Recent activities by School of Music faculty reveal a fascinating range of research directions. The below updates offer a narrow glimpse of recent faculty achievements.
George Bozarth, Music History
• Received a faculty grant from the UW Royalty Research Fund to continue archival work on his forthcoming book, Brahms in Boston: A Study in the Reception of Art Music in Nineteenth- Century America.
• Collaborated with UW colleague Geoffrey Boers and University of Missouri faculty member Robert Bode in presenting a symposium at the UW last spring, “Performing Brahms’s Requiem as Brahms Did,” co-sponsored by Choral Arts and the School of Music.
• Celebrated the 25th season of his well-known chamber music series, Gallery Concerts, which presents music of the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic eras on period instruments and in historically informed styles.
• Completed construction of the Seattle Early Keyboard Museum (SEKM), a private facility to house his large collection of historic instruments (1700–1869). The museum is open to local piano teachers to schedule classes with Bozarth and his wife, pianist Tamara Friedman, to introduce their students of all ages to the instruments. Early pianos from the collection can regularly be heard on Gallery Concerts and in the Mozart and Rossini productions of the Seattle Opera.
Patricia Shehan Campbell, Music Education, Ethnomusicology
• Co-authored Transforming Music Study from Its Foundations: A Manifesto for Progressive Change in the Undergraduate Preparation of Music Majors
• Served as external examiner of PhD research, University of Limerick (Ireland), University of Otago (New Zealand)
• Teaching residencies in 2014-15 included invitations from Florida State University, Guildhall (London), University of Georgia, University of Mississippi, University of Northern Illinois, and Sibelius Academy
• Served as president of the College Music Society
• Served as chair, Smithsonian Folkways board
Joël-François Durand, Composition
• Awarded a commission from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra for a new work to be premiered, along with works by UW composition faculty colleagues, in October 2015
• Presented a new audio tonearm, the Kairos, at the High End Audio show in Munich, Germany (May 2014).
Thomas Harper,Voice
• The associate professor of voice and director of the opera workshop at UW was one of nine American teachers instructing voice at the six-week American Institute of Musical Studies program (AIMS) in Graz, Austria this summer. AIMS is one of the oldest and largest summer vocal music programs dedicated to preparing young singers for professional auditions in Europe.
Huck Hodge, Composition
• His portrait CD, Life is Endless Like our Field of Vision, was released on the New World record label, NYC
• Awarded first prize in the ISCM League of Composers competition
• Awarded numerous commissions from foundations, institutions, and ensembles, including:
• Fromm Music Foundation, Harvard University for the Daedalus String Quartet
• Barlow Endowment for the Divertimento Ensemble, Milan, Italy (large instrumental ensemble and dancers)
• National Concert Hall of Taiwan for the Taipei Chamber Singers (large mixed chorus, computer-realized sound, video, lighting design and choreography)
• University of Chicago for the 50th anniversary of the Contempo series
• Awarded a project grant from the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung as part of the 2014 Rondó Festival
• Performed in numerous concerts and festivals in Italy, Finland, Germany, Canada. Taiwan, South Korea, USA (New York, Seattle, and elsewhere)
• Completed first year as Director of the Seattle Symphony’s Merriman Family Young Composers Workshop
Richard Karpen, Composition and Director
• Continued longtime collaborations with the Six Tones Ensemble, a trio of Vietnamese and Swedish musicians who have worked with the composer on various multi- media projects. Collaborations in 2013- 2014 included video and film work, live improvisational performance with the JACK Quartet and UW faculty musicians, and presentation of a world premiere, Nam Mai, commissioned by Seattle Symphony for its 2014 Celebrate Asia series.
• Collaborated with numerous faculty colleagues and visiting artists on performance and recording projects, including live performance with the Vu Karpen Project, the JACK Quartet, Stuart Dempster, and Juan Pampin and recording projects with Cuong Vu, Melia Watras, Tom Collier, and Bill Frisell.
Barry Lieberman, Double Bass
• Created a video channel on You Tube for students of the double bass, presenting 18 tutorials of all the orchestral solos for the instrument, including Mahler, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Haydn, and others.
• Continued work with his chamber group The American String Project, which launched in May 2014 an educational program to offer free chamber music concerts to middle and high school students featuring visiting artists from around the country. The program continues in May 2015.
Robin McCabe, Piano
• Performed the entire cycle of Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin, “The Beethoven Project,” with Maria Larionoff, in three School of Music recitals, as well as additional recitals in Washington state. The McCabe/Larionoff duo is set to record the cycle in June of 2015.
• Produced and narrated “Circle of Friends,” a three-concert theme series at the School of Music, featuring UW music students performing works of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara and Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms.
• Co-directed, along with colleague Craig Sheppard, the fifth summer session of the Seattle Piano Institute, drawing gifted students from throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia.
Michael Partington,Guitar
• Por Caminos de Santiago CD, a collection of Spanish music including new transcriptions and arrangements for solo guitar, released on the Rosewood Recordings label.
• Performed a feature solo concert at the inauguration festival of the International Guitar Research Center at the University of Guildford in Surrey, UK
• Completed two solo concert tours of the UK and a concert residency in Spain, including the first solo guitar performance at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela since Segovia.
• Performed solo concerts and led masterclasses in Ohio, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.
• Served as performing and teaching faculty at Guitar Fest West in Calgary, AB and the Northwest Guitar festival in Spokane, WA.
• Performed as onstage soloist with Seattle Opera for performances of Don Giovanni, including live appearance on KING 5 TV.
• Performed as guest soloist with Seattle Pro Musica
• Staged a faculty concert that included collaborations with UW faculty colleagues Valerie Muzzolini Gordon, Stephen Stubbs, and Donna Shin.
Kari Ragan, Voice
• Performed with the UW Wind Ensemble Jack Stemp’s “Four Maryland Songs.”
• Presented a workshop, “The Pedagogical Basis for Vocal Cool-Down Exercises,” at the Voice Foundation Symposium in Philadelphia.
• Presented “A Practical Guide for Working with Voice Injuries” at the National Association of Teachers of Singing conference in Boston:
David Alexander Rahbee, Orchestral Conducting
The orchestral activities director made numerous guest conducting appearances in 2014-15 including engagements with: Kennet Symphony, Pennsylvania (March 2014); Olympic Ballet Theater, Everett, WA (April 2014); Grand Harmonie (Boston’s Classical - Romantic area period instrument ensemble), Boston and NYC (May 2014); Kammerphilharmonie Berlin-Brandenburg with Ana-Marija Markovina, pianist, concert celebration of CPE Bach’s 300th birthday, Gevelsberg, Germany (May 2014); and Ensemble Tremblay, Hancock, Maine (July 2014)
In addition, Dr. Rahbee:
• Served as Conducting Associate, the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock, Maine (June, July 2014)
• Delivered pre-concert lectures for Seattle Symphony in March, addressing Dvorak's The Noonday Witch.
Timothy Salzman,Wind Conducting
• Served as adjudicator for the Lord Mayor’s London New Year’s Day parade and ‘Cracker’ concert series, London, England (Jan. 2014)
• Led a master class with 75 wind band conductors at Shanghai Information/Technology University, Shanghai, China.
• Conducted and led master classes with several ensembles in Shanghai, China, in February 2014 including the Shanghai Information/Technology University Wind Ensemble, Shanghai Fudan University High School Wind Ensemble, and the Shanghai Luodian High School Wind Ensemble.
• Conducted the United States Air Force Band of the Midwest
• Conducted the Kentucky Music Educators All State Symphonic Band
• Was inducted into the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame
Carole Terry, Organ
•Staged concert performances and master classes abroad, including recitals in Collescipolii and Solomeo, Italy (May 2014) and concerts in Korea at Seoul Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Seoul University, and Keimyung University, as well as master classes at Yonsei University and Korean International School of the Arts.
• Concert and teaching appearances during fall 2014 included concerts at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa (concert) and the University of Houston, Houston, Texas (concert and master class).
Melia Watras, Strings
The violist and chair of the UW strings program performed world premieres in major cities, completed recording projects, and engaged in other academic and scholarly activities including:
• Performances with violist Garth Knox at The Stone, New York, NY
• A performance with violist Atar Arad at Indiana University
• Solo and chamber music performances at Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Performances with world premieres in cities such as Seattle, Chicago, New York, and Copenhagen.
In addition, Watras:
• Received a UW Royalty Research Fund award
• Recorded a CD for of new viola music: solos and duos; in New York City (for upcoming release)
• Performed a solo concerto with Port Angeles Symphony
• Led a viola/chamber music master class at Indiana University
Giselle Wyers, Choral Conducting
• Traveled to Stockholm, Sweden in October to help facilitate connections with the international community of choral professionals. Wyers was among 14 American conductors awarded a fellowship with the 2015 International Conductors Exchange Program, a program hosted by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).