The Candidates are in the Building

Things are hopping at UC's College-Conservatory of Music, where candidates in the searches for opera chair and Dean of the college are holding meet-and-greet sessions.

On the opera front: Two of the four finalists for the J. Ralph Corbett Distinguished Chair in Opera -- Nicholas Muni and Robert Tannenbaum -- worked Friday and Monday, respectively, with opera students in a presentation of opera scenes in Dieterle Vocal Arts Center.

Next Wednesday, Steven Daigle will visit. The fourth finalist, Jonathan Eaton, is visiting in late February.

They might bump into the Dean candidates, who are visiting the campus for two-day sessions now through the end of January.

The search committee, chaired by Louis D. Bilionis, dean of the College of Law, has identified five candidates. The five are meeting with CCM faculty, staff, students, patrons, members of the Cincinnati arts community (hmmm, wonder what that means?) and UC officials during their two-day visits.

The search committee has worked with the search firm of Russell Reynolds Associates.

The candidates are -- drumroll please:

1. Anthony Paul De Ritis, chair of the music department at Northeastern University (and in town today). He founded the BSO Online Conservatory in partnershp with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Northeastern University, and was awarded a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. State Department and Bureau of Educational Affairs. He's also a composer, whose "Melody for Peace" was performed by the Prague Philharmonic and the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Lincoln Center.

2. Robert Kemble Dodson, whose previous posts include Vice Principal and Principal of the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto, Dean of Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music and subsequently the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and most recently Provost of the New England Conservatory. He is also a cellist, and performed internationally with the Vaghy String Quartet. (He visited last week.)

3. Douglas Knehans, director and head of the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Tasmania (who visits Jan. 28-29). A flutist and a composer, Knehans founded the Australian International Summer Orchestra Institute, which attracts college graduates and pre-professional orchestral musicians who are tutored by principal players from the Sydney, Melbourne, West Australian, and the Tasmanian symphony orchestras, with concerts being recorded for national broadcast.

4. Dale J. Lonis, Executive Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (visiting next week). He previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba. He was also Director of Bands and Coordinator of Conducting and Performance Organizations at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Assistant Director of Bands at Northwestern University. As a conductor, he has led wind ensembles, new music groups, and orchestras across six continents, and is co-founder of the Israel Wind Symphony.

5. George B. Stauffer, Dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (in town tomorrow and Friday). The Mason Gross School is an arts conservatory encompassing dance, music, theater arts, and visual arts, with 90 full-time faculty and 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. As a music historian, Stauffer has written extensively on the music and culture of the Baroque era and the life and works of J. S. Bach. For 22 years, he was director of chapel music and organist at Columbia University.

For a job description and more information about their accomplishments, visit www.ccm.uc.edu/deansearch.

Not to be picky here but looking at both searches -- where are the women?