Benita Wolters-Fredlund

Benita Wolters-Fredlund
musicology, music theory, and music appreciation, Music
(616) 526-6909
bw24@calvin.edu
CFAC 239

Educational background

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

“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.

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

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)