Professor of music performance Angus Godwin will cap his 36-year teaching career in the Ithaca College School of Music with a retirement concert on Sunday, Nov. 12. Free and open to the public, the performance will begin at 4 p.m. in the Hockett Family Recital Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music.
Godwin has made many friends since he first started teaching at the college in 1969, and some of them will join him on stage for his farewell performance. The Ariadne String Quartet will accompany Godwin in a selection of songs by Handel. Guitarist Pablo Cohen will join Godwin in some Brazilian pieces. Diane Birr and Charis Dimaras will collaborate on keyboards, including the “Four Serious Songs” by Brahms and Ravel’s “Don Quichotte a Dulcinee.”
Former student Elizabeth Southard Mau ’88, who played a leading role in “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, will return to campus to join Godwin in a pair of Mozart duets. Godwin’s deep baritone has always been suited for spirituals, and he will continue that tradition at his farewell recital.
“I really love teaching, and I’m going to miss my students very much,” Godwin said. “I have been fortunate that many of my students have gone on to be very successful. Several are still in touch, and I enjoy hearing from them.”
Born in North Carolina, Godwin grew up on a tobacco farm and then attended Capital University in Ohio. During the Korean War he enlisted in the Army and, as a chaplain’s assistant, directed chapel choirs and sang in a Japanese dance band. He won a scholarship that took him to study at New York’s Juilliard School, where he performed leading roles in a number of operas with the Juilliard Opera Theatre.
In addition to solo appearances at Carnegie and Town Halls, Godwin has performed a number of concerts for children with dancer Judith Janus. Among the highlights of his career are a 35-week stretch performing at Julius Monk’s Plaza 9 in the Plaza Hotel Plaza and an appearance on the “Today” show. Under the aegis of Columbia Artists Management, he has given more than 300 solo recitals throughout the United States and Canada, chalking up recitals in all of the lower 48 states except Kentucky.
