New publications, international performances, and acquisition of rare instruments are among recent activities of UW School of Music faculty. Below are just a few accomplishments reported in the opening weeks of Autumn 2016.
George Bozarth, Music History
Music historian George Bozarth has recently published a new critical edition of Johannes Brahms's complete works for organ in the Johannes Brahms Gesamtausgabe, which is being produced in Kiel and published by G. Henle in Munich. His 1990 "Henle Urtext" edition, which has become the standard edition used by organists worldwide, is now superseded. His new edition is expected to appear as a "Henle Urtext" volume by the end of 2016.
Bozarth owns a large collection of historic keyboard instruments, and has now added to it replicas of a Baroque Lautenwerk—J.S. Bach owned two of these gut-strung harpsichords—by Stephen Sørli and a Johann Fritz six-octave grand fortepiano (Vienna, 1814) by Christopher Clarke. Both instruments will make their Seattle debuts in a duo recital by cellist Nathan Whitaker and fortepianist Tamara Friedman on December 3rd and 4th on the Gallery Concerts series, of which Bozarth is the long-time Artistic Director.
Michael Brockman, saxophone
Faculty saxophonist Michael Brockman was featured in the Seattle Chamber Music Festival's opening night as part of a double-billing that included a presentation at the Nordstrom Recital Hall of William Walton's Façade, followed by a "late night" concert of improvised music, across the street at the Triple Door night club. Performers included Chris Thile (new host of "A Prairie Home Companion"), trumpeter Jens Lindemann and actor Jeff Kready, plus Nadine Asin (flute/Metropolitan Opera), Steve Williamson (prin. clar., Chicago Symphony). Brockman continues (now in his 22nd year) as founder & co-director of the award-winning Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. The group received the "Northwest Concert of the Year" awared at the 2016 Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards ceremony.
Patricia Shehan Campbell, Music Education
Music Ed Professor Patricia Shehan Campbell has recently published chapters in This Thing Called Music: Essays in Honor of Bruno Nettl (Rowman & Littlefield), Approaches to Teaching General Music (Oxford), Oxford Handbook for Applied Ethnomusicology (with Lee Higgins), Oxford Handbook of Music Education and Social Justice (with Christopher Roberts), and Improvisation and Music Education: Beyond the Classroom (with Matt Swanson, Routledge). She also has been engaged in recent presentations of theoretical work on children’s musical cultures and world music pedagogy in Glasgow, Munich, Amsterdam, Dar es Salaam, Bangkok, and Washington, D.C.
Douglas Cleveland, organ
Douglas Cleveland, John Delo Faculty Fellow in Organ at the University of Washington, recently performed organ recitals in Tokyo and Taipei, and taught masterclasses to organ students at Rikkyo University in Tokyo and Taiwan Theological Seminary. This season he also served on the jury of the 2016 Miami International Organ Competition and the 2016 Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition near Philadelphia. Recent domestic performances include the world premiere of “Elegy” of Henry Mollicone with Ben Lulich, principal clarinetist of the Seattle Symphony as part of his organ recital for the Seattle Symphony Organ Series at Benaroya Hall, as well as the opening recital at the 2015 American Guild of Organists Convention in San Diego. This summer Cleveland will be performing at organ festivals in Bergen, Norway, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark
Barry Lieberman, double bass
The artist-in-residence and his spouse and musical partner, Maria Larionoff, violin, appear with the String Orchestra of the Rockies in Missoula, Mont. In November, performing Schoenberg Transfigured Night, Schubert and more. Lieberman also reports that his YouTube channel for double bassists, which he established in 2014, recently passed the 300,000 mark in audience views.
Robin McCabe, piano
The piano professor has recently performed recitals and led master classes at several universities, including at the Beijing International Piano Festival. In other recent activities, Dr. McCabe:
- Served on the jury of the Seattle International Piano Competition;
- Performed and recorded the cycle of ten Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano, with Maria Larionoff;
- Co-directed the seventh annual Seattle Piano Institute with colleague Craig Sheppard;
- Served on the jury of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City.
Michael Partington, guitar
Michael Partington's video for the recently premiered work "Watts Chapel," written for him by Welsh composer Stephen Goss, was Classical Guitar Magazine's video of the week (see video elsewhere in this issue).
In other news, Partington returned to Spain in August for performances along the Camino de Santiago and in Chinchòn. In October he was a featured artist at the Texas A&M International Guitar Symposium, performing, teaching, and adjudicating. In November the guitarist toured with duo partner Marc Teicholz of the San Francisco Conservatory and in December he completes the second of two fall residencies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
David Alexander Rahbee, Orchestral Activities
The UW’s head of orchestra activities was a finalist this past year for the American Prize—Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming in the college/university division. The honor recognizes his programming of the 2013-14 season of the UW Symphony, during which the orchestra performed 27 works, from the baroque through the 20th century.
In addition to his programming prowess, Rahbee presides over a steadily growing orchestr, program. While the UW Symphony continues to welcome students from all departments, Dr. Rahbee has expanded the Campus Philharmonia, which he established in 2014, to two full orchestras, each led by graduate students of the orchestral conducting program.
Stephen Rumph, Music History
The Music History associate professor is serving as program committee chair for the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Musicological Society’s spring conference, to be hosted by the School of Music April 8-9, 2017. In other activities, Rumph is participating for the second year in the colloquium "Theology, Music, and Modernity," hosted by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Duke Theological Seminary.
Timothy Salzman, Wind Conducting
The UW's director of band activities will be a guest professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China in December. While in Beijing, Prof. Salzman will deliver a series of lectures on repertoire and conducting pedagogy and will serve as guest conductor of the Tsinghua University Wind Ensemble for a December 18th concert. Tsinghua University and the University of Washington recently signed a groundbreaking Global Innovation Exchange agreement. Shortly after returning from China he will serve as an adjudicator for ‘La Grande Parade de Paris, Champs Elysées’ on New Year’s Day in Paris. The parade takes place along the Champs Elysées, between Place de La Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe. This past summer Prof. Salzman served as a master class presenter for Inspire Arts and Music of Boston, making presentations in Texas, Ohio, and Indiana.
Craig Sheppard, piano
Piano Professor Craig Sheppard's recent concerts have included performances of the 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich, Opus 87, in New York (Bargemusic), the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, the Royal College of Music (London), the Jerusalem Music Center, and the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo). In other recent news Professor Sheppard:
- Received excellent reviews of his two-CD set of the Shostakovich in Gramophone magazine, Fanfare, and The American Record Guide.
- Performances this past summer included appearances at the Methow Valley and Orcas chamber music festivals.
- In June, Sheppard sat on the jury of the Midwest International Piano Competition in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
- With colleague Dr. Robin McCabe, hosted the seventh annual Seattle Piano Institute in July.
- In April, he gave a masterclass at the Curtis Institute, as well as another at New York University in October.
Larry Starr, Music History
The Music History professor reports two new publications: the essay “A Listener’s Smile” in Good Vibrations: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in Critical Perspective, edited by Philip Lambert (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016) and “Varieties of Hearing Loss: A Lament for the Modern Ear,” published in the online Society for American Music eBulletin, Fall 2016.
Melia Watras, viola
Melia Watras, viola professor and chair of Strings, was recently promoted to full professor. Her continued work as a recording artist includes the upcoming release (January 2017) of her album 26 by Sono Luminus. 26 features compositions by Watras, UW School of Music Director Richard Karpen, Atar Arad and Garth Knox; and performances by violists Watras, Arad, Knox and violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim. Over the summer, Watras recorded another album, Schumann Resonances (release date TBD), with compositions by Watras, Karpen, chair of Jazz Studies Cuong Vu, and Robert Schumann; and performances by Watras, pianist Winston Choi, percussionist Matthew Kocmieroski, Vu and Lim. Both 26 and Schumann Resonances were produced and engineered by multiple Grammy-winner Judith Sherman. Watras formed a new chamber music ensemble with faculty cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and Pacific Northwest Ballet Concertmaster Michael Jinsoo Lim, called Frequency. Frequency made its debut in Meany Theater on October 23, performing works by Beethoven, Janacek and Watras.
Giselle Wyers, Choral Conducting
The choral conducting professor recently served as guest instructor in conducting and choral repertoire at the University of Iowa, conducting the University of Iowa’s Kantorei (auditioned mixed chorus) and Chamber Singers of Iowa City (auditioned community chorus). She also lectured on Laban movement in the graduate choral conducting course and on Schubert’s Mass in E flat Major in the graduate choral literature class.
In other recent news:
- Her composition, “I Go Among Trees,” was broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, in a performance by Twin Ports Choral Project, conducted by alumnus Bret Amundson (‘12 DMA Choral Conducting).
- Her UW auditioned choir, the University of Washington Chorale performed at the UW’s Office of Advancement’s campaign kickoff event “TOGETHER,” October 21, 2016 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, with an expected audience of 7,000.
- She recently was appointed one of seven editors for the Choral Journal, the primary national peer-reviewed journal in choral music.