Hillman Memorial Music Association plans to raise funds for opera
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This year’s Hillman Opera is Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel,” slated for Thursday, Nov. 8, Friday, Nov. 9 and Saturday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m., in Marvel Theatre on the SUNY Fredonia campus. |
Newly-appointed members of the board of directors are Dr, J. Brien Murphy, who is serving as secretary, and Patron Chair Laurie Tramuta.
Dr. Murphy is a SUNY Fredonia alumnus, professor emeritus of education at Fredonia, and former chair of its department of elementary and early childhood education. He also served as coordinator of graduate studies. Dr. Murphy’s service to the community includes over 20 years as a member and former president of the Dunkirk Free Library Board of Directors, and as a continuing member of the Chautauqua County Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee. After over 30 years of service to the Fredonia College Foundation Board of Directors, as a member and 20 years as secretary, Dr. Murphy was named an Honorary member of the foundation board in 2006. He is also a past president of the Fredonia Alumni Association.
Ms. Tramuta, also a SUNY Fredonia alumna, has been an adjunct member of the voice faculty at the university for the past 11 years. A mezzo soprano, Ms. Tramuta has performed a variety of operatic roles with the Western New York Opera Theater at Artpark, the Greater Buffalo Opera, the Erie Opera Theatre, the Hillman Opera, and with Opera Sacra, and has been a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Erie Chamber Players, the Buffalo Choral Arts Society, the Orchard Park Chorale, the Fredonia College Symphony, the Orchard Park Symphony and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. She is a full-time elementary general and choral music teacher in the Fredonia Central School District. In addition, she has appeared as guest conductor for various all-county festivals throughout Western New York.
Dr. Murphy and Ms. Tramuta join President Robert Coon, Treasurer Gileen French and Scholarship Chair Jean Malinoski on the board of directors. Also assisting the board in its efforts is Associate Director June Miller-Spann of the SUNY Fredonia development staff.
While providing operating support for the annual Hillman Opera at SUNY Fredonia, the Hillman Memorial Music Association also encourages the development of students as musicians and teachers, providing funds for scholarships to talented undergraduates.
This year’s Hillman Opera is Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel,” slated for Thursday, Nov. 8, Friday, Nov. 9 and Saturday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m., in Marvel Theatre on the SUNY Fredonia campus.
The association continues to support community-based efforts to build appreciation of music including, Bach and Beyond: A Baroque Music Festival, at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House.
First organized around 1953 by the “Friends of Jessie Hillman Committee,” the Hillman Memorial Music Association held its first benefit recital in 1954, initiating a scholarship fund in memory of Miss Jessie Hillman, who taught piano at the State University of New York College at Fredonia for some 40 years.
The association’s purpose is “to promote and stimulate community appreciation of music, to lend encouragement and support to talented and academically qualified music students enrolled or applying for enrollment at the State University of New York College at Fredonia, New York, to encourage and promote recitals, concerts, opera or other musical entertainment and to participate in activities having those ends in view.” It first became associated with the Fredonia School of Music in presenting the annual Hillman Opera in 1956.
For more information on the Hillman Memorial Music Association and its activities, contact Ms. Tramuta at 672-2618.
