Faculty News: Spring 2018

 International performances, master classes, keynote addresses, and new publications are among recent activities of UW Music faculty as they execute research and performance in their recent work at the University of Washington and world-wide.

Geoffrey Boers, Choral Activities

Head of the UW choral activities presented workshops and master classes at the Washington State Association of Choral Directors’ Association conference in Portland in early March and conducted a conference performance by the UW Chamber Singers.

Patricia Campbell, Music Education, Ethnomusicology

Music Ed and Ethnomusicology professor Patricia Campbell was among UW faculty, students and alumni representing the University of Washington and other institutions at the recent National Association for Music Education (NAfME) biennial conference in Atlanta. Prof. Campbell delivered a keynote address, “Diversity and Inclusion in American Music Education: Inroads, Blockades, Re-Designs and Deliveries.”  In February, Prof. Campbell traveled to the University of Queensland, Australia, for a project on Music in Early Learning and Development. The project is collecting growing evidence of the impact of music on very young children--at home and in families, at hospitals, preschools, and primary grades. Her latest book publication, Music, Education, and Diversity: Building Cultures and Communities (with James A. Banks, series editor) was published in January.

Shannon Dudley, Ethnomusicology

Dudley’s latest book, American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in U.S. Popular Music  was published in January (University of Washington Press). Co-authored with Affiliate Assistant Professor of Music Marisol Berríos Miranda, and Professor of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies Michelle Habell-Pallán, American Sabor is bilingual and includes more than 100 illustrations. The book is the culmination of a project that began as a museum exhibit at the Experience Music Project in Seattle in 2007 and later travelled to 18 cities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, both in its original form and in a smaller version produced in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit Service (SITES). The authors also worked with SITES to create a website, americansabor.org.  In March 2018, Dudley and Berrios-Miranda visited Spain to promote the book at several universities and media outlets, and to perform three concerts of Caribbean music organized by former UW Visiting Artist Paco Diez.

Joel-François Durand, Composition

The faculty composer is at work on a commission from the Seattle Symphony for an orchestral piece based on a few of Debussy Préludes for piano. The piece is scheduled for an April 2019 premiere by the orchestra, conducted by Ludovic Morlot. Prof. Durand and Composition colleague Juan Pampin are among presenters for the May conference The New Music Ecosystem, hosted May 3 and 3 by the University of Washington, KEXP, and Washington Lawyers for the Arts. The conference brings together musicians, lawyers, business leaders, and government officials to discuss the challenges and work towards policies supporting vibrant local music ecosystems. Durand's presentation concerns his ongoing development of high-end audio tonearms for commercial markets. 

Huck Hodge, Composition

A piece by the faculty composer, Time is the substance I am made of for 32 singers and electronics, was recorded recently by the Taipei Chamber Singers on the group’s CD — Breakthrough and Rebirth: Contemporary and Renaissance Musical Reflections.

Robin McCabe, Piano

Robin McCabe delivered the keynote address at the April Centennial Celebration of the National Mortar Board Honor Society, a presentation entitled “The Right Notes: Living the Authentic Life.”  She also gave master classes and lecture-presentations to several chapters of the Washington State Music Teachers’ Association. A recent visit to the East coast for master classes at New York University, Rutgers University, and Adelphi University resulted in reunions with former students and colleagues, including recent UW Music graduate ZeZe Xue, who now attends the Manhattan School of Music and who attended her master class at NYU Steinhardt.  

Michael Partington, Guitar

The head of the UW’s guitar program performed duo concerts in Washington and British Columbia in collaboration with Dr. Alexander Dunn of the University of Victoria, presenting early 19th century arrangements of the music of Beethoven for two guitars, using a variety of period and reproduction instruments. He also performed solo concerts in Washington and Idaho, and a tour of the UK included a performance and masterclass at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He is currently embarking on a tour of Washington, California and British Columbia with his other duo partner, guitarist Marc Teicholz of the San Francisco Conservatory, playing a program ranging from a new arrangement of string quartet music by Haydn to a new composition by American composer David Conte.

Kari Ragan, Voice

The faculty soprano continues her work with the Northwest Voice Conference, a cooperative effort of the University of Washington's Voice Department in the School of Music, the Division of Laryngology within the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, and the Voice Section of the Speech & Hearing Sciences Department. The third annual conference, “The Art and Science of the Performing Voice,” was held April 13 and 14 on the UW campus, Ragan’s presentation: “Tools of the Trade: Creating Kinesthetic Awareness in Singers” was among talks and presentations delivered by distinguished speakers representing the fields of singing, theater, speech pathology, and medicine.  

In other news, Ragan was among four new members appointed recently to the foundation board of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). The NATS Foundation board recently announced the addition of Ragan and colleagues Chadley Ballantyne, Kimberly James, and Aaron Johnson, all voice teachers who are members of the NATS, a networking, professional development, and career advancement organization with members world-wide. In addition to voice teachers, NATS members represent a variety of professions, including collaborative pianists, speech pathologists, and medical doctors. Of the new board members, foundation president Brian Horne said, “Some have served as liaison members to the Foundation Board; others have served as NATS president. All have been long-time members of NATS and have distinguished themselves in volunteer service to the Association.”

David Alexander Rahbee, Orchestral Activities

The UW’s head of orchestral activities recently learned that he and the UW Symphony have qualifed as semifinalists in two categories of the national arts honor known as the American Prize. Rahbee's programming was recognized among top contenders for the American Prize–Vytuatas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming in the college/university division for the 2015-16 season of the UW Symphony. The UW Symphony is also a semi-finalist for The American Prize for Orchestral Performance; this honor is for live recordings of concerts from 2014 through 2016. In other recent activies, Rahbee led the UW Symphony in a performance at Seattle's Benaroya Hall. The concert featured three conductors (Rahbee, Ludovic Morlot and DMA conducting student Mario Torres) and a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir on cello, Cristina Valdés on piano, and guest violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim. Rahbee also hosted the first UW student composer competition with UW Symphony. Sudent composer Daniel Webbon created the winning work, That is to Say, which received its premiere by Rahbee and the UW Symphony March 9 at Meany Theater. Rahbee also coordinated, together with UW colleague Geoffrey Boers, the third annual choral-orchestral collaboration between Campus Philharmonia and combined UW non-major choruses. the groups performed excerpts from Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Meany on March 4, conducted by five different student conductors from the choral and orchestral conducting programs. Articles appeared about Rahbee’s work building the orchestral conducting program (UW Daily, March 8) and his collaboration with Project SEARCH (UW News, April 4), which provides work place training for young clients on the autism spectrum. Rahbee's Project SEARCH intern aided in recruitment research for the orchestra in the 2017-18 academic year.

Christopher Roberts, Music Education

Two articles by UW Music Education faculty member Christopher Roberts were published in late 2017. "Elementary students' situational interest in lessons of world music" was published in Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education and "Self-determination theory and children's singing games in and out of the classroom: A literature review" was printed in Update. Both articles are grounded in the premise that children's perspectives warrant consideration when creating curriculum for youth. 

Stephen Rumph, Music History

The UW Music History professor is completing his third book, The Fauré Song Cycles, for University of California Press. He is also co-editing Fauré Studies for Cambridge University Press.

Timothy Salzman, Band Activites

Timothy Salzman served as 'Visiting Overseas Prestigious Scholar’ at Tsinghua University in Beijing in December giving lectures and leading the Tsinghua University Symphonic Band in concert. He was a master class presenter and served on the high school wind ensemble evaluation team at the Music for All National Festival in Indianapolis in March, an event attended by 3,500 students from high schools from throughout the United States. He was the featured speaker for the final banquet at the festival.

Craig Sheppard, Piano

Chair of the UW piano program performed Bach’s ‘The Art of Fugue’ at the Jerusalem Music Center in March, followed by a day of masterclasses.  He then flew to Hong Kong, where he gave masterclasses at the Academy for the Arts.  An all-Chopin recital in Tianjin, China, two days later was followed by a week’s masterclasses at the China Conservatory in Beijing, capped off by a performance of ‘The Art of Fugue’ in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

Donna Shin, Flute

Donna Shin was featured in concert and masterclass at the Eastman School of Music in the fall quarter. This summer, she will perform as artist faculty at Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee, ARIA International Summer Academy in Massachusetts, and Snowater Flute Festival in Washington.

Christina Sunardi, Ethnomusicology

Chair of the Ethnomusicology program recently published a peer-reviewed article, “Talking About Mode in Malang, East Java,” in Asian Music 48/2: 62-89. Recent invited presentations and performances included a lecture demonstration and dance performance, “Music, Movement, and Spirituality in East Javanese Masked Dance,”at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma; “Approaching the Magnetic Power of Femaleness through Cross-Gender Dance Performance in Malang, East Java,” for Sounding Out the State of Indonesian Music, Cornell Modern Indonesia Project’s Fourth “State of the Field” Conference, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; and “Accessing and Embodying the Magnetic Power of Femaleness Through East Javanese Dance Performance,” at the University of Toronto Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Music Theory Colloquium in Toronto. She also presented  “Imbuing Masculinity with Femininity in the East Javanese Dance Gunung Sari”at the  Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado last October.

Judy Tsou, Music History

The affiliate UW Music History faculty member (and recently retired head of the UW Music Library) was recently made an honorary member of the American Musicological Society, the society's highest honor.  A citation bestowed in recognition of the honor deemed Tsou's work on race and gender "pioneering," and placed her "at the forefront of writing about representations of race in sheet music and opera." The recognition also noted Tsou's "visionary" contributions to music copyright in her long career as a music librarian, in which she "led the way in collection building, worldwide integration of new technologies, and the preservation of sound archives." More recently, In February 2018, Tsou was awarded a second Ralph Papakhian Special Achievement Award by the Music Library Association at the association's annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. The award recognizes Tsou's work on diversity in the Society.

Cristina Valdés, Piano

The faculty pianist performs Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Lake Union Civic Orchestra on April 21. A recording of Valdés playing Orlando Garcia's "From Darkness to Luminosity" for piano and orchestra with the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra, is set for an April 20 release on Toccata Classics.

Melia Watras, Viola

Chair of the UW Strings Program was featured on the National Public Radio program, Performance Today, as a performer and composer. The show aired a live recording of her piece, Berceuse, performed by Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin and Melia Watras, viola.  In other news, Watras was one of two violists selected to give a master class at the American String Teachers Association National Conference in Atlanta. Her album, 26, was named by An Earful to its Best of 2017: Classical list. Watras and the School of Music recently hosted violist Atar Arad, world renowned soloist, chamber musician, teacher and composer. The two performer/composers gave a joint recital that featured their compositions.

Bonnie Whiting, Percussion

Chair of the UW Percussion Studies program recently served as a clinician at the Day of Percussion at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, leading clinics, open coaching sessions and performing in a joint recital with other guest artists, faculty, and students. Dr. Whiting and students from the UW Percussion Studio also participated in the Northwest Percussion Festival, hosted by Willamette University and Western Oregon University in early April at Willamette University and will co-host the University of Washington Day of Percussion, a late-April collaboration with the Washington Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. Recent solo and collaborative performances included appearances at the Seattle Improvised Music Festival with Lisa Cay Miller and Melanie Sehman; at the Chapel Performance Space with duo partner James Falzone; at the Alternative Library in Bellingham with cellist Melanie Sehman and at the annual fundraising gala of the Seattle Modern  Orchestra.

Giselle Wyers, Choral Conducting, Voice

Her University Chorale, an auditioned group of UW undergraduates, performed works by Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian composers in commemoration of 100 years of independence for those countries in an early March performance at the UW’s Meany Theater.  Ambassadors from all three countries attended the concert. Original works by Prof. Wyers have been included on recent programs by regional choral groups. Her composition "And All Shall Be Well" is on the program for the Vashon Island Chorale performances in late April. The seven-movement work on the theme of legacy and life, Wyers’ longest work to date, is set for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass voices, string quartet, and piano. In March, Seattle Pro Musica, a well-regarded choral group founded and led by UW Music alumna Karen P. Thomas, performed the premiere of Wyers’ work “Sonnet 29: A Modern Madrigal in several local concerts featuring Shakespeare settings through the ages.