School of Fine Arts Dean's Blog

Jim Lentini featured on new CD

2011-11-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

Jim Lentini Featured on new Fundraising CD for Public Radio. Press release at this link: Ring II CD for Public Radio

Opinion | Arts necessary for an intellectually stimulating campus - Opinion - The Miami Student

2011-08-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

Opinion | Arts necessary for an intellectually stimulating campus - Opinion - The Miami Student

It's the "Year of the Arts" at Miami University!

2011-08-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

We are very pleased that President David Hodge has declared 2011-2012 as the "Year of the Arts" at Miami University! Press release is here: President Hodge Declares the "Year of the Arts!"

I will write more about this exciting development soon, as our programs will be highlighted as never before!

New: James Lentini Radio at Pandora Internet Radio!

2011-07-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Featuring musicians from Miami University and from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Click Here for Link: James Lentini Radio at Pandora Internet Radio

Exposure to arts drives innovation, spurs economy, study finds | MSU News | Michigan State University

2011-05-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Exposure to arts drives innovation, spurs economy, study finds | MSU News | Michigan State University

2011-05-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to announce that Miami alumnus Steven Reineke ('93) will be our featured speaker at the SFA graduation ceremony on Sunday May 8. Steve is a renowned composer arranger and is the Music Director of the New York Pops and Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. A story from the blog "Arts in Focus" here:

Steven Reineke '93 Featured Guest Speaker at SFA Graduation

Photos below: me and Dana with Steve Reineke backstage at Music Hall, and me and Steve at his apartment in Manhattan:

Summer Arts Institute at Miami University!

2011-03-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to present our Summer Arts Institute at Miami University, which offers both credit and non-credit summer camps and workshops designed for career development, continuing education, and skills enhancement for arts enthusiasts of all ages. Click here for more info:

Summer Arts Institute

We hope to see you this summer!

Visit to Los Angeles!

2011-03-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

Had a great time visiting Miami University alums in the Los Angeles Area from February 23-27! Here's a photo of me and composer David Bell, a distinguished Miami Music alum who went on to score music for the TV series "Murder, She Wrote," "Star Trek Voyager," and many other shows. We had a terrific visit with David at the LA County Museum of Art. There is a really nice article about music scoring in Hollywood with David here
Thanks, David!

Miami Theater Alum Eric Lange has starred in movies and TV. He was recently in the feature movie "Secretariat" with Diane Lane, and he was a regular on the TV series "Lost" (Radzinski). Check out his impressive list of roles at the IMDb.
We had fun chatting at dinner in Pasadena--here's a photo (me, SFA Development Director Heather Kogge, and Eric):

Had a very nice visit with Art Alum Robert Siegel, who has a nifty loft studio next to USC's campus in Los Angeles where he is making his line of ceramics. Robert is finding success with his work, with Nieman Marcus Beverly Hills carrying his ceramic designs! Check out his website here: Robert Siegel Ceramics A picture of me and Robert in his studio:

We had a nice brunch in the San Fernando Valley with Theatre Alums Lindsay Hollister and Steve Frech. Lindsay starred in the movie "Get Smart" with Steve Carrell and Steve is staying busy with writing projects. Check out Steve at IMDb and take a look at Lindsay's website here
A Photo from our brunch:

Our School of Fine Arts graduates are doing great things in Los Angeles! It was lots of fun to catch up with a few of them in person.

Jim

2011-02-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Please check out our first ever Guitar Camp in Oxford Ohio through Miami University's Craft Summer Program. A great lineup of excellent teachers and guitar pros will make this very exciting and worthwhile. Registration starts now!

THE GUITAR CAMP LINK!

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Harvard's Curriculum Emphasizes the Arts

2011-01-27T02:49:00.000-08:00

Harvard University has recently updated its curriculum to focus on integrating the arts into all aspects of their curriculum. A task force was formed to build "A New Vision for the Arts," which features a "greater emphasis on art-making" in the general education curriculum. Drew Faust, President of Harvard University, was recently quoted in an interview with the Huffington Post about the new emphasis on offering the arts across the curriculum:

"We have focused on integrating the arts — the practice of the arts, not simply the appreciation and critique of the arts — into our undergraduate teaching. So we are exploring many innovative dimensions, including the introduction of art-making into many General Education courses." ~ Drew Faust, President, Harvard University

To read the entire interview, see interview with Drew Faust

An excellent article in Harvard Magazine outlines the task for recommendations for including art-making as a standard for all Harvard students. See A New Vision for the Arts at Harvard.

At Miami University, we have long emphasized art-making and participation in the visual and performing arts for all students on campus. We applaud Harvard's newly built curriculum that integrates the arts for all majors at their prestigious institution.

Dean Lentini Featured Speaker/Performer in Florida

2011-01-23T18:23:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to be invited as the featured speaker/performer for the Hughes Society of Florida events in Ft. Myers and Sarasota in February, 2011!

Art Opening in New York

2011-01-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

Photo of me with Miami Art alumnus Vincent Incognilios in New York, where his artwork is featured in a solo show at the Jeffrey Leder Gallery through February 13, 2011 (see http://www.jeffreyledergallery.com/). Congratulations, Vince!

Feature Interview in Nov/Dec Fanfare Magazine with Composer James Lentini

2010-10-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

Feature Interview with Composer James Lentini in Fanfare Magazine! Click Here:

Lentini Fanfare Feature

Classical Guitar Blog

2010-09-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

My guitar music is featured at the Classical Guitar Blog here:

Classical Guitar Blog

New CD on Naxos Released TODAY!

2010-07-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to report that my new CD on the Naxos American Classics series has been released TODAY, and is available at amazon.com and on iTunes, among many other of your favorite distributors.

The disk features my chamber music compositions with fabulous performances by Miami University music faculty members Jacquelyn Davis, Mary E.M. Harris, Pansy Chang, Siok Lian Tan, and Harvey Thurmer; Detroit Symphony members Paul Ganson (emeritus), Geoffrey Applegate, James VanValkenburg, and Marcy Chanteaux; Velvet Brown (Penn State), Robert Conway (Wayne State University), and the duo "Celliola" (Cynthia Fogg and Tom Flaherty)

I hope you'll check it out!

Best,

Jim Lentini

Collegiate Chorale in China!

2010-05-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Our Collegiate Chorale at Miami University just returned from a very successful trip to China! They sang at various venues, including the Great Wall and as featured artists at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Please see below for photos and video links!

Executive Committee Portrait

2010-05-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

We had our last Executive Committee meeting of the year and said "thank you" to Art Department chair dele jegede, who will return to the faculty and to Music Department chair Richard Green, who will retire on June 30. (John Weigand not pictured)

2010-05-15T05:55:00.001-07:00

School of Fine Arts Commencement!

2010-05-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite events of the year is our School of Fine Arts recognition ceremony, where we individually hand out diplomas and recognize the special achievements of our students and faculty. This year we had another great event, with the awarding of an honorary doctorate to music educator Barbara Andress. A few folks have asked for the comments I delivered at the ceremony, so I've included below. As soon as I get some photos, I'll add to this blog.

School of Fine Arts Commencement Comments for May 9, 2010

James Lentini, Dean

Good morning. It is my pleasure to welcome you to this wonderful ceremony today. My name is Jim Lentini, and I am the Dean of the School of Fine Arts. It is an honor for me to be Dean of such a distinguished group of faculty and staff, and a privilege to lead a School of such talented and gifted students. While we are here to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates, this is also a celebration for the families and friends of these students, whose support helped to make this day possible. So, before we continue, I ask our graduates and everyone to please acknowledge our family and friends here with us today with a round of applause! A special welcome, also, to our moms here with us on Mother's Day. In my remarks today, I would like to acknowledge the outstanding accomplishments of the class of 2010, while also commenting on the opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges that are now before you as you take new paths in your lives and careers.

But first, you deserve to celebrate the outstanding milestones that you have reached, the boundaries you have crossed, and the stages you have conquered. You, the class of 2010, have achieved remarkable feats. While a list of your accomplishments would be too long, and I know the value of a brief speech, I am always amazed with the daily newsbriefs posted to our School of Fine Arts website touting your wonderful accomplishments. You have won national and international awards, studied, performed and exhibited work around the globe, and worked in communities to do everything from teaching youngsters to transforming buildings into affordable housing. I applaud your many accomplishments. You have met the educational challenges at Miami University and are here today because you have risen to the task to overcome any obstacles you faced.

You will now turn to new and exciting challenges as you join an illustrious list of graduates from the School of Fine Arts. Our alums continue to make an impact in the arts—from people like Theatre grad Eric Lange who has been playing a continuing character on the TV series Lost, to Art graduate C.F. Payne, an illustrator who created the Time Magazine cover of Barack Obama. We can learn much from our alums and from others who have forged successful careers in creative areas. Today, I'd like to focus briefly on the stories of two people, one a Miami grad at the early stage of an international career, and the other who is not a Miami grad, but a name we all recognize with an important lesson for all of us. These individuals connect to two special highlights for me personally this past year.

For the first highlight, let me talk about our music graduate Stephen Reineke, who is now the conductor and music director of the New York Pops orchestra, and whose concert recently with that group at Carnegie Hall was described by the New York Times as "too marvelous for words." We had the pleasure of having Maestro Reineke back to Miami a couple of weeks ago to talk to students and to visit classes. It was also a lot of fun to see Steve revisit with many of the professors he had studied with in the Music Department, and for whom he had high praise. In one of his sessions, Mr. Reineke was asked the inevitable question about the keys to his success. Without hesitating, he said that in order to achieve success he had to experience failure. He mentioned that when he left Miami, he thought he knew everything, and had to get "knocked down" as he put it, and pick himself up a few times and to learn and grow from these experiences.

So what lesson do we take from this? First, while it may be hard to believe, it just might be, graduates, that you don't know everything. Next, if it is your goal to perform on the big stages and to achieve great things, you are going to need to reach high and take some risks. If you're reaching high enough, it's likely you're going to fail at times, but you must trust in your talent and ability to learn from your missteps and to try again, each time with added knowledge and wisdom.

On to my second highlight, which for me began with visit to Apple Computer in Cupertino, California for a discussion with Apple Executives. Being a lifelong Macintosh user, for me this was like a trip to the Promised Land. While there, I was struck by the story told about the company's co-creator, Steve Jobs. No, I didn’t meet Mr. Jobs, though they told me we could bump into him, but I believe that his story is so compelling that we can all learn from his amazing creativity and career journey. Similar to others who have reached incredible heights, Jobs tells a tale about his opportunities coming out of what appeared to be the most devastating failure. Having co-created Apple computer at the age of 20, Jobs was unceremoniously voted out of the very company he created by its board of trustees at the ripe old age of 30. He now reflects on this time of his life by saying he felt publicly humiliated as a high-profile failure. So what did he do after that the company he created fired him? He invented a new computer company, Next computers, that was so good Apple decided, ironically, to buy it from Jobs. He then went on to create and become CEO of Pixar animation studios, reinventing the animation process and making movies like Toy Story and others. Apple Computer eventually brought Jobs back as their CEO, and as we all know, he continues to change the landscape of technology and media by through the invention of the devices the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. Steve Jobs is someone who was not debilitated with what seemed to be a crushing failure--he instead took his supposed "defeat" and turned it into an amazing success story.

You can avoid all of this high drama in your life, of course, if you choose not to aim so high and to make sure that everything you do is low risk. This idea is well expressed in a quote from the great Italian artist Michelangelo who said: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”

Besides aiming high, there is another trait that is common among high achievers--persistence. If you want something badly enough and believe that you have the talent to reach your goals, you will push through the barriers that may appear to block your path. Many of you have probably heard the story of a Carnegie Mellon professor named Randy Pausch, who gave an inspirational and now famous "last lecture" before he tragically passed away from pancreatic cancer. He talked about persistence when he said this:

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.

While the stories of Reineke and Jobs show us that reaching high levels of success will require the ability to overcome failure and to be persistent, there is another important lesson. In Steve Reineke's case, he entered college thinking he was going to be a trumpet player in an orchestra someday. He never envisioned himself becoming a high-profile conductor and composer. In the case of Steve Jobs, he would not have a clue in those early years that he'd become a CEO of a filmmaking company and that he'd overhaul the music industry with the iPod and iTunes. And probably none of this would have happened had he not been fired from Apple. The fact is, both men recognized and embraced new opportunities, rather than blindly continue to bang on the same door or run into a brick wall until it might fall down. When something didn't work out like they planned, they didn't give up, but instead had the vision to see new paths. You see, it is very hard for anyone to know for certain where they will be and what they will be doing in five, ten, or fifteen years. But you can be certain that if you are working hard and reaching high with a persistent approach, opportunities will appear that you never imagined—but you had better be prepared to see and to seize those opportunities.

It is quite possible that the career you will find doesn't even exist today. Who would have known five or ten years ago that you could make a living as a Blogger, or a Social Media Strategists. These were not jobs we could have imagined just a few years back, what will your future hold? It's exciting to imagine.

It is my fervent hope that you have learned much about your craft and about yourself here at Miami. But I also hope that you have fallen in love with learning and with pursuing your passion. If you have, you will already know that the pursuit of excellence is a lifetime process. I also hope that you have gained self-confidence, humility, a sense of humor, and to be kind to your fellow human beings. Be someone who challenges yourself and questions everything. Through your art and through your passion, you have the power to make a difference in your field and in your communities, and in doing so, I hope that you will always maintain the highest sense of respect for yourself and for others. One of my last questions to Steve Reineke was about how he finds the time to stay prepared with the intense amount of traveling he does. He said that his late mentor, conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra Erich Kunzel told him this; kid, always make me proud. That one simple line is the kind that can motivate us all. Whether it motivates you to make your family, mentor, or yourself proud, don't take shortcuts, work hard, learn from your successes and your setbacks, and pursue your dreams with passion and persistence. We can't wait to see who and what you will become in the years ahead, because ladies and gentleman, we are very proud of you.

Congratulations to you all!

New Composition for the Rawlins Piano Trio!

2010-03-06T20:15:00.000-08:00

The Rawlins Piano Trio, an ensemble in residence at the University of South Dakota, is on the road with my new composition commssioned by them entitled Opposites Attract. Their website gives a very nice preview of the piece here: http://www.rawlinstrio.com/news.html

Apple Visit Photo

2010-03-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

We had a very interesting visit to Apple Computer. The topics definitely stirred ideas and discussions about potential directions for us at Miami University. The photo below shows us in the Executive Briefing area on Apple's campus where our meeting took place.

Visit to Apple Headquarters

2010-03-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

As I type this note, I am on a flight to Cupertino, CA, to visit Apple Computer headquarters as part of a team from Miami University (including President Hodge and Provost Herbst) that will be in sessions with Apple reps to investigate uses for iTunes U., mobile learning, and other topics. We should also get a good look at the new iPad. As a Macintosh user since about 1984, I'm looking forward to setting foot on the Apple campus!

Miami University Symphony Orchestra Concert

2010-02-28T05:43:00.000-08:00

Kudos to the Miami University Symphony Orchestra for an exciting performance on Friday evening (2/26/10)! The Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 was exhilarating, with a superb soloist in pianist Gleb Ivanov. I was also very pleased with the world-premiere of my Symphony No. 1: Through Time and Place for orchestra. Bravo to our students and to conductor Ricardo Averbach!