Crane School of Music alumni, students win acclaim

POTSDAM — It's been a busy few months for SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music.

Since the beginning of the year, current or former students at the school have won a series of awards, from a Grammy to an appearance on "American Idol."

"That is sort of common for Crane," said Kirk A. Severtson, chairman of the performance department at Crane. "On an ongoing basis, we have alumni out there who are winning acclaim."

In early January, Crane's Opera Ensemble tied for first place at the 2009 National Opera Association's annual Collegiate Opera Production Competition for a video of its performance of Franceso Cavalli's "L'Egisto," conducted by Mr. Severtson. Later that month, music professor David Pittman-Jennings and several other musicians from outside of Crane won an award for their recording of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's piece "Requiem for a Young Poet" at an awards ceremony in Cannes, France.

But it's not all classical acclaim at Crane. Benjamin Bright, who graduated in 2005, made it to the second round of "American Idol" during the beginning of this season.

"I think that is not a style he learned here at Crane, so I don't know that we can take credit for that, but it's nice to see we have students with a lot of different interests," Mr. Severtson said.

One of Crane's most famous alumni, Renee Fleming, took home her fourth Grammy in February. Though Ms. Fleming has not been back to visit Crane in recent years, owing to her busy schedule, the school is working to bring her back.

"The last decade or so, she's been at the peak of her career, but she's been a very good friend to the college," he said.

Though the school's focus is on turning out music teachers — Mr. Bright teaches in West Chazy — the college is known for its famous performers. Many of Crane's nearly 600 students plan to go into education, but they all learn how to perform first, according to Mr. Severtson.

"The students really benefit from having these role models," he said.