Faculty News

State Department assignment in Mongolia offers challenges

Assigned by the U.S. State Department to coach the Mongolian National Opera in an English language production of Porgy and Bess, vocal coach Lee Thompson had a few hurdles to clear.

Lee Thompson

The Whitman professor of music spent six weeks last January and February in Ulaan Bataar as an American cultural ambassador to Mongolia. He was assigned to the Mongolian National Opera Company to serve as principal vocal coach for the country's first-ever English language opera.

An immediate obstacle arose when the company selected Porgy and Bess for production. By stipulation of the Gershwin estate, only Blacks may portray Porgy and Bess in the opera, and the Mongolian Opera Company has no Black singers.

While that problem was solved with a decision to produce a concert version of Porgy and Bess instead, the second hurdle was not so easily jumped. Thompson, whose assignment was to coach the principal singers, found that few spoke English, and that he would have to teach, not only the music, but also the unfamiliar words. In addition, no one had been sent to coach the chorus in singing the English lyrics.

To help out, Whitman music professor Robert Bode, who had accompanied Thompson on his assignment, worked with the chorus for two weeks. Then Thompson and conductor Bernard Rubenstein, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, took over, working for an additional three grueling weeks. The resulting concerts were "great successes," said Thompson. He and Bode were named Honored Members of the opera company.

The Mongolian National Opera "is a fine professional company, and I enjoyed working with its members," said Thompson, who also performed at the piano with the company in several concerts at the U.S. Embassy. In addition, he taught master classes in piano at both the university and college of music in Ulaan Bataar.

He and Bode have been invited to return, said Thompson. "I'd love to go back. It was a great honor."

Hiking Washington's Geology

Dungeness Spit, Steamboat Rock, the Mima Mounds, the Two Sisters, Ape Cave, the sea caves of Cape Flattery — these and many other geologic wonders make up the destinations for 56 proposed hikes in Hiking Washington's Geology. Published this spring by The Montaineers, Seattle, the book was written by Bob Carson, Whitman College professor of geology and environmental studies, and Scott Babcock, professor of geology at Western Washington University.

The authors guide the hiker on explorations of buttes, canyons, glaciers, mountains, and scablands. Meanwhile, they relate the fascinating history of the monumental forces that shaped the state, including some of the most catastrophic floods the world has ever known, massive lava flows, and treacherous tsunamis along the Pacific Coast.

The book begins with a chapter titled "Geology 109," which reviews basic information needed to understand the rocks and landforms observed, and closes with a glossary of the terminology. The hikes are rated according to degree of difficulty.

Music professor named to new chair of humanities

Robert Bode

Robert Bode, professor of music and director of choral and vocal studies, has been selected to hold the first Alma Meisnest Chair of Humanities at Whitman College.

The chair was created with a $2.5 million bequest from Seattle area school teacher Alma Meisnest, who also left similar amounts to three other independent colleges in Washington.

Bode, who received his doctoral degree in conducting from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, has served on the Whitman music faculty since 1986. Besides teaching classes and overseeing Whitman's vocal studies, he gives individual voice lessons, advises students, and directs choral groups.

Professionally, Bode has worked with singers and scholars from North America to Europe to Asia. Within the last three years, he conducted a series of televised concerts with the Yunnan Provincial Chorus in The People's Republic of China; conducted a performance of The Barber of Seville at the State Opera Theater in Bourgas, Bulgaria; and served as chorus master for the Mongolia National Opera's first English production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. This summer he will record with the Bohemia State Philharmonic in Olomouc, Czech Republic, and next fall he will return to Bulgaria to conduct Carmen.

Closer to home, Bode has served for a decade as music director and conductor of the Richland, Washington, Mid-Columbia Symphony, and he is the founder of the Walla Walla Choral Society and the Walla Walla Mastersingers.

In 1998, the College named him a Paul Garrett Fellow in recognition of his outstanding teaching and professional activity.