Prior to the performance, join in the discussion!
From the stage, panelists will explore late nineteenth century perceptions of national and ethnic identity as Dvořák worked to create his masterpiece. Audience participation encouraged.
The panelists will consider the “New World Symphony” within the historical context, focusing on the attempt by this nineteenth century Czech composer steeped in central European national, cultural and artistic ideas to create an American musical identity based on American literary and ethnic influences.
This event is part of the program, “Whose World? Dvorak’s New World Symphony.” This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council and with support from Blessing Health System, Advance Physical Therapy, Encore! Symphony Volunteer Council, the Stillwell Foundation, the Community Foundation of the Quincy Area’s Arthur O. & Lela B. Lindsay Fund and Green-Humphrey Family Fund for Music, the Tracy Family Foundation, the Marion Gardner Jackson Trust, the business and individual members of the Quincy Society of Fine Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.
Dr. Scott Giltner Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Dr. Scott Giltner received his B.A. in history from Hiram College before going on to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his M.A. in 1996 and was awarded the Ph.D. in 2005. Since 2005 he has been teaching at Culver-Stockton College, where he is Associate Professor of history. His research deals with conflicts, particularly between Southern blacks and whites, over competing notions of proper subsistence and land use. He is the author of Hunting and Fishing in the New South: White Labor and Black Leisure After the Civil War (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). He lives in Canton, Missouri.
Dr. C. Patrick Hotle (moderator) is Associate Professor of History, Coordinator of Study Abroad programs, and the John A. Sperry Jr. Endowed Chair of Humanities at Culver-Stockton College. Hotle has taught at Culver-Stockton College since 1993. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa, a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations and a Ph.D.in History from Cambridge University. Hotle was the first professor named to hold the college’s John A. Sperry Jr. Endowed Chair of Humanities in 2002. The endowed chair was named in honor of John A. Sperry Jr. (1926-2003). Sperry’s teaching career at Culver-Stockton College spanned 35 years from 1957 to 1992 and touched thousands of developing lives and minds. Sperry was best known for his breadth of interest and knowledge within the humanities. He was a distinguished professor of humanities emeritus and his interests included history, political science, literature, astronomy, anthropology and languages.
Dr. Judith Mabary teaches courses in music history, music appreciation, and world music at the University of Missouri. She received a master’s and doctoral degree in musicology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri as well as a master’s in vocal performance from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her doctoral dissertation is entitled Redefining Melodrama: The Czech Response to Music and Word. Research interests include Czech music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing particularly on the life and works of Dvorák, Fibich, and Martinů, melodrama as a genre, and Native American music and culture as it impacts the Western musical tradition. She has contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and has presented lectures in numerous venues in the US and Europe. Dr. Mabary has also served in several professional societies, including as president and secretary of the Czech and Slovak Music Society.
Dr. John K. Novak is Associate Professor of Music Theory at Northern Illinois University. He has a Bachelor’s of Music Theory, a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Literature, and a Ph.D. in Music Theory from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was awarded the Kent Kennan Scholarship in Music Theory and the John Maresh Scholarship in Czech Culture. He has taught at Austin Community College, the University of Texas at Austin, and Oberlin Conservatory. He joined the faculty of the School of Music at Northern Illinois University in 1996, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music theory and aural skills, with a specialization in music of the twentieth century. Dr. Novak has published articles for College Music Symposium, Indiana Theory Review, the International Journal of Musicology, Bulgarian Musicology, Kosmas, and Hudební Vĕda as well as for Oxford and Clerendon Presses. The subjects of his articles include the music of Dvorák, Bartók, Janácek, Suk, and various styles of popular music. He has presented at symposiums and conferences in various cities in the U.S. as well as in London, Prague, Brno and Sofia. Dr. Novak is a member of the Society for Music Theory, College Music Society, the Czech and Slovak Music Society, the Dvorák Society and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He continues to perform on the piano and the accordion.
For more information, please call (217) 222-2856 or visit www.qsoa.org.