Voice + opera + musical theatre

Meet the 2024 ECM artist assistance grants recipients

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Meet the 2024 ECM artist assistance grants recipients Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/17/2024 - 00:00

Kathryn Bistodeau

At the CU Boulder Entrepreneurship Center for Music (ECM), students can find the skills and tools they need for their music careers. Most recently, the ECM awarded $5,820 in artist assistance grants to support eight student-led professional development and community engagement projects including:

Josie Arnett

Josie Arnett
“I’m really picky about which pieces I release on streaming platforms because I’m 20 and need to be able to write really bad music … and then release the things that I really love,” says Josie Arnett, an undergraduate composition student.

“Last fall, I got the opportunity to write a saxophone quartet piece for a group that travels all over the United States. I was really happy with the piece and really proud of it, so I reached out to a faculty member who set me up with the CU Boulder graduate saxophone quartet.”

Sanitas Saxophone Quartet

Working with the Sanitas Saxophone Quartet, College of Music Recording Engineer Kevin Harbison and a mixing artist, Arnett recorded the piece for projected release on streaming platforms this summer. The ECM grant helped pay the artists and distribution fee.

Arnett says she learned a lot about how to interact in a professional recording setting and enjoyed collaborating within the College of Music. “It’s been fun to work with people that have a lot of energy, positive attitudes and are just really excited about what they do,” she shares.

Alice Del Simone
At the end of May, DMA student in voice performance and pedagogy Alice Del Simone was part of a workshop presentation at the Voice Foundation Symposium in Philadelphia titled “Legato Then and Now, Vibrato Edition: A Close-Up of What Happens Between the Pitches in the Classical Bel Canto Tradition.”

“The workshop offered a toolbox of exercises for how to teach the type of legato singing that was happening at the end of the 1800s, beginning of the 1900s when we started to have recordings available,” Del Simone says.

“It was my very first time presenting at a conference where there are often hurdles for a young academic to get an invitation to present. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to work with a group of people who are more prominent in the community than myself.”

During the symposium, Del Simone stayed at the conference hotel, partially funded by her ECM grant.

Zachary Howarth
Zachary Howarth, a DMA student in jazz studies, will go on the road this summer to record music in studios in Reno and South Lake Tahoe. Howarth also hopes to perform this music live in venues across Colorado and Nevada.

The project will involve a contemporary jazz quartet—trumpet, piano, bass, drums—writing and recording the music. The ECM grant will help the project get off the ground by assisting with studio fees, production costs and travel expenses.

“The opportunity to write, record and play music with such high-level artists is invaluable to my collaborative research in compositional tendencies in contemporary jazz mediums and fully improvised music,” Howarth says.

SeaJun Kwon

SeaJun Kwon
SeaJun Kwon, also a DMA student in jazz studies, likes writing compositions that push the boundaries of jazz music including “Avant Shorts”—10 etudes exploring micro tonalities and rhythmic concepts that aren’t commonly used in jazz compositions.

Kwon plans to compose these etudes and begin recording them over the summer, using a microphone setup funded by an ECM grant.

“I thought I’d write a bunch of super short compositions that focus on different ideas to develop myself and provide my community with these resources,” Kwon says.

By keeping them brief, he hopes to make the compositions more accessible and useful for his community.

“People are really busy, there are so many things that you have to do and also so many distractions,” Kwon says. “I think these short compositions put less pressure on people—they can work on them for 10 minutes and still learn from them.”

Er-Hsuan Li with orchestra

Er-Hsuan Li
Er-Hsuan Li graduated from the College of Music in May with a DMA in piano performance. In April, he held a concert featuring the world premiere of John Clay Allen’s “The Stone Harp” concerto for piano and strings along with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

“It was a very fun event,” Li says. “Even though it was off-campus, it was really CU that made this possible because that’s how we connected.”

Many CU Boulder musicians participated including conductor and Associate Director of Orchestras Renee Gilliland, composition alumnus John Clay Allen, Anna Kallinikos—who’s majoring in trumpet performance and minoring in business—and the majority of the 18-member orchestra. The ECM grant assisted Li with compensating the performers and renting the venue.

“I had performed in front of an orchestra only once before when I was a high schooler,” Li recalls. “So it was really special for me that—after 13 years—I got to do this again professionally. And I would like to think that I am a better musician now compared to then!”

Ethan Stahl

Ethan Stahl
When Ethan Stahl discovered Nkeiru Okoye’s music, he knew he’d found something special. “I loved her music so much that I began working on it for one of my degree recitals,” he says. “Eventually, it became evident that I had enough material to create a lecture recital.”

To prepare, Stahl—who’s pursuing a DMA in piano performance—interviewed Okoye about her music. “We talked on the phone for a few hours and in that conversation, she proposed the idea of writing a piece for me to add to one of the sets of piano pieces that I was studying.” The ECM grant helped fund Okoye’s contribution.

Okoye’s music is already part of the American Music Research Center’s Helen Walker-Hill Collection; her upcoming composition will be added to the collection.

“Okoye is extremely novel in the world of piano composition,” Stahl adds. “I’ve never heard piano music that is similar stylistically to hers.”

Natalie Trejo
Artist Diploma student Natalie Trejo competed in the finals for the Austin Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition in April—and the ECM grant helped her get there.

“I submitted the preliminary recordings back in January. From there, they selected three finalists to perform in the live final round in Austin, Texas,” Trejo says. “It went really well. I ended up getting third but I was very happy with how I played and I was not nervous at all.”

Trejo performed Chen Yi’s “Memory” for solo flute and Frank Martin’s “Ballade” for flute and piano.

“I love doing competitions because I get to learn new repertoire, meet new flutists, make connections and get to know the other finalists—it’s very important and humbling, but still encouraging,” Trejo says.

Jonathon Winter
Another spring 2024 graduate, Jonathon Winter—who earned a DMA in violin performance—recorded four pieces to be compiled into an album titled “Origin: Music by Women of the Americas.” The pieces are “ko’u inoa” by Leilehua Lanzilotti, “Scratch the Surface” by Dana Kaufman, “String Poetic” by Jennifer Higdon and “Sueños de Chambi” by Gabriel Lena Frank.

“I picked some fiendishly difficult music to play but it was so worth it,” Winter says. “I learned so much about preparing for recordings and what that actually entails.”

Winter worked with pianist and Postdoctoral Lecturer Barbara Noyes, as well as Kevin Harbison to record all four pieces over the course of seven months. Winter will continue the project over the summer with the goal of finding a label to disseminate the recordings.

Congratulations to all grant recipients and our thanks to this year’s adjudicators: College of Music staff member Kathryn Bistodeau, Music Advisory Board member Laurie Hathorn and University of Denver entrepreneurship faculty member Neil Pollard.

At the CU Boulder Entrepreneurship Center for Music, students can find the skills and tools they need for their music careers. This spring, the ECM awarded $5,820 in grants to support eight student-led professional development and community engagement projects.

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Nurturing young singers with new opera

Anonymous — Fri, 31 May 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Nurturing young singers with new opera Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/31/2024 - 00:00

Marc Shulgold

Photos: Table Read of “Polly Peachum” with the full cast, composer Gene Scheer and librettist Bill Van Horn.

It’s an old cliché, but the image of great oaks-from-little acorns really does apply to CU NOW, the CU Boulder College of Music’s successful summer opera workshop that launched its 14th season on our campus this week running through June 16.

First, we should spell out its full title: New Opera Workshop. It’s a unique program that began with a modest, acorn-like suggestion in 2009, recalls founder/artistic director Leigh Holman.

“I was at an opera conference here [Boulder] and was visiting with composer Hershel Garfein,” says Holman, who also directs the college’s Eklund Opera Program. “He suggested the idea of young artists working on new works with their composers. It turns out young singers just loved sampling new music. I knew it would also be a wonderful experience for the composers since they could be here to work on their music.”

CU NOW debuted in 2010, becoming the nation’s first such program based at an academic institution, designed to bring together student singers and renowned composers in rehearsing and performing a new opera—all in three weeks. Since then, the likes of composers Mark Adamo, Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, Libby Larsen, Mark Campbell, Garfein and Tom Cipullo have participated.

This year’s workshop brings together Gene Scheer—returning to CU NOW as guest composer, alongside collaborating librettist Bill Van Horn—and 14 auditioned CU Boulder graduate student singers, plus a trio of grad and undergrad composers as well as Eklund Opera Program staff. Emmy Award winner Gary Fry—arranger for “Polly Peachum”—will be in residence during the final week of the workshop as a resource for both our voice and composition students.

Participants are rehearsing six days a week on “Polly Peachum," a rollicking romantic musical comedy set in the early 1700s that depicts the intertwining worlds of government intrigue, London criminal life and the world of theatre. If the name in the title rings a bell, she’s a character in English composer John Gay’s 1728 hit “The Beggar’s Opera.”

“Gene wrote it with Bill about a decade ago and they recently reworked it,” explains Holman. The story concerns the creation of that old tale of London street life and lists characters such as Mr. Gay and historical figures Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Robert Walpole—and Ms. Peachum herself.

“Our work is underway,” says CU NOW Music Director Nicholas Carthy of the new opera with old characters, staged in less than a month. The British-born conductor—music director of the Eklund Opera Program—joined CU NOW in 2023. He notes that he anticipates only “a few tiny adjustments” will be made to the score once Scheer and Van Horn observe rehearsals.

For the student singers, this marks their first true professional operatic experience. And for Carthy? “I’m prepared for whatever.”

But wait, there’s more to CU NOW: Running simultaneously with “Polly Peachum” is the Composers’ Fellow Initiative (CFI) which occurs every other year alongside CU NOW. Three student composers who had expressed interest in writing opera were chosen to participate in the program, directed by Bud Coleman. The trio—Alan Mackwell, Holly McMahon and Joshua Maynard—have been working with New York-based composer Tom Cipullo, creating music and librettos for 10-minute opera scenes that are being rehearsed, staged and costumed for a performance on June 15.

Holman said plans have already been made for CU NOW 2025: Mark Adamo will return with “Sarah,” a new work about famed Boston-based opera conductor Sarah Caldwell.

“Polly Peachum” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 16. Scenes by the Composer Fellows’ Initiative will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 15. Free and open to the public, all performances will be held in our Music Theatre. More info at CU Presents.

The College of Music’s 2024 New Opera Workshop (CU NOW) is underway, leading up to performances of Gene Scheer’s “Polly Peachum”—as well as performances of opera scenes presented by our Composer Fellows’ Initiative—in June.

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College of Music announces new associate professor + director of vocal pedagogy

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

College of Music announces new associate professor + director of vocal pedagogy Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/22/2024 - 00:00

Sabine Kortals Stein

The University of Colorado Boulder College of Music is thrilled to announce that Associate Professor + Director of Vocal Pedagogy Nicholas Perna will join the College of Music this fall.

“Humbled. Overwhelmed. Inspired. These are the three words that keep running through my mind as I contemplate this opportunity,” says Perna whose tenor voice has been described by the Houston Chronicle as “an impressive sound.”

“To inherit the chair of Berton Coffin, Barbara Doscher and Patti Peterson is not something I take lightly,” he continues. “Coffin’s writings were an inspiration while I dissertated and his willingness to publish his curious observations took renegade courage that I hope to bring to my position at the CU Boulder College of Music.

“Additionally, it was my lack of understanding of Doscher’s chapter on formants that originally stirred my curiosity as a 20-year-old undergraduate pedagogy student. So from a career perspective, this position is a singular honor—and an opportunity that I knew would not come around again.”

Perna is an associate professor of voice at Mississippi College and has been a voice research associate at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He’s been published in the Journal of Singing, Journal of Voice and VOICEPrint, and—as a Presser Music Foundation awardee—he has presented research on four continents at events such as the Voice Foundation’s Symposium, the International Congress of Voice Teachers and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) national conference, as well as the Physiology and Acoustics of Singing conference.

Perna is currently NATS’ vice president for outreach, and creator and co-host of the VocalFri podcast. This year, he also started his tenure as executive director of Opera Mississippi, thereby expanding his artistic administrator expertise—which also includes the role of producer for the Mississippi College Department of Music’s Lyric Stage.

Adds Perna, a recent finalist for the American Prize for men in opera: “Coffin created a world and a program where students could be curious and where the status quo of information around singing was questioned. I hope to offer students at the CU Boulder College of Music that same space where innovation is applauded, evidence-based models are generated and discovery propels us forward to the next question.”

Perna has frequently appeared with Opera Mississippi and was twice selected as a Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist singer. Additional stage credits include “Don José” in “Carmen,” “Rodolfo” in “La Bohème,” “The Duke” in “Rigoletto,” “Nemorino” in “L’elisir d’amore,” “Alfred” in “Die Fledermaus,” “Tamino” in “Die Zauberflöte,” “Ravenal” in “Show Boat” and “Archie” in “The Secret Garden.” Symphonic soloist appearances include Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Handel’s “Messiah” and Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” The South Florida Sun Sentinel has praised Perna for “emotionally driven” performance.

Welcome!

Associate Professor + Director of Vocal Pedagogy Nicholas Perna will join the College of Music in fall 2024.

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College of Music announces new director of choral activities

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

College of Music announces new director of choral activities Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/22/2024 - 00:00

Sabine Kortals Stein

The University of Colorado Boulder College of Music is thrilled to announce that Director of Choral Activities Coreen Duffy will join the College of Music this fall.

“Coreen Duffy is an inspiring conductor, pedagogue and scholar,” says Associate Director of Choral Activities Elizabeth Swanson. “She is known internationally in several capacities including her work as a conductor—most recently conducting in London with an upcoming engagement at Carnegie Hall—as well as through her specialization in Jewish choral music.

“Additionally, she’s a choral arranger and serves our profession in meaningful ways through the American Choral Directors Association [ACDA] and the National Collegiate Choral Organization [NCCO].”

Adds Swanson, “She’ll be an excellent fit as a faculty member in the College of Music because she has an inspiring vision for the choral program, is an outstanding musician and collaborator, and will be a motivating mentor and role model for our students.”

Duffy has served as director of choral activities at the University of Montana School of Music for the past six years where she conducts the Chamber Chorale and University Choir, teaches conducting and choral methods, and supervises student teachers. Under her direction, the UM Chamber Chorale performed at the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition and served as the master class choir for the International Conducting Competition, Germany (2022). The chorale also performed at the 75^th Anniversary Festival of Music at the Hochschule für Musik Saar, Germany (2022), at Cadogan Hall and Southwark Cathedral in London (2022), at the Northwest Conference of the ACDA (2022) and at the Montana International Choral Festival (2023, 2019).

Duffy further serves as artistic director for the UM-Missoula Community Chorus—a multi-generational, non-auditioned ensemble that includes 8^th-graders through 80-somethings. And as a specialist in Jewish choral music, Duffy has presented sessions on the subject at national and regional ACDA conferences, as well as the NCCO, the National Association for Music Education, the College Music Society and the international conference of the European Center for Jewish Music, Germany. Additionally, as an active clinician and composer, her works are published by Walton Music, ECS, Pavane Publishing and Hinshaw Music.

“I can’t wait to make music with the incredible students and faculty at CU Boulder,” says Duffy, current vice president of the NCCO and president-elect of the Northwest ACDA, having previously served as its co-chair for world musics and cultures. “As we move into the second quarter of the 21^st century, I think we’ll find that choirs are among the most resilient—as well as the most responsive—ensembles in the face of game-changing developments such as AI. Choral ensembles are the crossroads for the most human of interfaces—we exist where the abstract meets the tangible, where the voice touches the imagination, where poetry meets breath, pitch, camaraderie, leadership and purpose.”

Duffy adds, “CU Boulder’s mission to develop universal musicians is invaluable in this world—our ability to advocate for our art and build bridges across communities is equal to measurements examining our technique, intonation and musicianship.

“I’m excited to join the team of music faculty who simultaneously honor the traditional and embrace change. It’s thrilling to have the chance to work together with faculty and students to carry on the College of Music’s important legacy in choral music—and to help write the next chapter!”

Welcome!

Director of Choral Activities Coreen Duffy will join the College of Music in fall 2024.

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Grad student brings first statewide Jamaican Choral Music Symposium to Boulder

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Grad student brings first statewide Jamaican Choral Music Symposium to Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/09/2024 - 00:00

Marc Shulgold + Sabine Kortals Stein

Mention Jamaican music to most Americans and the pop sounds of reggae usually come to mind. But there’s much more—the wonderfully rich harmonies of choral music, hundreds of rarely heard sacred songs and folk songs that deserve more exposure.

O’Neil Jones—a third-year DMA student in choral conducting and literature at the College of Music—is bringing those sounds to Boulder.

Jones has created the first statewide Jamaican Choral Music Symposium, Feb. 22-25, to elevate the history, language and musical elements of Jamaican choral music through direct interaction with natives of the country. A highlight of the symposium will be a Sunday concert by the University Singers who are based at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. The group, now led by Franklin Halliburton, will appear here thanks to a $25,000 Roser Visiting Artists Program grant awarded to Jones. Halliburton is a key figure in furthering Jamaican choral music as a genre, having worked with choral conductor-composer Noel Dexter over some 20 years prior to his passing.

“This music is a major part of who we are,” stresses Jones. “Jamaicans know this music, but they don’t know who wrote it.” A native of Montego Bay, he grew up singing those songs in church, noting that Jamaica has 1,600 churches, the largest per-capita number of any country in the world. “The music was not being preserved, beyond simply being performed,” he explains. Indeed, while there were sacred songs being sung all over the island, most were never written down or were notated in different versions.

Today, Jones—who’s also the 2023-24 recipient of the Susan L. Porter Memorial Fellowship—is advancing one of the goals of our American Music Research Center by bringing the choral music and culture of his island home to a wider audience this month, including the participation of area high schools and the CU Boulder University Singers, Chamber Singers and Treble Chorus. He also hopes to publish the music of Jamaican choral composers.

Primary among those is a major force in Jamaican choral music—and a pivotal figure in the lives of both Jones and Halliburton: Noel Dexter (1938-2019). “He’s the reason I’m here,” says Jones. “He was my mentor, he gave me my first voice lesson and he taught me how to conduct.” Their bond began in 2009 and continued until Dexter’s death.

More than a teacher, Dexter influenced his protégé with his humble approach to life. “He was so modest,” recalls Jones. “When he was near the end, he told those gathered around him, ‘Just let people know that I tried.’ All Jamaicans know of him.”

Dexter sent Jones on a journey of discovery that led him to Boulder. Since Jamaica had no serious conducting program, he encouraged his young student to enroll at Mississippi’s Alcorn State University where another of Dexter’s former students had been teaching. Jones obliged, then continued his studies at the University of Southern Mississippi. Eventually, he met Assistant Professor of Voice Andrew Garland at a national singing competition at CU Boulder. “CU allowed me to accept Professor Garland’s invitation to continue studying voice while actively pursuing a career in conducting,” Jones says.

In 2021, he settled in Boulder, although Jamaica remained close to his heart. “In preparing my conducting recitals, I included one song by Mr. Dexter to honor his memory—from there, the zeal to bring more of his music to the world was ignited,” he adds.

The CU Boulder College of Music presents the University Singers, Mona in concert—as part of the Jamaican Choral Music Symposium—at Macky Auditorium on Feb. 25, 2024.

Photos: O’Neil Jones (top); Noel Dexter (right).

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Man the lifeboats—here comes “Titanic” (the musical)

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Man the lifeboats—here comes “Titanic” (the musical) Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/07/2024 - 00:00

Marc Shulgold

The idea of staging the tragic saga of the “Titanic” as a Broadway show must have seemed preposterous when it premiered in 1997. Some may have thought it was disrespectful of the 1,500 who went down with the ship on its maiden voyage in 1912. Not to mention the logistics of staging its demise. Yet the musical, created by Peter Stone (story and book) and Maury Yeston (music) was a hit, running for more than 800 performances and winning a Tony for best musical. It’s since been staged around the world.

And now it comes to Boulder, directed by Broadway veteran and CU Boulder College of Music guest faculty member Bob Westenberg. In three performances, March 15-17, audiences in Macky Auditorium will relive the tragedy of that “night to remember.” Visiting during a Zoom call from his Longmont home, Westenberg admits that directing “Titanic, the Musical” is proving far more exciting than “Beauty and the Beast.” We’ll let him explain.

Last spring, Musical Theatre Program Director Matthew Chellis made an offer to Westenberg, newly arrived on campus. “Matthew gave me two titles to choose from—‘Titanic’ or ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ I chose ‘Beauty’ because I felt casting it was more age-appropriate. I mean, there were all these old people aboard the Titanic.”

So what changed Westenberg’s mind? “I fell in love with the score. The music is just so wonderful—and we’ll have the great effect of a tea cart slowly rolling across the stage, and suddenly everyone stops and realizes the ship is sinking.”

Those little moments are what can make theatre so special for this man of the stage. Consider his résumé: He made his debut eons ago in “Zorba” with Anthony Quinn; he was the original Prince Charming in Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” (his “Cinderella,” Kim Crosby, has been his wife for 35 years); he’s portrayed “Javert” in “Les Miserables” on Broadway, and more. Plus national tours and plenty of film and TV roles.

So how did he land in Boulder? “Kim and I have three children. Our eldest daughter was drawn to studying medicine at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. Then she got married and settled in Longmont, so Kim and I decided to move there in 1997,” explains Westenberg whose experience comprises 40 years in the theatre and 20 years as an educator at Missouri State. “I had known Donovan Marley in California and he asked me to work with him at the Denver Center Theatre Company [where Marley served as artistic director].” And it’s not a long drive from Longmont to the Boulder campus. Once auditions for CU Boulder singers were completed last fall and the cast of 40 was chosen, it was full steam ahead.

Westenberg’s students include majors in opera and musical theatre. The orchestra numbers 30, but there will be no iceberg. “This is not about big production values,” the director stresses. “Rather, the creators tried to humanize what happened, telling of passengers in first, second and third class. We’ll see how those characters perform under that terrible duress and how the storyline is musicalized. This is what makes for the classical structure of a musical.”

The CU Boulder College of Music’s Musical Theatre and Eklund Opera programs present “Titanic, the Musical” at Macky Auditorium from March 15 through 17, 2024.

Directed by Broadway veteran and CU Boulder College of Music guest faculty Bob Westenberg, “Titanic, the Musical” comes to Macky Auditorium in March.

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2023-2024 Ekstrand Competition winners announced

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

2023-2024 Ekstrand Competition winners announced Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/16/2023 - 00:00

MarieFaith Lane

On Nov. 14 in Grusin Music Hall, violinist Rinat Erlichman (’25) won first prize in the 2023-2024 Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Graduate Student Performance Competition! Under the mentorship of Associate Professor of Violin and Artist in Residence Harumi Rhodes and Artist in Residence Edward Dusinberre, Erlichman prepared a program featuring works by Ernest Bloch, Paul Ben Haim and George Gershwin.

Erlichman was awarded $2,000—plus the audience favorite prize ($250). “Winning first prize and audience favorite for this year’s Ekstrand Competition is incredibly meaningful to me,” she shares. “Preparing for the competition has helped me expand my repertoire and develop my skills. I was honored to play the program in the final round with pianist Max Randal and all the wonderful finalists.

“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the Ekstrand family. Your generosity means I can devote more of my time to develop my career and share my music.”

Congratulations, Rinat, on this well-deserved achievement!

Cellist Chas Barnard—a student of Associate Professor of Cello David Requiro—won second prize ($1,000). Other finalists ($500 each) include Maggie Brady, violin (student of Harumi Rhodes); Jenna Clark, mezzo-soprano (student of Associate Professor of Voice Abigail Nims); and Allyson Kreider, flute (student of Professor of Flute Christina Jennings).

We applaud all performers as well as their teachers and collaborative pianists, including Jude Markel, Barbara Noyes, Max Randal and Christine Teng!

Our gratitude goes to the college’s Ekstrand competition co-chairs: Professor of Music Education and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Margaret Berg and Postdoctoral Lecturer in Collaborative Piano Barbara Noyes. We’re also deeply appreciative of this year’s adjudicators: Philip Hembree, Assistant Principal Trumpet, Colorado Symphony and Instructor, University of Northern Colorado; Wilbur Lin, Assistant Conductor, Colorado Symphony and Music Director, Denver Young Artists Orchestra; and Seoyoen Min, Principal Cellist, Colorado Symphony.

This year’s semi-finalists who were chosen in their respective departmental preliminaries included:  

Percussion: Gavin Kitchen
Piano: Alice Hyoung
Strings: Chas Barnard, cello; Maggie Brady, violin; Rinat Erlichman, violin
Voice: Jenna Clark, mezzo soprano; Alice Del Simone, soprano; Samuel Wetzel, baritone
Winds: Sophie Maeda, oboe; Allyson Kreider, flute; Joeli Schilling, flute

Faculty judges for this year’s semi-final round included Professor of Conducting and Director of Bands Don McKinney, Teaching Associate Professor and Chamber Music Coordinator Meta Weiss and Voice Lecturer Jennifer DeDominici.

The Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Graduate Student Performance Competition was established by then-Dean Robert Fink at the suggestion of Bruce Ekstrand—later renamed to pay tribute to the late vice chancellor for academic affairs and psychology professor. An ardent supporter of our College of Music, Ekstrand was also a member of the CU Boulder Golden Buffalo Men’s Chorus.

The competition grants cash prizes for professional development to outstanding graduate student performers. After preliminaries among individual departments and a semifinal round, five finalists are selected to compete before a panel of judges.

Partially funded by the Ekstrand Competition Endowment Fund, this annual event is the premier performance competition for the College of Music’s most outstanding graduate students.

Congratulations to first-prize recipient and audience favorite Rinat Erlichman—and all winners and participants in the College of Music’s premier performance competition for outstanding graduate students!

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Student spotlight: Adriana Ripley

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Student spotlight: Adriana Ripley Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/11/2023 - 00:00

MarieFaith Lane

Adriana Ripley (BM ’25) is a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s in musical theatre at the College of Music.

Ripley—whose passion for dance, music and theatre arts began at a young age—was born in Guatemala to a Brazilian-American mother and a Guatemalan father. At CU Boulder, she exemplifies the College of Music’s universal musician mission by pursuing degrees in musical theatre, psychology and French.

She shares her favorite aspects of the College of Music and reveals the ways in which her music education is preparing her for a promising career:

What’s your favorite aspect of the CU Boulder College of Music?
Ripley: There’s a beautiful sense of camaraderie in the College of Music—people look further than the instrument someone plays or the role they are given, and love and appreciate the person behind that. While it’s true that the hallways are filled with the sounds of music that people enjoy making for themselves, students here accept and embrace the beauty of sharing music with one another as well. I’ve noticed a fantastic balance between drive for personal improvement and a love for the art form we’ve all chosen.

How does the College of Music support you in your professional endeavors?
Ripley: The College of Music provides me with curricular support. I’m acquiring practical skills—like business and networking techniques—beyond the musical aspects of my degree through the classes offered in my major. I’m learning skills that can help me get further in my career—even before I graduate and enter the workforce.

I’m also receiving stellar individual training from brilliant professors. Jennifer DeDominici, Andrew Garland and Mutsumi Moteki are the professors I work most closely with in my applied area of voice. The art of collaboration is valued here, making me a more well-rounded artist, giving musician and focused person.

There are many individuals here who share similar dreams to my own and who have supported me in pursuing my passion—a rare and cherished quality to find in classmates.

What upcoming project are you looking forward to?
Ripley: I’ve served as a resident artist in the Shedd Institute’s Contemporary Broadway Songbook Project since 2015 and have been closely involved with “Mija” since its creation the same year. I’ll be playing the part of Gabriela (Gabi) Milagros Mishel Armstrong in “Mija” for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s 35th Annual Festival of New Musicals in New York City, Oct. 26-27.

Congratulations, Adriana!

Inspired by a true story, “Mija” is a new bilingual musical about survival, identity and the complexity of family—it follows characters across continents, decades and generations. When Luisa leaves behind her sheltered life in the United States for Guatemala, she’s blindsided by a life-threatening pregnancy. In Oregon, Gabi aches for grownup life to start but first she seeks to uncover secrets the adults around her deny. The show provides a finely-crafted look at the relationships between mothers and daughters across different eras, capturing both the specific and the universal.

Adriana Ripley—a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s in musical theatre at the College of Music—shares her favorite aspects of the College of Music and reveals the ways in which her music education is preparing her for a promising career.

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2023 Honors Competition winners announced

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 07:00:00 +0000

2023 Honors Competition winners announced Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/28/2023 - 00:00

MarieFaith Lane

The College of Music’s annual Honors Competition for undergraduate and graduate students yielded two new winners this past weekend: Undergraduate pianist Jude Dow-Hygelund (BM ’26) and graduate soprano Dawna Rae Warren (AD ’23) were awarded first prizes in their respective divisions. They will perform with the CU Symphony Orchestra during the 2023-24 season.

Undergraduate competition winner

Freshman Dow-Hygelund performed Franz Liszt’s Totentanz, S. 126, accompanied by Er-Hsuan Li. Dow-Hygelund studies with Professor of Piano Andrew Cooperstock.

“Preparing for and playing in the Honors Competition has been one of my favorite and most rewarding parts of this year,” says Dow-Hygelund. “One of my goals in coming here to CU Boulder was to be able to play a concerto with a full orchestra. I am incredibly grateful that I’ll have the opportunity to perform with the CU Symphony Orchestra, especially this early in my academic career.”

He adds, “One of my favorite parts of this competition was being able to see my peers perform their concertos. I found the wide variety of musicians and high level of talent astonishing, and I commend all the other performers!”

Graduate competition winner

Warren performed Richard Strauss’ “Brentano Lieder,” Op. 68, accompanied by Ya-Ting Yang. Warren studies with Associate Professor of Voice Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson.

“For me, winning the Honors Competition was a moment when I was able to see tangible proof that my hard work and dedication to my craft has created noticeable improvements in my performances,” shares Warren.

“I learned three of the four pieces I performed as an undergraduate at Baldwin Wallace University for the concerto competition and I did not move past the preliminary auditions,” Warren adds. “Six years later, I not only made it to the finals at the Honors Competition here at CU Boulder, but I actually won. It’s absolutely a reinforcement that discipline and dedication are crucial to finding success as an artist and musician.

“My favorite part was coaching these pieces with various faculty members.”

Well-earned honorable mentions go to undergraduate cellist Louis Saxton and graduate bassoonist J. T. Holdbrooks.

Big thanks to our faculty judges—Nicholas Carthy, Gary Lewis and Don McKinney—and congratulations to all participating student competitors and collaborative pianists, and to those who advanced to the final round:

Undergraduate competition

Jude Dow-Hygelund, piano
Louis Saxton, cello
Melissa Burke-Manwaring, soprano
Anna Kallinikos, trumpet
Benjamin Kohav, piano
Ayla Lantz, flute
Lucy Rissman, violin
Noah Solomon, trumpet

Graduate competition

Dawna Rae Warren, soprano
J. T. Holdbrooks, bassoon
Logan Banister, saxophone
Thomas Leo Bocchi, tenor
Michael Brotherton, trumpet
Victor Avila Luvsangenden, violin

To enjoy the winners’ performances this fall semester, visit cupresents.org for details.

On Feb. 26, undergraduate pianist Jude Dow-Hygelund and graduate soprano Dawna Rae Warren were awarded first prizes in the College of Music’s annual Honors Competition. Congratulations to all participating student competitors and collaborative pianists!

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