The School of Music welcomes new faculty in Composition, Instrumental Performance, Music Education, and Music Theory in 2022-23.
Jeffrey Bowen, Composition
Alumnus Jeffrey Bowen (’15 DMA, Composition; ’12 MM, Composition) returns to the School of Music as a lecturer in the Composition Program. Bowen is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music whose works have been performed by Pascal Gallois, Maja Cerar, Beta Collide, Ensemble DissonArt, and the Luminosity Orchestra, among other ensembles. He was awarded First Prize in the 30th International Composition Competition “Città di Barletta,” and has presented work at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Darmstadt Courses for New Music, the International Computer Music Conference, and as a resident artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. His work What Will Sound (was already sound), for violin and electronics, was released by Parma Records in 2020, and recent work has been supported by the Jack Straw Foundation and the 4Culture and Artist Trust organizations.
Eden Garza, Trombone
Eden Garza, a native of South Texas, joins the School of Music faculty as an artist-in-residence in trombone performance. He is a newly appointed member of the Seattle Symphony as of September 2022. Garza received his master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, Kingsville (TAMUK). He has been featured soloist with many Texas-based ensembles at TAMUK and beyond and has been awarded first prize in various competitions, including the Edward Kleinhammer Orchestral Bass Trombone Competition, the Big 12 Bass Trombone Competition, the Donald Yaxley Solo Bass Trombone Competition, the ITA trombone quartet competition, and the Hungarian Online Trombone Competition.
Anita Kumar, Music Education
Alumna Anita B. Kumar (’22 PhD, Music Education) returns to the School of Music as a visiting lecturer in Music Education. Since completing her doctoral classwork at the UW, she has spent four years as a lecturer of music education at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Her research interests include psychosocial perceptions of teachers and conductors in large ensembles, audiovisual perception of conducting gesture, school-community engagement partnerships, and evaluation of preservice teachers. Her work is published in Frontiers in Psychology, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, and by GIA Publications. At Georgia State, Kumar was assistant director of the award-winning Sound Learning program, a school-community outreach program in partnership with East Lake and Cousins Family Foundations. Prior to her doctoral studies, Kumar served as band director at Landmark and Melvin E Sine elementary schools, and instrumental music lead teacher, in the Glendale Elementary School District in Glendale, Arizona. In addition to her doctoral degree from the UW, she holds degrees from Miami University in Ohio (B.M.) and Arizona State University (M.M.).
Christine Lee, Chamber Music
Cellist Christine Lee joins the Strings Program in Fall 2022 as an artist in residence whose work at the school will be focused on chamber music. A Paris Fulbright Fellow, Lee splits her time between Seattle and San Francisco, pursuing a wide range of creative and musical projects. Passionate about chamber music, she also devotes her time towards teaching, social media management, and solo engagements. Most recently, Christine joined the Camellia Symphony and Christian Baldini in opening the orchestra’s 59th Season with a performance of the Schumann Concerto. During her most recent studies in the Chamber Music Program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she performed alongside artists such as Gil Kalisch, Ian Swensen, Tessa Lark, Jennifer Culp, David McCarroll, and Dimitri Murrath. Lee is the cellist of L’arc Trio, a piano trio based in San Francisco that has been recipient of numerous grants and awards.
Luis Rivera, Music Theory
Alumnus Luis Rivera (’22 MA, Music Theory) joins the School of Music faculty as a lecturer in the Music Theory program. He holds an MA in Music Theory from the University of Washington, where he studied under Jonathan Bernard. His research interests focus on mathematical music theory, set theory, and the music of Latin America. Outside of music theory, he is an active piano instructor and has previously worked with community centers to provide music instruction for students in after-school programs. He holds a BS in Mathematics and a BM in Piano Performance from Augusta University, as well as a double MM from Georgia State University in Piano Performance and Pedagogy under Sergio Gallo. In Autumn Quarter at the School of Music, he teaches Introduction to Music Theory and Musicianship and Pre-Core Ear Training.
Andrew Romanick, Opera Workshop
Alumnus Andrew Romanick (’18 DMA, Piano Performance) works as staff pianist and opera coach at the University of Washington and as staff pianist at Seattle Pacific University. He maintains a private studio of piano students. In 2018, Romanick earned his DMA from the UW, where he studied with Dr. Robin McCabe. Romanick has performed virtually with SPU faculty Chérie Hughes in the Barcelona Festival of Song in 2021, with Darrell J. Jordan in 2022 in recitals hosted by Tacoma Opera and Wilmington Opera in Delaware, and live with baritone Zachary James in the 2019 Hoku Concert Series in Kona, Hawaii.
Sarah Rommel, Cello
Cellist Sarah Rommel joins the School of Music faculty in Autumn 2022 as an artist-in-residence in the Strings Program. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she pursued a Bachelor of Music, and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, where she recently completed her master’s degree. In addition to her work as a soloist with numerous ensembles and performers, Rommel is an enthusiastic chamber musician. She was a founding member of the cello quintet SAKURA and has recently toured with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Rommel also has collaborated with numerous leading composers and performers, including composers John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon, Steve Mackey, and Kaija Saariaho, pianist Jonathan Biss and Gil Kalish, violinists Lucy Chapman, Pamela Frank, and Joseph Lin, violists Atar Arad, Kim Kashkashian, and Nobuko Imai, and cellists Peter Wiley and Ralph Kirshbaum.