaria Philharmonic, premiered Mary Cassatt by Libby Larsen with the Grand Rapids Symphony, performed a concert of Russian opera arias with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and premiered a song cycle by Patrick Kavanaugh at Washington’s Kennedy Center in 2002.
Ms. Maxwell began her career in Europe, spending two seasons at the Städtische Bühnen in Essen, Germany where she sang Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, also singing major roles with the opera companies of Strasbourg, Lyon, Toulouse, the Netherlands (where she sang Baroque operas with Nicholas Harnancourt and Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia), Hungarian State Opera and concerts with the Berlin Radio Orchestra. Her opera engagements in the U.S. have included San Francisco Opera, again as Rosina, two appearances with Santa Fe Opera, and Tales of Hoffmann with Cincinnati Opera.
Ms. Maxwell is a graduate of the University of Maryland and holds a Master of Music degree from the Catholic University of America. She has recorded for RCA Red Seal, New World, Centaur and Albany Records. Prior to succeeding Mr. Hagen as president of the board of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation she served as president of Joy in Singing. For more information about Linn Maxwell, plaease visit the official website: www.linnmaxwell.com.
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Daniel Gundlach succeeds Brian Zeger as vice president of the Lotte Lehmann Foundation. A countertenor, he has been hailed as a vivid singer and actor in his appearances throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He has sung under James Conlon, Helmuth Rilling, Marc Minkowski, John Nelson, Daniel Beckwith, Jeffrey Thomas, Alain Altinoglu, James Richman, Johannes Somary, Philip Brunelle, Gwendolyn Toth, and the late Newell Jenkins, among others. His has sung with Chicago Lyric Opera, New York City Opera, Minnesota Opera, Skylight Opera, Edmonton Opera, the Broomhill Festival (UK), Les Musiciens du Louvre, and the Dallas Bach Society, the Clarion Music Society, Artek, Concert Royal, Amor Artis, the Dayton Philharmonic, and the Honolulu Symphony.
He has created leading roles in six contemporary operas, including the world premiere of Gualtiero Dazzi’s Le Luthier de Venise at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Pascal Dusapin’s Perelà, l’homme de fumée at the Opéra de Paris and at the Opéra de Montpellier. A live recording of these latter performances has been recently released on the Naïve Classics label.
A frequent recitalist, Mr. Gundlach has appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago and on St. Bartholomew’s Concert Series and at the Donnell Library in New York, at Lawrence University, Northwestern University, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Illinois in Urbana. He also was featured in American Chamber Opera’s staged production of Pierrot Lunaire, which used his own English translation. In the fall of 2006, he appeared in New York and Chicago with countertenor Mark Crayton in a series of recitals entitled Conversations: New Music for Two Countertenors featuring newly-commissioned work by eight different composers. In March 2008, he performed a recital at KHPR, Honolulu's National Public Radio station. He is currently developing a cabaret act featuring songs made popular by Edith Piaf.
In addition to his performing career, Daniel Gundlach is active as a writer, teacher and vocal coach. He has taught master classes at the Classical Singer convention in New York City, and at the Neil Semer Vocal Institute. More information about Mr. Gundlach may be found at the official website: www.danielgundlach.com.
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Larry Alan Smith, the new treasurer of the Lehmann Foundation, began his earliest musical training in Ohio, and pursued his studies in France with Nadia Boulanger and at The Juilliard School with Vincent Persichetti. While earning his B.M., M.M. and D.M.A. degrees at Juilliard, he was the recipient of several prizes, including the Joseph Machlis Prize for outstanding distinction in composition. During his final year of study, Dr. Smith was appointed to the Faculty of the Juilliard School where he taught from 1980-86. Previously, he was on the Composition Faculty of the Boston Conservatory.
An award-winning and prolific composer, Dr. Smith is represented and published by the Theodore Presser Company. His works are also published by Bourne Music, E.B. Marks, Colla Voce Music, and Tallow Tree Music Publishing; and his vocal works are distributed by Classical Vocal Reprints. Dr. Smith is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and he serves on a number of regional and national boards. He was recently awarded the 2006 Forrest Goodenough Fellowship for Composers and Songwriters from the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Dr. Smith also maintains an active performing schedule. He has guest conducted numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles in England, Brazil, Italy, Germany and the United States. Dr. Smith is also an experienced pianist who frequently performs his own works.
As an arts executive, he served as the President of the School of American Ballet from 1997-2000, Dean of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford from 1990-97 and Dean of the School of Music at the North Carolina School of the Arts from 1986-90. He is currently Professor of Composition at the Hartt School, Artistic and Executive Director of Wintergreen Performing Arts in Wintergreen, VA and Artistic Director of American SongFest in Woodstock, New York, a component of Woodstock Fringe. More information about Mr. Smith may be found at the official website: www.larryalansmith.com.
An award-winning and prolific composer, Dr. Smith is represented and published by the Theodore Presser Company. His works are also published by Bourne Music, E.B. Marks, Colla Voce Music, and Tallow Tree Music Publishing; and his vocal works are distributed by Classical Vocal Reprints. Dr. Smith is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and he serves on a number of regional and national boards. He was recently awarded the 2006 Forrest Goodenough Fellowship for Composers and Songwriters from the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Dr. Smith also maintains an active performing schedule. He has guest conducted numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles in England, Brazil, Italy, Germany and the United States. Dr. Smith is also an experienced pianist who frequently performs his own works.
As an arts executive, he served as the President of the School of American Ballet from 1997-2000, Dean of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford from 1990-97 and Dean of the School of Music at the North Carolina School of the Arts from 1986-90. He is currently Professor of Composition at the Hartt School, Artistic and Executive Director of Wintergreen Performing Arts in Wintergreen, VA and Artistic Director of American SongFest in Woodstock, New York, a component of Woodstock Fringe. More information about Mr. Smith may be found at the official website: www.larryalansmith.com.
