School of Music students and alumni report recent appointments, performances, honors, and achievements.
Taro Kobayashi (’14 BM, Classical Guitar Performance; BS, Physics), former student of Michael Partington, completed a doctorate in music at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in January of 2025. He officially graduated with a DPhil (PhD) in Music on July 19, 2025. He dedicated his doctoral dissertation to the late UW Music History Professor JoAnn Taricani. “I know she would have been very interested in the topic that I was working on and proud of it as well,” he writes, adding, “ I wouldn’t have been able to undertake and complete a doctorate in music without the foundation I build and support I received from School of Music as an undergraduate at UW.” His abstract and full dissertation may be viewed at the Oxford Research Archive (ORA).
Piano students of Robin McCabe report recent appearances and honors. DMA student Cicy Li was selected to give a solo performance at the UW’s Donor Recognition Gala, held in September in Suzzallo Library. She performed Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau. She reprised her performance for the entire UW community on Oct. 15, performing just before UW president Robert Jones’s inaugural address at the President’s Annual Welcome gathering.
Yiyi Chen (DMA, Piano), performed the Clara Schumann Piano Concerto with the Grays Harbor Symphony in November.
Chiao-Yu Wu (DMA Piano Performance) shared her UW doctoral dissertation research at Scholars Studio, an informal interdisciplinary event hosted by the UW Libraries Research Commons and The Graduate School. Her presentation, “Evocation of Childhood in Piano Music, Painting and Poets,” was one of ten rapid-fire presentations delivered by graduate students and postdocs performing research on a range of topics related to interdisciplinary themes. Chiao-Yu subsequently was selected to present an expanded, 30-minute version of her topic at the Washington State Music Teachers Association (WSMTA) Conference, scheduled for June 2026 at Central Washington University.
Tracia Pan, a flute student of Donna Shin, was a finalist in the Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition at Sewanee Music Festival in Tennessee this past summer and played the Hüe Fantasie with the Sewanee Festival Orchestra at the Concerto Showcase concert.
Shahin Shahbazi, a first-year PhD student in Ethnomusicology, appeared at Carnegie Mellon University this fall in “A Tribute Concert in Memory of Maestro Mohammad-Reza Shajarian,” a concert of Persian classical music. In November at the UW’s Denny Hall, he led an introduction workshop to the Radif—the core repertoire of Persian classical music—in which he explored the Dastgāh system, Āvāz modes, and the role of Gusheh as the melodic building blocks of the tradition. The session included live demonstrations, connecting musical theory with performance and improvisation.
Graduate voice student Soledad Mayorga-Maldonado (MM, Vocal Performance), a student of Carrie Shaw, received favorable reviews in national publication Opera News for a lecture/recital she presented last summer at the University of Dublin as member of the Chilean opera ensemble Colectivo Ópera Nacional.
Dieter Rice (’97 BM, Music Education) was named a Peak Performer for the month of October by the Lakewood School District, where the UW alumnus teaches music and directs the Lakewood Middle School symphonic band and concert choir. The award recognized Rice’s efforts that have “built a thriving music program at LMS that continues to inspire students year after year.” The Peak Performer Award honors educators who are “dedicated to creating a positive, caring, and productive school environment."
Current and former orchestral conducting students of David Alexander Rahbee are hard at work in their communities. Alumna Abbie Eads (Naze) (’17 MM, Orchestral Conducting) was recently appointed assistant lecturer at Southern Illinois University School of Music and was guest conductor with the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, Alaska Youth Orchestras and Dakota Pro Musica.
Rylan Virnig (’22 MM, Orchestral Conducting) was recently appointed music director of the Maple Valley Youth Symphony. He is also in his second year as music director of the Federal Way Youth Symphony. The UW Daily recently featured his work as School of Music admissions and outreach director and organizer of the First Wednesday Concert Series at the Allen Library, a lunchtime series of performances by UW music students co-sponsored by UW Libraries and the School of Music.
Current doctoral student Robert Stahly (DMA, Orchestral Conducting) was recently appointed assistant conductor of the Lake Union Civic Orchestra (LUCO), whose music director is Daren Weissfisch (DMA, Orchestral Conducting). In addition to his work with LUCO, Weissfisch conducted Seattle Opera Creation Lab last June and was assistant conductor for Xian Zhang (incoming music director) and Ludovic Morlot (conductor laureate) with the Seattle Symphony. He also conducted Symphony South, a summer music orchestra with the Federal Way School District and Key to Change and played principal oboe for the Grand Kiev Ballet production of Swan Lake at McCaw Hall.
Gabriela Garza (DMA, Orchestral Conducting) was recently selected to participate in the League of American Orchestras’ Essentials of Orchestra Management summer program at the Juilliard Extension School. She is currently pursuing a nonprofit management certification from the University of San Diego, which she expects to complete in February 2026. An active musician, Garza frequently performs as a percussionist in various orchestras including the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra, the Ballard Civic Orchestra, and others.
Ryan Dakota Farris (DMA, Orchestral Conducting) is in his second year as music director of both the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and the Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra. He also has been appointed interim music director of Bainbridge Chorale for January through April 2026. Farris returned to the Bellingham Festival of Music in this past summer as a conducting fellow, leading the orchestra in performances of music by Dvorak and Mendelssohn.
Seattle Sounders FC, the Seattle Sounders’ community foundation, recognized conductor Tigran Arakelyan (’16 DMA, Orchestral Conducting) with its Community Assist Award for his contributions to music education and community engagement. The Sounders soccer team celebrated Arakelyan’s achievements by naming him Community Hero of the Match during their home game on June 28, with a feature on the club’s official Instagram channel and in-stadium recognition at halftime. The award honors local leaders who embody the spirit of service, equity, and innovation. Arakelyan serves as the music director of the Northwest Mahler Festival and the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra.
Andy Abel (’16 MM, Tuba) was recently appointed principal tuba of the Hawaii Symphony, the Spokane Symphony, and the Oregon Ballet, in addition to his recent appointment to the faculty at Pacific Lutheran University.
Del Hungerford (’04 DMA, Woodwinds) retired recently from Whitworth University in Spokane, where she served since 1994 as adjunct faculty and professor of clarinet. She has begun a new chapter in Lewistown, Idaho. “I create, record, and produce my own healing music,” Hungerford writes. ”I'm in the process of opening a recording studio in Lewiston, Idaho with a friend (the retired audio engineer from Washington State University). Examples of Hungerford’s healing music can be heard on her website.
Juliana Cantarelli Vita (’22 PhD, Music Education) is a semifinalist for the Recording Academy and the Grammy Museum’s 2026 Music Educator Award. The award recognizes music teachers who have made a significant contribution to music education and who continue to maintain music education in schools. Vita is a music teacher at Seattle’s Bush School, working with students in kindergarten through fifth grades in Bush’s Lower School.
UW Wind Conducting alumni were among recent winners announced by the nonprofit national performing arts competition, the American Prize. Vu Nguyen (’12 DMA, Wind Conducting) now associate professor of music and director of bands at University of the Pacific and Erin Bodnar (’13 DMA, Wind Conducting) associate professor of music and director of bands at the University of North Florida (currently at UW on a one-year visiting professor appointment), took first and second places, respectively, in the American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—College/University Division competitions for 2025.
UW Chorale (Giselle Wyers, director) and its singers and graduate assistant conductors, meanwhile, took first place in the American Prize category of large ensemble performance at the university/collegiate level. Professor Wyers name-checked the group’s collaborative pianist, Serena Chin, and assistant conductors from the past four years—Timothy Little, Justin Birchell, Mark Petty, Nic Renaud, Helen Woodruff, Julianna Grobowski, Marshell, Lombard, Leah Holder Wyman, and Scott Fikse—in her social media posts announcing the results. “Our application repertoire came from the Philippines, Indonesia, Latvia, India and the United States and Venezuela,” Wyers wrote in a post announcing the achievement. “Alumnus Justin Birchell conducted one of the selections (The Unexpected Early Hour), and all of the selections can be heard on our new CD Chasing Daybreak.”
Kirkland Choral Society recently welcomed doctoral student Tatiana Boggs (DMA Choral Conducting) as its new associate artistic director. She has been a member of the organization—an auditioned, adult choral group of about 100 singers—since 2023. Boggs also sings in Seattle-based community choir Wellspring Ensemble and serves as worship director at Life Community Church in Kirkland in addition to her work as a freelance accompanist, vocalist, musical theater director, and pit orchestra conductor in the greater Seattle area.
School of Music doctoral students Nicholas Renaud (DMA Choral Conducting) and Chiao-Yu Wu (DMA Piano Performance) took part in a multicultural Francophone concert in early December. Noël sans frontières (Christmas without Borders), the second annual winter concert of La Chorale Francophone de Seattle, featured Renaud as director, Wu as collaborative pianist, and current and former UW students Alex Rameau, Adam Freemantle, Chung-An Wang and Clara Johnson as soloists and section leaders. Performances were presented at Prospect Church on Capitol Hil and at Kirkland Seventh Day Adventist Church. “The UW School of Music has been a wonderful resource for finding singers, pianists and of course finding the perfect director for a Francophone choir in the U.S.” says Ellen Taft, founder and managing director of La Chorale Francophone de Seattle. “I only needed to send one email to Dr. Geoffrey Boers, the head of the choral directing program at UW, to find Nicholas Renaud, a bi-lingual Franco-Canadian, and an experienced French and music teacher. Being of Québecois descent myself, I was overjoyed to find a bilingual, experienced director and someone who knew Québecois music.”
School of Music doctoral students Nicholas Renaud (DMA Choral Conducting) and Chiao-Yu Wu (DMA Piano Performance) are director and collaborative pianist, respectively, of La Chorale Francophone de Seattle,