Alumnus and former student helps to celebrate Sorel gift

A special multi-media musical tribute is the highlight of the Saturday, Sept. 29, dedication of the Steinway concert grand piano resulting from a gift from the Sorel Charitable Organization to the Fredonia School of Music.

The dedication is slated for 4 p.m. in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall at SUNY Fredonia, and participants will include SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner, Vice President for University Advancement David M. Tiffany, Judy Cope, executive director of the Sorel Charitable Organization of New York City, and School of Music Director Karl Boelter.

Also helping to celebrate the gift will be Tony Caramia, ’73, who studied with Fredonia Distinguished Professor Claudette Sorel from 1968 through 1972, and will offer a concert immediately following the official dedication. Mr. Caramia is a professor of piano, director of Piano Pedagogy Studies and coordinator of the Class Piano Program at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. He noted, “This concert isn’t about what I think as a performer, but about Miss Sorel and how much she meant to me as I became a performer.”

Mr. Caramia’s solo piano compositions are published by Hal Leonard Publishing Corp., for which he is also a Keyboard Clinician and Consultant. In 2006, his jazz piano CD, “Tribute,” was released, featuring the music of Duke Ellington, Marian McPartland, Dave Brubeck, as well as original compositions. His other jazz recordings include, “Upstate Standards,” with Mark Kellogg on the trombone; and a solo jazz piano release, “Tony Caramia, Live!” Throughout 2005 he presented a multi-media tribute on the occasion of the hundredth birthday of composer Harold Arlen.

He has conducted numerous workshops in jazz piano for teachers nationally and internationally. In January, Mr. Caramia presented a paper on Cy Walter at the International Association for Jazz Education National Conference, and spoke at the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association-Music Teachers National Association Collaborative Conference in Toronto, Canada, on the topic, “The Art of Modern Recital Programming.” In June, he was a featured performer at the Rochester International Jazz Festival and he performed the closing concert at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in August.

The dedication and concert are free and the public is invited to attend.

The gift to the university from the Sorel Charitable Organization through the Fredonia College Foundation made possible the purchase of the Steinway for the new recital hall, as well as a $55,000 endowment for student scholarships. It was facilitated by SUNY Fredonia alumna Wende Persons, ’74, and Professor Phyllis East, both former students of Miss Sorel, who connected the Fredonia College Foundation with the Sorel organization.

SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner noted, “This wonderful gift from the Sorel organization fully complements the magnificent Rosch Recital Hall. A new Steinway grand piano also is a fitting tribute to Claudette Sorel, a former SUNY Fredonia faculty member and one of the first Distinguished Professors ever named by SUNY.  I’m certain she would be proud to see future generations of students performing on such an impressive piano.”

Miss Sorel was a member of the Fredonia faculty for 20 years and head of its piano area. She was a well-known concert pianist, author and teacher, known to have performed on stage in more than 2,000 concert, recital and festival appearances and played with 200 major orchestras. The Sorel Charitable Organization was founded by Miss Sorel in 1996 in honor of her parents, Elizabeth and Michel. The mission of the organization is to keep music excellence alive and to help stretch the boundaries for women in music. Miss Sorel passed away in 1999.

School of Music Director Karl Boelter added, “It is a strong statement about Claudette Sorel’s influence that her former students would come forward as they did to make sure that Fredonia’s School of Music would benefit from this gift. The piano and the scholarship is a tribute to her legacy.”

The two-day celebration of the Sorel gift concludes with a concert Saturday at 8 p.m. by pianist Richard Goode, followed by a reception with the artist.

For more information and tickets to the evening concert and reception, persons should contact the Campus Ticket Office at 716-673-3501.