Submitted on behalf of Dean Gregory Woodward
Larry Doebler has announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2012-13 academic year. Larry came to Ithaca College in 1978 and has served the college for 35 years as Director of Choral Activities. He has raised the stature of the College's choral program into a nationally recognized department through his steady and endlessly musical leadership.
Ensemble performances under his direction have been at an exceptional level for decades, rivaling those of any music school, including those with advanced performance and graduate programs. It is hard to imagine an Ithaca College School of Music without Larry's myriad contributions.
He has led decades of spring break choir tours (including Ireland in 2001), hundreds of recordings, scores of Commencement Eve performances, the Ithaca College Choral Composition Concert and Festival (founded by Larry in 1979), Choral Collages, and Madrigal dinners and concerts. Especially noteworthy are the many fine editions he has published and performed of early choral works, the long history of commissioned works for the IC Choir, and the dramatic renderings of masterworks he has conducted at Lincoln Center and other important venues.
Larry has changed the lives of thousands of music majors through his patient, reflective and dedicated music-making, and touched tens of thousands of listeners with the ability to convey with his students the special meaning and joy of choral music.
A special thanks from the School of Music to Larry's wife Patty for her unofficial role as "tour mother" every spring. We all wish the Doebler family well as they settle into their new lives in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.
