The Blutt College House Music Program

The Office of College Houses and Academic Services and the Department of Music co-sponsor private music instruction and ensemble coaching by professional musicians and advanced graduate students who are affiliated with designated houses. College House Music Fellows also offer masterclasses and recitals in the houses.

This program is sponsored in part by a generous gift from Mitchell J. Blutt, M. D. (C '78, M '82, WG '87)

To arrange lessons, a student should go to the Performance Office (Room 201) of the Music Department and collect an information sheet and application packet for lessons. In the packet is a list of all of the instructors affiliated with the program, along with an indication of the level student that they will teach (beginner, intermediate, advanced). The student makes arrangements directly with a teacher for an audition. If accepted for lessons, the fee is placed onto the student's bursar bill upon signing a contract. Lessons are subsidized by the Department of Music and College Houses; rates are indicated on the list of instructors. The program provides nine (9) lessons in the fall semester, ten (10) lessons in the spring semester. If students desire hour-long lessons, the additional amount will be added to their bursar bill. When lesson arrangements have been finalized, students must return a signed copy of the completed contract (also provided in the packet) to the Music Department.

Ensemble coaching, masterclasses, and recitals by College House Music Fellows are open to all students in the Houses with no fee, regardless of whether the student is a participant in the private lesson program. Small ensemble coaching is coordinated by the Music Department through its chamber music program. Interested ensembles should contact David Yang, Director of Chamber Music for further information.

Participants must be current Penn undergraduates living in a College House. It is anticipated that house fellows for the 2006-07 academic year will offer instruction in piano (both classical and jazz), violin, cello, flute, trumpet, jazz/rock guitar and voice. In addition, associates are available to teach lessons on other instruments at various levels, including viola, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, horn, trombone and low brass, classical guitar, viol, recorder, and harpsichord. Please check the referral list for the specific instruction available this year. If you are interested in studying an instrument not listed on the referral list, please contact Michael Ketner, Director of Performance.

Please be advised that there are a limited number of slots available; priority will given to those who apply early. Contracts for lessons will not be accepted after the beginning of the third week of classes.

Music From the Houses

In addition to private lessons, the College House Music Program provides a series of performances to the Penn community featuring the talents of our Music Fellows. The Music From the Houses series features Fellows' recitals, masterclasses, and studio recitals.

Through this series, the College House Music Program is pleased to welcome musicians of the Philalelphia Orchestra. Through a partnership with the Philadelphia Orchestra's "Raising the Invisible Curtain" initiative, orchestra musicians perform several recitals at Penn throughout the year.

Spring Semester Performance Schedule

About the College House Music Fellows

Violinist Ghislaine Fleischmann (violin) holds a performer's certificate from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Temple University. She has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Radio Television Orchestra Luxembourg, the Vienna Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Festival Orchestra of Bregenz, Recital tours have taken Fleischmann to Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Finland, Turkey, and China. She plays regularly in the violin sections of both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony as well as tours with the Brandenburg Ensemble.

Bonnie Hoke (voice) has been heard in recital from Tokyo to New York to the south of France. Recent New York recitals include "A Woman's Voice: Songs of Goethe's female characters", "Voyage à Paris!", "Sweet Melody of Night: Songs of Erich Korngold", and "Wild Nights!-Songs to Poetry of Emily Dickinson." Winner of the 1991 Salzburg International Mozart competition, Ms. Hoke's solo credits include Mimi in La Bohème in Vienna, Micaela in Carmen, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, as well as, Handel's Saul, the Mozart C Minor Mass, Mozart Requiem, Poulenc Gloria, and the Beethoven Missa Solemnis. Ms. Hoke has presented numerous lecture recitals in the US and abroad. Ms. Hoke has degrees in Music from Oberlin College and Florida State University, and received fellowships from the Franz Liszt Institute in Weimar, Germany; the Académie Musicale de Villecroze in Provence, France; and the Aspen Music Festival.

Darin Kelly, (trumpet) enjoys a reputation as one of the area's preeminent trumpeters in the baroque and classical repertoire. He has been featured in solo and chamber works with the Michigan Bach Society, Michigan Sinfonietta, and Les Cordes Mont-Royal (Montreal, Quebec). Additional performance credits include appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and his own quintet Old City Brass. The South Jersey native maintains an active and multi-instrumental interest in a variety of worldwide genres including jazz, folk, and especially traditional Irish music. A graduate of the University of Michigan, his teachers include Armando Ghitalla and Robert Earley.

Michele Kelly is the flutist with Relâche, a respected ensemble for "downtown" new music. The group performs over thirty concerts annually, and presents in excess of six world premiere commissioned works each season. She has worked directly with many of today's most innovative composers in the creation of new works, including Guy Klucevsek, Leroy Jenkins, and Mark Hagerty. The New York-born, Houston-raised flutist is highly regarded as a clinician, ensemble coach, and studio teacher. In addition to her participation in the college house music program, Michele also continues her series of workshops, master classes, and recitals involving her own teaching studio. She received her M.Mus. from the University of Michigan, where she also earned a unique post-Master's Specialist degree in chamber music performance. Her teachers include Keith Bryan and composer/theorist/flutist Cynthia Folio. The daughter of noted abstract expressionist painter James Groff lives with her family in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia.

Cellist Karen Meier is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music with further studies at the Julliard School of Music. A former member of the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, she performs with Musica 2000 and teaches at the Settlement Music School and Temple Music Prep. She has extensive chamber music performance experience and her cello teachers include Metta Watts, Orlando Cole and Joel Krosnick.

Michael Sheadel has performed in the United States and Europe as both soloist and collaborative pianist. A co-founder of the flute and piano ensemble The Hamilton Duo, he has also appeared as ensemble pianist with the Chestnut Brass Company, Encore Chamber Players, Hildegard Chamber Players, Network for New Music, Orchestra 2001, and the Settlement Contemporary Players. An avid performer of contemporary music, he has participated in the regional and world premieres of numerous new works. Dr. Sheadel earned degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and Temple University. His principal teachers were Maria Luisa Faini, Walter Hautzig, and Harvey Wedeen. His varied teaching experience has included adjunct faculty positions at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and Temple University. In addition to the College House Music Program, he also teaches for Philadelphia's Settlement Music School and maintains an active private studio.

Critically acclaimed as a “musician’s pianist,” Matthew Bengtson has a unique combination of musical talents ranging from extraordinary pianist, to composer, analyst, and scholar of performance practice, and thus is in demand as both a soloist and collaborator. In 1998 he won the La Gesse Fellowship, and was presented in concert in France and Italy, at the French Embassy in Washington, DC, at Thomas Jefferson’s home Monticello, and in solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City. Mr. Bengtson has participated in many American music festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance (SICPP) at New England Conservatory, and the Classical Era Workshop and Baroque Performance Institute (BPI) at Oberlin Conservatory. In Europe, he studied at the Internationale Sommerakademie “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, and the Centre Acanthes in Avignon, with Claude Helffer. At the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, France, he studied with Philippe Entremont, Philippe Bianconi and Frédéric Aguessy. In Salzburg, he performed Boulez’s Sonata no. 1 in the Wiener Saal, and at Fontainebleau, he was awarded the Prix de la Ville de Fontainebleau for his performances. In addition to his extensive concertizing, Mr. Bengtson serves on the faculty of Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, and the piano staff of the Curtis Institute of Music.

Dan Paul's roots are jazz piano and classical pipe organ - in concert he unites them with the vast tonal arsenal of modern keyboard technology. A protege of avant-garde guru Dave Burrell (Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders) and bassist Peter Chwazik (Trey Anastasio Band), "DP" maintains a burgeoning jazz piano studio at the University of Pennsylvania and makes his home in Philadelphia. He is fresh from an early-2005 TV appearance with Jill Scott and works in the Philadelphia area as a jazz pianist, studio musician, composer and producer.

Matt McCloskey (guitar) began studying music at the age of 12, playing professionally at the age of 16 and teaching privately at the age of 18. Matt graduated with honors from Musician's Institute in Los Angeles, received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Connecticut, and a Master's in Jazz Studies from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Matt has performed in countless venues across the country; Atlantic City and Las Vegas showrooms, the Wilton Theater in Hollywood, Philadelphia's Prince Theater, and numerous small jazz clubs. He has performed with artists as diverse as T. Lavitz of the Dixie Dregs, Gerald Veasley, Lou Rawls, Chuck Mangione, and Scott Henderson. Matt has released an album of original jazz compositions and is the writer and leader of the rock band The Swell. He currently resides in Philadelphia where he teaches and operates his own recording studio. He joins Penn's College House Music program as a Music Fellow at Fischer Hassenfeld College House. At Penn, Matt gives private and group lessons in jazz/rock guitar and coaches jazz combos as well as giving performances.

Click here for a complete list of instructors in the Blutt College House Music Program.