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Curriculum Vitae - Dr. Leah Schuman

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CURRENT POSITION

 

Associate Professor of Trumpet and     

Executive Director of One City  

VanderCook College of Music

Chicago, Illinois

2002 – present

(Associate Professor, 2010 - present,

Assistant Professor, 2005-2010,

Adjunct Instructor, 2002 – 2005,

Audition Coordinator, 2011 – 2013,

Executive Director of One City, 2018 - )

 

Collegiate duties include teaching applied trumpet and the undergraduate and graduate levels, actively recruiting students to the trumpet studio, teaching High Brass Techniques, Brass Methods, Music Fundamentals and Music Materials, coaching and conducting brass ensembles, administering comprehensive examinations, student teacher supervision, and serving on committees as needed.  One City duties include fund raising, budgeting, coordinating with the artistic director, enrollment, instrument inventory and logistics, and gaining exposure and recognition for the program.  One City is an instrumental jazz program for fifth through eighth graders from the underserved communities of Bronzeville and Englewood.

 

 

EDUCATION

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2001

D.M.A. in Trumpet Performance and Literature

Eastman School of Music

University of Rochester

Rochester, New York

Areas of Emphasis: Symphonic Writing of  Rimsky-Korsakov, Scriabin’s Cosmology, Creating Repertoire for the Trumpet

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1998

M.M. in Trumpet Performance and Literature

Eastman School of Music

University of Rochester

Rochester, New York

Areas of Emphasis: Trumpet Techniques and Methods, applied trumpet

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1993

Graduate Performance Certificate, Trumpet

St. Petersburg State Conservatory

St. Petersburg, Russia

Studies with Veniamin Sovelievich Margolin, former solo trumpet of the Leningrad Philharmonic

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1991

B.M. in Trumpet Performance

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

Secondary Area of Emphasis: Russian Language and Literature

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PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE

 

Performances in the Chicago area include a live performance on WFMT of chamber music by Bernstein, appearances with Celtic Thunder, the Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the VanderCook faculty recitals, Merit Chamber Players, and the Merit Faculty Brass Quintet.

 

  • Illinois District 214 masterclass, March 2021

  • "VanderGiving" virtual faculty recital, November 2020

  • ILMEA masterclass, October 2020

  • Recording session for broadcast at Presbyterian churches across Chicagoland, August 2020

  • School clinics/masterclasses at Estudio de Percussion (Quito, Ecuador), Oswego High School, Thornton-Fractional High School, and Victor J. Andrew High School, fall 2020

  • Numerous performances at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Paul French, Music Director), Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii (Jim Janis, Music Director), and First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest (Thomas Tropp, Music Director), St. John of the Cross, 2019-2020

  • Solo Performance on historic cornets with John Hagstrom of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, fall 2019

  • ILMEA masterclass, fall 2019

  • Regular performances with Windy City Winds , 2019

  • Performance with Il Divo at All-State Arena, summer 2019

  • Numerous school clinics and masterclasses, 2019

  • Jules Levy’s Grand Russian Fantasia with Joliet Central High School Band, spring 2019

  • Live WFMT broadcast of the music of Bernstein, 2018

  • Handel’s Messiah at Riverside Presbyterian Church, 2018 and 2019)

  • Performance at the Chicago Theater with Hanson (2018)

  • ILMEA Trumpet Masterclasses, VanderCook College of Music, fall 2018

  • Clinic at Shepard Middle School, Deerfield Illinois, fall 2018

  • Clinic and Kipling Middle School, Deerfield Illinois, fall 2018

  • Clinic at Marquardt Middle School, Glendale Heights, Illinois, fall 2018

  • Solo performance with the Joliet Central High School Band, fall 2018

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Performances prior to 2018

 

  • Mahler Festival Orchestra, Boulder Colorado, 2002 – 2010

  • Second Trumpet, St. Petersburg (Russia) State Chamber Orchestra, 1991 – 1993

  • Founding member, Ensemble Détente, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1991 – 1993

  • Commercial recordings with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Ossia (music of Steve Reich and Eastman Wind Ensemble Retrospective)

  • Eastman Wind Ensemble Japan Tour, 1998

  • Numerous performances with the Eastman Philharmonia, New Eastman Symphony, Musica Nova, Ossia, Eastman Wind Ensemble

  • Numerous solo and chamber recital performances

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

“Selecting Beginning Brass Students,” Noteworthy, a publication of the International Women’s Brass Conference, summer 2012.

 

“Interpreting Shostakovich: The Expressive Capabilities of the Trumpet in Symphony No. 5,” International Trumpet Guild Journal, March 2005.

 

“The Cichowicz School,” International Trumpet Guild Journal, December 1998.

 

“Legendary Trumpeters of St. Petersburg,” International Trumpet Guild Journal, December 1996.

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ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE

 

Institutional Grant Writing, VanderCook College of Music Development Department, 2020-present

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Executive Director of One City at VanderCook, 2018-present

Duties include

  • curriculum development and implementation

  • budget

  • program assessment

  • grant writing and individual donor cultivation

  • recruitment, enrollment, attendance, and retention

  • personnel

  • instrument and supply inventory

  • facilities/operations

  • parent education and communications

  • public relations

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Director of the Preparatory Program – Merit School of Music, 2001 – 2003

Duties included

  • managing a faculty of 71 teachers from diverse backgrounds

  • being responsible for a student body of approximately 300 students ranging in age from elementary through high school

  • managing an annual operating budget of approximately $300,000

  • awarding financial aid

  • addressing and mediating concerns among faculty, students, board members, and parents

  • developing and overseeing curriculum

  • collaborating with development staff to coordinate grant proposals and tours for private donors

  • making sure all aspects of the program ran smoothly

 

Audition Coordinator – VanderCook College of Music, 2011 – 2013

Duties included

  • ensuring that all aspects of the audition process ran smoothly

  • coordinating schedules of approximately 30 faculty members to hear auditions by prospective students

  • managing faculty concerns regarding the admissions and audition processes

  • acting as a liaison between the admissions staff and the applied teaching faculty

  • recruiting students for the trumpet studio

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