Alumnae Link Arts, Tech and Entrepreneurship in Web Series

Megan Poletti and Kristen Klehr on set of The Creative Technology
Web Series - Photo credit: Nick Kuhar

Conservatory professor and alumna Megan Poletti '08 has collaborated with percussion performance graduate and LA-based concert producer Kristen Klehr '10 to create a Creative Technology web series that highlights specific elements of entrepreneurship that help new musicians and artists on the road to success.

Poletti says the two teamed up due to their similar mindset. "[Klehr] is a successful entrepreneur who has created many opportunities for herself, and took her music degree beyond the “typical” boundaries. She’s an ambitious person and an inspiration, and sees a career in music as an opportunity for independence and the pursuit of her own projects, like I do."

Poletti's company, heypoletti! LLC, is focused on linking music, technology and entrepreneurship, with a mission"to inspire not only musicians, but also artists, small businesses, and creative entrepreneurs to use technology to aid in the pursuit of their artistic visions."

The web series features five videos published over a six week period beginning in mid September. "The Creative Technology Web Series is part of my goal to continue into teaching more topics involving artists and entrepreneurship, especially using new media (like video and podcasting)," Poletti explains.

Poletti plans to continue the web series, bringing in more guest speakers and introducing new topics. She is also working on a 2016 e-book that she says will act as "an introductory marketing guide for the aspiring creative entrepreneur."

Professor Calls for More Faculty to Teach About Race

Baldwin Wallace associate professor and director of Leadership in Higher Education, Ken Schneck, is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, posting thought-provoking commentary on a multitude of topics such as LGBTQ rights and the faculty response to sexual assault on campuses. His latest article titled, "Dear White Professors: You Must Teach a Course on Race," encourages faculty members not to shy away from leading campus dialogue on race.

Schneck takes on the reasons why some white professors, who make up 80% of full-time college professors in higher education, avoid teaching about race and urges them to incorporate courses on race into their disciplines.

He counters the argument that race isn't relevant in certain subjects with, "You teach in economics, nursing, musical theatre, education, political science or any other discipline out there? Race is there. It's always there. Not teaching about the intersection doesn't make it go away."

Schneck acknowledges the trepidation that some professors might feel --that class discussions may sometimes become heated, that the students in a given class may not be diverse, and that a white professor might inadvertently say something problematic. In response, he argues that professors can create a safe, respectful place for student opinions from the first day, can teach an all-white class to openly confront white privilege, and can "own" their mistakes and constantly challenge their assumptions and opinions.

The article concludes with Schneck saying, "I will never claim that I have all the answers. I will never assert that I am culturally competent (which is a process, not a status). I will never put forth that I don't have white privilege....Most of all, what I will do is continue to push my faculty colleagues to add more courses that explore how race affects everything that we do."

Schneck is also the producer and host of This Show is So Gay, a nationally-recognized radio show which encourages people to discuss LGBTQ topics in unique ways. He also was a recent guest on WCPN, Cleveland's NPR station, to discuss National Coming Out Week for The Sound of Ideas program.

Physics Professor Guides Innovation Workshop in Mexico City

Peter Hoekje, Associate Professor of Physics, recently traveled to Mexico City to participate in Semanai, a week-long event for students and teachers to experience learning in a fresh way. Semanai is hosted by a large private system of about 30 colleges known as Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Hoekje (middle) assists as technical adviser during Semanai
(Photo Courtesy of Tecnológico de Monterrey Facebook)

For the week's music production program, Dr. Hoekje was invited to give a workshop in musical instrument acoustics, and to serve as technical adviser and judge in a design competition.

Hoekje mentored 30 students from various majors such as music production, industrial design, mechatronics, and biomechanical engineering. Working in teams of five over the course of four days, the groups were tasked with creating n original design or prototype of a toy, digital interface, or musical instrument.

Among the complex creations that resulted: a musical interface, labeled the "liszt," which used different finger placements on sensors on the controller to play musical sequences.

During Semanai, Hoekje said, "The students are really enjoying the challenge, the opportunity to learn new things, and the experience of working in groups of people with different backgrounds." Hoekje hopes to do something similar at Baldwin Wallace.

Conservatory of Music Students, Faculty Play Violins of Hope

The BW Conservatory of Music has embraced, amplified and been inspired by Amnon Weinstein's effort to bring the voices of those lost in the Holocaust back to life. Over the past two decades Weinstein has worked to restore violins that survived the Holocaust. Now, 19 of the restored instruments are featured in an exhibition known as Violins of Hope that runs until Jan. 3, 2016 at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Student and faculty musicians from BW's Conservatory of Music are plugged into two events that use some of these restored violins.

On Oct. 25, members of the BW Symphony Orchestra performed Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, Strings and Continuo in D minor, BWV 1043. The Orchestra was conducted by Octavio Más-Arocas and featured faculty soloists Julian Ross and Barton Samuel Rotberg.

Students toured the exhibit following the performance, a profoundly moving and "eye opening" experience for junior music performance major Therese West '17.

Maltz Museum Education & Public Programs Director, Jeffery Allen,
leads BW students through the Violins of Hope Exhibition.

"As we went through the museum and heard all of the stories about each violin it was difficult to wrap your head around what that instrument and it's owner had been through," West says. "Some of the stories they told us were heartbreaking. Some of the musicians played their instrument to find relief and others played to stay alive. It was amazing to hear how music helped so many people persevere through such a horrible time. "

Dr Julian Ross

 "Violins of Hope is a tangible reminder of catastrophic tragedy, yet also confirmation of the resiliency of Jewish cultural and religious life," Dr. Ross says. "Thinking of some of the genuinely heroic people who created the tradition of Jewish violinists is profoundly humbling."

Ross will be featured again on Wednesday, Nov. 18 in a lecture/performance called The Mystery of the Violin. He will be performing with fellow BW Conservatory professor Robert Mayerovich on piano. This event will take place at 7 p.m. at the Maltz Museum.

Ross explained that since the 16th century, violin music has not only been a large part of Jewish cultural and social life, but a way to overcome repression. "I've also come to understand how fortunate and blessed I have been, to live in a time and place where I can study and perform, and have wonderful students who love music. The generations who came before me struggled to make this possible, and I pray that I honor them with the work that I do."

In a Cleveland Scene interview, museum director Ellen Rudolph shares her enthusiasm for the performances associated with the exhibit, saying, “It’s an amazing opportunity to bring those voices to life and connect with those who are lost.”

Economics Professor is Respected Resource for The Plain Dealer

In addition to her role as professor and chair of the Economics Department at BW, Veronica Kalich also contributes regularly to The Plain Dealer, serving as one of the newspaper's respected analysts on the Ohio workplace.

Most recently, Kalich has contributed to a series of articles focused primarily on the unemployment picture in Ohio, specifically stories that delve into the ups and downs of monthly jobs reports losses, the middle class, and the state's recovery from "the great recession."

Kalich has served as a valued source for Plain Dealer reporter, Olivera Perkins, who says she trusts Kalich's analyses "because she always cites the source of her data." Perkins has found that readers trust her as well, noting that, "Since Professor Kalich doesn’t take a political viewpoint, it is difficult for a reader to question her objectivity."

Perkins added, "Because she has a varied background, having worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, as well as in academia, Dr. Kalich is able to explain and add perspective and context to economic issues in ways that are accessible to most Plain Dealer readers."

Professor Infuses Music, NPR into Murder Mystery Novel

After nearly a decade of crafting a murder mystery novel, writing "on and off," BW adjunct history professor Robert Stinson is currently promoting the recently published book, Love and Death on Public Radio.

The book is "part murder mystery and part satire on Public Radio." In his description of the story, Stinson said, "My book takes classical music seriously as a theme for fiction without, however, requiring readers to bring a technical understanding to the story. In that sense it will appeal to anyone who listens to an NPR station, liked Amadeus, or reads novels like Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam (1999)."

Stinson's book is currently available as an ebook on Amazon. The story was inspired by and draws on his time as a classical broadcaster for an NPR station. Stinson began teaching part-time at BW following his retirement from Moravian College.

Stinson also has published three scholarly books; this is his first novel since 1987. 

Retired Faculty Member Publishes Inspiring Memoir

Touted by readers as "the story of a life well lived in the face of physical constraints, illness and adversity heaped atop challenges that were already present," From Where I Sit, a recently published memoir, tells the beautiful story of Victoria "Vickie" Covington, a retired BW faculty member.

Covington taught and played piano in BW's Conservatory of Music for 23 years where she also served as the chair of the piano department. She spent much of her life wheelchair-bound due to rheumatoid arthritis but that did not stop her from playing and teaching music to her students for years.

"This is a story of creativity, beginning with Vickie's early years, as she developed her own unique, highly unorthodox piano technique--even pedaling with her left foot!" according to a description on Amazon.

Covington was recently interviewed for a story, "Pianist tells her story with a tune of gratitude" on WYFF-TV in Greenville, S.C. where she now lives. She told the station that even though nature took away her ability to do what she loved, the music still lives within her.

Covington says proceeds from the sales of From Where I Sit will be donated to the three schools in Covington's life, including BW.

McKelvey Park Rededicated in BW Alumna/HIstorian's Honor

Plaque commemorating the park's rededication to McKelvey
Photo courtesy cleveland.com

The City of Berea has renovated and officially rededicated a park honoring Dorothy Marks McKelvey, the longtime historian for the city and Baldwin Wallace University. The rededication of McKelvey Park, took place on the 30th anniversary of the original dedication ceremony of the park.

Not only was McKelvey a Baldwin Wallace alumna, but from 1950 to 1993, she served as BW's full-time historian and college archivist. She became the official Historian of Berea in 1980 and was the founder, president and trustee of the Berea Area Historical Society (BAHS).

According to The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, McKelvey "became the person newspapers called to verify facts about Berea's past."

The new lighted fountain at McKelvey Park
-Photo courtesy cleveland.com

In a Cleveland.com story on the recent park rededication, Berea Mayor Cyril Kleem commented that, "Her legacy lives on with this project."

According to the article, "McKelvey Park now sports a lighted fountain, which can double as a splash pad for children, a pergola, and more green space with seven imperial honey locust trees. A bell that originally hung in the former City Hall at the corner of East Bridge and Seminary has been reinstalled at the park."

BW Talent Brings 'Secret Garden' and 'Fantasticks' to Life

Baldwin Wallace University students, alumni and faculty are the driving force behind two productions staged first at summer theater festivals out west, with both "The Secret Garden" and "The Fantasticks" moving next to Cleveland.

A scene from The Secret Garden. Left to right: Giovanna A. Layne, Colton Ryan '15, Warren Bodily, Sara Masterson '16, and Jillian Kates '11. Photo Courtesy: DKM Photography.

Among the BW faculty involvement, Victoria Bussert directed both productions, while Gregory Daniels, Jeff Herrmann and Charlotte Yetman appeared on the design team as choreographer, scenic/lighting designer, and costume designer.

Clare Howes Eisentrout '13, Meredith Lark,
and Pedar Benson Bate in The Fantasticks.
Photo courtesy: Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival

Dana Oland rings praise for "The Secret Garden" in a theatrical review for Idaho Statesman, highlighting three BW students in the Idaho Shakespeare Festival production in particular: Jillian Kates '11, who plays Lily, holds a "lovely and powerful soprano;" Sara Masterson '16 "nearly stops the show" as the maid Martha; Colton Ryan '17, who plays Martha's brother Dickon, takes the audience on an "energetic ride" when he sings "Wick."

In another Idaho Statesman review of "The Fantasticks," which was produced first at the Lake Tahoe Theatre Festival, Oland credits Clare Howes Eisentrout '13 in the role of "Luisa" as having a "clear bell-like soprano." James Penca '13 also appears in the musical as "Mortimer," while alumnus Matthew Webb '08 is musical director and recent graduate Nick Wilders '15 is the assistant music director. Other BW students involved are Gabriel Brown '16 and Mary Mondlock '16.

Both musicals are now coming to Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland, where the "The Secret Garden" will run September 29-October 31 and "The Fantasticks" will run May 13-29, 2016.

Spotlight Shines on Author/English Professors

On October 2, Main Street Books in Mansfield will welcome BW professors of English, Michael Garriga and Kevin P. Keating, for "an entertaining evening of book talk," according to an article in the Richland Source. This will be the second year that Garriga and Keating visit Main Street Books, and the store says they are returning by popular demand.

Both professors have been receiving media attention recently for their respective literary successes. Garriga for his work on the online journal, Fiction Southeast, and Keating for his second novel, The Captive Condition. 

Garriga is the a co-founder and editor-at-large of Fiction Southeast, an online literary journal dedicated to short fiction. Fiction Southeast seeks to showcase short works of fiction by both up and coming writers and published writers. Recently, websites such as HuffPost Books have written about the growing success of the Louisiana based online journal. Garriga also continues to find success with The Book of Duels, his flash fiction novel that was published in 2014.

Keating's second novel, The Captive Condition, was published in July. The novel was highly influenced by his upbringing in "the darker" Cleveland in the 1970's and the retelling of his experiences earned him a spot on Cleveland Magazine's 2015 List of Most Interesting People. His debut novel, The Natural Order of Things, was published in 2013.

Sport Management Prof Featured in Ranking of Best Fan Cities

Dr. Charles Campisi (center) interviewed earlier this year about a BW sport
management majors trip to work the Super Bowl.

Cleveland is a home for die-hard sports fans from the Cavaliers "all in" believers to the Browns' Dawg Pound. So, when a new survey by WalletHub ranked Cleveland 19th overall best city for sports fans, and highest ranked city in Ohio, the site turned to BW Sport Management professor Charles Campisi to get inside the city's fan culture.

"Being completely irrational is what makes a good sports fan, or at least a loyal one," Campisi told WalletHub.

Campisi also weighed in on the rankings in a follow-up interview with The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com, noting that a team’s performance does not always correlate with passion from the fan base, especially in the case of the Cleveland Browns. Although the Browns have not always performed on the field, the long-suffering fans remain loyal.

Campisi says his BW sport management majors benefit from living and going to school in top-20 city for sport fans, with access to high profile games, internship opportunities, and a network of industry professionals.

Busy Sax Prof Banaszak Tours India, Earns Rave CD Reviews

Banaszak outside the National
Performing Arts Center in Mumbai

This fall semester, Conservatory saxophonist Greg Banaszak is coming off "the busiest 18 months" in his 25-year career, including an incredible and rare two-week tour performing with India's only symphony orchestra at the invitation of India's Ministry of Culture and their "pro-Western," progressive leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tour with the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) began at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai and then moved across the country to various cities throughout India, earning Banaszak a feature in Rolling Stone - India.

"This was the first time the country featured a saxophonist and was exposed to both the classical and jazz sides of the instrument," Banaszak explains. "It was a humbling, happy, extraordinary experience." The August performances presented works for saxophone on the first half of the program and the celebrated "Bird with Strings repertoire!," paying tribute to jazz icon Charlie Parker, on the second half.

Meantime, enthusiastic reviews are in for Banaszak's latest CD with Maestro Gerard Schwarz on Naxos records. A reviewer for Gramophone wrote, “The highlight is Hovhaness’s Saxophone Concerto, in which Greg Banaszak milks the tone and timbre of his unaccountably neglected solo instrument in an irresistible series of romantic episodes.”

Fanfare praised, “The saxophone concerto is…delivered with just the right lilting rhythms by the excellent Greg Banaszak,” and American Record Guide raved,"...it is hard to imagine any player anywhere with more beautiful tone than Greg Banaszak."

In an interview with Vandoren, Banaszak said "this recording experience was really exceptional, to say the least. Having the honor to work with Maestro Gerard Schwarz, one of America’s finest conductors, was beyond words. He has almost three hundred recordings to his name and he knows exactly what he wants and expects out of all the musicians under his baton--soloist included."

BW Night at the Ball Game Builds Community

Alumni, students, parents and faculty gathered together for a group photo during the 7th inning stretch

The Indians may have lost to the White Sox, but it was a win for the BW community at Progressive Field on a recent summer night.

Over 140 alumni, friends, family and faculty from around Northeast Ohio attended BW Night at the Ball Game, an annual and greatly anticipated alumni event on July 23. Spirits were high and fun was had by all, despite the final score.

BW works to build the YJ4L (Yellow Jackets for Life) community through events all year round. Stay up on the latest. "Like" the Baldwin Wallace Alumni Facebook page for alumni news and updates about upcoming events!

2015 Music Theatre Grad Makes Broadway History in Les Miz

Kyle Jean-Baptiste made Broadway history twice last night as he stepped on stage as Jean Valjean in the beloved Broadway musical "Les Misérables." The 21-year-old tenor, who just graduated from BW's celebrated music theatre program in May, became both the youngest and first African American actor to play Victor Hugo's hero on Broadway, according to the theatre industry's Playbill.com.

Just a day after May graduation, Jean-Baptiste landed in the Les Miz ensemble in the roles of "Constable" and Courfeyrac and as understudy to Ramin Karimloo, the Tony-nominated actor who currently plays Jean Valjean. The July 23 evening production gave Jean-Baptist his first chance to go on as leading man.

"Valjean has been a dream role for me ever since I got involved with music theatre," Jean-Baptiste told Plain Dealer "Pop Diva" Andrea Simakis. "I'd always say, 'Wait until I'm old enough and then I'll play it, be patient.' Next thing you know I'm getting called in for his understudy on Broadway and I'm like . . . wait what?"

Simakis goes on to remind PD readers that "Great Lakes Theater fans got a taste of Jean-Baptiste last fall, when the then-Baldwin Wallace senior played rebel leader Enjolras in "Les Miz" at the Hanna Theatre under the direction of his teacher, Victoria Bussert, head of BW's powerhouse music theater program." 

Before bringing that production to Cleveland, Bussert staged Les Miz at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. This week, The Idaho Statesman also published a feature story noting that theatre goers in Boise also can say, "We knew Kyle Jean-Baptiste when...," as did the New London Barn Playhouse in New Hampshire.

"I knew he had star quality – but very little experience," Bussert told the PD about her first impressions of the Brooklyn, New York native at his BW audition. Since then, Bussert added, "He absorbed the training like a sponge!" Bussert believes last night was just the beginning.

"He has the kind of voice that can truly do anything, from the most legit music theater to jazz and rap. I doubt he will ever stop working! But the best thing about him – he has a huge heart, and it shows in his work and his life."

“It feels amazing to be here. I’m so grateful and humbled,” he said on a rehearsal break earlier this month. “It’s a dream come true. I can’t believe they’ve trusted me with this role.”
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/07/22/3905768/former-idaho-shakespeare-festival.html#storylink=cpy

BW Students Coach HS Students to GEAR UP for College Success

Baldwin Wallace University and Strongsville High School have been collaborating to develop an innovative program that helps prepare high school students for college, using BW students as coaches. The benefits of the Strongsville Writing Center/Academic Lab were recently featured at the GEAR UP Ohio Conference in Columbus. GEAR UP is a state project focused on embedding a college-going culture in targeted communities with the goal of increasing the number of low-income students who are college ready.

Susan Oldrieve, Ph.D., a BW English professor and Associate Dean of BW's School of Humanities, and Brian Tumino, Strongsville High School Assistant Principal and Secondary Curriculum Liaison, told GEAR UP conferees that BW student coaches are helping to boost vital reading and writing skills, AND discussing the transition to college life, with tips for making friends, managing time and balancing academics with social life.

The program has been such a success that the collaborators are looking for funding to continue and expand the work to other school districts and other subjects like mathematics. The Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, BW Honors Program and the BW English Department's Kirk Fund all helped support the program last year. 

In addition, College Now, which works with schools throughout Ohio to promote college success, is using the BW-Strongsville writing center project as a model of a successful partnership between secondary schools and institutions of higher learning.

BW's "Big Data" MBA Track: Taming Information Overload

As "big data" continues to make headlines, BW's new MBA in business analytics is highlighted as a solution in this month's Cleveland Business Connects (CBC) magazine. The article highlights the dilemma of "information overload" or what's described as "infobesity." The challenge for business and managers is to tame data that has grown so large and complex that traditional ways businesses process data have become inadequate.



“You have all of these inputs and sources of data coming into an organization, and organizations are struggling to make sense of it all,” John Lanigan, Dean of the BW School of Business, told CBC. “In some cases it’s very specific information, right down to the product level. And in other cases it’s customer experience information. Some of it is very formalized. Some of it’s informal. It could be a Facebook post — ‘I love your product’ or ‘I hate your product.’ How do you make sense of all that information? How do you organize it? How do you gather it? How do you analyze it?”

Lanigan also told the magazine that a variety of MBA students will benefit from the data analysis track. "I don't think you could pigeonhole one type of student that might be interested in this," said Lanigan. "It's not industry specific. It's not job description specific. That's what's kind of fun about it."

It has been predicted by U.S. News that in three years there will be a shortage of roughly 190,000 people with the skills to analyze and manage big data. BW's data analysis MBA track is available starting Fall of 2015.

Political Science Professors are Go-to Media Experts

As presidential politics heats up, Cleveland prepares for the Republican National Convention and budget battles peak in Columbus, BW political science professors are on media speed dial.

Professor Barbara Palmer, who also serves as executive director of the Center for Women in Politics of Ohio and literally wrote the book on Women and Congressional Elections: A Century of Change, weighed in for a Vermont NPR story on efforts to break the statehouse class ceiling, saying the power of incumbency makes it hard for women to break into the offices held mostly by men, and it's an especially steep climb in small, rural states. How to break the imbalance? “It comes down to two words: candidate recruitment,” Palmer said.

In the race for president, Professor Thomas Sutton, helped WEWS-TV5 in Cleveland make sense of Ohio Governor John Kasich's late entry into the GOP nomination battle. "In some ways Governor Kasich is keeping the limelight for himself possibly being the last [to announce]," Sutton told the station. Sutton says Kasich might also be looking to make a splash two weeks prior to the first debate in Cleveland, which could propel him into the top 10 national poll position he needs to participate.

As for state business back in Columbus, Sutton also was tapped by The Plain Dealer for a story on the Ohio's budget battle. Sutton said it was understandable that the Governor tangled with a legislature dominated by his own party given that Kasich's budget proposed a number of tax increases that conservative lawmakers weren't ready to accept.

"The legislature was really reluctant to upset the apple cart and disturb the status quo," he told the paper. "They're not sure what they would gain from it, but they're pretty certain about what they would lose in terms of negative public reaction."

BW Profs Present Innovative Teaching Techniques in Higher Ed

Baldwin Wallace Faculty Members Andy Dohanos, Susan Finelli, Paul Penko and Jack Winget were front and center, promoting inspired teaching at the 2015 Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference, a two day conference focused on forward-thinking research, practices and perspectives in higher education. The four BW professors presented work in their given fields to benefit other college educators attending the conference at Franklin University in Columbus.

Dohanos, a BW grad who now teaches in the department of communication arts and sciences, and Winget, a longtime theatre professor, joined together for a session titled "From Improv to Praxis: Cross-Disciplinary Teaching and Learning." The pair drew on their experience co-teaching an innovative class at BW that teaches conflict resolution through both theatre and communication techniques.

Meanwhile, Finelli, who teaches both undergraduate and graduate technology courses in the School of Education, promoted tech integration in the classroom in her presentation, "The Tech Toolbox: Building for Student Success!" Physics department colleague, Penko, discussed "the need for students to exercise the entirety of an engineering project" using rocketry as the model elective in her presentation "An Elective in Rocketry."

BW to Broadway Touted on WKYC-TV and Huffington Post

BW's acclaimed Music Theatre program is shining in the media spotlight once again. A WKYC-TV report on the BW to Broadway pipeline featured Zach Adkins '15,  BW music theatre director Victoria Bussert and BW music theatre chair Scott Plate, plus a shout out for Kyle Jean-Baptiste '15, who graduated on a Sunday and booked a role in the Broadway production of Les Miz on Monday. The anchor lead-in to the report on Channel 3 compared the success of recent grads to "graduating law school and heading right to the Supreme Court."

Bussert is also highlighted in the Huffington Post, the subject of a profile by "The Audition Coach," Mary Anna Dennard.  In "Women in the Performing Arts: Vicky Bussert," the director of BW's music theatre program, who is also a working music theatre director, was asked to describe her "professional bliss." 

"I have always believed in the principle of training our students in order to be able to hire them," she tells Dennard. "My professional bliss is witnessing the light-bulb moment, when the student 'gets it,' and begins to thrive professionally and personally alongside seasoned performers in union productions I direct."

Bussert also cited BW's "proven New York track record: 18 showcases, and for the past six years, every graduating student has signed with an agent. For 15 years we have had a continuous presence on Broadway with six grads currently appearing in shows." 

And Jean-Baptiste will make seven!

Men's Chorus Performs National Anthem for Indians

The BW Men's Chorus knocked it out of the park at Progressive Field on Saturday May 9. Under the direction of Frank Bianchi, the Men's Chorus performed the Star-Spangled Banner to kick off the Cleveland Indians game against the Minnesota Twins.

The performance serves as a fundraiser for the Men's Chorus. By selling tickets to friends, family and colleagues prior to the game, the fundraiser generated about $3,000 for the group. This was the fifth year that the Men's Chorus sang at the Indians game and they are planning to sing again next year.

BW Men's Chorus is made up of men who are college-age and up and includes BW students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as residents from the Greater Cleveland area. The group has performed in front of a wide variety of audiences throughout Northeast Ohio and has collaborated with many different outstanding music organizations. Visit the  Men's Chorus Facebook page to see a video of their performance of the National Anthem, and follow them for information on upcoming events and other news.