Dr. Abra Bush currently serves as Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Assessment at Eastman, acting as the primary resource for undergraduate students and faculty regarding issues of undergraduate programs of study. Among her duties, Dr. Bush directs the International Conservatory Exchange Program, the Eastman Dual Degree Program, oversees the Eastman component of the Take Five Scholars Program, advises the Rogers Scholars, administers all processes regarding changes of enrollment status for undergraduate and graduate students, provides guidance to faculty and students regarding the Academic Integrity standards of the Eastman School of Music and serves as ex-officio on Eastman’s Academic Integrity Committee. She represents the Office of Academic Affairs on the following Eastman School of Music and University of Rochester committees: Academic Affairs, Student Life, and Residential Life (SAR) Group, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, Financial Aid Committee, and The University of Rochester International Opportunities Group; and, serves as the Student Learner Outcome Assessment Liaison to the University of Rochester responsible for development, implementation, oversight and reporting on the assessment work of the School.
Bush earned the degrees Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and Master of Music in Opera Theater from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music as a student of Daune Mahy. She completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Voice from The Ohio State University School of Music while studying with J. Robin Rice. Her doctoral thesis was “The Liriche da camera of Francesco Santoliquido.” She earned The Ohio State University School of Music Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award during her doctoral studies.
Dr. Bush taught voice, English, Italian, German and French diction, opera workshop and led international education programs to Australia, New Zealand and Italy during her previous appointments at Kenyon College and Concordia College. In 2003, she was selected as one of twelve teachers of singing invited to participate in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Intern Program at SUNY Fredonia. She served on the Minnesota NATS Mentoring Committee, as Treasurer of the North Dakota NATS chapter, and was the Regional Artist Awards Competition Site Coordinator in 2008
A soprano, she made her professional opera debut as Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppeaat Opera Columbus with Boston Baroque. Her operatic roles encompass works from all periods of opera, including Paix in Les Arts Flourissants, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Michaëla in Carmen, Nannetta in Falstaff, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Laurie in The Tender Land.
A frequent recitalist with collaborative partner Philip Everingham, her recent performance highlights include an alumni recital and masterclass at The Ohio State University, and an alumni recital at Oberlin College Conservatory. The pair have given several lecture recitals for College Music Society Regional and National Conferences on “Pedagogical Uses of the New American Art Songs of Jake Heggie and Ricky Ian Gordon,” “A Retrospective of the Songs of Samuel Barber,” “Robert Schumann, Love Letters, and Song,” and “Letters in Song.”
Her singing awards include first prize in the state and regional National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards (NATSAA) and semi-finalist in the national NATSAA Competition in 2004. She was the winner of the VARN Art Song Competition and the Columbus Symphony Young Musicians Competition. Other awards include prizes from the Opera Columbus Voice Competition, The Sorantine Young Artist Award, and the Dayton Opera Guild Competition.
