School of Music students and alumni report recent academic achievements, new creations, honors, and career milestones.
Cole Henslee, who graduated in June with a BM in tuba performance, is headed to Carnegie Mellon University this fall for master’s degree studies. His full-ride offer from Carnegie Mellon was in addition to offers from Western Washington University, Eastman, San Francisco Conservatory, and Rice University. “(Carnegie Mellon professor) Craig Knox is one of my heroes and I am so thrilled to get the opportunity to work with him,” Henslee wrote in a social media post announcing the move. “Huge thanks for the incredible support from Eden Garza and Dr. John DiCesare during my time here at UW!"
“Crabble” may seem like all fun and games, but this assistive robot can help people with physical impairments gain access to the social and intellectual benefits of playing Scrabble and other board games. Crabble was created this past year as a capstone project in Computer Science and Engineering by a team of UW students, among them Karen Haining, a piano student of Robin McCabe who graduated in June with degrees in Music and Computer Science. Haining served as "perception lead" and handled documentation for the team, whose capstone presentation may be viewed here.
Students in Dr. Carrie Shaw’s Vocal Pedagogy Practicum class this past quarter got on-the-ground training in voice instruction working with singers in Cantible, Columbia Choirs of Seattle’s highly rigorous advanced ensemble for young singers. UW voice students Cassidy Cheong, Adia Bowen, Chloe Lian, and Soledad Mayorga attended four rehearsals by the group, coaching singers in vocal technique. Columbia Choirs is directed by alumna Katrina Turman (’21 MM, Choral Conducting).
Turman was among audience members spotted recently at Seattle performances of the Seattle Trans and Nonbinary Choral Ensemble (STANCE), which recently welcomed its new artistic director, Cee Adamson (’25 DMA Vocal Performance). The group staged two concerts in June at University Congregational Church in addition to recent performances on Vashon Island and at Benaroya Hall. In addition to Turman, other attendees at the group’s June 20 concert at UCC included School of Music alumni Daren Weissfisch (DMA, Orchestral Conducting), and Timothy Little Tran (’22 DMA, Choral Conducting), who is now associate professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, where he serves as director of Choral Activities. Weissfisch, meanwhile, continues in his role as music director with Lake Union Civic Orchestra and was engaged as cover conductor for Seattle Symphony Orchestra for two weeks in June, the first week with incoming music director Xian Zhang and the second with music director laureate Ludovic Morlot.
Former students of Timothy Salzman returned to campus on June 5 to perform in his final UW concert. The longtime UW Bands director retired in June after 38 years on the School of Music faculty. The Alumni Band formed especially for the occasion included some 130 former wind conducting and instrumental performance students, who attended a pre-concert reception and other celebratory activities while in the Seattle area. By popular vote of the musicians, David Maslanka’s Symphony No. 7 was voted the piece they most wanted to perform under Salzman’s direction. Among returning alums was Erin Bodnar ('13 DMA Wind Conducting), who was recently appointed to succeed Salzman for a one-year term beginning in Autumn 2025 (see story here).