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Recent News
May 8, 2024
School of Music student Brandon Cain has been named one of the University of Washington’s 2024 Husky 100, recognized by the UW as being exemplary of a student making the most of their University of Washington experience. The annual recognition is granted to 100 undergraduate, graduate and professional students from the UW Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses in all areas of study.
Cain, a senior who graduates this June with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education (Instrumental/General Emphasis... Read more
April 11, 2024
Saxophonist Chris Speed, trumpeter Jun Iida, and bassist Todd Sickafoose headline IMPFEST 2024, the annual festival co-hosted by the School of Music and the student-run Improvised Music Project (IMP). Admission to the three-day festival is free, thanks to generous support from Seattle's Raynier Foundation.
The festival, which pairs up-and-coming musicians with seasoned professionals of international renown, is the IMP’s signature annual event. This year, Speed and Sickafoose perform their... Read more
March 25, 2024
LA Opus, an online publication devoted to classical music and live arts, has reviewed Play/Write, a new release by violist/composer Melia Watras:
Composer and violist extraordinaire Melia Watras seems limitless in her creativity, constantly generating new and unique material. Her new CD album, PLAY/WRITE, showcases her many facets as both a writer and performer of new music. Always innovative, the Seattle-based Watras utilizes her partnerships with writers, poets and other... Read more
March 6, 2024
School of Music students and alumni report recent academic appointments, performances, career milestones and other notable achievements.
Daren Weissfisch (’21 MM, DMA Orchestral Conducting), student of David Alexander Rahbee, is conducting all four productions this year at the Tacoma Opera. He is a finalist for the music director position at both the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and the Lake Union Civic Orchestra.
Ryan Farris (’18 MM, Cello, DMA,... Read more
March 6, 2024
The winners of three divisional School of Music concerto competitions— Kai-En Cheng, violin, Ella Kalinichenko, piano, and Rachel Reyes, flute—perform their winning concerto excerpts with the UW Symphony on April 26.
In addition, the orchestra’s April 26 program includes the work of another outstanding student winner: UW composition student Yonatan Ron, a master's student who studies with Huck Hodge and Yigit Kolat, who won the UW’s recent composition competition with his piece "What Stood... Read more
March 6, 2024
A new faculty appointment for David Alexander Rahbee, the longtime head of orchestral activities and chair of the orchestral conducting program at the School of Music, changes his title from senior artist-in-residence to associate professor of music, an appointment with tenure effective in Fall 2024.
A native of Boston, Rahbee studied conducting at the New England Conservatory, Université de Montréal, Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, and at the Pierre Monteux School. A... Read more
February 29, 2024
Honors, accolades, research highlights, and other news from the School of Music faculty.
Joël-François Durand, CompositionThe School of Music acting director and professor of Composition reports the recent release of Geister, a two-CD collection of his works recorded in 2021 and 2022 and released on the Kairos contemporary music label. Including compositions written over the last two... Read more
February 23, 2024
When School of Music faculty bassoonist Paul Rafanelli performs Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major with the UW Symphony at Meany Hall on March 8, 2024, it will be with a sense of déjà vu—the Seattle Symphony bassoonist and UW artist-in-residence performed the same piece in the same location with the UW orchestra in March 1984—almost exactly 40 years ago—while a student at the UW. Leading up to his spotlight performance, the head of the UW bassoon studio graciously agreed to answer... Read more