School of Music students and alumni report recent honors, appointments, presentations and other career and scholarly achievements.
Alumna Carmen Quill (formerly Carmen Rothwell) (’14 BM, Jazz Studies), a double bassist, composer, singer, and interdisciplinary artist, is one of eight young musicians selected for Next Jazz Legacy, a national apprenticeship program for diverse improvisers in jazz. Focused on increasing opportunities for musicians most underrepresented in the art form, Next Jazz Legacy is a three-year, national program of New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. The comprehensive support package provided to recipients includes a $10,000 cash award, performance opportunities with a master bandleader, two-way mentorship, a learning cohort, and professional promotional support. Quill’s assigned bandleader is legendary drummer Billy Hart, known for his work with Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Shirley Horn, and Quest, among others; Her creative mentor is Becca Stevens. “Over the next year, I’ll be learning from the great Billy Hart and Becca Stevens while connecting with an incredible cohort of artists,” Quill announced on her Instagram channel. “Getting the opportunity to work with these artists is an incredible privilege and I could not be more excited for the year ahead.”
Yuman Wu (DMA, Instrumental Conducting), a student of Timothy Salzman, has been selected as one of five participants in the prestigious 2025 U.S. Army Band Conductors Workshop, hosted by “Pershing’s Own” United States Army Band in Washington, D.C., July 14–18. The workshop includes a concert performance at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, masterclasses, ensemble demonstrations, and a tour of the Library of Congress Music Division. This highly selective, tuition-free opportunity gathers conductors from across the nation for an intensive week of music-making and professional development.
Current and former voice students of Thomas Harper report cross-country and cross-continental moves to begin their graduate vocal studies. Sophia Parker (‘23 BM, Voice) enters the master’s program in Voice at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England in September of this year. Oliver Callahan (‘25 BM, Voice) travels also in September of this year to New York City to begin master's program in Voice at New York University.
Doctoral student Lorin Green (’25 DMA, Flute) was a presenter at the Midwest Graduate Music Consortium Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan in April. Her presentation, “Beyoncé: Genre Blending, Authenticity, and Limitations,” analyzed the pop star’s most recent album, act ii. Cowboy Carter, in the context of authenticity of genre, genre blending, and artistic identity, and the ways the artist did (and more pointedly, did not) feel welcome entering the genre of country music.
Also presenting at the conference was Grace Playstead (MM, Flute), presenting “Identity and Selfhood: Julius Eastman’s Display of Authenticity in a Performance of John Cage’s Solo for Voice No. 8,” which examined Eastman’s 1975 performance of John Cage’s Song Book, in which he undressed and mimed sexual acts with a male volunteer onstage, an interpretation of the composer’s open-ended performance instructions (to “perform a disciplined action”) that Cage found unacceptable.
Ryan Kapsandy (BM, Bassoon Performance), student of Paul Rafanelli, is attending the Monteux School and Music Festival in Maine this summer, the 85th season for the prestigious six-week summer program for up-and-coming conductors and instrumentalists. Founded as a conducting school in 1943 by renowned conductor Pierre Monteux, the school’s rigorous weekly schedule — equivalent to that of a full-time orchestra — prepares musicians for a professional career. Each week’s schedule includes seven on-stage symphony rehearsals and a public symphony concert led by student conductors each Sunday evening as well as weekly chamber music concerts for smaller ensembles.
Daren Weissfisch (DMA, Orchestral Conducting) continues his role as music director of the Lake Union Civic Orchestra, conducting concerts and hosting events throughout the year, and remains actively involved with Seattle Opera’s Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab, mentoring emerging composer-librettist teams. He recently conducted Tacoma Opera’s Singing with the Stars performance and is leading rehearsals with the Orchestra of Flight in Burien. On May 21, he will perform as principal oboist with the Wenatchee Valley Symphony in collaboration with the Grand Kiev Ballet for a special performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake at McCaw Hall.
Alumnus Andy Abel (’17 BM, Tuba Performance), a former UW student of Christopher Olka and Jon Hill, has landed a seat with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra in Honolulu. Abel, who went on to earn a master’s degree from the Colburn School following his UW graduation, has been engaged in numerous professional projects, serving as principal tubist with the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra since 2024 and as tuba fellow with the New World Symphony from 2019 to 2023. He currently works as a member of the development team with Seattle Symphony. Abel has performed with the Seattle Symphony and can be heard on their 2017 album The Flying Lotus.