THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF MUSIC summer 2016
Faculty NEWS Michael Compitello, assistant professor of percussion, performed with Ensemble Signal at Lincoln Center’s summer Reich/ Reverberations festival on July 21. Ensemble Signal, one of the country’s finest contemporary music ensembles, performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room as part of a critically acclaimed festival of Steve Reich’s work. Compitello and Hannah Collins, incoming visiting assistant professor of cello, co-directed Avaloch Farm Music Institute’s New Music Initiative from July 9 to August 13. Based in Boscawen, NH, Avaloch is a residency program designed to provide space and resources to chamber ensembles. Compitello and Collins’ New Music Initiative is a five-week subset of the Avaloch season focused on composer/ performer collaborations, featuring some of the country’s most prominent chamber ensembles and composers.
Jacob M. Dakon, assistant professor of music education, presented the paper “They always have their music with them: Examining task-value of memorization in youth instrumental ensembles” at the International Research Symposium for Talent Education in Minneapolis, MN on May 27. He gave a spoken paper, “Chorister’s Perceptions of Top-Level Choral Experiences: Replication and Extension,” with colleague Dr. Marci Major at the International Society of Music Education World Conference on Music Education in Glasgow, United Kingdom in July.
by Eric Ewazen, broadcast in June and July on the Society for New Music’s Fresh Ink Broadcast. The works are from the group’s CD Drei Bones, which was released on the Emeritus label. Abbey Dvor ak, assistant professor of music education and music therapy, wrote the article “A Conceptual Framework for Group Processing of Lyric Analysis Interventions in Music Therapy Mental Health Practice,” which was accepted for publication in the journal Music Therapy Perspectives.
Michael Davidson, associate professor of trombone, is a member of the Drei Bones trombone trio. The group had four works, Power Trio by Michael Davis, Three Movements for Three Trombone by Henry Wolking, A Little Suite by Allen Blank and Eaglehawk
Associate Professor of Flute Sar ah Frizof’s solo CD, Looking Back: The Flute Music of Joseph Schwantner was released July 8 by Centaur Records. The CD includes a world premiere recording of a chamber work for flute, piano, and percussion, featuring former KU faculty Ji Hye Jung and Lee Vinson.
Cover Photo: On July 23, the Kansas Sinfonietta, conducted by David Neely, director of orchestral activities, The Lawrence Children’s Choir, Lawrence Ballet Theatre, soloist Venessa Thomas and pianist Chaeyong Park came together for Simple Gifts, a musical celebration at the Lied Center.
QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu
Dan Gailey, jazz studies director, was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award for 2016 by the KU School of Music at the May 2016 Convocation. Jeff Harshbarger, jazz studies lecturer, guested with several internationally acclaimed groups this summer, including Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, MO and Victor & Penny at Guthrie Green in Tulsa, OK. He also taught at several workshops, including the Midwestern Music Camp, KU Jazz Workshop, Kansas City Bass Workshop, and the Twin Cities Bass Workshop, including a performance and recording with virtuoso Francois Rabbath and the premiere of Harshbarger’s composition Gordon’s Knot.
Michael Kirkendoll, assistant professor of piano, is now a member of the highly-selective roster of Yamaha Artists, which supports fewer than 75 classical pianists. In other news, Kirkendoll directed the 7th Cortona Sessions for New Music, collaborating with members of the Cortona Collective in dozens of performances, including several world premieres. The Cortona Sessions welcomed 48 young composers and performers from around the world who received daily coaching and lessons, and attended lectures from faculty and guest artists. The students, in collaboration with faculty, presented more than 50 world premieres during the Sessions. Kirkendoll, fifth from right, is pictured with other members of the Cortona Collective and composer Viet Cuong. Paul Laird, professor of musicology, presented the closing remarks at Song, Stage and Screen XI, a conference held at The City College of New York from June 27 to 30. Laird attended as many paper presentations as possible at the conference and delivered a 20-minute presentation on the themes of the conference and assessed its contribution to the field. Laird was also presented the Outstanding Faculty Research Award for 2016 by the KU School of Music at the May 2016 Convocation.
Give to
David Neely, director of orchestral activities, conducted productions of Falstaff and Manon at Des Moines Metro Opera in June and July. Opera Today’s review of Falstaff noted: “Arguably the greatest asset of the performance was David Neely’s sure handed, fleet-footed, scherzolike approach to the master’s final stage work. Maestro Neely drew extraordinary playing from his instrumentalists, and they reveled in every sparkling orchestral effect. Not to imply there was anything frivolous about his approach, for Mr. Neely also finds weightiness when required, lending even more pomposity to Va, vecchio John, more gravity to Ford’s tortured aria, and more sheen and shimmer to Nanetta’s forest arietta. Has that famous orchestral trill ever had more sparkle and fizz, that closing fugue more impetus and insouciance? Thanks, Maestro, for buoying our spirits and ravishing our ears.” Paul W. Popiel, director of bands, led four concerts this summer with the Lawrence City Band, in his new role as music director of the organization. He also conducted a concert with the Midwestern Music Camp high school band in June. In July, Popiel gave a lecture titled “Historical and Programmatic Elements in James Barnes’ Symphonic Requiem: Symphony #7 at the International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music (IGEB) at their biennial conference in Oberwolz, Austria. Colin Roust, assistant professor of musicology, conducted a research trip to Paris in May. In June, he served as a co-organizer of the annual Teaching Music History Conference, held this year at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He also served on the editorial board for the 2016 volume of the online journal Engaging Students, which was published in July at http://flipcamp. org/engagingstudents. In June, Scott Murphy, professor of music theory, represented the state of Kansas at the College Music Society’s Summit on 21st Century Music School Design in Columbia, SC, where professional and academic musicians and leaders from all 48 contiguous states gathered to hear innovators from across the music curriculum and to brainstorm about what 21st-century music degrees can and should be.
KU School of Music
QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu
Matt Smith, associate director of bands, received a grant from the New Faculty General Research Fund and pursued research in Sheffield, England and Cleveland, OH on noted British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and his March for Band. The research findings were presented at the conference of the International Society for the Promotion and Research of Wind Music (IGEB) held in Oberwölz, Austria in July.
The Sebastians, NOVUS NY and the Trinity Baroque Orchestra. Collins holds degrees from Yale University and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Melissa Gr ady, assistant professor of music education, earned her PhD in music education (choral pedagogy) from KU in 2014 and was an assistant professor of music and music education coordinator at Valdosta State University in Georgia. Prior to her appointment at VSU, Grady served as visiting assistant professor of music at Lake Forest College in Illinois.
Scott Watson, professor of tubaeuphonium, was both a featured soloist and conductor on recent North American Brass Band Summer School Concert presentations in Halifax, Nova Scotia from June 26 to July 8. Watson, on the faculty of NABBSS, also presented daily featured brass performances for the Nova Scotia International Tattoo, joining forces with top players from such renowned UK brass bands as Cory, Tredegar, Flowers and others. While on faculty Watson also presented a master class and other brass performances in Halifax as part of both NABBSS and the Nova Scotia International Tattoo.
Grady’s teaching experience includes 11 years as a public school teacher in Kansas and three years as a graduate teaching assistant at KU. She is active in regional and state music education organizations. Grady has published two research articles in the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing and has two other studies submitted for review in the Journal of Research in Music Education and the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education.
Erin Wood, lecturer in harp, performed Maurice Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Fantaisie at the Pittsburg Chamber Music Festival in June. At the American Harp Society Conference in Atlanta, Wood was elected to serve as the Midwest regional director for the American Harp Society and continues to serve on the executive committee.
William Matney, assistant professor of music therapy, received his PhD from KU in music education and music therapy in 2015. He returns to KU after an appointment at Nazareth College, where he was an assistant professor of music therapy and clinic manager.
NEW Faculty
The KU School of Music welcomes four new professors who will join the faculty for the fall 2016 semester. Hannah Collins, visiting assistant professor of cello, is the winner of De Linkprijs for contemporary interpretation and is pursuing a doctorate at the City University of New York Graduate Center. She served as a teaching fellow at Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music. Collins is an alumna of Ensemble ACJW, a professional development program focused on chamber music performance, teaching artistry and arts advocacy through the resources of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, Weill Music Institute and the New York City Department of Education. She is the co-director of the Avaloch Farm New Music Initiative in Boscawen, NH. Collins is part of the cello-percussion ensemble New Morse Code and appears frequently on modern or Baroque cello with Cantata Profana,
Grady has a master’s degree in music education (choral conducting) and a bachelor’s degree in music education from Wichita State University.
Matney’s research specializes in the use of percussion in a music therapy setting and music therapy theory. He is author of the book Tataku: The Use of Percussion in Music Therapy, and co-wrote Roots and Branches: Songs of Tradition and Culture: Volume 1. His research has been published in the Journal of Music Therapy, Music Therapy Perspectives and Nordic Journal of Music Therapy. Matney holds a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in music therapy from Texas Woman’s University. Martin Nedbal, assistant professor of musicology, joins the musicology division after seven years as a faculty member with the University of Arkansas, where he specialized in the Classical and Romantic periods. Nedbal holds a PhD in musicology from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. Drawing on his research expertise in operatic and theatrical traditions in Central Europe, particularly in Vienna and Prague during the Classical and Romantic eras, Nedbal has written the forthcoming book Morality and Viennese Opera in the Age
QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu
of Mozart and Beethoven. The book is based on Nedbal’s dissertation, which won the Eastman Dissertation Award and the Alvin A. Johnson AMS 50 Dissertation Fellowship from the American Musicological Society. His peer-reviewed articles on the operas of Mozart, Beethoven, Smetana, Dvorak and Britten have appeared in several musicology journals. Nedbal holds a master’s degree in clarinet performance from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in German and Russian Studies from Hamilton College.
Student NEWS Miriam Br ack Webber, PhD candidate in music theory, attended the the International Double Reed Society Conference in June where she presented an interdisciplinary paper “Note Grouping: History, Theory and Practice” that combines performance strategies and 19th-century theories of rhythm and meter. Webber also accepted a position as assistant professor of music at Bemidji State University in Minnesota where she will start in the fall. Crystal Buck, a PhD candidate in musicology, presented the paper “Punk Meets Broadway: American Idiot as a Musical in Two Worlds” at Song, Stage and Screen XI, a conference held at The City College of New York from June 27 to 30. Her paper was based on research that she did in a class taught by Professor Paul Laird. Buck is also working on a DMA in Voice, studying with Professor Joyce Castle. R affaele Cipriano, doctoral student in orchestral conducting, conducted Salieri’s opera Prima la musica poi le parole for Amici della Lirica Padova in Padua, Italy in July. Melissa Cummins, PhD candidate in musicology, published the article “Parody in Tailleferre’s Monsieur Petitpois achète un chateau,” in the Summer 2016 issue of Pan Pipes, the SAI journal.
Performing at this summer’s Eutin Opera Festival in the sister city of Eutin, Germany, were graduate students Daniel Gerona, trumpet; Danielle Perr ault, voice; A aron (Wei-yu) Chang, violin; Emily Weaver, voice; and Xiaolai Zhou, cello. Christy Miller, PhD candidate in musicology, was awarded the Nicholas Temperley Student Paper Prize at the Seventh Biennial Conference of the North American British Music Studies Association, held in August in Syracuse, NY. Her paper was ““If They Can Do It, I Guess That We Can, Too”: Folk and “Folk-Styled” Music as Propaganda in The Martins and the Coys.” Andy Newbegin, a doctoral student in trombone, won the recent bass trombone audition for the St. Joseph (MO) Symphony Orchestra.
K atherine Okesson, DMA candidate in violin performance, has been hired as the director of Suzuki and Strings Programs for Bethel College’s Academy of Performing Arts (BCAPA) in Newton, Kansas. The position is a faculty post with Bethel College and comes with full benefits.
Jessie Freyermuth, PhD candidate in musicology, was hired as the director of music program outreach at Ottawa Univeristy. She will also be an instructor in their music department in the fall.
QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu
Alumni NEWS
Opera North in England; Anthony Rohr, Taos Opera Institute; Tyler Simpson, Spoleto Festival and Festival Lyrique International de Belle Ile en Mer; Br ad Walker, San Francisco Opera; Whitney Wells in Anything Goes, at Lone Star College; Holly White, chorus in Florencia en el Amazonas with the New York City Opera; Scott Wichael, Asheville Lyric Opera; and Calvet Young, Chautauqua Institution Voice Department.
More than 1,200 people from around the world came to the School of Music for ClarinetFest®, which was hosted by Dean Robert Walzel and associate professor of clarinet Stephanie Zelnick. Among the highlights was the All Kansas Clarinet Choir featuring KU Clarinet Studio alumni including those pictured below from left to right Johnson Machado, faculty at University of Goiania; Michael Gersten, faculty at South Texas College; Madelyn Moore, faculty at Kilgore College; Christopher Nichols, faculty at University of Delaware; Ellen Sommer, KU piano lecturer who accompanied the choir; Gary Fair, faculty at East Tennessee University; and Jeremy Wohletz, faculty at Dickinson State University. Also performing, but not pictured were Larkin Sanders, director of Taneycomo Festival Orchestra and Michael Walsh, faculty at South Dakota University. Since graduation Ana Maria Hernandez-Candelas, DMA in flute ‘15, has presented her lecture recital in academic conferences at the Puerto Rico Conservatory and the Interamerican University in Puerto Rico and will present it again at the 2016 College Music Society Convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico in November. Ana Maria also performed at the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego in August. In addition to her presenting and performances, she is the piccolo soloist for the Puerto Rico Symphony. Shelby Lewis, BM 2016, accepted a job teaching elementary music for the Olathe Public School District.
Alumni and students participating in Lawrence Opera Theatre’s summer festival Shakespeare 400 were Hugo Ver a, founder and director; Kristin Newbegin, K atherine Dick, Demi Renault, Flor a Sanders, Catherine Dowling, Anna Patterson, Caitlin Laird, Madelynn Knisley, Martha Keslar, A aron Springer and Matt Haney, stage director.
Former KU School of Music students, Christian Elser, Br andon Snook, Ashley Benes and Jeff Beruan, are pictured backstage at GLOW Lyric Theatre in Greenville, SC. Elser, a DMA ‘07 in voice with professor John Stephens, is the founder and artistic director of the company. Snook, BM ‘05 in voice also with Stephens, sang the role of Tony in West Side Story. Benes, a MM ’13 in opera with associate professor Julia Broxholm, is finishing a master’s degree in arts administration at George Mason University. She is doing marketing and development consulting for the company. Beruan, a MM ‘06 in voice with Stephens, sang as Friar Laurence in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette.
KU MUSIC ALUMNI - SEND US YOUR NEWS!
KU Music alumni, we would love to hear about the great work you’re doing in the world of music. Please send your music-related news - jobs, awards, photos, etc. - to musicnews@ku.edu.
Voice and Opera students and alumni performed across the country this summer: Michael Colman, Ash Lawn Opera and Savanah VOICE Festival; Tar a Curtis, Merola Opera Center, San Francisco Opera and Wichita Grand Opera; Andrew Fuchs, Artek Chamber Group; Etta Fung, Martina Arroyo Foundation’s Prelude to Performance; Kristee Haney in Carmen, New York City Opera; Betsy Horne sang Arabella at Oper Leipzig, Germany; Lindsay Ohse as Marie in La fille du Regiment, Opera North in New Hampshire; Dylan Paul, Oregan Shakespeare Festival; Mackenzie Phillips, Brevard Music Festival; Richard Roberts as Mime in Siegfried, QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu
Upcoming Events SEPTEMBER SEPT. 10
BAND DAY - KU VS. OHIO KU Memorial Stadium
SEPT. 12 TUBA-EUPHONIUMFEST
“GRAND RECITAL” 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
SEPT. 16
COLLAGE CONCERT* 7:30 p.m. Lied Center
Tickets available at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787
SEPT. 18
FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: MICHAEL KIRKENDOLL, PIANO 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
SEPT. 25
FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: INGRID STÖLZEL, COMPOSITION 2:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall SEPT. 27 KU WIND ENSEMBLE* 7:30 p.m. Lied Center
OCT. 21
KU CHOIRS: CONCERT CHOIR, WOMEN’S CHORALE, MEN’S GLEE 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall OCT. 23 SUNFLOWER BAROQUE 2:30 p.m., Swarthout Recital Hall
OCT. 26
KU JAZZ COMBOS 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital HALL
OCT. 28
KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HALLOWEEN CONCERT* 7:30 p.m. Lied Center
Tickets available at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787
OCT. 29
HEART OF AMERICA MARCHING BAND FESTIVAL KU Memorial Stadium
OCT. 29
FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: STEVEN SPOONER, PIANO 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
OCT. 30
FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: SARAH FRISOF, FLUTE & ELLEN SOMMER, PIANO 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
NOVEMBER
SEPT. 30
NOV. 2
Tickets available at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787
KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WITH CAROLINE GOULDING* 7:30 p.m. Lied Center
Tickets available at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787
OCTOBER
KU JAZZ ENSEMBLE I WITH CHUCK MACKINNON, COMPOSER & GUEST DIRECTOR 7:30 p.m. 118 Murphy Hall
NOV. 5
OCT. 4
FACULTY RECITAL SERIES: NEW MORSE CODE: HANNAH COLLINS, CELLO & MICHAEL COMPITELLO, PERCUSSION 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
OCT. 5
KU JAZZ ENSEMBLES I & II 7:30 p.m. Lawrence Arts Center
2ND ANNUAL KU DAY OF JAZZ IMPROVISATION 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Murphy Hall 1st floor
NOV. 6
WEST AFRICAN DRUM ENSEMBLE 3 p.m., 130 Murphy Hall
NOV. 6
KANSAS VIRTUOSI 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 9 Tickets available at lawrenceartscenter.com or 786-843-2787
KU WIND ENSEMBLE WITH JOEY TARTELL*
7:30 p.m. Lied Center
OCT. 15 &16 KU CHOIRS: CHAMBER SINGERS &
NOV. 10 VIOLIN STUDIO RECITAL 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
CONCERT CHOIR ALL-CAMPUS CONCERT 4 - 7 p.m.Various locations on campus
OCT. 16
KU PERCUSSION GROUP WITH SANDBOX PERCUSSION 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
OCT. 18
UNDERGRADUATE HONOR RECITAL 7:30 P.M. SWARTHOUT RECITAL HALL
OCT. 20
KU SYMPHONIC BAND & CHAMBER WINDS 7:30 p.m. Lied Center Tickets available at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787
Tickets available at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787
NOV. 11
NEW MUSIC GUILD 7:30 p.m., Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 13
THE MUSIC THAT UNITES US: KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHOIRS 3:00 p.m. Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Free tickets at kauffmancenter.org or 816-994-7222 Sponsored by Reach Out Kansas, Inc.
NOV. 14 TUBA-EUPHONIUM
CHAMBER ENSEMBLES 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 15
TROMBONE CHOIR RECITAL 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu
NOV. 16
KU JAZZ ENSEMBLES I, II & III 7:30 p.m. Lawrence Arts Center
DEC. 3
SAXOPHONE STUDIO RECITAL 9 a.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
Tickets available at lawrenceartscenter.com or 786-843-2787 DEC.
NOV. 17
KU SAXOPHONE QUARTETS 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 17-20 KU OPERA - THE IMPRESARIO & THE MEDIUM Nov 17-19 - 7:30 p.m., Baustian Theatre
Nov 20 - 2:30 p.m., Baustian Theatre Tickets available at the door or by calling (785) 864-3436
NOV. 19
HELIANTHUS CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE 2:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 20
THE MUSIC THAT UNITES US: KU SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHOIRS* 6 p.m. Lied Center
free tickets at lied.ku.edu or 785-864-2787 Sponsored by Reach Out Kansas, Inc.
NOV. 21
KU TUBA-EUPHONIUM CONSORT 7:30 p.m., Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 22
KU CHOIRS: CHAMBER SINGERS 7:30 p.m., Swarthout Recital Hall
NOV. 30
SYMPHONIC BAND & UNIVERSITY BAND 7:30 p.m. Lawrence Arts Center
KU PERCUSSION GROUP 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
DEC. 4 PRE-VESPERS 1:30 & 6:30 p.m.
Bales Organ Recital Hall
DEC. 4 VESPERS*
7:30 p.m. Lawrence Arts Center
Tickets available at lawrenceartscenter.com or 786-843-2787
DEC. 5
FACULTY RECITAL SERIES GENARO MENDEZ, TENOR & ROBERT HILLER, PIANO 6 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
DEC. 6
ROCK CHALK SINGERS 6 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
DEC. 6
KU CHOIRS: BALES CHORALE 7:30 p.m., Bales Organ Recital Hall
DEC. 7
FLUTE STUDIO RECITAL 7:30 p.m. Swarthout Recital Hall
DEC. 8
COLLEGIUM MUSICUM 7:30 P.M. BALES ORGAN RECITAL HALL
DEC. 10
JAZZ ENSEMBLE I BORDER SHOWDOWN Tickets available at lawrenceartscenter.com 8 p.m., Blue Room - American Jazz Museum or 786-843-2787 Tickets at club.americanjazzmuseum.org or 816-474-6262 DECEMBER
DEC. 2
VESPERS ON THE ROAD 7:30 p.m. Carlsen Center
Johnson County Community College Call 913-469-4445 for free tickets Sponsored by Reach Out Kansas, Inc.
All events subject to change. Please visit music.ku.edu for the latest event information. Admission is free unless otherwise noted.
*Concert will be live streamed. Live stream updates available here.
QuickNotes - Summer 2016 - music.ku.edu