College of Fine Arts

Associate Professor Helen M. "Hadi" Gibbons (Chair of the Voice Department) has taught voice, music theory, diction, and song literature at Millikin since 1985. Her DMA is from Louisiana State University. Dr. Gibbons has served as the Illinois State Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing since 1998, and she regularly judges state and regional auditions. She performs locally both as a soloist and in the choral group Opus 24. Dr. Gibbons recently studied and performed at the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Baden-bei-Wien, Austria.

Daniel Carberg, Associate Professor of music, has recently performed with Sting, Piffaro, The Catacoustic Consort, Baroque Artists of Champaign (BACH), and has been featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today . Dan is also a founding and current member of the internationally acclaimed Concord Ensemble as well as the Millikin University faculty ensemble for early music, Gravitación. Other credits include performances with Theatre of Voices, The Pro Arte Singers, and at The Madison Early Music Festival, The Bloomington Early Music Festival, The Berkeley Early Music Festival, The Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Disney Hall, Weil Recital Hall, and recording credits include such labels as Dorian Records, Gothic Records, Harmonia Mundi, and First Step Records. At Millikin University Dan teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy, vocal performance seminar, and Medieval/Renaissance music history. Dan directs a prestigious small vocal ensemble, Tudor Voices, and is also a music director, conductor, and continuo player for the Millikin Opera Theatre. Past and current projects include Purcell's Dido and Aeneas , Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne , and Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea . Dan also serves as voice faculty at Bella Musica, Millikin's summer immersion program in Urbania, Italy. Dan holds a doctorate in music from Indiana University, Bloomington.

Soprano Ann Borders performed a recital at Alice Tully Hall as the Liederkranz Foundation Winner in 1988; that same year she also won the American Opera Auditions. Her theatrical experience encompasses roles with the Reimann Opera Theatre, the Illinois Opera Theatre, Springfield Opera Theatre, Little Theatre on the Square (Sullivan, Illinois), and Theatre 7 (Decatur).

Soprano Frances Daniels has taught voice for more than twenty-five years both privately and at Loras College, the University of Iowa, Penn State University, the University of Illinois, and Indiana State University. Since joining the Millikin voice staff in 1999, she has taught private voice, diction for singers, class voice, and voice performance seminar. She has also been a frequent contributor to the National Association of Teachers of Singing, adjudicating the NATS Artist Award Competition at botyh the district and regional levels. Professor Daniels currently serves as the secretary treasurer of the Central Illinois Chapter of NATS.  She and tenor Jerry Daniels founded the Northwest Vocal Ensemble, which performed operatic excerpts for regional audiences. She has performed more than twenty-five opera and oratorio roles, and spends her summers in Urbania, Italy as apprentice coordinator of the Italian Operatic Experience at Scuola-Italia.  Ms. Daniels holds degrees in music from Drake University, the University of Iowa, and has completed doctoral course work and residency (ABD in voice performance) at the University of Illinois.

Ted Hesse is a Lecturer of Music at Millikin University. He conducts the University Women’s Choir, Concert Choir and has conducted several of Millikin’s opera theatre productions. He also teaches voice, music theory and conducting. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Millikin University and his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Northern Iowa. He also attended the University of Minnesota where he studied music education.

Baritone Matthew Leese is known as a versatile baritone, voice teacher and director, specializing in early music, art song and opera. He has founded three acclaimed ensembles, the ‘ Otago Camerata ', ‘ the bath street studio ' and most recently Millikin's own faculty early music ensemble 'Gravitación'. Extensive performing experience includes numerous recital and oratorio credits, as well as lead roles in 'Dido and Aeneas', 'l'Euridice', 'Venus and Adonis', 'Cephale et Procris', ‘The Tide' and ‘The Telephone'. In New Zealand Matthew has premiered the contemporary roles of Frank in 'Outrageous Fortune' by Gillian Whitehead and Man in 'The Trapeze Artists' by Anthony Ritchie. At Millikin, Matthew has directed The Magic Flute (06), Little Red Riding Hood (07) and musically directed Bach's Coffee Cantata. Matthew also serves as a guest director for Tudor Voices, Millikin's student early music ensemble. Other ensemble experience includes work with the Tower New Zealand Youth Choir, Pro Arte Singers, Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, the Catacoustic Consort, Ensemble Lipzodes and Fenix de los Ingenios. Matthew holds the MMus in Early Music from Indiana University, a GPDip In Historical Performance from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA and a MusBHons from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Cynthia Oeck, soprano, has taught Voice and Diction at Millikin University since 1994. Ms. Oeck has performed throughout the country on the opera, oratorio and recital stage. Operatic roles include Vanessa, Fiordiligi, the Countess and Violetta. She has appeared in concert with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and Rainier Symphony in Washington State; the University of Missouri at Kansas City Symphony and Chorus, the Illinois State Symphony and the Decatur/Millikin Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Oeck has presented sacred and secular recital programs throughout the country from Seattle, Washington to College Station, Texas. Recent recitals have included all Bach and all Russian programs. In July, 2001 Ms. Oeck performed Nicolas’ Flagello’s Contemplazioni di Michelangelo at the University of Illinois. Future engagements include appearances at Baldwin-Wallace University and with the Community Chamber Concert Series in Bryan, Texas Ms. Oeck received a Master of Music from the University of Washington. Past teachers include Augusto Paglialunga, Mary Curtis-Verna and Margaret Harshaw.

Praised by critics as having lyrical and brilliant coloratura "star quality," soprano Sherezade Panthaki is in constant demand as an opera and oratorio soloist.   She appeared in the title role in multiple performances of Mozart's opera 'Il re pastore' at the 2006 Bloomington Early Music Festival (Indiana), and is the winner of the Adams fellowship (soprano soloist) competition for the 2006 Carmel Bach Festival, Carmel, California, performing several concerts with the festival. She was a recent finalist in the Le Jardin des Voix international vocal competition sponsored by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants , and has been a featured soloist at the Tafelmusik Baroque Institute (Toronto). In addition to performances at various international music festivals in France, Holland and Switzerland, Ms. Panthaki's recent and upcoming engagements include a variety of repertoire with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra , the Boston Early Music Festival, Ensemble Voltaire (Indianapolis), the Apollo Chorus of Chicago , La Donna Musicale (Boston), Ars Musica (Chicago), the Amherst Early Music Festival (Vermont) , the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (Illinois), the Bach Society of Saint Louis , the Bloomington Early Music Festival (Indiana), and the American Opera Theater (Washington D.C.).  She is a founding member of the Baroque trio Arte Bella , as well the newly-formed Medieval Renaissance quartet, Gravitación, both of which perform frequently throughout the United States. Ms. Panthaki's discography includes two recordings of 17th and 18th century music by women composers with La Donna Musicale ,  as well as "Elements"—a captivating collection of Medieval and Renaissance repertory with Gravitación. In addition to her performing and recording schedule, Ms. Panthaki serves as Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, Illinois.

Dr. Timothy Schmidt, Adjunct Associate Professor of Voice, has taught at Millikin since 1996. He holds degrees from Westmont College, University of Northern Colorado, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Regionally he has sung with Union Avenue Opera Theater in St. Louis and Muddy River Opera in Quincy, Illinois, and has performed numerous concert and opera roles with the Baroque Artists of Champaign, Danville Festival Chorus, University of Illinois, Illinois State University, and the Millikin-Decatur Symhpony Orchestra. In 2005 he created and recorded a role in the world-premiere one-act opera Where the Cross Is Made, by Nancy Van de Vate. He has also worked regionally as both a conductor and stage director.

Terry Stone (MM, University of Illinois-Urbana) has been Adjunct Assistant Professor of Voice at Millikin since 1993, teaching studio voice, Opera Workshop, and song literature. He has sung in recent performances of Dialogues of the Carmelites with the Muddy River Opera Company, and of Schubert song cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise.

Marion van der Loo holds the B. Mus. Degree in Opera Performance and the M. Mus. Degree in Choral Conducting from Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia. She also completed a doctoral residency in Choral Conducting at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Ms. van der Loo enjoyed a long singing career on the east coast as a mezzo-soprano with consistently enthusiastic reviews for her interpretation of opera, oratorio and the lied. She has sung with orchestras throughout the east coast, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, and the Baltimore Symphony, as well as in Europe and in the Midwest. Since moving into the area of conducting, while still maintaining a private voice studio, Ms. van der Loo has, for 17 years, conducted choruses and orchestras in both professional and non-professional venues. During her 12 seasons as Director and Conductor of the Illinois Symphony Chorus in Springfield, she frequently conducted the Chorus with the Illinois Chamber and the Illinois Symphony Orchestras. She has since become Music Director and Conductor of the 55-voice Springfield Choral Society and is the founding Artistic Director and Conductor of Prairieland Voices, a chamber chorus based in Springfield.

Lois J. YaDeau (BM, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, MM University of Illinois) teaches studio voice, vocal pedagogy, and class voice at Millikin. She has performed in various venues and given workshops throughout the Midwest. Adjunct Associate Professor YaDeau serves as a Singing Voice Specialist for Decatur Memorial Hospital. She lectured at the Belarus Academy of Music in Minsk, Belarus in 1998, also performing recitals in Bratislava, Bardejov, and Presov, Slovakia. Two of her former students are Metropolitan Opera national winners.