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Student/Alumni Notes: Fall 2015

Submitted by Joanne De Pue on October 21, 2015 - 5:47pm
Choral conductors in Latvia
DMA student Ryan Ellis, far left, traveled to the Baltics in July along with professor Geoffrey Boers (center) and other choral conductors (including alumni Heather MacLaughlin Garbes and Gene Peterson).

Summer research activities, travels, and reports of new appointments, honors, and accolades are among recent news from our students and alumni.

Current and former piano students of piano professor Craig Sheppard report new appointments, prizes, and recognition. Daniel Richardson (BM, piano) won the senior division of KING-FM’s 2015 Young Artists’ Award, which earned him a solo performance at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival this past summer. Brooks Tran (DMA) spent the early part of his summer participating in the highly selective Contemporary Music Week at New England Conservatory. Tom Lee (DMA) has fared well in recent piano competitions, taking first prize in the Buono and Bradshaw International Competition in Carnegie Hall in May 2015 and third prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Competition in June 2015. Tony Cho (’03 DMA Piano Performance), meanwhile, has accepted a new position as Opera Coach on the administrative and professional staff at Oberlin College, Ohio. 

Doctoral composition student Kevin Baldwin spent most of August in Stuttgart, Germany participating in the summer master class for young composers hosted by the public foundation and residency program Akademie Schloss Solitude. Baldwin was among 16 composers from around the world chosen to take part in the master class, led by Israeli composer Chaya Czernowin and Berlin-based composer/educators Rebecca Saunders and Ming Tsao. 

Choral conducting students were involved in a variety of performance and research activities this summer. DMA student Elizabeth MacIsaac presented a paper on Canadian choral music at Europa Cantat in Pecs, Hungary. DMA students Leann Conley-Holcom and Joel Bevington co-directed a youth choral workshop for three weeks in Beijing. DMA student Ryan Ellis accompanied professor Geoffrey Boers on an exploratory trip to the Baltic region in July to help lay the groundwork for a Baltic tour for choral conductors and singers planned for Summer 2016 (see story here). Also traveling with the group were School of Music choral conducting alumni Gene Petersen (DMA Choral Conducting) and Heather MacLaughlin Garbes (DMA Choral Conducting). 

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