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Gilbert Donohue is a first year Master of Music student in choral conducting at the Eastman School of Music under William Weinert. A native of the Rochester area, he is delighted to be back after four years in Indiana studying at the University of Notre Dame, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance and Music Theory/Music History with honors.
While at Notre Dame, Gilbert gained valuable choral experience by singing with various campus ensembles, including Our Lady’s Consort, a sixteen-member student-led chamber choir of which he was a founding member. While studying conducting with Daniel Stowe, he also sang with and served as a student conductor for the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir, in which capacity he conducted the choir in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart as well as on tours to Florida and Spain. In the Fall of 2017, Gilbert served as Music Director for the Pasquerilla East Musical Company’s production of A New Brain. In addition to his conducting pursuits, Gilbert is also an active composer. His Missa Brevis was recently selected for performance in the 2019 London Festival of Contemporary Church Music, where it was performed by the choirs of St. Pancras Church and Hampstead Parish Church. At Notre Dame his music was regularly performed by the Composers’ Consortium of Notre Dame, led by composer John Liberatore, and received performances by the Notre Dame Liturgical Choir. |
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As a baritone, Gilbert has participated in masterclasses with artists such as Graham Johnson, Nathan Gunn, Martin Katz, and J.J. Penna, and studied voice with Stephen Lancaster. He has also appeared as the bass soloist for various concerts at Notre Dame, including most recently Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore.
Gilbert also maintains a scholarly interest in the academic side of music. In 2018 he was awarded a Summer Comprehensive Grant from the Notre Dame Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts to study the music of American ultramodernist composer John. J. Becker at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City. His research was then used for his senior thesis on Becker’s use of dissonant counterpoint, a subversion of sixteenth-century species counterpoint.
Gilbert also maintains a scholarly interest in the academic side of music. In 2018 he was awarded a Summer Comprehensive Grant from the Notre Dame Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts to study the music of American ultramodernist composer John. J. Becker at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City. His research was then used for his senior thesis on Becker’s use of dissonant counterpoint, a subversion of sixteenth-century species counterpoint.
