Ithaca College

Please join us for short presentations and performances at 5PM each day. The Zoom link is available in the Fine Artists at Five forum of the Keep Teaching Sakai site. This week’s artists include:

   David Earll, Monday, May 4

   Susan Waterbury & Dave Whiting, Tuesday, May 5

   Kathleen Mulligan, Norm Johnson, & Razan Abu Ismail, Wednesday, May 6

   Elizabeth Simkin, Thursday, May 7

   Dana Wilson, Friday, May 8

Fine Artists at Five is hosted by the Center for Faculty Excellence.

Monday, May 4

David Earll is in demand as a solo tuba artist, chamber musician, clinician, and adjudicator in both the United States and abroad. Beyond his active work as a national artist, David has performed in Hong Kong, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Norway, and the Netherlands. David currently plays with The Northern Lights Duo, The International Willson Low Brass Quintet, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Symphoria Orchestra, and the Ithaca Brass.  He has also performed with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Nouveau, Sam & Dave's Brass Extravaganza, the Paris-based Opus 333 Quatuor de Saxhorns, the Tallgrass Brass Band, the Tempe Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the University of South Dakota Faculty Brass Quintet, Salt River Brass Band, and the Boston-based Nautilus Brass Quintet. David has won awards for both his research and his artistry, the latter including the Northern Trust/Piper Enrichment Award.

Tuesday, May 5 

Susan Waterbury, violinist, has performed in many parts of the world, including the United States, Europe, Turkey, and China. The New York Times commended Waterbury’s playing, writing, “Waterbury’s songful flights…were especially compelling”. The Los Angeles Times wrote, “...achieved strong, characterful playing – as was the case throughout the evening – of the excellent violinist, Susan Waterbury”. For eleven years, Waterbury was a founding violinist in the Cavani String Quartet, which performed and taught regularly for concert series and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad and garnered many awards including First Prize in the Walter W. Naumberg Chamber Music, Cleveland Quartet, and Carmel chamber music competitions. Cavani also received prizes in the Banff International, Fischoff, and Coleman competitions. Today, Waterbury is sought after for her innovative artistic character and extensive chamber music experience and collaborates with a wide array of ensembles and artists. Susan will be joined by her husband Dave Whiting on banjo, playing as a duo, Catscratchers, a mix of old-time fiddle/banjo tunes with a smattering of fun songs and improv, all designed to keep Lola (cat) happy.

Wednesday, May 6

Kathleen Mulligan is an actress and vocal coach, and a proud member of Actors' Equity Association. She has performed with The Acting Company (Off-Broadway and National Tour), The American Repertory Theatre, The Huntington Theatre Company, The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PCPA Theaterfest, Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park, and Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland, MI. Mulligan has received grants and awards for her international projects, including "Finding Women's Voices”, which focused on the empowerment of women through voice, “Voices of Partition” which drew on interviews with survivors of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, and "Common Ground," which explored the effect of violence on public spaces and community. Since 2010, she and her husband David have managed their charitable organization “Wheels for Women,” which provides driver training to victims of domestic violence and the sex trade in Kerala, India. Kathleen is the recipient of a World of Difference Award  from The International Alliance of Women and a New Leader Group Award from the Institute of International Education.

Prior to his retirement in 2018, Norm Johnson Jr, taught movement and scene study at IC for 28 years. He has performed medieval mummer plays on a foldout stage pulled by a team of oxen, served as bother a puppeteer and puppet-maker, mask maker and performer. He was an animal wrangler for the PBS production of The Scarlet Letter. He also danced contact improv and directed full-length dramas with the entire population of the Rhode Island School for the Deaf.  Additionally, he founded both the Great Interplanetary Soapbox Revival and Pan-Twilight Circus, and served as the second artistic director of the Kitchen Theatre Company, here, in Ithaca.

Razan Abu Ismail is “an ambitious 22 year old fresh grad with a bachelors in Business Administration and a concentration in Marketing and Management. For as long as I could remember I had a passion and love for the performing arts and my dream was (still is) to pursue a career in the industry. My goal is to become a professional production manager or theatre manager where I can use my business skills to enrich and grow with each project I work on!”

Thursday, May 7

Cellist and teacher, Elizabeth Simkin has performed as a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Ariadne String Quartet, Ensemble X, the Mellits consort, and Taliesin Trio. Some of her past projects include seven years on the artist faculty at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, serving as US artistic ambassadors with pianist Karl Paulnack, and return appearances at summer festivals such as Garth Newel, Olympic, Skaneateles, Heifetz, Chenango, Roycroft, Tanglewood, Spoleto, Chautauqua and others. Simkin has become increasingly interested in contemplative and service-oriented dimensions in music, and has nurtured this interest through exploring playing at the bedside for health care residents and their families, providing music for spiritual occasions and life transitions, collaborating with a storyteller, Regi Carpenter, and lots of lullaby-singing.

Friday, May 8

Dana Wilson is an award-winning composer whose works have been commissioned and performed by such diverse ensembles as the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Buffalo Philharmonic, Memphis Symphony, Washington military bands, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Syracuse Symphony, and Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. He has written solo works for such renowned artists as hornist Gail Williams, clarinetist Larry Combs, trumpeters James Thompson and Rex Richardson, and oboist David Weiss. Wilson has received grants from many foundations, and he has been a fellow at several institutes. His compositions have received important international awards, and have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and East Asia. They can be heard on 12 different recording labels.