Voice students at FIU are offered a dynamic curriculum that includes private instruction from an outstanding artist faculty with national and international reputations. The members of the FIU voice faculty have performed with major opera companies and orchestras from around the world. They bring their profound artistry, professional experience, and creative teaching abilities to the FIU student body. In addition to regular performances with FIU ensembles, the voice faculty also remains active in the professional field, representing FIU in solo performances and master classes around the world. The School of Music's Guest Artist and Artist-in-Residence programs bring FIU voice students into contact with an extensive array of prominent performing artists and composers each year.

John Augenblick

Coordinator of Choral Studies

Dr. Augenblick is an Associate Professor of Music and the Coordinator of Choral Studies at the Florida International University School of Music, where he conducts the Concert Choir and Miami Master Chorale, coordinates the choral program, and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting. Ensembles under his direction have performed for state, regional and national conferences and have won major international competition.

He received the his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Miami. Further education has included study with choral artists Robert Page, Elmer Eisler, Richard Westenberg, Gregg Smith and Vance George. He has prepared choruses for such notable conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Page, Eduardo Mata, Carlos Piantini, and Robert Craft. His ensembles are recorded on the Capstone and CRI label. His is also Director of Music at the Kendall Community Church of God in Miami and frequently serves as a clinician and adjudicator for local, state, and national music competitions, workshops and symposiums.

He is both founder and conductor of the Miami Master Chorale and has served as the Director of Choral Activities at Florida International University since 1981. Choirs under his direction have been recognized throughout the United States for their excellence.

Dr. Augenblick has also conducted performances of Mozart's Coronation Mass, Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, Monteverdi's Magnificat Primi Toni, Hayden's Harmoniemesse, Orlando Jacinto Garcia's Auschwitz, Honegger's King David, and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (concert version). In 1994 he developed a concert entitled Chant and Beyond tracing the development of sacred choral music from its roots in Gregorian chant to the present.

In the photo above, Dr. Augenblick is shown holding the award the FIU Concert Choir received for winning their category at the Interculture International Choir Competition in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Robert B. Dundas

Coordinator of Vocal Studies

Robert Bryant Dundas is an Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Vocal Studies/Opera Theater at Florida International University. A native of Keene, NH, he completed his graduate studies in Voice and Opera at the University of Iowa. Following his studies, Dundas worked briefly as an assistant stage director under Nathaniel Merrill at the Metropolitan Opera before embarking on a career as a tenor soloist in Europe. He held full-time engagements in Annaberg, Flensburg, Freiberg and Saarbruecken in Germany and made guest appearances at theaters in Denmark, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. His roles included Almaviva, Tamino, Don Ottavio, Nemorino, the Duke of Mantua and numerous operetta roles.

Since his return to the United States, he has appeared with the Bel Canto Society of Cape Cod and the Cape Cod Opera Company. He has also been a soloist on the Monomoy Chamber Music Series in Massachussetts, with the Miami Master Chorale and the Miami Bach Society.   In 1999, he was the tenor soloist in a rare concert performance of Stravinsky's Les Noces , conducted by Robert Craft. He has also appeared in concert at the National Arboretum in Washington, DC and with the National Orchestra of the Dominican Republic. In July, 2004, he performed a new work by FIU composer, Fredrick Kaufman, Echoes for voice, oboe and viola at the national convention of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in New Orleans.

Prof. Dundas maintains a busy second career as an opera stage director, directing Amahl and the Night Visitors for the West Georgia Opera Theater and Viktor Ullmann's Der Kaiser von   Atlantis and Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King for the FIU Music Festival.   He also collaborated with the distinguished American composer Lukas Foss on a production of his Introductions and Goodbyes.   At FIU he directed the premieres of new works by Kristine H. Burns (Cricketina, 2003) and Orlando Garcia (Transcending Time, 2004).   His productions in Germany included Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto at the Herrnsheimer Schlossfestspiel, Hindemith's Sancta Susanna at the Winterstein Theater in Annaberg and Kalman's Graefin Mariza at the Greifensteiner Festspiel. Recent productions in Miami included Handel's Agrippina, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Holst's Savitri and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

In 2004 he made his debut with the Florida Grand Opera, singing the role of Emperor Altoum in Puccini's Turandot.   He will appear with the company again in their 2005 season, singing the role of Pete Peterson in Britten's Paul Bunyan.  

Contact information:
Robert B. Dundas
Director, Vocal Studies/Opera
FIU School of Music
University Park Campus
Miami, FL      33199
Tel.:   305-348-3587

 

 

 

 

 

 

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