New Faculty welcomed in Fall 2018

Bassist Steve Rodby and composer Yiğit Kolat join the School of Music faculty in Fall 2018, bringing internationally recognized expertise and talent to the Jazz Studies and Composition programs. 

Steve Rodby, Jazz Studies

Bassist Steve Rodby joins the School of Music Jazz Studies faculty in Fall 2018. A 15-time Grammy winner known for his work as a studio musician, record producer/editor, and longtime member of the Pat Metheny Group, Rodby graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in classical bass performance and spent many years as a multi-style studio musician on both acoustic and electric bass in Chicago recording studios.

As an artist-in-residence in the Jazz Studies program, Rodby will maintain a performance studio of jazz bass students and collaborate with UW Music faculty on creative research projects, including as a member of the faculty improv band Indigo Mist, which stages two UW performances in 2018-19: Indigo Mist with Special Guest Bill Frisell (Jan. 13) and Music of Today:  International Experimental Music Ensemble (May 10). 

Yiğit Kolat, Composition

UW Composition alumnus Yiğit Kolat returns to the School of Music this fall, this time as a member of the Composition faculty. Kolat has accepted an extended temporary appointment in the Composition program through 2020 to provide teaching support during Chair Huck Hodge’s two-year term as recipient of the Charles Ives Living Award (see story here).  

Since earning his DMA in the UW Composition program, where he studied with  Joël-François Durand, Kolat has been recognized by a prestigious array of organizations worldwide, including the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Bogliasco Foundation, (2016 Edward T. Cone Bogliasco Fellow in Music), the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award (1st Prize, 2015), and many others. Among his teaching duties at the UW, Kolat co-directs quarterly concerts presented by the UW Composition Studio, with performances in 2018-19 on Dec. 1 and April 16.