2006-2007 Season

Debra Saylor was born in Dubuque, Iowa, on April 10, 1962. She received her early education from the Iowa School for the Blind. At Clarke College, Dubuque, she earned the Bachelor of Arts in Piano and Vocal Performance. She received her M. A. in Piano and Vocal Performance from the University of Iowa.

Debra Saylor competed in 2000 and 2002 in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs held at Fort Worth, Texas. She was the Third Place overall winner in 2000, and the best interpretation of a piece in the Romantic period for Clair de Lune. In 2002, she tied for "Jury Discretionary Award" (third place). Ms. Saylor also competed in "Le Grand Concours des Amateurs de Piano" in Paris, France, in 2001. She was a Quarter Finalist and opened the final round of performances at the Sorbonne.

Ms. Saylor is currently instructor of Piano and Voice at Ars Nova School of the Arts in Huntsville, Alabama. Member of Huntsville Community Chorus, Nativity Church Choir, and Joyful Spirit Singers. Member of the Huntsville Traditional Music Association. She performs throughout the area for a variety of functions-church services, clubs and organizations, nursing homes, senior citizen functions, weddings and funerals, etc.

Erica Suh received her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she instructed keyboarding skills and private lessons. Her teachers included world renounced duo pianists, Dr. Mark Clinton and Dr. Nicole Narboni.

Mrs. Suh received her Bachelor of Music degree from Missouri State University under the instruction of Dr. Peter Collins and was selected from the MSU Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition to perform in the year 2000. In 2002, she attended the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic and was chosen to perform in the premier Convent of Saint Agnes of Bohemia with trio member Danial Veis, silver medalist of the 1978 Tchaikowsky International Competition in Moscow.

Mrs. Suh is currently serving on faculty at Valley Conservatory and maintains a private studio in Huntsville, Alabama.

The 2nd of our 2006 - 2007 series.

The Flint River Brass

Thursday, September 21, 2006 7:00 P.M.

Lincoln County High School

This will be an outdoor concert so for comfort bring lawn chairs or blankets.
In case of inclement weather the concert will move indoors.

Steve Fischer (trombone) is an engineer/musician who helps us to keep the left and right sides of our brains in proper balance. He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University, where he was also very active as a member of the Auburn Band. Locally he has played in orchestras for many local productions, and is a past member of the UAH Wind Ensemble and Richard Cox Big Band. Steve currently plays baritone for the Brass Band of Huntsville.

Joel Mason (tuba) conducts for the Brass Band of Huntsville and is the band director at Mountain Gap Middle School. He earned his degree in Music Education from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Before returning to Huntsville, he served on the faculties of Middle Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University, and the University of North Alabama. Joel has explained that what he doesn’t know could just about fit into the Grand Canyon… but he does know a lot about boats, cars, and motorcycles.

Dorrie Nutt (French horn) is a member of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Chattanooga Symphony, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, and the Brass Band of Huntsville. She graduated from Auburn University with a Master’s Degree in Music Performance, and teaches privately in the Huntsville area. While at our quintet retreat this summer it was discovered that Dorrie is the best water skier of the bunch, and drives a mean boat, too.

Carolyn Sanders (trumpet) is a Professor of Music at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, teaching trumpet, music history, and music theory. She attended college for so long, spanning the country from California to Florida, her family wondered if she’d ever get out of school and get a real job! She joined the UAH faculty in 1990 upon completion of the Doctor of Music degree in Trumpet Performance from Florida State University, and has been active as a soloist and orchestral musician on both national and international fronts. She is involved in all sorts of local musical adventures and currently is a member of the Brass Band of Huntsville.

Bruce Zeiger (trumpet) is the band director at Catholic High School, former orchestra director at Whitesburg Baptist Church, and is our resident military guy. Prior to all of this Bruce spent twenty years in the US Air Force band program with assignments ranging from Panama to Germany, with a few stops in between. His playing experience includes the Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Opera, Louisiana Philharmonic, Gulf Coast Symphony, and Jefferson Parish Symphony. He is currently playing with the Huntsville Opera Orchestra and the Brass Band of Huntsville. When Bruce is not involved in musical endeavors he can probably be found swinging a club at the golf course...

The 3rd of our 2006 - 2007 series.

Nancy Rohr

Sunday, October 15, 2006 2:00 P.M.

Fayetteville Municipal Auditorium
(East side of square)

Ms. Rohr will present "Incidents of War" a lecture about the Chadick diary kept during the Civil War occupation of Huntsville.
Fayetteville, Hazel Green and Meridianville have strong ties to these stories.

Nancy Rohr is a former tutor and schoolteacher. She graduated from Marshall University and has a Master’s Degree from Alabama A & M University in reading education. Among her volunteer activities she reads on the local radio station to the blind and works in the archives at both UAH and Huntsville Public Library. She has researched, led, and recorded tours about downtown historic Huntsville. She is a reenactor at Huntsville’s most lovely site, Maple Hill Cemetery. Ms. Rohr has written numerous articles about small antique silver and history in north Alabama. She has recently edited, annotated, and published two books about Huntsville’s earlier years. She is on the board of the Alabama Historical Association and the Alabama Archives. Nancy loves to research but she feels the real purpose is to share the results so that others can learn and share the excitement, too.

The 4th of our 2006 - 2007 series.

Dr. Robert Delcamp
Organist

Sunday, February 11, 2007 3:00 P.M.

Fayetteville A R P Church, 1720 Huntsville Highway

Robert Delcamp is the Chair of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee’s Music Department and serves as University Organist and Choirmaster. He coordinates music for All Saints’ Chapel and directs the University Choir. He holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Northwestern University.

The University Choir is comprised of students from the Department of Arts and Sciences. Under the direction of Dr. Delcamp the University Choir has made several recordings. It has completed eight tours of England where it performed at such prestigious residencies at York Minster and Wells Cathedral.

As a concert artist, Dr. Delcamp has toured extensively throughout the United States. He has performed for numerous chapters of the American Guild of Organists and is much sought out for his workshops on organ technique, hymn-playing and organ repertoire.

The study and performance of nineteenth and early twentieth century organ repertoire is a particular specialty of Dr. Delcamp. He has performed concerts and led numerous workshops devoted to the organ music of Marcel Dupré (May 3, 1886 - May 30, 1971), the French organist, pianist, composer and pedagogue. His recordings for Naxos, the classical music-recording label, include three volumes in the Organ Encyclopedia Series where he performed the complete organ works of Dupré (8.553918, 8.554026, 8.554209).

Additionally, he has recorded CDs of organ music composed by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (October, 9 1835 – December, 16 1921), the French composer and performer, best known for his orchestral work The Carnival of the Animals, (8.557285) and Felix Alexandre Guilmant (March 12, 1837 - March 29, 1911), the French organist and composer considered to be one of the founders of the nineteenth-century French Romantic school of organ-playing (8.557614).

The 5th of our 2006 - 2007 series.

Dr. Jay Pilzer

Sunday, February 18, 2007 1:30 P.M.

Fayetteville Municipal Auditorium
(East side of square)

In a very real sense, the current conflict between the West and parts of the Islamic world began during the European Renaissance. Dr. Pilzer will discuss how the conflict is impacted by modern issues such as oil, Israel and weapons, but its root cause is based on a clash of ideas that lead to very different world views.

Dr. Jay Pilzer received his Bachelor of Arts and his Master of Arts in history from Old Dominion University. In 1976 he received his Ph.D. in history from Duke University. Dr. Pilzer taught at Norfolk State University for a time. He also taught at Vanderbilt University as a visiting lecturer. For the past fifteen years, Dr. Pilzer has been educating students at Motlow where he teaches American History, World History, World Religions and various other history related courses.

Dr. Pilzer’s academic specialties are Modern European Diplomatic History and Modern Jewish History. He has published several articles and edited the book, Anti-Semitism and Jewish Nationalism.

He, his wife Julie and his family have lived in Lincoln County since 1990. He has two children from a prior marriage, Joshua and Ethan Pilzer and is step father to four other, Elliott, Dylan, Peyton and Ethan Bush.

The 6th of our 2006 - 2007 series.

Olde Towne Brass

Friday, April 27, 2007 6:00 P.M.

Fayetteville Municipal Auditorium
(East side of square)

Olde Towne Brass performs in the manner of Early American bands, playing original scores on actual Civil War Instruments. With their special emphasis on the War Between the States, Olde Towne Brass presents programs that provide their listeners with history and information about the composer and the song. Their renditions of these timeless and compelling tunes are played just as they were more than 135 years ago. The music library of Olde Towne Brass includes over 1500 songs of both the Confederate and Union Bands which has been compiled from various resources across the country including the Library of Congress and the Museum of the Confederacy.

If you would like more details, please click on the Olde Towne Brass picture.
You can return to the LCAC Web-Site by clicking your browser's "back" button.

The 7th of our 2006 - 2007 series.

Bob Gifford - Flute
&
Aleta Hunt - Piano
Gary Parks - Oboe
Mark Moorehead - Piano

In Concert

Friday, June 15, 2007 7:00 P.M.

First United Methodist Church

Bob Gifford (flute) holds a Master of Music Degree from Catholic University and a Bachelors of Music from Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Julius Baker, Britton Johnson, James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Robert Cavally and Jeanne Baxtresser.

From 1980 – 1986 Bob performed as principal flute with the Huntsville Symphony. From 1972 – 1978 Bob held the position of principal flute and piccolo player with the U.S. Navy band in Washington D.C., and the Annapolis Symphony, performing at the Kennedy Center, the White House & Constitution Hall while touring throughout the United States.
Currently Bob Gifford teaches at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and ARS NOVA Schools of Music. He regularly performs as a soloist chamber musician, is a founder of the Huntsville Flute Club and a Charter Member of Keller Williams Realty in Huntsville, AL.

Aleta Hunt (piano) has been an accompanist and church musician in north Alabama since 1985. She has served as organist at Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama, since August 2001, and is an active member of the Greater Huntsville, Alabama, Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. As a professional accompanist, Mrs. Hunt is on staff at Ars Nova School of the Arts in Huntsville. She is active in the music community, working with several middle school and high school choral departments, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra and community theater, as well as vocal and instrumental soloists and ensembles. Outside Huntsville, she has been a regular accompanist at the annual Alabama All-State Choral Festival since 2000.

Gary Parks (oboe) has been a professional oboist for almost forty years. Mr. Parks earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from Boston University and his Masters Degree in conducting and Oboe performance from Ithaca College (New York) where he studied on a teaching fellowship. His major oboe teacher was the late Ralph Gomberg, longtime Principal Oboe of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with the United States Air Force Band of Washington, D.C., under the direction of Col. Arnald D. Gabriel and was a founding member of the Air Force Woodwind Quintet. As a member of the Air Force touring concert band, Mr. Parks performed on concerts in almost every state in the union, as well as concert tours of Europe and Latin America. In 1966, before joining the Air Force Band, Mr. Parks was a Fellowship Oboe Student in the orchestra of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, summer home the Boston Symphony.

Other performing experience includes two years as first oboist in the Brockton (MA) Symphony, the Hingham Philharmonic (MA), and as oboist in the Springfield (MA) Symphony. He has also been Second Oboe/ English horn for the Jacksonville (FL) Symphony. Mr. Parks has also just completed twenty years as Music Director of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of Huntsville (AL). During that time, the orchestra has performed, by invitation, in New York's Carnegie Hall three times. The last time, in June 1996, the orchestra performed with NEXUS, the Canadian Percussion Ensemble.

Mr. Parks was invited to guest conduct a concert with the Pleven Philharmonic of Bulgaria in June 1999.

Mark Moorehead (piano) an Alabama native, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. There, Mark was a student of the late J. Warren Hutton. Mark's current music coach is Todd Wilson, chairman of the organ department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. When he isn't involved in music, Mark works as a consultant to the library and publishing industry.

Click here to view Bob Gifford's program.