From time to time on this page, we will profile individual department faculty and their recent activities.  For Spring 2010, we pay tribute to Michael Deane Lamkin, Professor of Music at Scripps College and Director of the Joint Music Program of Claremont-McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges.  Professor Lamkin will retire in June of this year.

Professor Lamkin joined the Scripps Music Department and the Joint Music Program of Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges in 1977, receiving his Ph.D. in Musicology soon thereafter from The University of Iowa.  In addition to his conducting and other teaching in the Joint Music Program, he has also served in recent years as Vice President and Dean of the faculty at Scripps.  Outside of Claremont, he has conducted extensively at music festivals in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, and elsewhere.  A co-founder of the Haydn Society of California, he assisted with the organization of The Haydn Society of North America, was elected board member during its first year and was subsequently re-elected to a second term. Professor. Lamkin is a recipient of the Grosse Ehrenzeichen or Grand Decoration, the highest civilian medal of honor, from the Burgenland, Austria, government, for his work in bringing Americans and Austrians closer together, and for his conducting of Haydn performances in Austria.

We offer two appreciations of Michael from departmental colleagues who have worked with him closely over the years:

Since arriving at Scripps College in 1977, Michael Lamkin transformed the "Claremont Chamber Orchestra" from a small ensemble specializing in works of modest size by Mozart and Haydn to the "Claremont Concert Orchestra," a group of over 60 musicians playing challenging works by Mahler, Shostakovich, and (thanks Michael) myself. From the beginning the orchestra has greatly benefitted and benefitted from Harvey Mudd students, who now make up more than half of the students in the 4-college orchestra and a disproportionate number of concerto soloists. This popularity is not only a result of our well rounded student body but also of the attraction of spending Monday evenings making music in such congenial and challenging rehearsals. Students would often be treated with one of Michael's famous anecdotes, sometimes about a colorful incident in the life of a composer or perhaps about the time when Michael matched vocal ranges with Henry Kissinger. Even when serving as the Scripps Dean of Faculty, Michael has always been a conscientious and active member of the HMC Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and the Arts, and I think no faculty member is more beloved.

                    William Alves, Professor of Music
 
Michael Lamkin has been instrumental (pun intended) in bringing high quality musical performance experiences to generations of Claremont Consortium instrumentalists, singers, and audience members through the Joint Music Program of Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges.  Michael was the founding director of the Claremont Chamber Orchestra which evolved into the present Claremont Concert Orchestra.  He also conducted the Concert Choir and the Chamber Choir for many years.  I would estimate that he has conducted over 2000 Consortium students in over 200 performances during his career in the Joint Music Program and at Scripps College.  Plus he has been a mentor to dozens of musicians who now sing, play, and conduct throughout the U.S. and the world.
 
In my five years in Claremont, Michael has also been a mentor to me.  I have learned much from him, especially about the performance of Haydn's and Mozart's music.  He has been a wonderful and supportive colleague.  And he has been an inspiration in my own music making.  I will greatly miss his presence in the Joint Music Program.

                   Charles Kamm, Assistant Professor of Music