Eugene, OR (PRWEB) May 18, 2012

Avant Assessment is pleased to announce the release of STAMP™ 4Se for students in grades 3-6. An extension of Avant’s web-based STAMP assessment, STAMP 4Se determines reading, writing, listening and speaking proficiency in Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish at any point along a student’s learning path. Previously released STAMP 4S, appropriate for middle school through college, assesses reading, writing, listening and speaking proficiency in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish, and reading, writing and speaking proficiency in Italian. When repeated periodically, STAMP assessments help educators monitor and evaluate progress.

Both STAMP 4S and 4Se engage students with real-world scenarios and help them understand their own proficiency level in the target language. Test results are statistically validated and are reported by district/institution, school, class and individual at proficiency benchmarks related to The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) levels novice through advanced. STAMP4S and 4Se reports are exportable to Excel for flexible analysis and use in evaluating programs and informing decisions around staff development and instructional planning.

“We are excited to be able to meet the language proficiency assessment needs of elementary school educators and students with our STAMP 4Se assessment,” said Mike Patterson, President and CEO of Avant. “It is important for language students early on to understand the importance and relevance of becoming proficient in real world use of languages. Our STAMP product line provides them with that understanding and encourages continued self-awareness as they progress along their learning continuum.”

To learn more about STAMP 4S/4Se, as well as Avant Assessment’s other offerings, including professional development and free online webinars, please visit http://www.avantassessment.com.

About Avant Assessment

Avant believes that every student can communicate and thrive in a diverse world, and that every educator can be confident in guiding student learning with data, evidence and observation. A leader in language proficiency assessments, Avant provides research-based assessments for World Languages and English in reading, writing, listening and speaking. With expertise in linguistics, assessment, technology and education at their foundation, Avant’s solutions build student and teacher confidence in real-world learning and deliver accurate standards-based data to inform the learning process. Delivered via the web, Avant’s assessment tools are easily accessible, personalized and engaging. With iCAN®, STAMP™4S/4Se and Placement™, every student can be ready to thrive in a diverse world.

For more information, press only, contact:

Mary Beth Saddoris, 888-718-7887, marybeth.saddoris(at)avantassessment(dot)com

©2012 Avant® Assessment. All rights reserved. Avant® and iCAN® are registered trademarks, and Every Student Can™, STAMP™ and Placement™ are trademarks of Avant Assessment. All other brands are the property of their respective owners.

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Birmingham, West Midlands (PRWEB) June 22, 2006

The first university course of its sort is to be launched in the UK by the University of Abertay, Dundee. The course will comprise of lessons teaching students methods to break into the most sophisticated computer networks across the World; and thus how they can protect the networks of their own companies from such attacks.

The premise behind this course is that to catch a thief one must become a thief; obviously this is not to be taken to literally. For this reason all applicants to the government-accredited “ethical hacker” course will be thoroughly vetted by the Home Office and Foreign Office, to ensure that anyone who may be tempted to put their skills to criminal use is weeded out. The students will also be closely monitored to ensure that they stay the correct side of the law.

Last year hacking accounted for £10 billion of damage to British firms, and there is scope for it to be used as part of a terrorist attack. This could be seen as enough evidence that training a small proportion of Britain’s students in the art of computer hacking and thus preventative techniques is a worthwhile pursuit.

Profeesor Lachlan MacKinnon, head of Abertay’s school of computing and creative technologies commented that “The technology exists to allow the things that happened to Will Smith in Enemy of the State to happen to you.” He later added that if a hacker could acquire passwords and personal information even systems run by the military, banks and other high-profile organisations were at high risk of being exploited.

Graduates of this particular course are expected to earn salaries in excess of £50,000 – if they use their new found skills ethically.

Rob Green, Managing Director at computer support company Century Computing commented “There is a real need for people skilled in penetration testing on secure computer networks, and to advise business on how to steps to take to fill any insecurities. We would always advise users to secure their networks in the first instance using an enterprise grade firewall; in fact at Century we make a point of not providing Internet and communication lines to firms who do not have adequate firewalls installed.”

Century Computing Support Services Ltd are a computer support and network installation company located within the West Midlands; providing clients across the UK with hardware and software support, both remotely and with onsite engineers.

Use website http://www.CenturyComputing.co.uk for Media enquiries.

Tel: 0870 005 3599

Fax: 0845 331 3499

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

(PRWEB) April 01, 2012

London 2012 Pharmacy Services have been recognised for their design and delivery of a new national education programme for pharmacists.

The team, led by Mark Stuart, LOCOG Pharmacy Clinical Lead, has been awarded a bronze medal in the Outstanding Learning category at the inaugural Podium Awards.

The Podium Awards recognise the very best London 2012 related projects across further and higher education. They acknowledge activity that has best utilised the power of the Games to inspire learning in any part of the education sector (School, College or University) or in the wider community.

Designed with the aim of improving knowledge and understanding of sports medicine, the programme by the London 2012 Pharmacy Services was developed for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. It involved collaboration between two organisations with primary interests in sport, health and education; the LOCOG Pharmacy Clinical Services and the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE).

Together they have developed a five hour online programme entitled “Drug use in Sport: A Healthcare Professional’s Perspective” containing three modules that are now available to be accessed by all LOCOG medical workforce, as well as all pharmacists across the UK. These include modules on 1) doping and anti-doping in sport, 2) pharmacy services and support in sport and fitness and 3) medical services at international sport events

This is the first time at any Olympic or Paralympic Games that such a comprehensive medical education initiative has been delivered to pharmacy and medical staff on drugs in sport, both working on the Games and across the whole country. In addition, the education programme is also available to healthcare professionals in other countries. By the end of the 2012 Games, the UK will have a new group of highly skilled and knowledgeable pharmacists specialising in drugs in sport and sports and exercise medicine.

The authors of the programme were: Mark Stuart (LOCOG Pharmacy Clinical Lead), Joe Marshall (LOCOG Anti-Doping), David Mottram, (LOCOG Pharmacy Clinical Services Group) Trudy Thomas (LOCOG Pharmacy Clinical Services Group) and the e-learning platform was delivered by the Centre for Pharmacy Post Graduate Education.

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office.

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Ann Arbor, MI (PRWEB) December 1, 2006

Spirit Shop Inc, http://www.spiritshop.com, announced at the end of November that the Company signed up 400 new schools during the previous two quarters. This broke the company’s previous new school registration record for a similar period. This adds 400 additional Elementary, Middle & High Schools who have selected Spirit Shop as their online custom-made, school-branded apparel supplier to promote school spirit in their communities and to provide an additional source of fundraising income for important school programs.

Todd Sullivan, Founder and CEO of Spirit Shop stated that, “We are excited that our new ecommerce offering which has been designed to meet real school needs has been so warmly received by so many school communities. Schools get to offer their students, parents and faculty stock and customizable school-branded apparel & gear through the school’s own online Spirit Shop 24/7 without having to carry any inventory. Schools not only get to enhance their Spirit Wear offering for free, they also receive 15% of each sale to use as they see fit.”

Schools are excited about this new opportunity to raise funds and spread school spirit as well. Carol McCoy, Principal of Bessie Hoffman Elementary School in Michigan said that she is excited to provide this option for her parents and students. “We’re looking forward to seeing lots of our Bessie people wearing our new Bessie Bulldog shirts from Spirit Shop and to be honest it was an easy decision since setting up our online Spirit Shop was free and required no long term commitments. We figured we could only benefit from this new offering. We saw no risk, only upside.”

Caroline Roberts the Vice Principal of the Saint Jerome School in Florida stated “We are a small catholic school and it’s great to be able to offer such a large variety of school branded items to our students and their families. We could have never afforded to offer such a broad selection of products if we had to carry the inventory ourselves. The flexibility we can offer now is great.”

Spirit Shop is aggressively looking to expand its base of registered schools and expects to register an additional 400+ schools by the end of the 06/07 school year. “We’re honored that these schools have chosen to partner with us to meet their school spirit and fundraising needs,” Sullivan said, “and we look forward to entering into partnership with more schools in the future.”

About Spirit Shop

Spirit Shop Inc. is the only company to allow students, parents and alumni in Kindergarten through 12th grade educational and youth markets to design their own school, team, club, class and event branded apparel and merchandise online with no minimum orders while serving as a school fundraiser. Spirit Shop Inc. has exclusive production rights to a proprietary process that allows the Company to deliver uniquely printed high-quality products at a fraction of the price of traditional production and printing techniques. Spirit Shop partners with schools interested in offering their students and school communities a cost-effective, simple option for purchasing stock and customizable school-branded apparel and gear online with no minimum orders. In exchange for their support, Spirit Shop provides partner schools with a 15% commission on sales conducted through their online Spirit Shop. Schools also have the ability to buy custom products in bulk at wholesale prices, to be resold locally. For more information about Spirit Shop, please visit their website: http://www.spiritshop.com

Contact:

Merrill Guerra

Marketing Manager, Spirit Shop Inc.

734-418-2743

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Santa Fe, NM (PRWEB) May 11, 2012

Barbara Buhler Lynes, widely recognized as the world’s leading authority on the life and art of Georgia O’Keeffe, resigned today after more than a decade as curator of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Emily Fisher Landau director of the Museum’s Research Center.

A pre-eminent O’Keeffe scholar, Dr. Lynes has been the driving force behind numerous exhibitions and helped to establish the international reputation for scholarship on O’Keeffe and on American Modernism. Dr. Lynes became the Museum’s first curator in 1999, two years after the Museum opened and shortly after the publication of the prize-winning Georgia O’Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné, published by Yale University Press, a project of the National Gallery of Art and the now dissolved Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. The two-volume publication documents and authenticates O’Keeffe’s extensive body of work.

When the Museum opened its research center on American Modernism in 2001 – the first and only such center of its kind – she became its first director. During her 13 1/2-year tenure at the Museum, Dr. Lynes has curated or overseen more than 30 exhibitions of works by O’Keeffe and her contemporaries. These exhibitions include the first major traveling retrospective in Europe of O’Keeffe’s art, which opened last October in Rome, was on view in Munich for three months early this year, and opens in Helsinki in June.

She has also organized several symposia for the Research Center (on-line and in Santa Fe) on American Modernism that have attracted scholars from around the country. She established and has overseen the research center’s competitive scholarship program that brings up to six scholars to Santa Fe each year to spend up to three-to-twelve months as research fellows. In addition, during her tenure, she has authored numerous scholarly books and essays for exhibition catalogues, and has delivered frequent lectures on Georgia O’Keeffe and the world in which she painted.

“Barbara Lynes has made enormous contributions to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and to the art community at large during her years in Santa Fe,” said Anne Marion, founder and chairman of the board of the Museum. “The qualities of her scholarship and her innovative approach to research have enhanced the reputation of the O’Keeffe Museum throughout the country and around the world.”

“I have greatly enjoyed my affiliation with the Museum and leave with deep admiration for its director, board of directors, staff, and wonderful collections and with all best wishes for its future,” Lynes said. “Serving the museum has been an illuminating experience, and I look forward to pursuing new projects and opportunities.”

Before moving to Santa Fe, Dr. Lynes was Professor of Art History at the Maryland Institute, College of Art, Montgomery College, Dartmouth College, and Vanderbilt University. Among other publications, she wrote “O’Keeffe, Stieglitz and the Critics, 1916-1929,” published by the University of Chicago Press in 1989.

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM:

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is dedicated to the artistic legacy of Georgia O’Keeffe, to defining its ongoing significance, and to the study and interpretation of American Modernism, late 19th century to the present. The Museum’s collections, historic properties, exhibitions, Research Center, publications, and education programs contribute to scholarly discourse and inspire diverse audiences. Located in Santa Fe, NM, the Museum’s collections, exhibits, research center, publications and education programs contribute to scholarly discourse and serve diverse audiences. The largest single repository of the artist’s work in the world, it is the only museum in the world dedicated to an internationally known American woman artist and is the most visited art museum in New Mexico.

For press inquiries, please contact Jennifer Hobson

JLH Media

505 603 8643

jennifer(at)jlhmedia(dot)com

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

SAT II: Spanish guide on Shmoop

Mountain View, CA (PRWEB) May 10, 2012

The school year is almost over, and if that wasn’t enough of an excuse to celebrate, here’s some news to put one more feather in your party hat. Shmoop is here to help students get their prep for the SAT Spanish tests. Okay, so studying for an exam may not be some people’s idea of a rockin’ good time, but Shmoop is running with this bull. Toro!

June 2nd (aka the next time you can take the SAT Spanish exam) is right around the corner. But no miedo, por favor, check out our SAT Spanish and SAT Spanish with Listening exams, test practice that will keep students up at night. In a good way. Los invitamos.

Shmoop believes that test prep should be: a) boring; b) snooze-button boring; c) texting-and-on-facebook-boring; or d) fun and fast-paced. If students guessed “d,” they passed! They’re already 1-for-1 and they haven’t even sharpened your pencil yet!

Main stops on the SAT Spanish express:

1.    Have fun with examples that students won’t find anywhere else. Let’s see, how to write an essay. Step 1: Build their own Frankenstein monster. Step 2: Capture King Kong. Godzilla.

2.    Because the party never stops, Shmoop also has flying around hundreds of explanations, examples and exercises on every section and type of question that students need to know for the exams.

3.    Shmoop bets you could think of at least 238 things students would rather be doing right now. Hey – Shmoop came up with the same number! 8 Full-Length Timed SAT II Spanish and SAT II Spanish with Listening Practice Tests, 160 Practice Problems (with on-the-spot feedback and explanations) and 70 additional Grammar Problems (also with explanations).

4.    Students may want more coverage. Shmoop can help students ninja kick every section of the exams – 3 on SAT Spanish and 6 on Spanish with Listening. To keep them company, Shmoop has snuck in a grammar review with 15 categories to convert students into a grammar guru. Yep… some gurus do ninja kicks.

5.    Shmoop has designed their guides to be as flexible as students need them to be. Students can make their way through them at their own pace and at the times that work for them! And there is always a rewind button: students can retake any and all sections to mejorar their understanding and final scores.

Shmoop SAT II Spanish and SAT II Spanish with Listening. Time to get the fiesta started (without letting it turn into a siesta).

For more scoop on Shmoop’s SAT II Spanish and SAT II Spanish with Listening exams, visit http://www.shmoop.com/sat-2-subject-tests/.

About Shmoop

Shmoop is a digital curriculum and test prep company that makes fun, rigorous learning and teaching materials. Shmoop content is written by master teachers and Ph.D. students from Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and other top universities. Shmoop Learning Guides, SAT Prep, and Teacher’s Editions balance a teen-friendly, approachable style with academically rigorous materials to help students understand how subjects relate to their daily lives. Shmoop offers more than 7,000 titles across the Web, iPhone, Android devices, iPad, Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader. The company has been honored twice by the Webby Awards and was named “Best in Tech” for 2010 and 2011 by Scholastic Administrator Magazine. Launched in 2008, Shmoop is headquartered in a labradoodle-patrolled office in Mountain View, California.

©Copyright 1997-

, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) May 08, 2012

It’s a painful mistake that hundreds of people make on an annual basis. The day before a family wedding, Anna Phillips was making plans to look her best in the formal photos. She bought standard over-the-counter whitening strips, popped them in her mouth and relaxed on her bed after dinner. Then—accidentally—she fell asleep.

“We see this kind of thing happen all the time,” says Floss Dentist Clark Steffens. “Sometimes the patients arrive in tears because of the severe pain.”

Annually, Americans spend $ 1.4 billion on over-the-counter whitening agents. Many, however, fail to follow the directions. Floss Dental has already seen approximately 10% more ‘bleach burn’ cases this compared to 2011

Anna woke up the next morning with throbbing teeth and gums; the gel had remained in place all night. “It was the worst oral pain I’ve ever experienced,” she says. “And I did it to myself!”

Most bleaching gels contain peroxide mixed with other chemicals. When the bleaching agent—even in its mildest concentration—is left in place for hours, the caustic chemicals can leach too deeply into tooth enamel, irritating nerve endings and gums. The longer the gel remains in place, the worse the irritation. “That’s the number one mistake made by people who try to do too much too quickly, or who accidentally leave the trays in too long,” says Dr. Steffens. “Leaving any bleaching agent in your mouth longer than 30 minutes is a major blunder.”

The second problem – less common – is attempting to apply a professional grade of bleach at home. “Only a trained dental hygienist or dentist should be applying the higher concentrations of oral bleach,” says Dr. Steffens. “We have to take real precautions and monitor the process in a clinical setting.” Generally speaking, the dental industry divides bleaching compounds into two categories: one for over-the-counter use, and the second (higher concentration) is only for use in dental practices, to be applied by technicians with the appropriate training. Most dentists regard anything with 20% or higher concentration of peroxide as a professional-grade bleaching agent.

The third blunder is consuming certain dark liquids or foods immediately after bleaching. The chemical compounds in most bleach temporarily open the pores in tooth enamel. So, if a dark food is consumed shortly after the bleach has been applied, it has a greater likelihood of staining teeth. Steffens says patients should completely refrain from dark food for the first twelve hours after bleaching, and limit dark foods as much as possible thereafter. “The major culprits are coffee, red wine, blueberries and chocolate,” says Steffens, “all the good stuff.”

Steffens is an Associate with FLOSS Dentistry in Dallas. FLOSS is a full-service general and cosmetic dental practice with a dozen locations in North Texas, Austin and Houston. Learn more at flossdental.com.

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) April 18, 2012

Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and newly appointed Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Peter Oundijan will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society in Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony on Thursday, May 24 at 8 p.m. and Friday, May 25 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, May 26 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Also on the program is Bruckner’s Te Deum; a setting of an early Christian hymn for orchestra, chorus and vocal soloists. This unique concert, dedicated to great choral masterpieces of the 19th century, will feature the talents of soprano Joyce El-Khoury, mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, tenor Brandon Jovanovich and bass Morris Robinson. Please see below for complete program details.

The influence of Beethoven’s No. 9, “Choral,” is immeasurable. As the first symphony to include full chorus and orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth brought the genre to a magnitude that had never been previously conceived, thereby radically changing the future of orchestral repertoire. With its uplifting text and its universal recognition, the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has been used to mark historic events, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, and now serves as the European Union’s anthem. The symphony was inspired by the writing of Friedrich Schiller, who in his poem An die Freude or “Ode to Joy” states that joy is found when “all men are made brothers.”

Expansive, operatic and passionate, Te Deum by Anton Bruckner is no doubt one of the many compositions inspired by Beethoven’s Ninth. Written as five interrelated movements, Bruckner’s Te Deum contains text from Psalms, as well as motets and masses associated with the Catholic Church. Although many settings of Te Deum throughout the ages have been tied to political events, Bruckner wrote out of his steadfast faith in God. According to musicologist Dr. Kern Holoman, Bruckner said that when he should meet his maker, “I will show him the score of my Te Deum, and he may judge me accordingly.”

Peter Oundjian, conductor

Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian, noted for his probing musicality, collaborative spirit and engaging personality, has been an instrumental figure in the rebirth of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since his appointment as Music Director in 2004. In addition to conducting the orchestra in dynamic performances which have achieved outstanding artistic acclaim, he has been greatly involved in a variety of new initiatives which have strengthened the ensemble’s presence in the community and attracted a young and diverse audience. In 2004, he established an annual celebration of new music, showcasing new and premiering commissioned works. Now an audience favorite, the New Creations Festival celebrates the best in contemporary orchestral music and attracts celebrated contemporary composers.

In his tenure with the TSO, Mr. Oundjian has also released five recordings on the orchestra’s self produced record label, tsoLIVE. The award-winning documentary “Five Days In September: The Rebirth of An Orchestra,” chronicles Peter Oundjian’s first week as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his post in Toronto, Peter Oundjian has been named music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, starting in the 2012-13 season. Mr. Oundjian was principal guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010 and played a major role at the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York between 1997 and 2007. He has served as a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music since 1981. In May 2009, Mr. Oundjian received an honorary doctorate from the San Francisco Conservatory.

Peter Oundjian was educated in England, where he studied the violin with Manoug Parikian. He then attended the Royal College of Music in London, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for Most Distinguished Student and Stoutzker Prize for excellence in violin playing. He completed his violin training at the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Ivan Galamian, Itzhak Perlman and Dorothy DeLay. Peter Oundjian was the first violinist of the renowned Tokyo String Quartet, a position he held for fourteen years.

Baltimore Choral Arts Society

The Baltimore Choral Arts Society, now in its 45th season, is one of Maryland’s premier cultural institutions. The Symphonic Chorus, Full Chorus, Orchestra, and Chamber Chorus perform throughout the mid-Atlantic region, as well as in Washington, D.C., New York, and in Europe.

In the summer of 2007, Tom Hall led the Chorus in a successful, 3-city tour of France including sold-out performances in Paris and Aix-en-Provence, and the Chorus has also appeared at Spain’s prestigious Festival of the Costa del Sol.

For the past 15 years, WMAR Television, the ABC network affiliate in Maryland, has featured Choral Arts in an hour-long special, ‘Christmas with Choral Arts,” which won an Emmy Award in 2006. Mr. Hall and the chorus were also featured in a PBS documentary called “Jews and Christians: A Journey of Faith,” broadcast nationwide, and on National Public Radio in 2001. On local radio, Mr. Hall is the host of “Choral Arts Classics,” a monthly program on WYPR that features the Choral Arts Chorus and Orchestra, and he is the Culture Editor on WYPR’s “Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast.”

Baltimore Choral Arts’ latest CD is “Christmas at America’s First Cathedral,” released on Gothic Records in September 2010. A recording with Dave Brubeck, featuring Brubeck’s oratorio, “The Gates of Justice,” was released internationally on the NAXOS label in 2004. Choral Arts has two other recordings in current release: “Christmas with Choral Arts” and a live recording of the Rachmaninoff “All-Night Vigil.” Mr. Hall produced “Let Freedom Ring!,” a highly successful recording for Gothic Records featuring the Washington Men’s Camerata, as well the soundtracks for “Legends” on the Learning Channel.

Choral Arts has appeared with the National Symphony, and has made regular appearances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Acclaimed artists collaborating with Choral Arts have included Chanticleer, Dave Brubeck, the King’s Singers, Peter Schickele, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Anonymous 4, and others. Tom Hall’s innovative programs often feature both choral and orchestral music, stage and theater works.

Tom Hall, director

Tom Hall is one of the most highly regarded performers in choral music today. Appointed Music Director in 1982, Mr. Hall has added more than 100 new works to the BCAS repertoire, and he has premiered works by contemporary composers including Peter Schickele, Libby Larsen, Robert Sirota, James Lee III, Rosephanye Dunn Powell, and many other internationally acclaimed composers.

In addition to his position with BCAS, Mr. Hall is active as a guest conductor in the United States and in Europe including appearances with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, the Berkshire Choral Festival, Musica Sacra in New York, and Britten Sinfonia in Canterbury, England. His 2005 concert with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris was broadcast on French television. Mr. Hall has prepared choruses for Leonard Bernstein, Robert Shaw, Helmuth Rilling, and others, and he served for ten years as the Chorus Master of the Baltimore Opera Company.

Mr. Hall is also a well known teacher, lecturer, and writer. He has served as the President of Chorus America, a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has been an Artist in Residence at Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Cincinnati, Temple University, and Syracuse University. He has been the Director of Choral Activities at Goucher College for 25 years, and has also taught at the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Baltimore, Towson University, Morgan State University, and the Johns Hopkins University.

Joyce El-Khoury, soprano

Soprano Joyce El-Khoury is a 2011 graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Also a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, Miss El-Khoury performed the roles of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, the title role in Massenet’s Manon, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the title role in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (Act II) and Violetta in La Traviata.

She has performed as the soprano soloist in Rossini’s Stabat Mater, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, also with AVA. Miss El-Khoury spent the summers of 2006 and 2008 at the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, where she covered First Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff. Other recent engagements have included Nedda in Pagliacci at the Crested Butte Music Festival and with Knoxville Opera, Marguerite in Faust with Opera Camerata of Washington, D.C., the soprano soloist for Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae de Dominica with Coro Vivo Ottawa; and the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Riverside Symphonia.

She is a First Prize winner of the Opera Index Competition, First Prize winner of the George London Foundation, Second Prize winner in the Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition and International Semi-Finalist in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia Competition. She was also the First Prize winner in the Mario Lanza Vocal Competition, First Prize winner and WRTI Radio audience favorite in the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition.

Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano

Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips is particularly in demand in the repertoire of Wagner, Verdi, Beethoven, and Mahler. In 2010–11 she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera as Schwertleite in Wagner’s Ring. She has sung Fricka and Waltraute in Die Walküre and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung at Canadian Opera; Erda for Scottish Opera, and Wellgunde and Rossweise with Seattle Opera. Also hailed for her Verdi, she has sung Eboli in Don Carlo for Canadian Opera and Azucena in Il Trovatore at Seattle Opera. She is perhaps best known for her Amneris in Aida, which she will reprise in 2012 with the Hawaii Opera Theatre.

Concert highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the New York Philharmonic, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Atlanta Symphony (recorded for Telarc), the Los Angeles Philharmonic and in Beijing as part of the 2008 Summer Olympics festivities. Her many performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 include the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, Utah Symphony and Opera, the National Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She has recorded Beethoven’s Opferlied and Symphony No. 9 with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Brandon Jovanovich, tenor

Winner of the 2007 Richard Tucker Award, Brandon Jovanovich is renowned for his passionate stage portrayals in French, Italian, German and Slavic operas. Acclaimed for a multitude of roles, The San Francisco Examiner proclaimed his Pinkerton “hit with the force of a revelation. Tall, blond and ridiculously handsome… his vocal performance, delivered with plenty of effortless power and deep, baritonal colors.”

In the 2011-12 season, Mr. Jovanovich appears as Don José with Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsoper, as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Lyric Opera of Chicago, as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Oper Köln and Canadian Opera Company, and as the title role in Don Carlos with Houston Grand Opera. In concert he appears at the Hollywood Bowl performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasy, both with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln performing Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.

Comfortable in a variety of repertoire, next season will see Mr. Jovanovich sing the title role of Lohengrin with San Francisco Opera. Mr. Jovanovich will also reprise one of his signature roles of Pinkerton in a new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with LA Opera. Highlights of previous seasons include Froh in Das Rheingold and Siegmund in Die Walküre at San Francisco Opera and Don Jose in Carmen with The Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Jovanovich trained at Northern Arizona University and Manhattan School of Music. He is a founding member of the Seattle Young Artists program and was a member of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice program, where he was given the Anna Mackay Case Award. He won the Crawley Award from the Young Patronesses of the Opera/Florida Grand Opera Voice Competition and in 2004 he was given the prestigious ARIA Award.

Morris Robinson, bass

Morris Robinson is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most interesting and sought after basses performing today.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Mr. Robinson made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in their production of Fidelio. He has since appeared there as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (both in the original production and in a new children’s English version), the King in Aida and in roles in Nabucco, Tannhäuser and the new productions of Les Troyens and Salome. He has also appeared at the Dallas Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, the Wolf Trap Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His many roles include Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Ramfis in Aida, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Timur in Turandot, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Ferrando in Il Trovatore and Fasolt in Das Rheingold.

Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Robinson has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (in Chicago and at the Ravinia Festival), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Met Chamber Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, New England String Ensemble, and at the Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Tanglewood, Cincinnati May, Verbier and Aspen festivals. He also appeared in Carnegie Hall as part of Jessye Norman’s HONOR! Festival. In recital he has been presented by Spivey Hall in Atlanta, the Savannah Music Festival, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

COMPLETE PROGRAM DETAILS

BSO Classical Concert: Beethoven’s Ninth

Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 8 p.m. – Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (JMSH)

Friday, May 25, 2012 at 8 p.m. – JMSH

Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 8 p.m. – Music Center at Strathmore

Peter Oundjian, conductor

Joyce El-Khoury, soprano BSO DEBUT

Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano

Brandon Jovanovich, tenor BSO DEBUT

Morris Robinson, bass

Baltimore Choral Arts Society

    Tom Hall, director

Bruckner: Te Deum

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, “Choral”

Tickets range from $ 34 to $ 68 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000 or BSOmusic.org.

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, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Mahendra Kumar Trivedi

Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) May 02, 2012

Mahendra Trivedi will be a featured guest on “The New Awakening Summit”, along with 24 other transformational speakers. Mr. Trivedi’s interview is on May 2nd at 9PM ET/ 6PM PT, and the public is available to attend, at no cost. The public can also attend Live Big Media’s separate online event, “Awakening to Abundance” teleseminar series. This series will be broadcast at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT every Monday through Thursday beginning April 23rd, 2012. Mr. Trivedi’s interview will be on 5/3/12.

There is a growing understanding in the hearts and minds of individuals that there is no limit to human consciousness and that now is the time to awaken it fully. Mahendra Trivedi is pointing the way. His Energy Transmissions have been reported by tens of thousands of people around the world, to have awakened their consciousness, with a break though impact.

On May 2, 2012, Mr. Trivedi has been invited to share his knowledge of how one can awaken their consciousness by strengthening their connection to Universal Intelligence at the “New Awakening Tele-summit”. Other speakers include:

    Entrepreneur, researcher and one of the featured stars of “The Secret” John Assaraf who will conduct an exclusive video interview.
    One of the world’s leading authorities on human behavior and personal development, Dr. John Demartini will talk about Mind Over Body: Understanding Hidden Agendas & Unconscious Motives.
    Best-selling “Letting Go” author Guy Finley will discuss “Awakening to Being Fearless and Free”.
    Gary Douglas, Founder of Access Consciousness shares “Simple Tools for Easy Change and How to Learn to Communicate With Your Body and Trust Your Awareness”.
    Dr. Sue Morter explores The Bioenergetics of Awakening to your Highest Life Purpose.
    Founder of Quantum-Touch Richard Gordon talks about “The New Human” and Redefines What It Means to Be Human.
    Harrison Klein will awaken your mind to the core I AM Principles, which can totally shift your perceptions.

Participants can register at no cost for this entire series at: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4702414

On May 3rd, 2012, Daniel Gutierrez will host Mr. Trivedi on “Awakening to Abundance”, where they will reveal how to become a powerful magnet for abundance in all areas of life. During the series, Mr. Trivedi will be joined by 36 other speakers who will also share their secrets on how someone can fully awaken to a life love and immediately manifest more abundance in their life.

Some of the 36 other speakers who will be featured on this series are:

    Bob Doyle -Best-selling Author of “Wealth Beyond Reason”
    Rikka Zimmerman – Renown Access Conscious™ facilitator
    Larry Crane – Founder of the Release Technique
    Sonia Ricotti – Best-selling author and founder of Lead Out Loud
    Harrison Klein – Transformationalist and founder of the Masters Gathering
    Debra Poneman – Best-selling author and founder of Yes to Success, Inc.
    John Assaraf – New York Times best-selling author featured in The Secret

Participants can register at no cost for this entire series at: http://www.AwakeningToAbundance.com/MTrivedi

©Copyright 1997-

, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 20, 2012

Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C. has filed an Actos lawsuit (case no. BC483069) in Los Angeles Superior Court against Japanese-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiaries and Eli Lilly on behalf of Kentucky resident William Pierce and his wife Sharon Pierce, claiming the diabetes drug Actos caused his bladder cancer. (Takeda Limited, one of the company’s subsidiaries, collaborated with Eli Lilly to promote and market Actos in North America, according to the complaint.)

The Actos lawsuit seeks compensatory damages on behalf of William Pierce and his wife who allege personal injury caused by Actos, including; bladder cancer and related sequelae (an aftereffect of disease, etc.), pain and suffering, bodily impairment, mental anguish, diminished enjoyment of life as well as economic loss and other special damages.

The plaintiffs allege that Takeda Pharmaceuticals knew or should have known that Actos use in humans would cause bladder cancer and that Takeda possessed pre-clinical scientific studies, including animal evidence, which signaled that bladder cancer risk needed to be further tested; all prior to Takeda applying for and obtaining approval for Actos (pioglitazone hydrochloride). In fact, plaintiffs allege that Takeda has known since the early 2000’s that human clinical trials revealed Actos causes bladder cancer.

Takeda and Eli Lilly also violated the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act, according to the complaint, by engaging in unfair, false, misleading and deceptive acts and practices with intent to induce members of the public to purchase and use Actos and pioglitazone hydrochloride.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the defendants represented through advertising to Mr. Pierce, his doctors and the general public, that Actos was safe for human consumption and had fewer side effects and adverse reactions than other Type 2 Diabetes medications, knowing these representations to be false, and concealing that Actos had a serious propensity to cause injuries. Further, that Takeda purposely downplayed and understated the health hazards associated with Actos and pioglitazone hydrochloride, all the while becoming unjustly enriched by billions of dollars from the sale and prescription of Actos.

The Pierces’ attorney, Cynthia Garber, also an R.N., stated that “We allege that with the knowledge of the risk associated with long term use of Actos and bladder cancer, Takeda achieved its marketing goal by making Actos the tenth best-selling medication in America in 2008, all while placing our client and other American citizens at risk of developing bladder cancer. Takeda had a responsibility to warn healthcare workers and patients of the risks of bladder cancer associated with Actos. Instead, they watched profits soar with tight lips.”

Canada is the latest country to issue a warning about Actos’ risk of causing bladder cancer. Just yesterday, Health Canada issued a safety advisory (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/advisories-avis/public/_2012/actos_3_pc-cp-eng.php) stating that new findings reveal that there is a potential increased risk of bladder cancer in patients treated with Actos. The warning is based on available data that reveals a link with a potential increased risk of bladder cancer in diabetic patients treated with pioglitazone in particular in patients treated for the longest durations and with the highest total doses. Health Canada also stated that a possible risk after short term treatment cannot be excluded.

In June of 2011, France and Germany announced their plans to suspend the use of drugs containing pioglitazone. Both countries decided to suspend the drug after a French study showed a statistically significant risk for bladder cancer among patients taking pioglitazone.

The FDA has yet to suspend Actos in the U.S., but on June 15, 2011 the FDA did issue a Public Safety Announcement informing the public that use of the diabetes medication Actos (pioglitazone) for more than one year may be associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer.

About Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, P.C.

Baum Hedlund has filed other Actos bladder cancer lawsuits (BC476063, BC476062, BC476064, 6:12:cv-709) in state and federal courts against Takeda.

The firm has successfully represented clients harmed by medications in over 4,000 individual personal injury and wrongful death cases, in addition to representing consumers in multiple pharmaceutical class actions against major pharmaceutical companies such as Alpha Therapeutic, Armour Pharmaceutical Co., Baxter Health Care Corp, Bayer Corp., Dalkon Shield, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer.

The team of Baum Hedlund lawyers working on the Actos bladder cancer cases have an in depth understanding of biomedical research, clinical trials, statistics, the pharmaceutical industry and marketing, as well as successful and effective discovery procedures and extensive work with experts on complicated scientific issues because of their years of experience related to Baum Hedlund’s past pharmaceutical litigation.

©Copyright 1997-

, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.