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Dear Alumni and Friends,
As the Fall 2020 semester draws to a close, we look back on the innovative and creative ways in which our faculty, staff and students reimagined teaching, working and learning through online, hybrid and in-person platforms. I am proud to say that despite these challenges, the School of Music is thriving in ways that no one could have predicted.
Informed by science and using recommendations from the joint UMD and University of Colorado-Boulder music aerosol research study, we were able to resume some collaborative in-person music-making while prioritizing the health of our community. In addressing the concerns related to chamber music, large ensembles and applied lessons, we gave all of our students the choice of remaining completely online this semester while also offering the option of in-person musical experiences for those who chose to return to campus. In order to de-densify our building and its grounds for in-person lessons and rehearsals, all academic music courses remained completely online.
Beyond meeting UMD’s 4 Maryland return to campus requirements including proper mask wearing and COVID-19 testing, our students went the extra mile by bringing their own music stands to lessons and disinfecting used surfaces including practice pianos. In addition, our wind majors used bell covers on their instruments while wearing modified masks with slits for the mouthpiece.
This dedication and commitment from each and every member of our community enabled us to offer in-person lessons and rehearsals for part of the semester, many of which took place in the open air on the beautiful grounds of The Clarice. In addition to our outdoor spaces, we also used our largest indoor spaces—including the John E. Wakefield Band Room and Dekelboum Concert Hall—in innovative ways. Studio classes met in hybrid formats with some students attending in-person by social distancing in our concert halls with others zooming in on a screen above the stage. When COVID-19 numbers started increasing in the state just before Thanksgiving, our preparation and newly embraced technology enabled us to quickly shift to online instruction without missing a beat.
This smooth transition was made possible by the hours of work our faculty put in over the summer to prepare for this new blended learning environment. They utilized new hardware and software, recorded lectures, experimented with JamKazam as a solution to synchronously play together from different locations and developed new materials, projects and assignments. In addition, our music faculty applied for and received 12 Teaching Innovation Grants awarded by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost for redesigning courses and enhancing student learning.
As director-designate at the time, I helped apply for and was awarded one of these grants for technology. This additional funding made it possible for the school to purchase 500 Zoom Q2N-4K recorders, tripod stands and recording accessories for all of our music majors and faculty. We also gave access to the music notation program Noteflight and mixing software Soundtrap. This provided our students with the equipment and editor tools needed to learn new technological skills and create professional recordings.
The IDEA Committee (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access), co-chaired by professors Mayron Tsong and William Robin and made up of faculty, staff and students, gathered during the summer and fall to work closely with me and the school’s senior administration to implement a series of meaningful actions that demonstrate the seriousness of our commitment to making our school a more diverse, inclusive and equitable place to teach, learn, work and make music. The committee discussed and made progress on efforts to help embed diversity within our curriculum in addition to programming and community engagement initiatives. One of the highlights included hosting Chelsey Green D.M.A. viola ’17 as our Fall 2020 Renegade Series speaker. Now available to watch on demand, her talk was titled "Classically Black: Using Improvisation to Survive the Classical Institution as a Black Woman in America.”
Steered by this important foundational work led by the IDEA Committee, our faculty continued these efforts by reimagining course curricula and diversifying the music studied to include more works by women and composers of color. They also worked closely with our music admissions staff to revise audition requirements to be more accessible for applicants with varied exposure to classical music study while also encouraging applicants to audition with music from both the classical cannon and their own diverse musical backgrounds. In addition to moving auditions to a virtual format for 2021, our admissions staff transitioned to Technolutions Slate as our new music application and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Embracing Slate has enabled us to be more targeted in our outreach, streamlined in our application processes and nimble in our data analysis and projections. This change has paid off as we have already surpassed application totals from the last two admissions cycles during a global crisis that could easily have depressed our numbers significantly.
In addition to adopting a new music application CRM, we also welcomed two new tenure-track faculty: Associate Professor of Music Theory Gretchen Horlacher and Assistant Professor of Music Education Robin Giebelhausen.
While we celebrated these additions to our ranks, we also had our share of loss in the School of Music community. This semester brought the sad news of the passing of lifelong supporter Michelle Smith, for whom our performing arts library is named, and former members of our board of visitors John Moore and Al Folop, who were both dedicated champions and advocates of the school. While their impact remains, their presence will certainly be missed!
We have also missed seeing our alumni and supporters in-person these past few months. While we were unable to welcome patrons back into our building for our usual season of performances, we utilized The Clarice’s new streaming technology in order to share live and pre-recorded performances for you to enjoy from home. These streamed events included UMD Choral Activities’ annual Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols, George Walker’s Lyric for Strings performed by the UMD Symphony Orchestra, Music for Hard Times featuring the UMD Wind Orchestra, student degree recitals and even a faculty recital in honor of Beethoven’s 250th birthday!
Even the university’s Winter Commencement activities on Sunday, December 20 took place in the virtual environment. As I said in my commencement remarks given in an empty Gildenhorn Recital Hall, our passion for music that has driven our ability to persevere in the practice room and on the concert stage is what sets us apart and will get us through these difficult times. The hard work, passion and grit of our music community—including your support—will see us through this pandemic and beyond.
Now, more than ever before, your tax-deductible donation to a music scholarship fund can have a transformative impact on future students being able to study music and pursue their passions here at Maryland. If you are able to give this season, please know that your gift can mean the world to a music student, especially during these difficult times for so many financially.
On behalf of the University of Maryland School of Music, I wish you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season!
Gregory Miller
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Welcome to Gretchen Horlacher, newly appointed associate professor of music theory. She has taught at the University of California (UC)-Riverside, UC-Santa Barbara and most recently at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she served as chair of the Music Theory Department from 2008 to 2012 and assistant to the dean for research and administration from 2012-2020. Her work engages the music of Igor Stravinsky, theories of rhythm and meter and the intersections of music and dance.
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Another warm welcome to Robin Giebelhausen, newly appointed assistant professor of music education specializing in general music. Giebelhausen comes to UMD from the University of New Mexico where she was associate professor and coordinator of music education. Her research interests include music education policy, secondary general music, gender issues in music and music creativity pedagogy.
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Please join us in extending heartfelt congratulations to our wonderful faculty who have received promotions! Robert DiLutis (clarinet), Katherine Murdock (viola) and Patrick Warfield (musicology) have been promoted to the rank of professor. Matthew Guilford (trombone), Lee Hinkle (percussion), Justina Lee (opera) and Timothy Powell (saxophone and jazz studies) have been promoted to senior lecturer.
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Over the summer, 12 of our faculty received UMD Teaching Innovation Grants to invest in technology and redesign courses for the new hybrid learning environment. Grants funded both performance and academic music courses and purchased new equipment including 500 Zoom Q2N-4K video recorders. One of these grants went to reimagine “Meaningful Connections,” a chamber music course that partners with community organizations. This semester, the class created final video projects that were presented as community concerts and fundraisers for Music for Autism, SIGNA UMD, Ayuda and Charles Smith and Collington senior centers.
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Robert DiLutis (clarinet) released an album with saxophonist Noah Getz and pianist Jeffrey Chappell entitled "The Salon Sessions" on the Tonsehen label.
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Sarah Frisof (flute) released an album "Beauty Crying Forth," presenting repertoire spanning one and a half centuries for flute by female composers. In addition, Frisof worked with Sound Impact to create "Time Travel Goes Digital," a ten-episode educational video music series designed for virtual classrooms and family viewing. The series was released on YouTube and has become part of the curriculum for the Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas City Schools, Prince William City Schools and other educational institutions.
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Chris Gekker (trumpet) released a solo album entitled "Moon Marked" with the Divine Art Recordings Group. It features colleagues Mark Hill (oboe), Katherine Murdock (viola) and Rita Sloan (piano) as well as his children and alumni Lianna Gekker ’15 (B.M. jazz piano) and Jason Gekker ’20 (M.M. double bass). Gekker also performed on Alexander Kastalsky's album "Requiem" that is now on the finalist list of nominations for the 2021 GRAMMY Awards.
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Lee Hinkle (percussion) was featured on a concert with the 21st Century Consort. He performed Jennifer Jolley's How to be a Deep Thinker in LA among other works at St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill. The concert, S P A C E D O U T, was performed for a small audience of eight with social distancing and masks. The concert can be viewed here. The Washington Post's new classical music reviewer, Michael Andor Brodeur, was in attendance and wrote an article.
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Facing the cancellation of his summer season with the Grant Park Orchestra, Eric Kutz (cello) set out to find a meaningful solution to the emptiness of his performance schedule. Reaching back into his repertoire, Kutz decided to re-examine all six of J.S. Bach's solo cello suites. This study culminated in a virtually streamed performance of all two and a half hours of the suites that Kutz recorded from an empty hall in Chicago in collaboration with the Grant Park Music Festival.
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Siv B. Lie (ethnomusicology) was awarded a $2,092 ARHU Faculty Fund Competition Special Purpose Innovation Grant to broaden the accessibility of her book, "Django Generations: Hearing Ethnorace, Citizenship, and Jazz Manouche in France" (University of Chicago Press, coming in 2021). Lie's book explores how musical performance and discourse shape senses of belonging for Manouches (a subgroup of Romanies or "Gypsies"), who are a disenfranchised ethnoracial group in France. This grant funds the creation and maintenance of a companion multimedia website, as well as a subvention to reduce the price of the book's paperback edition.
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Irina Muresanu (violin) was awarded a $5,000 ARHU Faculty Fund Competition Innovation Grant to help the first stage of development for a virtual education platform (ViolinEtudePro), intended as a comprehensive scholarly, artistic and interactive learning guide and companion for teachers and students. The platform will offer scholarly edited sheet music of the main didactic violin literature, video performances and tutorials exemplifying this material, all organized in “teaching modules.” It will also feature digital tools built-in for student engagement and active learning feedback.
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William Robin (musicology) has launched the podcast, "Sound Expertise," which features interviews with musicologists, music theorists, ethnomusicologists and other music scholars. Each episode of "Sound Expertise" spotlights the research of a different scholar through a longform conversation, designed to educate the general public about musicology as well as frame new ideas in the field in an alternative format to traditional scholarship.
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Michael Votta (conducting & ensembles) was awarded a $2,000 ARHU Faculty Fund Competition Innovation Grant to adapt musical ensembles to the hybrid teaching environment. He drew on his experiences as a clarinetist and with improvisation to create sessions on “Improvisation for Classical Musicians." He has learned that instrumental improvisation can be a powerful tool in training conductors. In many ways, conducting is improvisation, and Votta's “new” work in improvisation can be integrated with his lifelong work as a conductor and teacher. This grant enables him to develop materials to integrate improvisation with conducting teaching.
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Cynthia L. Keith ’78 (B.M. flute) continues to pursue her career in investment management as executive director of Investments with Oppenheimer Co. Inc. in Washington, D.C. However, her flute performances have been put on hold due to the pandemic.
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Anthony J. Conto ’01, ’09 (B.S. music education, M.M.E. conducting) is in his 20th year at Bishop McNamara High School and serves as the director of Fine Arts and the director of Bands & Orchestra. This year he was awarded Veteran Teacher of the Year by the High School Principal's Association for the Archdiocese of Washington. He has received several other honors such as the Faculty Splash Award, the Caritas Award for distinguished service, an honorary membership in the Tri-M Music Honor Society and a nomination for the GRAMMY Foundation Music Educator of the Year Award.
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Phil Barnes ’02 (B.M. music education) was recently named the coordinator of Instrumental Music & Theatre for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). After 17 years in the classroom and maintaining successful music programs at Rockville and Blake High Schools, he will now be leading and supporting the instrumental music and theater teachers throughout 206 schools in MCPS. Barnes will be responsible for professional learning, curriculum development, countywide programs and community partnerships for the 16th largest school district in the United States.
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Donnie Johns ’05, ’11 (B.M.E. percussion, M.M. percussion) owns and operates the DMV Percussion Academy in Hyattsville and is an adjunct instructor at Bowie State University. Recently, he put together an anti-tobacco promotional video.
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Justin Bland ’08 (B.M. trumpet) was fortunate to perform Hertel’s Trumpet Concerto No. 3 in Haapsalu, Estonia, despite the difficulties and canceled concerts caused by the pandemic. He was also the artistic director of and trumpeter for the Næstved Early Music Festival in Næstved, Denmark.
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William McClain ’09 (D.M.A. viola) was recently appointed as the conductor and music director for the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra. McClain will also teach musicology, orchestration and string methods. Before joining Millikin, McClain taught at Georgia College & State University, Ithaca College, Huston-Tillotson College and Mercer University. He served as a former faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy, where he was named the John and Elizabeth Phillips Fellow.
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Colin Brush ’10 (M.M. opera) was accepted into the 37th class of the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship program where Brush will act as an arts administration consultant at leading institutions in Germany. Brush also participates in professional seminars and travels to meet and exchange ideas with experts and decision makers from Germany and Europe.
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Tamara Sanikidze ’10 (D.M.A. collaborative piano) was promoted to tenured full professor and head of the Voice Division at the Butler School of Music at University of Texas at Austin, where she also serves as a director and principal coach of Butler Opera Center.
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John Gennaro Devlin ’11, ’15 (M.M. orchestral conducting, D.M.A. orchestral conducting) was excited to collaborate closely with many fellow Terp alumni this fall. With the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, where he is in his second year as music director, the orchestra's season-opening concert featured soloist Bridgette Gan ’11 (M.M. opera). Another pandemic-time activity was the launch of a new venture called Everything Conducting, a website geared towards conductors of all levels. A component of this project is a podcast called "UpBeat," co-hosted by Devlin and Enrico Lopez-Yañez ’15 (M.M. orchestral conducting). The podcast recently finished its second season and has featured many UMD figures including Michael Votta, James Ross, Michael Ellis Ingram, Richard Scerbo and Jason Fettig.
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Noelle Drewes ’12 (D.M.A. oboe) won the position of adjunct assistant professor at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College, where she now teaches oboe and is a resident artist member of the Sunderman Wind Quintet.
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Ceylon Mitchell ’16 (M.M. flute, current D.M.A. student) was selected as a member of the Artist in Residence program at Strathmore’s Institute for Artistic and Professional Development. The Artist in Residence debut concert, "Virtual Fresh Air," featured the entire class and mentors in wonderful cross-genre collaborations. As a class participant, Mitchell's theme was classical, folk and popular music of Latin America, especially Cuban flute traditions.
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Ian Saunders ’16 (D.M.A. double bass) was appointed as assistant dean for artistic and social change at the Longy School of Music. Saunders will work with faculty and program directors to guide some of Longy’s signature programs including Sistema Side-by-Side, Music as a Healing Art, the Teaching Artist Program, Music and Civic Engagement and the Musician's Portfolio.
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Aryssa Leigh Burrs ’17 (B.M./B.M.E. voice) will be presenting a recital concept titled "Identify" in partnership with Phenomenal Womxn, a 501c3 nonprofit founded by fellow alumni Hayley Tevelow ’15 (B.M./B.M.E. voice) and Caitlin Gompf ’14 (B.M. voice). Learn more about this immersive virtual experience scheduled for January 3.
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Chelsey Green ’17 (D.M.A. viola) gave a Renegade Series Lecture for the UMD School of Music titled "Classically Black: Using Improvisation to Survive the Classical Institution as a Black Woman in America." The video recording is now available to stream on demand.
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Bonnie Alger ’18 (D.M.A. orchestral conducting) was promoted in October to the rank of First Lieutenant in the United States Army, where she currently serves as executive officer of the 1st Cavalry Division Band at Fort Hood, TX. This fall, she was a guest lecturer/panelist for various music courses at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, Humboldt State University in California and the University of Maryland.
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Brian Coffill ’18 (D.M.A. conducting) has been selected as the winner of the 2019-2020 Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for orchestral programming. Given by the American Prize Foundation, this national prize recognizes and highlights his efforts during the inaugural year of the Randolph-Macon College Ensemble, a creative, flexible-instrumentation chamber orchestra that he founded in the fall of 2018.
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Laura Colgate ’18 (D.M.A. violin) was appointed concertmaster of the National Philharmonic. In this new role, she has been curating a chamber music series and serving as a consultant for more inclusive programming. Colgate also serves as concertmaster of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and was previously the concertmaster of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra.
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Véronique Filloux ’18 (M.M. opera) is a first-year resident artist at Pittsburgh Opera. Her roles for this season are Despina (Così fan tutte), Chan Parker (Charlie Parker's Yardbird) and the title role in Handel's Semele. Catch her performances via livestream throughout the year! Filloux also serves on staff as admissions specialist for the UMD School of Music.
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Alexandra Gilbert ’19 (B.M./B.M.E. flute) was hired as band director at Annapolis High School in Anne Arundel County.
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Jeremy Harr ’20 (M.M. opera) is also a first-year resident artist at Pittsburgh Opera along with Véronique Filloux ’18 (M.M. opera). Harr's roles for the season include Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) and Cadmus/High Priest in Semele. Catch his performances via livestream throughout the year!
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