MaTilDa Awards

Oakland University's Department of Music, Theatre and Dance will present the 15th Annual MaTilDa Awards banquet to honor outstanding contributions from Music Theatre and Dance students, alumni and community partners. The red carpet is set for 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 13, at the Royal Park Hotel in downtown Rochester and includes dinner and entertainment. The public is welcome.

Along with student honorees, this year's event will recognize OU alumni Kerstin Allvin, Esau Pritchett and Denise Caston, and community partner Steve Wogaman. Allvin will receive the award for Alumni Achievement in Music. She was a co-winner of OU's Distinguished Musicianship Award in 1982 and transferred to the University of Indiana to complete her Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance. She went on to graduate from the University of Michigan with a Master of Music. A professional harpist, Allvin currently performs with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. She also freelances as a performer and recording artist while maintaining a private teaching studio and teaching harp classes at OU.

Pritchett will be recognized for Alumni Achievement in Theatre. After graduating from Oakland in 1999 with a B.A. in Performing Arts, Pritchett moved to New York to carve out a career on stage and screen. He has starred in "A Free Man of Color" at Lincoln Center in New York, and his film and television credits include long-running shows like "Law & Order" and "One Life to Live." Earlier this year, Pritchett was hailed in a New York Times theatre review for his work in a production of August Wilson's "Fences" at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey.

Caston is the honoree for Alumni Achievement in Dance. She is the director of the Detroit Tap Repertory and organizer of Motor City Tap Fest, an annual festival offering tap dance classes in downtown Detroit. She performed with the Rochettes for 10 years and her career includes dance tours throughout the U.S. and Australia. While at OU, Caston was an original member of the Patterson Rhythm Pace Dance Company, which performed at the Jazz Dance World Congress in 1999. She also performed and choreographed extensively for the Oakland Dance Theatre. She graduated from OU in 2001 with a Bachelor of General Studies.

Wogaman, this year's Distinguished Community Service honoree, is president of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, one of the world's premiere chamber music presenting organizations. With his leadership, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit and Oakland University jointly launched a new concert series featuring nationally recognized chamber musicians. Among other roles, Wogaman has also served as the chief executive of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra in Canton, Ohio.

Tickets are $22 for students and $42 for all others. To purchase tickets, go online or call the Music Theatre and Dance office at (248) 370-2030. The Royal Park Hotel is located at 600 East University Drive in Rochester. Sponsorship opportunities are available. For additional information, visit the website at oakland.edu/matildas.