Alumni News
Photo by JShoots
Alumna Dr. Kelly Guerra ‘21 to sing role of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg with Chautauqua Opera Company Alumna Dr. Kelly Guerra ‘21 will sing the role of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg with the Chautauqua Opera Company this summer. Guerra was named one of five apprentice artists in the 2021 Young Artist Program, and will also participate in the development of an opera with fellow members of the Young Artist and Composer Fellows programs. Hailed as “a dream come true” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), a “perfect … jewel” (Opera Today), and “the kind of opera that should be everywhere” (OperaWire), Scalia/Ginsburg is a one-act comedy about the close and unlikely friendship between U.S. Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. Read more here.
Photo by Zach Mendez
Alumna Noelle Barr ‘21 receives top University Honors for Undergraduate Research
During her last year as an undergraduate student at UC Santa Barbara, alumna Noelle Barr ‘21 received the 2021 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and was named the First Prize Winner of the 2021 UC Santa Barbara Library Award for Undergraduate Research in the Humanities and Fine Arts category. Barr received recognition for her thesis, titled “Reinterpreting Gendered Spaces of Modernity in the Portraits of a Violinist,” in which she applies a feminist lens to analyze four portraits of a female violinist by French Impressionist Berthe Morisot in the context of 19th-century music culture. As a graduating senior of the Class of 2021, Barr was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society. Read more here.
Alumnus William Geiler ‘20 wins First Prize in Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s 2020-2021 Emerging Composers Competition
Alumnus William Geiler ‘20 was awarded First Prize in the Choral Division II (Ages 18 – 24) of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York’s 2020-2021 Emerging Composers Competition for his work The House of Dreams. This year’s adjudication panel included Special Guest Panelist Daniel Ott, who currently serves on the faculties of Juilliard and Fordham University. Completed in November 2020, Geiler’s The House of Dreams is a work for SATB choir with piano accompaniment and is set to a text of the same name by American poet Sara Teasdale. In Fall 2020, Geiler received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Dr. Andrew Tholl. Read more here.
Photo by Zach Mendez
Alumna Dr. Naomi Merer ‘21 awarded Second Prize in Vocal Division of Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition
Alumna Dr. Naomi Merer ‘21 was awarded Second Prize in the Vocal Division of the annual Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation (PASF) Competition, held live with appropriate social distancing on April 25 in the Lotte Lehmann Recital Hall at the Music Academy of the West. Dr. Merer performed the final aria, “Ved’ mé kroky” (Lead my steps), from Czech composer Dr. Sylvie Bodorová’s opera Legenda o Kateřině z Redernu (The Legend of Catherine of Redern) (2014). For her prize-winning performance, Dr. Merer received a cash award of $3,000. Dr. Merer received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from UC Santa Barbara. She is a student of Dr. Linda Di Fiore. Read more here.
Alumna Dr. Emily Vanchella ‘21 appointed Visiting Music Faculty at Texas A&M International University
Alumna Dr. Emily Vanchella ‘21 was recently appointed as visiting music faculty in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas, where she teaches courses in American popular music. Dr. Vanchella’s primary research interest is the application of topic theory to classic British and American rock from the 1960s and early 1970s. Her dissertation, “Honey Pie, Colors of Dreams, and Inner Light: Stylistic Expertise and Musical Topicality in the Beatles’ Mid and Late 1960s Songs,” examines the Beatles’ music from this perspective. Dr. Vanchella earned both a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Arts (MA) in Music Theory from UC Santa Barbara. Read more here. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Summer 2021 Newsletter | 23
