For the most mundane of reasons, a change of furniture in the publicity office, we have recently been sorting through the MTD archive. And a fascinating, not to say distracting, task it is. Each photograph pulled from the files begs any number of questions and demands research that no one has time to do! We decided to share just a few of the photos we’ve been looking at this week because even a little background digging reveals a peek into MTD’s history, and if you know more about any of our subjects than we do, we would love to hear from you.
This photo, taken at the Meadow Brook Festival outdoor site is undated but stamped "Meadow Brook School of Music, Oakland University" and for clarification about what exactly that was, we turned to former department chair David Daniels who told us, "Meadow Brook School of Music was a big deal. It was a summer school intended to hook in with the Meadow Brook Festival in its glory days, featuring the DSO and many luminaries of music. Lots of great performances and great performers. [
It] started in the late 1960s, with the late Walter Collins as the first director. It was very ambitious: supposed to be somewhat like Tanglewood. James Levine was conductor of the student orchestra; he at that time was a young up-and-comer, who soon thereafter became music director of the Met Opera in NYC. It was a student orchestra in name, but Levine brought in pros from the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the like. These guys would be the section leaders, and so the best students wanted to be a part of the orchestra. And many young professionals came as "students" (probably on generous scholarships) from all over. So when I arrived [
1969] the MB School of Music was going strong, but its future was seen as troubled (too expensive). It never had anything to do with the Music Department - a source of bitterness for us. I suppose the idea was entirely given up by the late 1970s; certainly there was no trace of it by 1982 when I became department chair. This [photo] must have been late 1960s, and the conductor is probably Robert Shaw [
who was on the faculty for one or two summers] but I can't be sure. He's doing some big choral work, like the Verdi Requiem or the Brahms Requiem."
This photo is dated 1982 and stamped "Meadow Brook Estate Oakland University Show Ensemble, Dept. of Music" and so represents the time before MTD! For many years, according to departmental secretary Muriel Mader, the department had a huge show choir, known as the Meadow Brook Estate, which traveled the country in its own bus and even recorded albums. The choir was under the direction of Ray Allvin, father of OU harp instructor Kerstin Allvin who appears in this photo, third from the left. Ray also served as departmental chair for a while. Today Meadow Brook Estate lives on in cabaret and Senior Showcase form as part of MTD's thriving musical theatre program.
This photo shows a scene from the department's 1998 production of Mozart's
Cosi fan tutte which was directed by the recently retired Michael Gillespie. On the left is Corbett Leibler, center is Cassia Montgomery and on the right is Caitlin Burke.
Cosi will once again be a part of MTD's season this year, with performances in January, including a Thursday Arts-After-Work showing on January 12 at 6 pm.
This head shot, (there are many in the archives) is labeled, "June Schultz-Zydek" without a date, but June's husband Stan, who is an MTD accompanist, believes it dates from 1995 when June gave a recital for her master's in voice performance. June is a dramatic soprano and a recently retired public school music educator. Earlier this year she published the children's book
Dexter Goes to the Symphony, with Dexter being a dog! On an interesting technical note, written in pencil on the back of the photo are what Stan believes are either lighting cues for the recital or the photographer's notes. We may never know, but since they are accompanied by the word "APPROVAL" we hope June was happy with the results.
And finally, we have a "what are they doing now?" photo. This head shot has a typed bio pasted to the back of it and so is clearly identified as "Stevie Rivers, Actress, Singer, Dancer," but her only association with OU was listed on her bio as choreography for Meadow Brook Estate and no one remembers her. Could we find her? Yes indeed. There are several mentions online of Stevie's work as a choreographer and educator, and she appears on a certain ubiquitous social network. We have contacted Stevie for comment but until we hear from her we don't want to blow her cover! Check back with us for an update!
Thanks to Margaret Cocco for her ongoing work on the archives, and for selecting these photos.
