Steven Pane, director of the choral program, has performed as a solo pianist, chamber musician and conductor at universities and in major halls throughout the country including the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Aaron Davis Hall in New York City, Davies Hall in San Francisco and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is a member of Percussiano, a contemporary ensemble which includes his two-piano partner, Yuri Funahashi, along with percussionists Stuart Marrs and Fernando Mesa. As a student at the Manhattan School of Music, he studied piano with Donn-Alexandre Feder, chamber music with Joseph Seiger, and conducting with Giampalo Bracali. Steve holds a master's degree in conducting from Westminster Choir College. He was Associate Conductor/Executive Artistic Director of the Boys Choir of Harlem and also conductor of the Turtle Bay Chamber Choir and the West Side Chamber Choir in New York City. Steve has an abiding interest in interdisciplinary studies, an interest reflected in such UMF courses as "Modern Times" and "Nietzsche and Wagner." He also teaches "Men, Women, and Pianos," as well as a variety of other courses in music history.
An active composer, Philip Carlsen has had his music performed by a variety of ensembles in Maine and around the country. Highlights include Evening's Sabres for the Manhattan Marimba Quartet; Maine Traveler's Advisory for the Kennedy Center, Suite Mawar Mekar for Javanese gamelan and Western orchestra; A Dark Pine’s Hand and Rowing in Eden for the Portland Symphony Orchestra; The Garden, Night Thoughts, and Four Journeys in Maine for the chorus and orchestra at UMF; Landscape with Ladyslipper for the Sebago/Long Lake Region Chamber Music Festival, and Holly and Ivy, a full-length Christmas ballet written for the Bossov Ballet Theater. Phil has received fellowships from the Maine Arts Commission, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and a residency at the MacDowell Colony. For twenty years, he was the conductor of the UMF Community Orchestra; currently, he teaches courses in theory, composition, sight singing and ear training, music in film, and the history of jazz.
Yuri
Funahashi
D.M.A., Juilliard School of Music
Lecturer in Music
Yuri Funahashi has received critical acclaim in Europe, in Asia and throughout North America. She is a member of the Festival Chamber Music Society of New York City and the Pane-Funahashi Piano Duo. She has been a guest artist at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Maine Music Society and the Royal Viking Music Festival at Sea. She has also been heard in chamber music concerts in many of the major halls in the U.S. including the Kennedy Center, the Music Center in Los Angeles, Jones Hall in Houston and the 92nd Street Y and Weill Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. Yuri has toured extensively in Germany, Italy, Holland, Japan, Canada and the U.S. with violinist Joseph Swensen. Their collaboration can be heard on the recording of the three Grieg violin sonatas on the Music Heritage label. She has also recorded the violin sonatas of Amy Beach and Brahms with violinist Arturo Delmoni for John Marks Records. At UMF, Yuri teaches the piano classes and gives private piano lessons.
Dennis HayesConductor of the UMF Community Chorus, Dennis was Music Department Coordinator in Maine School Administrative District No. 9 for twenty-seven years, developing an outstanding comprehensive public school music education program that is considered one of the strongest in New England. He has conducted numerous high school honors festival groups, both instrumental and choral, and he is the long-time conductor of the Mid-Maine Youth Orchestra. Even though trained as a trombonist and instrumental conductor, he has recently been working more and more in the field of vocal music. A strong advocate for the growth of contemporary a cappella singing, Dennis has arranged numerous selections in that style for both high school and college level ensembles. In January 2005, he formed "Sole Expression," UMF's first contemporary a cappella group in nearly twenty-five years.
Anita JeroschConductor of the Concert Band, Anita is a versatile bass trombonist and euphonium player, with performances in almost all musical genres in New York City, Maine, and on tour both in the United States and abroad. The groups she has played with range from the Portland Symphony and the Maine State Music Theater to the big bands of Kit McClure, Al Corey, and Pat Michaud. She has also played for such stars as Carol Channing, Rita Moreno, Barry Manilow, and the Manhattan Transfer, and even at both Inaugural balls for President Clinton. Anita teaches trombone and euphonium at Bates and Bowdoin Colleges, as well as at Camden Hills Regional High School. She is the conductor of the Bowdoin College Trombone Choir.