THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Faculty NEWS
Joyce castle, University Distinguished Professor of Voice, sang in October in Santa Fe, New Mexico in an event for donors of the Santa Fe Chorale. Nathan Salazar, BM ‘11 in piano performance, accompanied Castle, who performed works by Leonard Bernstein and William Bolcom. Michael Compitello, assistant professor of percussion, performed with The Percussion Collective at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana in November. The group, made up of alumni of the Yale School of Music’s percussion program, headlined the convention’s performances. New Morse Code, a duo of Hannah Collins, assistant professor of cello, and Compitello,
December 2018
visited Kent State University and Cleveland State University at the end of September, playing a concert, and reading student compositions. Br andon Dr aper, percussion lecturer, and his company Drum Safari toured extensively throughout the summer with four teams of performers in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Wyoming and Kansas. Drum Safari performed more than 200 shows at summer music festivals, libraries and community events and reached about 32,000 children. In October, Drum Safari continued with a six-show residency in Salina, Kansas schools through the Salina Arts and Humanities. The residency included two unique programs, Samba Walk, focused on cultural diversity, inclusion, music, health and fitness for kindergarten through fourth grade; and Mindful Movement, focused on mindfulness, yoga, empowerment and meditation for fifth through eighth grade.
In August, Draper released Summer of 808, an 80’s inspired beat tape that was released on cassette by Cult Love Sound Tapes in Tulsa, Oklahoma and digitally worldwide. In September, Draper performed in two sold out performances of Fado music with Ensemble Iberica and Sony recording artist Nathalie Pires. In October, he performed with the Marcus Lewis Big Band – Brass and Boujee, which opened for Janelle Monae. Brass and Boujee is a fusion of hip hop and jazz with an 18-piece big band, string quartet and two rappers fronting the band. Its debut album charted No. 2 on iTunes Jazz and No. 15 on Billboard Jazz.
Also, in June, the KU Brazilian Steel Band, directed by Draper, headlined the final day of the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina. The band is pictured above. Abbey Dvor ak, assistant professor of music therapy and music education, and Eugenia HernandezRuiz, PhD, MT-BC ‘18, had the paper “Outcomes of a Course-based
Cover Photo: The KU Choirs, conducted by Paul Tucker and Mariana Farah, and the KU Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carolyn Watson, performed in the 94th Annual Holiday Vespers on Dec. 2 at the Lied Center of Kansas.
QuickNotes - December 2018 - music.ku.edu
Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) for Music Therapy and Music Education Students” accepted for publication in The Journal of Music Therapy. The project was also chosen for the Oral Research Session as one of the top four research poster submissions at the American Music Therapy Association National Conference in Dallas, Texas in November. In addition, Dvorak and Hernandez-Ruiz presented “Crafting and Facilitating Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in Music Therapy Education” at the same conference. These series of works explore ways of improving research skill development of undergraduate students, a critical need in the music therapy profession. Mariana Far ah, associate director of choral activities, presented a session on “Aligning the Department/ School with Central Administration Expectations and Initiatives” at the College Music Society Pre-Conference Workshop on Embracing the Diversity Imperative: A Deep Dive into Strategic Initiatives for Inclusion, Access, and Equity in Music. The conference took place in Vancouver, Canada in October. Vince Gnojek, professor of saxophone, performed the Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble composed by Zechariah Goh, DMA 14 in music composition, on Sept. 20 at the Lied Center. The concerto is a virtuosic work composed as a tribute to Goh’s mother, who passed away shortly after the premiere performance of the piece in 2012. Goh, who is the head of theory and composition at the Nanyang Acaademy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in Singapore, attended the performance and gave presentations to Rec 100, student composers, the saxophone studio and graduate conducting students. Also, Gnojek was awarded a faculty travel grant from the Office of International Programs last spring and traveled to Shenyang, China during the week of Oct. 6-14. He gave master classes to 20 saxophone students, presented a Commercial Saxophone Reed Adjustment Clinic and coached a saxophone quartet. He also performed a recital with two faculty pianists from the Shenyang Conservatory. The recital and presentations were well received by the four saxophone teachers and 60 saxophonists at the Shenyang Conservatory and Northeastern University. Debr a Hedden, professor and director of music education, recently completed a Fulbright in Vilnius, Lithuania, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at Vytautas Magnus University (formerly the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences) and conducting research. Her research project focused on observing excellent
music teachers in the boys’ singing schools (one for primary children and one for intermediate) and the girls’ singing school (one school for preschool through high school) in order to investigate how time was used in rehearsals: teacher talk, children’s singing, teacher talk over children’s singing, and teacher modeling. Singing schools are partially funded by the Lithuanian Ministry and student tuition, offered after the school day in buildings not associated with public schools. Children typically attend these for 1.5 to 2.5 hours each day, four days a week if they choose to enroll. Quality of singing is highly prized in Lithuania and is promoted through the singing schools, competitions and festivals offered throughout the year. Paul Laird, professor of musicology, has been kept busy by celebrations of the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. In August he coordinated and hosted concerts by the Lawrence Opera Theatre and KU School of Music. In September he presented a lecture on West Side Story for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Guild “At Ease with Opera” series and did the preperformance lectures for all five performances of the show for the opera company. In a trip to southern California on Oct. 9-10, he lectured on Bernstein in a class at California State University at Fullerton and presented an invited lecture on Bernstein’s Songfest at the University of California at Riverside. On November 10 he presented the keynote lecture on Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms at the Bernstein at 100 Conference at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. Also he was in residence at Skidmore College on Nov. 30 Dec. 1 for their Leonard Bernstein at 100: Dream with Me celebration. At Skidmore, Laird taught two classes, took part in a symposium on Songfest, and hosted the concert. Laird’s biography of Bernstein, published earlier in 2018 by Reaktion Books, has been issued in a Spanish translation by Turner Libros of Madrid. In other news, Laird’s chapter “The Wizard of Oz and Wicked: Resonances, Legal Issues, and Appropriation of a Classic” appeared in the collection Adapting The Wizard of Oz: Musical Versions from Baum to MGM and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2018), edited by Danielle Burkett and Dominic McHugh.
In October, Steve Leisring, professor of trumpet, traveled to five Chinese cities, where he was an invited guest and performer. The first stop was a solo engagement with the Harbin Symphony Orchestra in one of the most northern cities in China. Leisring performed the Concerto
QuickNotes - December 2018 - music.ku.edu
for Trumpet and Strings by JBG Neruda and a contemporary solo arranged for full orchestra and soloist especially for the performance. Traveling south to Hangzhou, he was a guest at the Zhejiang Conservatory, where he performed three works as soloist with their wind ensemble, and gave master classes, followed by residencies at Jiangsu Normal University in Xuzhou, and Qingdao University. He finished the trip with teaching advanced students in Beijing. Leisring has taught and performed at more than 20 higher education institutions in China in the last 12 years, including nine of the 10 official conservatories. He has been invited as a guest professor by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing every year since 2006. Leisring is pictured on previous page at a rehearsal with Harbin Symphony. In late October, Forrest Pierce, professor of music composition, was in residence at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music for a performance of his multi-movement choral work Jasmine Arrow Music. While in Tucson, Pierce lectured to the graduate conducting seminar and coached the work, which was performed by the Arizona Choir under the direction of Miguel Felipe, director of choral activities at Arizona. Paul W. Popiel, director of bands, recorded works by Aaron Perrine and David Maslanka in October for the KU Wind Ensemble’s upcoming commercial CD, Freedom from Fear. Popiel served as producer for an upcoming commercial recording of a work by composer Nico Muhly by the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble. Popiel also conducted the Heart of America League Band in Brookville, Kansas as well as Concordia Santa Fe, a semi-professional wind orchestra in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Margaret Marco, professor of oboe, traveled in May to Milan, Italy where she performed chamber works by Mozart, Telemann and Beethoven at the Guiseppe Verdi Conservatorio di Milano with the Kansas Virtuosi. Marco’s other recent performances include those at the Taller de Oboe in Puerto Rico, Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, Kansas, Ad Astra Music Festival in Russell, Kansas and a chamber music recital at the Universidad de Costa Rica Escuela de Bellas Artes. In September, Marco performed new works by Bryan Kip Ha aheim, professor of music composition, student Ben Justis and Sergio Delgado at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Granada, Spain. KU MUSIC ALUMNI - SEND US YOUR NEWS Land a new job or finish that Ph.D? We want to hear about the great work our alumni are doing in the world of music. Send your music related news to musicnews@ku.edu.
Colin Roust, assistant professor of musicology, presented a talk on “World War I through the Eyes of Georges Auric” at Oberlin College, during a festival entitled Creative Arts and Music during the Shadow of War: Commemorating the Centenary of World War I. Ingrid Stölzel, assistant professor of music composition, was a featured composer with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles in November. Her composition The Gorgeous Nothings was selected as a winner from Kaleidoscope’s international call for scores which had 2,200 submissions from 76 countries. In November her music was also performed at the University of Tennessee, Louisiana State University and University of Washington. Carolyn Watson, director of orchestral studies, received a $500 performance grant from the Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy on behalf of the University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra. The grant will be used towards the rental costs associated with renting music by women composers. The performance grants are nationally competitive and this year they had a record number of applicants. The grant will be used to rent Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 6 and Elena Kats-Chernin’s Dance of the Paper Umbrellas. On Nov. 18, Ketty Wong, associate professor of ethnomusicology, presented the conference paper “The Blackpool Dream: Shaping Gender Roles through Ballroom Dancing in China” at the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her article “Cumandá: A Leitmotiv in Ecuadorian Operas? Musical Nationalism and Representation of Indigenous People” was recently published by University of New Mexico Press in the volume Cultural Nationalism and Ethnic Music in Latin America. Stephanie Zelnick, associate professor of clarinet, appeared at the Festival Internacional de Clarinetes Costa Rica, performing a recital, master classes, and a concerto. She also performed and taught at Indiana University and University of Colorado, among others. The debut CD of AdZel Duo, comprised of Mariam Adam and Zelnick, received a review from The Clarinet that praised its “compelling unity of sound and excellent ensemble.”
QuickNotes - December 2018 - music.ku.edu
STAFF NEWS
This fall Erin Wood, lecturer in harp, served as a guest clinician at the Kansas City Harp Day, conducting the advanced ensemble. Trio Lawrence, pictured above and comprised of faculty members Wood, Boris Vayner, assistant professor of viola; and Daniel Velasco, assistant professor of flute, made their debut in October. Their final performance at the Lawrence Public Library was broadcast on KPR, concluding the inaugural KPR Live Day, in which the entire day of classical music programming consisted of live music. Also, Wood was a guest soloist with the Westwood Ensemble, performing Danse Sacrée et danse profane in November.
Rita Riley, director of undergraduate student services, was recognized as KU’s Employee of the Month for October. The sole academic advisor for undergraduate music majors, Riley is also the undergraduate admissions coordinator and certifies graduation for all undergraduates. On top of that hefty workload, she provides assistance during recruiting and auditions, student orientations and graduation. Riley was praised for her commitment to the KU School of Music and its students, as well as for her positive attitude, outstanding customer service and ability to know when a student is in crisis or needs extra support. Riley was recognized at a faculty meeting in October and is pictured with Carl Lejuez, interim provost and executive vice chancellor.
Student NEWS
Theorists from the KU School of Music were well represented at the annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory (SMT), which met along with the American Musicological Society (AMS) in San Antonio from Nov. 1-4. On Thursday, master’s theory student Dustin Chau, who had secured a Minority Travel Grant from SMT, gave a talk entitled “Gustav Holst’s Terzetto and Its Maximally Smooth Triad of Keys.” On Friday, Alan Street, music theory professor, chaired a SMT session entitled “Modern Figures in the History of Music Theory.” On Saturday morning, Scott Murphy, music theory professor, gave a presentation called “Three Audiovisual Correspondences in the Main Title for Vertigo,” as part of a panel devoted to the 1958 film. On Saturday evening, doctoral theory student Brent Ferguson presented some of his research on an AMS panel entitled “Global East Asian Music Research: Proposals for New Directions in Musicology.” On Sunday, Murphy, in costume and pictured above, chaired a SMT session entitled “Spells and Games.”
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Tyler Boehmer, a doctoral student in organ performance, had a successful semester placing in international organ competitions. In August, he placed as a quarter-finalist in the Grand Prix de Chartres International Competition in Paris and Chartres, France. At the end of September at the Sydney International Organ Competition, he placed second overall and was awarded the special prize for outstanding performance of a work by an Australian composer. Later in the semester as part of a special prize he won at the Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in 2017, Boehmer went on a five-city tour in Russia that included Moscow, Krasnodar, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Chelyabinsk. KU music therapy students R achel Gaylor, Monica Carvajal Regidor, and Hannah DePriest, pictured above, represented the project “Music and Mindfulness for Musicians: Outcomes of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience” at the Center for Undergraduate Research Fall Poster Session on Dec. 4. This study was developed in the MEMT 455 Psychology of Music course as a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE), where all students participated as emerging researchers, guided by Abbey Dvorak, assistant
QuickNotes - December 2018 - music.ku.edu
professor of music therapy and instructor of the class; Eugenia Hernandez-Ruiz, recent KU doctoral graduate; and Kevin Weingarten, PhD student. Max Gerhart, a doctoral student in tuba performance, was named the 2018 KU School of Music Concerto Competition Winner. Gerhart will perform Alexander Arutiunian’s Tuba Concerto with the KU Symphony Orchestra in a March 15 concert at the Lied Center. Dorothy Glick Maglione, a PhD student in musicology, presented the paper “American Dream to American Icon: The Bernstein Family and the Immigrant Experience” at the Bernstein at 100 Conference at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York on Nov. 10. She is a dissertation student of Paul Laird.
FEBRUARY FEB. 2
VISITING ARTIST SERIES: TENG ZHE, PIANO with STUDENTS from SHANGHAI CONSERVATORY 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
FEB. 2
PRAIRIE WINDS: KU WIND ENSEMBLE & JAZZ ENSEMBLE I with JEFF COFFIN, saxophone* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center
FEB. 3
PRAIRIE WINDS CONCERT 11 a.m. | Lied Center
FEB. 5
VISITING ARTIST SERIES: JED DISTLER, piano 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
FEB. 7 VISITING ARTIST SERIES: TRANSIENT CANVAS, percussion 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
2019 WUNSCH NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL FEATURING GUEST COMPOSERS AMY BETH KIRSTEN, TONIA KO, HANNAH LASH & NINA YOUNG
Mary Beth Sheehy, a PhD student in musicology, gave the paper “Portrayals of Female Exoticism in the Early Broadway Years: The Music and Performance Styles of ‘Exotic’ Comedy Songs in the Follies of 1907” at the National Meeting of the American Musicological Society in San Antonio, which took place from Nov. 1-4. She is a student of Paul Laird.
FEB. 13 GUEST COMPOSER PORTRAITS with LECTURES BY GUEST COMPOSERS 12 p.m. | Hall Center for the Humanities
Br aelyn Smith, freshman in flute performance, won the Kansas round of the MTNA Senior Performance Competition. She will represent the state of Kansas in the West Central Division Competition in January.
KANSAS VIRTUOSI with music by GUEST COMPOSERS 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
Alumni NEWS
Gretchen Pille, MM ‘18 in voice performance, signed a contract with the Des Moines Metro Opera and will be an Apprentice Artist with the organization.
Upcoming Events JANUARY
JAN. 28 KU TUBA/EUPHONIUM “NEWCOMER RECITAL” 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall JAN. 31 LIED CENTER PRESENTS: KU PERCUSSION GROUP with ANDY AKINO* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center
PRE-CONCERT TALK with GUEST COMPOSERS 6:45 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
FEB. 14 PANEL DISCUSSION with GUEST COMPOSERS 10 a.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
SALON CONCERT AND CONVERSATION 7:30 p.m. | Cider Gallery, 810 Pennsylvania St.
FEB. 15 SCHOLARSHIP CONCERT* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center FEB. 19 HARPSICHORD DEDICATION RECITAL 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall FEB. 21 VISITING ARTIST SERIES: JASON HAUSBACK, bass trombone 5 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall FEB. 21 KU WIND ENSEMBLE* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center
MARCH MAR. 1 & 2
KU JAZZ FESTIVAL CONCERTS 7:30 p.m. | Burge Union
QuickNotes - December 2018 - music.ku.edu
MAR. 3 FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: PAUL STEVENS, horn; DAVID COLWELL, violin; and ELLEN SOMMER, piano 2:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
APR. 10 FACUTLY RECITAL SERIES: MICHAEL KIRKENDOLL, piano 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
MAR. 3 KANSAS VIRTUOSI 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
APR. 11 KU JAZZ COMBOS II, III and V 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
MAR. 4 FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: HANNAH COLLINS, cello 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
APR. 16 KU WIND ENSEMBLE* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center
MAR. 6 VISITING ARTIST SERIES: DAVE HALL, percussion 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
APR. 17 KU JAZZ COMBOS I, IV and VI 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
MAR. 6 - 8
APR. 18 KU PERCUSSION GROUP 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
KU OPERA: THE ELIXIR OF LOVE 7:30 p.m. | Baustian Theatre Tickets at door or at (785)864-3436
MAR. 19 KU UNIVERSITY & SYMPHONIC BANDS* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center MAR. 21 KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center MAR. 24 KU CHOIRS: JOY OF SINGING 3 p.m. | Kauffman Center for the Arts free admissions but tickets required
see kauffmancenter.org or (816)994-7222
MAR. 25 NEW MUSIC GUILD 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall MAR. 26 UNDERGRADUATE HONOR RECITAL 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall MAR. 28 SUNFLOWER BAROQUE 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall MAR. 30 FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: JULIA BROXHOM, soprano with RUSSELL MILLER, piano 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
APRIL APR. 1 FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: FORREST PIERCE, composition lecture/recital 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 2 SCHOOL OF MUSIC CHAMBER MUSIC RECITAL 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 4 LIED CENTER PRESENTS: KU JAZZ ENSEMBLE I WITH RENEE ROSNES* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center APR. 6 VISITING ARTIST SERIES: SERGEI BABAYAN, piano 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 7 FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: DAVID COLWELL, violin and AYAKO TSURUTA, piano 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall
APR. 20 FLUTE STUDIO RECITAL 2:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 22 KU TUBA-EUPHONIUM CONSORT 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 23 KU SAXOPHONE QUARTETS 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 25 COMPOSITION & PIANO RECITAL 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 26 KU OPERA: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM MAY 2,4 7:30 P.M. | Crafton-Preyer Theatre APR. 28 2:30 p.m. | Crafton-Preyer Theatre Tickets at KU Theatre Box Office APR. 28 COLLEGIUM MUSICUM CONCERT 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall APR. 30 KU UNIVERSITY BAND & JAZZ ENSEMBLES II and III* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center
MAY MAY 1 CELLO STUDIO RECITAL 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall MAY 2 KU SYMPHONIC BAND* 7:30 p.m. | Lied Center MAY 3 KU CHOIRS: CHAMBER SINGERS, 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall MAY 3 KU JAZZ ENSEMBLE I with NICK WEISER, piano 7:30 p.m. | Lawrence Arts Center MAY 4 SAXOPHONE STUDIO RECITAL 9 a.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall MAY 7 KU TROMBONE & HORN CHOIRS 7:30 p.m. | Swarthout Recital Hall All events subject to change. Please visit music.ku.edu for the latest event information. Admission is free unless otherwise noted. * Tickets available at the Lied Center Ticket Office.
QuickNotes - December 2018 - music.ku.edu