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Faculty & Staff

Benita Wolters-Fredlund

wolters-fredlundDr. Benita Wolters-Fredlund

Office: Covenant Fine Arts Center 239

Phone: (616) 526-6909

Email

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Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

Ph. D., 2005, Musicology, University of Toronto
Thesis: “We Shall Go Forward with our Songs into the Fight for Better Life”: Identity and Musical Meaning in the History of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir, 1925-1959

M. A., 1999, Musicology, University of British Columbia
Thesis: The Early Years of the Canadian League of Composers

B. C. S., 1996, Redeemer University College
Four-Year Liberal Arts Degree; Majors: Music and Philosophy

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  • “A ‘League Against Willan?’: The Early Years of the Canadian League of Composers, 1951-60,” Journal of the Society for American Music (in press).
  • “Experiencing Beauty in the Music of the Holocaust,” The Cresset: A review of literature, the arts and public affairs 72:4 (Spring 2009): 21-31.
  • “‘We Shall Be Better Canadians by Being Conscious Jews’: Multiculturalism and the Construction of Canadian Identity in the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir,” Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music 25/1-2 (2005), 187-201.
  • “Leftist, Jewish and Canadian Identities Voiced in the Repertoire of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir, 1939-1959,” Canadian Journal for Traditional Music 29 (2002): 19-31.

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

  • “The ‘Western-World Premiere’ of Shostakovich’s Song of the Forests by the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir (1951),” Red Strains: Music and Communism outside the Communist Bloc (London, UK), January 2011.
  • “Hearing Torture and Control: The Music of Concentration Camps and Beyond,” Faculty Lectureship Award, Calvin College, November 2010.
  •  “Playing the Part: Dehumanizing Music in Concentration Camps,” in panel session “Music in Jewish Life During and After the Third Reich,” Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society (Philadelphia), November 2009.
  •  “A ‘League Against Willan’ versus a League for All: Constructing an Identity for the Canadian League of Composers,” Annual meeting of the Society for American Music (Denver), March 2009.
  • “Beauty and Suffering in the Music of the Holocaust,” Plenary speaker for Lily Fellows Network Conference, Seattle Pacific University, October 2008.
  •  “Celebrating Jewish Resistance:  Max Helfman’s post-Holocaust Cantata Di Naye Hagode,” Annual meeting of the Canadian University Music Society (Vancouver), June 2008.
  •  “Judas Maccabaeus as Revolutionary Jewish Hero: Progressive Jewish Readings of Handel’s Oratorio during the Holocaust,” Annual meeting of the American Musicological Society (Los Angeles), November 2006.

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Performance
Grace Episcopal Church (Grand Rapids, MI), soprano section leader (2009-ongoing)
Calvin Oratorio Society, assistant director (2006-2008)

Recording Projects
Christmas with the Massey College Quintet (Independent, 2005)
Clear with musica intima (Twentieth-century repertoire; ATMA Classique, 1999)
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Abendlied with Vancouver Cantata Singers (Carus-Verlag, 1999)
The Bach Chorales (interactive CD-ROM; PG Music Inc., 1998)