CLA: School of Music News

Akosua Obuo Addo (music education) received the 2012 Education Service award for her contribution to innovative learning for students through Ordway programming. The Ordway Center for Performing Arts holds an Annual Liaison Appreciation Event to honor educators and institutions for advancing Ordway's arts programming, as well as its education and community programs mission. Educators and institutions receive awards for Philanthropy, Vision, Community Commitment, and Education Service. Addo also published a chapter in Ukpokodu, O. & Ukpokodu, P. Ed. "Contemporary Voices from the Margin: African Educators on African and American Education" titled "African Education through the Arts."

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 1:11 PM | Permalink

Anna DeGraff (D.M.A., 2012, voice, student of John De Haan) will perform the role of Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto in Concert as part of Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest on Saturday, July 28 at Ted Mann Concert Hall at 8 p.m. The cast also includes Paul Hindemith (D.M.A, voice) as Count Ceprano and Jeffrey Madison (D.M.A., voice, student of John De Haan) as Monterone.

Lynn L. Petersen (Ph.D., 1989, music theory & composition), associate professor of music at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, was awarded the 2012 Distinguished Scholar Award at Carroll's Commencement, recognizing her work as a composer and pianist. Her collection Thankfulness and Praise: Ten Organ Settings was published recently by Augsburg Fortress. Her composition "Whirlwind Duo" was included in the collection Pipings for Flute and Organ, also published recently by Augsburg Fortress.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 1:06 PM | Permalink

David Evan Thomas (Ph.D., 1996, composition, student of Dominick Argento) spent two weeks in March 2012 at the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, a new residency program in Wyoming's Medicine Bow Mountains, working on a woodwind quintet for the Monmouth (NJ) Winds. The Debussy Trio (flute, viola, harp) performed Thomas's In the Blue Glen in West Virginia and at the 11th World Harp Congress in Vancouver as part of an Encore grant from the American Composers Forum.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 2:38 PM | Permalink

Wei Zheng (D.M.A. candidate, voice, student of Jean del Santo) is the North Central Region winner of the biennial National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award and will represent the U of M School of Music at the national NATS convention in Orlando this summer.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 2:36 PM | Permalink

Immanuel Davis's recent performance with the Bach Society will be broadcast by Steve Staruch on May 17 at 3:15 p.m. on Classical Minnesota Public Radio (99.5 FM). On the broadcast, he will perform a Telemann Quartet from "Tafelmusik" for flute, oboe, violin, and continuo (playing baroque instruments). Davis received a $10,000 Artist Initiative Award grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in March. With the grant, he will perform a series of concerts around the state of Minnesota with world-renowned colleague Barthold Kuijken.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 2:13 PM | Permalink

Ian Hodges (D.M.A., 2010, guitar, student of Jeffrey Van) spent the weekend in Norway House, Manitoba, teaching guitar and performing with some of Canada's finest fiddlers. He reports that "this was a chance to see another remote part of the North, to play classical and jazz music for students and an audience that rarely gets to hear this in person, and to take part in one of the largest jamboree events in Canada! It was a great experience to accompany these legendary fiddlers in concert, and a new musical challenge for me."

At the NAfME (formerly MENC) Biennial Research Conference in St. Louis, Sondra Wieland Howe (M.A., 1985, musicology, student of Donna Cardamone Jackson/Ph.D., 1988, music education, student of Charles Furman) presented a poster on "Music Teacher Education before 1940: The Role of Women in the Development of Music Schools." She was also elected chair-elect of the NAfME Gender Special Research Interest Group.

Composer, copyist, and producer Ryan Truesdell (B.M., 2002, music education, student of Dean Sorenson) was recently featured on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday (May 13) in the story "Gil Evans, Essential Jazz Arranger, At 100" in connection with the upcoming release of his CD Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans. Truesdell will return to the School of Music to perform the music of Gil Evans with the U of M Jazz Ensembles on December 3, 2012.

Megan Wagner (M.M., 2010, voice, student of John De Haan) has been awarded the Kenneth Hoving Fellowship for Graduate Study at the University of Oklahoma in pursuance of her doctorate in voice performance. Wagner will be a part of an elite group of students across the university and will represent the School of Music and the university at recruiting events, public performances, and other activities.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 2:07 PM | Permalink

Current student Jinhee Kim (D.M.A. candidate, piano, student of Alexander Braginsky) and alumnus Denis Evstuhin (D.M.A., 2011, piano, student of Alexander Braginsky) will compete in the San Antonio International Piano Competition among 12 contestants selected in preliminary auditions.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 2:04 PM | Permalink

Listen to School of Music professor Lydia Artymiw (piano) and School of Music alumnus Andrew Staupe (B.M., M.M., piano, student of Lydia Artymiw) on America Public Media's Performance Today on Friday, May 11 at 1 p.m. on Classical Minnesota Public Radio (KSJN-FM 99.5) and nationwide on public radio stations throughout the U.S. in a broadcast of their performance of Mozart: Concerto No. 10 in E-flat major for Two Pianos and Orchestra, K. 365/316a with the Minnesota Orchestra. The original performance took place under the baton of Osmo Vanska at Orchestra Hall on January 14, 2011. To find out where and when Performance Today is broadcast in your area, please visit the Performance Today website.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 3:34 PM | Permalink

Watch the University of Minnesota School of Music's Jazz Ensemble I & Symphonic Band perform SOM professor Dean Sorenson's "New Directions" featuring Charles Lazarus (trumpet soloist) at Ted Mann Concert Hall on April 30, 2012. SOM professor Jerry Luckhardt conducted the Symphonic Band and Dean Sorenson conducted Jazz Ensemble I. Watch the video on the U of M School of Music's YouTube channel.

Posted by marsh396 at 5:10 PM | Permalink

Professor Alexander Fiterstein's (clarinet) new album "Ronn Yedidia: Impromptu, Nocturne and World Dance" was recently featured on NPR All Things Considered, Weekend Edition (Saturday, May 5). Listen to the story on NPR's website.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 12:36 PM | Permalink

Guerino Mazzola (creativity and mathematical music theory), theater professor Carl Flink, and electrical and computer engineering professor Guillermo Sapiro were advisors on U of M student Laruen Butler's (dance and mechanical engineering) upcoming project Voices of Fire. Voices of Fire features dancers using electronic sensors to control the music with their movement. As they dance a process of re-creation using imagery of fire, the dancers also transform the music using the "fire" of electricity. The music gives the movement an additional voice, and the audience can listen to the dancing and see the sound. Voices of Fire is directed by Lauren Butler with dancers Katie Taintor and Lauren Butler. With music by Michael Legan, programming by Patrick Flanagan, and visual design by Aleksey Polukéyev. Choreography, system design, and hardware by Lauren Butler. Voices of Fire will take place on Saturday, May 12 at 5 p.m. at TekBox Theater in downtown Minneapolis.

Fernando Meza (percussion) presented a clinic on Latin Drumming and offered master classes at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia on April 20 and 21. He recently performed under conductors Mark Wigglesworth and Kristjan Järvi with the Minnesota Orchestra and performed on marimba for the world premiere of Bulgarian composer Vassil Kazandjiev's Fantasy Concertante for flute, horn, cello and marimba for the 2012 Balkanicus concert at the U of M School of Music.

Listen to Mark Russell Smith (orchestral conducting) in conversation with Classical Minnesota Public Radio host Alison Young in "The Inspiring and Innovative Mark Russell Smith." Professor Smith talks about his favorite works and the University Symphony Orchestra concert which took place on Friday, May 4 at Ted Mann Concert Hall.



Dean Sorenson's (jazz) book First Place for Jazz, was recently published by Neil A. Kjos Music Company. Visit the First Place for Jazz website to watch the video overview of the publication.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 8:45 AM | Permalink

School of Music alumna and Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant recipient Kim Sueoka (M.M., 2006, vocal performance, student of Lawrence Weller) celebrates the CD release of Wai: Hawaiian Fresh Water Songs at Sundin Music Hall on Friday, May 11, 2012 at 8 p.m. with Lau Hawaiian Collective and Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education. Sueoka (vocals, 'ukulele, hula 'ili'ili), David Burk (guitar), Rahn Yanes (bass), Shahzore Shah (vocals), and Dave Kapell (glass harp, 'ukulele) plunge into the sweet, poignant, rollicking music of the Hawaiian Islands with fresh arrangements of Hawaiian cowboy songs, hulas, Jawaiian reggae tunes, and ballads. Visit Sueoka's website for tickets and information.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Christa Saeger (D.M.A. candidate, cello, student of Tanya Remenikova) performed the first Tiny Desk Music Concert outside Nanette Hanks's office in U of M's Johnston Hall on Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Hanks is sponsoring the series and Jerry Luckhardt (bands) is coordinating the performances. Work at the U and want a Tiny Desk Concert at your place? Email professor Luckhardt with your interest. Listen to a few minutes of Saeger's performance.

Posted by marsh396 at 9:27 AM | Permalink

Listen to School of Music orchestral professor Mark Russell Smith in conversation with Classical Minnesota Public Radio host Alison Young in "The Inspiring and Innovative Mark Russell Smith." Professor Smith talks about his favorite works and about the upcoming University Symphony Orchestra concert on Friday, May 4 at Ted Mann Concert Hall. The concert will feature Mahler's Totenfeier (1888), a performance of "Glitter and Be Gay" from Leonard Bernstein's Candide and "Non, Monsieur, mon mari" from Francis Poulenc's Les Mamelles De Tiresias (Alphonse LeDuc-King Music, Inc.) by Laura Hynes, the U of M School of Music concerto competition winner, and Strauss's Suite and Final Scene from Der Rosenkavalier.

Posted by marsh396 at 3:15 PM | Permalink

Dean Billmeyer (organ) will be the featured guest organist at a service of Choral Evensong at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church on Sunday, May 6 at 4 p.m. The service will feature portions of Handel's Messiah with soloists and full orchestra. Among the soloists is School of Music alumna Krista Palmquist. Billmeyer gave an organ master class and solo recital at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, on April 21 and 22.

Scott D. Lipscomb (music education) spent the past week at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell working with colleagues toward the goal of reinforcing musical and computational learning through a team-teaching model. Lipscomb is serving on the research team as program evaluator for a three-year, $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation entitled "Computational Thinking Through Computing and Music." The team is designing collaborative workshops involving pairs of faculty - one from music, one from computer science. More about the program.

Alex Lubet's (creative studies & media) Music, Disability and Society was reviewed in Disability & Society. Highlights include: "Lubet has been a pioneer in the field of music and disability, and his recent monograph Music, Disability, and Society is a major contribution. With his primarily first-person account of life and work within (and without) this field of study, Lubet opens up a new stream of humanitarian thought and methodology.... [A]n essential addition to the growing body of scholarship on music and disability... Lubet questions long-held ideas about the nature of disability, its social construction, and the field of Disability Studies itself."

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 11:13 AM | Permalink

On April 21 and 22, Joe Millea (B.M., 2009, percussion, student of Fernando Meza) performed the American premiere of Bajo el Volcan for Marimba Solo and String Orchestra by Patricia Moya with the Scottsdale Arts Orchestra, Brett Robison conducting. Millea is currently the principal percussionist/timpanist with the Scottsdale Arts Orchestra and is pursuing his D.M.A. in percussion performance at Arizona State University.

Posted by Jennifer Schmitt at 11:08 AM | Permalink