Home
Program
Requirements
Course Offering
Music Faculty
Community Music Program
Concerts and Events
Contact Us
Benedictine University
Department of Music
5700 College Road
Scholl Hall - Room 105
Lisle, IL 60532
630-829-6320
 |
|
About the Benedictine University Music Faculty
The Music Faculty at Benedictine University is composed of some of the most experienced and finest musicians in the Chicago area. They have performed with ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, Canadian Brass Quintet, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago.
| Faculty Biographies and Contact Information |
Luis Loubriel, DMA
Program Director
Assistant Professor
Trumpet
Scholl Room 238
630.829.6325
lloubriel@ben.edu
www.luisloubriel.com
|
 |
Luis Loubriel is Assistant Professor and Program Director of Music at Benedictine University. He joined the American Federation of Musicians at age 16 to play with the Puerto Rico Philharmonic, Orquesta de Zarzuelas, and the Puerto Rico Symphony.
He studied at Northwestern University with Vincent Cichowicz and Luther Didrickson concurrent with private studies with William Scarlett and Arnold Jacobs, at University of Minnesota with David Baldwin, Manny Laureano, and Gary Bordner, and at the University of Illinois with Ray Sasaki, Michael Ewald, and Ronald Romm. Loubriel has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Canadian Brass, the Artie Shaw Orchestra, and the Orquesta Arabu among others.
He has served as faculty member at Western Illinois University, North Central College, St. Xavier University, and at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. He recently published Lasting Change for Trumpeters with Scholar Publications and several articles in the International Trumpet Guild Journal.
(TOP)
|
Alicia Cordoba Tait, DMA
Associate Professor
Oboe, English horn
Scholl Room 235
630-829-6324
atait@ben.edu
|
 |
Alicia Cordoba Tait is Associate Professor of Music at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. She received degrees in oboe performance from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and from The Juilliard School in New York City where she was the first woman to receive a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in English horn performance.She performs throughout the United States and Europe and has performed in South America, Russia, and Australia as a soloist, chamber player, and orchestral musician on the oboe, oboe d¹amore and English horn.
In November 1999, she was invited to St. Petersburg, Russia to perform for the Greatest Oboists of the World concert series. There she presented a masterclass to conservatory and university students. She performed as an oboe d¹amore soloist and in duet with Khaniafi Tchinakiev, principal oboist of the St. Petersburg¹s Philharmonic, accompanied by the Soloists of St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra. She performed to a sold-out audience at the "Small Hall Named After Glinka", and is thought to be the first non-Russian performer to have done so. Her performance of the J.S. Bach¹s Concerto in A major for Oboe d¹amore, BWV 1060 is thought to be the premiere performance of that work in the Soviet Union.
Dr. Tait has been a featured performer at International Double Reed Society conferences. She is currently the principal English horn player of the Sinfonia da Camera and the oboe soloist in the wind trio Arbitrio and the Benedictine University Faculty Quintet. She has recorded works by Persichetti, Schwantner, and Babbitt with the Julliard Orchestra on New World Records. Many of her performances, including those with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, have been heard on National Public Radio. Composers have written many works for her, utilizing her extreme range and expressive abilities.
Besides her performance and academic work, Dr. Tait has been active working with Benedictine University and other religious institutions on the idea of mission and identity. She currently holds the position of Chair for the steering committee of Benedictine University¹s Center for Mission and Identity.
(TOP)
|
Andrea DiOrio
Clarinet
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
adiorio@ben.edu |
 |
Andrea DiOrio is on faculty at Benedictine University and is an active freelance clarinetist in the Chicagoland area. She has played with many orchestras including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Quad City Symphony. Andrea is also the Artistic Administrator and clarinetist of the MAVerick Ensemble, a contemporary music ensemble in Chicago. Along with her freelance schedule Andrea maintains a clarinet studio of private students.
Andrea has studied clarinet with Charlene Zimmerman, J. David Harris, Russell Dagon, and John Bruce Yeh. She earned her Master of Music degree in performance from Northwestern University, and her Bachelor of Music degree with honors, in performance, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
(TOP)
|
Maryann Flock
Oboe
Concert Band, Director
New Horizons Band, Director
Scholl Room 104
mflock@ben.edu
www.newhorizonsmusic.org/
groups/data_sheets/il_lisle_bunhb.htm |
 |
Maryann Flock is director of Instrumental Ensembles at Benedictine University. Flock has been commended for her ability to produce the highest quality musical sound from various ensembles through her mix of traditional and modern repertoire selections. Flock has served as the Music Director of the Suburban Youth Symphony Orchestra (SYSO), where she directed all of its ensembles throughout her tenure and coordinated their chamber music program. Flock has taught elementary through high school general music, choir and band. She teaches conducting and music education courses at Benedictine and is the University’s advisor for the Music Educators National Conference. She founded and directs Benedictine’s New Horizons Band, for older-adult beginning band students. This ensemble has been featured at the Illinois Music Educators All-State Conference. Flock has been active in the community as a lecturer, conductor, oboist, and soprano. A conductor of opera and vocal works, Flock has worked with the Da Corneto Opera Company, Naperville Summerplace Theatre and the Choral Ensemble of Chicago. She has served on the instrumental faculty at Moraine Valley Community College and the voice faculty at Indiana University Northwest. She has conducted throughout the United States and in Austria.
Flock received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education from St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana, and completed her master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from Illinois State University (ISU). She has studied with Nancy Menk, Glenn Block, Julian Dawson and Arthur Corra. Before directing at Benedictine, Flock was the resident-conductor of the Orchestral Program and a co-director of Opera Productions at Illinois State University. Currently at Benedictine, she serves as Music Director for the university’s Concert Band, Chamber Orchestra, and New Horizons Band. Flock also developed an outreach program for student chamber ensembles to perform on and off-campus. She established Benedictine’s monthly Concert at Noon Series for the Benedictine students and broader community to hear live music performed by faculty, students, and guest artists in a friendly and casual environment. She is the inaugural recipient of Benedictine’s Distinguished Music Faculty Honor.
(TOP)
|
Svetlana Krasnova, DMA
Piano
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320 – skrasnova@ben.edu |
 |
Svetlana Krasnova has appeared in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 1991 and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Russia, Canada and the U.S. She participated as a collaborative artist in a number of music festivals including the Weathershield Music Festival in Vermont and the Rome Opera Festival in Italy. Krasnova has a Masters degree in piano performance and a Doctorate of the Musical Arts degree in collaborative piano from the Gnesin Academy of Music.
(TOP)
|
Anne Kreft
Flute
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
akreft@ben.edu
www.triocaprice.com |
 |
Anne Kreft has toured Japan with the Valley Woodwind Quintet and was the piccoloist for the Ann Arbor Symphony under Carl St. Clair. She has also performed with the Ohio Light Opera Company, the Milwaukee Chamber Ensemble, the Midland Symphony, the Northwest Michigan Symphony, and the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. Anne currently is a member of the New Philharmonic, and has appeared several times as a featured artist. In 2005, she was chosen to perform a solo flute piece at the National Flute Convention in San Diego. Ms. Kreft has performed in masterclasses under Harvey Sollberger, Tadeu Coelho, Stephen Preston and William Bennett. She actively freelances in the Chicago area, is a member of the DuPage Opera Theatre and is a founding member of Trio Caprice. Anne is a lecturer of flute at Benedictine University and is on the wind faculty at the College of DuPage. Ms. Kreft holds degrees from University of Michigan, Ferris State University, and Northern Illinois University and has attended New England Conservatory. Her teachers include Keith Bryan, Judith Bentley, Fenwick Smith, Peter Middleton and Donna Milanovich.
(TOP)
|
Br. Augustine Mallak
Piano
Scholl Room 105
630-829-6333
|
 |
Brother Augustine Mallak, O.S.B. has taught music theory and piano at Benedictine University since 1984. He also gives workshops on Gregorian chant and English chant. He is the director of music and organist at St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle.
He has Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music from Benedictine University and a Master of Music in Organ Performance from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, IL. He has done further studies in liturgical composition and choir training with William Ferris, Chicago and in organ with David Schrader, Chicago. He studied Gregorian Chant at the Abbey of St. Peter, Solesmes, France with Dom Jean Claire, O.S.B. as well as with Fr. Columba Kelly, O.S.B. at St. Meinrad Archabbey, IN and with Fr. Gerard Farrell, O.S.B. at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ. At Westminster he also did work in piano pedagogy, MIDI and choral conducting.
He is a member of the American Guild of Organists, National Pastoral Musicians, and the Benedictine Musicians of the Americas.
(TOP)
|
Steve Million
Piano
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
smillion@ben.edu
www.stevemillion.com |
 |
Steve Million has been a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene since 1988. Million made his recorded debut as a leader in the mid-1990's with Million To One (on Palmetto), featuring Randy Brecker and Chris Potter. Million spent a year at North Texas
State and then studied classical music at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. During 1978-80 he worked steadily in the Kansas City area, spent a year in New York, moved back to Kansas City and during 1984-88 was the musical director for blues singer Ida McBeth. He moved to Chicago in 1988, was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk Piano Competition and has worked in many different settings since including with Kevin Mahogany, Von Freeman, Carmell Jones, Slide Hampton and Ira Sullivan among many others. For a time Million headed an unusual piano-organ-drums trio called Monk's Dream that exclusively performed Thelonious Monk tunes. He is also an instructor of jazz piano at Benedictine University, Lisle, IL.
(TOP)
|
Nancy Moore
Cello
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
nmoore@ben.edu |
 |
A former member of the ‘cello section of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Nancy Moore has degrees in music from Knox College and Western Illinois University. At the present time, she teaches in her private studio as well as at Benedictine University and is a member of the ‘cello section of New Philharmonic. She is an instructor of cello at Benedictine University, Lisle, IL.
(TOP)
|
John Moulder
Guitar
Rock and Jazz Appreciation
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
jmoulder@ben.edu
www.johnmoulder.com |
 |
John Moulder is a guitarist and composer whose music has evolved from an assimilation of various musical traditions. John’s compositions and playing are featured on his CDs entitled Awakening (Mo-Tonal Records 1993), Through the Open Door (Igmod/Mo-Tonal Records 1997), Spirit Talk (NAIM 2003) and his new release Trinity. Televised feature stories on John and his work have aired on Artbeat (WTTW) and Chicago Tonight (WTTW). He also has played on the recent recordings by vocalist Jackie Allen such as The Men in My Life (Blue Note 2003), Love is Blue (Blue Note 2004) and her upcoming release Tangled. He has been a member of the Paul Wertico Trio for twelve years and has performed with artists such as Eddie Harris, Bob Mintzer, Kurt Elling, Paul McCandless, Lyle Mays, Paul Wertico, Gary Burton, Niels Orsted Pederson and Terry Callier.
John received his Masters degree in music from Northwestern University. As an educator, He has lectured, taught master classes and conducted clinics at universities, high schools, music institutes and other settings and he is currently a faculty member at Northwestern University, and Benedictine University.
(TOP)
|
Mitch Paliga
Saxophone
Music Appreciation
Aural Skills
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
mpaliga@ben.edu
www.mitchpaliga.com |
 |
Mitch Paliga is an active Saxophonist performer, educator and composer in the Chicago area. He has performed with Randy Brecker, Vinnie Colaiuta, actor Gary Sinise, Damon Short, Jo Ann Daugherty, Fred Simon Deanna Witkowski, John Elmquist's "Hard Art Groop" and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. He is also a member of the Chicago Jazz Composers Collective.
Mitch has a master's degree in jazz pedagogy from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in music from Eastern New Mexico University. He teaches at Benedictine University, North Central College, Lake Forest College, Old Town School of Folk Music and has a number of private students. In 1993, he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for individual jazz study with master jazz musician David Liebman. In 2002 Mitch received a City of Chicago Community Arts Assistance Program Grant. He is currently a lecturer and instructor at Benedictine University, Lisle, IL.
Discography: BLITHE MOMENTS, Mitch Paliga 2006, FOOT & BIRD, Hard Art Group 2005, CASH COW, Hard Art Group 2005, RANGE OF MOTION, Jo Ann Daugherty 2005, DAWSON'S NEW RAGE, Mike Dawson 2004, KIMOTION LIVE, Kimotion 2004, JUMP IN, Radio Improved2002, CHANGES WITHIN, John Menges 1999, DAWSON, Mike Dawson1999, REAL WORLD, Ryan Cohan1996, STEVE RAMSDELL, Steve Ramsdell1995, MODERN HUMANS, Modern Humans 1988, unreleased, FRIENDS, Oscar Sulley 1987, BONTUKU,Oscar Sulley 1987.
(TOP)
|
Fr. John Palmer
Piano & Organ
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320 |
 |
Father John Palmer of the Clerics of St. Viator and Professor Emeritus of Music at Benedictine University, is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
He holds degrees from Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada; The Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto, Canada; Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and Trinity College of Music of London, England. He has also studied with Jean Langlais in Paris, France. His piano studies were with Felicita Kalejs and Earle Moss.
He has performed extensively throughout Canada, the United States and Europe, most notably at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London England; St. James Cathedral, Toronto, Canada; St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Columbia University in New York City.
He has also played on the Organists in Recital series of C.B.C. Radio in Canada.
(TOP)
|
Marc Stingley
Voice
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
stingleymarc@juno.com |
 |
Marc Stingley is highly regarded for his impressive musical background. “The solo vocal parts were taken to fine effect and beautifully sung,” The New York Times wrote of Mr. Stingley. The Chicago Tribune said, “He has a clear, pure tenor voice that never waivers.” He received his Bachelor of Music Degree at the University of Kansas and worked on his Masters Diploma at both the St. Louis Conservatory of Music and Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria.
Prior to his tenure in Vienna, he twice received vocal fellowships from the Tanglewood Festival. While at Tanglewood, he received the High Fidelity/Musical America Award and performed a Stephen Paulus world premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He sang the role of Tamino in a European Tour of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and was the tenor soloist for numerous concerts and recitals, including a performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe with pianist Jorg Demus.
Mr. Stingley has recorded an Austrian National Radio broadcast singing Italian arias. He has sung roles with Aspen Opera Theater Center, Lake George Opera Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Knoxville Civic Opera, Mississippi Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and sang a recital series in Boston and Chicago for UNICEF.
Mr. Stingley has been tenor soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, New York Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, as well as winning the Nakamichi Vocal Competition and finalist in the MacAllister Opera Awards. Most recently he sang Händel’s Messiah with the New York Chamber Orchestra and Elmhurst Choral Union, Haydn’s Season’s with Downer’s Grove Choral Society and Tower Chorale and Orchestra, Britten’s St. Nicolas with Naperville Chorus and Orchestra, a recital for Evanston’s “First Night” celebration, musical theater concerts with Grand Rapids Symphony, Wheaton Symphony and Elgin Symphony Orchestra, a series of “Three Tenors” concerts on Pawleys Island, South Carolina and for the Lyric Opera of Chicago Guild, Nathanael in Chicago Opera Theater’s The Tales of Hoffmann and a Lehrbub in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He recorded arias written by women composers for an Austrian National Radio broadcast and performed as a tenor soloist for Vienna’s millennium celebration. In addition Mr. Stingley has received critical acclaim for his many performances of musical theater with symphony orchestras. Recent engagements include performances with New York Chamber Orchestra, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra and a recital at the Manitou Music Festival. In addition, Mr. Stingley is highly acclaimed as the National Anthem soloist for the Chicago Bulls, maintains a very successful voice studio and is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator and teacher.
(TOP)
|
Amy Sheaffer
Violin & Viola
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
amy@athenaensembles.com
www.athenaensembles.com |
 |
Amy Sheaffer grew up in Modesto, California were she began her musical studies at the age of 2. At a young age she was performing with several local ensembles that lead to performing at Carnegie Hall, in New York while in high school. After high school Ms. Tague moved to Chicago where she studied at DePaul University with some of the finest musicians in the city including, Stefan Hersh and other members of the Chicago String Quartet as well as several Chicago Symphony members. In addition to her studies at DePaul she attended the Taos Chamber Music Festival, and the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in the summers. With her focus on chamber music, Ms. Tague is currently the founder and 1st violinist of the Athena String Quartet. She is also a freelance artist and performs with several chamber orchestras and symphonies in Chicago. In addition to performing, Ms. Tague has a studio of violin and viola students. She is also the recent founder of the chamber music studies program in District 99.
(TOP)
|
Victoria VerHoven
Voice
Scholl Room 104
630-829-6320
vverhoven@wowway.com |
 |
Victoria VerHoven is an active performer and has appeared in operatic roles with the Chicago Chamber Opera, Lincoln Opera, Light Opera Works, Bowen Park Opera Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Piccolo Productions, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her operetta/musical theatre credits include M&W Productions, the St. Louis MUNY, Melody Top Theatre, Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Chicago, Peninsula Players, Papai Players and Woodstock Theatre. As a soprano soloist Ms. VerHoven has sung with the Birch Creek Festival Orchestra, Fox Valley Symphony, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, members of the Milwaukee Symphony and the Naperville Festival Orchestra and Chorus.
Ms. VerHoven earned a Master of Music degree and a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, both with distinction. She is currently on the voice faculty at Benedictine University and North Central College.
(TOP) |
|
