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 Music Building (yes, we are open!) and collect an information 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. 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.

It is anticipated that College House Fellows for the 2010-2011 academic year will offer instruction in piano, violin, cello, flute, trumpet, jazz/rock guitar, voice, and saxophone. In addition, associates are available to teach lessons on other instruments at various levels, including viola, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, horn, trombone and low brass, jazz piano, clarinet, recorder, and harpsichord, among others. 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 Dr. 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.

Lessons for Credit

Beginning Fall 2008, students will have the option of taking lessons for credit (MUSC 005). In order to receive credit, students must sign up for hour-long lessons and register for the course with the Music Department. Students who register will receive .5 cu per semester. The rates for hour-long lessons will apply to students who receive lessons for credit.

Students interested in lessons for credit who would like more information should contact Dr. Michael Ketner.

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.

About the College House Music Fellows

Violinist Ghislaine Fleischmann (Harnwell College House) 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, Rodin College House) 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, Rodin College House) 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 (Stouffer College House) 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 (Stouffer College House) 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 (Harrison College House) 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, Philadelphia Virtuosi, 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. His discography includes recordings with the Hamilton Duo, violinist Timothy Schwarz, composer Cynthia Folio, and Orchestra 2001. Dr. Sheadel earned degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and Temple University. In addition to the College House Music Program, he also teaches for the Main Line Conservatory, the Settlement Music School, and the Blue Mountain Chamber Music Festival.

Critically acclaimed as a “musician’s pianist,” Matthew Bengtson (Harnwell College House) has a unique combination of musical talents ranging from extraordinary pianist, harpsichordist, and fortepianist to composer, analyst, and scholar of performance practice. As a La Gesse fellow, he has been presented in concert festivals in France, Germany, Italy, and Hungary, at Monticello, and in solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.  He has appeared on NPR’s “Performance Today” and XM Satellite Radio’s “Classical Confidential” with noted violinist Joshua Bell. As an advocate of both contemporary and rarely performed music, he commands a broad and diverse repertoire ranging from Byrd to Ligeti and numerous composers of the Philadelphia area. His discography includes the complete mazurkas of Karol Szymanowski and a recording of six Scriabin sonatas, which The American Record Guide compared to legendary performances by Horowitz and Richter: “Has Scriabin ever been played better?” Mr. Bengtson earned his MM and DMA degrees in piano performance at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, after undergraduate studies at Harvard University with a focus in mathematics and computer science. He also studied in Europe at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Ecole Americaine at Fontainebleau. Mr. Bengtson is also an active performer on fortepiano and harpsichord, collaborating with sopranos Julianne Baird and Laurie Heimes, with Melomanie and the Aurelio Ensemble.

Matt McCloskey (jazz/rock guitar, Fisher-Hassenfeld College House) 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.

A graduate of Harvard University and the Juilliard School, violinist

Min-Young Kim (Rodin College House) of the Daedalus String Quartet (Quartet-in-Residence at UPenn) has toured extensively in the United States and Europe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Musicians from Marlboro and American Chamber Players, and has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Cleveland, and Takacs Quartets. With interests ranging from baroque music to contemporary music, she made her New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2001 and has performed as a soloist with Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.

Min is also strongly committed to education, and was one of the first recipients of the Morse Fellowship at Juilliard, teaching music in inner city classrooms through creative activities. She has served on the faculties of Columbia University and the School for Strings in New York. Her principal teachers have been Donald Weilerstein, Robert Mann, and Shirley Givens. She lives with her husband and children in Philadelphia.

See the complete list of instructors.