The Bienen School of Music welcomes four new faculty members beginning fall 2017: Andrew Talle, associate professor of musicology; Joachim Schamberger, artist-in-residence and director of opera; Eugene (Gene) Pokorny, lecturer of tuba/euphonium; and Matthew Gaunt, lecturer of tuba/euphonium.
Musicology
Andrew Talle studied at Northwestern from 1990-1995, earning a bachelor’s degree in cello performance as a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in linguistics. From 1995-2003, he was a PhD student at Harvard University, earning master’s and doctoral degrees in musicology. Dr. Talle spent one year lecturing at Harvard before moving to Baltimore in 2004 to join the musicology faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. In 2011, he was named a Gilman Scholar of the Johns Hopkins University, a distinction reserved for fewer than 20 faculty members across all nine divisions.
Dr. Talle’s research focuses on musical culture in the time of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). He has published articles in the Bach Jahrbuch, the Cöthener Bach-Hefte, and Mitteilungen des Leipziger Geschichtsvereins, among others. He is the editor of a collection of essays by leading scholars entitled Bach and His German Contemporaries published by the University of Illinois Press. The same publisher recently produced his monograph, Beyond Bach: Music and Everyday Life in the Eighteenth Century. Dr. Talle’s current projects include a book about popular music in Bach’s time and a collection of accounts of the city of Leipzig written by eighteenth-century travelers.
Opera
Joachim Schamberger has gained great acclaim as an international stage director and video designer. His productions have appeared in the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Brazil, Norway, Israel, Japan and China. In addition to directing and designing, Schamberger is an avid opera educator. He is on the faculty at many young artist festivals and guest lectures at conservatories throughout the world. He most recently served as visiting professor of opera at DePauw University from 2011-2017. Schamberger’s expertise includes vocal and dramatic interpretation as well as style and language coaching.
A native of Germany, Schamberger is a graduate of the Musikhochschule in Würzburg, the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim, and the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera. He studied digital film production and 3-D animation at the New York Film Academy. For more information, visit his website.
Tuba and Euphonium
Eugene (Gene) Pokorny is principal tuba of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has previously served as the tubist in the Israel Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition to playing for Hollywood film scores such as Jurassic Park and The Fugitive, he has performed worldwide in opera orchestras, chamber music ensembles and orchestra festivals.
Pokorny regularly participates in brass seminars, playing recitals and holding master classes. He annually returns to Southern California to teach, play, and lecture at the Pokorny Seminar held at the University of Redlands; 2017 marks the tenth anniversary of this event. Pokorny has recorded several solo and educational CDs of his own and assisted Rolling Stones’ trombonist Michael Davis in recording numerous educational workbook CDs.
Pokorny studied tuba with Jeffrey Reynolds, Larry Johansen, Tommy Johnson and Roger Bobo. He graduated from the University of Southern California and has received an outstanding alumnus award from USC and an honorary doctorate from the University of Redlands.
Tubist Matthew Gaunt enjoys a varied career as a performer and educator. He has recorded and toured internationally as a member of Burning River Brass, Proteus 7, and Boston Brass. He has also performed with Empire Brass, Center City Brass Quintet, Rhythm & Brass, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Millar Brass Ensemble. For the 2017-18 season Gaunt will be acting as primary substitute tuba for the Milwaukee Symphony. He has also performed in concerts and tours with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Lyric Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Ballet, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, and many regional orchestras in New England and around Chicago. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician at festivals such as Tanglewood, Ravinia, Blossom, Chautauqua, and Music Masters MMCK.
Formerly visiting assistant professor of tuba and euphonium at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Gaunt also has served on the faculties of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, South Shore Conservatory, and Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. Since moving to the Midwest he has served on the faculties of the VanderCook College of Music and the Peck School for the Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. He received a bachelor’s degree in tuba performance from Boston University and has studied with J. Samuel Pilafian, Gary Ofenloch, and Chester Schmitz.