Sonorities 2024

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sonorities

The News Magazine of the University of Illinois School of Music

Letter from the Director

The School of Music is a unit of the College of Fine + Applied Arts and has been an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music since 1933.

Kevin Hamilton, Dean of the College of Fine + Applied Arts Linda R. Moorhouse, Director of the School of Music Dani Nutting, Editor Design and layout by Studio 2D On the cover: Photos of School of Music faculty abroad and SoM visitors from around the world.

More details on page 63.

Share your good news!

Submit online at music.illinois.edu/sonorities

Co n ten t s SCHOOL OF MUSIC NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 WALK THROUGH FIRE: ALUMNA SHEILA JOHNSON’S INSPIRATIONAL MEMOIR. . . . . . . . . 7 CELEBRATING GIVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT & ADMISSIONS. . . . . . . . 10 “UNFOLDING IN MANY DIRECTIONS”: A CONVERSATION WITH BEN ROIDL-WARD . . . 11 INTERNATIONAL EXCURSIONS WITH SCHOOL OF MUSIC FACULTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 FACULTY NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 CELEBRATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF UISO’S SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR . . . . . . . . . 34 ALUMNI NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 STUDENT NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 IN MEMORIAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 GIFTS IN SUPPORT OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

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reetings! As I begin my fourteenth year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I continue to take immense pride in all the good work our faculty, staff, students, and alumni do on an ongoing basis. We have much to share with you!

In August, the School of Music brought back its “First Fridays” series as a way to reconnect with and celebrate our student community. On the first Friday of the fall semester, new and returning students visited with the School’s student organizations, picked up swag, ate pizza, and enjoyed a late afternoon visit by the incomparable Marching Illini. Other First Fridays featured live music and lagniappes for our students, including a generous donor’s gift of ChopSaver lip balm for each member of our student community.

In spring 2023, campus began work on redesigning the northern entrance of our Music Building, and we hope to complete “the North Plaza” next to the new entranceway in Spring 2024. We plan to host our first post-convocation celebration in May in this space.

You can read more about it in this issue’s “School of Music News.”

To give you an idea of how much is happening on a daily basis: within a single week in October, we hosted the Lift Every Voice Symposium, a mentor program for talented young choral conductors from under-represented groups, this year focusing on serving conductors of color; the regional meeting of the American Choral Directors Association; and a campus visit and book signing by acclaimed alumna Sheila Johnson. Her autobiography, Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph, is now available through Simon & Schuster online and in bookstores.

This fall we have also welcomed new staff and faculty and are thrilled to announce the two newest members of our administrative team: Terri Daniels, Director of Public Engagement (yes, she formerly worked in Bands!), and Alice Turner, Director of Finance.

You can read more about the new faculty members who have joined us from around the country and across the globe in this issue.

Our School of Music community and alumni have such a strong presence in the state of Illinois and across the nation, and in this 2024 issue of sonorities, we share a few ways our footprint extends around the world. I hope you enjoy reading some of what we’ve been up to this last year, and please know that as I continue in my new administrative role in the School of Music, I will do my best to build pathways and find resources for this inspiring work to continue!

Linda R. Moorhouse, DMA Director and Professor, School of Music

First Fridays are back!

After a short hiatus, First Fridays are back on at the School of Music. Held at noon on the first Friday of every month, typically in the South Lobby, these gatherings were initiated by the Student Advisory Board in spring 2019 to build community in the SoM and foster a space where students can mingle, share informal performances, meet with music organizations, and, of course, enjoy food and drink. We look forward to many more fun First Fridays to come!

Photos by Miranda Molina

Published for the alumni and friends of the School of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Music student organizations were represented at the August 2023 First Friday event, and the Marching Illini dropped by for a performance.

school of music news Welcome to the North Plaza The northern side of the School of Music is undergoing a transformation to repair the drainage system, replace the steps with a sloping walkway, add foliage, and create a new patio area next to the walkway. Now known as the North Plaza, this inviting and welcoming outdoor space will be used as a communal gathering spot for hosting special events and celebrating milestones like new student arrivals, academic year

kick-offs, alumni get-togethers, convocations, retirements of our dedicated faculty and staff, and more.

At the top of the North Plaza, blending northward into a grassy area with trees and foliage, will be a large circular area of brick pavers featuring a spectrogram of one of our school songs, a design element which joins our Illiac Suite historical marker in celebrating the SoM’s rich history of computerized

music and music technology. And good news for you: the North Plaza pavers are available for engraving! This is a wonderful opportunity to recognize loved ones, family, teachers, and others. Please reach out to Director of Advancement David Allen at allend@illinois.edu if you want to be one of the first to have a brick paver engraved.

School of Music hosts “Lift Every Voice” program and IL-ACDA chapter meeting Sponsored by the College of Fine + Applied Arts, the School of Music, and the American Choral Directors Association, the Lift Every Voice program met on the UIUC campus October 24–27, 2023. This event provided cost-free mentoring for six talented undergraduate choral conductors of color nominated by their institutions. Over four days, the students worked with an outstanding faculty of experienced conductorteachers, including Anton Armstrong (St. Olaf College), Fernando Malvar-Ruiz (Los Angeles Children’s Chorus), Pearl Shangkuan (Calvin University), and André Thomas (Florida State University), along with SoM faculty members Barrington Coleman, Ollie Watts Davis, and Andrea Solya. The event included private conducting lessons and classes, sessions on underrepresented composers, round-table discussions on thriving in graduate school, and conversations about navigating the day-to-day challenges of being a choral conductor of color.

The fall meeting of the Illinois chapter of the American Choral Directors Association took place on October 27–28 at the Krannert Center. Hosted by Andrea Solya and the SoM, the event included sessions and workshops on exploring Jewish repertories, long-term planning for choral ensembles, music by Korean women composers, teaching vocal techniques for different musical genres, and ensuring equitable outcomes in secondary music

Members of the University of Illinois Black Chorus performing at a joint concert of the Lift Every Voice Symposium and Illinois ACDA meeting

Participants in the 2023 Lift Every Voice Symposium—back (left to right): Johan Quevedo, Le’asi Mana, Nacor Lantigua, Jeremiah Brown; front (left to right): Braulio Muro, Dr. Andrea Solya, Manishya Jayasundera, Byron De Leon

programs. Keynote speakers André Thomas (Emeritus Professor of Music, Florida State University) and Cheryl Frazes Hill (Chicago Symphony Chorus) led sessions on performing spirituals and new trends in programming, respectively. Concerts featured the Nova Singers, Chi-Arts High School, Campanella Children’s Choir, the No-Name Chorale, and the Elmhurst University Concert Choir, and concluded with performances by the IL-ACDA Middle School/Junior High School and High School honor choirs. With the theme “Singer’s Banquet: Programs with Beauty, Balance, and Truth,” this two-day conference embodied the importance of creating balance through varied repertoire that spans old and new and represents diverse genres, cultures, genders, styles, and more.

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Jazz Trombone Ensemble to perform in New Orleans

By Jim Pugh, Professor of Jazz Performance (Trombone and Composition/Arranging)

By special invitation, the University of Illinois Jazz Trombone Ensemble, under the direction of Jim Pugh, will perform at the 15th annual Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans, Jan. 4, 2024.

The rich history of groups with multiple trombones and rhythm reaches back to the 1950s, with Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson’s highly successful two-trombone group, K&J. Winding later expanded this concept to a four-trombone band that was especially active on the college dance circuit in the 1960s, possibly even playing at UIUC at some point. Since then, many other multitrombone groups have been recorded: Tutti’s Trombones (10 tbns + rhythm); Pete Rugolo’s 10 Trombones Like 2 Pianos; Four Freshmen and Five Trombones; and more recently, NY-based SuperTrombone (4 tbns + rhythm), to name a few.

Jump ahead to our present-day UIUC JTE. This remarkable group has consistently and repeatedly won more national and international prizes than any other group of its kind: the National Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition six times (2012, ’14, ’17, ’18, ’20, ’23), sponsored by the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”; the Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Ensemble

Jazz Trombone Ensemble, 2023 (left to right): Jim Pugh (director), David McEathron (piano), Keaton Yarber (guitar), Rich Dole (bass trombone), Ian Loechl (trombone), Sam Olson (bass), Jeremiah St. John (trombone), Kyle Hunt (trombone), Max Osawa (drums), Peter Tijerina (trombone)

Competition twice (’12, ’17), sponsored by the International Trombone Association; and this will be the ensemble’s second JEN Conference, having performed in Atlanta in 2013. In addition to their formidable instrumental skills, the members of this group compose and arrange their entire repertoire, thereby guaranteeing their distinct musical voice, giving them ownership of all they do, and providing a unique musical experience for their audiences.

They honor themselves as they honor the School of Music, and they make us all very proud.

Chen Yi Residency inspires campus community Seeking involvement and funding In March 2023, the School of Music hosted in resa c ro s s ca m p u s , idency Chen Yi, award-winning internationally I reached out to renowned composer and distinguished professor the Department of composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas of East Asian LanCity Conservatory. I met Chen while attending UMKC guages and Culand was drawn to her music for its insatiable energy, tures and was craft, and compelling expressivity. In fall 2022, working connected with on my doctoral thesis on Chen’s Ba Yin for saxophone Chilin Shih, chair quartet and chamber ensemble and seeking a more of the depart-­ impactful way to connect my research to the UIUC Yi with sents Chen re p g ment (who I later er b n aac Bri campus community, I approached my advisor Kevin ordinator Is co cy en id learned had sung Res Geraldi with the idea of hosting Chen Yi in residency. flowers Chen’s music in a youth choir). Shih offered the With his incredible support, and enthusiasm from SoM Kang Endowed Lectureship to co-sponsor the residency along leadership, we created a multifaceted three-day program that with the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies. With the Kang connected Chen with faculty, introduced her compositions to family’s generous support, along with the Lorado Taft Lecturemany students, and created opportunities for intercultural and ship from the College of Fine + Applied Arts and a Humanities cross-disciplinary learning.

By Isaac Brinberg (DMA ‘23, Wind Band Conducting)

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Research Institute Supplemental Grant, we were able to maximize the impact of the three-day residency.

During her visit, Chen observed Chamber Singers, Wind Orchestra, and Hindsley Symphonic Band to provide feedback and conversation; gave a masterclass and coachings with the Strings area and several chamber groups; guest-lectured in the MUS 110 course; and worked with composition students both privately and in the Composers Forum. She visited with and attended a concert by the Jasmine Field Orchestra, a cross-campus student-led organization that performs traditional and contemporary Chinese music on Western and traditional instruments and in choral configurations. Additionally, my lecture recital on Ba Yin, performed by nationally renowned saxophone quartet Eos, included Chen in onstage discussion.

The residency’s capstone was a collaborative multimedia concert on March 24. I selected works to both reflect Chen’s breadth of repertoire and include a variety of musicians: Chamber Singers, Solideo Quartet, instrumentalists from across the SoM, and members of JFO. Students from the Department of Dance created original choreography for several pieces, and stage lighting was provided by Yingman Tang, a theatre MFA student. Several hundred attended, including special guests Curtis Perry, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; Mariselle Meléndez, director of the School of Literature, Cultures, and Linguistics; and members of the Kang family, who presented Chen with an award in memory of the late Chi Lung Kang, the endowment’s namesake.

The Kang family was impressed by the performance and Chen greatly enjoyed her time at UIUC, expressing gratitude for such strong support from the SoM and other university departments.

Noah Livingston, Laura Gaynon, and Yarong Guan perform Chen Yi’s Night Thoughts.

Thanks to the generosity of the Kang Endowed Lectureship, the support of Kevin Geraldi and many faculty members from the SoM, LAS, and FAA, and tireless work by SoM Operations Manager Nathan Mandel, hundreds of students across campus had the opportunity to connect with a visiting world-class musician. The impact of Chen’s visit will continue to be felt on campus, and I hope this is just one chapter in a continued relationship between Chen and the SoM that will encourage future residencies with outstanding guest artists.

All photos were taken at the capstone concert on Friday, March 24, 2023 by Darrell Hoemann.

Symposium showcases Puerto Rican music From March 30 to April 2, 2023, the School of Music hosted the “Encuentro Puertorriqueño de Creación Musical,” a symposium on Puerto Rican musical creativity, focusing on concert music.

Planning began several years ago, including a trip by the Illinois Modern Ensemble (IME) to the island that was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic, so it was with great excitement that we finally realized the event. As a composer from Puerto Rico and the director of the symposium, I am delighted that this gathering provided our Illinois community the opportunity to exchange and generate knowledge on the island’s musical culture through panels, workshops, and performances.

All symposium events were open to the academic community and to the public,

Photo by Fred Zwicky

By Carlos Carrillo, Associate Professor of Composition-Theory

The Victory Players (Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts) performed during the Symposium closing concert.

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with guest scholars and performers visiting from around the country and as far as Spain and Mexico.

We witnessed seven panels of lively musicological discussion and several masterclasses with our student instrumentalists. Three workshops took place during which where we learned about improvisation and modern music and celebrated traditional music and dance. We listened to seven concerts featuring the music of 37 composers from the island performed by local and guest artists, including the Victory Players, Álea 21, and IME. The importance of representing Puerto Rico’s concert music at this magnitude cannot be overstated.

This symposium was made possible by financial contributions from the Center for Advanced Study, Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, James Avery and Lorado Taft Art funds, Sensing Waters Initiative, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and the Spurlock Museum with support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The collaboration in this complex event was remarkable, and the organizing committee— myself with colleagues Noel Torres, Angela Santiago, and Michael Silvers—cannot give enough thanks to everyone who helped make the symposium a reality.

2023 Salvatore Martirano Composition Award winners announced The School of Music was pleased to honor three accomplished composers: ■

Anna-Louise Walton, Basket of Figs for soprano, flute, and clarinet (First Prize)

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Louis J. Goldford, Mauvaise Foi for soprano, chamber ensemble, and electronics (Second Prize)

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Lina Tonia, Magna Carta Libertatum for chamber ensemble (Third Prize)

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Two faculty join Grammy voting body

By Terri A. Daniels, Director of Public Engagement

As the 66th Annual GRAMMY® Awards approach, we highlight two School of Music faculty, Rochelle Sennet (Piano) and Lamont Holden (Audio & Recording Technologies), who recently became voting members of the Recording Academy, the prestigious group of artists who determine each year’s Grammy winners. The vetting process for voting members is rigorous, requiring nominations from two music industry peers, an active music-focused career, and extensive recording credits. Selected members vote on categories in their areas of expertise, plus six General Field categories: Record, Album, Song, Best New Artist, Producer (nonclassical), and Songwriter (non-classical).

Multi-award-winning classical pianist Rochelle Sennet’s recordings feature compositions by J.S. Bach, Leopold Kozeluch, and by Black composers George Walker, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Amanda Aldridge, James Lee III, and many more. Her 2012 recording of Walker’s Piano Concerto was the first recording of this piece since the 1970s. The third volume of Sennet’s Bach to Black: Suites for Piano recording series will be released in 2024. Sennet was invited to become an Academy voting member in summer 2023.

When asked how she felt about the upcoming voting season, Sennet enthusiastically replied, “I’m stoked!”

In addition to General Field categories, Sennet will be voting in the Classical categories.

Known in the music production community as TheLetterLBeats, Lamont Holden is a music producer, sound designer, videographer, DJ, podcast host, social media content creator, teacher, and audio engineer. Holden will be voting in the Hip-Hop and R&B categories along with General Field categories. When asked what advice he has for young musicmakers, Holden said: “focus on the music . . . The same voice that told you to start making music will tell you when it’s time to worry about professional recognition.” Holden also recommends students explore Grammy U, an Academy program that provides tools and opportunities to people aged 18 to 29 actively pursuing a career in music.

Grammy voting concludes December 14, 2023. We’ll check in with these distinguished faculty after the February 4 Grammy Award broadcast to learn more about their experiences. Meanwhile, read more about the Recording Academy at recordingacademy.com/.

Walk Through Fire:

Alumna Sheila Johnson’s Inspirational Memoir

By Amy Karagiannakis, Associate Director for Advancement Communications (College of Fine + Applied Arts)

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Photo by Ava Aubry (BFA, Photography).

IUC School of Music alumna Sheila Johnson (BME ’70), well-known philanthropist and entrepreneur, has been recognized by PARADE Magazine as the most influential woman in business and as Washington Business Journal’s 2022 CEO of the Year. As cofounder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, coowner of the Washington Wizards, Capitals, and Mystics, and an accomplished violinist, Johnson is truly an inspiration to Illini everywhere. This year, she released her book Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph.

The College of Fine + Applied Arts was given an exclusive look this summer before it hit shelves and was pleased to welcome Johnson to campus in October for a book signing.

Johnson’s book takes readers on a heartening personal journey from childhood through adult life that is genuine, sincere, and direct—not holding back, her writing reaches a level of authenticity unique even to memoirs. The bond Johnson formed with her high school violin teacher and mentor, Susan Starrett (BME ’62), is felt on every page. It’s no surprise she established an endowed chair in Starrett’s name with the School of Music in 2008, to carry on the legacy of this woman who meant so much to her throughout her life. It was Starrett who connected Johnson with SoM faculty Paul Rolland and Dan Perrino. As dean of student

programs and services at the time, and someone Johnson describes as a “dynamic force on campus” who was always there for her, ready to help, Perrino was instrumental in creating both the African American Cultural Program and the Black Chorus. Johnson’s 2008 gift of $4M, which established the Daniel Perrino Chair in Music along with the Susan Starrett Chair in Violin, remains the largest endowed gift the school has ever received.

Walk Through Fire tells the story of an accomplished businesswoman whose ability to identify lucrative opportunities and make strategic decisions has led to her incredible success. Johnson is not shy about giving credit where credit is due, and does so as she charts each step of her career.

It’s clear that the University of Illinois played a significant role in her success—from the faculty who strengthened her passion for music education to the significant life skills she gained—and this resonates with sentiments expressed in her 2018 School of Music convocation address: “This incredible institution played such an enormous role in taking my interest in music and turning it into a lifelong passion. It taught me so many things. For example: how well you perform onstage is really secondary to how well you prepare your life offstage and, ultimately, how well you conduct your life when the spotlight is elsewhere. It provided me with lifetime membership in this wonderful club . . . and allows me, after all these years, to still call myself an artist.”

Johnson dedicates her memoir to “all the women who’ve walked through fire and lived to tell about it.” Whether you identify as one of those women or are close to someone who does, this memoir is an inspiration to all. Walk Through Fire was published September 2023 by Simon & Schuster and is available online and in bookstores.

Johnson speaks with FAA Dean Kevin Hamilton at the Fireside Chat on Oct. 25 at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center.

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cel ebrating giving A New Look on the North Side

By David Allen (BM ’92, MM ’94, BME ’96), Director of Advancement

An Outstanding Legacy in Music at Illinois: Robert Gray

By David Allen with Douglas Yeo, Professor of Trombone

As part of our ongoing Music at Illinois Initiative, we will soon have a new space available for naming possibilities.

Following renovations of the music building’s northern courtyard, now known as “the North Plaza” (to be completed in Spring 2024), we plan to engrave pavers and benches in honor of loved ones, alumni, mentors, teachers, and others for those providing donations of $500 or more. Learn more about the Music at Illinois Initiative at go.illinois.edu/ mii or use this QR code.

Robert E. Gray (1926– 2008) was Professor of Trombone at UIUC from 1955–91, during which time he founded the University of Illinois Wind Ensemble and taught hundreds of trombone students who went on to earn teaching and performing positions at schools and orchestras around the world.

He was the sixth President of the International Trombone Association (1984–86) and in 2007 received the ITA’s Neill Humfeld Award for Excellence in Trombone Teaching. Gray was also a charter member of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra and served for many years as music director at First Presbyterian Church in Champaign.

Poorna Kumar, a class of 2025 undergraduate doublemajoring in trombone performance and community health, has been named recipient of the Robert E. Gray Trombone Award, given annually since 1992.

In presenting the 2022–23 Award to Kumar, Professor of Trombone Douglas Yeo shared these remarks: Poorna represents the ideals that Robert Gray championed during his long life and distinguished career. Not content to simply be a transformative teacher and superb trombonist, Gray was interested in the education of the whole person,

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and making a consequential impact on society. As he said, “Take your time in your work. Don’t always push and do what is expedient. Develop an understanding of life and humanity in your degree work. It will make you a better person.” Robert Gray’s commitment to community service, his legacy of care for his students, and his leadership roles in both the ITA and at UIUC continues to be felt in the educational and trombone communities at Illinois and beyond.

Poorna—who is passionately pursuing majors in both trombone performance and community health, maintains a 4.0 grade point average, and exhibits leadership as a drum major for the University of Illinois marching band, the Marching Illini—is a worthy recipient of this award that honors the spirit of excellence and service that Robert Gray exemplified for so many years.

At Yeo’s instigation, a commemorative plaque with the names of all recipients of the Robert E. Gray Trombone Award has been installed in the Illinois trombone studio. In addition to a financial award drawn from the Gray Award’s endowment—a fund that continues to grow thanks to the generous donations of former students and friends of Robert Gray, and friends of the trombone studio—recipients of the award will now also receive the Robert E. Gray Trombone Award medallion. For more information about the Gray scholarship, contact Director of Advancement David Allen at allend@ illinois.edu or 217-333-6453.

The Gift of Music Education That Keeps Giving The Illinois Summer Youth Music program has brought together young musicians and leading music educators on the ChampaignUrbana campus every summer for over 60 years. With more than 20 programs ranging from Band, Chorus, and Orchestra to Composition, Music Technology, and Hip-Hop, ISYM has something to challenge and nurture musicians at every level.

Students spend one week making music and living with other ISYM attendees in university residence halls. Combine this with fun recreational activities and a culminating concert for friends and family, and students leave ISYM with an unforgettable experience that stays with them for years to come. Barbara England knows this feeling all too well, having attended ISYM as a flutist in the early 1960s. She still remembers the pride she felt performing for her family on the Quad, followed by the sadness of having to leave the friends she had formed such strong bonds with in just one week’s time.

Barbara and her husband Terry England attended some ISYM concerts last year, and watching these young musicians perform brought memoBarbara and Terry ries of her own England time at ISYM flooding back. She couldn’t put into words how invaluable that experience was for her—not just the music she learned and performed, but the friends she made and the independence she gained. It was that moment that led to the England’s most recent $25,000 gift to the ISYM program.

Barbara wanted to ensure that other young people have the opportunity to experience all that ISYM has to offer, regardless of their

By Amy Karagiannakis, Associate Director for Advancement Communications (College of Fine + Applied Arts)

“Growing up in Park Forest, IL in a family of seven children, there wasn’t always money for extracurricular activities like music camp. My parents, Bob and Ellie Walker, appreciated the arts. I’m so grateful for my ISYM experience and wanted to do something to ensure future young musicians can attend.”

—barbara england ability to pay for tuition. It is because of generous donors like the Englands that the School of Music is able to offer scholarships for ISYM’s various programs.

Following her time at ISYM, Barbara continued to play flute in the band at Pekin Community High School under the direction of the original “Leader of the Band” Lawrence Fogelberg, father of renowned Illinois singersongwriter Dan Fogelberg. She has always appreciated the community and sense of belonging that playing in band provided.

Many years later, as a mother, Barbara was delighted that her daughter wanted to attend ISYM for percussion. Sitting in the audience and watching the final concert gave a different perspective, but the same feelings of pride and joy endured.

The UIUC School of Music is so grateful for the support of generous community members like Barbara and Terry England.

Passionate arts advocates like them ensure that ISYM will continue to make a difference in the lives of young musicians well into the future. If you would like to learn more about how to designate ISYM or another impactful program in your estate plans, please contact Director of Advancement David Allen at allend@illinois.edu or 217-333-6453.

Taking care of our chops!

Thanks to a generous donation from Joanne Clement, all School of Music students received a tube of ChopSaver lip balm in fall 2023. Alumnus Dan Gosling (BM ’84) is the creator and owner of ChopSaver and was delighted to provide the product for our current students.

Dan Gosling (middle) and Joanne Clement (right) with Nathan Mandel, Barry Houser, and David Allen (left to right)

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publ ic engagement

By Terri A. Daniels and Stephen Burian

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hile the pandemic has challenged the School of Music’s programming to adapt or go on hiatus, important programs have bounced back, such as the Community Music Academy and Illinois Summer Youth Music, and new initiatives have arisen.

In the 2022–23 academic year, Clarinet Day and Percussion Day were so popular that Double Bass Day was added to the fall 2023 schedule. These events allow young musicians to work directly with SoM faculty. Additionally, our premiere of Jobs Week, a week of faculty presentations providing students with career-related insights and resources, was a huge success.

Jobs Week will become a semesterly event, with the next installment in spring 2024. Special thanks to the SoM faculty who share their valuable life and career experiences in support of our students.

The annual Lift Every Voice symposium, which welcomes to campus young choral conductors from underrepresented groups for a weeklong mentoring program, took place in October 2023, featuring guest clinicians Anton Armstrong, Fernando Malvar-Ruis, Pearl Shangkuan, and André Thomas.

Program participants performed with the SoM’s choral program in a culminating concert, which also served as the opening concert for the conference of the Illinois Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.

In summer 2024, ISYM will celebrate 75 years of welcoming student musicians to the UIUC campus. We look forward to welcoming over 1,000 student

Members of the University of Illinois Black Chorus performing at a joint concert of the Lift Every Voice Symposium and Illinois ACDA meeting

campers for the three-week program in June and July, along with 150 staff members, many of whom were camp participants in their youth. ISYM will enjoy expanded program options and social activities to mark the milestone anniversary.

admissions

By Thereza Lituma (MM ’22)

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his fall 2023 semester, we welcomed over 180 new music students to campus, making this year one of our largest incoming classes in the past decade!

Over the past several months, our admissions staff

Hector Camacho Salazar (MM ’22; DMA student, Vocal Performance) and Miranda Molina (BME ’19; Facilities and Operations Coordinator) welcome new students for the fall 2023 semester.

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has had the opportunity to meet and get to know many of the brilliant and musically gifted undergraduate and graduate music students who make up this historic incoming class. We are immensely grateful to the students and families who continue to discover that the School of Music is the right choice for their musical education, and we look forward to their accomplishments over the next few years.

The 2022–23 academic year brought an exciting transition for me personally, as I was appointed Interim Director of Music Admissions at the height of admissions season in the spring. Many of you will remember my predecessor, Angela Tammen (DMA ’14), and all the incredible work she did for the SoM. Since beginning her career in the Music Admissions office in 2007 as a graduate assistant and then in a full-time position since 2011, Angela dedicated many years to building our SoM community. In February, Angela accepted a new position in the College of Health and Applied Sciences. Please join me in thanking Angela for her incredible 15 years of dedication to the SoM and wishing her and her family all the best.

The Music Admissions office is excited for another year of recruiting, and we can’t wait to meet the Class of 2028! For more information about our application process, please visit music.illinois.edu/admissions or contact us at MusicAdmissions@illinois.edu.

We’ve all had that experience of walking out of a concert and feeling like our brain is on fire.

Those moments have made such a difference in my life, and my dream is to create that for someone else.”

A recent favorite is from spring 2023. Together with one of my oldest friends, the visual artist Ben Llewellyn, I got a grant for us to make Moonhead, an audio-visual album that pairs nine short, original pieces I wrote for solo bassoon with four huge acrylic paintings by Ben. We traded ideas back and forth to develop it—I sent Ben recordings; he sent back images. When we perform the album, it fits together into one piece, just over 30 minutes. I play sitting amongst the paintings, and Ben projects lights onto them, which both respond to acoustic information from my playing, and change colors and patterns independently. It’s a culmination of ideas we’ve tossed around for a long time.

I also work with the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, and in November we’re premiering a new piece by the Australian composer Liza Lim. It’s for 15-person ensemble, two video projections, and gestural performer, and tells the story of a river in Switzerland. The idea is

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Both of those meant a lot because they recognized projects that were important to me, that I’d put a lot of work into. The Washington Post feature came completely out of the blue. That was especially gratifying, because it meant that people outside my immediate circle were sharing and engaging with my work. For the past 12 years or so, I’ve been active in commissioning new pieces, working with composers, and developing my own solo, chamber, and recording projects. That’s a huge part of who I am and what I do as an artist. I’ve always had good internal motivation and validation—that’s

Tell me about some of your favorite collaborations.

an

You’ve made it to the Washington Post’s “23 for ‘23: Composers and performers to watch this year” and Bandcamp Daily’s “Best Contemporary Classical” lists. What do these accolades mean to you? How have they impacted your career?

I see it as a responsibility to move our art form forward. First, in terms of advocating for the bassoon as a solo/chamber instrument—compared to most other instruments, our repertoire is minimal. I’m motivated to be a part of changing that, so that at the end of my career, there’s a larger, more varied repertoire for bassoonists to play. I also want to progress the technical and expressive capabilities of my instrument and myself as a musician—branching out aesthetically and stylistically, playing in different mediums and environments. Representation is also important: who are the composers I’m programming, the musicians I’m sharing stages with? Finally, what other art forms can I collaborate with? How can I connect to visual art, film, dance?

Working with other artists lets me discover things I can’t come up with on my own.

nL

Sonorities editor Dani Nutting met with UIUC’s new bassoon professor, Ben Roidl-Ward, to discuss his cutting-edge performances, thoughtful pedagogy, and hopes for his work at Illinois.

For you, what is the value of engaging with new music?

to by Ly n

A conversation with Ben Roidl-Ward

really important when pursuing projects that explore new territories or experiment in some way. But it’s also gratifying to have someone think my work is important and share it with such a big audience. It’s driven me to pursue that work more intensely and broadly.

Ph o

“Unfolding in many directions”:

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that the river is as much a part of the piece as the people are, represented through field recordings, videos, gestures, and the musicians’ responses. It’s amazing to get to work with a whole crew of people, to be a small part of this large thing unfolding in many directions.

Kevin Geraldi invited me to play a concerto with the Wind Symphony in November, which I’m really excited for. We’re playing Augusta Read Thomas’s Carnival— she’ll be here for the performance, which is really special. I’m also interested in finding ways to collaborate within the department—with composers, wind colleagues, and so on—as well as with our amazing dance, visual art, and film departments. I have a secret plan to try to collaborate with the Environmental Science Department on a program I’m developing. To me, that’s what a university is all about. It’s a privilege and an opportunity to be at this premiere institution with brilliant minds and amazing resources gathered in one place. I hope I can collaborate with and learn from as many colleagues in different departments as possible, in bigger and more varied ways than I’d imagined before, and to get my students doing that, too.

How do nature and the environment influence your music?

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, hiking, kayaking, backpacking. My whole life, I’ve loved being outside and exploring nature. It’s meaningful when I’m able to connect that to my professional artistic life, and that can happen in a lot of ways. I’ve worked with numerous composers who engage with the natural world in their music. For example, I’ve collaborated a lot with Luis Fernando Amaya, a Mexican composer who’s now living in Norway—we studied at Northwestern together. He wrote a piece called Cortahojas for me and my violin duo partner, which portrays the life cycle of an endangered species of leafcutter bee. Each time we play this piece, people in the audience learn about this endangered bee, and if they talk with Luis afterward, they’ll hear about how important bees are to ecosystems and how fragile those systems can be. In that way, music can trigger awareness, spark ideas, and help initiate our engagement with vital issues.

Can you describe your process of collaborating with composers?

It varies! All my collaborations are friendships, and all friendships are different. With some composers, we decide we want to work on a piece and then eventually a PDF shows up in my inbox. With others, it’s more in-depth. It can take years, and a piece can evolve in tandem with a friendship.

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Photo by Ben Llewellyn

Do you have collaborations in mind for Illinois?

Roidl-Ward performing Moonhead at the University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art

The first piece Luis wrote for me took three years to finish, and we worked on it together intensely. Sometimes that meant drinking tea and debating ideas about anarchy for three hours, sometimes it meant digging into the details of a multiphonic fingering or recording samples of different sounds. I find composers to be interesting, inspiring people because of all they bring to the realm of music—what they’re reading, listening to, thinking about—so those collaborations are often really open and varied. I’ve learned that the best thing to do is just show up and be open to where they’re coming from at that moment, and then see if I can contribute something to that or respond to it. When it works, it’s so rewarding. When I get to play a piece again and again, and especially if someone else plays that piece, that’s the best—to share this thing I took part in making.

How do audiences respond to your performances?

I’ve learned that I can’t predict how audiences will respond.

A lot of what I play sounds different from how you’d expect a bassoon to sound, intentionally inhabiting sonic or aesthetic extremes. So, I’ve sometimes worried an audience will hate something because it’s unfamiliar or surprising, but that’s often not the case. For example, in my duo project with violinist Will Overcash, we play a piece by Jonah Nuoja Luo Haven where I put a plastic bag between two parts of my bassoon, so the open F becomes a rattling, guttural multiphonic, and no sound comes out below the C below that. It starts with me circular breathing on open F for six minutes, then devolves into this gnarly, chaotic soundworld, ending with the bassoon being completely closed and me breathing in and out, unable to make any sound. It’s brutal. We played it in a music high school in a small town in Germany, and I thought, “This is going to be a disaster. They’re going to walk out.” But after the piece, we got called back on stage four times. People completely lost it. An older man came up to me after the performance and said, “I’ve been going

Photo by Deidre Huckabay

to concerts for 50 years. This is the first time I feel that a piece of music has spoken to my life experience.”

I know many people just don’t have a frame of reference for a lot of the music I’m interested in playing, and I bear a responsibility since my performance will be their first experience of it. And often people have a singular idea of “new music,” sometimes rooted in one negative or confusing experience. But new music is really a whole universe, a kaleidoscope of different things—there’s something for everyone. Sure, not everyone will love every piece, but I find that if I give it my all, reach out to people, and am genuine about my dedication, people connect with the music even if it’s unfamiliar.

I would love it if a student came into a lesson and said, “I’m working on a brand-new piece, and I want to play it for you.” And they did a great job, but I just didn’t like the piece. That’d be fantastic. I’m all for it. I’ve had wonderfully supportive teachers, and I can’t tell you how many times they’d say, “You know what? I don’t get it, but I can see how much you’re putting into it. I support you.” If a student is interested in something that’s just not my thing, I still want to offer support and guidance on how to do that thing as well as they possibly can. I’ll be honest if I think it’s a dead end. But it’s not my job to tell my students they can’t play certain music, or they should ignore something they’re excited about. It’s my job to say, “Here are some things you could do to make this more convincing, to make it better, more viable.” My goal is for UIUC bassoonists to go on to be successful, impactful musicians in all the various corners of our field.

So, for you, being a performer is also about being a person, connecting with others.

Absolutely. In a way, that opportunity to connect with someone through a performance is the most important thing. Really, the concert begins long before it starts and continues after it’s over. It’s not only how you invite people in, but how you present yourself and meet people, and the impact the music has on them. I try to impart that to my students: if we’re studying music performance, we’ve got to be engaged with that practice as fully as possible. Part of the duty of being a performer is being an active audience member. It matters that I show up to support my colleagues, meet new people, and learn from great performers. We’ve all had that experience of walking out of a concert and feeling like our brain is on fire. Those moments have made such a difference in my life, and my dream is to create that for someone else. I’m always searching for that connection from both sides of the stage. That makes everything worth it—the reed-making, the practicing, all of it.

How do these values show up in your teaching?

I want to help my students discover what motivates and inspires them as individuals and give them the tools to reach those goals. That requires meeting every student where they are in their own development and interests. I can offer certain things unique to my experience, as can any professor, and I want to share my complete musicianship with my students as much as possible—hopefully show them possibilities they might not have thought of on their own, whether or not that’s the kind of thing they end up wanting to do!

Roidl-Ward collaborating with composer and electronic musician Ted Moore

What role does entrepreneurship play in how you prepare your students for the real world?

I always wince at the word “entrepreneurship” because it’s so money-centered. For me, it’s important that I’m always centering the work, rather than myself or the money.

That said, it is also work, and part of my job is to prepare my students to have sustainable, profitable careers. The real-world skills needed today are different from those of 10 or 20 years ago, and they’re changing every day. I try to demonstrate these skills through my activities, and I want to be involved in helping students realize them in their own.

So much of what is now instrumental in my career I had to learn by doing—by trying, failing, then trying in a different way. Because of that, I’m interested in facilitating student projects, encouraging collaborations within and beyond our department, and giving students the resources to have hands-on experiences and early success while they’re here, in a safe environment. A certain amount of theoretical

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knowledge is necessary, but I’ve learned the most from projects that I managed to get off the ground with whatever limited resources and knowledge I had at the time. I haven’t won every grant I’ve applied for, but I’ve gotten funding for things I never thought could be possible until I tried. Some of those experiences I had during my undergrad at Oberlin, which sent me out into the world with greater confidence.

I’m sure opportunities like that exist at Illinois, so I want to learn more about them and contribute to them becoming even more impactful.

How do you offset that money-centeredness in your own work?

When organizing a project, it’s easy to get distracted by all the things happening outside the performance. I try to recenter the music itself to guide how a project takes shape, and how I personally approach it. One of my teachers always said, “There’s no way around the work.” There’s no way around sitting down every morning and working on my fundamentals. Likewise, there’s no way around putting in the time and energy to convince people to support a project, financially or otherwise, or to manage all the organizational tasks to make a project work. Those are building blocks to creating a situation where an audience can really engage with the music, and it requires disciplined, consistent work that always looks toward a larger goal. I would much rather lose money playing great music that’s important to me than win funding for music I don’t believe in or don’t play well. I recognize that’s a privileged statement to make, as someone with a salary, but I think it’s possible to have both, if you stay laser-focused on the work you’re doing and have a clear idea of what you’re trying to realize. It comes back to centering the work. I don’t think people come see me so much as they come see me playing a certain program I care about, that I’m advocating for. It’s not about self-promotion—I want to put my collaborators and the music itself at the center.

about as a kid. I spent hours playing or conducting along to recordings in my basement, imagining myself in some far-off concert hall. Now, I get to have these moments where I’m sitting in a hall in a city or country I’ve never been to and I think, “Wait a minute. This is it. This is what I always dreamed of doing.”

Do you work a lot internationally?

I’ve been able to travel a lot in recent years, largely through the Lucerne Festival, which takes me to Switzerland two or three times a year, as well as to some concerts in the UK and Germany—my mother is German, so I grew up bilingually and have spent a lot of time there. It’s been very special to reconnect with family through performances that take me to that part of the world. I also have a few other projects brewing. I’m doing a program of four new pieces by Greek composers in Chicago and Boston this year, and we hope to take it to Greece next summer. And I have some collaborations with composers in Latin America—one in Argentina, one in Chile. We’ve been working long distance for a time, and I’m hoping to go to South America for the first time next summer. Getting to visit new places, meet new people, and experience different cultures is one of the most inspiring and rewarding aspects of my career. It’s a huge privilege.

Anything else you’re excited about at Illinois?

The students and faculty. Seeing my studio in real life for the first time at the beginning of the semester was an amazing feeling. They’re great. Really dedicated, eager and hungry, and they’re pushing me to be better. That’s exciting for me as a teacher. And I feel the same way about my colleagues.

Everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. I don’t take that for granted.

I actually wanted to be a percussionist. Ever since I was little, I was drumming on things. But then, fifth grade band came, and every other boy in my class also wanted to play the drums. Then my dad took me to a concert where I heard the bassoon and fell in love with the sound. None of my friends even knew what it was. I thought, “This is great, I found something I’m into, and it’s so cool that nobody even knows what it is.” I think it unites double reed players that we like to go against the grain. According to my parents, I came into the kitchen the next day and announced, “I’m going to play the bassoon!” And they said, “You know what?

Fine, we’ll make it happen.” I’m grateful for that. I love the instrument, and it’s taken me so many places I dreamed

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Photo by Xintian Yu

Why did you choose the bassoon?

UIUC Bassoon Studio

International excursions with School of Music faculty

T

he University of Illinois School of Music has fostered global engagement throughout its history. Venturing to and hailing from beyond the borders of Illinois and the U.S., faculty members, staff, students, and alumni continue to promote a culture that seeks out and embraces the breadth of possibilities our world has to offer. This issue pays tribute to that living lineage in various ways, from celebrating the anniversary of UISO’s 1964 South America tour to highlighting special events hosted at the School of Music this past year. In our cover story, members of the School of Music faculty share recent experiences “abroad,” showcasing their artistic and intellectual contributions and their enthusiasm to traverse cultural and disciplinary boundaries. These narratives, and this newest issue of sonorities as a whole, accentuate how cross-cultural exchange cultivates collaboration and inspiration—at home and abroad.

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Germany Makoto Harris Takao was a speaker at the 2023 Edward W. Said Days in Berlin, Germany.

Christina Bashford (Professor of Musicology) traveled to Milton Keynes in the UK in June 2023 for the 13th Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain Conference, where she gave a paper on a topic related to her forthcoming book Violin Culture in Britain, 1870–1930: Music-making, Society, and the Popularity of Stringed Instruments, chaired a panel of papers

Train travel in the UK, 2023

on male musicians’ careers in Britain, and consulted with several scholars in her field of study. The following week, she moved on to London, studying source materials in the British Library’s Rare Books and Music Reading Room, one of her favorite haunts, and meeting up with more researchers with shared interests. Invigorated from connecting with overseas scholars in person for the first time since before the pandemic, Bashford returned to Illinois with new perspectives for both research and teaching.

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United Kingdom

Music was the magnetism that bound Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said in friendship.

From a chance encounter in the early 1990s, they went on to establish the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in Weimar, Germany, with the explicit mission of uniting young Palestinian and Israeli musicians. Since 2016, the Barenboim-Said Akademie has been an artistic and intellectual hub for students in Berlin, primarily from the Middle East and n ta hi ris Ki g North Africa, where classes in philosophy in nd d his paper “Sou ing er Takao presente nt Ce n: pa Ja and political theory, literary studies, and entury Identity in 16th-C ologies in the Practice of thod Me art history are central components of their l ra tu W. ul rc rd te In 23 Edwa story” at the 20 musical formation. Having passed in 2003, Global Music Hi Said Days.

Said never witnessed the actualization of this dream.

It’s in such a spirit that the annual Edward W. Said Days celebrates the legacy of this Palestinian American academic, political activist, and literary critic whose work has been a foundational force within and beyond the field of postcolonial studies.

2023 marked the 20th anniversary of Said’s death, and I was honored to be invited as a speaker for this momentous occasion. Paralleling the interdisciplinary ethos of the Akademie, the event’s participants spanned the fields of music theory, musicology, history, and philosophy. In addition to keynote lectures by historian Dag Nikolaus Hasse and musicologist Kofi Agawu, two focused panels were curated on the topics of “Music in the Context of Global Colonial Contact” and “(Post)Colonialism.” Musicologists Brigid Cohen (New York University) and Clara Wenz (University of Würzburg) joined me in the former and

Founding director of the Illinois-Cambridge Summer Music Residency Stephen Fairbanks (Assistant Professor of Music Education) traveled with Illinois music students to Cambridge, England for the second consecutive year in June 2023 to facilitate a month-long engagement with scholarly and musical resources available in Cambridge, Oxford, and London. During these residencies, Fairbanks and the stu-

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dents stay in Girton College, where Fairbanks earned his PhD. Corresponding to his research interest in the pedagogical construct of transformative music learning, which acknowledges the rich generative potential of encounters with unfamiliarity, Fairbanks finds it meaningful to be with cohorts of students on the Illinois-Cambridge program as they navigate the unfamiliarity of being abroad.

Fairbanks at Girton College, University of Cambridge

Photo by Peter Adamik

Peter Ad amik Photo by

Divan ng the West-Eastern Barenboim conducti nt. sing of the eve Orchestra at the clo

Takao (le ft) spoke o Context of Globa n the panel “Mus l Colonia ic in the Cohen (c l Con en and even ter left), Clara W tact” with Brigid en t curator James H z (center right), elgeson together we engaged in a Q&A on (right).

topics relating to the panel theme following our individual papers. My presentation was derived from my current book project that contributes to the reevaluation and reconstruction of past soundscapes of Japan’s religious worlds. It centered on a story from 1563, narrated through the letters of a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, in which a former monk engages in a kind of intercultural antiphony that melded plainchant with a Buddhist gong. At the heart of this project is the study of such ritual objects and their sounding practices that have continued to elude the conceptual contours of what we call “music” and that have largely fallen between the cracks of musicology and cultural history as well as between historians of Catholicism and those of early modern Japan. Fruitful conversations persisted beyond the confines of our panel to illuminating moments with audience members during coffee or, in some cases, tea breaks. I, for example, was enthusiastically approached by Peter Rohrsen, a leading tea sommelier and scholar of that beverage whose own research shares my paper’s geographical setting of Hirado Island, a connection that adds further complexity and intrigue to our respective work.

I cut my scholarly teeth in Berlin. During my formative years there at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, I found my niche in the expansive world of music studies. Participating in this event was thus both a personal and professional kind of homecoming and an opportunity for reflection. It brought my work into critical conversation with scholars, musicians, and artists with whom I normally have not the occasion to connect, and it challenged me to engage a broader audience in the future. The event closed with a performance of Mozart’s late symphonies by Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra whose members embraced one another in a tearful season finale. For Said, Western classical music was one mode of “thinking through or thinking with the integral variety of human cultural practices,” and this performance, in this place, at this time, and by these musicians represented his ongoing mission “to assimilate to canons these other contrapuntal lines.”

Makoto Harris Takao is Assistant Professor of Musicology, Affiliated Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Affiliated Faculty with the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies and the Center for Global Studies at UIUC.

Hong Kong SAR In October 2023, Ann Yeung (Professor of Harp and Chair of Strings Area) was a featured jury member and clinician on “Inspire Your Inner Icon” at the 8th Hong Kong International Harp Competition sponsored by the Hong Kong Harp Society and held in Hong Kong SAR at Youth Square, a multi-purpose activities complex dedicated to youth, arts, and community engagement. The competition included around 300 participants of all

Yeung paces Youth Square’s interactive hallway during Typhoon Koinu.

ages and levels from throughout the world. The event offered the opportunity to reconnect and interact with international colleagues and generational talents, despite rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances and the level-9 Typhoon Koinu that truly highlighted the organizational resilience and excellence of the Hong Kong organizers.

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England Brazil Michael Silvers (Associate Professor and Chair of Musicology) traveled to Ceará, Brazil in September 2023 to celebrate the completion of the first phase of research for Madeira Que Cupim Não Rói (termite-proof wood) on traditional Brazilian fiddles (rabecas) for a virtual museum.

Events at IFCE (Federal Institute of Science, Education, and Technology of Ceará) in Tauá and UFCA (Federal University of Cariri) in Juazeiro do Norte brought together fiddlers, luthiers, students, scholars, politicians, and community members. Along with Silvers, project leaders include Francisco DiFreitas, director of the arts non-profit AVBEM (Association of the Volunteers for the Common Good); Auricélio Ferreira de Souza (IFCE); and Márcio Mattos (UFCA), among other artists and students on the research team. The virtual museum will highlight the legacy of the rabeca tradition while also serving as a grants-getting aid for the musicians and luthiers.

The fieldwork car of Silvers & co., featuring the UIUC logo and drawings by Chico Bruno; the man playing the fiddle is named “Olivaldo” by the researchers.

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Yvonne Redman presented interdisciplinary research at a collaborative global conference in London, England for voice instructors.

In 2023 I was able to travel easily for the first time in years, which allowed me to reconnect with voice colleagues near and far and discuss our collective knowledge on singing. I had the honor of being invited to present at a unique conference in London, England, June 3–5. It was a collaboration between the North American National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), of which I am a member, the United Kingdom’s Association of Teachers of Singing erence took place in the The AOTOS/NATS 2023 summer conf (AOTOS), and the European Voice ted Foundation, situa VOCES8 center, home to the VOCES8 on.

Teachers Association. AppropriLond in ch within St. Anne and St. Agnes Chur ately named “Global Connections, The Wisdom Among Us,” this event brought together NATS, AOTOS, EVTA, and other voice organizations, which collectively serve thousands of voice instructors to promote a wider understanding of all aspects of singing. The conference was held a block away from St. Paul’s Cathedral in a stunning space also designed by the English architect Christopher Wren, a former sanctuary from the mid 1400s offering an appropriate backdrop for the numerous vocal and academic presentations offered.

On a panel of renowned voice researchers and pedagogues, I discussed my experience developing collaborative research with colleagues in acoustics and speech and hearing science.

Sharing my progression from performing and voice instruction to exploring the influence and impact of the

Redman (third fro m left) and NATS co lleagues viewed th Eton Choirbook, a e 15th-century manu script collection of English sacred mu sic, at the Eton Co llege library.

spaces in which we perform and teach, I described how immersion into voice research led me to recognize the need for investigating singers’ teaching and performing environd ments, and how, with ideas Redman discusse cts oje pr rch her resea and literature reviews in hand, nce on the panel “Scie I reached out to colleagues in ice Vo d Informe As a NATS member, Redman related fields to develop research Pedagogy.” was pleased to collaborate projects. Our first study, regardwith members of AOTOS, ing the effects of classroom noise on voice and with other international along vocal hearing, proposed a structure to measure music organizations. teaching environments and considers the impact these spaces have on voice instructors. Our most recent research on the effects of room acoustics on vocalists was inspired by my background performing in diverse venues. While performance space design has historically focused on the experience of the audience rather than that of performers, the University of Illinois offers many excellent and varied performing venues in which to explore the acoustic preferences and experiences of vocalists. In its practical significance, this study clarifies for architectural acousticians and singing voice scientists how an acoustic environment impacts a singer’s performance and their subjective perceptions of a space. Our ongoing collective research has produced many international conference invitations and publications and established pathways for future studies. “Global Connections” attendees appreciated hearing how their musical knowledge could be applied to other research opportunities.

This trip was an exceptional educational and cultural journey that allowed colleagues from North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe to expand our knowledge and unite our pedagogical perspectives. Following the conference, our hosts organized visits to numerous singing schools and renowned music programs in London, Windsor, Cambridge, Guildford, and Eton, where we conversed and engaged with instructors and students, learning more about their rich histories and their current teaching approaches and curricular structures.

All together the conference event and added site visits provided an opportunity to share experiences, better understand the international nature of our music, and strengthen our global connections.

Australia In August 2022, Carolyn Watson (Director of Orchestras) appeared with the Monash Academy Orchestra at Monash University (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) in a program featuring the world premiere of Berlinbased Australian composer

Watson with the Monash Academy Orchestra

Thomas Meadowcroft’s Evening Continuo and the Australian premiere of Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 1 in c minor. She received an immediate re-invitation and will appear with the orchestra again in May 2024. Not having guest conducted in Australia since before the pandemic, Watson particularly appreciated the opportunity to see if her Australian accent still worked.

(Edit—it did).

Yvonne Redman is Associate Professor of Voice at UIUC.

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Bolivia and Sierra Leone Bernhard Scully studied place-based music and technology with indigenous communities for a crossdisciplinary project through UIUC’s Global Academy.

Austria In August 2023, Sarah Wigley (Clinical Associate Professor of Voice) presented “Estill in the University Classroom” with UIUC alumna and lecturer of voice at The Ohio State University Lara Brooks (MM ’17, DMA ’19) at the Estill World Voice Symposium in Vienna, held at the concert hall of the Vienna Boys Choir. The presentation focused on unique perspectives of working Estill Voice Training© into university curricula in both studio and classroom settings.

Wigley also received her Estill Voice Master Trainer certification while in Vienna and is now one of 300 voice professionals in the world with this credential. Wigley especially enjoyed meeting friends and colleagues from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, where many of her family currently live.

Wigley with Brooks at the Estill World Voice Symposium in Vienna

In fall 2021, I was selected along with Ann-Perry Witmer, senior research scientist and lecturer in contextual engineering at UIUC’s Applied Research Institute, to be a member of the university’s Global Academy, for our project “Bridging the Context Gap in Technology and Music.” With that year’s theme of “global partnerships,” the Academy provided funding for myself, Ann, and our g in improvis Sierra Leone n, w to ee Fr mutual student Jessica Mingee (PhD in ingee ing Troupe Scully and M e and Drumm nc Da l na io student in Agricultural and Biological with the Nat Engineering, and horn player), to travel in 2022 to Bolivia (March) and Sierra Leone (December) to learn place-based music and technology from indigenous peoples: the Aymara in the Andean Altiplano, and Mende and Temne communities across Sierra Leone.

We partnered with one institution and one principal liaison in each country. In Bolivia these were the Universidad Privada Boliviana and violinist Christian Asturizaga, renowned for his creative improvisation in jazz and traditional Bolivian music, and as concertmaster of Bolivia’s National Symphony. In Sierra Leone these were Njala University and Philip Yamba Thulla, writer, researcher, editor, and director of the university’s Institute of Languages and Cultural Studies. Due to the gradual disappearance of Sierra Leone’s place-based musical traditions, Philip also used our collaboration to document the communities we visited. With an open-ended research plan and non-expert mindsets, we were eager to learn alongside these groups whose ways of being often stand in radical contrast to hegemonic society and whose traditions continue to be erased.

Together each day of our travels a n d f re q ue n t ly comparing notes on our shared encounters, the three of us visited communities to discuss Scully and M local technologiingee in the Bo livia m usic from an cal and musical Aymara comm n Andean Altiplano, learni moseno

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r playing a

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practices. This led to exchanging lessons, jam sessions, demonstrations, and even instruments with local musicians: In Bolivia, I played at a jazz showcase at La Paz’s top club, Thelonius; soloed with renowned A fter th folk ensemble Orquestra Criolla Musica Sierra e final presentatio Leone n at Njala Universit de Maestros; and performed, along with y, Jessica, with the National Symphony. In Sierra Leone, we observed and improvised with musicians in numerous villages, as well as the National Dance and Drumming Troupe and Mende/Hip-Hop artist Kene Muadie. Ann collaborated with the Aymara communities to help with water treatment, and in Sierra Leone observed how improvisational value structures can inform engineers working with diverse cultures.

This work has led our research team Mingee talking with an Ayma ran community to co-author Consilience: Learning About member Ourselves by Applying Indigenous Traditions to Western Music and Technology (Springer-Nature, forthcoming).

Consilience, referring to the linking together of principles from seemingly disparate disciplines in forming a comprehensive theory, captures how our research is not about the surface natures of Western art music and standardized engineering, but rather about the values embedded in these two disciplines, which, historically, have claimed universality and superiority. By engaging with indigenous communities in these places, our work shows the affordances of investigating the diverse mindsets and improvisatory practices that fall outside standardized value systems.

For me, this endeavor grows out of centering improvisation and composition in my research and teaching, and my commitment to an antiracist, decolonizing approach to my art—to opening transcultural and transdisciplinary spaces for classical performance. Improvisation, as both a musical tool and a way of shifting consciousness, can bring the horn out of its traditional space in classical music into a wider musical world, shedding elitist associations. This project, though not something I could have conceived at the beginning of my career, effectively demonstrates such possibilities. I have learned so much as part of the Global Academy, having only scratched the surface of what is possible through this work, and I am grateful that UIUC provided the support necessary for our project to be so successful.

Germany In May 2023, Casey Robards (Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching) and mezzo-soprano Charis Peden performed the recital “Borrowed Belonging,” including works by Mahler, Zemlinsky, and Schonthal, hosted

by Theater Freiburg in Freiburg am Breisgau. Robards attended several operas and an orchestra concert, meeting musicians who worked as soloists or in the choir and orchestra. Robards enjoyed a memorable dinner with an Iranian family of Yazidi Kurds who fled to Germany due to violence brought on

by ISIS soldiers. One family member has participated in live theater performance, as a vehicle for processing trauma and storytelling. Conversation flowed in German, English, Kurdish, and Farsi.

Theatre Freiburg

Bernhard Scully is Associate Professor of Horn at UIUC.

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South Africa Speaking and singing justice and shared humanity: Ollie Watts Davis presented at the inaugural South Africa National Association of Teachers of Singing Chapter conference.

Spain Kevin Geraldi (Director of Bands) served as featured clinician for the Summer Course in Band, Orchestra, and Opera Conducting at the University of Almería (Spain) in July 2023.

During this weeklong symposium, he mentored conductors from Spain, Europe, North America, and Central America

My pilgrimage to South Africa was life-affirming. It was a physical journey I had hoped for since receiving Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom as a Christmas gift in 1995. Scribbled in the front of the book in red ink was the admonition: “To my beloved lovely wife who loves to read. Please think about me as you travel to South Africa with Nelson. Love, Harold.”

I admit, I left home many times reading Mandela’s story. So, when the invitation came to share my work iversity Un ch os nb le el at the South Africa Chapter of the National AssociaDavis at St tion of Teachers of Singing Inaugural Conference in July 2023, I was thrilled, and eager to make the journey to Mandela-land.

Geraldi (right) with Juan José Navarro in Almería, Spain

in lectures, masterclasses, and coachings, and he curated the culminating professional wind chamber ensemble performance. As the most prestigious multi-disciplinary conducting training course in Spain, the Summer Course allowed Geraldi to connect with talented students and faculty from across the country. Juan José Navarro, professor of conducting at the University of Almería and organizer of the Summer Course, will visit UIUC in February to conduct the Wind Symphony.

Carolyn Watson (Director of Orchestras) was one of a number of researchers from across the globe selected to present at the International Conductors Guild conference

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Davis (second from right) with Ashley Michelle Davis, a Sou th African friend, and Charity Dav is (left to right) at Lesidi Cultura l Village

in Valencia, Spain, in January 2023. Watson shared research from her recent chapter, “Cracks in the Glass Ceiling: Women Conductors, New Trends, Old Challenges,” in The Routledge Handbook on Women’s Work in

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I wanted to experience the place, the people, to locate the driving passion and purpose that shaped “Mandiba” and his comrades. I believed I would be strengthened. And I was. I believed my story would inspire those who heard it. And it did—evidenced by interruptions of applause and ovation during my presentation. Along with the beauty of the land, the warmth of the local people, the rich cultural expression, and the enjoyment of new and familiar cuisines, were the optics of important work yet to be done to bring full equality, comprehensive justice, and deliberate affirmation of human dignity.

Preparing my presentation, I was challenged with deciding what part of my multi-faceted story to share.

I was after creative chaos that would disrupt complacency in the face of the need for action . . . I was after movement, commitment to involvement. I landed on a moment that had greatly impacted my direction and caused a pivot in my creative output.

Music, (Routledge UK, 2022).

While she very much enjoyed the conference and connecting with international colleagues, the highlight of Watson’s trip was arguably all the fantastic food she ate along the way…

Attendees at the International Conductors Guild conference in Valencia, Spain

Photos by Chari

ty Davis

Slovenia Davis (righ t) with Dia na Allan, National P resident o f NATS

recital, with er her lecture Davis (left) aft conductor, and h, k, vocal coac Rachelle Jonc camp Bel Canto Boot co-founder of

A page from American contralto Miss Marian Anderson’s story resembles that pivot.

Easter Sunday morning, April 9, 1939, Anderson stood at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before 75,000 people and performed The Concert That Shook the Establishment. Recalling this defining moment, she later wrote: “I could not run away from this situation. If I had anything to offer, I would have to do so now.”

A defining moment for me came in summer 2020. After the murder of Mr. George Floyd and the ensuing calls for justice, I knew I had to be present, accounted for, active.

Although pained by injustice, I would raise my voice to stand for justice with the concert stage as my platform. With help from favorite Black composers and foremost Black writers of the early- to mid-20th century, the recital “Toward Justice and Shared Humanity: Art Song of Black Americans as Lens, Language, Vision, and Hope” came to be. Having presented this program numerous times across the U.S. with my friend and collaborator Casey Robards, it was time to take it to South Africa.

This music and literature showcasing the triumphs, strength, creativity, reality, and cultural treasure that is Black America was my offering to attendees at the first SANATS conference, to my local and immigrant uber drivers, to those I interacted with at hotels, markets, and villages. My narrative—shared through lecture, video, live performance, conversation, and with the full weight of my personality—illustrated my identification with what it feels like to be considered a foreigner at home.

Reflecting on my sojourn, I honor some of those upon whose shoulders I stand in the fight for justice and shared humanity. I call their names: Martin, Coretta, Medgar, Myrlie, Marian, Malcom, Fannie, Matthew, K. Edward, and Charlie. It’s not so much that we’re good fighters. We’re just in a good fight. And we believe the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice.

Iura de Rezende (Assistant Professor of Clarinet) was invited to perform recitals and conduct a masterclass in Slovenia in May 2023. The first recital took place at the chamber music festival Glasbena fabr’ka (Music Factory) in the city of Borovnica, with pianist Dijana Čizmok, and clarinetist Tadej Kenig for an encore. The second was held at the University of Ljubljana, where de Rezende also offered a masterclass. This remarkable trip gave de Rezende the opportunity to explore a part of the world to which he had never ventured, collaborate with exceptional musicians, engage with talented students, and reconnect with old friends from his years studying in Switzerland. The new connections he forged earned him an invitation to visit the University of Zagreb in November 2023.

De Rezende performing with pianist Dijana Čizmok at the Glasbena fabr’ka festival in Borovnica, Slovenia

Ollie Watts Davis is Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Fine + Applied Arts and the Suzanne and William Allen Distinguished Professor of Music at UIUC.

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fac u lt y n ew s n e w hir e s Lecturer in CompositionTheory. Born in Puerto Rico to Cuban-exile parents, Armando Bayolo is an internationally renowned composer. With degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Yale University, and the University of Michigan (with teachers Samuel Adler, Roberto Sierra, Michael Daugherty, and others), Bayolo worked for many years in Washington, D.C., as new music curator at the Atlas Performing Arts Center and founder/artistic director of Great Noise Ensemble, which gave hundreds of premieres and educational initiatives at universities and festivals. Committed to democratizing and decolonizing “classical” music, Bayolo has contributed to publications like New Music Box and Sequenza21 and mentored students at the Charlotte New Music Festival and Illinois State Youth Music program, and as a faculty member at Reed and Hamilton colleges, the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

His work has been honored by the Cintas and Fromm foundations, Iowa and North Carolina arts councils, Spoleto and Aspen Music festivals, and more. armandobayolo. com.

Associate Professor of Composition-Theory. Kerry Hagan is a composer and researcher working in both acoustic and computer media. She develops realtime methods for spatialization and stochastic algorithms for musical practice. Her work endeavors to achieve aesthetic and philosophical aims while taking inspiration from mathematical and natural processes.

In this way, Hagan combines art with science and technology from various domains. As a researcher, Hagan’s interests include realtime algorithmic methods for music composition and sound synthesis, spatialization techniques for 3D sounds, and

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electro­acoustic music analysis. She performs regularly with Miller Puckette as “the Higgs whatever,” and with John Bowers in the Bowers-Hagan Duo. In 2022, the Higgs whatever and the Bowers-Hagan Duo combined as the HPB Trio at Piksel Festival in Norway. In 2010, Hagan led a group of practitioners to form the Irish Sound, Science and Technology Association, where she served as president until 2015. Currently, she is president of the International Computer Music Association.

“I came to Illinois because it has a rich and enduring history of computer music, and I want to be part of its story. I am excited to be surrounded by such talented colleagues and students. I look forward to a fulfilling musical life.”

— hagan Postdoctoral Research Associate in Voice. Alonza Lawrence has extensive experience as a vocal performer and studio teacher and has led several school, community, and church choruses. He has served as associate instructor for Indiana University’s African American Choral Ensemble; vocal coach, rhythm coach, accompanist, and soloist for the Emmy Award-winning PBS concert documentary Amen, Music of the Black Church!; tenured music educator and chorus director in Virginia public schools; artistic director of the Boys Choir of Hampton Roads (VA), and minister of music for several churches in Virginia and Indiana. Lawrence’s work bridges the gap between Eurocentric and Afrocentric music practices. Areas of interest include classical voice, musical theater, opera and Afrocentric voice and piano performance (gospel, R&B, soul, pop, etc.).

Assistant Professor of Bassoon. Recently named one of 23 artists “changing the sound of classical music” by the Washington Post, Ben Roidl-Ward holds positions

as principal bassoonist of the Chicago Sinfonietta, co-principal of Sinfonia Da Camera, and second bassoonist of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. A leading performer of contemporary music, Roidl-Ward is solo bassoonist of Ensemble Dal Niente and a contemporary leader for the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic, released a solo album named to Bandcamp’s “Best of Contemporary Classical” list, and served as artist-in-residence for the composition departments at Harvard and Northwestern universities. Roidl-Ward’s dedication to working with composers of his generation has led him to premiere over 125 compositions to date. He studied with David McGill (Northwestern University), Ben Kamins (Rice University), George Sakakeeny (Oberlin Conservatory), and Francine Peterson.

“I see U of I as the perfect environment for learning, collaboration, and creativity. The combination of extraordinary students and faculty, campus facilities and resources, and a legacy of innovation in education and performance make it a special place to work. Above all, I’m grateful to have been welcomed to this wonderful community by such warm and dedicated colleagues and stude nts.”

— roidl-ward

Adjunct Lecturer of Double Bass. Kris Saebo leads a varied musical life as a chamber musician, producer, and teacher. He is a founding member of Decoda, the affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall, and the co-director of Decoda Chamber Music Festival. Saebo performs with NOVUS NY, A Far Cry, and the Mark Morris Dance group.

He has collaborated with many notable chamber ensembles, including the Attacca, Dover, and Parker quartets. With a love of

working in diverse genres, Saebo has worked with artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Dawn Upshaw, Jamey Haddad, Trey Anastasio, and Nas. Saebo’s first three albums as a producer will be released in 2023–24, with more to come. Kris received his BM and MM from The Juilliard School and held the prestigious Ensemble Connect fellowship as a member of its inaugural class. In his free time, Saebo enjoys cooking, woodworking, and spending time with his family.

Clinical Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium.

Chicago native Scott Tegge received his BM from the Eastman School of Music, MM from the University of Miami, and a Professional Diploma in Orchestral Studies from Roosevelt University. An avid champion of chamber music and the commissioning of new works, Tegge co-founded, performs in, and has commissioned over 60 new pieces with the Gaudete Brass Quintet, a group dedicated to bringing fresh perspectives to the brass repertoire. Equally committed as an educator, Tegge also serves on the faculty of DePaul University and coaches chamber music for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras.

He is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer on creative career development, entrepreneurship, and building successful teaching studios.

“As an adjunct faculty at UIUC for the past several years, I’ve found a community here that feels like home—a place where I want to focus my teaching. I’m excited to broaden my engagement with both students and the wider UIUC community in my newly expanded capacity, and I look forward to deepening my educational impact at our state’s flagship institution.”

— tegge

Associate Professorof Piano and Chair of Keyboard Area.

As a musician active in performing, recording, teaching, and research, Chi-Chen Wu is equally at home in the worlds of contemporary music and classical music, as well as historical performance practice. Making her Carnegie Hall debut with the Helios Trio in 2022, Wu has appeared as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist in the U.S., Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, Japan, China, and other countries. She has performed at numerous festivals including Aspen, Monadnock, and the Boston Early Music Festival (Fringe Concert Series). Wu’s musical collaborations include performances with Augustin Hadelich, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Jonathan McPhee, Zuill Bailey, Guy Johnston, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Takács String Quartet, and musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Highlights in 2023 include a performance of Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra and a recording of Faure’s complete works for violin and piano on a Ple yel fortepiano.

“Extraordinary quality and diversity of teaching and performance were a big draw for me in coming to Illinois.

I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues, working with the students, and exploring Urbana-Champaign.”

— wu

Lecturer in CompositionTheory. Yucheng “Alex” Zhang is actively involved as both a composer and arranger. His compositions have been performed and recorded by various ensembles, including L’abri Trio, Duo Zonda, Matador Brass, Texas Tech University Symphony Orchestra, Linfield University Concert Choir, and University of Northern Colorado Chamber Choir, and have been featured by the North American

Saxophone Alliance Biannual Conference, Charlotte New Music Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, and NYC Contemporary Music Symposium. Zhang is also immersed in music education and pedagogy, having taught at both the collegiate and secondary levels. As a research assistant at Linfield University’s music department, he aided the completion of a faculty member’s dissertation on aural skills and improvisation in college classrooms, which was published in the Columbia University archive of doctoral studies. Besides music, Zhang is into coffee roasting, watch collecting, and outdoor activities such as hiking and landscape photography.

fac ult y updates In June, Christina Bashford (Musicology) gave a paper on amateur string-playing communities at the Music in 19th-Century Britain International Conference in the UK, and in Aug., she appeared as a preconcert speaker at the 33rd Bard Music Festival (NY) on Ralph Vaughan Williams and his World. She was also part of the international team of musicologists, librarians, arts professionals, and computer scientists who authored “Reframing Ephemera: Digitisation, Community Music-Making, and Archival Value(s)” for Digital Approaches to Inclusion and Participation in Cultural Heritage: Insights from Research and Practice in Europe (ed. Danilo Giglitto and others; Routledge, 2023). Meanwhile, her essay “Friends and Visitors: Chamber Music, Concert Aesthetics, and the Conundrum of Operatic Song” appeared in another Routledge collection (Opera Outside the Box: Notions of Opera in Nineteenth-Century Britain, ed. Roberta Montemorra Marvin).

She has continued to serve as president of the North American British Music Studies Association.

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fac u lt y n ew s Donna A. Buchanan (Musicology) published the chapter “The Bells of Tsaravets: Resonant Mythology, National Heritage, and Campanological Cosmology in Bulgaria” in Re-Imagining the Balkans: How to Think and Teach a Region, edited by Augusta Dimou, Theodora Dragostinova, and Veneta Ivanova (De Gruyter, 2023). In Nov., she gave a paper, “‘The Journey’: Commemorative Choreographies of Bulgarian Armenian Trauma, Testimony, and Transcendence,” at the 67th annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology (New Orleans), for the organized panel “Refuting the Silence: Sound, Movement, and the Commemoration of Genocide in Europe.”

She additionally presented remarks, “Lessons from the Snow Queen,” on the roundtable “Music and War in Ukraine: Regional Perspectives,” which she co-convened with ethnomusicologist Adriana Helbig (University of Pittsburgh). Together with anthropologist Maureen Marshall (associate director, REEEC), in June she also co-organized an international symposium on the UIUC campus, “Arts, Heritage, and Belonging: Armenian Transcultural

Entanglements,” at which she presented an expanded version of “‘The Journey.’”

Barrington Coleman (Voice, Vocal Jazz, Men’s Glee Club) was promoted to full professor in May 2023. On Nov. 2, a dedicatory ceremony to celebrate and recognize promotion and tenure conferment was hosted by Provost John Coleman and Dean of Libraries/University Librarian Claire Stewart. Coleman’s selected book for the UIUC permanent library collection (to include a special bookplate in his honor) was part of the event.

Ollie Watts Davis (Voice, Black Chorus) was appointed Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Fine + Applied Arts and named 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award winner of the Central Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She presented her lecture-recital “Toward Justice and Shared Humanity: Art Song of Black Americans as Lens, Language, Vision, and Hope” at the inaugural conference of the South Africa

Pianist Rochelle Sennet releases second Bach to Black volume Released in Oct. 2022, Rochelle Sennet’s latest 3-disc recording includes the complete Partitas of J.S. Bach and six additional suites by Black composers: George Walker, Florence Price, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Montague Ring, Harry Burleigh, and Ulysses Kay. Volume II earned a Silver Medal from the Global Music Awards in 2022, and Sennet’s continuing work occasioned her recent broadcast appearances on the nationally syndicated Sunday Baroque, Bach and Beyonce with Maria Ellis (St. Louis), and a solo recital on WFMTLive in Chicago. She previously released Volume I of Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, also a 3-disc set, which includes the complete English Suites of J.S. Bach and six additional suites by five Black composers: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Nathaniel Dett, Leslie Adams, Frederick Tillis, and Jeffrey Mumford; Sennet earned a Gold Medal from Global Music Awards for Volume I. Both volumes were recorded in Foellinger Great Hall at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

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chapter of NATS (Stellenbosch University), performed as soloist with the Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana in Margaret Bonds’s Credo, was interviewed by the New York Times and Opera News, and appeared in ABC7 Chicago’s Juneteenth special, Our Chicago: Freedom Music. Davis was guest conductor for Illinois District 214 Honors Music Festival and District 3 Choral Festival, and guest clinician for ISPD #204’s Middle School Choral Festival. She directed her 16th Black Sacred Music Symposium and sixth Black Chorus ISYM, leading Black Chorus in signature performances.

In fall 2023, John Dee (Oboe) presented outreach and recruiting clinics and performances in Chicago, Cinc i n n a t i , Ta m p a , a n d Delaware, and at the University of Iowa. He worked with students at Illinois Youth Orchestras, Illinois Super State, and ILMEA, presenting double reed events together with UIUC’s newly appointed Ben Roidl-Ward (Bassoon). He will attend the Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference. In summer 2023, ISYM Oboe Week welcomed 24 oboe students to campus from all over the nation.

Dee’s internationally used reed-making guide, Oboe Reed-Making from Blank to Crow, is currently being translated into German and Japanese. Dee is principal oboe of Sinfonia da Camera and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra.

Stephen Fairbanks (Music Education) organized and led the second Illinois-Cambridge Summer Music Residency, which saw nine students travel to England in summer 2023 for research and performance projects under Cambridge-based supervisors. In Mar., Fairbanks directed the North American premiere of Symphonic Poem—Homeland: 交响诗《故乡》by Uyghur composer Nusrat Wajiding (努斯 勒提·瓦吉丁). The performance highlighted music’s potential for providing a

humanizing encounter with peoples experiencing displacement and duress. In Oct., Fairbanks presented “Social Justice in Concert: A centuries-long narrative of sociomusical activism” at the 2022 UIS Music Lecture Series, arguing that music and music education have the power to drive societallevel change. Fairbanks’s additional scholarly activities include articles in Music and Arts in Action and String Research Journal; presentations for the American String Teaching Association (Orlando, FL) and International Sermon Studies Association (Oxford, UK); and a forthcoming book review in Music Education Research.

Eli Fieldsteel (CompositionTheory, Experimental Music Studios) is wrapping up the tail end of the publication process for a muchanticipated instructional textbook on audio programming, SuperCollider for the Creative Musician: A Practical Guide. The book, which is being published

by Oxford University Press, became available for pre-order in mid-Aug. Print copies were expected to begin shipping in late Nov. 2023.

Donna Gallo (Music Education), with Adam Kruse (Music Education), published “Music Educators as DJs: Remixing Teaching with Hip-Hop” in the Journal of Research in Music Education (Jul. 2023).

The grant-funded study involved local music teachers, students in grades 4–8, and local Hip-Hop artists. Gallo co-presented (with Kruse and Pete Shungu, Music Education) on Hip-Hop in elementary music at the American Orff-Schulwerk Association’s national conference (Kansas City, Nov. 2022) and on teaching music to diverse learners at the Suncoast Music Education Research Symposium (Tampa, Feb. 2023, with Shungu). Gallo was awarded a grant (Jun. 2023) from the International Society for Music Education for a collaborative songwriting project with elementary music teachers, students, community songwriters,

and UIUC music education students. The project will be presented at ISME’s world conference in Helsinki, Finland (Jul. 2024).

Gallo is also an invited and featured presenter for the European Music Educators Association’s conference (Stuttgart, Germany, Jan. 2024).

Kevin M. Geraldi (Bands) was guest conductor for the Festival Band and Staff Band at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (MI) and primary clinician for the Summer Course in Wind Band, Orchestral, and Opera Conducting at the University of Almería (Spain). He also served as an adjudicator for the Texas University Instructional League State Wind Ensemble Festival and clinician for Festival Disney. Geraldi is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Band Research and the ABA/Sousa/Ostwald Award Committee for the American Bandmasters Association.

Larry Gray (Jazz, Double Bass, Guitar) returned to performing this past Apr. after a health-related hiatus.

Among other concerts, he appeared as cellist at the 2023 Chicago Jazz Festival with Eric Hochberg’s StringThing, which also featured renowned jazz violinist Mark Feldman. He performed in summer 2023 at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute in the final concert of the Program for Singers. This academic year, along with his teaching, solo recording projects, and jazz faculty performances, he looks forward to once again playing principal double bass with Sinfonia Da Camera and to completing a new trio recording with long-time collaborators guitarist Fareed Haque and drummer Paul Wertico.

Rudolf Haken’s (Viola, Electric Strings) work as electric strings performer, educator, and composer will take him to Tokyo, Japan; Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; and Osijek, Croatia in the 2023–24 academic

year. NS Design (manufacturer of electric instruments) donated eight electric violins and four electric cellos to the UIUC electric strings program in summer 2023, which were premiered at the ISYM Electric Strings Camp. Current and former students continue to find success with electric strings, such as alum Genevieve Knoebel’s (BME ’11) recent concert of her own original electric strings works at the Bayreuth Young Artists Festival. Members of the UIUC Electric Strings Ensemble performed at the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival in Aug. 2023. Current student Noah Gruenberg (MM) has commissioned several electric violin concertos from important young composers. Recent graduate YooBin Lee (DMA ’21) won a position as violist with the Sarasota Orchestra and continues to substitute in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Dawn Harris (Voice, Lyric T h eate r ) wa s n a m e d national first-place winner of The American Prize in Directing in 2022 when she was awarded the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize, in the college/university opera division, for her staging of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, produced and filmed at the Tryon Festival Theatre in the Lyric Theatre @ Illinois 2021 season.

During fall 2022, Harris sang the role of Madame Armfeldt and served as Stage Director for Sondheim’s musical A Little Night Music, and Carnival!, both part of the LTI Main Stage 2022–23 season. Soon after, she directed a collaboration between LTI and Sinfonia da Camera on a semi-staged performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic one-act opera, Trial by Jury. In Oct. 2023, Harris once again collaborated with LTI and Sinfonia da Camera when she directed Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.

With her trio, Joan Hickey (Jazz, Piano Pedagogy) will perform at the four-day Women’s Jazz Festival in Arlington Heights, IL on Jan.

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fac u lt y n ew s 4, 2024 with Alexa Taratino, award winning saxophonist who is active in jazz and Latin groups in NYC and serves on the faculty at Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Youth Education Jazz Program. Hickey adjudicates and provides masterclasses at the Evanston Township High School and New Trier High School jazz festivals. She judges the Luminarts Jazz Fellowship Competition each Feb.

co-presented with Gallo and Pete Shungu (Music Education) at the American OrffSchulwerk Association national conference and with Gallo at the International Society for Music Education’s 35th world conference. Kruse also co-directed the largest yet ISYM Hip-Hop Camp with Shungu and Lamont Holden (Audio & Recording Technologies).

Jonathan Keeble (Flute) recently received the National Flute Association’s 2023 Distinguished Service Award. As the 15th recipient of this distinction in the NFA’s 51-year history, Keeble was feted with a tribute concert and gala awards reception at the 2023 convention in Phoenix, AZ. A feature article highlighting Keeble’s career, authored by Dani Nutting (DMA candidate, Flute Performance), appeared in the spring 2023 issue of the Flutist Quarterly. Keeble continues his relationships alongside worldrenowned artists at Madeline Island Chamber Music, Aria International, and the Pacific Northwest Flute and Piccolo Forum, and as a guest artist at flute festivals and universities around the country. The past year included invitations to perform with the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, and as a concerto soloist with the Oberlin College & Conservatory orchestra.

Gayle Magee (Musicology) was appointed Associate Director and Director for Faculty/Staff Development in the SoM in Aug. 2023. She was elected to a two-year term as Secretary of the American Musicological Society in May. Magee is currently serving as Program Committee Chair for the 50th-anniversary meeting of the Society for American Music in Detroit in Mar. 2024.

She continued publishing on music in British heritage film, television, and theatrical adaptations, contributing a chapter to the edited collection Women and Music in Georgian Britain (forthcoming, 2024). An invited contribution on collaboration in American music scholarship appeared this winter in the 40th-anniversary issue of the journal American Music. Her newest project focuses on the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer (1933–2021) and experimental music education in the 1960s.

Adam Kruse (Music Educat i o n ) co - p u b l i sh e d a research study in the Journal of Research in Music Education (with Donna Gallo, Music Education) about music educators’ experiences engaging with Hip-Hop culture in their classroom teaching. Kruse was also invited to write the foreword for a forthcoming edited book on Hip-Hop and music education, and he was a frequent guest reviewer for research journals, evaluating articles on Hip-Hop in and out of the field of music. In addition to leading workshops and guest lecturing at universities around the country, Kruse

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Jeffrey Magee (Musicology) wrote an invited essay on the early jazz standard “Sugar Foot Stomp” for the L ib ra r y o f C o n g re s s’s National Recording Registry after the recording’s 2023 selection. His article “‘Honor the Source’: Race, Representation, and Intellectual Property in Jelly’s Last Jam” appeared in the fall 2023 issue of Studies in Musical Theatre. He also served as a proposal evaluator for the 2024–25 Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship Program and continued as an editorial board member of Oxford University Press’s Broadway Legacies series. The UIUC campus’s spring 2023 Celebrating Academic Excellence event

recognized Magee’s Kurt Weill Prize for “distinguished scholarship in the disciplines of music, theater, dance, literary criticism and history addressing music theater since 1900 (including opera).”

Charles McNeill (Jazz Saxophone) gave numerous performances with his jazz quartet and many others (streamed live) with the UIUC Concert Jazz Band at local venues the Rose Bowl, Seven Saints, and Jazz Up Front (Bloomington, IL). He appeared with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra (“Tribute to Judy Garland,” Dec. 2022) and with the Heartland Orchestra (“Beatles Classical Mystery Tour,” May 2023). In Jan. 2023, he played with Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Brianna Thomas at Jazz Up Front, and in Feb., he added a new Brazilian Jazz Ensemble to the roster of UIUC’s jazz program. In early Apr., the Concert Jazz Band gave several concerts at regional high schools (Ft. Zumwalt North, MO; Herscher, IL; and Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights, IL). McNeill performed with the Steve Allee Big Band at the Indianapolis Jazz Festival and at the Jazz Kitchen in Mar. and throughout the summer.

Charlotte Mattax Moersch (Harpsichord) marked the 300th anniversary of François Couperin’s Troisième livre with solo harpsichord recitals in Princeton, NJ and at the Berkeley Early Music Festival (CA), where she also performed in a “jamboree” commemorating the tercentenary of Bach’s first volume of his Well-Tempered Clavier.

Chamber concerts included appearances with Bethlehem Baroque for the Gothic Early Music Society in New York, NY; with Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque in Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre’s L’Isle de Délos, featuring rising star Sherezade Panthaki; and with renowned Baroque flutist Barthold Kuijken in Bach’s secular cantata Non sa che sia dolore, BWV 209. With her period instrument ensemble Concerto Urbano,

faculty publications: articles and chapters she honored women composers of the 17th century, directing works by Isabella Leonarda and Francesca Caccini in Smith Recital Hall, where she also participated in Salley Koo’s (Violin) “Brandenbash,” a celebration of all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos.

William Moersch (Percussion) has commissioned much of the prominent modern repertoire for marimba from composers, including seven recipients of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. His latest commissions resulted in the premiere of new works for marimba and string quartet

by Zack Browning and Akemi Naito with the Jupiter String Quartet. In Sep. 2023, Moersch was again featured as marimba soloist in Christopher Theofanidis’s Concerto for marimba and wind sinfonietta with the Illinois Wind Symphony, a return to the work they premiered together in 2013.

Yvonne Redman (Voice) finished the year as a recipient of the Excellence in Research faculty award from the College of Fine + Applied Arts after publishing “Singing in different performance spaces; the effect of room acoustics on vibrato and pitch inaccuracy” in the Journal of the Acoustical Science of America. This work was presented at several international conferences including the 51st Voice Foundation symposium, “The Acoustics of Ancient Theatres” conference in Verona, Italy, and the 187th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. She co-organized the second “A Day of Voice” symposium at Illinois, inviting international voice researchers to share their work in honor of World Voice Day. At the National Association of Teachers of Singing conference, she co-presented on teaching vocal pedagogy and developing a cross training curriculum. She can be heard as a guest speaker on the VocalFri podcast discussing vocal pedagogy and in a NATS online webinar on vibrato.

Single-Authored Work An essay by Donna A. Buchanan (Musicology) was published in the 2023 collection Re-Imagining the Balkans: How to Think and Teach a Region, which honors UI Professor Emerita of History Maria Todorova. Drawing on a legend about a church bell that mysteriously sinks into the ground to evade the Ottoman destruction of Tŭrnovo (fortress-capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire) and its churches, Buchanan argues that how such bells are sounded and heard in certain dramatic productions today evokes an imagined medieval soundscape that conflates nation and religion to convey a particular understanding of Bulgarian history and identity. Her analytical focus is the nighttime “Imperial City of Tŭrnovo” show, which portrays, through recorded music, live bellringing, and colored lights projected against the walls of the restored fortress and the very cliffs on which it sits, the city’s downfall and later rise of the modern Bulgarian state, thereby situating contemporary Slavic Bulgarian subjectivity in the heritage of its imperial past.

Donna A. Buchanan: “The Bells of Tsarevets: Resonant Mythology, National Heritage, and Campanological Cosmology in Bulgaria,” Re-Imagining the Balkans: How to Think and Teach a Region: Festschrift in Honor of Professor Maria N. Todorova, ed. Augusta Dimou, Theodora Dragostinova, and Veneta Ivanova (De Gruyter, 2023), 197–209.

An article by Jeffrey Magee (Musicology) appeared in a recent issue of Studies in Musical Theatre. In it, Magee synthesizes the public and private legacy of the development of the 1992 musical Jelly’s Last Jam, which returns to Broadway in Feb. 2024, to provide historical perspectives on a larger racial reckoning that continues to resonate offstage as well as onstage in this retelling of the story of jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton.

Jeffrey Magee: “‘Honor the Source’: Race, Representation, and Intellectual Property in Jelly’s Last Jam,” Studies in Musical Theatre, vol.17, no.2 (fall 2023), 107–130.

In fall 2022, Michael Silvers (Musicology) published an article in the Brazilian multidisciplinary journal Diálogos Sonoros. The piece explores the ethics, responsibilities, and pitfalls of teaching a musical style that belongs to a community other than one’s own, and draws from his experience teaching Brazilian Armorial music at UIUC. Michael Silvers: “Pedagogias do ‘outro’ musical: considerações éticas para contextos educacionais nos Estados Unidos e Brasil [“Pedagogies of the musical ‘other’: ethical considerations for educational contexts in the US and Brazil”], Diálogos Sonoros, vol.1, no.2 (2022), 1–14.

“Self-care and the Music Educator,” an essay by Bridget Sweet (Music Education), features in the Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education. It shows that as symptoms of burnout impact the well-being of music educators around the world, acts of self-care can positively improve teachers’ relationships with their important work, influence their lives beyond the classroom, and help to model self-care efforts for students.

Bridget Sweet: “Self-care and the Music Educator,” The Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education, ed. Karin S. Hendricks (Oxford University Press, 2023), 339–49.

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fac u lt y n ew s CaseyRobards (Vocal Coaching) was appointed music d i re cto r o f E n s e mb l e Concept 21, a chamber group promoting new music, and was music director for Gianni Schicchi/Suor Angelica (Bay View Music Festival, MI), Water Riot in Beta: A Cyberpunk Opera at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), and the premiere of The Gift (South Bend Opera). As pianist, she presented recitals with Karen Slack (Cincinnati Chamber Music), Latoya Lain (Cincinnati Song Initiative), Charis Peden (Theatre Freiburg, Germany), and Brian Downen and Cherry Duke (Decatur, IL). She was pianist/coach for Santa Fe Opera’s This Little Light of Mine and led masterclasses on spirituals at Missouri State University.

She led the Sacred in Opera Committee in session at the National Opera Association’s national conference and presented at the 2023 Black Sacred Symposium at UIUC. Robards co-directs the American Spiritual Intensive in Bay View. She won an American Prize in Virtual Performance (2022).

Bernhard Scully (Horn) served as artistic director at the 2023 Kendall Betts Horn Camp where he instructed over 100 horn players. Solo and chamber highlights this year include performing as a member of the North Country Chamber Players, as principal horn of the Roanoke Chamber Orchestra, and as an invited guest artist/ clinician at the 2024 Northwest Horn Symposium, soloing at the Saint Bartelemy Music Festival, making a guest solo appearance at the 2023 International Horn Symposium in Montreal, and again being invited for the 2024 Isla Ver Bronces International Brass Festival (Argentina). He is featured on a new album, Andrew Lewinter: Chamber Music for Horn, Oboe, Strings and Piano (Navona, 2022). His forthcoming book, Consilience: Learning About Ourselves by Applying Indigenous Traditions to Western Music and Technology, and album, Enter

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Doug’s World: Horn and Piano music by Douglas Hill, will be released in 2024.

of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.

Rochelle Sennet (Piano) recently accepted an invitation to join the Recording A ca d e m y a s a Vo t i n g Member. She is also a 2023–24 Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project. Her latest commercial solo three-disc recording, Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, Volume II, was released in Oct. 2022 (Albany Records) and earned a Silver Medal from Global Music Awards.

Subsequently, she was invited to give a “Bach to Black” presentation at the Music Teachers National Association conference in Reno, NV in Mar. 2023, and at the College Music Society’s national conference in Oct. 2023. Recent solo performances include recitals on the Bach Society of St. Louis series in Ferguson, MO as well as at California State University, Northridge. As a member of Duo MemDi, she held a residency at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (MI) in Aug. 2023, where she gave a masterclass and collaborative recital.

Iura de Rezende Ferreira Sobrinho (Clarinet) had a successful trip to Slovenia during the summer. He performed recitals at Festival Glasbena fabr’ka and at the Music Academy of the University of Ljubljana and conducted two days of masterclasses.

His program included a diverse selection of repertoire, ranging from early Romantic to contemporary music. Notably, he chose to perform a piece by Steven Taylor (Composition-Theory), Pulse Aria for clarinet and electronics, which was exceptionally well received.

In fall 2022, Michael Silvers (Musicology) published an article, “Pedagogias do ‘outro’ musical: considerações éticas para contextos educacionais nos Estados Unidos e Brasil,” in the Brazilian multidisciplinary music journal Diálogos Sonoros.

He gave the keynote address for the Music Education Section at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference in Nov. 2022. He was also an invited speaker at the Music Ecologies Forum at Georgetown University in Dec. 2022 and an invited lecturer in Jun. 2023 at Hingehört! Der Sound des Anthropozäns, a project of the Chair for European Ethnology, University of Würzburg, and the University of Music Nuremberg. This fall he convened “Sound Methods for a New World: A Symposium on Collaborative and CoCreative Methods for Music Research” at UIUC. He is also continuing his work on the Research and Project Development Team

Joel Spencer (Jazz Drums) continues to perform and record with vocalist/guitarist Mark Tremonti. In May 2023 the “Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra” project recorded their second album on Janus Music Records, scheduled for release in Oct. 2023. In 2023–24, Tremonti and the studio ensemble have scheduled performances in Orlando, Atlantic City, Beverly Hills, and NYC. Spencer performed at the Ravinia Festival with pianist Jeremy Kahn and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers in Aug. 2023, and with UIUC jazz faculty in a tribute to jazz composer Oliver Nelson at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis in Oct. He will be a clinician at the Evanston Township High School Jazz Festival in Feb. 2024. Spencer serves as an endorsement artist for Gretsch Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, and Vic Firth Sticks.

Jeffrey Sposato (Musicology) completed a four-year term as Director of the School of Music in Aug. and is currently Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Fine + Applied Arts, where he focuses on faculty success across the College. He is a 2023–24 fellow in the President’s Executive Leadership Program, which

faculty publications, continued prepares administrators for greater leadership roles across the U of I System. Sposato presented on Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah in Mar. and on his arrangement of Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt in Nov. He serves as president of the Association of Illinois Music Schools.

Bridget Sweet (Music Education) published the invited chapter “Self-care and the Music Educator” in the Oxford Handbook of Care in Music Education (edited by Karin Hendricks, 2023). With Kate Fitzpatrick (Music Education, University of Michigan), Sweet published the study “Motherhood in the music academy” in the Journal of Research in Music Education (Feb. 2023). She presented the session “Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Voice Change in Music Education” as part of the Illinois Music Education Association’s fall webinar series. Sweet gave research presentations in OK and was a guest scholarin-residence at Georgia State University; she also presented virtually in KA, MO, England, and Singapore. Sweet conducted the Alabama Middle School All-State Treble Choir and the North Carolina Middle School All-State SATB Choir; she also conducted the Alabama American Choral Directors Association’s Young Voices Festival Girls’ Choir.

Stephen Andrew Taylor’s (Composition-Theory) cello concerto Kinds of Light was premiered by Dmitry Kouzov and the Oberlin Sinfonietta, conducted by Tim Weiss, in Dec. 2022; and his arrangements for Lang Lang and the Los Angeles Philharmonic were premiered in Sep. 2022 as part of the release of Lang Lang’s album, Disney Songbook. His choral piece Their Pattern Still There was taken on tour in Scandinavia by University Chamber Singers in May 2022 and performed at the Carmel Bach Festival in Jul. 2023. On campus, Taylor participated with the Jupiter Quartet, improvisers,

An article by Carolyn Watson (Orchestras) appeared in the Journal of the Conductors Guild. Beyond the technical elements or “craft” of conducting, Watson’s paper considers and evaluates the distinct individual and cumulative elements that underline and inform the artistic work of professional conductors. Facets such as musical traits, score study, forming an interpretation, and the effect of personality are discussed.

Carolyn Watson: “The Origin and Fundamentals of the Art of Conducting,” Journal of the Conductors Guild, vol.34 (summer 2022), 17–24.

Ann Yeung (Harp) published two articles in the World Harp Congress Review about Henriette Renié’s seminal Concerto in c minor. The work’s 1901 premiere at the Concerts Lamoureux in Paris elevated the harp as a solo instrument with orchestra and Renié’s reputation as a virtuoso and composer. Yeung’s discussion provides context in Renié’s own words for her awareness of the concerto’s significance as she persevered to promote the instrument and its perception. Renié did so as both an unmarried woman who endured two World Wars in her native France and someone who navigated gendered social constructs to become known as a composer, and not as a “woman composer,” in a country where women did not receive full suffrage rights until 1944.

Ann Yeung: “Recalling Agency for Modern Times: Reconsidering Henriette Renié and her Concerto en ut mineur,” World Harp Congress Review, vol.14, no.4 (spring 2022), 9-13; and vol.14, no.5 (fall 2022), 18–25.

A book chapter by Christina Bashford (Musicology) analyzes the paradoxical presence of operatic arias and duets in string quartet concerts in early 19th-century London. By contextualizing such programming against the aesthetics and practices of the London musical world of the time and by revealing unsuspected synergies with other social activities, including dinner menus and etiquette, Bashford argues for an organizational principle that resonated with other aspects of English social life.

Christina Bashford: “Friends and Visitors: Chamber Music, Concert Aesthetics, and the Conundrum of Operatic Song,” Opera Outside the Box: Notions of Opera in NineteenthCentury Britain, ed. Roberta Montemorra Marvin (Routledge, 2023), 133–63.

Collaborative Work M US I C ED U C AT I O N Three faculty members published articles in the Journal of Research in Music Education. Bridget Sweet co-authored “Motherhood in the Music Academy” with a colleague at the University of Michigan. Their multiple critical case-study explored the perceptions of music professors on their experiences navigating the music academy and motherhood. Donna Gallo and Adam Kruse published “Music Educators as DJs: Remixing Teaching with Hip-Hop.” In this grant-funded study exploring how music teachers engage with Hip-Hop, the authors found that educators remixed their teaching approaches by blending elements of Hip-Hop music and culture with established

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fac u lt y n ew s scientists, writers, dancers, and community members in The Joy of Regathering, a new hour-long performance piece that travels backward through time to the beginning of the universe.

Reynold Tharp (Composition-Theory) completed In the Month of Athyr, a new piece for solo soprano, chorus, and orchestra, setting a poem by C.P. Cavafy, that was premiered in Apr. 2023 by soloist Courtenay Budd, Chamber Singers, Oratorio Society, and the UISO under the direction of Andrew Megill. In Oct. 2023, he was invited to give a presentation on his music for the Eastman School of Music composition colloquium series.

In Apr., Christos Tsitsaros (Piano Pedagogy) presented an instructional video on Chopin’s Mazurkas op.

24 in the “From the Artist’s Bench” series of the Frances Clark Center’s online platform, pianoinspires.com. His compositional output was included in Emilia Vaiitsi’s presentation on “the imprint of contemporary trends and influences of 50 contemporary living Greek composers’ artistic work” for the 14th Interdepartmental Musicological Conference organized by the Hellenic Musicological Society (Nov. 2022). His Fantasy for oboe, B-flat clarinet, and piano (Hal Leonard, 2017) was featured on a newly released album by the Talea Trio (MSR Classics). As invited presenter for the 2023 Illinois State Music Teachers Association conference (Northern Illinois University), he gave a lecture/presentation titled “Chopin’s Technical and Musical Approach and its Application in Teaching Student of Various and Levels.”

At the Society for American Music’s 49th annual national conference in Minneapolis, Nolan Vallier (Musicology) presented a paper titled “Organic Music: Concerts in

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the Round House, 1963-1965.” Portions of this paper will appear in a forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the life of architect Bruce Goff, which will be published in early 2025. This past spring, he published an academic-adjacent article titled “On Being a Father and an Early Career Academic” with The Collective. Additionally, he curated two exhibitions at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, “A Brief History of the Band Program at Urbana High School” and “Intelligent Instruments: The Music Technology of Salvatore Martirano and David Rosenboom.” As the former editor of sonorities, Nolan is excited to see Dani Nutting (DMA candidate, Flute Performance) at its helm.

During the 2022–23 season Carolyn Watson (Orchestras) led performances with the Cape Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kansas City Ballet, Traverse Symphony Orchestra, and Monash Academy Orchestra (Australia). This season also marked Watson’s first as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and, continuing in her role as Music Director, she led Indiana’s La Porte County Symphony Orchestra in their 50th-anniversary season.

She also presented a paper at the International Conductors Guild conference in Valencia, Spain in Jan., and her article “The Origin and Fundamentals of the Art of Conducting” was published by the Journal of the International Conductors Guild.

Sarah Wigley (Voice, Lyric Theatre) presented “Estill in the University Classroom” at the International Estill Voice Symposium in Vienna, Austria this summer after earning her Master Teacher Certification in Estill Voice Training in Aug.

Douglas Yeo (Trombone) was a guest at the 2023 International Tuba Euphonium Conference (Arizona State University, Jun. 2023). He presented a paper about the Native American (Assiniboine) sousaphone player John Kuhn (1882–1962) who played with John Philip Sousa’s Band, the Isham Jones Rainbow Orchestra, and the NBC Radio Orchestra in Chicago. Yeo also presented a recital of music featuring him playing the serpent, a serpentine-shaped wind instrument invented in the 16th century. His program included works for serpent that span four centuries including two chamber works (by Johann Nepomuk Hummel and attributed to Joseph Haydn) and two compositions for serpent and piano (by Clifford Bevan and Thérèse Brenet).

The recital, in which Yeo was assisted by ASU faculty and students, will be broadcast nationally by Arizona PBS and his John Kuhn presentation will appear in the International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal.

Ann Yeung’s (Harp) ongoing research, supported by an Arnold O. Beckman Award from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, on Henriette Renié’s agency and her Concerto in c minor was published in the World Harp Congress Review in two articles (spring and fall 2022).

She was a judge for the American Harp Society’s biennial National Solo Competition (Colburn Conservatory, Los Angeles).

She was invited to judge the 8th Hong Kong International Harp Competition in fall 2023.

As founder of the Illinois Summer Harp Class, Yeung conducted the world premiere of Julia Kay Jamieson’s Meadowbrook in honor of the 20th ISHC edition (all ages and levels) in Jun. She has been elected to the Corporation of the World Harp Congress, as secretary. As treasurer of the AHS Roslyn Rensch Central Illinois Chapter, she organized events and enabled initiatives that led to the chapter being selected as 2023 AHS National Chapter of the Year for the first time.

faculty publications, continued pedagogical strategies as they experienced tensions and challenges in adopting Hip-Hop in their instruction. Research implications include recommendations for substantive engagements with Hip-Hop in music teacher education programs and providing access in schools of music and/or degree programs for Hip-Hop musicians to become music educators.

Kate Fitzpatrick and Bridget Sweet: “Motherhood in the Music Academy,” Journal of Research in Music Education (Online First, 2023).

Donna J. Gallo and Adam J. Kruse: “Music Educators as DJs: Remixing Teaching with Hip-Hop,” Journal of Research in Music Education (Online First, 2023).

Stephen Fairbanks co-wrote an article about youth orchestras with two music educators who are located in California. The authors show that by examining the lived experiences of high school orchestra students through a lens based on the work of social theorist Pierre Bourdieu, it becomes possible to discern the sophisticated ways students mediate symbolic violence in a high school music context.

Stephen Fairbanks, Israel Lizarraga, and Josué Corona: “The Simultaneity of Cultural Capital and Symbolic Violence in Youth Orchestras: A Tale of Two Students,” Music and Arts in Action, vol.8, no.2 (2023), 4–17.

Another joint-written article by Stephen Fairbanks (here with Min Jung Kim) determines that for string players to develop a pleasing and natural tone, the biomechanical principles of balance, movement, and whole-body engagement are indispensable.

Min Jung Kim and Stephen Fairbanks: “Biomechanically Informed Bowing: Revisiting Rolland’s Principles of Violin Playing,” String Research Journal (Online First, Sept. 2022).

M US I CO LO G Y Christina Bashford is part of the international research team on the InterMusE (Internet of Musical Events) digital music history project who prepared a chapter for a volume dedicated to sharing best digital practices in collaborating with communities on cultural heritage ventures. With reference to the UK arm of the InterMusE project, their chapter models new, egalitarian ways of approaching the archiving of a century’s worth of materials relating to citizen-run concert societies, through collaborations that enable society members to “co-curate” and preserve their histories.

Charlotte Armstrong, Rachel Cowgill, Alan Dix, Christina Bashford, Rupert Ridgewell, Maureen Reagan, Michael Twidale, and J. Stephen Downie: “Reframing Ephemera: Digitisation, Community Musicmaking, and Archival Value(s),” Digital Approaches to Inclusion and Participation in Cultural Heritage: Insights from Research and Practice in Europe, ed. Danilo Giglitto, Luigina Ciolfi, Eleanor Lockley, and Eirini Kaldeli (Routledge, 2023), 160–80.

Visit the School of Music website for more news, events, and other updates!

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Celebrating the 60th anniversary of UISO’s South American Tour

By Bill Skidmore (BM ’63, MM ’66)

2

024 marks the 60th anniversary of the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s four-month tour of ten Latin American countries, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. We left all Urbana on January 31, traveling by bus Smith H rming in fo r e p to O’Hare and flying to Houston. On UISO February 1, we flew to Mexico and performed in several cities before proceeding to Honduras, UISO perfo rming an en core on tou student con Nicaragua, Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, r with a ductor Bolivia, and Peru. We returned via flights to Miami, Indianapolis, Chicago, and bus to Urbana on June 4. The trip We enjoyed many memorable experiences. In San Juan, covered about 24,000 miles.

Argentina, a city that was just beginning to rebuild after a Along with the 81-member student orchestra were our destructive earthquake, ours was the first program broadconductor, Bernard Goodman, Mrs. Goodman, assistant cast from their local television station. It was estimated conductor Charles Delaney, Howard Miller (M.D.) and his that we played to an audience of about 500,000! In Curitiba, wife, State Department Escort Officer Richard Butrick and we were met with a military band entertaining a throng of his wife, and Art Johnson of the Music Extension Service, people waiting to hear us in an unfinished hall with card who managed the trip and handled scheduling, payroll, table chairs on bare concrete floors and bare lightbulbs and transportation. hanging from the ceiling. During the Egmont Overture we We all received numerous vaccinations through the uni- heard crashing noises from the audience and police ran versity. Dorothy Hubbard, who would have been principal past the stage shouting orders. When the lights came on flutist and whose picture appeared in last year’s sonorities, at intermission, we saw that people had smashed the barhad a terrible reaction to the Typhus/Typhoid and was riers to the third balcony, which had been closed due to hospitalized, unable to make the trip. We received State the steeply sloped bare floor, and had climbed in to fill the Department per diem of $16 per day, out of which hotel space. A few fellows had even crawled out onto the steel bills were paid. Mr. Goodman had allotted ample free time girders above our heads! We played Brahms’s Symphony and encouraged us to meet musicians and other locals as No. 2 after intermission, and it (figuratively) brought down part of the trip’s goodwill nature. Many of the group took the house. side trips, even chartering airplanes or boats, and formed Most of the orchestra would agree that the most memowonderful relationships with various communities. rable event, though not the most enjoyable, was a 16-hour We carried four full orchestral programs with both bus ride from La Paz to Cochabamba, Bolivia, over what is classics and premieres. Each program included one piece known as “Death Road,” a narrow, winding path through by a UIUC composer and one by a Latin American com- the Andes Mountains that was traveled at night so drivers poser. We had a long list of encores, most conducted by could see headlights of oncoming traffic. It was unsettling orchestra members, and concluded all performances with to look out and see straight down for several hundred feet Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. We gave chamber concerts (I underestimate!) as we were on the edge of the road with as well, with a string quartet, woodwind quintet, and brass no guard rail. In Cochabamba, the orchestra refused three quintet made up of orchestra personnel. All performances additional such rides and were eventually flown back to La were well attended and enthusiastically received.

Paz in about 45 minutes.

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fac ult y news em er i t i updat es We were in Brazil during their 1964 revolution, and all but our last concert in Peru were cancelled for a period of national mourning.

These memories are still vivid 60 years later—and this is just a sampling!

The continued impact on all our lives is difficult to describe. In the end, exposure to different cultures reinforced that human beings share the same basic loves, needs, goals, fears, and need for one another, and we found a deep-seated love for music everywhere.

The orchestra enjoyed a 25th reunion when enough forces gathered to play together again, and we met for the 30th at a more general SoM reunion. Mr. Goodman conducted many of the tour pieces for the first, but his health was failing for the second, so Charlie Delaney conducted it. As 2024 is our 60th anniversary, many of us will gather in Urbana on June 3 and 4 (the anniversary of our return) to share memories and renew acquaintances. Any members who would like to be included, please contact Bill Skidmore at billytheskid@ yahoo.com for details.

Follow this QR code to learn more about the t o u r. C re a t e d b y members of the 1964 UISO as a virtual 40th reunion, this site contains photos, stories and reflections, the full tour schedule & roster, and more.

Zack Browning (Composition-Theory, Emeritus) received a School of Music Distinguished Service Award for his work as Director of the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award. The 27th Annual Martirano Award Concert held in Sept. 2023 marked the end of Browning’s tenure as director. During these 27 years, 6,666 international composers submitted scores for review and $45,975 were awarded to 75 composers whose winning scores were all performed at the annual award concerts.

Browning also completed two new compositions in 2023: Rock Galaxy for marimba and string quartet, commissioned by William Moersch and the Jupiter String Quartet, and Cosmic Changes for flute and harp, commissioned by MEMO Duo, Elisa Moles (DMA ’17) and Molly O’Roark (DMA ’19). Cosmic Changes received its premiere at the 51st annual National Flute Association convention in Phoenix, AR (Aug. 2023).

Seeking Connections: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music Teaching and Learning (Oxford University Press) by Janet Revell Barrett Intended for music educators and scholars, Janet Barrett’s (Music Education, Emerita) new book celebrates the way music moves through human experience, connecting to the lives of students, teachers, and school communities in varied, meaningful ways. Emphasizing music’s vibrant relationships to other art forms, history, culture, and subjects commonly taught in schools, Barrett argues that these relationships deserve critical attention as educators reorient curricula and pedagogy toward social justice.

While curricular integration proposals often focus on structural reorganization of schools and classrooms, Seeking Connections promotes interdisciplinarity as a capacity to be exercised, a habit of mind to be developed.

Barrett draws from over two decades of curriculum courses she offered at UIUC and Northwestern University to highlight key principles, models, and strategies for fostering interdisciplinary inquiry in school music programs.

Music teachers, including UIUC MME graduates, have explored these possibilities to exercise students’ critical and creative thinking and awaken their curiosity about music’s role in their lives.

Barrett maintains an active schedule of guest lectures and presentations for music teachers and edits the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education.

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al u mn i n e w s 1950–1959

1970–1979

Following a request by award-winning Hollywood producer and director Mary Apick, Charles E. Musgrave (MME ’56) recently completed filming his renowned Desert Brass Band in its activities for use in Apick’s new documentary film, A Jewel in the Desert.

The film is slated to be submitted to the Oscars documentary competition in fall 2023, and to similar competitions around the world. Demonstrating how senior musicians remain capable of performing at a very high level, the film aims to inspire young musicians to continue improving their music skills during their lives, for even greater joy in their later years.

Bill Camphouse (BME ’72, MME ’76) was commissioned by the Quincy Symphony Orchestra to create a composition celebrating the orchestra’s 75th “diamond” anniversary. Brilliance, thematically based on “Spring” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, was premiered Feb. 19, 2023 in a “side-byside” performance featuring the Quincy Symphony and Quincy Area Youth Orchestra.

Camphouse’s concert band march adaptation of Hermes Zimmerman’s WWI-era patriotic anthem America! First and Forever (1918) was published by Print Music Source; Zimmerman was an African American musician and resident of New Philadelphia (in Pike County, IL), a site which the National Park Service designates as honoring “Free Frank” McWorter, a formerly enslaved individual who founded the community. Tango del Sol, Camphouse’s newest addition to the Kjos Music Company string catalog, is programmed for premiere at the 2023 Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference by the Bridgeland High School (TX) Orchestra in Dec. 2023.

1960–1969 Rabbi and cantor Jon Haddon (BSME ’67) was recently honored by the Association of Religious Communities in Danbury, CT for his more than 25 years of devoted service and volunteerism. Still “going strong” at the age of 78, Haddon owes his vocal career in large measure to the faculty and fellow students at UIUC (1963–67).

Last Sep., at the age of 80, Marilynn Kemp Seits (BME ’64) was invited to be an adjunct accompanist in the music department at Mars Hill University near Asheville, NC, where she lives. Her new job includes accompanying voice students for lessons, recitals, and exams, as well as one-on-one coaching to help them learn new music.

She continues to play piano at several senior centers in Asheville and started playing regularly with the Asheville Jazz Orchestra in Dec. 2022. Big band playing is a reminder of great times back in the ’60s playing piano at Jazz U Like It and in the UIUC Jazz Band with Prof. John Garvey!

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Kim Cook (BM ’79), Distinguished Professor of Music in Cello at Penn State University, premiered a concerto by the late Paul Reale at Yale University on Oct. 1, 2022 with the Yale Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Boughton. The performance was recorded for Naxos for release in Mar. 2024. Reale was a professor of composition at UCLA; he wrote and dedicated the concerto to Cook. Cook’s 2018 recording of Reale’s solo sonata and other works for cello and piano, Chopin’s Ghosts (Naxos), received a Top Five Award from Fanfare.

Cook has performed as a soloist in 30 countries and toured as Artistic Ambassador for the U.S. State Department. She served as the inaugural Penn State Arts Laureate in 2008. Cook’s recordings include the concertos by Dvorak, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Schumann, Elgar, and Strauss (Don Quixote). kimcookcello.weebly.com.

For a fifth year, Lynne Denig (MM ’77) chaired the Paul Rolland String Pedagogy Society’s certification training program. Begun by Denig, Gail Rolland, Abigail Albaugh Martinez, and UIUC alumni Joanne Erwin (BS ’74, MS ’77), Joanne May (BS ’75, MS ’81), and Leah Sweeney (BMUS ’16), the program offers in-depth training in the pedagogy of former UIUC professor Pa u l R o l l a n d . S e e p a u l r o l l a n d society.org.

Perry Goldstein (BM ’75, MM ’76) is entering his 32nd year on the music faculty at Stony Brook University, where he has served as Chair of the Music Department for nine years. He was composer-in-residence at the 2022 Great Lakes Music Festival, where among three of his pieces performed was Birding by Ear (premiere) on texts of UIUC alum Richard Powers, recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Literature for Overstory.

Goldstein’s most recent works include the horn trio A Slender Thread (premiered at the DeMenna Center in NYC, Apr. 2023) and quartet Sutra, scheduled to be premiered by faculty at the University of South Carolina in Oct. 2023. The seventh edition of A New Approach to Sight Singing, of which he is a co-author, is due to be published by W.W. Norton in 2024. Goldstein is a member of the SUNY Distinguished Academy.

Michael Kowalski’s (DMA ’79) article “The Praxis of Practice” appeared in the fall 2022/winter 2023 issue of Salmagundi. His new article “Power Tools” will appear there in 2024. In Mar. 2023, Kowalski created a set of one-minute musical responses to 20 of the artworks in the show Music as Image and Metaphor at the Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, NYC. His percussion solo Upbeat Suite was premiered by Joseph Van Hassel at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Kanagawa, Japan in Jul. 2023.

Marvin Lamb (DMA ’77) is Henry A. Zarrow Presidential Professor in Music at the University of Oklahoma (Norman). He will retire in 2024 after 50 years of college and university administration and teaching, the last 25 of which were at OU. Lamb is featured on three albums released over the past year: The London Cello Connection with the London Symphony Orchestra, Ovidiu Marinescu as soloist (Navona Records); Extended Horizons: The Saxophone Music of Marvin Lamb, Jonathan Nichol as soloist (Blue Griffin); and a new release of Lamb’s chamber music for violin and piano by violinist Hal Grossman (Blue Griffin).

Mary McElroy (BSME ’77) recently returned to playing the piano again after a varied career teaching music, working at the New York Philharmonic (where she

met her husband 39 years ago), and transitioning into for-profit management education. After living in NYC, Kansas City, and Cleveland, McElroy and her husband left the east coast and moved to Tucson, AZ in 2021. She played a small recital with the Tucson Adult Chamber Players after moving to Tucson and continues to practice when not enjoying the great outdoors and traveling with her husband.

Muriel Nelson’s (MM ’70) poetry collection Sightsinger (Encircle Publications, 2022) has been characterized as “a rich, almost edible feast of imagery and whimsically crafted linguistic scherzos. Poetry ineffable as music itself.” She holds master’s degrees from UIUC and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she studied with Heather McHugh. Her publications

include Part Song (Bear Star Press; Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize) and two chapbooks, Please Hold (Encircle Publications; Poetry Chapbook Award) and Most Wanted (ByLine Press; ByLine Chapbook Award). Nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize, Nelson’s poems have appeared in many literary journals and in several anthologies. Two of her poems have been set to music. Among her prose publications are book reviews (Cider Press Review, Prairie Schooner blog), literary blog contributions (Superstition Review, Sonora Review, Beloit Poetry Journal Forum, Editions Bibliotekos), and a critical essay (Italian Culture).

David C. Osterlund (EdD ’78) published his book The Anuak Legacy: Music & Culture in 2021. Osterlund and his family moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in

Remembering a visit to Bach in Leipzig, 2013

By Shawki Farag, founder of the Valerie Farag Scholarship in the School of Music, in honor of his late wife Valerie (MM ’66).

Shawki is an alumnus of the Gies College of Business (MS ’63 and PHD ’67).

who spoke in German, I could see the effect she had on the worshippers. Once the service finished, Heinrich and I found my wife running to us in tears, completely shaken. At first, I thought it tarting in 2010, my wife Valerie and had been the ceremony, which Valerie I, together with our German friends understood as she spoke German fluDr. and Mrs. Heinrich Niemann, ently, that moved her to tears. But I was made plans to visit the homes and mistaken—during the service, Valerie sites of great masters of classical music. had realized that she sat on a chair The Bach visit was in January 2013. which was placed on the capstone of After spending a few days in Erlangen, Bach’s tomb. She could not move, as we traveled to Leipzig by train. Mrs. the service was in mid-course, so she Niemann could not join, so the three stayed, but in great pain, as she felt she of us arrived in Leipzig in time to enjoy was out of place and disrespectful to lunch in a famous restaurant near St. her beloved music idol.

Thomas Church. Arriving at the site Farag with his wife Valerie outside St. Thomas It has been 10 years since that visit, around 3 p.m., we immediately heard a Church in 2013 but its memory remains quite vivid. It call for service and were asked to sit in any chair available. was also our last such visit before we were tied down with The service was crowded, and we were quickly separated cancer treatment and finally Valerie joined Bach in 2016. from one another. Though I couldn’t understand the minister,

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al u mn i n e w s 1969, where he taught for four years (1969– 73). While in Ethiopia, he developed the first indigenous hymn book of the Amhara people. He was also privileged to live among the Anuak people for a full summer to study their music and culture as part of his doctoral studies at UIUC. Now, 50 years later, Osterlund is sharing the cultural and musical findings of his research in this book, a slightly revised and corrected version of his 1978 dissertation. With the dislocation of the Anuak people in the early 2000s, this study takes on new meaning. The Anuak community can connect with their long heritage and instruct their children in practices and sounds thought to have been lost forever.

Janice Larson Razaq (MM ’71) was recently named 2023 National Teacher of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association, in addition to being named Illinois State Music Teachers Association 2022 Teacher of the Year. Razaq has a DMA from Texas Tech University, a Licentiate Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and an MM from UIUC. Recent performances include a recital for the American Matthay Association at the College of St. Scholastica (Duluth, MN). Razaq is Director of Keyboard Studies at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Lynn Bogen Sanders (BA ’76) has written her third children’s book, Adventures in Ecuador: Diary of a Volunteer, to be published by Difference Makers Media and released in Dec. 2023. Taking readers on a journey through a volunteer’s unique experiences in Ecuador, this picture book intends to empower youth to recognize their value, encourage philanthropy, and build unity among cultures. Adventures in Ecuador is based on Sanders’s family’s healthcare missions to Ecuador, with the nonprofit Causes for Change International. A closing

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section covers the story behind the nonprofit founder, Zully Alvarado, along with resources for youth and those facing disabilities. Sanders’s company, Difference Makers Media, helps cause-focused leaders and organizations tell their stories to build trust, make impact, and leave a legacy.

Sanders is an award-winning writer/author, media host, video producer, and story marketing consultant. See: DifferenceMakersMedia.com and bit.ly/EcuadorStories.

After a career as a high school and university band director, John Stroube (MS ’77) is in his 22nd year working for the Kentucky Music Educators Association and his 21st as its executive director. In 2009, he became the founding director of the Madison Community Band in Richmond, Kentucky, a position in which he continues to serve. In 2022, he was designated a Lowell Mason Fellow by the National Association for Music Education.

1980–1989 Daniel Adams’s (DMA ’85) article “Four Drums, One Player: The Artistic and Pedagogical Merits of the Unaccompanied Concert Tom-Tom Solo” was published in the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Journal (fall 2022). He also presented a paper, “Eclecticism, Community, and Spirituality in Halim El-Dabh’s Symphony for One Thousand Drums,” at the 2022 National Conference of the College Music Society (Long Beach, CA, Sept. 23) and delivered a presentation titled “Teaching formal structure through indefinitely pitched multiple percussion compositions using three concert tom-tom solos” at the 2023 National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy (University of Memphis, May 21).

J. Robert Adams (DMA ’81) has been promoted to Full Professor at Clark Atlanta University.

Susan Shiplett Ashbaker (MM ’84) recently published a book, The Vocal Coach Approach: When Practice Makes Perfect (A guide to help singers of all levels learn to practice – and love it!), offering a toolbox of options to demystify the practice process for singers of all levels. Having spent her professional career teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music, Academy of Vocal Arts, and, most recently, Westminster Choir College (directing both the Westminster Opera and the CoOPERAtive Program) while working with professional opera companies as director of artistic and music administration, general and artistic director, and assistant conductor, Ashbaker has funneled her work with singers into this publication.

It offers musical tools to optimize singing, non-musical tools to support musical and dramatic work, and tools applied in repertoire with examples for each voice type.

Ashbaker received her second MM in Vocal Accompanying/Coaching under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus John Wustman.

Nancy Halsey Beckmann (BM ’81) retired from the Kansas City Symphony in June 2023 after performing in the second violin section for 34 seasons.

Tom Bertucci (BME ’76, MME ’81) has retired after 33 years in McNamara’s Band (the Tri-State’s premier community band).

He served 23 years as principal saxophone and the last 10 years as its director. The band has been engaged in concerts in IL, IA, and MO and is a local favorite, drawing enthusiastic crowds wherever they play. As director, Bertucci several times called on the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music for programming suggestions and help, which was greatly appreciated and gratefully received.

Philip V. Bohlman (MM ’80, PhD ’84) received the International Balzan Prize in Ethnomusicology at ceremonies in Rome on Nov. 25, 2022.

He will use funding from the Balzan Prize to support the five-year project “Borderlands of Sonic Encounter.” He delivered the Charles Seeger Lecture at the 2022 Society for Ethnomusicology annual meeting in New Orleans, where he was also awarded Honorary Membership in SEM. Bohlman is Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago and Honorary Professor at the University for Music, Theater and Media in Hannover, Germany.

Tom Caneva (BME ’81) conducted the Ball State University Wind Ensemble at the College Band Directors National A ssociation’s national conference in Athens, GA in Feb. 2023. This marked the ensemble’s third appearance at a CBDNA conference since 2011. In 2022, the ensemble performed at the national convention of the American Bandmasters Association.

Caneva is currently Chair of the Sousa-ABAOstwald Composition Contest. He has served as Director of Bands at BSU since 2006.

After more than 35 years as a professional music director on Broadway and beyond, Joseph Church (MM ’80) is now focusing more on teaching, arranging, and writing. He is on the faculty at New York University, where he teaches composition, songwriting, conducting, and collaborative piano. As a composer, he’s written several commissioned classical works and two off-Broadway musicals, among many other projects. He is author of Music Direction for the Stage: A View from the Podium (2015) and Rock in the Musical Theatre: A Guide for Singers (2019), both with Oxford University Press.

As a participant in the 16th Black Sacred Music Symposium at UIUC (Feb. 2023), Wyeth W. Duncan (BME ’85, MME ’86) presented on “Black Sacred Music: Inside and Outside the Black Church Context” and performed on the Casavant organ in the closing concert at Smith Recital Hall.

Duncan is the assistant director of music and organist for the historic Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD and an adjunct music teacher, choral accompanist, and collaborative pianist for the Visual and Performing Arts program at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, MD. Steven Edwards (MM ’82) was named to the Fulbright Specialist Program roster for Oct. 2022–25 and paired to a vocal and choral pedagogy project with Fundación Nacional Batuta (Feb. 24–Mar. 17, 2023) in Bogota, Colombia. In Aug. 2022, he earned an Executive Graduate Certificate from the Global Leaders Program. His GLP fieldwork project culminated in a guest conducting engagement with Querido Arte Opera Guatemala, where he worked with the chorus, children’s chorus, orchestra, and opera studio. He is Professor of Music and Director of the Honors Program at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, LA and serves as co-chair of the National Collegiate Honors Council Two-Year College Committee and coordinator of the NCHC Arts Master Classes. He has been music director of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans since Aug. 1990.

Robert Fleisher (MM ’76, DMA ’80) continues composing, and his music continues to be performed and recorded. In 2022, four of his works were released on two albums, one supported by the Illinois Arts Council. His musique concrète miniature Loretto Alfresco was also heard during 29 National Association of Composers/USA “Sounds New” programs in 12 states. Two virtual premieres included his electronic piece Parallel during the third

annual “Earth Day Art Model” international telematic festival at Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis, and BACH (for Jan)—a toy-piano memorial tribute to Fleisher’s longtime Northern Illinois University colleague Jan Bach (BM ’59, DMA ’71), which was performed by David Bohn during a Vox Novus “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” livestream. NYC premieres in 2022 and 2023, respectively, included Max Lifchitz’s performance of his Six Little Piano Pieces at the National Opera Center’s Scorca Hall and a Trio Casals performance of Dumkyana at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Austin-based Conspirare, conducted by Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson (MM ’85), has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Choral Performance category for House of Belonging on the Delos label. Curated and conducted by Johnson, the album is a collection of American music for voices and with instruments. It features a collaboration with the Miró Quartet and commissioned works by Alex Berko, Shara Nova, Kevin Puts, and others. The album showcases the unique combination of choral virtuosity and extraordinarily beautiful human expression in works by composers and poets diverse in age, geography, and ethnicity who speak to our internal and external sense of home and belonging. This is the eighth nomination in this category for Conspirare and Johnson, and their 11th nomination overall; under Johnson’s direction, Conspirare won the 2015 Best Choral Performance Grammy for The Sacred Spirit of Russia.

Lisa J. (Scott) Lehmberg (BM ’78, MM ’80) is first author of the newly published research-based book Music, Senior Centers, and Quality of Life (co-authored with C. Victor Fung; Cambridge University Press, 2023). She is also co-editor and contributing author for Meanings of Music

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al u mn i n e w s Participation: Scenarios from the United States (co-edited with C. Victor Fung; Routledge, 2022). Lehmberg is Professor of Music Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Kristen Shiner McGuire (BM ’80), Professor in Professional Practice, is entering her 40th year as Coordinator of Percussion Studies at Nazareth University, where she is also program director for Music Business. The Shiner McGuire Percussion Studio is utilized regularly for lessons, classes, and rehearsals, and houses an extensive library of percussion ensemble music. Shiner McGuire performs regularly with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Marimba Band. She is an active member of the Percussive Arts Society Diversity Alliance.

Andrew Morgan (BM ’87) celebrated his four-year anniversary as General Director of Hawaii Opera Theatre in Honolulu after successfully navigating the pandemic.

A resident of Hanover, NH, Mark Nelson (MM ’80) is the music director of the Upper Valley Chamber Orchestra, the Upper Valley Community Band, the a cappella choir Harmony Night, the Lyme Town Band, and the Bach Study Group. In Jun. 2023, he conducted the UVCO in performances of Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs.

Kim O’Reilly (MM ’87) is in a wheelchair due to a brain tumor. She volunteers with Coach Art, a program which provides free lessons in the arts to disabled kids and siblings.

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John Pennell (MM ’82) cowrote and co-produced the song “Prairie Fire” with highly acclaimed LA songwriter/producer Graham Edwards (The Matrix). The song is featured on the 12-episode WILL-TV feature also entitled Prairie Fire, hosted by Sarah Edwards Weinstein. The show, which features documentary episodes about local creative artists and entrepreneurs, began on May 20, 2023 and is being broadcast monthly. The song “Prairie Fire” is featured not only in the opening program (sung by Bloomington-Normal native Leah Marlene) but in each succeeding episode as well.

Linda J. Snyder (MM ’72, DMA ’82) is Professor Emerita of Music at the University of Dayton. In 2022, she was guest soloist with the New Horizons International Band for senior adults on its tour of Ireland. As past president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Snyder remains active through her position as NATS Historian, on its Advancement Committee, and with its National Music Theatre Competition.

William Susman (BA ’82) was a composer-in-residence at the Seven Hills Chamber Music Festival (Lynchburg, VA) and performed selections from the Great American Songbook with soprano Ronit Widmann-Levy at the San Jose Jazz Festival. Vanessa Wagner performed music from Susman’s four-book piano series Quiet Rhythms at the Abbeye de Noirlac and Opéra de Rennes in France. Snow Lion of Peace and Angels of Light, both for string orchestra, were performed by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. The Western Brass Quintet performed The Heavens Above at Western Michigan University. Material Rhythms for percussion quartet was performed in Ghana at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra and at the University of Cape Coast

by Brett Jones with his students from the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Music

from his album Music for Moving Pictures was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

A. Scott Wood (BM ’87, MM ’89) was elected to the board of directors of the International Conductors Guild at their annual meeting in Valencia, Spain in Jan. 2023.

1990–1999 Emily Binder (BME ’95) was recently named Director of the Naperville Municipal Band (Naperville, IL; est. 1859). Under the direction of Binder’s predecessor, Ronald J. Keller, who directed the group for 57 years, the band won the Sudler Silver Scroll award in 1991. Binder is excited to partner with newly appointed associate director William Jastrow (BSME ’74) to promote and celebrate lifelong musicianship and the power of community music.

Layna Chianakas (MM ’97) was the stage director for numerous productions in 2022 and 2023. She directed Tosca and The Light in the Piazza for Opera Santa Barbara and an all-female-identifying La Boheme for the Santa Cruz Opera Project, and she was scheduled to direct Tosca for Amarillo Opera and Carmen for Indianapolis Opera in fall 2023. Chianakas also maintains a full and thriving voice studio and is a sought-after clinician as well as the musical theater vocal director for Valley Christian Conservatory (San Jose, CA). www.lchianakas.com.

Domonic Cobb (BSME ’96) accepted an appointment as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Success, Inclusion & Belonging in Student Affairs at UIUC. In this role, Cobb provides executive leadership for SSIB units, programs, services, and initiatives. In addition, he serves on the Student Affairs Leadership Team and as Senior

al u mn i p u bl i ca t i o ns Embracing the Unknown: Exploring the Pathways to Change (New Degree Press, 2023) by Lisa DeAngelis Lisa DeAngelis’s (BME ’06) non-fiction book debuted as an Amazon #1 New Release in Apr. 2023. Informed by research, principles of the Alexander Technique, and stories of personal triumph, Embracing the Unknown is a thoughtful and creative exploration of what it means to change. Rather than a prescription or step-by-step directions, the book posits that the secret to unlocking, creating, and navigating sustainable change requires exploring and establishing new guiding principles and core values. The optimal tools and conditions for change can be discovered and embraced—adopted as a mindset and lived out as intentional choices. In choosing our path forward, each of us reclaims the ability to live a life truly aligned with change.

Based in NYC, DeAngelis is a holistic change practitioner, author, teacher, and speaker. She has performed as a soprano with Transcendence, a professional choir based in Erie, PA directed

by Richard Robert Rossi (DMA ’00). lisadeangelis.com.

Loop: Ligeti’s Inspiration & Legacy (Acis, 2022) by Rose Wollman Violist Rose Wollman’s (BM ’04) latest album debuted at no. 11 on the Billboard Traditional Classical chart (week of Oct. 18, 2022). In celebration of the 100th anniversary of György Ligeti’s birth, Wollman’s masterfully crafted program, conceived as a set of six triptychs, weaves together past and present to cast Ligeti’s monumental Sonata for Viola Solo in a new light, with each movement of the sonata paired with a complementary Baroque work and a commissioned work that draws inspiration from its Baroque–Ligeti pair. This innovative program contextualizes Ligeti’s sonata as both inspired by the past and inspirational to composers of today.

The album has been hailed by critics in The Strad, The Whole Note, and Textura.

A new music champion, emerging composer, and cross-genre performer, Wollman currently teaches at Saint Mary’s College and the University of Notre Dame and serves on the board of the American Viola Society. wollmanrose.com.

Franck & Brahms Violin and Piano Sonatas (MSR Classics, 2022) by Qian Yin and Po-Chuan Chiang In Nov. 2022, Qian Yin (DMA ’16) and Po-Chuan Chiang (DMA ’18) released their album to outstanding reviews from New York Concert Review and American Record Guide, an interview in Fanfare, and Global Music Awards Gold Medal. NYCR’s Korianne Schrade writes about Yin’s “mellow sweetness of timbre,” describing: “From the very first notes, she pulled me into its nostalgic spirit, something that is not so easy with music of such depth. . . It is a special joy to hear how seemingly effortlessly she navigates its more challenging aspects.”

Yin and Chiang were invited to give a recital at Taipei National Concert Hall (Jun. 2023), masterclasses at Tainan National University of Art in Taiwan, and a performance on Seattle’s Classical King FM 98.1 (Sep. 2023). They recorded the album on an Italian violin by Stefano Scarampella (1830; courtesy of Guadagnini Violin Shop, Chicago) and a Hamburg Steinway Model D piano. Yin runs the Yin Music Studio for violin and piano in Seattle, WA, and Chiang is currently a staff accompanist at Western Illinois University.

Music Theory in Ethnomusicology (Oxford University Press, 2023) by Stephen Blum Ethnomusicologist Stephen Blum’s (PhD ’72) new book is the first in Oxford’s new Theory in Ethnomusicology series. Ethnomusicologists have long been concerned with diverse ways in which communication of musical knowledge relies on explicit and implicit theory. This book is both a survey of ethnomusicological research on theorizing associated with music-making and an attempt to outline a conception of music theory suited to cross-cultural research on musical practices.

Blum is Professor Emeritus of Music at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he taught from 1987 to 2016.

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al u mn i n e w s Diversity Officer. Thanks to his nearly three decades of knowledge, experience, and leadership across campus and in the community, Cobb emerged as the best candidate for this new role. Cobb is a proud first-generation college graduate and alumnus of UIUC’s TRIO programs.

In Mar. 2023, the Waubonsie Valley Wind Ensemble and its conductor Mark Duker (BME ’93) premiered a newly commissioned work by Indian American composer Reena Esmail. Based on Hindustani music, this groundbreaking piece for concert band serves as an important connection for the school’s increasing South Asian student population and their families. The work is entitled Chamak, meaning “spark” in Hindi.

Creation of this piece was supported by a consortium of 20 schools who will each perform additional premieres during the 2023–24 academic year. Additional UIUC alumni consortium members include Victor Anderson (MME ’00), Emily Binder (BM ’95), Matt Bufis (MM ’08), Kevin T. Carroll (BM ’92), Jerry Shelato (BM ’93, MM ’98), Charles Staley (MS ’85), Andy Sturgeon (BM ’07), and Matt Temple (BME ’94).

Heidi Flowers (BME ’93) was named the 2023 Outstanding Classroom Teacher in IL by the American String Teachers A ssociation.

Flowers is in her 31st year of teaching and is Director of Orchestras at Cooper Middle School in Buffalo Grove, IL. In May 2023, Jon B. Gilliland (MME ’77, EdD ’91), semi-retired Coordinator of Fine Arts in the Fond du Lac and Appleton (WI) school districts, completed 50 years in education. He taught high school instrumental and choral music in IL and IN and currently serves as an adjunct professor of music education at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and UW-Eau Claire. Gilliland is a past president of Wisconsin’s School Music Association, Foundation for Music Education, and Music Educators Association and

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has served on the board of the Fox Valley Symphony, Fond du Lac Chamber Orchestra, South Shore Chorale, and Fond du Lac Symphonic Band. He sings with the South Shore Chorale and directs the Senior Choir at Salem United Methodist Church in Fond du Lac, where he lives with wife, Debbie, and enjoys bagpiping, woodworking, gardening, and five grandkids.

Sojung Lee Hong (DMA ’97), Professor of Music and Director of the MA in Community Music program at Judson University (Elg in, IL), released a new album in Aug. 2023: Rhythms of Korea: Twelve Piano Compositions Based on Korean Folk Songs. This project was supported by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and recorded at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The music is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music.

Jim Kollias (MME ’96), most recently an invitee to the inaugural 2023 Vienna Conducting Competition and the 2022 Lake Como International Conducting Competition in Bellano, Italy, is a finalist for the American Prize in Conducting. In 2024, he will make his ninth appearance at Carnegie Hall.

Viktor Krauss (BM ’91) worked as an instrumentalist and co-producer with Kyle Lehning on select songs for Kenny Rogers’s posthumous album of unreleased and reworked material, Life is Like a Song (UME, Jun. 2023).

He also joined Robert Plant and Alison

Krauss (on electric guitar, six-string bass, and keyboard) for a continuation of the “Raise the Roof” tour that originated in 2022.

Horacio Nuguid (DMA ’94) has published an anthology of piano works by Filipino composers. The anthology includes 25 pieces written for solo piano between 1890 and 2015 by 16 composers. Critically edited with annotations by Nuguid, Philippine Piano Pieces was launched in Manila in Aug. 2023. The editor has been promoting the pieces through a series of lecture recitals, most recently at the Minnesota Music Teachers Association Convention and at the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association Conference. The anthology is now available in the US. Patrick O’Shea (MM ’90) became Director of Choral Activities at the College of DuPage (Glen Ellyn, IL) in Aug. 2022. He directs the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and DuPage Chorale. The latter premiered his Longfellow setting, A Psalm of Life for baritone solo, SATB, and orchestra in May 2023.

Solo cellist Charles Prewitt (BM ’97) has established himself as a Bach specialist presenting J. S. Bach to the Future, a performance cycle of Bach’s six cello suites along with 20th-century works. He released J. S. Bach to the Future: Six Suites for Solo Cello, available on Bandcamp, in Sep. 2022.

His first recording (Suites 1, 3, 4) was released in 2010. Prewitt has directed the Prague Cello Corporation since 1985 and presented annual solo recitals from 1985–97. In Mar. 2020, he began a collaboration series called “Cello on the Balcony,” performed before a live audience from the balcony of his home and livestreamed on Facebook. Prewitt has been a member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra since 1997. charlesprewitt.com/ pcc.html.

Mark Rabideau (BM ’88, DMA ’98) served as executive producer of STILLPOINT (New Amsterdam Records, Aug. 2023), a recording featuring celebrated pianist and conductor Awadagin Pratt, two-time Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, and the Boston-based conductorless orchestra A Far Cry. Inspired by the poetry of T. S. Eliot, Rabideau engaged composers Judd Greenstein, Jessie Montgomery, Paola Prestini, Alvin Singleton, Tyshawn Sorey, and Pēteris Vasks to compose works that translated Eliot’s The Four Quartets through its sibling universe in music. The project is receiving national attention and Grammy buzz, with the Montgomery composition engaged by more than 20 orchestras, including Pratt performances with the Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Baltimore symphony orchestras.

Rabideau is currently Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, senior editor of Emerging Fields in Music (Routledge), and president of the College Music Society.

(Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Neil Schicoff, Sumi Jo, Lawrence Brownlee, and more). Internationally, he has sung in Barcelona, Basel, Toulouse, and throughout Germany, where he had a Fest Contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin for five seasons. For the last 15 years, he has been a part of the Metropolitan Opera season. In the 2022–23 season, he sang Hobson in Peter Grimes, Ramfis in Aida, and Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte. This season he returns for Tannhäuser, Nabucco, and Turandot. Other recent highlights include the leading role of Sir Morosus in Strauss’s Die Schweigsame Frau at Bard Summerscape and Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer with the Canadian Opera Company. At UIUC Wilson studied with Prof.

Nicholas DiVirgilio.

Matt Temple (BME ’94) is Director of Bands at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, and currently serves as vice-president of the National Band Association. In Apr. 2023, the New Trier Wind Symphony performed in the newly renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Performance highlights included On the Mall

by Edwin Franko Goldman in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the march, and the premiere by a high school ensemble of Michael Markowski’s multi-movement work Desert Sage. Markowski worked with the band prior to their performance and was present at the concert.

Fortune 500.

Harold Wilson’s (BM ’97) career as a bass has taken him to some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses where he has sung with opera’s biggest stars

2000–2009 Adrian Bettridge-Wiese (BM ’08) started a new position as Senior Engineering Manager at AuditBoard, which provides software to more than 40% of the Kyong Mee Choi’s (DMA ’05) animated film rare yet soft received several awards, including from Florence Film Awards, London Movie Awards, and International Gold Awards, and an Honorable Mention from New York Movie Awards. rare yet soft is the first section of Choi’s animated song cycle What is not lost. Additionally, Flowering Dandelion for violin and electronics is published on vol. 32 of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States’s ongoing series featuring recordings of electro-acoustic works by member composers. This volume includes pieces by Choi, Kristopher Bendrick, Adam Mirza, Lisa Renée Coons, Robert McClure, Carolyn Borcherding, and Eli Stine, selected from the 2022 annual festival at Western Michigan University.

Chris Combest (DMA ’09) is Associate Professor of Tuba and Director of Graduate Studies at Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro). He recently released a new solo recording, MOSAIC, which features the music of Debussy, Ravel, Koetiser, and Strauss, and produced a new remaster of the historical recordings of euphonium virtuoso Leonard Falcone, The Artistry of Leonard Falcone, now available on all streaming services.

Jenna Daum (BM ’06) has been appointed Acting Principal Flute with the Phoenix Symphony for the 2023–24 season. Previously she held the orchestra’s acting second flute position (since 2012) and remains active in community outreach programs, frequently performing at homeless shelters, juvenile detention centers, and schools throughout the Phoenix, AR metro area.

Daum is excited to continue enriching the community through her new appointment.

After graduating, Nick Del Villano (MM ’08) spent five years teaching instrumental music in Danville, IL and Canandaigua, NY. In 2013, he won a position with the U.S. Air Force Bands. He is now in his 10th year as a regional bandsman with the USAF. After serving a threeyear tour in Virginia, Del Villano and his family of five lived in Germany for five years, touring 19 different countries across Europe and Africa. Del Villano is now lead trumpeter and tour manager for the Rhythm in Blue Jazz Ensemble stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, VA. He brings the band up and down the Eastern U.S., from Maine to South Carolina, as a military musician spreading goodwill and entertaining thousands.

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al u mn i n e w s Currently residing in Bentonville, AR, Daniel Fry (BME ’95, MME ’03) has accepted a position as choir and piano instructor for Grades 7–12 at Arkansas Arts Academy (Rogers, AR). His previous appointment was as Interim Director of Music Activities at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis; he completed a 12-year affiliation with the school in May 2023. His wife, Jayne, is a regional director of planning and construction for the St. Louis-based Mercy hospital system.

Jared Gray (MM ’04) was named Guitar Director at L. J. Alleman Fine Arts Magnet Academy, the flagship program for middle school guitar school students for the Lafayette Parish School System (LA).

In June 2023, John Bell (MME ’77), Jennifer Moder-Bell (BME ’00), Jeremiah Kramper (BME ’00, MME ’06), and William Rank (BME ’01, MME ’06) led the Illinois Ambassadors of Music trip through a fivecountry European tour, including Crans Montana, Switzerland (pictured).

Amanda Pond (BM ’94, MM ’00) is Principal Flutist for both the Danville Symphony Orchestra and the MillikinDecatur Symphony Orchestra. Concurrently, she holds positions as second flute/piccolo in the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and second flute in the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral

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positions, Pond is beginning her sixth year as Instructor of Flute at Millikin University and fourth year as Instructor of Flute at UIS. In Oct. 2022, she and Julia Jamieson (MM ’02) were soloists with the MDSO, and in Mar. 2023, she and Tatiana Shustova (DMA ’13) performed in ISO’s “Sunday at Six” recital series. In May 2023, she performed as a soloist with Pei-I Wang (DMA ’10) at the inaugural Five Cities Baroque Festival. Pond also served as an adjudicator for UIUC’s Smith Women’s Scholarship in both 2022 and 2023.

Under the direction of William Rank (BME ’01, MME ’06), the Oak Prairie Junior High School Jazz Ensemble (Lockport, IL) performed exceptionally at the 2023 Illinois Music Education Conference (Peoria, IL) in Jan. The ensemble is an extracurricular extension of the District 92 Bands.

The performance included works by Nat Adderley, Neal Hefti, Juan Tizol, John Dorhauer, and Alfred Ellis.

Steven Riley (BME ’08) is serving as Interim Director of Bands at Arkansas State University for the 2023–24 academic year, assuming additional teaching and administrative duties while continuing his work as Director of Athletic Bands, a position he has held since 2018.

James Romain (DMA ’04) toured with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti, on their 2023 North American Tour. Romain performed the alto saxophone solo on Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, with seven dates in AZ, CA, OK, IA, and Toronto.

In Dec. 2022, Adam Rusek (BME ’07) presented his doctoral dissertation, “The Effects of a Cross-Curricular Reading Instructional Program on General Music Students in the Fourth Grade” (University of St. Francis).

This research studied the impact of the Lyrics2Learn program when utilized during general music instruction within a large urban school district in IL. Rusek is also beginning his second year in the new position of Coordinator of Recruitment, Retention, and Mentoring within the Human Resources Department of Joliet Public Schools District 86.

Stephanie San Roman (BME ’06) was selected as one of 30 music educators nationwide for a 2023 Music Teacher of Excellence award through the Country Music Association Foundation. The award supports educators who demonstrate exemplary teaching and student learning, and who are committed to making a positive impact on their school and community while raising awareness for the broader cause of music education. The award consists of $5,000 to be split between classroom and personal expenses, along with an allexpenses paid trip to Nashville, TN for the awards ceremony.

This year Rachel E. Scott (BM ’05) published two articles related to her dissertation on Alma Mahler (“‘Shot Into the Air Like a Rocket’: Climax in the Lieder of Alma Mahler” and “Data Scraping YouTube for the Study of Lieder Reception”) as well as several publications related to open access publishing and open educational resources (Open Access Literature in Libraries: Principles and Practices; “Exploring Faculty Perspectives on Open Access at a Medium-Sized, American Doctoral University;” “Exploring Faculty Perspectives on Text Selection and Textbook Affordability;” “Music Scholars and Open Access Publishing;” and “‘Having a Textbook Locks Me into a Particular Narrative’: Affordable and Open Educational Resources in Music Higher Education”).

Vanessa Sielert (DMA ’05) completed her six-year tenure as Director of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho in Jul. 2023. She returns to teach saxophone and jazz bands as Professor of Music at LHSOM in Jan. 2024 after her sabbatical. Her recordings of two newly commissioned works by Dan Cavanagh and David Faleris with pianist Catherine Anderson were scheduled for release in fall 2023.

Daniel Teadt (BM ’98, MM ’00) premiered two works as baritone soloist in the 2022–23 season, Bill Payn’s LOVE with Susquehanna Valley Chorale and Gilda Lyons’s To Breathe Free for Resonance Works.

He continued his exploration of Gustav Mahler’s songs with an appearance on the Carnegie Mellon Chamber Music Series performing Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder. Teadt also appeared with Singing City and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra as baritone soloist for Stephen Paulus’s To Be Certain of The Dawn. Teadt continues his work as a voice professor at Carnegie Mellon University and voice coach for TEDx.

2010–2019 Andre Acevedo (DMA ’14) has been a performer, clinician, and private teacher to over 50 private students, as well as a masterclass teacher, in the North Dallas area for the past six years. His students have placed in the All-Region, All-Area, and All-State Bands. In 2023, Acevedo takes on his first appointment in higher education as Adjunct Professor of Music – Saxophone and Jazz at North Central Texas College.

He is tasked with rebuilding the jazz program, which ended during the COVID19 closures of 2021–22. Acevedo also started an annual jazz summer camp held at Braswell High School where he serves as the

camp’s director. This year 34 students participated in the camp, with plans for growth in the next school year.

Chanah Ambuter (MM ’15) has continued to advance the presence and study of th e h a r p i n M i chi ga n throughout 2022–23. Recent performances include chamber orchestra and orchestral-choral concerts with local ensembles and liturgical organizations, including Oakland University and Grosse Ile Musicale; public community events, including several solo performances commissioned by libraries, fundraisers, and churches; weddings/ engagements; and open-houses at retirement communities. Versatility and adaptability have been two of Ambuter’s “themes” this past year: unique performances involved musical collaborations with clients’ loved ones at private events, adapting classic love songs from non-Western traditions (most recently, Arabic and Indian) for the harp, and creating new duo arrangements with violin and flute colleagues. Ambuter continues to teach a flourishing studio of over 20 harp students, ages six to 76, enabling them in their musical explorations, from academic orchestras to solo/small ensemble liturgical offerings to “Saturday Po rc h M u s i c ” fo r n e i g h b o r s a n d communities.

James Blachly (MM ’13) was honored to be invited to deliver the 2023 Convocation Address for the UIUC School of Music and was able to reconnect with inspiring professors and staff. 2022–23 also saw debuts with the Detroit, Rochester, and New Haven symphony orchestras. A second recording with Experiential Orchestra is scheduled for Mar. 2024.

Chee Hyeon Choi (MM ’07, DMA ’12) has been appointed Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She presented at

national and international conferences of the College Music Society, Association for Technology in Music Instruction, and Music Teachers National Association, as well as at the international Music by Women Festival and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy. Her performances were featured at venues such as the Composers in Asia Symposium, Pablo Center at the Confluence, Central Florida Composers Forum, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. She performed as principal keyboardist with the Heartland Festival Orchestra and Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. She served on the faculty at Bradley and Millikin universities and as a coordinator of the UIUC Piano Laboratory Program.

She has been on the ISYM piano camp faculty since 2007. She was the recipient of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association Teacher of the Year Award.

Diane Couzens (BM ’12) was appointed Strategic Initiatives & Operations Manager at Ramapo College of New Jersey. In this role, she manages cross-functional projects with Admissions, Institutional Advancement, Marketing, and more. Additionally, she serves as treasurer for the National Flute Association and teaches a small private studio of students.

Torance Douse (BME ’10, MME ’14) resides in Chicago with wife Samantha and three children, Sofia, Israel, and TJ. He serves as a worship pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, teaches PreK–8 music at Old St. Mary’s School of the South Loop, and has a growing studio of private music students (voice, piano, guitar) at the Fortson Arts & Music Education Center.

Zachary Geller (BME ’10, MME ’18) accepted a new position as PreK–12 Fine Arts Teacher Leader in School District U-46 in Elgin, IL. Geller is excited to work with music, art, dance, theatre, and mariachi staff in U-46 to develop, implement,

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al u mn i n e w s maintain, and support instructional design for their award-winning Fine Arts Department.

Rebecca Johnson (DMA ’10) was recently awarded tenure at Eastern Illinois University, where she has taught flute since 2007. For Johnson, 2023 included concerts for Trio Village with Cara Chowning (DMA ’14) and Elizabeth Sullivan (MM ’08, DMA ’13), as well as service as president of the National Flute Association.

Ingrid Kammin (MM ’08, DMA ’12) was recently appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Voice at Illinois Wesleyan University and Head of the Voice and Choral Area. Kammin is also Director of the Ralla Klepak Community Music Scholars and Explorers Programs at IWU. These programs provide access to music lessons and classes to underserved students in District 87 and Unit 5, as well as music education and experiences to individuals with disabilities throughout central IL. Aaron Kaplan (BM/BME ’11, MM ’13) music directed She Loves Me and Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party for Blank Theatre Company, an emerging storefront theatre in Chicago. The two shows garnered 15 Joseph Jefferson “Jeff” Award nominations, including Best Music Direction in the Non-Equity category for The Wild Party. Upcoming shows include Promises, Promises (Blank) and The Addams Family (Metropolis Performing Arts Center). Kaplan also completed his 10th year as an orchestra director at Glenbrook high schools (North and South) and became conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestras, as well as serving as Sinfonia Orchestra conductor, a position he’s held since 2020. In fall 2023, Kaplan’s JAM Orchestra was putting together a concert

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production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame with full choir and orchestra.

In 2022, Tim Kraack (MM ’11) was appointed Director of Choral Activities for Saint Paul Academy (MN). In this new role, Kraack directs two middle school choirs and two upper school choirs, and music directs two musicals. Earlier in 2022, Kraack accompanied the premiere of his new choral work This is the Small Song I Sing with the SPA Community Chorale, and premiered his original full-length musical, The Logic Pit, with Twin Cities Theater Camp.

Anne Marie Kuhny (BM ’12, MM ’14 & ’15, DMA ’18) coordinated two of the largest piano competitions in the state of IL: the Illinois State Music Teachers Association North Competition and the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association SonataSonatina Festival. She also judged a Chicagoarea piano competition with six other esteemed doctorate-holding faculty members to serve advancing pianists in the Chicago metro area. She presented two academic lectures, “Preludes to Debussy: Introducing your Students to the Great Impressionist Master” and “Introducing Chopin’s Etudes.” In addition, Kuhny serves as Program Consultant and Program Coordinator for Sinfonia da Camera’s Summer Piano Institute at UIUC. She continues to perform actively and has a growing studio of over 40 piano students, several of whom placed highly in Chicago-area piano competitions and evaluations during the last academic year.

Elisa Moles (DMA ’17), flute, and Molly O’Roark (DMA ’19), harp, of MEMO duo performed their hour-long show Relive—combining live theater, an original play, visual multimedia, and the world premiere of newly commissioned music. The show investigates

the meaning of legacy across the lines of time, geography, culture, and life and death, alongside featured compositions: the sixmovement suite Time and Memory by Atlanta-based composer Brandon K. Smith and Cosmic Changes by UIUC Associate Professor Emeritus Zack Browning. Relive was premiered at the National Flute Association convention in Phoenix, AR, Aug. 3, 2023. memoduo.com.

Hailing from Taylorville, IL, Drew Ninmer (BM ’12) now lives in Los Angeles, where he has been a freelance trumpet player for over 10 years. In 2023, Ninmer has had the pleasure of performing with the LA Philharmonic on concerts of Verdi and Rachmaninoff, as well as in a live to picture performance of 2001: A Space Odyssey and a concert of Disney animated favorites. In addition, Ninmer performed in Otello with the LA Opera and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He can also be heard playing trumpet for various TV and movie scores as a studio musician. Ninmer is the cofounder, concertmaster, and contractor of the Southern California Brass Consortium, a 25-piece professional brass ensemble entering its 10th season in 2023–24, and he teaches trumpet at four community colleges in the LA area.

Jessica Pearce (DMA ’18) performed with Calypsus Brass as a part of the Doudna Fine Arts Center’s calendar of premier events in Jan. 2023 at Eastern Illinois University. The group gave a masterclass and recital of new music by historically marginalized composers. Pearce was recently awarded the International Horn Society’s Meir Rimon Grant to commission a new work for Calypsus Brass. The ensemble was also recently awarded a Sparkplug Foundation Grant to support the commissioning and recording of their upcoming album.

Fall 2023 marked the start of Pearce’s sixth year as Instructor of Horn at EIU. It is also

her 11th season with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and her ninth with the ChampaignUrbana Symphony Orchestra.

Rose Schmidt Riley (MME ’15) is in her 12th year as a music teacher, currently serving as K–6 music and 7–8 choir director for the Bay School District in Bay, AR. Riley became a National Board-certified teacher in the area of Early and Middle Childhood Vocal Music in 2022. In Aug. 2023, she completed the MM in Music Education – Kodaly Emphasis from Lakeland University in Plymouth, WI, which is a combined degree and Organization of American Kodály Educators-endorsed certificate program.

Jeffrey A. Spenner (BM ’10) was named Orchestra Artistic Director of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale (CT) in Feb. 2023.

He was reengaged as guest conductor for the Lexington Philharmonic (KY) in Jul. 2023, this time on short notice to fill in for their absent music director.

Spenner continues as Assistant Director with the premier U.S. Coast Guard Band and was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 3 this past summer. He has conducted the band in over 100 events in the past four years including season concerts, school concerts, and high-level military ceremonies. In fall 2023, at the invitation of Dale Pointon (MM ’13), Spenner will travel to Perth, Australia to adjudicate at the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association Junior Festival. While there, he will serve as a clinician for various school, community, and professional militar y ensembles.

Dane Suarez (MM ’12) made his off-Broadway debut in the world premiere of Kate Tarker’s Montag at Soho Rep (NYC). Other season highlights include covering Apollo in Strauss’s Daphne with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, stepping into Luigi (Il tabarro) with On Site Opera, and debuting Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana) with Lyric Opera of the North.

Alleya Weibel (BA ’17) had an exciting year performing in Venice, Dubai, and Marbella. She recorded for the upcoming album Take That with the Northern Session Orchestra and performed on multiple stages at Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK. Her musician management company won multiple national awards in the UK for “best private hire musicians for events.” Weibel also enjoyed playing with the Illinois Electric String Ensemble in Germany. In summer 2023, she continued to tour the UK with the Urban Soul Orchestra.

J. Michael Weiss-Holmes (MM ’06, DMA ’12) joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra on their 2023 European Tour with Maestro Stéphane Denè ve, which included performances at the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. WeissHolmes also presented a deeply personal, emotional recital with pianist Casey Dierlam (MM ’06) titled “It’s Okay. We Love You. Come Home.” The program featured all queer composers (works by Jennifer Higdon, John Corigliano, Lowell Liebermann, and others) as these two renowned performers explored the six stages of queer identity development through music. Weiss-Holmes plans to record music from this recital for a future album.

Ka-Wai Yu (DMA ’11), Associate Professor of Music at Utah Tech University, was recently given the Board of Trustees’ Excellence in Education Award for his teaching accomplishments. He was a featured artist in the 2023 Tucson Cello Congress, Blue Sage Center for the Arts (CO), and Center for the Arts at Kayenta (UT). He directed the fourth Southern Utah Early Music Festival, at which students from the University of Utah and Utah Tech performed together on period instruments at both universities.

In summer 2023, Yu taught at the Saarburg

Music Festival (Germany), where he also gave a cello recital at the Städtische Musikschule Schwäbisch Gmünd. He was a featured soloist with the Southwest Symphony Orchestra in Sep., performing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major. He will complete his two-year term as past president of the Utah American String Teachers Association in 2024.

2020–2023 In Nov. 2022, Scott Augustine (DMA ’22) was awarded first place in the Panamerican Clari-Sax Yucatán Henri Selmer Competition in Mérida, Mexico. Henri Selmer Paris sponsored the competition, awarding the first prize winner a saxophone from Selmer’s latest model line, the Supreme.

Augustine competed with musicians from across the Americas. The jury was composed of Selmer artists from Europe and Central and South America, including Italian clarinetist Alessandro Carbonare and the French saxophone quartet Quatuor Morphing.

Augustine spent a week in the beautiful city of Mérida, the state capital of Yucatán, making friends among the other competitors and enjoying delicious regional food.

The competition took place during Día de los Muertos and the three-day traditional festival of Hanal Pixán, wherein residents leave offerings for deceased loved ones.

Augustine completed a DMA in Saxophone Performance in May 2022 with Debra Richtmeyer.

Violist Ryan Beauchamp (DMA ’21) collaborated with violinist Breanna Thornton in a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Bermuda Philharmonic in Mar. 2023.

He has resided on the island, where he is Suzuki Strings Director at the Bermuda School of Music, since 2019.

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al u mn i n e w s Andrew Bruhn (DMA ’23) graduated in May 2023 with a DMA in Choral Music from UIUC and has accepted a full-time tenure-track position as Director of Choral Activities at Illinois State University beginning fall 2023. His dissertation was “The History of the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign Graduate Choral Music Program, 1958–2023.”

David Caplan (BM ’21) recently won a fellowship to perform with the Grant Park Orchestra (Chicago) for their 2023 season at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Caplan has joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for their 2023–24 season.

Ben Carrasquillo (DMA ’23) recently joined the faculty at Eastern Illinois University as Instructor of Trombone and Jazz Studies. His piece Refulgence for solo trombone and 8-part trombone ensemble was published by Cherry Classics. Recorded in June 2023 by Austin Seybert (MM ’14), with Carrasquillo conducting, the piece can be heard on Seybert’s forthcoming album, Untold Stories.

Less than a week after earning his doctorate in jazz drums, Drew Cox (DMA ’23) began touring nationally with established singer-songwriter Alex Williams.

Brooklyn transplant Andrew Danforth (MM ’22) released his first record as leader on Sept. 8, 2023. Danforth’s album, Homegrown, pays homage to his upbringing in the Midwest and includes pieces dedicated to his time in Urbana which, as the

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birthplace of several iconic Midwest emo and post-hardcore bands of the ’80s and ’90s, remains a steady influence for Danforth’s continued artistic growth. The album is available on Bandcamp, iTunes, and other music streaming services. Additionally, Danforth’s quintet performed in the Indy Jazz Fest at the internationally renowned Jazz Kitchen for the last leg of their 10-day Midwest tour.

Jose Gobbo (DMA ’20) released the album Storytime, a duo collaboration with bassist Max Beckman featuring eight original compositions. He has been curating the “Art of Jazz” series at the Pharmacy Gallery in Springfield, IL. Gobbo started teaching at the Arthur School District and Eastern Illinois University and published the book The Guitar Style of Toninho Horta with Guitar Chamber Music Press (Decatur, IL).

In fall 2023, guitarist and composer Jose Guzmán (DMA ’20) was gearing up for the release of his Latin jazz group’s new album, Fiesta at Caroga. The album, which has received partial support from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events grant, will be released on several streaming platforms and available for purchase on CD. In support of the album release, the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective will be performing across the country in several venues, including Evangelines Bistro (St Louis, MO); North Street Cabaret (Madison, WI); Bop Stop (Cleveland, OH); Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (Chicago, IL); and festivals like Jazz and Ribs Fest (Columbus, OH). In addition to his work with the Collective, Guzmán instructs the teen Latin jazz ensemble at Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood.

In 2023, Ralph Lewis (DMA ’21) was elected by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States’s membership to the first-ever role of Member at Large for Outreach. He recently began serving as Adjunct Instructor of Music Composition at Millikin University. In the last year, Lewis received premieres from The Arc Project (UK), Radiophrenia (Glasgow), Keri Lee Pierson/Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame (NYC), Pärnu Contemporary Music Days (Estonia), Sara Hook at October Dance (IL), and the Orpheus Institute (Belgium), as well as performances at Audio Rocket Festival (Japan), New Music Gathering (OR), and College Music Society. He presented research about Johnny Reinhard’s practices at the Orpheus Institute’s Performer-Composer Conference, about All Score Urbana at Penn State New Music Festival and Symposium and to the CMS, and about DuoTube with Robin Meiksins at SEAMUS. All Score Urbana returned to in-person sessions in summer 2023.

Thereza Lituma (MM ’22) performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, and Music of the Baroque this past year, in programs which included works by Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, and Stravinsky. During the 2022–23 season, Lituma became an associate member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and a full-season member of the Music of the Baroque Chorus. In Mar., she debuted with the Music Institute of Chicago as alto soloist in Schubert’s Mass in F and Brahms’s Ständchen. Lituma spent the first part of her summer in Charleston, SC as a Voice Fellow at the Spoleto Festival, where she performed in Samuel Barber’s operatic masterpiece Vanessa, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, and a mixed choral repertoire program featuring Thomas Tallis’s Spem in Alium. In July, she debuted the role of

Dorabella (Mozart’s Così fan Tutte) at the Academy of Vocal Arts (PA) under the direction of Luke Housner (DMA ’95). Lituma joined the SoM’s administrative team as Interim Director of Music Admissions in Feb. 2023.

Daniel McCarthy (DMA ’22) joined the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College in fall 2023 as Guest Faculty of LGBT Studies. Their interdisciplinary courses include: music and identity through race, gender, and sexuality; queer archival methodologies; feminist and queer activisms; and queer of color critique. As an interdisciplinary scholar of both music performance and queer and feminist thought, McCarthy presented an invited talk for the Luise E. Peake Music & Culture Colloquium Series at the University of South Carolina in Mar. 2023.

Forthcoming publications include a journal article on transgender and gender nonconforming musicians in symphony orchestras, and an essay on queer sentimentality and the music of Samuel Barber.

Rowan Ownby (BME ’20) sang the National Anthem at the Chicago Cubs game on Jul. 18, 2023.

In summer 2022, Lauren Saeger (DMA ’20) became the branch manager and children’s librarian of Steele Memorial Library in Mount Olive, NC as well as the humanities librarian for all Wayne County (NC) public libraries, utilizing her DMA in Jazz Voice and MLIS in Library Science (‘09) from UIUC. Her job consists of reading and singing to babies, hanging out with kids while building with LEGO, planning free concerts for the public, creating a new makerspace for public use, and generally enjoying the Wayne County community.

New concert series brings music back to the Brün house

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n September 2023, Turn Around Music Series debuted with two nights of music at the Herbert Brün House in Urbana. Spearheaded

by UIUC graduate students in percussion Matthew Miller (DMA candidate) and Brant Roberts (DMA student) along with alumni Mark Enslin (DMA ’95), Ralph Lewis (DMA ’21), and Susan Parenti (DMA ’86), Turn Around hopes to foster a new meeting space where music- Miller, Parenti, Lewis, and Roberts in the makers and concertgoers from all Herbert Brün house sorts of Champaign-Urbana crowds can interact, co-create, and generally have a new experience.

Composer and computer music pioneer Professor Emeritus Herbert Brün taught at the SoM and in the Campus Honors Program from 1962 to after his 1988 retirement. He also co-founded of the Performers’ Workshop Ensemble, members of which (including Parenti and Enslin) in the late ’80s instigated the House Theatre project to foster an alternative approach to mainstream performance. After Brün’s death in 2000, the house near Crystal Lake Park was purchased by Parenti and her husband Patch Adams for use as an archive of Brün’s works (graphic scores, reel-to-reel tapes, etc.) and managerial home for the Herbert Brün Society. Public activity at the house ceased during the pandemic, and now—following in the House Theatre spirit and building back from pandemic-related venue loss and artistic alienation—Turn Around resumes performances with a new focus and wider goals.

The first iteration of this recurring series interwove composition and improvisation to explore the “living” moments that happen in not-totallycomposed live music. Programmed works were written and performed by Lewis (piano), Miller (vibraphone), and Roberts (percussion) perform Lewis’s Return to Bloland; the project leaders, alongside pieces not pictured: Mark Enslin (bassoon) from notable U.S. composers: Miller’s intimate Romance for small percussion; Parenti’s musicolingustic dialogue on junk mail, A Radish is My Teacher, introduced by an Emily Dickinson recitation; Christopher Burns’s Alligator Char; Robert Honstein’s An Economy of Means; and a quasi-improvised group game piece by Lewis, Return to Bloland, among others. The space itself offers a nontraditional musical experience, with pieces performed throughout the home’s various rooms—sometimes simultaneously, in dialogue with scattered artwork and scores—and discussion between attendees and performers encouraged.

Turn Around’s next performances are scheduled for December 2023, with more to follow in 2024.

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stud e n t n ew s

Photo by Jeremy Sison

Michelle Bell (DMA student, Wind Conducting) was selected to present at the College Band Directors National Association conference in Athens, GA as well as the CBDNA Athletic Band Symposium in Cincinnati, OH this past year. The presentation discussed the process of developing grit in students through focused language, creating challenges, and finding opportunities for failure.

Bell’s “Growing Grit” presentation has also been accepted for presentation at the 2024 OH and IL Music Educators conferences.

Bell (center) at CBDNA’s conference in Athens with UIUC Bands faculty

Madison Booth (DMA student, Flute Performance) was a Flute Fellow at the 2023 National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, CO, a prestigious 8-week summer festival allowing young professionals to gain orchestral experience through intensive rehearsals, diverse programming, and concerts presented to Breckenridge and the surrounding community.

Booth also won the second flute/piccolo position with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, placed second in the 2023 MidSouth Flute Society Young Artist Competition, and won UIUC’s concerto competition, which allowed her to perform with the UISO in Nov. 2023.

Michael Broussard (PhD student, Musicology) presented a paper, “Negotiating Space in ‘Les Bons Temps’: Nostalgia and Belonging in Louisiana Dance Halls,” at the 22nd biennial International Association for the Study of Popular Music conference in Minneapolis. Inspired by his upbringing in

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southwest Louisiana, Broussard’s research asks people to remember their experiences from dance halls they attended, a once prominent source of entertainment now sparse in current-day social life.

“Being able to present my research for this conference was such a validating experience. I spend much of my time reading or writing, so to share stories of the people I work with makes it feel worthwhile.”

—broussard In July 2023, Audrey Conklin (MM, Clarinet Performance) won second place in the International Clarinet Association Orchestral Audition Competition in Denver, CO. Conklin enjoyed meeting and performing for judges Yehuda Gilad, Tzuying Huang, and Radovan Cavallin.

“The ICA Orchestral Audition Competition was a helpful experience while preparing to take professional orchestra auditions.

I’d like to thank my professors, Dr. Janice Minor and Dr. Iura de Rezende for all their help and support!”

Dymit (center) with the Mivos Quartet at the Ateneo Musical del Puerto in Valencia

piece, Dymit also presented on his other compositions, including recent pieces for jazz ensemble.

Julia Escobar (DMA candidate, Flute Performance) attended two programs in Italy this summer to further her flute and piccolo studies: The Complete 21st Century Flutist (Mondovì) and the International Piccolo Festival (Grado). These programs brought together a diverse group of teachers and students from around the world, with Escobar being one of only two students from the U.S. at the piccolo festival. She is honored to have studied with Rena Urso, Fiorella Adriani, Marina Piccinini, Heather Clark, Snježana Pavićević, Adriana Ferreira, Gudrun Hinze, Natalija Jović, Nicola Mazzanti, Pamela Stahel, and Ebonee Thomas. Read Escobar’s blog post about her travels in Illinois Public Media’s newsletter Clef Notes: will.illinois.edu/clefnotes/ entry/guest-blog-julia-escobar-italy.

—conklin

Ethan Dymit (Senior, Composition-Theory) traveled to Spain in summer 2023 for the Valencia International Performing Arts Festival, where his work for string quartet, Staircases, in Three Directions, was premiered by the Mivos Quartet. In addition to rehearsing and workshopping the

Grace (left) with the festival woodwind section, at the Rudolfinum in Prague

Abby Grace (Junior, Flute performance) was one of two flutists admitted into the

Prague Summer Nights festival in the Czech Republic. During this time, she performed symphonic works, operas, and chamber music in historic venues such as the Estates Theater and the Rudolfinum.

Katlin Harris (PhD candidate, Musicology) received the Nicholas Temperley Research Scholarship to support archival dissertation research at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center, as well as a short-term exploratory grant from the Center for the History of Business, Technology and Society at the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, DE. During her travels, Harris consulted corporate records from collections pertaining to the Standard Oil Company (NJ) and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Matthew Kelley (Junior, Clarinet Performance) successfully auditioned for the Wheaton Municipal Band (Wheaton, IL), performing weekly concerts with the ensemble in Memorial Park in summer 2023.

Composed of 70 musicians ages 19 to mid80s, the group is preparing to perform at the 2023 Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference in Chicago.

Samantha Lampe (PhD ca n d i d ate , Musicology) won a Graduate College Dissertation Travel Grant to support research in NYC about how Broadway musicals generated tourism for the city in the “I Love New York” campaign during the 1970s and ’80s. Over the summer, she visited the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Shubert Archive.

Her dissertation studies how the League

of New York Theatres and Producers worked with the government to reshape the theater industry around tourism, along with how musicals, such as A Chorus Line and Annie, presented idealistic versions of the city to audiences.

Kathleen McGowan (PhD student, Musicology) gave a paper, “‘Let her hasten to Girton that standeth on high’: Women Musicking at Cambridge University, 18691893,” at the Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain Conference at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. The conference, attended by scholars of music, history, literature, and library science, was recently reviewed on the Royal Musical Association’s website.

See: rma.ac.uk/.

performing alongside Seattle Symphony’s Demarre McGill, recently retired St. Louis Symphony flutist Mark Sparks, and others.

Aubrie Powell (PhD candidate, Musicology) presented an invited lecture, “‘Mama’ and the ‘Rodeo Clown’: Care in Country Music,” for the Laboratorio Interdisciplinare sulla Musica at the University of Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy on May 22, 2023, facilitated by ethnomusicologist Marco Lutzu and cultural anthropologist Kristina Jacobsen. Presenting on her ethnographic work with a country music jamming community in Bosque Farms, NM created by musicians and dancers over the age of 65, Powell explored how repeated themes in songs contribute to networks of care among the elderly in a social context that isolates and pathologizes aging.

Brant Roberts (DMA student, Percussion) was appointed lecturer in percussion and music education at the University of Louisville (KY) in Aug. 2022 and adjunct instructor of percussion/drums at UIS in Aug. 2023.

Jae Hyun Moon (DMA student, Flute Performance) won the New York Flute Club’s Young Artist Competition in spring 2023, besting competitors from Juilliard, the Manhattan School, and the New England Conservatory, among others. As the flute teaching assistant at Brevard Music Festival in summer 2023, Moon was thrilled to win the festival’s concerto competition, which gave her the opportunity to play Frank Martin’s Ballade with the festival orchestra in late July.

Brynna Paros (DMA student, Flute Performance) was selected to participate along with 10 other flutists at the renowned Aspen Music Festival, learning from and

“Traveling to Louisville from Champaign is quite a trip, but the students and faculty at U of L are top notch. Getting to work in such a great environment early in my career helps me get through the 5 a.m. commute.”

—roberts

Jonathan Schneider (MM, Harp Performance) received a Presser Foundation Award to participate in the 10-day Harp Masters Academy in Mondoví, Italy and the Nice International Summer Harp Academy in France. He had the opportunity to work with teachers from the Conservatory in Milan and the Royal College of Music, principal harpists from the Teatro Alla Scalla, Vienna Philharmonic, and Berlin Philharmonic.

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stud e n t n ew s faculty. This fall, he will co-teach C4A’s new Fledgling Jam for early childhood music engagement.

Schneider with Ieuan Jones, professor at the Royal College of Music in London, at the Sala Verdi in Mondoví, Italy during the Harp Masters Academy

Schneider began his summer journey in Spain, giving several concerts in Catalunya, and ended in Saluzzo, Italy, where he participated in a competition, after giving several concerts near Venice.

“It was such an incredible experience being surrounded and taught by so many amazing harpists. I’m so grateful to the Presser Foundation and the School of Music at the University of Illinois for supporting me and providing me with these wonderful opportunities.”

—jonathan schneider Peter Tijerina (DMA candidate, Jazz Trombone Performance) was an adjunct instructor at Lincoln College before it closed in spring 2022. Later that year, he reviewed jazz albums in both the Online Trombone Journal and Jazz Today; co-presented at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s symposium on Music Composition Pedagogy as part of the All Score Urbana faculty; and reached 1,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel for trombone pedagogy, music education, performance, and learning to play jazz.

Tijerina continues to perform regionally with his jazz quintet and nonet and is currently collaborating with national and international composers as part of the ASU

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In summer 2023, Yuyuan Yang (MM, Flute Performance) attended the Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival, where she studied with The Prairie Winds Quintet. She was also chosen to perform in a masterclass for soloist and principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Denis Bouriakov, at the Chicago Flute Club festival (Oct. 1 at Epiphany Center for the Arts).

This summer Lisa Altaner (Senior, Music Education), Matthew Kelley (Junior, Clarinet Performance), and Mariano Morales (Senior, Music Education) were selected by audition to participate in the biannual National Intercollegiate Band hosted by Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, making them the first UIUC students in the ensemble since 2017. The 2023 NIB was conducted by Rodney Dorsey and featured the premiere of Michael Daugherty’s The Adventures of Jesse Owens. The band had three days of rehearsals, led by Dorsey and Daugherty, before concluding with a concert on July 11 to kickstart the Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma National Convention in Orlando, FL.

In July, the 2023 cohort of Illinois-Cambridge Music Scholars traveled to Cambridge, England: Jack Bertrand (PhD student, Music Education), Adam Brinati (BA, Music; BALAS, History), Isabella Cooper (BFA, Acting), Frida Guerro (BMA, Lyric Theatre), Marley Lammers (BMA, Lyric Theatre), Yanni Ovalle (BMA, Music Education), Keegan Roddy (BA, Music), Kyglo Webb (MFA, Acting), and Lauren Zimmerman (BMA, Lyric Theatre), accompanied by Stephen Fairbanks (Music Education) and Nicole Turner (Academic Programs and International Education). The students pursued a broad range of research and performance projects, including a study on multi-sensory listening; a paper on political protest music in 18th-century Edinburgh; an exposition on queerness, chapel, and imagined hostilities; a recital performance in the University Church of Great St. Mary’s; a comparative study of music assessment across international contexts; and a concert for environmental advocacy at Girton College. Throughout their four weeks of residency, each of the students received individualized mentorship on their projects from world-leading scholars. Students also attended performances at renowned music venues such as the Royal Opera and BBC Proms, as well as throughout London’s West End.

Illinois students and faculty at King’s College wildflower meadow in Cambridge.

Back: Marley Lammers, Lauren Zimmerman, Frida Guerro, Stephen Fairbanks, Isabella Cooper, Keegan Roddy, Nicole Turner, Yanni Ovalle Front: Kyglo Webb, Adam Brinati, Jack Bertrand Left to right: Kelly, Morales, Altaner

stud e n t a w ard a nd c o m pe ti t i on wi nner s 2 1 S T- C E N T U R Y P I A N O COMMISSION COMPETITION Esther Lee Jung Hyun Lee

DOROTHY A . AND CL AUDE R. L ANGFORD KEYBOARD FELLOWSHIP Yu-Chen Hsieh

A ARON HILBUN MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP IN MUSIC Alexis Esher

DOROTHY HORTON SCHOL ARSHIP Alexis Esher

ALBERT AUSTIN HARDING AWARD Andrew McGowan Michael Tuleo ANDRE W GEORGE DE GR ADO PIANO SCHOL ARSHIP Chang Jiang BR ASS ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Jerry Min Jackson Teetor B R O N Z E TA B L E T S C H O L A R S Sophia Diaz Yuku Fu Kevin Kato Kathryn Pierce C A R O LY N J O Y C E M I T C H E L L D A V Y MUSIC SCHOL ARSHIP Noel Chi CHANCELLOR’S SCHOL ARS Max Ando Michelle Bae Ryan Boone Jonathan Boudreaux Michael Deresz Joseph Dubravec Ethan Dymit Connor Friedman Grantham Gallier Abigail Grace Joel Hoo Renzo Mark Ledesma Annie Li Andrew Orals Amber Phillips Kathryn Pierce Ayumu Seiya George Siegle Caitlin Towell Alexander Winkel Cale Wolf CHIP DAVIS/MANNHEIM STE AMROLLER ORCHESTR A AWARD Joshua Dolney CL AR A ROLL AND PIANO COMPETITION Chang (Helen) Jiang DANIEL J. PERRINO SCHOOL OF MUSIC SCHOL ARSHIP Yanni Ovalle DONNIE HEITLER JA ZZ SCHOL ARSHIP Leon Lewis-Nicol DORIS VANCE HARMON SCHOL ARSHIP Anastasia Curtis

DR . CHARLES LEONHARD D I S S E R TAT I O N R E S E A R C H A W A R D Mindy Park EDMUND C. WILLIAMS AWARD Jonathan Dufresne Bailye Hendley Jeremy Sison EDMUND PL A SZ YCZ YKOWSKI MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP FOR E XCELLENCE IN MUSIC David Martinez EDWARD KROLICK STRING SCHOL ARSHIP Samuel Calhoon Madeline Noga Olivia Vamos Jessica Zhang ELIZ ABETH MEIER FR AUENHOFFER MEMORIAL AWARD Emily Lee F R A N Z J O S E P H H AY D N SCHOL ARSHIP IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE Noel Chi Nathan Hollis FR ANZ LISZ T PIANO FELLOWSHIP IN HONOR OF EDWARD AND LOIS R AT H Jooae Cheon FR ANZ LISZT PIANO SCHOL ARSHIP IN HONOR OF E D W A R D A N D L O I S R AT H George Siegle G. JE AN SUT TER MUSIC E D U C AT I O N S C H O L A R S H I P Agnieszka Zochowska GARY E. SMITH E XCELLENCE IN LE ADERSHIP AWARD Michael Tuleo GER ALDINE B. COOKE SCHOL ARSHIP Anne-Louise Anstey Ethan Dymit Clara Galbraith Matthew Neuberger Nathan Tilton GERTRUDE WEBER GASSMAN PIANO AWARD Qingping Ye G O L D E N LY R E A W A R D Martin Pizarro GR ACE ELIZ ABETH WILSON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR E XCELLENCE IN SINGING Nathaniel Waterson GREGG AND JEFF HELGESEN FELLOWSHIP Adriano (Goio) Lima

G U Y M . D U K E R I N S T R U M E N TA L M U S I C E D U C AT I O N A W A R D Sophia Diaz

JERRY HADLE Y MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP Nathaniel Waterson

GUY M. DUKER SYMPHONIC BAND AWARD Sophia Diaz Peter Varga Ian Welch Allison White

JESSIC A BRENNAN CL ARK SCHOL ARSHIP Matthew Felbein

HOWARD A . STOTLER FELLOWSHIP Hector Camacho-Salazar Hugh Davis Annemarie Eaton Claudia Espinoza Que Nguyen Ricardo Perez Aidan Singh I L L I N O I S O P E R A T H E AT R E ENTHUSIASTS AWARD Hector Camacho-Salazar Emma Mize Alejandra Sandoval-Montanez Caitlin Towell Eldon Warner JAMES SCHOL ARS Joseph Anderson Max Ando Michelle Bae Jonathan Boudreaux Adam Brinati Noel Chi Meg Ciko Campbell Coker Anastasia Curtis Owen Cushing Michael Deresz Sophia Diaz Amanda Duran Alexis Esher Beth Fineberg Clara Galbraith Diya Ghayal Numair Hajyani Haley Hamilton Margaret Hancock Ainsley Holland Joel Hoo Jaelyn Hudson Kevin Kato Ryan Kazda Kaitlyn Kowalski Annie Li Jefferson Lin Clay Loveless Evan Matthews Emily McGovern Naomi Niekerk Leah O’Dekirk Maeve O’Hara Lia Pappas Lindsay Peters Amber Phillips Katie Pierce Anna Poel Hailey Robb Aidan Sawall Juliana Scofield Wilson Shrout George Siegle Caitlin Towell Olivia Vamos Allison White Kyle Widener Cale Wolf Matt Yang Rose Zhang

JOE BARTKOWIAK MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP Jet Conway JOHN GARVEY SCHOL ARSHIP IN JA ZZ STUDIES Richard Dole JOHN WUSTMAN MUSIC SCHOL ARSHIP FOR VOICE STUDENTS Lewis McAdow JOSEPH W. SCHL ANGER MEMORIAL OPER A SCHOL ARSHIP Ramman Takhsh J O Y C E D U S T I N B A LT Z SCHOL ARSHIP Nicholas Callcut Satoshi Kamei Sasha Preskill Olivia Vamos JUDY RIEMENSCHNEIDER MARDEROSIAN MEMORIAL MUSIC SCHOL ARSHIP Isaiah Calaranan JUNE AND CHARLES ROSS PIANO F E L L O W S H I P I N H O N O R O F PAT T I AND BERNARD PHILLIPS Esther Lee KR ANNERT DEBUT ARTIST Esther Lee, first place (piano) Jonathan Dufresne, second place (saxophone) Lewis McAdow, third place (baritone) LE X AND SHEIL A YOUNG MUSIC E D U C AT I O N A W A R D Rinaldo Zepeda L O U I S E TAY L O R S P E N S E SCHOL ARSHIP Satoshi Kamei Rebecca Keller Sean Lane-Bortell Kyle Mesa Tobias Miller Danica Southerland MARCELL A K . BROWNSON FELLOWSHIP Mora Novey MARCELL A K . BROWNSON SCHOL ARSHIP Kevin Kato MARCHING ILLINI DRUM MAJOR SCHOL ARSHIP Patrick Duncker MARCHING ILLINI DRUMLINE SCHOL ARSHIP Emma Lemke

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stud e n t n ew s M A R C H I N G I L L I N I “ L O YA LT Y ” SCHOL ARSHIP Ryan Berry William Briolat Jessica Hendrickson Cameron Paddack Kathryn Pierce Molly Podraza Lauren Schissler MARGARET GOLDSMITH RICE AWARD Hugh Davis MARK HINDSLE Y BAND AWARD Emma Lemke Noah Livingston MC ALLISTER MEMORIAL MUSICOLOGY AWARD Samantha Lampe MIRIAM L. EKBOM SCHOL ARSHIP Andrew Lopez Kathryn Pierce Catherine Tarpey Annika Templin Allison White Alexander Winkel Cale Wolf M U S I C E D U C AT I O N A C H I E V E M E N T AWARD Joseph DeMaria Isaiah Calaranan Clara Galbraith Maya O’Neill MUSICOLOGY ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Nicole Vandervlugt NANC Y KENNEDY WUSTMAN MEMORIAL AWARD IN VOC AL A C C O M PA N Y I N G Nicholas Pothier ORGAN AND HARPSICHORD ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Anastasia Curtis O U T S TA N D I N G G R A D U AT I N G S E N I O R S I N M U S I C E D U C AT I O N Jessica Zhang Nathaniel Waterson PA U L R O L L A N D M E M O R I A L S T R I N G AWARD Makiba Kurita (undergraduate) Anna Wallace (graduate) PA U L I N E V. A N D R A L P H C. MORGAN MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP Tae Hyoung Lee PERCUSSION ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Nicholas Evanoff PE TER AND RIT TCHELL YA U FA M I LY M U S I C O L O G Y SCHOL ARSHIP Jean Rene Balekita Reginald Payne Colin Rensch PIANO ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Chang (Helen) Jiang

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PIANO PEDAGOGY ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Kevin Kato PROFESSOR FR ANCES CR AWFORD MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP Nathan Tilton REID ALE X ANDER SCHOL ARSHIP Mingyeong Kim Esther Lee Fenella Theodore RICHARD RUAL CL ARK VOC AL SCHOL ARSHIP Hector Camacho Salazar R O B E R T E . G R AY T R O M B O N E AWARD Poorna Kumar ROBERT E. THOMAS AWARD Ryan Kazda ROBERT H. GREEN MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP Caitlin Towell ROBERT L. Z ARBOCK SCHOL ARSHIP YeonWoo Cho Liliana Mansfield ROBERT SWENSON AWARD Jonathan Boudreaux S A L LY E M R I C H P I E R C E A N D C .

DAVID PIERCE SCHOL ARSHIP Michael Tuleo SAR A DE MUNDO LO AWARD Shayne Piles STRING ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Luke Brann Horacio Hernandez S U S A N S TA R R E T T S C H O L A R S H I P Luke Brann Noel Chi Stephanie Ha Jacy Jacobus Angelica Kreul Noah Kublank Makiba Kurita Elsie Layman Andrea Maldonado Ayumu Seiya S W A N S O N FA M I LY P E R C U S S I O N FELLOWSHIP Jiarong Wang TA L E N T E D D I V E R S E S T U D E N T SCHOL ARSHIP Isaiah Calaranan Sophia Diaz Yanni Ovalle Carmella Scambiatterra TA L E N T E D B A N D S T U D E N T Mitchell Berg Elisabeth Bieber Jonathan Boudreaux Sarah Castle Noah Coughlen Sophia Diaz Jason Kazin Shane Nelson Ethan Prado Allison Torf Connor R. Yoon

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TA L E N T E D M U S I C S T U D E N T SCHOL ARSHIP Joaquin Ancheta Daphne Anderson Anne-Louise Anstey Brendan Baxtrom Olivia Bell Samuel Calhoon Nicholas Callcut Mario Campbell Joseph Cangelosi Celia Chambers Meg Ciko Francesco Console Jet Conway Simon Cooper Anastasia Curtis Tanner Day Joseph DeMaria Ethan Dymit Alexis Esher Nicholas Evanoff Sophie Freeman Matthew Felbein Dillon Flynn Clara Galbraith Abigail Grace Jacob Guglielmi Margaret Hancock Horacio Hernandez Megan Houlihan Samuel Inmon Benjamin Irwin Kevin Kato Ryan Kazda Rebecca Keller Matthew Kelley Leo Klem Francesca Korbitz Joshua Kwong Jonah Larsen Stefan Loest Jaela Ludwick Shibashis Mandal Annika Marchi Owen Meldon Emily McGovern Rebecca Mills Jerry Min Shane Nelson Naomi Niekerk Maeve O’Hara Zachary Olbur Andrew Orals Lia Pappas Lindsay Peters Addison Petrine Amber Phillips Indya Reed Hailey Robb Owen Robinson Safi Rouhi Pablo Rosales Nicolai Rutkowski Juliana Scofield Wilson Shrout Joshua Spinner Erin Stanton Luke Suarez Heather Swartz Ramman Takhsh Nathan Tilton Olivia Vamos Eric Verplaetse Justina Wojahn Noah Weisbard Ian Welch Agnieszka Zochowska

THELMA WILLET T PIANO SCHOL ARSHIP David McEathron T H E O D O R E P R E S S E R F O U N D AT I O N SCHOL ARSHIP IN MUSIC Ryan Kazda T H E O D O R E P R E S S E R F O U N D AT I O N G R A D U AT E M U S I C A W A R D Jonathan Schneider THOMAS SCHLEIS MEMORIAL SCHOL ARSHIP Salvatore Castronovo THOMAS J. SMITH SCHOL ARSHIP Paige Calvert, 2023 winner (voice) Jacy Jacobus Natalia Kozintseva, 2023 winner (flute) Makiba Kurita Bonnie Martin Emma Mize Grace Morby Elizabeth Pierzina Caitlin Towell Leah Zhao, 2023 winner (violin) TOWNSEND TRUST SCHOL ARSHIP Axel Aguilera Elisabeth Bieber Jonathan Boudreaux Noah Coughlen Anastasia Curtis Connor Friedman Rebecca Keller Andrew Lopez Gwendolyn Maramba David McEathron Madeline Noga UISO CONCERTO COMPETITION Madison Booth, flute Yarong Guan, piano Honorable Mention: Esther Lee, piano V A L E R I E D E C A S A S FA R A G ACHIE VEMENT AWARD IN CL ASSIC AL MUSIC Chang (Helen) Jiang V A N PA P P E L E N D A M S C H O L A R S H I P Anika DeLong Peiqi Huang Chang (Helen) Jiang Ryan Kazda Yeh Eun Kwon Seung Ah Kwon Lewis McAdow Safi Rouhi Matthew Shepard John Swedberg VOICE ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Jessica Blomberg Paige Calvert Lauren Harper Kennedy Ortmeier Nathan Tilton WARREN H. SCHUETZ MEMORIAL AWARD Andrew Bruhn Lauren Harper WOODWIND ACHIE VEMENT AWARD Celia Chambers Jackson Govern

in m e mo r ia m James Lyke born September 30, 1932 in Syracuse, NY; died August 7, 2023 in Rhinebeck, NY

By Christos Tsitsaros, Professor and Chair of Piano Pedagogy

P

rofessor Emeritus James Lyke passed away at age 90 in Rhinebeck, NY, where he spent his last years with his only son, Kevin. After earning his BS from the State University of New York (Fredonia), MA from Columbia University, and EdD from the University of Northern Colorado, he came to UIUC in 1959, assuming the position of Chair of the Piano Pedagogy division until 1993. His impact on the school was profound, namely in expanding the piano pedagogy program to include training in private and group piano instruction at all levels, and courses in advanced piano skills and jazz keyboard. His exposure to the ideas of Robert Pace at Columbia helped him develop UIUC’s pioneering group piano program to become a leader in the nation. In addition to establishing the MM in Piano Pedagogy (1980), he created the Piano Laboratory Program, a model outreach program for students in the community and a training ground for graduate students in piano pedagogy. In the summers, Lyke headed ISYM piano camps and gave seminars for piano teachers.

Lyke was a guest professor at the University of Michigan (1980– 81) and Adelaide College in South Australia (1986–87). He gave numerous workshops for such organizations as the Music Teachers National Association and Music Educators National Conference, and conducted workshops in Austria, Switzerland, France, Australia, New South Wales, and Cyprus. Following retirement from UIUC, Lyke was coordinator of the piano pedagogy program and director of graduate studies at Georgia State University until 1999.

He then moved to Manhattan, where he remained active as an educator, author, and arranger.

Lyke was co-director of the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy from 1978–82 and MTNA Group Piano Chairman from 1971–75. MTNA appointed him Foundation Fellow in 2001 and the following year bestowed upon him the Frances Clark Award for Keyboard Pedagogy. He was also presented with the Contribution to Music Award from the University of Northern Colorado (2002), the Excellence in Off Campus Teaching Award from UIUC (1990), and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from SUNY College at Fredonia (1979).

Lyke authored several important texts for piano instruction, published and revised numerous times throughout his career: Keyboard Musicianship (a comprehensive, two-volume textbook for college-level group piano instruction), Keyboard Fundamentals, Creative Piano Teaching, and Ensemble Music for Group Piano, and his articles on piano teaching appear in Clavier, Piano Quarterly, Music Educator’s Journal, and Keyboard Companion. His numerous four-hand, two-piano arrangements, as well as solo collections,

are published by Alfred Music, Lee Roberts, Hal Leonard, and Stipes. His lifelong passion for America’s classic songwriters led him to co-found the celebrated American Music Trio consisting of singer and former head of jazz studies Tom Birkner and legendary jazz pianist Don Heitler.

Many students and colleagues benefited from Lyke’s mentorship and support, including the late Reid Alexander, UIUC professor and chair of piano pedagogy; Gail Berenson, Ohio University professor emerita of piano; Tony Caramia, former UIUC professor and current professor of piano at the Eastman School of Music; Samuel

Author’s note I was fortunate to have worked with Dr. Lyke during my doctoral studies in piano performance with a cognate in piano pedagogy at UIUC. Jim was an amazing mentor with a keen understanding of his students and a deep The author with Lyke commitment to them. In 1993, upon (middle) and Reid Alexander (right; moving to Georgia State University, he former SoM chair asked me to replace him as a visiting of piano pedagogy; lecturer, a huge honor being fresh out d. 2015) at a C-U restaurant of my DMA. There followed a number of professional exchanges: in 1994, he invited me to GSU to give a guest workshop on composing for the piano. The following year he came to Cyprus upon invitation from the Ministry of Education and Culture; the two of us gave a series of lectures and masterclasses at the American Academy of Nicosia and shared a recital, the second half of which was devoted to two-piano arrangements of American songs by such composers as Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter.

Jim’s ideas on discovery learning and cognitive instructional methodology as applied to group piano instruction influenced my teaching profoundly, as did his exemplary handling of ISYM piano camps, which I’ve emulated throughout my involvement as faculty and director of them. Above all, his staunch support and encouragement helped me to follow in his footsteps and maintain the standard of excellence he established.

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in m e mo r ia m James Lyke, continued Holland, Arthur Meadows Dean and professor at the Meadows School of Music; Ronald Chioldi, professor at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK; and Geoffrey Haydon, professor of piano at Georgia State University.

Lyke (right) in the American Music Trio with Tom Birkner (left) and Don Heitler (middle).

Morgan Powell born January 7, 1938 in West Texas; died August 20, 2023 in Champaign, IL

By Erik Lund, Professor Emeritus of Composition-Theory, with testimonials from other UIUC Comp-Theory emeriti professors

M

the M usic cO ntinues.

It R e-sounds what he had G iven it, which, you will re-cA ll, is geN tle grace,

organ Powell was a gifted composer P layed and jazz trombonist whose works are withO ut precepts, performed internationally. His primary but W ith compositional interests were in the areas of instrumental and vocal music and purposE and jazz ensembles. He often explored the rich L ove, and complex components of improvisation, never L ost. both structured and free. As a trombonist — william brooks Powell played in many styles and settings, Powell performing with Spinning including chamber music, jazz groups, and Sliding Scratching improvisation-based ensembles. The most notable and long-standing of these was the Tone Road Ramblers, spirit, along with his many talents, made him a beloved figure in a sextet of highly skilled performers/improvisers for whom he the Champaign-Urbana music community (jazz in particular) and composed many works that were performed nationally and well beyond. His physical absence will be filled with the many beautiful memories he created while he was with us. recorded on several albums.

Powell earned his BM at North Texas University where he studied composition with Ed Summerlin and Samuel Adler. He I was blessed to have known Morgan for 47 years as a later studied with Kenneth Gaburo and Salvatore Martirano at composer, performer, teacher, colleague, and friend.

UIUC. During his career, he taught at The Stan Kenton Clinics Morgan’s laid-back and easygoing personality was (1960–64), Berklee School of Music in Boston (1963–64), and UIUC (1966–94), where he was Chair of the Composition-Theory infectious, as was his music. He was one of the most division from 1978–83. Powell received many commissions for his intelligent people I had ever met, but he never pushed his music and was published by several companies. His list of prizes knowledge or beliefs on anyone. Morgan’s music was the and accolades are many, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination same way, in that it was well designed and structured in 2000 for The Waterclown. A full listing of his compositions, with great precision, yet sounded spontaneous, sensitive, recordings, grants, reviews, and more can be found at his website, and emotionally powerful. Listening to him play jazz morganpowellmusic.com. trombone or talk about music was always a joy, even if Well beyond his many professional accomplishments and deserved honors, Morgan was deeply appreciated as a teacher, he was smoking a cigar! Morgan will be greatly missed mentor, colleague, and dear friend to all who knew him. If you by his friends and family, but his positive energy will live met Morgan, you did not forget him. His kindness and generous on through his music.

— zack browning

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what in a few words can I say about Morgan? he mattered to me If you met Morgan, you did not forget him. A gifted and one-of-akind artist: composer, trombonist, improviser, jazzer. A teacher who graced us with his gifts of insight, opportunities, encouragement, and serious critique. A true master of collaboration and collective creativity. I was fortunate to have played and recorded his music, and that he played and recorded mine.

As a colleague he was generous, honest, witty, and not afraid to disagree—and say so. Countless concerts, gigs, dinners, drinks, cigars, conversations with friends, and many, many laughs. Above all, Morgan was a dear friend.

— erik lund

Traditional Jazz Orchestra at Iron Post

Tone Road Ramblers, Powell’s most “serious” band for which he composed for decades, at Ragdale. Back (left to right): Ray Sasaki, Eric Mandat, Morgan Powell, Jack Fonville; Front (left to right) Jim Staley, Steve Butters

Morgan E. Powell was a remarkable teacher, composer, performer, mentor, colleague, and friend—a very special, almost magical person.

Anyone who ever met Morgan immediately sensed a connection with this gentle and genuine person who encouraged everyone with so much insight, generosity, humor, and love of life. His laughter and welcoming smile could melt away any awkward moment and his soft-spoken words of observation and advice inspired all within earshot of his voice. As a teacher, Morgan made so many efforts to offer his students a variety of tools they might use on their own to discover and explore what is truly in music rather than telling them textbook explanations. His students recognized this gift and continue to express their appreciation of his approach long into their careers. Morgan was an incredible musician, composer, performer, and master of improvisation. His performances, especially with the other members of the Tone Road Ramblers, were exceptional, sometimes provocative, but always inspired, showing his skill, authenticity, creativity, and love for making music. His smile, sincerity, laughter, and compositional/performance artistry will be remembered for a very long time to come.

I am so honored and thankful to have known and worked with him for such a long time.

Morgan Powell’s compositions are well structured, flow with apparent freedom, and reveal depth of intellect.

A polished performer and improviser versed in both contemporary and jazz idioms, and a skilled, supportive, and stimulating teacher, Morgan chaired what was in that time a larger Composition-Theory division with tact and fairness. Warm and generous as a friend, witty, always ready with a sharp comment, sometimes sarcastic but seldom mean, Morgan never pretended: authentic, sincere and straightforward in his music and in person, he spoke truth to administrative power more than once. He was a person with whom, over a nice glass and a good cigar, one could always talk freely and honestly and receive the same in return.

He disliked conventional displays and probably wouldn’t have cared for this one either.

— sever tipei

— scott wyatt

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in m e mo r ia m Gifts in support of the School of Music (July 1, 2022–June 30, 2023)

The success of the School of Music depends greatly on the generosity of our alumni, friends, foundations, and corporations. We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the following, who made these gifts. We always welcome new contributors. For more information about making a donation or planned gift to the SoM, or to learn more about our Illinois Music Advancement Council, please contact David Allen, director of advancement, at 217-333-6453 or allend@illinois.edu.

pl anned gi vi ng Legacy Commitments We would like to recognize the following alumni and friends who have chosen to include Music at Illinois through a bequest or other planned gift. Donors who remember the School of Music in their estate plans provide critical funding to establish student, faculty, and program support.

Betty & David Allen Roger Armstrong & Arna Leavitt

Dulce Issa

Linda Anderson

Bruce Johnson

Carol Berthold

Our Illinois Music Advancement Council Executive Committee has done great work to help the SoM and its advancement goals.

IMAC EC members are selected from our annual list of Music Partners and serve twoto three-year terms.

Thank you to our current executive committee. If you are interested in learning how you can be involved, please contact Director of Advancement David Allen or Director Linda Moorhouse.

Robert Blum

Judith & Richard Kaplan

Praphai Boonsermsuwong

Jane Klaviter

David Bowers

Cheryl Lentz

David Bruns & Leigh Deusinger

Eric Lernor

Gloria & Michael Burson

Howard Loveless

Judith Chastain Andrea Durison-Clark & Richard Clark Dale & Lucinda Cockrell Larry Cohen Stanford Collins Shirley Cunningham Cathy & Gerald Ditto Michael Dugard Justin Emery & Randall Lindstrom Barbara & Terry England Bruce & Joanne Erwin James Frame & Candace Penn Frame Michael & Susan Haney Kathleen Harvey John Heath Susan Hoeksema JoAnn Houpt Larry Houtz

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Ronald Johnson Cynthia Jose & Henry Magnuski

Cathy & Preston Gale

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Raymond Janevicius

Patrick Bitterman

Richard Delong

Shirley Soo, chair Maureen Durack Matthew Gorman Richard Murphy Janet Schroeder Rich Schroeder Joseph Rank Pam Rank

Stephen Husarik

Chester Alwes & Marlys Scarbrough Alan Baltz

Illinois Music Advancement Council

Elizabeth Hunke & Stephen Ross

Leonard Lewicki David MacFarlane Lezlee Masson Holly (Acker) & Kenneth Mathiesen Sharon Michalove Arundhati & Daniel Neuman Beverly & Thomas Rauchfuss Linda & Ronald Roaks Donna & Mark Rolih Robin Sahner Janet & Richard Schroeder Willodean Simon Linda & Ronald Sims Shirley Soo & Matthew Gorman John Spaulding Albert Staub Craig Sutter David & Deborah Trotter Michael & Nancy Udow Sharon West Paul & Rebecca Wigley Sarah Wigley

$25,000+ Carol Berthold Brenda Brak & Dale Hallerberg Barbara & Terry England Anne & William Heiles Lumina Foundation for Education Craig & Martha Schiele John Wustman

$10,000–$24,999 Cynthia Capek & Edward Harvey Gail Durham & E.B. Philippson John R. Wright and Eloise Mountain Wright Foundation Erin & James Lowe Katherine & Robert McGrath Meredith Foundation Presser Foundation Robin Sahner Christie Schuetz Jeffrey Sposato Wigley Family Fund Paul & Rebecca Wigley Sarah Wigley

$5,000–$9,999 Amy & Matthew Ando Michael & Stephanie Chu Lynd Corley Jim Dixon & Kathie Lockhart Christopher & Maureen Durack Beth & Mark Durbin Michael & Susan Haney Kathleen Harvey Stephen Husarik Ronald Johnson Bill & Tiffany Lesiecki Elizabeth & Peter March Jane & Walter Myers George & Suzanne Pagels Elizabeth & Stephen Peterson Roberta & William Potsic Roger Ray Geoffrey Scanlon Glendon & Julie Schuster Anne & Greg Taubeneck

$2,500–$4,999 Janice Bahr & Erwin Hoffman Barbara E. Barnes Carl & Carol Belber Charles Boast & Marsha Clinard

Nicholas Carrera Joseph Ceo Elliot Chasanov Carol & Willis Colburn John & Niki Devereux Jo Ellen DeVilbiss Nicholas Good & Judith Kooser Daniel Grayson & Carol Livingstone Eric Hammelman Chris & Nancy Hammitt Deb & Bill Harrison Lori & Reiner Hinner Holly & Jack Jordan Timothy Killeen & Roberta Johnson Killeen David & Jennifer Knickel Gina Manola Stephen Manrose Diane & Kenneth Matsuura Claude & Lynda McKibben Ruth Moore Laura & Mark Pils Gayl Pyatt Donna & Mark Rolih Janet & Richard Schroeder Kathryn Sobeski State Farm Companies Foundation Matching Gift Program

$1,000–$2,499 Eduardo & Teresa Acuna Carl & Nadja Altstetter Linda Anderson Jan Aramini & Michael Pettersen Diana & Donald Bagby Richard & Susan Biagi Boeing Matching Gift Program Bruce Bonds Joyce Branfman Carl “Chip” & Sarah Buerger Andreas & Helen Cangellaris Joyce & Salvatore Castronovo Jack & Joy Charney Beth & David Chasco Aracelis Silva-Chevere & Lenny Chevere Michelle Corlew Shirley Cunningham Jennifer & John Currey Darrell Hoemann Photography John Davidson & Shirley Schaeffer Nancy Dehmlow

Lynne & Paul Denig Deloitte Foundation Matching Gift Program Delta Air Lines Foundation Adele & Fred Drummond David Dungan & Mary Granato Dungan Eaton Nikolas Erickson Exxon Mobil Foundation Matching Gift Program Linda & Roger Fornell Christ Forte Roxanne Frey Michael & Sarah Gamage Teresa Glasscock Mary & Richard Haines Donald & Sheryl Harkins Linda Hastings Thomas Hawley & Tom Mantel Eric Hegemann Jamie & Mark Heisler Darrell Hoemann & Kathryn Rybka Carolyn Hofer & Mark Zimmerman Mary Hoffman Dulce Issa Raymond Janevicius Clifford Johnson & Cristina Medrano-Johnson Bruce Johnson Cynthia Jose & Henry Magnuski Edward & Nancy Karrels Thomas Keegan & Nancy Moskowitz Roy King & Jennifer Durham King David & Kelly Koster David & Linda Kranz Cheryl Lentz Sandra Leonard Leonard Lewicki David MacFarlane Donald Maylath Carlye & Timothy McGregor Ian & Kristine McPheron Charles & Trudy Medhurst David & Sharron Mies Craig & Margaret Milkint David Jones & Renata Moore-Jones Barbara & Michael Moore Brian & Mary Moore Steven Ng & Mark Posner Ninneweb Foundation

Roxanna Nixon Debra Pacheco Margene & Peter Pappas Margaret & Robert Pattison Marjorie Perrino Anthony & Kimberly Perry Amy & Dennis Pessis Susanne Philippson Gregory & Julie Reckamp Paul & Yvonne Redman Retirement Research Foundation Jeffrey Rohrer & Joyce Kim-Rohrer Paul & Susan Schlesinger Dennis & Patricia Schwarzentraub Nancy Schwegler Meenal Sethna Jan Sherbert Jeffrey Sibley Wynn Smiley Case & Elaine Sprenkle Jackson & Patricia Sturgeon Cheryl & Robert Summerer James & Patricia Swan Cynthia Swanson Amy & Eric Tamura Joy Thornton Jon Toman David & Deborah Trotter Roberta & Scott Veazey Michael Vitoux Cheryl & Russell Weber Phillip Whipple John & Nancy Whitecar David & Johnetta Wilde Amy & Chad Williams Karen & William Winget Alan Wong Douglas Yeo Laura Yoo Elaine & Harold Yoon

$500–$999 Carolyn & Richard Anderson Erwin & Linda Arends Anton Armstrong Susan Atamian & Lee Hart Paula Bachman Jonathan Bellman & Deborah Kauffman Sue Bergstrom Marjorie & Stephen Bernhardt

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Patrick Bitterman Mary Black Rebecca Boland & Marsha Mann Craig & Nancy Branigan Adam & Lissa Broome Deane Brown & Stephen Eisenstein Elaine & Nicholas Brown Ralph Butler Sarah Carr & Larry Parsons Sandra Casserly Anna & Joel Catalano Chevron Chicago Illini Club David & Heather Chichester Linda & Richard Chuk Janet & Steve Covert Kenneth Davis Annette & Scott Detwiler Cathy & Gerald Ditto DoCha Terri Dodson Carolyn & Patrick Donnelly Jeffrey & Julie Dreebin James Emme Sandra Ettema & Steven Everitt Cleve & Marita Fenley Kathy & James Gamble John Geary Kenlyn & Matthew Geraldi James & Jennifer Gettel Linda & Werner Gieseke Aaron Godwin Sarah Good & Mark Mosley Charles & Linda Gullakson John & Michelle Hackett Joseph Hanley & Kristy Mardis Eve Harwood & Mark Netter James & Susan Hatfield Bruce & Christine Hegemann Sarah Beauchamp & Zachary Hench James & Pamela Hess Collin & Victoria Huart Elizabeth Hunke & Stephen Ross Bruce & Jean Hutchings Andrew & Sara Isbell Julie & William Jastrow Carlyle & Judith Johnson Eric & Heather Johnson Charles & Linda Jordan Elizabeth & James Jozefowicz Elizabeth Kean & Marion O’Leary Cynthia & Robert Kennedy Yoon Kim

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Daniel & Joanne Lockard Brenda & Morgan Lynge Marshall & Nancy Mabie Susan Marchi Linda & Richard Marsho Julia & Michael Maschek Charles Matz & Yvonne Simpson-Matz Patrick & Schelley Moran Elizabeth Morley Carolynne & George Morvis Richard Murphy Clifford & Linda Nelson Diane & Thomas Newkirk David O’Connor & Caroline West Carol Oberg Jeffrey & Rebecca Olson Randall & Sandra Osterbur Don & Elizabeth Palmer William Pananos PNC Foundation Matching Gift Program Elizabeth Raiman Joseph & Pamela Rank W. D. Rankin Edward & Lois Rath Rebecca & Verlin Richardson Linda & Ronald Roaks Robert Ruckrigel Deborah & Stephen Rugg Steven Sabourin Carol & Edwin Scharlau Steven Schopick Brenda & Dale Slack Andrea Solya Julie Somogyi Brian Ostrow & Esther Spodek-Ostrow SPX Foundation Michelle & William Stanley Colleen & Steve Steinberg Barbara & Robert Stiehl Virginia Stitt James & Jill Stocki Lauren & Lawrence Stoner Morgan Sutherland Molly & Timothy Tracy Nancy & Peter Van Den Honert Jeffrey & Kimberly Wahl Catherine Webber H. A. & Kathryn Wehrmann Paul Weston Eric Whitaker Charles & Sarah Wisseman

s on or ities

$250–$499 Keith Anderson & Desiree Helgren Joseph Anthony & Laura Reynolds Claretha Anthony Martha Atwater Bryan & Valerie Bagg Sharon & Theodore Barczak Kathleen & S. Eugene Barton Annmarie Belmonte Brodie & Rachel Bertrand Thomas Bieber & Barbara Petro Jodean Blake Christine & Philip Bohlman Jill & Joseph Bonucci Jeff & Kerri Boone Hannah & Justin Brauer Marta Brinberg Joel Brown & Julie Strauss David Bruns & Leigh Deusinger Jeffrey & Stephanie Bryk Charles & Luana Byte Jeffrey Camp Steven & Susan Chamberlin Roger Clark & Fredric Hoffman Karen Clausius & Douglas Fitzgerald Alexander & Lauren Clawson CNA Foundation Matching Gift Program Gary Cortright & Marlene Koncel Douglas & Laura Coster Mary Ann Coyle Bob & Cathy Crowley Bonnie & John Dauer Jeffrery & Therese DeMouy Diane Denault Susan Devito Tony Diiulio Robert Doak Paul & Teresa Dubravec James Duncker Ann Einhorn Janet Ellis-Nelson & Douglas Nelson Myra Epping & Jim Redlich Katherine & Robert Evans Aldena & Rodney Everhart Paula & Ronald Filler James Frame & Candace Penn Frame Robert France Brian & Tina Gieseke Marjorie & Thomas Goettsche

Susan & Tobias Goodman Mary Goodman Diane Gottheil Aaron Greven & Kristin Boeke-Greven Jane Groft Andrew Groharing Salvatore Guagliardo Julie & Nathan Gunn Garry & Marie Gutgesell Joseph & Karen Hartman Amy Hatch & Channing Paluck Eric & Jennifer Hayes Marlene Helgesen Judy & Richard Helm Diana Holland Cynthia & Robert Hormell Kenneth & Sharon Jakle Alan & Kathryn Janicek Gail & William Jindrich Alice & Rick Joellenbeck Laurie Johnson & Carl Niekerk Nancy Johnson Melissa & Patrick Jung Randi Kawakita Douglas & Josephine Kibbee Jonathan & Judy Klem Amy Knetl Mary Koterba KPMG Foundation Matching Gift Program Joan & Ronald Larner Rebecca Larsen Carol & David Larson Casandra & Kenneth Larvenz Warren Lavey & Holly Rosencranz Ann & Doug Lee Daniel & Tammy Lezotte Brian & Jann Lumbrazo Edmund & Kameron March Deborah & Ricky Mason David & Linda Maurer Amy McArthur & William Theisen Mary McElroy Maria & Timothy McHenry Brenda & William McNeiland John Meyer LeRae Jon Mitchell Robert Morgan Joseph & Lois Morrow Marian & Steve Mueller Kim Nickelson & Louis Sguros Susan & K.D. O’Leary Paulette & Robert Pahlke Jordi Pakey-Rodriguez

Ann Pastrovich Douglas & Rebecca Pinney Andrew & Theresa Piotrowski Bonnie & Kenneth Pletcher Edward & Rebekka Price Ryan Prochaska James Pugh & Grace Talusan Linda Ramsey Rowena & Samuel Rea Emily & Jon Salvani Joseph & Lisa Sanstrom Chris & Diane Sawall Janice Papineau-Schafer & Scott Schafer Amanda & Benjamin Shanbaum Arthur Sievers Brent & Dawn Sinclair Anne & Gregory Skuta Katharine & Terry Slocum Ken & Mary Slonneger Shirley Soo & Matthew Gorman Gail & Joseph Spytek Franklin & Jennifer Stanhope Mariann & Patrick Stanton George Strombeck Charles Swaringen Marie Swenson Kimberly & Mark Tallungan Dennis Thiel Jacqueline Tilles Bruce Tomkins Joycelynn Trask Dale & Martha Traxler Morgan Treppa Karyl & Walter Tyler James & Jie Tyrrell Michael & Sarah Uchic Karen & Zalman Usiskin Michael & Pamela VanBlaricum Jennifer VandeWiele & Matthew Vande Wiele Kumar Venkatasubramanian Amy Wagoner Johnson & Harley Johnson James & Robin West John & Tania Wilken Rodney & Susan Williams Susan Williams Mark & Susan Wisthuff Neil Witek Michael & Nancy Wolford Scott Wood Gregory & Lori Yuccas

$100–$249 John Abelson & Kendall Rafter Larry & Marsha Ackerman Daniel & Olga Adams Carolyn Agenlian Janet Agenlian Martin & Nancy Akins Donna & William Alberth H. Alde-Cridlebaugh & Richard Cridlebaugh Marc Alexander Donetta & Eddie Allen Judy & Stephen Altaner Angie Anderson-Althaus & David Althaus Doris & Kenneth Altman Gail & John Alwan Ameren Jennifer & Timothy Anderson Greg Anderson Ian Anderson Mark & Patricia Anderson Patricia Angeja Jill & Philip Arkin Angela Arnold Travis Atchison Allan & Karen Atchison Dianne Bangert Bank of America Foundation Lisa-Ann & Robert Barnes Allen & Holly Barr Denise Barr Elaine & Neale Bartee Jeanne Bauer & Michael Hamlette Raymond Baum Gordon Baym & Cathrine Blom Edward & Lynne Beach James Beckwith & Sandra Kofler Carol & Robert Behnke Dorothy Bell Andy Bell David & Michelle Bellia Nolan & Rebecca Bello Ernie Belmonte Elaine Benisek Allen & Linda Berry Carol & Spencer Berry Andrea Biernacki Peter Biletzky Joyce Billing Carter & Patricia Black Alan & Maria Blair Ada & William Bleecker Susan Block

Mark Bogetto Eyamba & Molingo Bokamba Jane Bonaldi Roy Bond Matthew Bonderski & Hannah Kuhl Deborah Boswell & John Gardner Tamara Bouseman Donna & Jerome Brand Melissa Breen & Cheryl Snyder Kareen Britt Mari Brown Chandor & Stebbins Chandor Craig Brown Deborah & Jerry Brown Wayne Brown & Brenda Kee Carol & Dan Browne Donna & Gerald Buckler Kenneth & Margaret Buel Julie & Thomas Burenga David & Mary Burke Amy & Jason Burrows Christopher & Maureen Buti Stanley Cain Neal Cammy Laurie Campbell Rebecca Campbell & Eric Walters Ann Lopez-Caneva & Daryl Caneva Raquel Caneva David Dembowski & Debra Carlson-Dembowski David & Laverne Carlson Frank Zelko & Laurel Carney-Zelko Joseph & Pat Carr Ellen Carter Janet & Jeffrey Carter Thomas Cherry Benjamin Cho Anthony & Molly Cinnamon Frank Ciszewski David & Jeanette Clark Gretchen Clifton David & S.D. Coen Marsha & Richard Cohn Amy Cole Amy & Timothy Connelly James Conybear Kathleen & Wayne Corley Janelle & Paul Corn Benjamin Correll James & Shelly Costabilo Nicholas Costello Willard Cottrell

Andrew Cove & Deborah Montgomery Kevin Craine James & Margaret Cross Caroline Cvetkovic & Douglas Litteken Lynn Dale Lynda Dautenhahn & Lee Nickelson Alan & Shelley Davis John & Martha Davis Michael Davis & Barbara Hutchinson Pamela DeLey Richard Delong Dawn & Paul DeMay Laurie & William DeMont Conor Desmond Amy Dev John & Susan DeWolf Marie-Elise Diamond Barbara Di Eugenio & Milos Zefran Irene & Russell Dieterich John & Mary Dimit Charles & Mable Dixon Scott Dodd Jeffrey & Jill Dorries Benjamin & Judith Drew Frances & Scott Drone-Silvers Scott Duff Ellen & Harold Eager Cheryl & Kristopher Einsweiler David Eiseman Spencer Ejupi Terri Ellis Steven Emme Gail & Stephen Enda Jan Erdman Richard & Ruth Erdmann Breanne Ertmer Margaret & Stephen Farr Marshall & Paula Felbein Dean Ferracane & Sarah Kuhl Timothy Flucker & Sydney Gorman Anne & Timothy Fiedler Barbara & Neil Finbloom Barbara & Robert Fisher Emmie Fisher & Shung-Wu Lee Jason Flanagan David & Sarah Fodor Carrie & Timothy Fogle Michael Folliard & Christina Klintworth Diane Foust & James Nelson

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Christopher & Sara Fraker George & Suzanne Freese Andrew & Lisa French Andrew Friedlieb Tracy Friedman Beverly & Michael Friese Bradley & Karen Frost Bret & Karrin Frost Michael & Sandra Frost Bernie Gancarz & Diane Penny Brian Gardener & Karen Roll-Gardener Renee Garrett & Roy Wollen Mary Gassmann & Glen Jaross Ellen Gayde Dorothy Gemberling Angela & Glenn Gentry Gina & Kevin Geraldi Edward & Margaret Germain Cheryl & James Gibson Daniel Gilpin Stephen Glenn Joseph Goble Eric Gobst Timothy Gockel Google Matching Gift Program Julie & Stanley Gorbatkin Robert Gordon Kathi Grafe & Karim Kabbara Therese Graham Joe & Rebecca Grant Graybar Andrew & Margaret Gregory Susan & Thomas Grey Carol & Walter Gruchala Kathleen Guarna & Matthew Johnson Amy & Mark Gurra Gregory Haar John Haberlen David & Teresa Hagerman Barbara Haggh-Huglo James Hall Michael Hall Daryl & Marion Halverson Matti & Mary Harm Dauna Hayman Julie & Robert &Healy Michael Heaton Michael Hebert Denise Hegemann Elizabeth Hendrick-Barstead Catherine & Scott Hendrickson Jack Henhapl

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Paul Herman Dana & Heather Hermanson James Hile & Nancy Whitaker Gene & Mary Hill Jane & Robert Hindsley Debra & Michael Hirschi Denise Hodges Linda & Michael Hollyman Sara Hook & Sean Murphy Carolyn Horne & James Roberts Abigail & Barry Houser Brian & Luanne Howard Samuel & Susan Huber Michael Hurtubise & Ann Murray Megan & Troy Huber Heidi & Jeffrey Huck Sharon Huff William Hughes Ann & Patrick Hughes Brice Hutchcraft Sarina Israel Cary Izzi & Sharon Klein Diana Jaher Laurine Jannusch David Jayne Gordon Johns David & Susan Johnson Andrew & Audrey Johnson Delia & Erick Johnson Kathryn & Richard Johnston Theresa Jordan & Merrick Kossack Eric Jordie Richard Jorgensen Thomas Jozefowicz Judith & Thomas Jung Marcia Karol Deborah & Stephen Kasak Michelle & Steven Katz Chris Kawakita Robert Kelleher Herbert Kellman & Susan Parisi Carrie & David Kelly Carol & William Kem David & Elizabeth Kesler Delbert Ketteman Nina Key Tammey Kikta & Richard Warren Lisa & Peter Kim Karen Kimball Timothy King Kirkland and Ellis Karen & Matthew Klickman Helena Klumpp

s on or ities

Matthew & Melissa Knapik Thomas Knetl Megan & Thomas Kostal Dobrila & Petar Kovac Michael & Tracey Krause Claudine Krishnan Kristas Legacy Foundation Kenneth Krynicki & Victoria Walter-Krynicki Barbara & David Kuhl George & Sara Kuhns Andrew & Susan Kunz Ellen Kuroghlian Joo & Min Kwon Daniel Laginya Marian Lang Mead Tammy Lange Cole Lanham Shelley Lapin Bert Lasley Dana Lasley Henny Lasley Reid Lasley Diane & James Lauridsen Karrilynn Le Blanc Linda & Russell Leigh Gabriel Lewis Louis & Mary Liay Blake & Laura Linders Mark & Martha Lindvahl Gail & John Little Coradel & William Little Gary Livesay & Valerie Vlahakis Adam Long Cheryl & Robert Lucas Laura Luckadoo Mike Lutz Alberto Macin Bruce & Gail Mack Brian & Tiffany Macke Boyd & Eloise Mackus Dana & Michael MacNichol-Wood Janet & Stephen Madden O. J. Magana Gayle & Jeffrey Magee Nancy & Steven Magee Marguerite & Walter Maguire Mahomet Seymour High School Christine & David Main Linda Martin Jameson & Maria Marvin Donna & Peter Marzek Terence McBurney Candice McCafferty

Anne & Stephen McClary Alan McClung Gary & Haven McClung Megan & Scott McClung Danny & Kelly McFarlin Scott McKinney Linda McKown Alexander McLane Cherise & Christopher Mead Cynthia & Earl Meister George Meyer Christine & William Miller Catherine & James Mirakian Kellie Mize Frank & Jeanie Moccio Daniel & Karen Moffett Mary Ann Moody Willaim Moore Susan & Truman Moore Helen & Robert Morgan James & Shirley Morikuni Nancy Morse Sandra Wilkey-Muller & Karl Muller Analise Mulvihill Jeremiah Mulvihill Dawn Munson Jeffrey Murley Julie & Rich Murray Michael Hurtubise & Ann Murray David Myrow & Susan Bundy-Myrow Laura & Veat Neal Milo Neal Emily Neal Andrea & Kyle Neilson Julie Nelson Dawn & Matthew Neumann Patricia Newman William Nicholls Michelle & William Nielsen James Niemeier & Jen Palecek Eric & Susan Nitzberg Loretta & Robert Norgon Elizabeth & Raymond North Gerald & Mary Norton Paula Novak James & Rachel Nowakowski Elizabeth & Mitchell Nuss NVIDIA Matching Gift Program Angela & Michael O’Brien Thomas & Valerie Oakley Jennifer & John Okrzesik David Osterlund

Dennis & Janet Ottmers Scott Paddack Albert & Roberta Panozzo Lisa Parekh Karen Parrack Laurel Passantino Claudia Patel Lisa & Todd Patterson Alma & David Patton Mari & Thor Paulson Linda Perry David Perzov & Erin Leuschel ‘ Perzov G. David & Jean Peters Dawn Peterson Cullen Philippson Barbara & Terrence Piazza Cynara Pierzina Michael & Muffy Pinney Michael & Sally Pope Diane & Michael Potts Karyn & Lyle Quandt Jeff Randall Alexis & Richard Rasley Maureen Reagan & Bruce Zimmerman Frances Reedy Lou & Sue Reinisch Barbara & William Rice Diedra Richards Adam & Carole Richardson Joann & Luzern Richter Lois & Robert Richter Charles & Joann Roe Franz Roehmann James & Leslie Rose Kathryn Rouker David & Rebecca Rubin Kenneth Rubin Holly Rush Donna & Gerard Sabo Julie & Mark Samaras George Sanders Jeanne & Ray Sasaki Aaron Saucedo Kimberly & Raul Saucedo Gracie & John Scambiatterra Joel & Sarah Schad Megan Schaefer Dennis Schafer Tatiana Schaffer Norma & Steven Schehl Joan & Tyler Schehl April & Kent Schielke

Gregory & Kathleen Schissler Ralph Schlesinger Christopher & Mary Schmitz Herbert Schneiderman Kathleen & Mark Schoeffmann Ramonde & Steven Schopp Alan & Joanie Schrock Tobie Schroeder Patricia & Wallace Schroth Frankie & Lelon Seaberry Arnout & Tobi Sellekaerts Beth Shackelford Suzanne Shell Teresa Shine Camille & Dean Shoucair Amy & Joshua Shrout Ned Siegel Birute & Vaidotas Simaitis Dan & Michelle Simmons Ruth Simon Charles & Patricia Simpson Ellen Singer Nirupama & Rajesh Singh Janet & John Skadden Jerrold Slutzky Slutzky Law Firm Kevin & Susan Small Sharon & William Smiley Casey & David Smith Donna Smith Karen Smith Mark & Rebecca Smith Alan & Christina Sodetz Kathleen & Paul Sons Kathleen Soso & Thomas Webb James & Tracy Spade Diana Speicher Christopher & Elizabeth Spytek Kim Stanfield David & Karen Stein Michael & Monica Stengel Jeffrey Stephens Jennifer Stephens James & M.S. Straub J.D. & Patti Sulser Laurence & Marlene Svab E.J. Swarr Jeffrey & Tara Swearingen Karen Takeuchi Frederick Taylor Kathleen Thomas Frederick & Susan Thorne Mary & Robert Towner Jeffrey & Ruth Trimble

John & Susan Trippiedi Tuesday Morning Music Club Gary Unruh Don Upton Erin & Gene Vadala Daniel & Janine Valkema Pamela Van Arsdale John Van Hook William Vanoss Gregory & Jean Verklan Mary & Tino Villaflor Jeanette Volquardsen Douglas & Nancy Wachob Jean & Michael Wagner Michael Waldbusser Kimberly Walden Nathan Walker Polina & Richard Waller Walt Disney Foundation Catherine Waltz Larry Ward Ryan Waters William Watson

Mary Weichbrodt Lisa Weinstein Alexander & Brittany Weiss Bonnie Johansen-Werner & Duane Werner Alan Wesa Michael White Patricia White Betty Wise Kenneth & Lorraine Wistrom Mark Wojahn Frances Wolf Joel & Julie Wommack Jim & Joy Woolley Daniel & Kimberly Wurl Yang Xiang Xiaoni Zhang Quanhua Zhou Richard Zielinski Ellen Zindel Joan & Roger Zmrhal Wilma Zonn

On the Cover Clockwise from top right: Iura de Rezende (Clarinet) performing with pianist Dijana Čizmok at the Glasbena fabr’ka festival in Borovnica, Slovenia in May 2023 Ruiyi Xin and Qianqian Du performing Chen Yi’s Pipa and Guzheng on March 24, 2023 at the closing concert of Chen’s residency at UIUC; photo by Darrell Hoemann Álea 21 (Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico) performing during the opening concert of Encuentro Puertorriqueño de Creación Musical at UIUC, March 30, 2023; photo by Fred Zwicky Ollie Watts Davis (Voice, Black Chorus) at the inaugural South Africa National Association of Teachers of Singing Chapter conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa, July 2023 Michael Silvers (Musicology) with Antônio Barroso, Francisco Ferreira da Silva, and José Barroso Neto in Ceará, Brasil, September 2023 Yvonne Redman presented interdisciplinary research at a collaborative global conference in London, England for voice instructors Makoto Takao (Musicology) presenting his paper “Sounding Kirishitan Identity in 16th-Century Japan: Centering Intercultural Methodologies in the Practice of Global Music History” at the 2023 Edward W. Said Days; photo by Peter Adamik Carolyn Watson (Orchestra) with attendees of the International Conductors Guild conference in Valencia, Spain, January 2023

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