cu-boulder music fall 2012 magazine

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Creating futures in music and culture Encore FALL 2012 The College of Music Semiannual Magazine Making a Difference Suzanne Hoover’s gift to Trying on Teaching Music’s Impact in Society Music Haven and Middle School Ensembles 75 Years of Tradition Artist Series celebrates world-class performances Moving Forward Colorado Symphony Orchestra changes direction

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The semi-annual magazine from the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music

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Page 1: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

Creating futures in music and culture

EncoreF A L L 2 0 1 2 The Col lege of Music Semiannual Magazine

Making a Difference Suzanne Hoover’s gift toTrying on Teaching

Music’s Impact inSociety Music Haven and Middle

School Ensembles

75 Years of Tradition Artist Series celebrates world-class performances

Moving Forward Colorado Symphony Orchestra changes direction

Page 2: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

College of Music Advisory Board

Christopher Brauchli

Bob Bunting

Jan Burton

Abel Chavez

Colleen Conant Martha Coffin Evans

Tyler Forman

Jonathan Fox

David Fulker Lissy Garrison

Lloyd Gelman, M.D.

Doree Hickman

Suzanne A. Hoover

David Hummer

Daryl James

Gary Joiner

Caryl Kassoy

Robert Korenblat

Ted Manning

Erma Mantey

Joe Negler

Susan Olenwine

Mikhy Ritter, Vice Chair

Becky Roser, Chair

Daniel Sher

Steve Taniguchi

Jeannie Thompson

Jack Walker

Honorary Directors

Dean Boal

Bob Charles

Chris Christoffersen

Eileen Cline

Chuck Everill

Dave Grusin

Dear Friends,Our theme for this year’s newsletter is “Music Outside the Concert Hall.” We’re drawing attention to how our great art is at once a tool for healing, for building community through a shared experience in all manner of informal venues, and for nurturing communication among differing soci- eties. As music touches our emotions, this theme reminds us of our humanity, our common goals, and our common ideals. Music is remarkable in this re- gard, and our students and alumni carry on a long and strong CU trad- ition of service and outreach into communities, from local to intern-ational.

What I celebrate most of all are our alumni working with the K–12 populations here in Colorado, across the nation, and around the globe. It’s an amazing feeling for me to reacquaint with the 100 or so of our alumni who join us at the Colorado Music Educator’s Association annual meeting in Colorado Springs each

year—those who are working in elementary, middle, and high school settings in urban, sub-urban, and rural areas. Of course, it’s gratifying to know that our music teachers are among the best anywhere, but most of all, when I meet them at our alumni reception, I am inspired

by the satisfaction they take in delivering rewarding music experiences to their students year after year.

We know that the vast majority of pre-college students will not go on to a career in music. All the more important then to understand and appreciate the incredible impact these teachers can make; many of their students will have only this one

formal, direct music experience in their entire lives. Our K–12 faculty will shape and influence the largest number of listeners, nonprofessional musicians, and eventually parents who will decide whether their children will have the opportunity to experience music. In other words, our music teachers are shaping the next generation, thus creating the next set of societal attitudes about the value and importance of the arts generally, and music in particular.

In higher education now, we focus more than ever on the importance of arts advocacy for our students. For all of us, advocacy for our music is at least as important as the making of music. The front line of advocacy is in the hands of our alumni teaching in every imaginable pre-college setting. So, when I think about impact, I think of this very special segment of our alumni, working on the front lines of advancing our art. To them, I send this message: you can count on our faculty, on our administration, and our current music education students for support and encouragement, for our time and our involvement. There is no better outreach, advocacy, and impact that we can make than to accept this role and responsibility, given this College of Music’s leadership position in higher education and our commitment to service.

I wish each and every one of you a great summer season.

Sincerely,

Daniel Sher, Dean of the College of Music

Editor: Laima Haley Design: CU CommunicationsPhotography: Glen Asakawa and Casey A. CassCover photo: Young musicians at Music Havenin New Haven, Connecticut. Photo providedby Kathleen Cei

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Page 3: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

INSIDE

College of Music301 UCBBoulder, CO 80309-0301

music.colorado.edu

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3 Outside the Concert Hall: Music’s Impact in Society

5 News from the AMRC ECM News

6 Artist Series 75th 7 Colorado Symphony Orchestra 8 Fulbright Scholar

Student Notes

9 Faculty/Staff News Alumni News

College of Music donor Suzanne Hoover’s gift to the Trying on Teaching program will improve the quality of K–12 music education in Colorado.

With music programs often among the first in danger at school budget meetings, the outlook for the future can seem uncertain. Colorado schools have recently cut a number of programs that previously gave students access to band, orchestra, choir, and general music classes. Suzanne Hoover decided that she could effect a change for the better and discovered a great program at the CU College of Music through which to do it. The Trying on Teaching program, established by Associate Dean James Austin, is a model of teaching in which students of all ages are provided opportunities to improve.

The program is designed with a scaffold-like structure: high school students teach middle school music students basic techniques. CU music undergraduates who are mentored by graduate students on their teaching styles coach the high school students. With this clever organ-ization, everyone wins. The middle school students learn more about music, the high school students develop their passion for music education, and the college students gain practical experience that prepares them for a teaching career. The ultimate goal of this program is to attract more quality students to the field of music education and, in turn, create quality music teachers for the future generations of music students. See this magazine’s cover story for more about Trying on Teaching.

Suzanne Hoover’s gift is not unique just because of the exemplary program she chose to support. This gift comes out of a “His and Hers” giving philosophy created by Suzanne and her husband. Suzanne’s husband Dave is also a dedicated donor, but to a program that he has valued for

a long time: athletics. “My husband is an Indiana boy. Hoosiers like basketball,” Suzanne said.

As for her gift to Trying on Teaching, Suzanne relates it back to her passion for public education and how music should be a part of it. “I’ve volunteered in the public schools for many years and this program is what got me hooked,” she said. Given the success of this program and its potential for growth, Suzanne’s gift will ensure the creation of a new generation of music teachers for Colorado.

To follow in the footsteps of inspiring donors like Suzanne Hoover, contact the CU College of Music Development Office at 303-492-6291 or visit us online at music.colorado.edu/donate.

Making a Difference for Music in the Schools

Suzanne and Dave Hoover

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Page 4: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

From a blue and white converted garage in a New Haven, Connecticut, neighborhood suffering from unemployment, crime, and poverty, passersby can catch strains of music. It might be a minuet by Bach, one of Bartók’s violin duets, Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” or perhaps “My Girl” by The Temptations.

Inside, cheerful yellow and white walls are hung with framed photos of smiling kids holding violins and cellos. Metal music stands perched upon a colorful rug hold sheet music for the day’s lessons. Here in this welcoming space, tucked safely away from the chaos outside, kids aged 5 to 15 learn to play music at Music Haven.

The nonprofit organization was launched in 2006 by Tina Hadari (DMA ‘07) to anchor a professional string quartet to underserved neighborhoods. The members provide musical instruments

and music lessons at no charge to inner city youth.

“We’re here,” said Hadari, executive director, “because we believe what we do should be fully accessible to the people in the community who have the fewest resources and perhaps the most need for this kind of opportunity.”

The power of opportunity is reflected in the dream of one 12-year-old boy who already has lost friends to street violence. “I know what I want to be when I grow up,” he said to Hadari. “Someday I want to run Music Haven like you.”

Convinced that a professional string quartet could contribute to social change in New Haven’s poorest neighborhoods, Hadari established a permanent residency for the Haven String Quartet (formerly the Vinca Quartet while in residency at CU-Boulder). The professional musicians teach 56 youth

in the after-school music program. The quartet also performs in a variety of community venues such as prisons, soup kitchens, shelters, and mental institutions, as well as in traditional concert halls.

Music Haven believes in the influence of music to positively impact an under-sourced community and create change. In the two and a half years they’ve been in their current location, the area is looking cleaner and more vibrant. A restaurant and a retail store have moved into empty, boarded-up spaces nearby.

“We’re a part of a bigger revitalization effort in the neighborhood,” said Hadari,”and we’re doing that by building relationships through music. Learning how to play and listen to music is a transformative experience for kids and communities.”

Outside the concert hall: Music’s impact in society

by Kenna Bruner

3Music Haven

PHOTO PROVIDED BY KATHLEEN CEI

Page 5: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

As Music Haven is opening a window onto a world the youth of these neighborhoods might not otherwise encounter, many College of Music alumni, faculty, and students are engaging in a wide variety of other outreach activities. Whether organizing programs and clinics or presenting master classes and performances, they are taking music into schools and communities locally and throughout the world.

One of the college’s many faculty members who share their time and talent outside the United States is Alejandro Cremaschi, associate professor of piano and piano pedagogy. He is the chair of the diversity committee at the College of Music and teaches as a guest professor at the Universidad de Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina. This will be the third year Cremaschi has been invited to teach in his alma mater’s Latin American music graduate program. His research on the study, performance, and recording of music by Argentine composers dovetails with his guest teaching activities.

In addition to Argentina, students in the graduate program come from Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, which results in Cremaschi engaging with a wide range of Latin American music. He compiles their diverse styles and brings it back for educators to use in the United States.

“I learn a lot of new repertoire this way,” said Cremaschi, “sometimes by composers I’ve never heard before. Every new piece of music and new composer expands my list that I can share with music teachers here. We as musicians should be in the community trying to make a difference.”

Launched in 2007, the Middle School Wind Ensemble (MSWE) and the Middle School String Ensemble (MSSE) program not only provides an extracurricular ensemble experience for middle school students, but it is also transforming the manner in which they are taught. Responding to concerns of a nationwide shortage of quality music teachers, Trying on Teaching gives high school music students hands-on teaching experience by teaching the middle school students. Simultaneously, the high-schoolers are mentored by CU-Boulder music education undergraduates and graduates.

Once a week for 12 weeks, middle school band and orchestra students from the Boulder/Denver metro area gather at one of the area middle schools for ensemble and small group instruction, which might include composition and music history-related activities as well as instrument technique instruction. More than 500 middle school students have participated in the MSWE/MSSE program, which supplements the training they receive in their home school music programs. Margaret Berg, associate professor of string music education, is the faculty supervisor for the MSWE/MSSE program. Her involvement began a few years ago when one of her children was a percussionist in the MSWE program. She saw the need and opportunity for supplementing the musical training that students received at their respective middle schools.

Since its inception, more than 45 high school students have participated in the Trying on Teaching component of the

MSWE/MSSE program. Nearly 80 percent of those participants have chosen to major in music education or music therapy in college. Undergraduate participation in MSWE/MSSE has risen from six students during the program’s first year to 29 in the 2011–12 academic year. The MSWE/MSSE program represents a pioneering effort in understanding effective methods for training highly qualified music educators. Results of research studies found statistically significant increases in motivation for teaching, teacher identity, and classroom management efficacy among the high school interns.

“This program is unique,” said Berg, “because it’s student-led with faculty supervision that serves multiple constituents. When

Since its inception, more than 45 high school students have participated in the Trying on Teaching component of the

MSWE/MSSE program. Nearly 80 percent of those participants have chosen to major in music education or music therapy in college. Undergraduate participation in MSWE/MSSE has risen from six students during the program’s first year to 29 in the 2011–12 academic year. The MSWE/MSSE program represents a pioneering effort in understanding effective methods for training highly qualified music educators. Results of research studies found statistically significant increases in motivation for teaching, teacher identity, and classroom management efficacy among the high school interns.

“This program is unique,” said Berg, “because it’s student-led with faculty supervision that serves multiple constituents. When you think of all the different parties involved, middle school and high school kids, undergraduates and graduate students and how they’re all learning from each other, it’s a remarkable and synergistic program.”

From inspiring inner-city youth with music they might not otherwise hear, to sharing obscure South American compositions with a wider audience throughout the world, to innovatively educating the musicians and teachers of tomorrow, alumni, faculty, and students of the College of Music are finding nontraditional ways to plant musical seeds in diverse communities.

Outside the concert hall: Music’s impact in society

by Kenna Bruner

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Music Haven

Trying on Teaching

Music Haven

PHOTO PROVIDED BY KATHLEEN CEI

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Page 6: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

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AMRC board members C.F. Alan Cass and Kathy Kucsan have both received the prestigious Boulder Daily Camera Pacesetter Award for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the Boulder community. All the winners were honored at a community luncheon on February 27 at the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder. Alan was honored in the category of Lifetime Achievement and Kathy was honored in the category of Arts and Entertainment. Congratulations, Alan and Kathy!

On May 19 the AMRC hosted Perry Como: A Celebration of Music and Memories. The celebration included an hour-long commemorative program presented to more than 200 attending guests, a reception in the Heritage Center featuring light refreshments and lively conversations, and an event exhibit showcasing items from the Perry Como Collection at the AMRC. Thank you to Jinx Riedesel, Sara Jane Tallman, and Patti Johnson for sharing your stories;

Juli Steinhauer, Fred Peterbark, Wayne Scott, Terry Hannum, and Dean Ross for an amazing musical performance; AMRC Advisory Board members Lissy Garrison, Caryl Kassoy, Arthur Lieb, Eric Harbeson, Alan Cass, Bill Elliott, Dennis Spragg, Barbara Brenton, and JoAn Seagal; Friends of the Libraries; and 50 Plus Marketplace News for your great support and many volunteer hours to make this event possible!

After a long hiatus, the AMRC publication schedule is back on track, and we are happy to report that volume 20 of the American Music Research Journal has been published. Volume 20 is devoted entirely to oral interview transcriptions with distinguished scholars of American music history, plus a rare conversation recorded in Africa in 1974 with Afro-jazz pioneer Kofi Ghanaba (a.k.a. Guy Warren) and legendary bebop drummer Max Roach. Please contact the AMRC office by calling 303-735-3645 or emailing [email protected] to

purchase volume 20 or any other previous volumes. Copies of the journals are $25 (for anywhere in North America) or $28 (for overseas).

AMRC Director Tom Riis spoke prior to the opening reception of a traveling sheet music exhibit entitled A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910–1965. Developed by the American Library Association and NextBook, Inc., the exhibit features Jewish artists who have contributed to American culture through their lives and work. Colorado was one of the first stops on the tour. The exhibit ran at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora from March 7 through April 20.

music.colorado.edu/departments/amrc

NEWS FROM THE AMRCby Thomas Riis, Director, AMRC american music research center

ECM NEWS

It’s been a great year for the Entrepre-neurship Center for Music! As I finish my third year as director of the ECM, I’m very pleased to report progress on every one of our main initiatives. I’d like to take a few moments to highlight each of these, and share with you some exciting things coming up this year

• Student Participation Class enrollment this academic year was up 50 percent over last year, and participation in our weekly seminar series, Entrepreneurship Wednesdays, was up nearly 15 percent. We also featured two “headliner” seminars: Jazz great Maria Schneider last fall, and our January panel on the future of the symphony orchestra, featuring representatives from the Boulder Philharmonic, the Colorado Symphony, and CU Faculty.

• Community Engagement I’m incredibly excited about the many activities we have going on connecting our students with businesses and arts organizations throughout the Front Range and beyond. Our booking service, CU Gigs, is growing in leaps and bounds, booking over $11,000 in gig fees this year for students

and alums of the College of Music. We also have students involved in internships with music businesses and nonprofit arts organizations alike. I’m particularly proud of our partnership with the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, which has raised funds to support the Chuck Morris Internships at the London and Los Angeles offices of AEG Live, one of the world’s leading concert promotion companies. We also continue to partner with many local entrepreneurs who serve as mentors in the New Venture Challenge, the campus-wide venture planning competition.

• Curricular Development One of my top priorities since coming to CU has been to expand and strengthen the curriculum of the ECM. In the last three years we have completely revised two courses and introduced a third, and are in the final stages of creating an integrated graduate and undergraduate curriculum that will also interface with the Cross Campus Entrepreneurship Certificate (CCEC), an 18-credit certificate offered in cooperation with the Leeds School of Business and their Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. By this time next year we should be fully up and running with the certificate program.

• Cross-campus Collaboration Our relationship with the Leeds School continues to grow and strengthen, and through the New Venture Challenge and the CCEC we work closely with entrepreneurship units across the Boulder campus. We’re also looking to strengthen our ties with other arts units on campus, who have no formal offerings in arts entrepreneurship.

• What’s next for the ECM? Implementing the certificate program is our top priority for the coming year. And we continue to look for ways to engage more students in the many opportunities offered by the ECM. Lastly, as CU continues with its Creating Futures fundraising campaign, we continue to seek partnerships that will enable growth and improvement in what we do. If equipping our students with the tools they need to build sustainable, financially viable and artistically inspiring careers appeals to you, I encourage you to come talk to us about how we can work together!

music.colorado.edu/departments/ecm

by Jeffrey Nytch, Director, Entrepreneurship for Music

Page 7: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

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From classical to world music, jazz, and dance, CU’s Artist Series program has entertained Boulder area audiences for more than 75 years with internationally renowned performers. Begun in 1901 by the Friday Musical Club, continued by the Boulder Music Society in 1921 and later morphed into the Artist Series in 1937 as it’s known today, more than 470 concerts have been presented on Macky’s stage.

Looking back over its 75 years, one quickly realizes these performers are the all-stars of the arts. Perhaps an unusual star in the first season was Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, best known for his adventures into polar regions. During the fifth season in November 1940, the Von Trapp Family Singers were featured performers. Their story would later become famous in The Sound of Music.

Patrons past and present will recognize Carl Sandburg (1939), Burl Ives (1953), and John Scofield (2006–07) from other seasons. In the 2010–11 season, Hal Holbrook presented his “Mark Twain Tonight!”

Artist Series performers give public master classes for students at the university (Pilobolus in 2012 and Pancho Sanchez in 2002–03 as examples). Students have also enjoyed collaborating with guest artists. Such was the case with the 2009–10 collaboration with Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, and the CU University Orchestra.

Symphony orchestras have been a staple item of the Artist Series for years. The Denver Symphony under the baton of Saul Caston was a regular from 1950 to 1970. The Colorado Symphony (2008–09, 1996–97), Philadelphia Orchestra (1962), Budapest (1971), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London (1971), and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra of DDR (1988) are a sampling of the varied orchestral groups that have performed on campus. Several chamber orchestras have also appeared with the Artist Series. These include the Australian (2001–02), Prague (1975, 1977), and the Berlin Chamber Society (1991–92).

Continuing on in the classical realm, guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera made an almost annual appearance with the series, especially from the 1950s to the 1990s. Notable among them are Marian Anderson (1955), George Shirley (1970), Beverly Sills

(1975), Kiri Te Kanawa (1979), Frederica Von Stade (1997–98), Marilyn Horne (1999–2000, 1972), and Thomas Hampson (2009).

In the instrumental category, such artists as András Schiff (2012), Van Cliburn (1963), Yo Yo Ma (1990), Hilary Hahn (2010–11, 2005–06), Joshua Bell (2001–03), Pinchas Zuckerman (1978), Emanuel Ax (1996–97, 1984), Issac Stern (1973–74), and Andrés Segovia (1954, 1958, 1961) have all appeared on the series. Following the Cliburn Gold Medal Competition, held every four years, Macky audiences have also enjoyed hearing the winners featured on the Artist Series.

Within the choral music tradition, the Roger Wagner Chorale (1958, 1965) and the Robert Shaw Chorale (1954, 1961, 1976) have been part of the Artist Series offerings. So too have the popular Vienna Boys Choir (1978, 2011) and the Vienna Academy Chorus (1958, 1968). Even the Whiffenpoofs of Yale (and Boulder’s New Wizard Oil Combinations) gathered round in Boulder to present a concert in 1979.

Across the years, audience favorites have made repeat performances including Pilobolus Dance Theater, The Canadian Brass, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Yamato, the American Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Ballet Hispanico. The Takács String Quartet, now in residence at CU, has been a favorite for several decades.

The Importance of Being Earnest (2012), The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial starring Ed Asner (2008–09), and Othello with José Ferrer (1945)

are three examples of theatrical productions presented. Opera productions in earlier series included Madame Butterfly (1976), The Barber of Seville by the Goldovsky Grand Opera (1964), and La Bohème (1955).

Legendary jazz performers have also been featured across the years. They range from Wynton (2003–04, 1987–88) and Branford Marsalis (1991–92) to the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1988), Arturo Sandoval (2007–08, 1999–2000), Sonny Rollins (1993–94), and Bobby McFerrin (2003–04).

A typical series over the decades has included as few as two offerings as was the case in 1944–45, 1951–52, and 1985–86. There was no Artist Series from 1945 to 1948. Typically the Artist Series features eight to ten performances annually.

During the Artist Series’ 75 years, a number of directors have had the responsibility of selecting artists based on their contract fees, popularity, availability, and audience appeal. Their advisory committees have provided input into this process. For the last 15 years, Joan McLean Braun has served in this capacity. Several directors before her, Mildred “Milly” Coffin held that position for 25 years. Certainly Boulder audiences owe a debt of gratitude to those with the foresight to establish an artist series in this community. As patrons look forward to the 76th season, no doubt they can anticipate one filled with a mixture of classical, jazz, dance, and most likely an unexpected performance.

www.cupresents.org

75 years of Tradition in EntertainmentArtist Series upholds

by Marty Coffin Evans

Page 8: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

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As the Colorado Symphony Orchestra moves forward with a new consumer-focused business model, Associate Professor Michael Thornton feels a sense of ownership for the culture change the CSO is undergoing, since he had a hand in the orchestra’s fresh direction. The past three years have been challenging for the financially strapped symphony. A disparate philosophy and vision between the former management and the musicians on how to reduce operating costs added to the turmoil.

“That clash,” said Thornton, principal horn with the CSO since 1997, “led to a low point for the organization last fall when we had to reduce our concert schedule and figure out how we could move forward to preserve the organization we all loved.”

Thornton served on a committee of musicians that considered how to effectively use personnel, including ways the symphony could supplement its 80-piece orchestra series with smaller chamber concerts held in a variety of community settings.

A new business plan was rolled out last year that still features traditional classical music concerts, but adds ensembles, solo recitals, and creative collaborations with other organizations, as well as offering a wider variety of music.

One of Thornton’s suggestions was for all the musicians to commit to performing outside the concert hall, in both for-profit performances and through community service opportunities. These projects can include a string quartet performing for nursing homes or a brass quintet playing at the Children’s Hospital in Aurora.

The committee realized that the way the orchestra had operated in the past was no longer viable and that by increasing its availability in communities outside the Denver metro area and being more accessible to a wider range of audiences, the orchestra’s constituency would be increased.

“Presenting major orchestral repertory works is critical and central to the mission of the Colorado symphony,” said Thornton. “But the opportunity to put the orchestra in more venues and do things that are new and exciting will help us reach a broader audience.”

The type of musical offerings provided by the CSO has changed as well. By taking risks with new musical collaborations and interactive concerts, the CSO is attracting a more diverse and younger audience, which enhances the symphony’s relevance to music lovers throughout Colorado. The Colorado Symphony performed with Trey Anastasio, front man and songwriter for Phish, in a concert that bridged the gap between innovative rock and classical music. Denver’s iconic, indie gypsy rock band DeVotchKa and the CSO also performed a lineup of the band’s new and classic releases.

“There’s been a lot of turmoil in the classical music industry as a whole over the past several years,” said Thornton, “but the Colorado Symphony is coming up with creative approaches for the future. It makes me feel hopeful and optimistic about the new opportunities that will exist for my students. This is an exciting time to be an emerging musician.”

Michael Thornton is associate professor of horn and has been a member of the faculty at the College of Music since 1999. October 5–7 he will be performing the Second Horn Concerto by Richard Strauss with the Colorado Symphony. Tickets can be purchased online at www.coloradosymphony.org.

by Kenna Bruner

Michael Thornton

Helping the Colorado Symphony Orchestra move forward

“. . . the Colorado Symphony is coming up with creative approaches for the future.”

Page 9: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

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STUDENT NOTESThe Tesla Quartet (Ross Snyder, violin; Michelle Lie, violin; Megan Mason, viola; and Kimberly Patterson, cello), the graduate string quartet-in-residence at CU Boulder, has accomplished sev-eral outstanding feats. First, the group took third prize at the prestigious London International Quartet Competition. The winnings included a cash prize and an appearance at the Menton Festi-val in Southern France. Following that achieve-ment, the quartet won the Gold Medal in the

senior strings division at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in May. The group will per-form on a tour of the midwestern United States and has received another cash prize of $3,000. Erik Johnson (PhD, Music Education) has accepted a position as assistant professor of music education at Colorado State University. At CSU, Erik will teach undergraduate and graduate music education courses, conduct the concert band and concert orchestra, supervise student teachers, and serve as the liaison to the School of Education.

Joseph Howe and Sarah Wood were named the winners of the 2012 New Venture Challenge at the CU College of Music Entrepreneurship Center for Music. Their business plan was for a group entitled “Ensemble Pearl” and the prize carried with it a $3,000 cash award as well as continued mentoring of their venture.

Owen Zhou appeared on the New York Concerti Sinfonietta’s “Shining Star Series” at the Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village in March. Zhou performed the rarely heard Scriabin Piano Concerto in F-sharp Minor, Op. 20.

to study music education in BrazilFulbright ScholarKeane Southard (MM ’11) has been awarded a Fulbright student grant to spend nine months studying the effective-ness of music education programs in Brazil as a model for social change.

Brazil’s programs are based on Vene-zuela’s El Sistema, a national system of youth orchestras that provides free music education for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan youths while changing the life trajectory of the neediest children. The success of this system has inspired numerous other countries to adopt similar programs, including the United States.

“My goal is to discover what we can learn from the El Sistema programs in Brazil,” said Southard, “in order to help improve the U.S. programs. The potential for the number of children to be helped through this music education program if it can succeed here is enormous.”

El Sistema’s approach to music education emphasizes intensive ensemble participation, group learning, and inclusivity while maintaining high musical standards. Southard chose to study the El Sistema programs in Brazil because they are more established than those in the United States. Thus, there’s been more

time to adapt this unique approach to music education into the Brazilian culture.

“It’s incredibly inspiring to see the impact this system has on music and culture,” said Southard. “Giving free education levels the playing field and puts children from all economic backgrounds on equal footing as musicians and people.”

After completing his master of music degree in composition in 2011, Southard returned to Massachusetts where he is working as a freelance composer and pianist in the Boston area. He will leave for Brazil in March 2013.

Page 10: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

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FACULTY/STAFF NEWSAssistant Professor of Voice Joel Burcham was recently featured as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata and received exceptional praise in a review on coloradosprings.com. The review lauded him, stating “Burcham has a velvety, seamless tone that’s never forced…[There are] tours-de-force, such as the rise and fall in volume at the end of his Act 2 aria.”

Professor Emerita of Musicology Deborah Hayes has recently published two new items. One is a new edition of 18th-century music, 12 Cantatas for Alto Voice and Basso Continuo that she co-edited with Professor Emeritus John Glenn Paton. The other is a book she wrote titled Ruth Shaw Wylie: The Composer and Her Music, published by Mill City Press in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2012.

Composition faculty member Daniel Kellogg has been awarded a coveted Aaron Copland Award that includes a residency at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark house in New York’s lower Hudson Valley. During this residency, Professor Kellogg will continue his exemplary composition work.

Professor of Voice Patrick Mason was selected to receive the 2012 Hazel Barnes Prize. The prize is the highest faculty recognition for teaching and research awarded by the University

of Colorado Boulder. The prize recognizes Mason’s prolific body of work in national and international concerts and in the recording studio, along with his exceptional research and teaching record as a CU-Boulder faculty member since 1993. Professor Mason also recorded a Grammy-nominated composition by George Crumb entitled “The Ghosts of Alhambra” from The Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 15.

Instructor of Music Theory Paul Miller has been appointed as program director of

a new Early Music Festival and Workshop taking place at the Rocky Ridge Music Festival. Paul will be the first director and the festival takes place in August 2012.

In preparation for its 90th birthday celebration, Gramophone, the world’s authority on classical music, has selected 50 names to be the first inductees into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. Among these 50 names are only two ensembles, one of them being CU Boulder’s Takács Quartet.

“Swarm Wall,” a summer exhibit at the University of Colorado Boulder Art Museum, featured a dynamic new media composition based on innovative robotics technology created by Associate Professor of Composition Michael Theodore

and Nikolaus Correll from CU’s computer science department. The large-scale interactive piece displays changing fields of color, light, and sound that are driven by a distributed form of artificial intelligence.

Professor of Music Theory Keith Waters’ recent book The Studio Recordings of the Miles

Davis Quintet, 1965–1968 received the Kayden Book Award Honorable Mention prize. In recognition of this achievement, Professor

Waters received a $1,000 prize to fund further research.

WELCOMING NEW FACULTY

Gregory Gentry – Assistant Professor/Director of Choral Studies

Yonatan Malin – Assistant Professor of Music Theory

Austin Okigbo – Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology

David Rickels – Assistant Professor of Music Education

Charles Wetherbee – Assistant Professor of Violin

ALUMNI NEWS

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The Anasazi String Quartet (founded at CU-Boulder in 2009) won first prize in the

2012 MTNA National Chamber Music Competition. Currently, the quartet is the graduate quartet-in-residence at the University of

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where they study with the Pacifica Quartet.

Mike Barnett (DMA ’04, Composition) has been named the winner of the Intern-ational Music Prize for Excellence in Comp-osition 2011 by the National Academy of Music for his piano concerto, “Lucifer Rising.” Barnett is currently serving as composer- in-residence with the Fauxharmonic Digital Orchestra in Boston.

Jennie Dorris (MM ’05) is founder of Telling Stories, an award-winning ensemble that features words and music. It is produced as a radio show for Colorado Public Radio. Read the feature that appeared in the September 2011 Coloradan on Jennie online at ww.coloradanmagazine.org.

Regina Flores-Dunda (BME ’99) has founded the Sol-Via Modern Arts Center in South Metro Denver. The center is a 21st century model for sustainable creativity through instruction, practice, performance, and professional development in the areas of music, theater, dance, and visual arts in a setting that is comfortable, modern, and inviting. For more information visit www.sol-via.com.

Todd Goodman (BM ’99, Composition) is the recent recipient of two international

composition awards: the 2012 British Trombone Society Composition Prize for his Trombone Concerto and the 2012 Commission

from the North American Tuba Repertoire Initiative.

Steve Grives (DMA ’00, Choral) was appointed to the faculty of the School of Music at DePaul University where he will serve as visiting associate professor and interim director of choral activities for the 2012–14 academic years.

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ALUMNI NEWS (cont.)Karen (Keeler) Hannahoe (MME ’08) currently teaches at Platt Middle School in the Boulder Valley School District and was selected to participate in a forum on “Effective Teaching” at the White House in December. She was one of 100 teachers chosen from a pool of more than 6,000 recently nationally certified teachers and was the only music representative present. The day’s events began with a ceremony at the White House in which many officials and teachers spoke.

Dr. Ted Hansen (BM ’64, Piano Perfor-mance) will begin his 23rd year on the faculty of Texas A&M Commerce, and as a Regents Professor since 2008.

Chris Hughes (DMA ’05) was recently named director of bands and associate professor of music at New Mexico State University. Hughes will conduct the NMSU Wind Symphony, teach graduate and undergraduate conducting, and coordinate all aspects of the university band program. He returns to the United States this summer after a four-year adventure as director of bands for the College of Music at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. He remains grateful to the CU College of Music and Distinguished Professor Allan McMurray for unwavering guidance and support.

George V. Humphrey (BM ’93, Vocal Performance) made his European debut as Rothschild in the Fleischmann/

Schostakowitsch opera Rothschild’s Geige with the Bayerische Staatsoper. This year he has sung Don Jose with North West Ireland Opera, Rodolfo (La

Bohème) and Manrico (Il Trovatore) with Teatro Superga in Nichelino, Italy, and in February he will sing his first Radames (Aida) with Rousse State Opera, Bulgaria.

Chris Knighten (MM ’91, DMA ’00, Instrumental Conducting) left a teaching position after 16 years at East Carolina University and has been teaching and conducting at the University of Arkansas since June 2009. Chris conducts the Symphonic Band, teaches undergraduate conducting and band literature, and directs the UA Athletic Bands, including the Razorback Marching Band.

Geary Larrick (DMA ’84) plays solo marimba each week in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and performs on snare drum in the Grenadiers Band. He has written 10

books, 80 articles, and 120 compositions, which are cited widely.

Megan Marino (MM ’08, Vocal Performance) won third prize in the 2012

Lotte Lenya Competition, an international theater-singing contest that recognizes talented young singer-actors aged 19–30 who are dramatically and musically

convincing in a wide range of repertoire, and emphasizes the acting of songs within a dramatic context.

Scott Martin (MM ’94) was recently published in JazzTimes with a piece celebrating the Los Angeles jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Clare Fischer.

Aakash Mittal (BM ’07, Saxophone Performance) and his quartet received the ASCAP/Chamber Music America award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music for jazz ensemble in January in New York.

Alex Richardson (BM ’00, Vocal Performance) was pictured in a recent edition of The New York Times while performing in a song-cycle, Five Boroughs Songbook. For more information on Alex and his work, visit www.alexrichardsontenor.com.

Josh Russell (PhD ’07, Music Education) is the inaugural recipient of the National ASTA (American String Teachers Assoc-iation) Emerging Researcher Award. He received the award at the conference in March.

Danny Schade (BM ’08) is a private music teacher, a substitute teacher, and a freelance drummer and composer. He released his first album, Predestination and Other Games of Chance…the Soundtrack, and composed and produced more than 90 pieces of music in 2010, which are available at dannyschade.com. Danny lives in Boulder.

Matthew Schlomer (BME ’95) received a DMA in instrumental conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the spring of 2012. His research examined dance pedagogy for ways to enhance conducting pedagogy. Schlomer was also recently appointed as director of bands at the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Ashraf Sewailam (BM ’94, MM ’96, DMA ’08) performed with the Virginia Opera in their October production of Verdi’s Aida in the role of High Priest Ramfis.

Greg Simon (MM ’10) is an adjunct instructor of theory at CU and Metropolitan State College of Denver. He is a composition fellow at the Brevard Music Center and has performed at the Mayne Stage in Chicago, the Western International Band Clinic, and the California Band Director’s Association Convention. He lives in Denver.

Marcus Turner (MM ’11) has been named associate director of donor relations and stewardship at the University of Denver.

Allan Ward (BM ’03, Percussion Performance) is the new full-time percussionist with the Royal Hawaiian Band in Honolulu. With the group he will play snare, mallets, timpani, and drumset. The Royal Hawaiian Band is the only full-time municipal band in the country.

Pamela Z (BM ’78) recently completed a new work, Memory Trace, which was displayed at the ARC Gallery’s Project Space in San Francisco. Pamela has participated in a series of avant-chamber concerts in San Francisco where she performed “Low Reed” consisting of bass clarinets and baritone sax.

FAREWELLS The College of Music community marked the passing of these colleagues and friends:

faculty and staff:Gretchen Beale (Professor Emeritus, Music Education)

alumni: Nellie Archibald Jagger (BM ’39) Otis Herbert Colvin Jr. (MM ’50) Leland L. Logan (BM ’50) Darrell C. Blackburn (BM ’51) Melvin L. Evans (BM ’51) George M. Vivian Jr. (BM ’51) Geraldine Ryan Lange (BM ’54) Joyce Shively Hilty (BM ’59) Hal K. Barlow (MM ’61) David K. Rich (BM ’64) Roger Doyle (DMA ’66) Louis G. Leibinger (MM ’83)

friends: Don Campbell (Author of The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children)

Page 12: CU-Boulder Music Fall 2012 Magazine

301 UCBBoulder, CO 80309-0301

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