Roger O. Doyle

Mock’s Crest Productions Presents “Ruddigore,” June 4-26

May 27, 2016

Mock’s Crest Productions will present Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Ruddigore in Mago Hunt Center Theater on June 4-5, 10-12, 17-19, and 23-26. Performance times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday – Saturday and 2 p.m. Sundays. Dinner and brunch will be served on the lawn in front of the Hunt Center prior to show times. Tickets are available at Mago Hunt Box Office and can be ordered by phone at x7287 or online at magohuntboxoffice@up.edu.

Ruddigore is the classic Gilbert and Sullivan “Ghost” operetta. It follows the trials of Robin Oakapple, who fled Ruddigore to avoid inheriting its title and curse, which requires that the Baron must commit a crime every day or spend his nights in agony being tortured by the ghosts of his ancestors.

Mock’s Crest is a semi-professional company devoted to a yearly summer production of comic light opera, primarily the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. It combines professional singers and musicians with students, faculty, and staff in the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at the University of Portland. The production company was originally created under the guidance of the late Roger O. Doyle in 1990 with support of theater faculty as his production team.

For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Come See “Brothers, Sing On,” Feb. 8

January 26, 2015

The performing and fine arts department will host its seventh annual “Brothers, Sing On” musical event on Sunday, February 8, at 3 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The concert is free and open to all. The event features a collaboration of five different singing groups from the Portland area: Vocal Attraction (Liberty High School), Men’s Chorale (Parkrose High School), The Men of the University Singers (University of Portland), Tsunami (Pacific Youth Choir), and the Balladeers (Multnomah Athletic Club).

The annual concert got its start after the Balladeers performed at Cleveland High School in 2007 and 2008. The late Roger O. Doyle, a long-time Balladeers director and beloved UP music professor, enjoyed these experiences enough to propose the participation of other men’s choirs in such an event, creating the first “Brothers, Sing On!” concert in 2009. The result was a program of different men’s singing choirs.

For the seventh annual incarnation of the concert, the five men’s singing groups will be joining together for the first time. For more information contact performing and fine arts at 7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Roger O. Doyle Performance Studio Opens Over Summer

September 12, 2014

The memory of music professor Roger O. Doyle is fresh in the minds of his many friends and colleages at the University; he retired in 2010 and passed away from Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) in 2012. Roger’s larger than life personality had a huge impact on music students during his time at UP, and also on the music community throughout the Pacific Northwest through his work with the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, the MAC Club Balladeers, Mock’s Crest Productions, and countless other endeavors. He also served for many years on the board of directors of KPBS All Classical Portland, and was the board chair during the time when KPBS became an independent, not-for-profit organization.

All Classical Portland now has a new home at the Portland Opera Center, which includes a live performance space. They have honored Roger’s notable contribution to the station and to the musical life of the Portland area by naming this space the Roger O. Doyle Performance Studio. All Classical has also established the Doyle Memorial Fund, which will be used to help finish and furnish the space. Follow this link to find out more: http://tinyurl.com/ldlyz2u.

For more information contact David De Lyser, performing and fine arts, at 7382 or delyser@up.edu.

Roger O. Doyle, Gone Too Soon

May 6, 2013

The University community mourned the loss of Roger O. Doyle, a colorful and beloved professor of music here on The Bluff for nearly forty years, when he died last year on Monday, April 30, of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Roger earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in music education at the University of Wichita, and a doctorate in conducting and choral music from the University of Colorado. He taught in high schools in Kansas and at Saint Mary of the Plain College in Dodge City before arriving at the University of Portland in 1973, where he became legendary for his energy, creativity, exuberance, tireless energy for conducting choirs and orchestras, and booming laughter. Roger’s legacy at the University and in the city of Portland is his character and cheer, his irrepressible humor and open friendliness, and the absolute integrity of the way he lived his life. He loved music, he loved his wife Kay, he loved bringing music to people and people to music. He was an unforgettable man with an immense heart, a lovely tenor voice, and a kindness bigger than an ocean. Gifts in memory of Roger may be directed to the Roger and Kay Doyle Scholarship Fund at the University of Portland, a scholarship devoted to students of music.

“Mourned” Roger? It would be better to say we mourn him still.