Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Writer: Kim Cretors, 706/542-1168, kcretors@franklin.uga.edu
Contact: Don Lowe, 706/542-3737, dlowe@uga.edu

Renowned baritone Frederick Burchinal is named Wyatt and Margaret Anderson Professor at UGA’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music

Athens, Ga. – Baritone Frederick Burchinal, a continuous presence at the Metropolitan Opera since his debut as Macbeth in 1988, has been named the first recipient of the Wyatt and Margaret Anderson Professorship in the Arts at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

This endowed professorship in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences is selected from art, music, theater or dance and honors a person with an outstanding national reputation.  Anderson, former dean of the Franklin College, and his wife, Margaret, made a major contribution to the professorship and numerous others also contributed. (Photo: Erika Davidson)

Dean Garnett S. Stokes of the Franklin College says that the professorship will enrich an already strong arts program across campus.

“It is endowed gifts such as the Anderson Professorship that allow the college to recruit and retain top-notch faculty in the arts,” says Stokes.  “We are delighted that a performer of Frederick Burchinal’s stature is joining the Hodgson School of Music to share with our students his obvious talents and wide-ranging experience.”

Burchinal’s repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera have included performances of the title roles in Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco and Rigoletto; Iago in Otello, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Tonio in Pagliacci, Amonasro in Aida, Gerard in Andrea Chenier, Golaud in Pelleas et Melisande and Baron Scarpia in Tosca.

During the Met’s most recent season, Burchinal sang the opera’s opening night gala as the Grand Pretre in Samson et Dalila with Placido Domingo and Denyce Graves and conducted by James Levine.  Burchinal also sang performances of Rigoletto conducted by Domingo and Tosca conducted by James Conlon. He also appeared in the new production of Romeo et Juliette as Father Capulet with Ramon Vargas and Natalie Dessay, which was presented on a worldwide Saturday afternoon radio broadcast. Last season, Burchinal also sang worldwide broadcasts of Otello conducted by James Levine and Cavalleria Rusticana conducted by Dennis Russell Davis. While fulfilling his commitment to UGA, Burchinal will continue to pursue his operatic engagements with the Metropolitan Opera and with theaters and orchestras worldwide.

“It is clear from Frederick Burchinal’s impressive and long list of prominent roles at the Metropolitan Opera that both the Hodgson School of Music and UGA are extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to offer him the Anderson Professorship,” says Donald Lowe, director of the music school.  “We are thrilled to welcome Frederick to campus.”

Outside of the Metropolitan Opera, Burchinal has maintained an international presence in many different opera houses worldwide, performing Simon Boccanegra at the Paris Bastille Opera; Rigoletto at the Opera of South Korea in Seoul; the title role in Falstaff in São Paulo, Brazil; Un Ballo in Maschera with the SemperOper Dresden in Germany; Tosca with Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy; Otello in Santiago, Chile; Nabucco, Tosca, Aida and La Gioconda with the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and Nabucco, Un Ballo in Maschera and Tosca  with the Frankfurt Opera; Nabucco with Opera Seville, Spain; and Falstaff with Opera Norway in Oslo.

Burchinal’s discography includes the world premiere recording of an opera written especially for him in which he created, recorded and subsequently filmed in London, the role of Scrooge in Thea Musgrave’s A Christmas Carol and the American premiere recording of Kurt Weill’s Die Buergschaft conducted by Julius Rudel for EMI.  Burchinal also won acclaim on Broadway at the Majestic Theater starring as Tony in Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella.

“I am so pleased to join the distinguished faculty at the Hodgson School as the inaugural Wyatt and Margaret Anderson Professor.  Their generosity in establishing the professorship and their stalwart support of the arts are inspiring,” says Burchinal.  “I am honored to represent the Andersons’ dreams for the future of the university and to have the opportunity to share my years of performance and experience with the students of UGA to facilitate their own dreams and hopes of entering the world of singing and opera.”

Wyatt Anderson earned a master’s degree in zoology at UGA and his wife, Margaret, an A.B. in mathematics from Agnes Scott College.  The two met, married and moved to New York City where Wyatt earned a Ph.D. in population genetics from Rockefeller University; Margaret earned an M.S. in mathematics from Hunter College.  After a stint as an assistant professor at Yale, two years in the army and a few more years at Yale, Wyatt and Margaret Anderson moved with their three children – Jim, Beth and Karen – to Athens in 1972. 

Along with a group of seven Yale faculty members, Wyatt formed the nucleus of an interdepartmental genetics program at UGA. Wyatt went on to serve as head of the new department of genetics when it was formed in 1980, and was named Alumni Foundation Distinguished Professor in 1987.  He later served as dean of the Franklin College from 1988 to 2003. Margaret continued her education at UGA earning a Ph.D. in statistics.  She taught statistics and computer courses at the Terry College of Business before joining UGA’s Office of Instructional Support and Development.  Wyatt returned to the classroom and is currently a faculty member in the genetics department and Margaret retired from the university.

With 61 faculty members, 55 graduate assistants, 350 undergraduates and about 150 graduate students, the Hodgson School is one of the largest units in UGA’s Franklin College.  The school offers majors in music composition, music education, music performance, conducting, musicology, music theory and music therapy. It is also home to more than 30 faculty and student instrumental and vocal ensembles.  The Franklin College serves more than 16,000 students each year through the teaching of more than 630 faculty members as well as through 30 academic departments and more than 20 centers and programs. For more information, visit www.franklin.uga.edu and www.music.uga.edu.

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