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Dear School of Music Alumni,
As we close the book on another academic year, I’d like to share with you some of the many highlights and achievements of the past semester.
It was truly exciting to see our groundbreaking partnership with the Collington senior living community featured on NBC’s Today Show! The nationally broadcast television segment highlighted the transformative experiences of recent graduate Melissa Morales ’19 (D.M.A. clarinet) and Ria Yang (M.M. piano) as artists-in-residence at Collington, where they performed and organized concerts and other educational programs for residents in exchange for free room and board.
Another recent highlight was the Concert Choir’s performance at Carnegie Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda.
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Recent graduate Melissa Morales ’19 (D.M.A. clarinet) and current student Ria Yang (M.M. piano) were featured on NBC's Today Show on May 13. The television segment highlighted Morales and Yang's experiences as artists-in-residence this past year at Collington senior living community. The students received free room and board in exchange for performing regularly and organizing concerts and educational programming for the residents. Watch the video.
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This semester featured the second half of the year-long Kurt Weill Festival led by Craig Kier and made possible by funding from The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. This series of performances and lectures held throughout the 2018-19 academic year highlighted both familiar and rarely heard works of Weill. Part of the university-wide Year of Immigration, this festival offered insight into the perspective of a Jewish composer who fled Nazi Germany and found a distinctive compositional voice in America. The festival opened with "The Road of Promise" and included performances of "Mahagonny Songspiel" among many other events. The festival closed with Weill's American opera, "Street Scene."
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On April 17, UMD Chamber Groups performed in "Music & Film: Segundo De Chomón" at the Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain before performing again at The Clarice on April 18. The performance was led by John Falcone of Oviedo, Spain. The students created live scores to the incredibly restored films of Spanish director Chomón. Over 150 people packed the music room for this free performance in D.C.
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As part of the Kennedy Center's "Unexpected Italy" celebration, the UMD Concert Choir performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center on May 16 and 17 before hitting the road for their performance at Carnegie Hall on May 19. Under the baton of Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, the program featured Rossini’s popular "Stabat Mater" and Liszt's "Dante" Symphony.
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In February, members of the Mighty Sound of Maryland Marching Band were featured in “The Music Man” at the Kennedy Center. They performed in the Broadway musical's final number "76 Trombones." Read the full story in Maryland Today.
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Chris Vadala (jazz studies) passed away on January 17 at age 70. He shared his love for jazz at University of Maryland’s School of Music for 25 years. The School of Music mourns this loss and extends deep sympathy to his family, colleagues, fellow artists, students and loved ones. We invite you to return to campus to celebrate his life and legacy during a tribute concert to be held on Sunday, October 6, 2019, at 3:00pm in Dekelboum Concert Hall at The Clarice. Read the in memoriam.
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David Neely, an internationally esteemed conductor and pedagogue, was appointed director of orchestral activities. A recipient of two Emmy Awards for his leadership as music director of the Des Moines Metro Opera, Neely brings three decades of collegiate and professional conducting experience to the post. In this role, he will direct the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra and provide mentorship to conducting students. Read the full announcement.
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Martha Randall (voice and pedagogy) is a recipient of the 2018-19 Provost's Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty for her outstanding contributions and achievements in teaching. Randall draws on the study of acoustics and anatomy to help students utilize and maintain their voices. To help them overcome the common technical challenges singers face, she created an acoustic voice analysis lab. Read the full announcement.
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Michael Votta, Jr. (director of bands) was elected vice president of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA). He will ascend to the presidency in 2023 and organize the 2025 CBDNA national conference.
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Patrick Warfield (musicology and associate director for graduate studies and strategic initiatives) was selected as a winner of the UMD 2019 Research Communicator Impact Award in the new media category. The project was based on a series of concerts Warfield curated and narrated related to WWII starting with a joint performance by UMSO and the US Marine Band in 2016 and continuing with a marine band concert on Sousa. The award itself was for a WWI concert held near the armistice with the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Read the story in Maryland Today.
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William Donnie Scally (Ph.D. ethnomusicology) received a fellowship providing full financial support from The Japan Foundation for dissertation research in Toyama City, Japan, for the 2019-20 academic year. Scally's dissertation project will examine the networks of musicians, teachers, club owners and others who are involved with the city's commercial music scene and traditional festival music. Read the full announcement.
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Laura Colgate '18 (D.M.A. violin) is the co-founder of the Boulanger Initiative, which promotes music composed by women. In March, the organization hosted a festival celebrating women composers in Washington, D.C. Read the full story in The Washington Post.
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John A. Krebs '91 (D.M.A. piano), a Hendrix College professor, has been named to a distinguished professorship. At an installation ceremony scheduled for August 29, Krebs will become the Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Music. He has served as president of the Arkansas State Music Teachers Association, chaired the Humanities Area of Hendrix College and served three terms as chair of the Department of Music.
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Ryan Manning '04 (B.A. voice) was nominated for a 2019 Helen Hayes Award in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical category for his performance in 1st Stage's production of "Fly by Night."
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Steven Cunningham '14, '17 (M.M. jazz trumpet, D.M.A. trumpet) began teaching at Grambling State University in Fall 2018 as the new assistant professor of upper brass and assistant band director. He was recently appointed the Conrad Hutchinson Endowed Professor of Music.
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Lee Anne Pokego Myslewski '04 (M.M. opera) was named vice president, opera and classical programing for Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA.
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This past July, Peter Swanson '18 (M.M. cello) performed Haydn's C Major Cello Concerto with the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra in Duluth, MN. He also toured the Upper Midwest with a program of entirely unaccompanied masterworks for cello. This summer, he will embark on his second solo tour comprising six performances in the Upper Midwest with works by Ligeti, John Luther Adams, Dutilleux and Bach. He will also make his conducting debut as a guest conductor of the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra (MN). He is currently pursuing his Doctorate at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
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Véronique Filloux '18 (M.M. opera) made her Kennedy Center debut in February singing the role of Tigrane in Handel’s “Radamisto” with Opera Lafayette and later followed the production to NYC. Having recently made her Chicago Opera Theater and Opera Lafayette debuts, she joined Music of the Baroque in May as a soloist in the music of Handel and Purcell. This summer, she returns to Central City Opera as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Apprentice Artist, singing the title role in Debussy's "La Damoiselle Èlue." Last year marked her first summer with the company, when she made her mainstage debut as Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and was awarded the company's prestigious Young Artist Award.
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Brendan Kelly '13 (B.M./B.M.E. saxophone) was named one of Montgomery County Public Schools' Rising Star Teachers of the Year.
Read the announcement.
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Melanie Pinkert '16 (Ph.D. ethnomusicology) was hired in the fall of 2018 as folklife specialist at Sandy Spring Museum in Sandy Spring, MD. She coordinates themed programs and is expanding the Museum’s role to bring local performing arts and artisan traditions to a wider audience.
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Phil Barnes '02 (B.M.E. saxophone) conducted a concert with the St. Mary's County All-County Middle School Jazz Band in April.
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Brian N. Perez '14 (D.M.A. saxophone) was appointed director of jazz studies at Texas Southern University. He also released his debut album entitled "Blues for the Current Status of Your 401k" and was selected to perform the world premier of Daniel Adam's composition "Eulerian Circles."
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Joel Pierson '14 (D.M.A. composition) recently signed a worldwide management and booking deal with CAMI Music. Pierson is the artistic director of The Queen's Cartoonists, a jazz band that performs scores from classic and contemporary animation alongside projections of the original films. TQC will be represented alongside other CAMI Music artists such as James Galway, Lang Lang, Chick Corea, Max Richter and Daniele Gatti.
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John Devlin '11, '15 (M.M. orchestral conducting, D.M.A. orchestral conducting) was recently appointed the music director of the Hawaii Youth Symphony and artistic director of the Pacific Music Institute. The festival recently announced a partnership with the National Orchestral Institute based at UMD. John has also recently conducted the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, the American Repertory Ballet and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra where he is a music director finalist.
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Sharon Guertin Shafer '70, '73 (M.M. voice, D.M.A. voice) was commissioned to write "The Dream of Knife, Fork, and Spoon" which was premiered by soprano Liana Valente in Washington, DC on February 22. It is a setting of a poem by Kimiko Hahn. In September, Valente also performed the premier of Shafer's song cycle, "Seasons," in a musical presented by the Washington, DC Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. In April, tenor James Stevens performed Shafer's dramatic song cycle "Poems of a WWII Veteran" at Old Town Hall in Fairfax, VA. The work is based on poems by her father-in-law, Lt. Col. Robert Shafer (USAF Ret.), with narration by the composer and excerpts from Col. Shafer's letters written to his wife while he was stationed in the Pacific between 1943 and 1944.
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Theresa Bickham '19 (D.M.A. voice) has accepted a position as assistant professor of voice at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
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Joel Pierson '14 (D.M.A. composition) wrote a networked laptop duo "the ongoing process," which was released on the Electronic Masters Vol. 7 compact disc from Ablaze Records. On this recording, the piece is performed by the composer and UMD School of Music composition alumnus Stephen Lilly '01, '04 (M.M. composition, D.M.A. composition).
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William Leroy Lake '06, '14 (B.M. jazz piano, M.M. instrumental conducting) was appointed as assistant professor of band at the Crane School of Music. Lake joins the Crane School from Southeastern University, where he is director of the Southeastern University Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Chamber Ensemble and Athletic Band.
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Dallas Gray '19 (M.M. opera) will be attending the Aspen Summer Music Festival and taking a position as an associate chorister at the Houston Grand Opera for their 2019-20 season this fall.
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Bradley S. Green '17 (D.M.A. composition) had his essay "Performer Choice and Earle Brown's String Quartet (1965): The Formal and Aural Implications of Open Form" published by Indiana Theory Review Vol. 35, Nos. 1-2 (Spring & Fall 2018).
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Peter J. Perry '96, '05 (B.S. music education, M.M. music education) received The Kappa Kappa Psi Brent Cannon Alumni Achievement Award this past March. This award recognizes Kappa Kappa Psi alumni for outstanding contributions to secondary music education. Perry has been the instrumental music director at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland, for the past twenty three years. His first book, "Technology Tips for Ensemble Teachers," will be released in August by Oxford University Press.
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Michael Dansicker '69 (B.A. theory and composition) completed six consecutive shows in the D.C. area. He wrote new dance music for "Kiss Me Kate" (transferred to Fifth Avenue Theater in Seattle), composed and orchestrated new incidental music for "Camelot," wrote 7 original songs and a full score for "Comedy of Errors" and supervised "Man of La Mancha." He wrote and orchestrated new dance music for "Pajama Game" at Arena Stage. His Christmas tune "There is No Mrs. Santa Claus" was performed by The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, D.C., at The Howard Theater. Dansicker conducted a Broadway Audition Workshop for the UMD School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies on May 2.
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Shaina Martinez '15 (B.M. voice) won several awards this past year including first place in the Russell C. Wonderlic Competition, second place in the Opera NEO Voice Competition, third place in the Junior Division of the Young Patronesses of the Opera Voice Competition, first place in the Talents of the World 2nd International Voice Competition, third place and an award for the Best Interpretation of Peruvian Art Song in the XXI Concurso Internacional de Canto Lirico in Trujillo, Peru, and third prize in the Washington International Competition. She made her Carnegie Hall debut performing in the Talents of the World Festival. This summer, she joins the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago as a vocal fellow. She will join the Florida Grand Opera Young Artist Studio for 2019-20.
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