Class notes

1950

Violin Fingering, Basic to Developed, a book by John (Jack) Bauer ’54BM ’55MM, was published in December by Mel Bay Publications, which has published five other books by Bauer.

1960

In September, Éditions L’Harmattan published Tom Johnson ou la amusique logique, which examines the work of composer Tom Johnson ’61BA ’67MM. The composer’s process is also examined in the YouTube playlist Tom Johnson: Illustrated Music.1

Pianist Althea Waites ’65MM prepared music by Margaret Bonds for a recording project. The album includes three pieces by Bonds that have never been recorded, along with a major work by Curt Cacioppo, former professor of music at Haverford College, titled Fantasy-Choruses on This Little Light of Mine, which was written for and dedicated to Waites.

1970

In August 2023, soprano and educator Sheila Barnes ’74MM ’75MMA will teach “Lingua e Lirica” at Casa Monteripido in Perugia, Italy. Barnes’ courses bring together awardwinning coaches and singers to promote authentic interpretations of Italian opera and chamber music through a focus on the intersection of language and music.

In November, City Lyric Opera presented the New York premiere of Uncovered, a chamber opera in one act by Lori Laitman ’75BA ’76MM with a libretto by Leah Lax.

Prayer for Israel by composer Max Stern ’70MM was presented at the 14th European Cantors Convention at the Rumbach Synagogue in Budapest. The work was performed by the Hungarian chamber choir Kecskemet Singing Circle led by conductor Peter Erdei, who was Director of the Kodály Pedagogical Institute of the Liszt Academy of Music for more than 30 years.

Violinist James Wallenberg ’76MM is celebrating his 44th season this year as a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.2

1980

Creative Health for Pianists: Concepts, Exercises & Compositions by Pedro de Alcantara ’83MM was published in May by Oxford University Press.3

Horn player Marian Hesse ’85MM retired from teaching in 2020. Hesse still performs around the world with the Chestnut Brass Company, an ensemble with which she has made more than 20 recordings, including Hornsmoke: The Music of Peter Schickele, which won a Grammy Award.

Gregory Peterson ’85MM was named Professor of Music and College Organist Emeritus at Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa, upon his retirement in May. In recognition of his teaching career, which spanned more than 30 years and three institutions, former students and colleagues commissioned a new organ work in his honor from American composer Libby Larsen.

Composer Dr. John Sichel ’85MMA ’95DMA was named artist-in-residence at Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico.

Tubist Antonio Underwood ’87MM recorded two CDs, Tone Poem XIII: Sunday’s Window and Tone Poem XIV: Continuation. The albums were produced by Underwood’s music label, Tone East Music Technology LLC.

The Magic Hummingbird, an opera by composer Joseph Waters ’82MM, received its world premiere performance in June 2022 at The Cutting Room, in New York City. Excerpts from the opera were performed in July at Ópera en la Calle in Tijuana, Mexico. The Magic Hummingbird tells the story of three San Diego rockers who join refugees in Tijuana and cross into the United States through a magic tunnel.4

Dr. Mark Elliot Bergman ’97MM won the International Society of Bassists’ 2022 Research Competition. Bergman’s winning paper, E-portfolios as Learning Tools for Applied Double Bass Study: A Research-Based, Practice Oriented Approach, will appear in an upcoming issue of the ISB’s academic journal.5

Amy I-Lin Cheng ’98MM ’99AD was appointed Assistant Professor of Music (a tenure-track position) and Piano Chamber Music Coordinator in the Piano Department at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theater & Dance.

Bryce Dessner ’98BA ’99MM returned to campus for a multiyear residency at the Yale Schwarzman Center during which the guitarist and composer is commissioning and curating new works from Julia Bullock (with Carolyn Yarnell ’89MM), Ash Fure, Nathalie Joachim, and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir that will be premiered at Yale. The residency will also explore Dessner’s work with opera and theater director Kaneza Schaal.6

Maureen Hurd Hause ’96MM ’97MMA ’02DMA was named Associate Director of the Department of Music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Hause served as Interim Associate Director at the institution during the 2021–2022 academic year.7

A recording of Cloud Ossuary, a new symphonic work by composer Douglas Knehans ’93MMA ’96DMA, garnered terrific reviews and nine international recording awards. One reviewer on the classical music blog Planet Hugill wrote, “Cloud Ossuary is a striking and fascinating work, full of gorgeous textures and colors, yet, throughout it is clear that Knehans brings a strong structural underpinning to the beauty, making for a satisfying symphonic work.” 8

Clarinetist Seunghee Lee ’92MM ’94AD released a new album, Aspire, with bandoneonist and composer JP Jofre and the London Symphony Orchestra. The album’s centerpiece is the first concerto ever written for the clarinet and bandoneon, which was commissioned by and written for Lee.9

Osiris Molina ’98MM and René Izquierdo ’99MM ’00AD collaborated on Cuba, Alabama, an album of works for clarinet by Cuban composers. The album features music by Paquito D’Rivera, Andrés Alén, Javier Zalba, and two premiere recordings of works by Leo Brouwer, including a work commissioned by Molina and Izquierdo for clarinet and guitar.10

In July, the celebrated choir The Crossing premiered Beloved of the Sky by Tawnie Olson ’99MM ’00AD. The multimovement work explores and celebrates the creative process through texts by Canadian artist Emily Carr. Beloved of the Sky was commissioned by the Barlow Foundation for The Crossing, Seraphic Fire, and the BYU Singers. Olson’s Salve Mater received its premiere in Toronto in November. The piece, which was commissioned and performed by the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir conducted by Ivars Taurins, sets a new Latin text inspired by the Salve Regina.

Double-bassist Changwoo Sohn ’96MM, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul, Korea, gave a volunteer performance at Joeten-Kiyu Public Library in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.

2000

Trumpeter Benjamin Berghorn ’04MM served as Visiting Professor of Music at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, for the 2022–2023 academic year.

The score for The Real Charlie Chaplin, the first foray into film scoring for composer Robert Honstein ’04BA ’10MM ’14DMA, was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition. The Real Charlie Chaplin can be seen on Showtime.11

Internationally acclaimed guitarist Yuri Liberzon ’07MM released a recording of music for the instrument by Konstantin Vassiliev on the Naxos Records label. Vassiliev’s music synthesizes jazz, Russian folk music, and contemporary Western traditions. The album features music written over a 22-year period, with three pieces composed specifically for Liberzon.12 music.yale.edu/news/ bryce-dessner98ba-99mm-returnsyale-schwarzmancenter-residency

Composer Andrew Norman ’09AD was appointed Associate Professor of Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music and will begin serving in that capacity in fall 2023.

Pianist Marianna Prjevalskaya ’07MM ’10AD was appointed to the faculty at East Tennessee State University succeeding Esther Park ’12AD ’13MMA ’17DMA, who was appointed to the faculty at Columbus State University. Park succeeds Henry Kramer ’13AD ’19DMA, who was appointed to the faculty at the University of Montreal.

Violinist Simeon “Moni” Simeonov ’06MM ’07AD was appointed the Edelman Chair of Chamber Music at the Colburn School.

Sharon Wei ’04MM, Associate Professor of Viola at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, was named a 2022 Faculty Scholar.

The award recognizes significant recent scholarly achievements among faculty at Western University who have an international presence in their discipline and are considered all-around scholars. Wei is the new violist of the New Orford String Quartet and toured with Musicians from Marlboro in October.

Bass-baritone Douglas Williams ’06MM and composer Matthew Barnson ’12DMA premiered a new work with the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France at the Maison de la Radio in Paris, in October.13

Martin Wittenberg ’04MM founded his own artist management firm, Wittenberg Artists. Based in New York City, Wittenberg Artists represents such established musicians as Gidon Kremer and Steven Isserlis, as well as such newcomers as violinist Stella Chen, cellist Seth Parker Woods, and conductor Naomi Woo ’13MM.14

Pianist Lucas Wong ’06MM ’07MMA ’12DMA was appointed Visiting Professor of Vocal Coaching at the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

2010

Guitarist and composer Gulli Bjornsson ’17MM ’18MMA was appointed Associate Professor of the Practice of Electronic Composition at the University of Kansas School of Music.

Tenor Ryan Capozzo ’21MMA, a member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut singing Remendado in a springtime production of Carmen.15

In July 2022, violinists Cameron Daly ’18BA ’20MM and Gregory Lewis ’19MM ’27DMA joined the Callisto Quartet, YSM’s fellowship quartet-inresidence. Grand Prize winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Second Prize winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Callisto Quartet has also received prizes at the Bordeaux, Melbourne, and Wigmore Hall competitions. The group is managed worldwide by Kanzen Arts.16

In October 2022, Kevin R. Dombrowski ’14MM was appointed Principal Trombonist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Flutist Jake Fridkis ’14MM ’15AD was nominated for a Grammy Award in the “Best Rap Album” category for serving as a contributing writer and producer on DJ Khaled’s recording God Did.17

In August 2022, The Crossing released Born, an album that features two works by composer Michael Gilbertson ’13MM ’21DMA: Born and Returning. The album won a Grammy Award in the “Best Choral Performance” category.18

Violinist Sirena Huang ’19AD won the Gold Medal at the 11th quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. The prize, according to the Indianapolis Star, includes “$75,000 cash, a recital debut at Carnegie Hall, recording contract, and website development and maintenance for four years.” 19

Christina Hughes ’15MM joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C., as a staff sergeant in the ensemble’s flute section.P.42

In July, guitarist JIJI ’17MM signed with Kirshbaum Associates Management. In fall 2023, JIJI will begin serving as Associate Professor at Indiana University.20

Clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson ’17MM ’18MMA joined the award-winning wind quintet WindSync in September 2022. One of only two American woodwind quintets with full-time, international touring schedules, WindSync has won the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and is represented by MKI Artists. The group’s upcoming projects include a recording at Abbey Road Studios.21

Alumni spotlight: composer Molly Joyce

Read a Q&A with Joyce on the YSM website: music.yale.edu/news/ alumni-spotlightcomposer-molly-joyce

Perspective, the latest album from composer Molly Joyce ’17MM (released on New Amsterdam Records), features interviews with disabled people on the topic of what access, care, and interdependence have brought to their lives.22

Jenny Lee ’18MM was appointed Adjunct Instructor of Piano at the University of Arizona’s Fred Fox School of Music for the 2022–2023 academic year.

Violinist Ruda Lee ’15MM ’17MMA performed with the Yale Alumni Chamber Music Society in Hong Kong as part of a charity concert organized by the Mighty Oaks Foundation in November.

Josip Kvetek ’18MM was appointed Assistant Principal Violist of the Sinfonieorchester Basel.

Clarinetist Jesse McCandless ’17MM won an audition for the Principal Clarinet chair in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Joshua Newburger ’17MM was appointed Principal Violist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

In November, pianist Michael Noble ’12MM ’14MMA ’20DMA released his debut album, American Dissident, which features music by Frederic Rzewski and Margaret Bonds.23

In September 2022, the Attacca Quartet, of which violinist Domenic Salerni ’11MM is a member, released Evergreen, an album featuring music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw ’07MM that won a Grammy Award in February. A follow-up to the Grammy Award-winning album Orange, Evergreen was released by Nonesuch Records and has been reviewed in Pitchfork and Slant magazines. An album-release show took place at Public Records in Brooklyn, N.Y.24

Several YSM alumni participated in the Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions. Violist Marlea Simpson ’19MM won Second Prize in the strings and harp category, and clarinetist Juan Esteban Martinez ’21MM won First Prize in the woodwinds category. Double-bassist Matthew Peralta ’21MM ’22MMA earned an Honorable Mention.25

In December, tenor Stephen Soph ’13MM made his Seattle Symphony and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra debuts in performances of Handel’s Messiah.

Violinist Matheus Garcia Souza ’14MM performed the New York premiere of Christopher Stark’s Fire Ecologies with the Unheard-of//Ensemble at the Gowanus Canal (literally on the water). The 50-minute multimedia piece incorporates images of the 2020 California wildfires. The commission was made possible by Chamber Music America’s Classical Commissioning Program.26

Noël Wan ’16MM was appointed Assistant Professor of Harp and Entrepreneurship at Florida State University, where Wan will lead the harp program and join the College of Music’s entrepreneurship cohort. Wan won the Gold Medal at the 12th USA International Harp Competition in July 2022.27

Pianist Naomi Woo ’12BA ’13MM won the Virginia Parker Prize. Administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, the award recognizes “a musician, instrumentalist, or classical music conductor … who demonstrates outstanding talent, musicianship and artistic excellence and who makes a valuable contribution to artistic life in Canada and internationally,” the Council explained in its announcement.

2020

Mezzo-soprano Rhianna Cockrell ’21MMA and choral conductors Joe Lerangis ’25DMA and Gloria Yin ’22MM established the New Muses Project, “a DEI-centered classical music organization, promoting justice and curiosity through performance, education, and scholarship,” according to the organization. The project was launched in August with a concert at the Kaufman Music Center in New York.

Composer Sophia Jani ’22MM established a concert series in Germany called Feet Become Ears.28

A group of artists including Allison Chu, who earned master of arts and master of philosophy degrees in 2022 from Yale’s Department of Music, where she is a Ph.D. candidate, Edwin Joseph ’20MM, Frances Pollock ’19MM ’25DMA, and Emily Roller ’07BA established the Midnight Oil Collective, which “combines the tools of venture capital with those of cooperative economics to create a wholly new business model that truly centers creators. It is a model developed by the minds of artists with the specific needs of artists in mind,” according to the organization.

Pianist Simon Karakulidi ’21MM ’22MMA won Second Prize at the inaugural Samson François International Piano Competition in Cagnessur-Mer, France.

Composer Soomin Kim ’21MM ’22MMA orchestrated Helen Hagan’s Piano Concerto in C minor, whose world-orchestral premiere was performed in October by pianist and musicologist Dr. Samantha Ege and the Yale Philharmonia, led by Principal Conductor Peter Oundjian. Hagan was the first Black woman to graduate, in 1912, from the Yale School of Music.29

Soprano Magdalena Kuźma ’21MM made her Metropolitan Opera debut singing Giannetta in a production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore in April.30

Pianist Chungho Lee ’21MMA won Second Prize at the San Francisco Artciál International Piano Competition, which was held online in July and August 2022.

Pianist Linda Lee ’23MM was a co-Second Prize winner at the Giorgos Thymis International Piano Competition in Thessaloníki, Greece. In addition to earning a cash prize, Lee will return to Greece for performances next season. Lee won First Prize at the 28th Leoš Janáček International Piano Competition in Brno. In addition to the cash prize, Lee will return to the Czech Republic for performances.31

Charissa Leung ’21MM joined the second violin section of the Nashville Symphony at the start of the 2022–2023 season.32

Stephen Perkyns ’22MM joined the New York City Ballet Orchestra as Principal Cellist in September.33

Composer Udi Perlman ’26DMA was named the 2024 Pogorzelski-Yankee awarded composer by the American Guild of Organists.34

Pianist Anthony Ratinov ’20BS ’22MM ’23MMA won Third Prize at the San Francisco Artciál International Piano Competition, which was held online in July and August. Ratinov won Second Prize at the Olga Kern International Piano Competition.

Christopher Rogers-Beadle ’21MM ’23MMA was appointed Solo Violist of the Deutsch Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

Violist Joseph Skerik ’24MM won Third Prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in Prague.

Pianist Alexa Stier ’21MM ’27DMA was named a winner of the Virtuoso & Belcanto Concerto Competition.35

Organist Alexander Straus-Fausto ’24MM performed at Our Lady of Sorrows in Toronto in March, Saint John’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford in May, and will perform at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., in July, and Saint James United Church in Montreal in August.36

Jae In Yoo ’22MM won Eighth Prize at the 12th USA International Harp Competition.

In July, pianist Seho Young ’21MM ’22MMA won the Bronze Medal at the New Orleans International Piano Competition.37

Composer Ben Wallace ’22DMA was hired to arrange ZEDD’s album Clarity for piano and orchestra. ZEDD celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the release of Clarity in October at a concert at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. The program featured a performance of Wallace’s new arrangement.

Pianist Derek Wang ’24AD was awarded Second Prize at the Liszt Utrecht competition and performed five concerts around the Netherlands.

Composer Samantha Wolf ’21MM ’22MMA was appointed Artist-in-Residence at the Longy School of Music in Boston. Under the mentorship of composer Amy Beth Kirsten, the two-year appointment will allow Samantha to compose and present her first opera, a surrealist dark comedy set in a game show.38

Guitarist Daniel Zanuttini-Frank ’22BA ’23MM won First Prize at the Concorso Musicale Nazionale “Villa Oliva.”

Pianist Muzi Zhao ’23MM was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2022 Seattle International Piano Competition.

Percussionist Kevin Zetina ’20MM ’21MMA was appointed Lecturer of Percussion at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.39