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Music faculty biographies

Debra Brubaker, D.M.A.

Professor of Music

Choir, Voice, Opera, Church Music
B.A., Goshen College, 1979; M.M., University of Northern Colorado, 1985; D.M.A., University of Kansas, 2003.

Since coming to Goshen in 1999, Dr. Debra Brubaker has directed the Goshen College Chorale and Chamber Choir, and has recently created the Women's World Music Choir. Debra's choirs have performed with the Toledo Symphony and South Bend Symphony, as well as touring to many parts of the United States and Canada, singing at venues including the Washington National Cathedral and the New York World Trade Center site. Recent Goshen College operas that she has directed include Bizet's Carmen, Sondheim's Into the Woods and Strauss's Die Fledermaus. Debra's voice students regularly compete and place at regional NATS competitions. An accomplished hymn leader, Debra Brubaker’s contacts in Mennonite churches and schools provide ample opportunity for her to practice the art of bringing people together through shared song.
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Sonny Carreño, B.Mus.E.

Jazz Band Director

Lavander Jazz
B.Mus.E., Texas State University–San Marcos, 1983

Sonny Carreño is director of Lavender Jazz, Goshen College’s big band. After earning a bachelor of music education degree from Texas State University - San Marcos, he taught band for five years in the Victoria (Texas) Independent School District. Sonny has taught English as a New Language (ENL) for the past 11 years and currently chairs the ENL Department at Goshen Middle School. For over 25 years he has kept his drumsticks on the pulse of the street by playing professionally in a variety of styles and venues, including Latin, Rock/Pop, R&B, Country and Western, and World Beat.
Personal Web Site

Lee Dengler, M.M.

Assistant Professor of Music

Composition and Voice
B.M., West Chester University, 1981; M.M., West Chester University, 1984.

Lee Dengler has over 180 choral, vocal and piano works published by many of the major music publishers. He also serves as creative consultant and editor for Shawnee Press, a leading choral publisher in the United States. Lee is the director of the Goshen Community Chorale. He is a bass/baritone soloist and has sung in numerous oratorio and operatic productions. He studied choral composition and arranging with Alice Parker at Westminster Choir College as well as in her home in New England where he participated in the Melodious Accord Fellowship program. Lee and his wife, Susan, are ministers of music and arts at College Mennonite Church where he directs the 60-voice adult choir.
Personal Web Page

Susan Dengler, M.M.

Assistant Professor of Music

Voice and Vocal Methods and Pedagogy
B.S., West Chester University, 1981; M.M., Valparaiso University, 2000.

A lyric soprano, Ms. Dengler has performed throughout the East and the Midwest, with an extensive list of operas and oratorios to her credit. In addition to her work at Goshen College, Susan serves as minister of music and arts at College Mennonite Church, where she directs Jubilee Singers, High School Choir and Youth Ensemble. She is submissions editor, as well as composer, arranger and lyricist for Shawnee Press. Susan also serves as the director for the 40-voice Children's Choir of Michiana, based in South Bend, Ind.
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John Graulty, Ed.D.

Associate Professor of Music, Music Department Chair

Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Clarinet
B.M., Peabody University, 1985; M.M., New England Conservatory, 1987; Ed.M. and Ed.D., Columbia University-Teachers College, 1989.

Dr. John Graulty has conducted throughout the United States and in Europe at prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Red Army Theater in Moscow. He has lectured at the Latvian Music Academy in Riga and as a guest of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. His performances have been broadcast on television and radio in this country and abroad, including on WTBU-TV in Indianapolis and Latvian National Radio. He directs a series of conducting workshops at Goshen College and the “Clarinet Summit” with Richard Stoltzman and Kalmen Opperman that have attracted participants from across the U.S. and from as far away as Japan. He has performed as principal clarinetist with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Opera, as the only American semi-finalist at the International Clarinet Competition in London (1984) and as a soloist at Clarinetfest 2001 in New Orleans. Dr. Graulty has recently been named musical director of the South Bend Youth Symphony.
Personal Web Page

James Heiks, M.M.E.

Associate Professor of Music

Choir, Music Education
B.A., Bluffton College, 1972; M.M.E., Northwestern University, 1973.

James Heiks recently joined Goshen College after a 30-year career in the Appleton, Wis., public schools. He is also the founder of the Appleton Boychoir. Jim received the master of music degree from Northwestern University, where he studied French horn with Frank Brouk of the Chicago Symphony. In 1997, he received the Kohl Fellowship for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching from U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, and was nominated for Wisconsin Teacher of the Year. In 1998, he was named by Lawrence University as an Outstanding Teacher in Wisconsin. One of Jim’s high school choirs recently received international recognition, being featured on the “Best of High School A cappella” CD with choirs from around the world. His choirs have performed throughout Eastern Europe, Italy, Scandinavia, Mexico and Japan. He is currently collaborating with Alice Parker on a new folk songbook series titled: “Alice Parker’s Hand Me Down Songs.”
Personal Web Page

Matthew Hill, D.M.A.

Associate Professor of Music

Piano, Music History, Humanities, Piano Pedagogy
B.M., Southwest Missouri State University, 1987; M.M., University of Kansas, 1989; D.M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995.

Previously on the piano faculty at the Wausau Conservatory of Music, Dr. Matthew Hill has performed with several university orchestras including a performance of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the UW-Madison Symphony and has also performed with the Central Wisconsin Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Live from the Elvehjem. He has studied with Howard Karp and renowned Beethoven interpreter Claude Frank. Matthew Hill co-coordinates and presents lectures at the Goshen College Piano Workshop and Academy, has been published in Clavier, and has also presented papers for the College Music Society, the Music Teacher’s National Association, and at the University of Kansas for a conference on the music of Olivier Messiaen.
Personal Web Page

Beverly Lapp, M.M.

Associate Professor of Music

Piano, Piano Pedagogy, Aural Skills
B.A., Goshen College, 1991; M.M., Westminster Choir College of Rider University, 1993.

Beverly Lapp has studied piano and piano pedagogy with Marvin Blickenstaff, Harold Zabrack, Frances Clark, Louise Goss and Phyllis Lehrer. At Westminster Choir College she was the recipient of the Covenant Presbyterian Church Award given each year by the faculty to an outstanding student performer. She is co-coordinator of the annual Goshen College Piano Workshop and Academy, and moderated the pre-conference seminar on collegiate pedagogy teaching at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Chicago in 2003. She has published several articles on teaching topics in Keyboard Companion and is a frequent guest lecturer for regional piano teacher’s groups.
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Christine Larson Seitz, M.M.

Assistant Professor of Music

Music Theory, Music Technology, Staff Accompanist
B.M., Indiana University-South Bend, 1970; M.M., Indiana University-South Bend, 1991.

Previously on the faculty at IUSB and Bethel College, Mishawaka, Christine Seitz has been a sought-after recital accompanist in Michiana for 35 years. She has studied with Robert Hamilton and John Owings. Since 1978 Christine has been the accompanist and assistant director for the St. Joseph Valley Camerata, and has been the organist at First United Methodist Church in Mishawaka since 1987.
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Solomia Soroka, D.M.A.

Assistant Professor of Music

Violin, Viola, Chamber Music, Advanced Music Theory, Survey of Music Literature
B.M., 1993, M.M., 1994, D.M., 1998, Kiev Conservatory; D.M.A., Eastman School of Music, 2002.

Born in the Ukraine, Dr. Soroka made her solo debut with the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 10, performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. She has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine and the United States. The winner of top prizes in three prestigious international violin competitions, she served as Artist-in-Residence at James Cook University in Australia from 1994 to 1997. She has given the Australian and American premieres of several important contemporary Ukrainian compositions.
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Matthias Stegmann, M.M.

Instructor of Music

Guitar, Recording Engineer
B.M., Musikhochschule Koln, 1986; M.M., University of Cincinnati - College Conservatory of Music, 1993.

Personal Web Page

Christine Thögersen, M.M.

Assistant Professor of Music

Organ, Keyboard Theory, Fine Arts for Children
B.A., Goshen College, 1975; M.M.E., Illinois State University, 1981; BEXAM, Berliner Kirchenmusikschule, 1991.

In addition to her teaching at Goshen College, Christine Thögersen teaches elementary music at Benton Elementary and serves as organist at Eighth Street Mennonite Church in Goshen.
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