Recital in Honor of Maestro Lorenzo Malfatti at Seton Hill U. 4/4
Dr. Nina Tober, a native of Pittsburgh, received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude with departmental honors from Chatham College where she was a student of the late Lorenzo Malfatti. She earned a Master of Music in voice performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance and performance practice from Claremont Graduate University, where she held a teaching fellowship. She also studied musicology and ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her teachers and coaches have included Claudia Pinza, Joan Dorneman, Gildo DiNunzio, Richard Woitach and Walter Tausig of the Metropolitan Opera; Felix Popper and Anne Elgar Kopta of the New York City Opera; and Carlo Maestrini of La Scala. A lyric coloratura soprano, she has performed in opera, oratorio, recital and early music performance with the Pittsburgh Opera, the Pittsburgh Chamber Opera Theater, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, and the San Francisco Early Music Society. She was twice a winner of the Metropolitan Opera district auditions and a regional finalist. She was also a winner of the Minna Kaufmann-Ruud Distinguished Performance Award. She currently serves as the head of the Music Department at Susquehanna University.
Dr. Curt Scheib is professor of music and chair of the Division of Visual and Performing Arts at Seton Hill University. He is also the conductor of the Shadyside Choral Society as well as bass soloist at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. In demand as a solo artist, he has appeared with many regional orchestras, opera companies and choral societies throughout the country, including Connecticut Opera, Central City Opera, Texas Opera Theatre and the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Among his recent appearances were as bass soloist in Haydn’s Creation with the San Francisco City Chorus and as bass soloist in the Bach B Minor Mass with the South Bend Chamber Singers. Recent projects include the world premiere recording of Norman Dello Joio’s “Songs of Abelard” with the Keystone Winds and “Heart’s Music,” a recently released recording of the works of David Diamond. Dr. Scheib holds degrees in Music Education and Organ from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Music in Voice and an Artist Diploma in Opera from the University of Cincinnati, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice from West Virginia University. He also studied at the Accademia Vocale di Lucca and was twice a fellow at the Bach Aria Festival and Institute. His teachers and coaches have included Lorenzo Malfatti, Peter Lightfoot, Richard Hughes, Italo Tajo, and John Dietz.
Edward M. Kuhn, Jr., is adjunct professor of piano at Seton Hill University. He holds degrees from Carlow University and from Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned the M.F.A. in Piano with a Certificate in Piano Pedagogy. He is a nationally certified teacher of the Music Teachers National Association and is a past president of the Pennsylvania chapter. He is also past President and currently a member of the Friday Evening Music Club of Greensburg. Mr. Kuhn has been a collaborative pianist for many concerts, festivals, productions and recitals. In addition to his duties at Seton Hill, he maintains a large private studio and is organist and choir director at the Brush Creek Lutheran Church in Irwin, PA.
Maestro Lorenzo Malfatti was an internationally recognized voice and opera coach and a leading specialist in Italian diction and recitative. He was professor emeritus at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music where he served as a studio voice teacher and chief preparatory coach of the opera department. His singing career began at the age of 19 during World War II as a GI in India, when he was chosen by Andre Kostelanetz and Lily Pons to perform with them on their tour of the Orient. After the war, he received a merit scholarship to the Juilliard School where he became a protégé of the celebrated baritones Mack Harrell and Giuseppe de Luca. He was one of the first recipients of the prestigious Fulbright Award along with Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Lucas Foss and Lee Hoiby. He later became permanent baritone soloist of the Italian Swiss National Radio, singing repertoire ranging from Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi and Schoenberg, to Charles Ives. He also performed with the RAI in Rome, where for four years he worked with the opera’s leading coach, Luigi Ricci. He made his professional American debut at the invitation and under the supervision of the composer in the Tanglewood premiere of Aaron Copland’s “The Tender Land.” Before his appointment at Cincinnati, Maestro Malfatti held a long-tenured position as director of vocal and choral activities at Chatham College and was additionally baritone soloist at the Shadyside Presbyterian Church. During that time he also made appearances as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under William Steinberg. His former students now carry on Maestro Malfatti’s work, working as professional singers and teachers throughout the United States and abroad. Dr. Tober and Dr. Scheib dedicate the recital to him; much of the music performed being works they studied with him or for which he held a strong affection.