Jazz Studies chair Cuong Vu has won a 2017 ECHO Jazz Award for the 2016 Nonesuch release The Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny. Awarded annually by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, the ECHO music prize is a German recording industry honor recognizing outstanding achievement in the music industry. Vu was named International Brass Instrumentalist of the Year.
In other recording news, Vu and bandmates (and UW faculty colleagues) Ted Poor and Luke Bergman teamed up with guitarist Bill Frisell on a new release on Rare Noise Records, “Ballet,” a live set of music by the composer/arranger Michael Gibbs, which the quartet performed with the UW Big Band at Meany Theater in 2015. The 4-tet previewed music from the release earlier this month at the ninth annual Improvised Music Project Festival.
UW Symphony Orchestra director David Alexander Rahbee was among UW conducting faculty and alumni receiving recent American Prize honors. Rahbee was awarded second place in the programming category of the College/University Orchestra Division. Administered by the non-profit Hat City Music Theater, The American Prize is awarded annually and recognizes the best recorded performances in the nation by ensembles and individuals at the professional, college/university, church, community and secondary school levels.
Faculty from the Voice and Music History programs played host to scholars and practitioners in two separate April conferences. Music History Prof. Stephen Rumph was program chair and lead organizer of the American Musicological Society’s local chapter conference at the School of Music in early April. Voice program faculty artist Kari Ragan, a certified singing voice specialist, joined with colleagues from the University’s Otolaryngology, and Speech and Hearing Sciences departments in April to present The Art and Science of the Performing Voice, a two-day conference at the UW exploring research and health management of the singing voice. Lead faculty members involved in the group included Ragan (School of Music), Martin Nevdahl (UW Speech and Hearing Sciences), and Al Merati (UW Otolaryngology).
Director of Band Activities Timothy Salzman has been named Artistic Advisor of the Shanghai Wind Orchestra, a professional, government-supported ensemble based in Shanghai. Salzman has previously made guest conducting appearances with the group, including for its 15th anniversary concert in 2015 at the Shanghai Philharmonic Hall.
Judy Tsou, Head, UW Music Library was honored recently by the Society of American Music for her outstanding contributions as a scholar of American music and her exemplary service to the society. Tsou received the honor in March at the Society’s 43rd national conference in Montreal.