Creative Restless Spirit

By Katie Feehan

Collaborating, composing, and creating are just a few ways you can find Katie Madonna Lee, Master of Music in composition ’19, spending both her professional and spare time. Lee is currently focusing much of her creative energy on producing and recording her musical, Irish Catholic which is in the pre-production stage. The musical has been both an exciting endeavor and one of many great musical accomplishments Lee has worked on recently.

Lee was drawn to IU South Bend after working with professors such as, Dr. Jorge Muñiz, interim dean Raclin School of the Arts, music professor of composition and theory, and Ryan Olivier, assistant professor of music. Lee feels that, “with music programs it is more about the teacher than the overall program.”

After having met with several music schools and professors of composition, Muñiz stood out to her as a composition professor who really cared about her artistic development; “He encouraged all of his students to develop their own voice. With composition, that can be rare. All his music students sound different from one another – a sign of an effective teacher. After being a student in his composition studio, I applied to the Music program as a full-time composition student. Dr. Jorge Muñiz and Dr. Jennifer Muñiz, assistant professor of music, were so wonderful to work with, a real power team,” Lee explains.

Although her passion for music was clear, Lee also recounts that there were many challenges during her time as a graduate student, including exhaustion and financial stress. She looks back on those times as challenging, pointing out that, “most of the challenges were money related. Music school is very demanding timewise and it is hard to find a part-time job that can work with your schedule. There were times when I did not have food to eat and ate potato chips every day or hoped someone would feed me. My part-time job did not pay well and added more stress on to my life at the time. Money problems were a huge conflict for me and other students,” Lee recalls.

As a student being financially stretched and pressed for time, Lee does wish her time as a graduate student could have included more classes that didn’t focus on actual composition, but having overcome such challenges has benefited her in the end. “The best experiences, the experiences in which I took life lessons from and gained the most skills were from Dr. Muñiz studio lessons, composer’s forum, Dr. Olivier’s electronic music classes and the IUSB Audio/Visual Collective (AVC). I highly recommend getting into the AVC ensemble that Dr. Olivier directs. Supportive creative people – it is truly a forwardthinking ensemble. Any class that Dr. Olivier teaches will be a worthwhile challenge both creatively and academically. I discovered I am very passionate about social issues and electronic music. That was a major turning point for me; working with EC/21 on my piece “The Immigrants” and the IUSB Philharmonic on “Disco Demolition” which were both major milestones for me, musically. Along with that, studying voice with Dr. Caraman, visiting professor in music, and working with Dr. Boucher, collaborative pianist, during my recital were nourishing moments. Dr. Jennifer Muñiz’s music theory classes are outstanding as well,” Lee explains. Lee was also able to study piano with Ketevan Badridze, interim Martin Endowed Chair of Piano – that is a cherished moment for Lee.

Lee describes herself as a creative restless spirit who is always moving and doing, and since graduating in 2019, she has been busy working on many different projects in addition to recording for her musical, Irish Catholic.

One accomplishment Lee has achieved is collaborating and working with Grammy Award winning Conductor David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony. Her own musical works have also been performed by musicians both nationally and internationally. The new music duo, Transient Canvas, performed her piece “Tiny” at the Charlotte New Music Festival, and another musical piece of Lee’s, “Rising Water” was performed at HighSCORE festival in Pavia, Italy.

“I have been doing a lot of traveling! Recently, I returned from a composer’s residency in Austin, Texas, ‘Keep Composers Weird’, which was so exciting. Austin is an amazing city and so supportive of live music. The Texas Music Office made me an Honorary Texan while I was there, for writing a piece at the Blanton Museum of Art entitled, ‘Knuckles ’97’. The only thing that could have topped that experience was if Willy Nelson and Matthew McConaughey showed up to my officiation,” Lee says. In her most recent musical accomplishment, Lee has been selected for the Fresh Ink Festival this June, where she will work alongside major international composer, Jennifer Higdon. The festival offers artists a great opportunity to hone their skills and create with other talented people.