Three highly gifted instructors are a welcome addition to the Music and Dance Department at Laredo Community College.
The new music faculty members include Matthew Adams, Luis Enrique Casal and Suzanne Ramo-Gechter.
Dr. Joseph C. Crabtree, department chair of music and dance at LCC, said that the appointment of the new instructors complements the talented and caring instructors who lead the music and dance program.
“We are truly blessed to have such a high caliber of talent teaching at Laredo Community College,” Crabtree said. “The new faculty members add growth and new vitality to an already distinguished group of musicians/educators at LCC whose works have been heard around the world.”
ADAMS
Adams
will head the percussion division at LCC.
Holding a post most recently at Howard Payne University in Central Texas where he taught percussion studies and music history, Adams will teach applied percussion, percussion class and music literature at LCC.
Originally from the northeast, Adams attended West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in music education before moving to Texas in 1999 to complete his masters in music at the University of North Texas.
Adams’ teachers included Martin Bradfield, Christopher Deane, Mark Ford, Chris Hanning, and Ed Soph.
Adams is an active member of the Percussive Arts Society, an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, and has been extended invitation to Pi Kappa Lambda.
CASAL
Casal,
a native of Panama, is regarded as one of that country’s leading violinists and
violists. He will lead LCC’s string program, direct both the Mariachi Palomino
and Chamber Ensemble and teach music theory and aural training.
Casal began his violin studies at age 6 and in 1992 moved to the U.S. to study with scholarship at the University of Florida, where he graduated with honors. He continued his studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received two masters degrees, including one in violin and one in viola.
Later on, Casal achieved a Performance Diploma from Indiana University and is presently completing his doctoral studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Casal has taught violin at the National Institute of Music in Panama and was a viola teacher at the 2003 Oklahoma Arts Institute Summer Festival. He also has delivered lectures and has held master classes.
Casal was a member of the National Symphony of Panama and has represented his homeland in Japan, England, Paris, Italy and the United States. From 1998 to 2000, he was the concertmaster of the Butler Symphony Orchestra.
RAMO-GECHTER
Ramo-Gechter,
who has lived in Laredo for about five years now when she’s not singing with the
San Francisco Opera, joins LCC’s vocal division. She will teach voice and music
appreciation.
Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “bright presence both vocally and theatrically” as well as her “formidable show of vocal technique and stage presence,” the soprano singer has made a brilliant start to her career.
A former Adler Fellow, Ramo-Gechter debuted with the San Francisco Opera in their 1999 “Der Ring des Nibelungen” Festival and soon starred in the title role of “The Ballad of Baby Doe.” Since then, she has appeared in many other notable performances. Most recently, she was heard as Musetta in “La Boheme” with the Utah Opera.
A 1998 national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Ramo-Gechter made her professional debut as Papagena during her apprenticeship with the Austin Lyric Opera.
Equally accomplished on the concert stage, Ramo-Gechter has been heard in the Brahms “Requiem,” Handel’s “Messiah,” and recently as the Seraph in Beethoven’s “Christus am Ölberge” with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco.
A native of Cheney, Washington, Ramo earned her bachelor of arts in music from Whitworth College and her master of music degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
“The addition of Mr. Adams, Mr. Casal, and Ms. Ramo-Gechter will greatly enrich the lives of the students with whom they come in contact at LCC,” Crabtree noted.
For more information about LCC’s music and dance studies, contact the Music and Dance Department at 721-5330.
Late registration for the fall term at LCC continues on Tuesday, Aug. 23 from 2 to 7 p.m. at both campuses.
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