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2009 News and Notes



We hope everyone had a great summer, as we did at camp. The 60th season has passed into history, even as we begin preparations for the next. We hope you enjoy all the news that follows, especially the images from the August 2009 Alumni Reunion. Good luck with everything you're doing and here's to a year filled with good friendship and good music!

Be well and stay in touch,
Jamie & Ellen  


Stephanie Finkelstein (camper 1980s, 1990s) is now a Speech-Language Pathologist working with children in the Montreal area. She also continues to perform with the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre at the Segal Centre and is excited to be in their next production—a Yiddish rendition of Pirates of Penzance (May 31-June 18). She still fondly remembers performing as Mabel at Camp E/C in 1995 and sends warm greetings to her fellow cast members and CITs from that year! Stephanie is also excited to announce the recent marraige of her sister Audrey Finkelstein (camper, staff 1980s, 1990s) to Mark Gross. Bravo Audrey! ===>


Doug Wolf (camper 1980s) is an intellectual property partner at the law firm Wolf Greenfield in Boston. Doug's practice focuses on trademarks, copyrights, and litigation, with a varied client base from Tootsie Roll to Burton Snowboards. Doug maintains some music involvement through representation of music publishers, instrument manufacturers, and retailers. He has been named to Boston Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 in Boston and also ranked in the top 25 nationally for trademark filings. Doug recently ran the Boston and Marine Corps marathons and has three children (ages 12, 9, 7), who all take piano lessons.
 		Dan Goldwasser (camper 1980s) has been working in the film music industry as a photojournalist and editor of the website scoringsessions.com, where he has been taking photos of scoring sessions for many of Hollywood's latest and greatest films. Dan's been writing liner notes for soundtracks and recently started producing albums, with his first release coming out this past August 2008: the original soundtrack to the classic 1974 Mel Brooks comedy, Blazing Saddles, for La-La Land Records. He's currently working on his second album as a producer.



Steve Silverstein (camper 1970s) is a professional musician and conductor based in New York City. He will be the music director for Will and Anthony Nunziata on January 31st in Atlanta, Georgia. For all Steve's compositions and current activities, see his website. David Cork-Adelman (staff 2000s) is busy working on his Ph.D. in Psychology in England, but still manages to find time for some music, acting as Assistant Music Director of Jazzmanix jazz choir.


Allegra Martin (camper 1990s) is Music Director at First Parish Unitarian Church in Cohassett, MA. She played for a worship service there recently, led by her former Encore/Coda counselor, now a minister, Barb Greve (see right ===>) Barb Greve (camper, staff 1990s) is a Unitarian Universalist Minister and Director of Religious Education at the Unitarian Society of New Haven, CT.



  Pete Ostrower (Camper, Staff 1990's, 2000's) has been in Panama since 2007 working with the Peace Corps building aqueducts and latrines. He lives in a village with only 300 people in it and no electricity.  The local folk like to hear Pete practicing jazz on his his trombone, which they refer to it as a ¨flauta.¨. Fortunately, Pete has a camera and internet access just four hours south of his village, so we we can enjoy a picture of Pete at work!



Elizabeth Greenberg (camper 1990s) graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa in 2007, with a double major in music and Chinese. Since then, she's been working in Minneapolis, MN. Elana Scheiner (camper, staff 1980s, 1990s) is living in North Carolina with her husband and two daughters, where she plays electric cello in a folk-rock band when she's not being an optometrist.


Juan Arauco (staff 2000s) is now living in Lyon, France, studying and working in a cultural development and arts administration program, which includes classes and a project working with local cultural organizations. Juan reports that he loves the playing and teaching, speaking French and eating Baguettes. C'est Bon! Edward Greenberg (camper 1990s) is finishing his second year at the University of Rochester Medical School, following two years of cancer research at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA. He has found other musical students there and opportunities for playing chamber music with them.



Alumni of the original Camp Encore in Marblehead (1950s) are keeping busy: Don Buxbaum is a retired banker turned local politician and ferryboat captain on Chebeague Island in Casco Bay, Maine. Ruth Carsch is a professional researcher in San Francisco. Isabel Chicquor is an art professor in North Carolina. Mark Goldschmidt is a pediatrician in Florida. Margot Molloy is a retired schoolteacher. Ruth Carsch (camper 1956) reports that she was one of the younger campers in 1956. The camp did The King and I and Jacob Druckman was on staff. Sue Ain (composer), Nancy Small (voice) Carol Ravitch (dance), Barry ? (oboe), Stephen (bassoon) and Paul (flute) Fried were all there that year, as well as Alex Covell (French horn) with whom she is still in touch via email.


Alex Covell (camper 1950s) is Chief Operations Officer of a company engaged in operations and maintenance services for the Macau Government; including its waste-to-energy incineration plant, one of its three wastewater treatment plants, and practically all stationary facilities (terminal, baggage handling, runways, yards and grounds) at the Macau Airport. They also have a civil-architectural engineering arm that does design and construction management work for both Government and private entities, and a small service group that maintains HVAC for 30 local buildings. Noam Weinstein (camper 1980s) is performing on January 27 at the Rockwood Music Hall with Heather Masse (camper 1990s) and on January 29 at the Lily-Pad with Alec Speigelman (staff 2000s). Noam didn't know that Heather and Alec were camp alumni when they booked the gigs, but after some email with Jamie, he now knows about the camp connection! Other January performances at the Lily-Pad include E/C alums Steve Brickman (camper 2000s) and Jake Sherman (camper 2000s).


Steven Bathory-Peeler (staff 1990s) is the Director of Orchestras at the Northfield Mount-Hermon School in Gill, Mass and has just last spring completed his Doctorate in composition from The Hartt School in Hartford, CT. Steve's dissertation, called Chamber Symphony, will be premiered this coming March in the beautiful new Rhodes Art Center of the NMH school. Daphne Uviller (camper 1980s) has just debuted her fist novel: Super In the City, a comic mystery about a young woman who becomes the superintendent of her parents' Greenwich Village brownstone. The book is being greeted with rave reviews and is available at Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon.com. For all Daphne's doin's, see her website.


The Berklee Jazz Festival took place at the end
of January at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Many E/C alums participated with their high school jazz ensembles and combos,
including the big band, jazz choir and "Birth of The Cool" combo from Fryeburg Academy under the direction of Brent LaCasce (camper 1970s, staff 1990s, 2000s) Lots of mini camp reunions took place during the day as E/C alums sought each other out at various performances and just plain bumped into beach other. Pictures from this
great day may be found at the website of the
Fryeburg Academy Music Department. 		Jerry "Dad" Polizzi (Head Counselor, 1995–2001), lives with his wife Connie in Moreland Hills, Ohio, an eastern suburb of Cleveland. Jerry is proud that Cleveland is the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Oberlin College, Cleveland Institute of Music, and of course, the Cleveland Orchestra. Jerry keeps busy singing in two community chorales, hiking and playing tennis. He would expatiate further on these topics but does not wish to be prolix. Jerry would love to hear from other E/C alumni, and his home is always open to E/C visitors to the Cleveland area.



Pete Robbins (camper 1990s) has just returned from a European jazz tour with Mikkel Ploug, Simon Jermyn & Kevin Brow, and has resumed his NYC performance schedule. Check out all his good stuff at his website.


Warren Wolf (camper 1980s) is very busy everywhere as a professional jazz vibraphonist. See his concert schedule and lots more info on his website. You can also check out his newest
CD on CDBaby. 		Alex Kahn (camper 1980s) is Assistant Professor of Music at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and Director of Orchestral Activities there, in the Sunderman Conservatory of Music.


The Mass Music Educators annual Eastern Senior District concert took place in January, and featured E/C 2000's alums and current campers: Grace Quinn, Mark Turvo, Jake Thonis, Alexandra Guest, Claire Nalven, Tommy Corcoran, Miriam Raffeld, Michael Behr and Ben Durfee. Bravo, people! Steven Lothrop (Staff 1980s) is now a health care consultant, working for the Huron Hospital Consulting Group, and living in Westminister, MA.


JC Earle (staff 2000s) emigrated to Europe last year in November and now makes his home in the tiny island nation of Malta, just south of Sicily, Italy, right in the middle of the Mediterranean. JC is working for a French Online Gaming Development Company which moved their operations to Malta about a year ago.  JC says he is really enjoying the much slower pace of life there and the beautiful scenery. To the right is a scene from  the city where JC lives: St. Julians.



International French Horn artist Todd Sheldrick (camper 1980s, 1990s) came by Jamie & Ellen's house in early February for a visit. Todd was in the states for performances and clinics at major music schools before heading back to Portugal, where he is the solo horn in the Orquestra do Algarve. Even though Ellen baked fresh bread and muffins for the occasion, the absence of Tater Tots was quite conspicuous, and a pledge was made to do better next time Todd comes around!


A group of current campers, parents and staff from South Brookline, MA performed at the Goddard Skilled Nursing Center in Jamaica Plain, MA on February 7, including (L to R):  Nicholas & Lia Gallitano, Claire Nalven, Sarah Plovnick, Tom Gallitano, Hannah Saltman, Ellen, Jamie, and Sarah Karp. Goddard Skilled Nursing is home to camp founder Ruth Saltman these days and she thoroughly enjoyed the concert, honoring her on her 90th birthday this February! A few days later, Ruth also got a private recital from granddaughter Hannah, pictured below.


Later on February 7, Jamie and Ellen headed off to their niece Grace's cello recital in Cambridge, MA, only to happily find the program dotted with camp alumni! Vivian Taylor (Staff 1960s) was there to accompany her granddaughter Clarissa, sister of current camper Lucy Swanson, who was there in the audience. Robbie Cross (camper 2000s) was also there to finish up the program with a beautiful unaccompanied Bach Cello transcription.


Still later on February 7, Jamie & Ellen headed over to Brandeis University to hear  Hannah Saltman (camper & staff 1990s, 2000s) and Eric Alterman (camper & staff, 2000s) perform with Roy Wooten's production of The Black Mozart, given at the Brandeis Slossberg Arts Center. Famous as the percussionist of Bela Fleck, where he plays his original invention, the Drumitar, Wooten also tours with Nashville studio players as "The Black Mozart." Hannah and Eric were brought in along with other Brandeis string players to fill out the ranks of the small orchestra. The actual, real "Black Mozart" was Le Chevalier de Saint Georges.



Sarah Plovnick (camper 2000s) and Becca Stubbs (camper 2000s) performed at Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, MA on February 8, with their ensembles from the Harvey Finstein School of Music. At the far left, Sarah prepares to perform the first ever jazz horn solo in the history of the Finstein School. Yeah Sarah!


Tim Tsukamoto (staff 1990s) has returned to
his post in the personnel office of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, after a few years doing other things. Jamie & Ellen bumped into Tim (literally!) following a recent BSO concert and
had a very happy camp reunion with him. 		Jake Thonis (camper 2000s)  plays in the Wellesley, MA  High School Jazz Band, which won First Place in their class at the recent Berklee Jazz Festival in Boston, in addition to a Gold Medal at the Norwood Jazz Classic. The band was also selected as one of the 15 bands nationwide to go to NYC in May for the Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival. Nice work people!



Sara Houghteling (camper 1980s, staff 1990s) has just finished a new book called Pictures at An Exhibition, a historical fiction about artwork stolen by the Nazis, set in World War II Paris. Bravo Sara!! This book is available everywhere, including Amazon.com. On March 1, Sarah gave a reading and book signing on her home turf, at Temple Beth Avodah, in Newton, MA. In the crowd were several of Sarah's elementary school teachers plus Jamie, Ellen, Eugene Wong (camper 1970s) & Elan Wong (camper 2000s).   



   
 Iris Sonnenschein (camper, staff 1970s, 1980s) was one of several prominent Boston artists who participated in an unusual early March fundraiser for the Longwood Symphony Orchestra of Boston, that involved decorating unfinished violins. Iris's work (at left) was among nine beautiful instruments that were displayed at Galerie d'Orsay on Newbury St. and will be auctioned off later in the month to benefit the LSO. Jamie and Ellen were at the gallery for a viewing and had a happy camp reunion with the whole Boston branch for the Sonnenschien/Wong clan. See more of Iris' great creativity at her website.


Dan Freeman (Bass 1990's) is married with two children: Parker age 5 and Dehlia, age 1. Dan
has been making his living as a professional
bass player in NYC for many years now, performing on Broadway, teaching at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, backing many well known artists and heading up his own project Comandante Zero, a minimalist electronic group consisting of only bass, drums and laptops. Dan sees several other 1990s E/C alums in his musical travels, including Matt Katz-Bohen, Ryan MacMillan, Chris Bergson, Noam Weinstein and Taylor Bynum.
Wayne Goins (staff 1980s, 1990s) is Director of Jazz Studies at Kansas State University in Manhattan Kansas, where he lives happily with his wife Deborah and his two daughters Jasmine (age 20) and Cherish (age22) who both are students at his university.

Wayne was recently promoted to full professor in the Spring of 2009, and is playing lots of jazz guitar at Della Voce, the most upscale Italian restaurant in Manhattan, Kansas. He recently performed in Houston, Texas  the great “Dr. Dan” Karp on piano & “Bo” Winiker on trumpet to an enthusiastic crowd at the home of philanthropists Ed & Marie Bosarge. Wayne is their regular guitarist and flies to Houston to play every month. Wayne still does lots of music research and has been invited to present a paper, “Behavior Modification: Discipline for Today’s Academic Environment,” in Athens Greece during the summer of 2009.  He also presented at the National Association for African American Studies conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in February and took his top jazz combo on a two-week tour of South America, through Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

Wayne's five jazz CDs can be found on iTunes, on his website and on all the major online retail outlets. There are also some great clips of him on YouTube. Wayne is working on his sixth book, scheduled to be published soon by University of Illinois Press. His other five books can all be found on Amazon.com. Wayne was also the guest performer in February at the Florida State Jazz Festival in Tallahassee, as well as at the Clark Terry Phi Mu Alpha Jazz Festival in at Southeast Missouri State.

Matt Katz-Bohen (camper 1980s, staff 1990s)
is the new keyboard player with the pop group 'Blondie' and will feature prominently on their 30th anniversary tour 'Parallel Lines.'


Katie Greely (camper 1990s, staff 2000s) is finishing up law school this spring at the Catholic University Law School in Washington, DC and working part time for a law firm, in their energy regulatory group, where she's been focusing on energy and telecommunications law and policy issues. Katie hopes to land a spot in a government agency or on a congressional committee where she could continue to focus on energy and telecomunications policy. 
David Driesen (camper 1970s) is a law professor at Syracuse University and also plays in the Excelsior Cornet Band, headquartered right in Syracuse, NY.



Jordy Freed (camper 2000s) is a freshman theory/music composition major in the Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia. Jordy plays tenor sax in the Big Band there and has joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the school's music fraternity. He is also working at WRTI FM (90.1) in Philadelphia, where he produces the  Friday 12–3am show and is the on-air host of the Thursday 3–6am show. Jordy is also teaching, gigging and working as a publicist at DL Media, a jazz publicity agency located in Bala Cynwyd, PA which handles publicity for Blue Note Records, Michael Pedicin, Al Green, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Lovano and others. Glen Nelson (staff 1990s) and his wife Susan have produced a new single called Guitar Hero, available on iTunes as of March 25, 2009. Read more about Glen and Susan's band, Spaghetti Cake, and all their musical activities here.


E/C Alumni gathered forces on March 10 for a jazz concert at UMass Amherst, where Mike Sakash (staff 2000s) is a substitute professor of saxophone this semester. Featured performers and E/C alumni pictured at left include Mike and Shellie Sakash, Adam Larrabee and Bruce Diehl.


Eric Alterman (camper, staff 2000s) played a beautiful senior recital at Brandeis on April 3. The program included works by Stravinsky, Britten and Beethoven. An enthusiastic crowd turned out to hear Eric, including E/C alums & future staff members Kyla Alterman & Alex Guest (campers 2000s, pictured at lower left).


Rachel Riskind (camper 1990s) is in a Ph.D. program at UVA Charlottesville,  studying Developmental Psychology. She sang in the Longhorn Singers while at at University of Texas and for 1 year in the University Singers at UVA. Sarah Riskind (camper 1990s, 2000s) is a senior music major at Williams College, graduating in June. She is co-director of her a capella group, the Elizabethans, student conductor of the Williams Concert Choir and director of their contradance band Rude Cider. Sarah is doing a composition honors thesis, which will be performed by her voice teacher and the Williams chamber orchestra under her direction on May 9. She has also been assistant directing the Bennington (VT) Children's Chorus.



Encore/Coda was well represented at the annual American Camping Association Spring Conference by Alex Gallitano (staff 2000s), Jamie (Who?) and Sarah Plovnick (camper 2000s). The trio, all from South Brookline, MA (go SOBRO!) performed for the final banquet of the conference, making some nice jazz and entertaining the several hundred camp directors in attendance for dinner and dancing.


Dan Weiswasser (camper 1980s) is an internist and a pediatrician. He practices in Springfield, MA and is the Director of Quality and Informatics for Riverbend Medical Group, a large multi-speciality practice.  Dan has a wonderful wife and two gorgeous boys, Jake (aged 5) and Alex (aged 2.5).  He is still in touch with Daphne Uviller but would love to find the other CITs from 1987. You can contact Dan at his email address.


Andrew Trovato (camper 2000s) presented an entire concert of his original music on April 23 at the Emmanuel Church in Boston, featuring pianist Andre Baumann (staff 2000s). The concert, which included several works for piano, one for mezzo-soprano & piano and a violin duet, was a collaboration between Andrew, the NEC Preparatory School and Cafe Emmanuel. Jose Coronado (staff 1980s) is working as a professional pianist and singer in Europe, primarily centered in Portugal. In July, Jose performed the 1st piano part in Carmina Burana with the Orquestra Sinfónica and opera chorus at the plaza in front of the São Carlos Opera House. He also sang the national anthems of both the USA and Portugal at the US embassy for the third year in a row.


David Novack (Camper 1970s) is a documentary filmmaker and presented one of his works this summer at the World Fellowship Institute in Conway, NH. David Hockenberry (camper 1960s) is an ER physician in Glen Mills, PA, and writes that he is still playing his violin in various ensembles, including a recent performance of Henry Purcell's "Come Ye Sons of Art", along with his mother Jeanne Hockenberry (staff 1960s).



Ruth Saltman (co-founder of Camp Encore-Coda) passed away on May 22, 2009 at The Goddard Skilled Nursing Center in Jamaica Plain, MA. Ruth studied voice at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Later in life she also attended the University of Massachusetts at Lowell where she earned both her bachelor's & master's degrees in music education. Opera was Ruth's lifelong passion, along with the music of the American musical theater, particularly that of Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim. She taught voice at her home in Marblehead and mentored students from all over the north shore of Boston. She was also a voice instructor for many years at the Phil Saltman School of Music on Commonwealth Ave. in Boston. She performed with many Boston area choruses & ensembles including the St. Cecilia Society, as well as with her pianist husband, Phil Saltman. Ruth & Phil co-founded Camp Encore in 1950, which they held at their Marblehead home for 10 years before moving it to the current site in Sweden, Maine, where it was later renamed Camp Encore-Coda. There, Ruth directed musical shows, conducted the camp chorus & supervised the food service for many years.


David Berger (staff 1990s) has been busy since his years at camp, earning a Bachelor's degree from Yale, a Master's degree & PhD in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, and is this year finishing a PhD in classics from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Bravo David! Jo Horsley (camper, staff, 1990s, 2000s) has moved with his wife Lisa to Los Angeles, where he is composing music for movies, jingles and various other projects. Most recently, Jo scored the film Quality Time, directed by Colin Marshall, which screened at the Austin Film Festival in October. For a full update on Jo and all his activities, see his website.


Sarah Plovnick, Alex Tinianow & Joe Tinianow (campers 2000s) performed at Ryles Jazz Club
in Cambridge, MA on Sunday, November 8 in a performance of student ensembles of the Harvey Finstein School of Music (see pics below).

 Aidan Rodier (camper 2000s) is working hard on her Oboe skills and has recently been selected to participate in the Maine Youth Orchestra and the Northeast Music Festival, held at the University of Maine.
 
Sarah Plovnick (far left) and Alex Tinianow (far right)
  
Joe Tinianow (second from right)


Karen Lowe and Hannah Saltman (campers 2000s) performed in a concert at Brandeis Univeristy on Sunday, December 6, featuring the Leonard Bernstein chamber ensembles. Karen's group performed the Charles Ives Trio #1. Hannah's group performed movements from the Haydn Quartet in D #4 and the Brahms Quintet in F Op 34. (see pics below) Jamie & Ellen attended a Senior MYWE concert at New England Conservatory on Sunday, December 13. They were thrilled by the sound of the group, and greatly enjoyed reunions with many 2000s E/C alums who were on stage, including: Jennine Dearolf, Aaron Effron, Cameron Hewes, Claire Nalven, Sarah Plovnick, Grace Quinn, Jake Thonis and Ezra Weller. Bravo to all the players on this fabulous program! 
 
The Enigma Ensemble (Hannah Saltman far right)
 
Karen Lowe performing in the Ives Trio


Shin Chitani (Camper 1990s) writes that he's enjoying life back in his native Japan, where he has become a big motorcycle buff. He says he plans to make a road trip someday across the United States by motorcycle. He writes of his time at camp: "I recall every moment of camp as a great one."



Read news archives from: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006



Winter: 32 Grassmere Road, Brookline, MA 02467 -Telephone: 617-325-1541
Summer: 50 Encore/Coda Lane, Sweden, ME 04040 - Telephone: (voice) 207-647-3947 (fax) 207-647-3259  
email: jamie@encore-coda.com

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