Cadenza | Opus 38

CADENZA MAY 2022

UTSA DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC Opus 3 8

CLASS OF 2022 We commemorate you on your Roadrunner success!

CONTENTS

03 04 06 12 16 26

WELCOME A word from Department of Music Chair, Dr. Tracy Cowden

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT UTSA graduate Sean Kithas shares about his time at UTSA

YEAR IN REVIEW See what UTSA Music has been up to in the 2021-2022 year

TRIUMPHANT Our UTSA Recital Hall sees a full orchestra for the first time in years

HAPPENING AROUND THE NEST UTSA Music students exude Roadrunner excellence with all that they do

EXTRAVAGANZA 2022 An overview of UTSA Music’s award ceremony along with winners and performers

CONTRIBUTORS: Rolando Ramon - Cadenza Editor-in-Chief Rebekah Alegria - PR Assistant/Editor Jason Guzman - Graphic Designer Micah Rosenstein - Graphic Designer

Welcome to

CADENZA

Showcasing UTSA Music

FRIENDS, Welcome to the May 2022 issue of Cadenza, our final issue of the academic year! As we wind down our performance calendar, we are grateful to you for your support in attending so many of our concerts this year. And we look forward to welcoming you again in the fall. But we will not be silent this summer – our halls will be filled with camps and workshops all summer long!

This issue is a celebration of a tremendous year in which our students, staff, and faculty overcame many challenges to return to a high level of scholarship and performance. Our “Semester in Review” and “Happening Around the Nest” features show just a glimpse of what we have accomplished this year. The Extravaganza recap and the feature on our recent orchestra-choir concert, Unfinished, gives you a broader picture of our student accomplishments. Our Alumni Spotlight features one of our young alumni who is making a big impact through a beloved local arts organization, and we have a bonus feature about our Outstanding Alumni of the Year, Rick Sanchez.

I would also like to thank each of you who made a gift during UTSA’s Giving Day in April. The accomplishments you will read about in this issue were made possible due to the generosity of donors like you! We are excited about the future of our program and eager to provide more opportunities to our students to excel in their studies and their artistry, and your support is vital to this effort.

Are you interested in having live music at your own event this summer?

You could hire a student group! Our Gig Service link is live on the department website! And as always, we invite our alumni to submit your news and reconnect with your UTSA Music friends by sending an update to music@utsa.edu. We are grateful for all of you who support the work we do to learn and share music with those around us. We wish you all a wonderful summer, and look forward to reconnecting in the fall!

Tracy Cowden Roland K. Blumberg Endowed Professor in Music and Chair

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SEAN KITHAS A recent grad of UTSA Music, Sean Kithas graduated from UTSA with a Music Marketing degree in the Spring of 2019 and made the most of his time as a roadrunner. A recipient of the Music Department’s 2018 Music Marketing Award and also the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM)’s 2018 President’s Innovation Award, a prestigious honor taking him to the annual conference in California, Mr. Kithas was an alum well worth catching up with. Read all about Sean’s time as a roadrunner and his new, professional endeavors below! have attended, if you have attended other universities?

What inspired you to obtain your degree from UTSA? When I first started my collegiate journey, I was sure that I wanted to pursue a career in music but didn’t know what that would look like. And to be honest, I didn’t see myself diving into one of the two biggest majors in music school: performance or teaching. So I started weighing my options between composition, technology/ production, or business. I was living in Indiana for a couple of years, so I made the decision to pursue technology/production because of the interesting program they had at Indiana University. Time in that program really gave me some good career insight that I brought with me when I moved back to Texas, specifically San Antonio. Though my experience now leaned more into tech, I wanted to keep those two other fields of study as choices.

So UTSA and its unique Music Marketing program piqued my interest, especially since there was an option for a Minor in Music Technology. It was like I was getting the best of both worlds.

What do you think sets UTSA apart from the other educational institutions that you

As mentioned previously, I did spend time at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and also some Fort Worth and San Antonio community colleges. What set UTSA apart for me was both the dedication of the teachers and the student community, within the Music Department especially. UTSA understandably has a large population of commuter students (which I was), but that didn’t seem to contribute to a lack of connection or community. There were so many great opportunities to collaborate whether it was within the classes or extracurricular.

What is your fondest memory as a UTSA Music student?

That’s a hard question with so many options! If I had to pick only one, I guess it would be joining the Musicians of Business (MOBsters) and putting together events like UTSA Underground. It felt like such a precursor to what I do now and the friendships I made because of that were amazing.

Did you have a role model or positive influence in the department that helped you achieve your goals as a UTSA Music student?

I definitely had a couple of role models, at least three in particular that I can pick off the top of my head. My classical guitar private instructor, Mr. Richter, instilled in me so much information about practice, technique, and performance, and had such a flexible and understanding attitude towards what my needs were. Music Technology director Dr. Andrew Bergmann brought such a unique and guiding force to expand my knowledge in the field of audio and music technology. Finally, my head Music Marketing professor and whom I consider my biggest mentor: Dr. Stan Renard. He taught me so much and opened my world up to the business of music, constantly providing experiences and opportunities with tangible real-life applications.

He is very much the reason I have my position with Musical Bridges Around the World currently.

What can you tell us about Musical Bridges Around the World?

Musical Bridges Around the World (MBAW) is a San Antonio-based nonprofit arts organization that has been around since 1998, started by Russian-born concert pianist Anya Grokhovski, DMA. MBAW’s mission is to celebrate our common humanity by providing access to global arts for all.

We do this through seasonal public, school, and senior community concert series, an art gallery, a STEAM-based educational curriculum program, an annual international music festival, a quadrennial international piano competition and ambassador program, and most recently a college scholarship for string instrument players. Did I mention all of that is free to the community?

How did your education at UTSA lead you to being the marketing manager for Musical Bridges Around the World?

I believe it was because of a culmination of each and every class and instructor, as well as the dedication and professionalism that I built for myself because of that education. Musical Bridges is definitely a unique organization and so is my position in it.

The knowledge I gained from Dr. Renard and the marketing and business courses are at the core backbone of what I do, but there are also so many parts of my job that benefit from other aspects of my education at UTSA. For example, MBAW was in a bind without an audio recording engineer for one of our recent concerts. So I was able to step up and fill that role in the interim due to experience

from my tech minor. Or being able to put together an informative text blurb for an upcoming concert because of my music history knowledge.

Between your career as the marketing manager for MBATW, do you have time for other hobbies or creative ventures outside of the workplace?

I do, but the pandemic definitely put a lot of those on hold. The pivot to virtual and the constant changes and/or cancellations with events and artists really ate up so much of my time. That being said, I was blessed to be in such a stable organization like Musical Bridges that I didn’t have to worry as so many other workers did during that time. I really hope now to get back to gigging locally at some point, and I’ve also recently restarted my hobby with writing and recording my own music. I’m also looking to join some local industry associations or groups to continue growing in my career and passions.

If you have any advice for current UTSA students, what would it be and why?

This has probably been said over and over, but take advantage of all the curricular and extracurricular opportunities that UTSA has to offer! You will have access to many resources that you may not have once you get out of college, work-study internships within your department that can give you even more hands-on training with experienced and knowledgeable professors, and clubs that can broaden your friendships and community experience at the university.

Any other comments?

I want to wish all the current students success in their studies and encourage them to get involved during their free time with the community in and outside of school. If you are interested in volunteering for any live music or art events, Musical Bridges has a lot of opportunities throughout the year. We also have two internships each spring, summer and fall semester: an administrative assistant internship and a music marketing internship (this one works directly with me!). The deadline for the summer internships are actually coming up soon on May 15th. If you’re interested, you can email us at concerts@ musicalbridges.org or go to mbaw.org/contact.

UTSA MUSIC: YEAR IN REVIEW 2021-2022

A Word from Cadenza Consider this…in a college of music studies, it can be assumed that about 50-80 percent of any student’s life revolves around the performance of music, depending on their major.

However, it would be more accurate to say that 45-75 percent of their time revolves around the labor intensive, highly methodical preparation of music, while the other 5 percent is spent actually performing for an audience. The spectators in the crowd don’t have to sit through hours filled with starting, then stopping, and then starting again. They don’t have to hear the continuous drone of a metronome’s tick, the growing sighs of frustration, missed notes, or the sound of your own heartbeat reaching your head as it washes over your entire body before the performance. Hopefully your nerve shakes go away before– and now you’re on stage…in front of an empty auditorium.

There are no fellow colleagues, no friends or family beaming at you with pride and excitement as they witness a musical transformation in the making. The only gaze present in the room is that of your instructor and the camera that's live-streaming your every movement from this moment on, until you leave the stage.

You know there’s people watching. Your best friend texted you half an hour ago asking for the streaming link. In fact, with the capabilities of modern technology, there could potentially be hundreds watching you on the big stage right now. But you can’t see them.

You can’t hear their cheers, their applause – their coughs. All you can hear are echoes of what should’ve been as you feel the scorch of the bright stage lights on your skin. It was inescapable – this feeling that you were there, alone.

This was the reality for student musicians all around the world a year ago when the pandemic overtook society. UTSA Music was no exception. A live audience was simply irreplaceable…it has always been one of the most basic foundations for how we define ourselves as musicians. Music is a gift that we were always meant to share amongst ourselves, to our audiences, and from our audiences back to us in the projection of their emotions. But even with the adversity of its absence for an entire school year, we never stopped. We adapted, we practiced, and we made harmonious sounds with each other.

We did all that could be done, and we proved that through music, nothing could keep us apart.

And now, here we are. We made it. You made it. 2021-2022, an entire school year spent being able gaze at the faces of a live, in-house audience while we played our hearts out... not too long removed from when the entire music world held their breath, hoping it wouldn’t be their last. And what a year it was.

Prelude There was a certain sentiment shared amongst music students and faculty when it was known that in-person classes would resume and that the public would once again be welcomed into the Recital Hall for Fall 2021. It was a feeling of relief and hope– and yet, uncertainty as well. But more than anything, it was a feeling that this Fall could actually be a rise from the ashes of a world that was locked away into isolation for so long, now free at last.

We knew we weren’t quite out of the woods just yet. A return to form would be no easy feat after spending over a year in fear. But to be a Roadrunner is to be fearless in the exploration of creativity and the discovery of selfactualization. It meant that we would work through strife and tribulation, and eventually, we’d be even better than where we were before the pandemic. Getting people in the hall would be a good start…

AND SO, WE DID JUST THAT. The UTSA Orchestra played their first concert of the year October 3rd, 2021.

Just before the orchestra began playing, an overjoyed Troy Peters spoke for everyone in the department about how wonderful it was to look at a live audience for the first time in over a year.

Dr. John Zarco directed the Symphonic Band for their first concert of the year as well on October 5th, 2021. He shared the same sentiment with maestro Peters on being able to perform for a live audience once more.

Included in the program was an exciting performance of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (1923) by John Sousa (1854-1932).

HALL FOR THE HOLIDAYS Our annual Winterlude didn’t miss a beat.

It doesn’t get much better than a full house in December while our combined choir and orchestra ensembles put on an epic program full of good tidings and festive spirits!

WE EVEN BROUGHT THE HALL TO THEM… UTSA Ensembles gathered outside the JPL for the Sombrilla Concert on September 23rd, 2021.

What’s even better than enjoying a meal in shaded area outdoors? Doing that while enjoying live music, courtesy of the amazing talent housed by UTSA Music! Yum!

LANDMARK YEAR IN RESEARCH This academic year, UTSA achieved R1 Classification from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UTSA is now considered among the top research institutions in America. Way to go, Roadrunners!

UTSA MUSIC AT TMEA We made our annual appearance at the TMEA Conference in February 2022 and showcased everything great about being a member of the UTSA Music family! We also had a performance by the UTSA String Quartet with the All-State Choir over the weekend.

RUNNERS TAKE EUROPE Our study abroad students and Dr. Stephens had a blast on the other side of the world in Urbino, Italy all spring semester long!

They had the opportunity to experience their studies right at the source where many foundations of music as we know it today were born. Highlights of their extended excursion included visits to the opera houses and numerous historical sites in Urbino, Rome, Florence, Assisi, Pesaro, and Bologna.

JEN BEAVERS WITH THE POD On January 13th, Jennifer Beavers, along with a team of musicologists, launched a new podcast covering a broad variety of topics around music theory research. Its intention is to deviate from orthodox discussions on theory to make it more appealing and accessible to a broader audience.

STUDENTS AND FACULTY VOLUNTEER AT METHODIST On December 22nd, UTSA faculty and students joined forces with volunteers from the Symphony to play Christmas carols at Methodist Hospital with an organization called Caroling Project.

CHILDREN, MEET THE VIOLAS! Allyson Dawkins, along with her student Ansleigh Cook, took an outreach trip Willshire Elementary School on March 25th, where they gave a performance demonstration on their violas to the 4th grade class in the morning.

UNHEARD-OF//ENSEMBLE DEBUTS “THE FIRE ECOLOGIES” AT NMF

SYMPOSIUM MASTERS AT WORK

The modern music makers, Unheard-of// Ensemble was one of our featured guests and a main highlight at this this year’s New Music Festival in March. Among their repertoire was the world premiere of “Fire Ecologies”, a fifty-five minute unique musical and visual experience that explores American landscapes through the lens of climate change.

Dr. Isaac Bustos’ Southwest Guitar Symposium made for an awesome weekend filled with performances from world class guitarists and the sweet sounds of their instruments. Among the exciting events was a performance of two movements from Fin de Fiesta by John Truitt (1951), featuring a guitar duo of Dr. Bustos and Dr. Alejandro Montiel, along with Dr. Stephanie Westney on violin and Dr. Rachel Woolf on flute.

DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE The feat that the students in the UTSA Lyric Theater were able to pull off in March is beyond words. From the gorgeous costumes to the arias that left mouths in the audience wide agape, their production of Mozart’s famous singspiel, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) was incredible to say to the least.

The production ran for 4 days straight– talk about hard working musicians! Under the direction of Dr. Jourdan Laine Howell and maestro Troy Peters, the entire cast and pit orchestra managed to put on one of the Lyric Theater’s most impressive productions yet. The best part was that it was enjoyed the way it was always meant to be…live and in-person.

HOW SOSA STOLE THE SHOW It was a tremendous year for SOSA Marching Band.

Capitalizing on the new-found media attention and a surge in numbers, they’ve captured everyone’s heart throughout the city with their Roadrunner spirit. From being voted the #1 marching band by the San Antonio-Express News, to being broadcast on national television, to raising over $39,000 dollars during Giving Day, SOSA is glowing up fast!

UTSA Music couldn’t be prouder to be their home.

CAN’T GET ENOUGH MARIACHI! Our Mariachi Los Paisanos is quickly becoming one of our fastest growing ensembles! They have more members now than ever and it doesn’t look like they’re done yet. With their strong ties to traditional attire and performance, they are UTSA music’s direct link to the heart of San Antonio’s culture. This year they raised over $3,000 during UTSA Giving Day for new trajes and instruments!

AND WHAT BETTER WAY TO END THE YEAR THAN WITH A SOLD-OUT RECITAL HALL….

“TRIUMPHANT”

BY ROLANDO RAMON

RECITAL HALL HOSTS A COMPLETE ORCHESTRA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE PRE-PANDEMIC. “Music begins where the possibilities of language fail.”

–– Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

W

ords simply fail to properly express or put into perspective the magnitude of what transpired on April 28th, 2022. It was a glorious scene to behold as the UTSA Orchestra, Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and a quartet of vocal soloists came together to perform Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem before a sold-out crowd this past Thursday evening. It was the first time that a full orchestra performed in the Recital Hall since before the pandemic, and it was the hall’s largest audience in years. Together, maestro Troy Peters and Dr. Yoojin Muhn led the ensembles through an epic program to put on one of the best concerts of the year. The gorgeous soundscapes that filled every little crevice inside the hall, along with the thunderous applause that followed, marked a triumphant return to form for UTSA Music.

The students in the orchestra were also joined by Dr. Stephanie Westney (violin), Allyson Dawkins (viola), and Erin Webber (oboe). The energy was already beginning to rapidly swell in the Recital Hall as the ensemble awaited the arrival of concert master Shawn Demuth and maestro Troy Peters. The sight of the hall’s red-cushioned seats beginning to fill one by one was enough to stir up excitement for what was to come.

The concert began with the undeniable resonance of the lower strings as the opening sequence of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor (Unfinished Symphony) crawled into the hall. The famous intro immediately created a build-up of sound layers as the liquidity of the ensemble’s dynamics morphed the music into various, colorful shapes. There’s a particularly gorgeous, reoccurring melody early in the first movement that begins in the cello section and carries on into the violins. Imagery of a red sunset painting the western skies is evoked, only to be succeeded by a brief pause before a storm of great magnitude erupts to distort the dream.

The balance between the various sections of the orchestra allowed the music’s textures to be fully realized, enabling one to simply check out of reality and become fully immersed within Schubert’s world. The dynamic contrasts brought the romance and tragedy to life all the way through the “Allegro moderato” until the sweet closing of the “Andante con moto”. There was a particular softness on the tail-end of the symphony’s final chord that seemed to perfectly disperse what had become a massive aroura into tiny photons of light that eventually dissipated into space as the crowd erupted all around the hall.

Upon completion of the Unfinished Symphony, the orchestra was joined on stage by the Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and soloists Dr. Jourdan Laine Howell (soprano), Crystal Jarrell Johnson (mezzo-soprano), Louis Ramos (tenor), and Chai Wei Lee (bass-baritone) for Mozart’s Requiem.

Dr. Yoojin Muhn took the stage to conduct the combined ensembles through the legendary work, with this particular version having been completed by musicologist Robert D. Levin.

“TRIUMPHANT”

Power, in the truest sense of the word, is a perfect characterization of what the combined ensembles brought into the Recital Hall that night. The Introitus was gripping as it was beautiful, with the voices of the chorus crying out to the heavens to grant eternal rest to the souls that are no longer within this realm. All eyes turned to Jourdan Howell when she rose during the Requiem aeternam, her voice taking on angelic qualities and seeming to transcend the bounds of mortal capabilities as it soared over the orchestra.

Like Unfinished, the layering of harmonies and diverse timbres created an immersive soundscape that enabled particularly dynamic transfigurations throughout the work. However, rather than having a focus on lyrical development like its predecessor on the program, the Requiem relied more on its structure to create points of dramatic tension that the ensemble pulled off magnificently! This is especially apparent on the Confutatis, where the orchestra is in total synchronization as they unleash a fury of sound while the chorus begs mercy for the guilty on the day of judgement. The Agnus Dei and famous Lacrimosa were also standout movements in the program, evoking a more solemn and hauntingly beautiful setting.

The crowd roared even louder than earlier before as they rose for a standing ovation, having been finally released from their trance as people began to gather at the end of the stages and outside to meet the musicians. It was a sight to marvel at, seeing the happiness that was evoked into the lives of these people for the last two hours through music. There’s not a shred of doubt that most of them left UTSA’s campus grounds that night inspired by the spectacle they just bore witness to. And as for the students, after spending more than a year playing for a live streaming camera and having to distance themselves from their fellow musicians, after feeling the frustrations of rebuilding live concert attendance to its previous form over the past two semesters, to now witness a full house– there had to have been many emotions evoked by the night’s turnout. And as for UTSA Music, this night may just be a herald of what the future holds in store.

“TRIUMPHANT”

A quick look at our UTSA Music students and how they are achieving Roadrunner excellence.

UTSA MUSIC A LA FIESTA! Anyone familiar with San Antonio knows that there’s two major holidays in April, and only one of them spans more than a week.

This year’s Fiesta was vibrant as usual with its wide array of colors, but it was the orange and navy blue that stood out the most!

The SOSA Marching Band looked sharp as ever and twice as loud when they took the streets of downtown San Antonio by storm!

The swagger that they marched with would’ve undoubtedly been too hot for anyone else to handle, but as for our Roadrunners, it’s simply part of the assignment. The band continues to build its reputation as a beloved staple of our campus and the embodiment of San Antonio’s spirit.

Meanwhile, several string players and a chorus of singers from UTSA Music absolutely marveled everyone when they joined the Coronation Symphony Orchestra for the annual Fiesta Coronation finale. Dr. Yoojin Muhn from our Choral Studies prepared the students for what ended up being a brilliant performance as their voices flooded the Majestic Theater downtown. You just can’t have San Antonio without UTSA, and you certainly can’t have it without Fiesta!

ROADRUNNERS AT THE SOUTH TEXAS NATS Earlier in April, the National Association of Teachers of Singing held their annual student auditions for the chapter, regional, and national levels at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, TX. The auditions are highly competitive opportunities for students to perform in front of judges and advance to semi-final/ final rounds at each level, featuring some of the best rising vocal talents nation-wide. This year, there were nine participants from Professor Crystal Jarrell Johnson’s and Dr. William McCrary’s voice studios and all of them were able to advance to finals.

Congratulations to all our vocal students on an amazing weekend and we’d like to give a very bold shout-out to Jane Haas for accompanying all nine of our contestants!

Dr. McCrary’s Studio: Alex Sanchez – 1st place in Sophomore Treble Musical Theater Ariana Bonilla – 1st place in Sophomore Treble Classical and finalist for Waldman award for Spanish Song Ben Telford – 2nd place in Junior TBB Classical Joshua Moncado-Zoll – 1st place in Junior TBB Classical

Prof. Jarrell Johnson’s Studio: Francheska Lugo – 1st place in Freshman Treble Classical Abraham Gomez – 3rd place in Freshman TBB Classical Jared Kellman-Medina – 2nd place in Sophomore TBB Classical, and Winner of the Waldman award for Spanish Song Madison Blanco – 2nd place in Senior Treble Classical Antonio Zubillaga – 1st place in Advanced Adult Classical

UTSA UNDERGROUND RETURNS TUESDAY! Musicians of Business (MOB), UTSA’s student organization for young business and marketing-minded artists, is gearing up for the anticipated return of their popular on-campus music and arts festival, UTSA Underground.

It was widely suspected that the festival would make a return this year following the total resumption of inperson classes, as well as live audiences in the Recital Hall. This special event will be taking place in the tunnels directly underneath the Arts, Biosciences, and Flawn Sciences buildings on Tuesday, May 3rd from 7-11pm.

The organization has been preparing all semester long and have put together an exciting line up of live music and visual artists for the general public to enjoy, free of admission! A high drawn crowd is expected to be present for the day’s festivities. You can follow MOB on their social channels @utsa_mob for more updates as the festival date quickly approaches!

WE DID IT...

¡LO HICIMOS!

OVER

$45,000

RAISED FOR UTSA MUSIC STUDENTS

#webuiltthenest

IT MEANS MORE

OPPORTUNITY FOR MUSIC MAJORS TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE...

...AND IT'S PROOF THAT THE PEOPLE OF SAN ANTONIO ARE

COMMITTED TO THE PERFORMING ARTS

NONE OF IT COULD'VE HAPPENED WITHOUT

YOU AND SO...

THANK YOU FOR GIVING,

ROADRUNNER NATION

RICK SANCHEZ BACHELOR

OF

ARTS,

MUSIC CLASS

OF

'09

OUTSTANDING

ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR Rick Sanchez is a native of San Antonio, and a graduate from UTSA with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Upon graduating from high school, he performed in his first production at San Pedro Playhouse in the summer of 2000. Since then he was hooked, and has performed in, directed, or stage managed in almost 100 productions in San Antonio — earning him a total of 12 ATAC Globe Awards for Excellence in Theatre. He is best known in San Antonio for his portrayal of the Emcee in Cabaret, having performed the role a total of three times over the past 22 years. His theater credits include: The Public Theater of San Antonio, The Woodlawn Theatre, The Classic Theatre, Magik Theater, The Sheldon Vexler Theatre, UTSA Lyric Theatre, Opera San Antonio, The Church Bistro and Theatre, The Cameo Theatre, Allegro Stage Company, The McNay Art Museum, The Overtime Theater, and New York Frigid Festival.

Professionally throughout the years, Rick has served multiple theaters and art organizations as a graphic designer or marketing consultant, including The Public Theater of San Antonio, The Classic Theatre, UTSA Department of Music, UTSA Lyric Theatre, and Allegro Stage Company. In 2015, Rick accepted an offer from ZACH Theatre in Austin, TX to become their new Senior Marketing Manager. At ZACH, he learned the majority of his knowledge and skills in marketing a professional regional theater in Texas — focusing on email, digital, social media marketing in all aspects for the theater, including main stage productions, theater for families productions, education, development and fundraising.

In 2020, facing adversity from the pandemic, Rick shifted from marketing arts and nonprofit to work at Snap Kitchen, a nation-wide meal subscription company, based out of Austin and Dallas. With this new line of work, he learned a great deal about email marketing strategy on a grand scale, specifically focusing on direct sales and customer retention. With his time at Snap Kitchen, the company had its best week in new subscriptions for its company’s history.

In 2021, Rick wanted to return back to nonprofit work and fulfill his passion for community-focused organizations. He was offered to work at Austin’s The Trail Foundation, focusing on community engagement and marketing efforts for the organization. During that time, he helped The Trail Foundation reached 10,000 followers on Instagram with a series of successful online giveaways, garnishing the organization in its next level of its social media journey. He also help spearhead the development of the Arts + Culture programming as well as Music on the Trail, highlighting some of Austin’s greatest local musicians in a series of pop-up events on the trail.

In 2022, Rick came back to marketing theatre at The Public Theater of San Antonio as their new Director of Marketing and Communications — a fitting return for where his career had its jumping off point. Rick has strong objectives for marketing theater and the arts back in San Antonio, especially at a time when arts need a strong and uplifting revitalization. It is an opportune time to apply all his previous knowledge and skills from his career and apply them back to his hometown, where it all began.

EXTRAVAGANZA 2022 AWARD CEREMONY MAKES IN-PERSON DEBUT FOR ITS 2ND EDITION

Dr. Tracy Cowden and the UTSA Faculty Jazz Combo

The 2021-2022 academic year was certainly a ride for all of us at UTSA Music, that much we’ve covered. For all the challenges we faced coming back from a year of distance and isolation, we’ve capitalized on every opportunity to advance further through our research, growth, and concert production. The students’ talents and their dedication to this program was instrumental to us overcoming what were once unimaginable circumstances. This past weekend, we recognized and celebrated these hard-working individuals who exemplify what it means to be Roadrunner (now and forever) during our 2nd annual Extravaganza Award Ceremony.

Though the ceremony ran smoothly and slap-free, it won’t negate from its memorability, as it’s now cemented in school history as the very first of its kind to be held in front of a live-audience! And so, on Friday night our student musicians were celebrities as they strutted their Roadrunner swagger on stage. In addition to hosting our award recipients, hand-selected musicians were also present to provide extravagant performances for all who attended to enjoy.

RICK SANCHEZ RECEIVES OUTSTANDING HONORS Rick Sanchez was honored on Friday night as our Outstanding Alumnus of the Year. He graduated from UTSA with the class of 2009 and since then has worked his way to his current position the new Director of Marketing and Communications for the Public Theater of San Antonio, a non-profit organization where he is able to focus on his career and personal objectives of revitalizing the arts in the city. Before taking 1 on this new role, Rick had already dedicated his career to the non-profit art sector, having worked with other organizations such as The Classic Theatre, UTSA Lyric Theatre, and Allegro Stage Company.

“My position as the new Director of Marketing and Communications is a role that I have been leading up to for my entire career. My main focus is to promote and market the art on stage to the San Antonio community and beyond”, said Sanchez in a recent interview with Cadenza staff. “It is important that the city witness art on stage – to experience it, to LIVE IT, and to take pride in it.”

It is because of his dedication to help foster a community that can easily access and appreciate the arts that he is being honored, as well as the path his ambition has taken him.

Indeed, the talent and culture that is housed within Alamo city is far too rich to let sink into the depths of irrelevance. It is the story of our heritage and contains the basic foundations for what ultimately brings us together as a community.

As we recognize Rick and his achievements, he looks back fondly on the years at UTSA Music that helped shape his passions and deliver a vision for self-fulfillment that led him to where he is today.

“My time at UTSA was a great turning point in my life, giving me a foundation of skills and knowledge as both a working professional in the arts and a performer,” says Sanchez. “The entire staff at UTSA Department of Music are not only experts at training and providing guidance to young artists. They are a family, and they are full of love and support that will last a lifetime for any music student.”

1 - Our outstanding alumnus of the year recipuent, Rick Sanchez (far left) with Ron Ellis, Tracy Cowden, Glenn A. Martinez (COLFA DEAN), Stacy Davis, Jennifer Beavers

JAZZED UP FROM START TO FINISH

How about our faculty jazz combo kicking the night’s events off Tonight Show style. Chris Villanueva, Andrew Bergmann, Jerry Espinoza, and Joseph Caploe did the honors of setting the tone for the night’s proceedings, as well as closing the night off before the curtains came calling.

STRING AREA EXCELLENCE Our string players certainly looked brilliant with a bit of extra shine after a fantastic concert the night before. Noah Seratta was awarded the Reed Holmes Memorial Award for Composition. Shawn Demuth and Isaiah Valdez were both awarded the String Area Excellence Award, with Demuth also taking the UTSA Director’s Recognition award, while Sofia Salazar Arguelles received the String Area Service Award. Taking home the String Project Award as a reminder of her pedagogical prowess was cellist Julia Bent. Way to go strings!

A DYNAMIC DUO Maira Viana (flute) and Nikola Dimitrijevic (guitar) graced the Recital Hall with their collaborative effort following the MTNA Chapter Award presentation. They performed “Bordel 1900” from Histoire du Tango by Astor Piazzola. The mesmerizing performance previously debuted at their joint graduate recital, where they played the work in its entirety.

THE PIANIST AND HER TRIUMPH Graduate student Emily Myers had quite the presence on Friday night, taking home the Music Teacher’s National Association Award and the Deborah Moore – Steinway Piano Gallery Piano Performance Award. She also gave a spectacular performance, performing an excerpt from “Valses Poéticos” by Enrique Granados off her recital earlier this semester. She deserves all the congratulations for everything she’s been able to achieve this semester.

TWO BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Concluding our selection of student performers was a treat consisting of percussionists Matthew Settles and Charles Settles as they played “The Dance of The Drums” from Song and Dance by Gene Koshinski. The timing of their performance was perfect as they rocked the hall to get everyone fired up for the final presentation of our prestigious Presser Award.

PRESSER PRESTIGE FOR GREEN At the night’s end, Jourdan Green was the one to take home our Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award this year. As recipient of our most prestigious award, Green was also awarded a $4,000 scholarship designated to encouraging and supporting his continued education at the highest level as a senior student who exemplified outstanding achievement and leadership this year.

Congratulations Jourdan on a huge achievement and a successful senior year at UTSA Music.

OUR 2022 EXTRAVAGAN SAI Advisor Award Mariah Martinez SAI Honor Award Hannah Herrick SAI Scholastic Award Julianna Woodlee Academic Achievement Award Anna Schulte Autumn Riley Reed Holmes Memorial Award for Composition Noah Serrata Music Marketing Award Claudia Cuellar Music Technology Award Evan Feist COLFA Research Competition Awards Klint Fabian (1st place, Undergraduate) Sophia Salazar Arguelles (2nd place) Isaiah Valdez (3rd place) Eymen Geylan (1st place, Graduate) Kaitlyn Norman (2nd place) Natalie Baker (3rd place) TMEA Collegiate Music Educator Award Allison Hayes Anna Schulte Shirlyn Davenport Mariachi Award Alex Garcia MTNA Chapter Award Emily Myers

Distinction in Vocal/Instrumental Performance Nicole Moriel, Jadee Dovalina (Woodwinds) Raymond Sifuentes (Brass) Matthew Settles, Jessica Serna (Percussion) Jihye Cheon (Keyboard) Sean Corbett, Isabel Alvarado (Voice) Study Abroad Awards International Education Fund Adam Garza Brandon Davis Fernanda Cuevas Tyrique Ivey Gabrielle Sharp Richard Daul David Bowen Memorial Endowment Adam Garza Brandon Davis Fernanda Cuevas Tyrique Ivey Gabrielle Sharp Richard Daul COLFA Center for Student Excellence Experiential Learning Scholarship Brandon Davis Tyrique Ivey Richard Daul COLFA Presidential Richard Daul Gabrielle Sharp Tyrique Ivey Al Sturchio Instrumental Award Makenzi Costa String Area Service Award Sofia Salazar Arguelles String Project Award Julia Bent

String Area Exc Shawn D Isaiah

Outstanding A Guitar Per Nikola Di Willem Carlos G Eduardo Andrew Evan Wa

UTSA Bands Direc Aw Jayland Hector Alissa Robin S

UTSA Jazz Ens Jason Andrew Jesse Re Analis

UTSA Jazz Co Jordan Jason

UTSA Bands S Alissa Claudia Michael H Josephine Caroline Sara M Raphael C Roberto H Macy Ha Ayanna Carlos Noel L Hannah John Va

NZA AWARD WINNERS

cellence Award Demuth Valdez

Achievement in rformance imitrijevic Flowers Guevara o Lopez w Rubio adsworth

ctor’s Recognition ward d Brown r Garcia Esper Scheffler

semble Award Grant w King eynolds sa Huff

ombo Award n Green Grant

Service Award Esper a Cuellar Hernandez e Medina e Foster McClain Cervantes Hernandez armison a Juarez s Cruz Llanes Plemons asquez

Jaime Viejo Zack Cuellar Hector Garcia Jayland Brown Sam Bowman Hayley Garcia Noe Loera Angelina Martinez Laura Navarette Jordan Rodriguez

Deborah Moore – Steinway Piano Gallery Piano Performance Award Emily Myers

UTSA Orchestra Director’s Recognition Award Shawn Demuth Gabriel Durand-Hollis Robin Scheffler Jacob Vaquera

Christine Debus Accompanying Award Eymen Geylan

UTSA Concerto and Aria Winners Victoria Becker Noe Loera UTSA Choral Ensemble Director’s Recognition Award Andrew Kimberly Azziya Richardson David Waterland Blake Bailey Raphael Mamaradlo Khyara de Jesus Larissa Velez Lyric Theatre Director’s Award Sean Corbett Jared Kellman-Medina Oscar J. Fox Outstanding Freshman in Voice Award Nicolas Garza Opera Guild of San Antonio Fellowship Kaitlin Norman Christian Stevens

Ernstine and Stan Studer Award Natalie Baker Award Musical Arts Center of San Antonio Piano Pedagogy Award Diana Maldonado Santiago

Alamo Music Instrumental Award Matthew Settles Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Rick Sanchez Presser Undergraduate Scholarship Award Jordan Green

Performers Emily Myers Excerpt from “Valses Poéticos” by Enrique Granados Maíra Viana and Nikola Dimitrijevik “Bordel 1900” from Histoire du Tango by Astor Piazzolla Isabel Alvarado and Tracy Cowden “The Audience Song” by Ben Moore Matthew and Charles Settles “Dance of the Drums” from Song and Dance by Gene Koshinski UTSA FACULTY JAZZ COMBO Jerry Espinoza, tenor sax Andrew Bergmann, bass Joe Caploe, drums Chris Villanueva, piano

MAY 2022 STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THE UPCOMING SEMESTER AT UTSA MUSIC MUSIC.UTSA.EDU FOLLOW US! @UTSAMUSIC