May 2021
BYU SCHOOL OF MUSIC newsletter
Table of Contents 3 5 7
Student Accomplishments
From percussionist to product design
Faculty Accomplishments
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Group Accomplishments
Check out the progress!
A Call to Alumni
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Student Accomplishments Ariel Wong
On March 1st, BYU sophomore Ariel Wong won first prize in the Music Teachers National Association competition, winning the top prize in her age division in the country. This is one of the most prestigious competitions in the country and a huge honor for BYU. She had previously won top prize in the state, then the Southwestern Division. The other student finalists came from teachers at Eastman, University of Michigan and other major
schools. This is the fourth time that BYU has been in the national finals in the last 6 years, and the third time they have won one of the top prizes. Ariel is from Hong Kong. This is the 2nd year in a row that a BYU student has made it to the national finals. Here is a video of her playing Rachmaninov, while competing in the 2020 Emory Young Artist competition, in Atlanta, where she was prize winner.
Isaac Sanabria Isaac Sanbria was selected as the first place prize winner of the 2021 Utah Music Teachers Association Instrumental Concerto Competition, as well as first prize winner in the 2021 National Federation of Music Clubs Double Reed Competition, which includes a $1250 prize. Click the photo above to watch a video of Isaac performing Mozart's Bassoon Concerto in Bb major, K.191.
Brooke Ballard BYU piano performance major, Brooke Ballard, received first place in the recent UMTA Piano Concerto Competition. This competition is open for all collegiate pianists in the state and had numerous entrants from all of the major universities in Utah. She performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25. The piece is one of her favorite pieces to
perform and she shares that she is “honored to be awarded for it.” Brooke is studying with Dr. Scott Holden and is from Riverton, Utah. In addition, Brooke was the winner of the BYU symphony orchestra competition. Click the photo above for a live recording of her performance recorded during her recent sophomore recital.
Lola Heninger
Molly Smith
Lola Heninger (trumpet performance) has been awarded an ITG Conference Scholarship for the 2021 International Guild Conference. This award comes as a result of a national audition process. Lola submitted recordings of the required pieces and was awarded the scholarship through a competitive audition. She will receive a $250 case prize, recognition in the International Trumpet Guild Journal, and free admission to the 2021 ITG Conference.
Molly Smith, a piano performance major, has been accepted to the Women’s Artistic Leadership Initiative Fellowship this summer.
Isaac Carlin Undergraduate vocal performance student, Isaac Carlin will attend the University of North Texas in Fall 2021, where he has been accepted into its competitive MM Vocal Performance program.
Lindsay Bastian MM piano performance student LINDSAY BASTIAN has accepted a full tuition + stipend offer to enter the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy program at Texas Christian University in Fall 2021.
CJ Madsen MM choral conducting student CJ Madsen was accepted as a private choral composition student in the studio of Jake Runestad, one of the nation’s premiere composers for choirs. Jake recently announced that he was taking on a select few private students, and CJ was chosen from amongst all of the applicants.
Josie Larsen Vocal performance undergraduate student Josie Larsen was accepted into MM programs in vocal performance at: Boston Conservatory at Berklee Manhattan School of Music New England Conservatory She has decided to attend the New England Conservatory in the fall, where she has received more than a 50% tuition scholarship.
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Nathan Winters From Percussionist to Product Designer
After a decade of playing percussion (and longer on piano!), I’m a junior at BYU studying Commercial Music! My dream is to work for an instrument manufacturer in product management, getting more instruments into the hands of more people - not because the world needs more musicians (true), but because everyone deserve rich goodness in their life. Once I had a year of college and an early return from my mission under my belt, I worked full-time for a year and a half in the supply chain industry. During that time, I had a sit-down meeting with Dr. Bastian, who helped me see that a degree from the School of Music was not only a viable option for my life, but something I sorely needed. And he was right! After some exceptional work accomplishments, a return to constant music in my life through school, and a new job in the BYU Instrument Office, I began to wonder if there was a way to combine several years of work experience with my music degree. Several conversations with Dr. Coleman about drum crafting later (and with the encouragement of Dr. Gabbitas at the Instrument Office), I began to explore possible internships with instrument manufacturers around the country in Fall 2020. I handcrafted a five-octave marimba with my father some years back, and as I rifled through some of these companies’ websites, I realized that a career in the products industry was absolutely a viable pathway to follow, and I got very excited.
About thirty cold calls and emails later, a vague acquaintance set me up with his mentor, who happened to be the mastermind behind one of the best percussion companies out there today. One call turned into two turned into three, and now I’m working as an intern for RBI Music in Fort Worth, Texas. They distribute all sorts of instruments and accessories, ranging from Pre-K introductory instruments to bass guitars, from Boomwhackers to professional percussion equipment. My internship is primarily focused on marketing, helping to bring a recently acquired brands more fully into the educational market. It’s absolutely fascinating, and I’m beyond excited to keep working and learning more over the course of the summer! Over the past year, I’ve become keenly aware of just how richly blessed and privileged I am to have so much music in my life. My parents met in BYU Singers three decades ago. My mother has two masters degrees (piano performance and choral conducting), my father sings like none other. My oldest sister is an exceptionally gifted pianist and teacher, my other sister is a nationallyrenowned flute superstar, my younger brother and I play together in the Cougar Marching Band, and my youngest brother can make a cello sing. All of these things wouldn’t have been possible without the resources necessary for musicians to grow - time, lessons, equipment - and I feel strongly that given the experiences I’ve already had, it’s my responsibility to ensure that quality instruments are more and more accessible to anyone who can get their hands on them.
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Faculty Accomplishments
Jihea Hong-Park Jihea Hong-Park, Associate Professor of Piano, continues to be involved in numerous virtual masterclasses, conferences and workshops at a state, national, and international level. Recently, she has led masterclasses at Loyola University New Orleans, Weber State University, Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and Wuhan Conservatory of Music in China. She will also present a Professional Development workshop for the Teaching Artist faculty of Orchestra of St. Luke’s in NYC as well as appear as a guest speaker at the Socially Engaged Musicians Network Forum in Korea this spring. Ms. Hong-Park’s article, “ITAC5: On the Path to Self-Discovery” has been published by the Korea Arts and Culture Education Service in April 2021. Most recently, her paper presentation proposal, “The Necessity of Diversity and Cultural Representation in the Classrooms: Practical Strategies and Their Implementation” has been accepted at the upcoming UNESCO’s UNITWIN International Arts Education Symposium. As an active performer, Ms.Hong-Park will appear as a guest artist with the Ardelia Trio this summer at Bar Harbor Music Festival in Bar Harbor, Maine, performing works by Vivaldi, Beethoven, Rebecca Clarke, and Piazzolla.
Clémence Destribois Clémence Destribois grew up in Normandy, France, where she studied trumpet, organ, voice, harmony (part-writing), and music analysis in the conservatories of Le Havre, Rouen, and Caen. She earned a Diplôme d’Etat in music education in France, as well as a bachelor’s degree in organ performance and a master’s degree in musicology at BYU. Dr. Destribois received her Ph.D. in musicology in London (Royal Holloway), researching connections between theory and practice in seventeenth-century Italy with an emphasis on ensemble music. Dr. Destribois published an article entitled “From French Romances to Music for Benjamin Franklin: An Examination of the d’Artois Collection from the House of the Countess of Artois, Wife of King Charles X of France”. It is an article on a music manuscript collection preserved at the BYU music special collection. The article was published in the OctoberDecember 2020 issue of Fontes artis musicae, an international journal for music librarians and musicologists.
Christian Asplund Christian Asplund is a Canadian-American composer-performer (on viola, harmonium, piano, electronics) based in Utah, where he is a professor at Brigham Young University. He cofounded Seattle Experimental Opera, which has produced seven of his operas. He has performed with such musicians as Christian Wolff, Eyvind Kang, Larry Polansky, Daniel Good, Francois Houle, Michael Bisio, Robert Reigle, Tom Baker, Greg Campbell, Jessica Lurie, Amy Denio, Gino Robair, and Phil Gelb in a variety of venues and recordings in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. His scores are published by Frog Peak Music. He appears on CDs on Tzadik, Present Sounds, Sparkling Beatnik, Maritime Fist Gleeclub, and Comprovise Records. Dr. Asplund’s jazz trio, We Free Kings, has been rehearsing and recording/filming their own compositions, and occasionally those of Thelonious Monk. These have been published on YouTube. Click the video above to see some of the recordings. Dr. Asplund has also been working on a project since 1990 called The Brick Church Hymnal, continues with Volume 5. This volume is focusing on setting verses from the Book of Mormon. Scores can be viewed by clicking the sheet music to the right.
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Group Accomplishments
Connect with Us!
Watch some More performances Here
O Praise the Lord (Psalm 117) by Daniel Knaggs
BYU Singers Win
International Youth Choral Festival
“Aegis Carminis”
Andrew Crane The Brigham Young University Singers, conducted by Andrew Crane, were the Grand Prize Winners at the International Youth Choral Festival “Aegis Carminis” in Slovenia. Seventeen Choirs from eight countries participated in the remote competition . The choirs were asked to perform exclusively with compositions by composers from their countries that originated in the 20th and 21st centuries. Click the photo above to watch the full performance. BYU Singers consists of 40 students
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani by Ernesto Herrera
pursuing a variety of graduate and undergraduate degrees in such areas as physical science, law, accounting, social science, visual arts, and music. The ensemble originates in the School of Music of the College of Fine Arts & Communications at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. BYU is one of the nation’s largest private universities with an enrollment of more than 30,000 students from all parts of the United States and 120 foreign countries.
Deep Peace by Elaine Hagenberg
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Check Out The Progress On Our New Building
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A Call to All Alumni
Join our “Let Your Light Shine” Initiative “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
We want to hear about your accomplishments! It is time to “Let Your Light Shine”, we want you to tell us about the great works you have done and are doing! We’ll take your “candle” and help it shine. Please email us at musicalumni@byu.edu
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