Next on 13: Behind the Scenes of the Colgate University Orchestra with Prof. Marietta Cheng

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Hear what happens behind the scenes of the Colgate University Orchestra on the latest episode of 13. Professor of Music and Director of the Orchestra Marietta Cheng joins the podcast to talk about her experiences as a conductor and music professor.

Cheng has been a Colgate Presidential Scholar, AAUP Professor of the Year, and was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award given by the Colgate Alumni Council.

In addition to her scholarship and orchestral direction at Colgate, Cheng is also conductor laureate of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. Cheng served as the musical director and conductor of the Corning Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus from 1986 to 1995, and she has guest conducted the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Cheng has also served on the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival, and, since 2000, she has conducted a children’s concert series in upstate New York with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. In 2003, Cheng was chosen as one of 50 great women conductors worldwide, profiled in a book on women conductors, and, as one of a unique group of 100 women leaders from across the United States, she added her voice to Lifetime Television’s National Summit on Women in the 21st Century.

Professor Cheng earned her bachelor’s degree from Smith College and her master of music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. 

Each episode of 13, Colgate’s biweekly podcast, digs into the work of a University community member by asking 13 questions. Episodes highlight the wide array of academic disciplines at Colgate, with interviews featuring faculty from political science, sociology and anthropology, physics and astronomy, women’s studies, English, Africana and Latin American studies, and many more.

Previous episodes of 13 have featured: Jessica Graybill, Lyosha Gorshkov, Masha Hedberg, Valerie Morkevičius, Nancy Ries, Daniel Bertrand Monk, Peter Balakian, Sam Rosenfeld, DeWitt Godfrey, Esther Rosbrook, Rebecca Shiner, Dawn LaFrance, Brittney Dorow ’17, Mari Prauer, Carolyn Guile, Nancy Ries, Joanna Holvey-Bowles, Martin Wong, Pamela Gramlich, Dorsey Spencer Jr., Danielle Nied, Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar, F. Scott Kraly, Kerra Hunter, Joe Levy, Nicki Moore, Ken Valente, Sarah Keen, Daniel Benton ’80, Laura H. Jack, Carrie Keating, Robert Kraynak, Dan Gough, Jennifer Tomlinson, Ana Jimenez, Alicia Simmons, Juan Fernando Ibarra Del Cuentro, Karen Harpp, Kwazi Konadu, Paul McLoughlin II, Anthony Aveni, Robert Garland, Ryan Hall, Craig Hatkoff ’76, Susan Thomson, Nick Kokonas ’91, Jessica Graybill, Brian W. Casey, Jeff Bary, Jennifer Brice, Ellen Percy Kraly, Danielle Lupton, Ynesse Abdul-Malak, Nimanthi Rajasingham, and John Pumilio.

Find 13 on your favorite podcast platform, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.