School of Music faculty report recent performances, travels, honors, appointments, transitions, presentations, and more.
Geoffrey Boers, Choral Conducting
Geoffrey Boers conducted the Symphony Tacoma, Symphony Tacoma Voices, and choirs from the Tacoma Youth Chorus organization in a holiday concert, Children are the Light of this Season last December. He is currently collaborating with Dr. Giselle Wyers, Leann Conley-Holcom (2018 DMA) chead of the choral program, as well as Larke Witten (2024 MM) as assistant conductor, in a production of the oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard, composed by Craig Hella Johnson. Modeled after Bach’s passions, this passion story utilizes many musical genres, from Bach to Pärt to Blues and Bluegrass, to tell the timeless story of tragedy, healing, and hope. The choirs perform the work at Meany Theater on March 3, as well as in a featured concert to close the Northwest American Choral Directors Conference at the Pantages Theater in Tacoma on March 6.
Michael Brockman, Saxophone
Faculty artists-in-residence Michael Brockman (saxophone) and Christina Valdés (piano) perform Manuel Rosenthal's 1929 Marmalade Sonata for saxophone and piano at the "Music of Remembrance" concert on Sun. March 15, 2026 at Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall. Brockman also appears as solo saxophonist with the Seattle Chamber Orchestra (Lorenzo Marasso conductor) for the U.S. premiere of Nimrod Borenstein's Concerto for Alto Saxophone with String Orchestra Op,70a on Fri. May 1, at Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103).
Joël-François Durand, Composition
Joël-François Durand was invited in December to give lectures on his music and masterclasses at the China Conservatory of Music (Beijing), the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), and the Tianjin Conservatory of Music. The Mivos Quartet gave two concerts of his music, in which they performed his String Quartets no.2 and 3 and "In a weightless quiet" for solo violin.
Yiğit Kolat, Composition
Composition lecturer Yiğit Kolat presented a paper/performance, “EVAL for Commodore 64,” at the Sixth Conference on AI Music Creativity at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. Building on research first presented at the previous year’s conference at the University of Oxford, the project investigates the technical and aesthetic challenges of implementing a contemporary AI model within the constraints of vintage 8-bit architecture.
Kolat also collaborated with the university’s choir, Café Latte, on a project that explored the aesthetics of AI “failure” that emerges through the interaction between machine learning models and traditional choral repertoire.
Robin McCabe, Piano
Professor Robin McCabe and her sister, pianist (and School of Music alumna) Rachelle McCabe, travel to China In March 2026 for duo concerts and master classes in Beijing, Tianjin, and Qingdao.
Michael Partington, Guitar
Artist-in-Residence Michael Partington is a featured artist at this year's Northwest Guitar Festival, March 20-22 at the University of Victoria BC, performing an evening concert as well as leading a technique workshop and serving on the competition jury. Partington also joins faculty from the University of Idaho, Boise State University and Gonzaga University for a series of concerts celebrating the 75th birthday of Portland, OR composer Bryan Johanson. Partington has performed and recorded Johanson's music extensively, and his most recent recording "Concoctions From The Kitchen," features exclusively premiere recordings of Johanson's solo guitar music from the last ten years.
Jessica Bissett Perea, Music History; John-Carlos Perea, Ethnomusicology
In Fall 2025 Jessica Bissett Perea (American Indian Studies/Music History) and John-Carlos Perea (Ethnomusicology/American Indian Studies) co-organized an 8-week "Healing Heart Speaker Series" with Jill LaPointe and Chenoa Henry, Director of wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ [the Intellectual House]. This series dedicated time and space to build community and to prepare the way for Upper Skagit Elder Vi taqᵂšəblu Hilbert’s The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land, an orchestral work that, in taqᵂšəblu’s words, is meant to “bring healing to a sick world.” As one of the only Elder-commissioned Indigenous orchestral works, the Healing Heart symphony draws inspiration from sacred Coast Salish songs taqᵂšəblu entrusted to Canadian composer Bruce Ruddell, and also features a number of Coast Salish percussion instruments. The work premiered in May 2006 by the Seattle Symphony, and on February 6, 2026 the UW Symphony Orchestra led by David Rahbee offered the fifth-ever performance of this work in its twentieth anniversary year, featuring School of Music and AIS alumna Adia tsi sʔuyuʔaɫ Bowen as the vocal soloist. (Read more about the project here).
The February 2026 performance of The Healing Heart by the UWSO was preceded by a dinner catered by Indigenous Chef Jason Vickers at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ and emceed by Jill and her husband John LaPointe,
and featured blessing songs offered by Nuu-chah-nulth Elder Johnny whis.stem.men.knee Moses, gifting of handmade cedar hearts for the orchestra musicians, all of which was hosted by the Pereas and the Office of the Dean of Arts.
When audience members entered the lobby at Meany Hall, they were greeted by tables and people representing the UW Ethnomusicology Archive (stewards of the Vi Hilbert archive), Lushootseed Research, and Elliot Bay Books. Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe (Upper Skagit/Nooksack) offered a reading from her most recent book Thunder Song (2024), that described the contemporary significance of her great-grandmother’s symphony.
The concert at Meany Hall started with a film screening of Jill and John LaPointe’s film The Healing Heart of Lushootseed (2023), followed by an intermission, and then a blessing of the hall with songs sung by whis.stem.men.knee and friends, which then culminated with the UWSO performance of The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land.
Carrie Shaw, Voice
Carrie Shaw premieres new work this winter and spring by composers Lei Liang (Frequency Festival); Tomás Gueglio (Dal Niente season closer); and Baldwin Giang (Lousville Orchestra commission). This summer, she performs for the first time at the Bowdoin Festival in Maine, singing Salvatore Sciarrino's Vanitas.
Donna Shin, Flute
Associate Professor Donna Shin was faculty artist for her ninth season at Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee, where she was featured in solo and chamber music concerts throughout their concert program. She also presented daily masterclasses and lessons for her 12th year as faculty at ARIA International Summer Academy in Massachusetts, where she presented daily masterclasses and lessons to students from around the world. She returns to both summer programs for the 2026 season. In January, Shin completed a recording project of Jack Perla’s An American Dream opera, to be released in 2027. She also presented a masterclass at Arizona State University. In upcoming engagements, she performs UW composition colleague Huck Hodge’s La Llorona with the Seattle Modern Orchestra on April 8 at Meany Hall.
Melia Watras, Strings
Professor Melia Watras’s album "The almond tree duos" continues to garner praise from the media. Toronto-based music magazine The WholeNote described her album as “a fascinating soundscape” in a review in the publication's November/December 2025 issue. In January 2026, Watras’s new composition “I fiori” was given its world premiere in Paris at the International Viola Congress by violist Anthony Devroye, who commissioned the solo viola work.
Giselle Wyers, Choral Conducting
Giselle Wyers had the honor of serving as head jury member in the Busan International Choral Competition in South Korea last November, as well as conducting the finale festival choir. She enjoyed the opportunity to present on Laban movement and American choral repertoire at the Changwon International Choral Festival enroute to Busan. Back in the classroom, she facilitated a group composition experience for the members of University of Washington Chorale, where students created original choral works after brief sessions outlining the fundamentals of melody, harmony, texture and text setting, three of which were premiered in the UW Chorale Fall concert.