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Recent News
June 5, 2025
"The almond tree duos," by Melia Watras is a featured pick in Bandcamp Daily's Best Contemporary Classical Music, May 2025.
By Peter MargasakThe taxonomy of contemporary classical music—new music, contemporary music, whatever you want to call it—is a thorny issue. But every month, we’ll take a look at some of the best composer-driven music to surface here on Bandcamp—that which makes room for electronic experimentation, improvisation, and powerful takes on old classics.... Read more
May 28, 2025
Jazz piano at the University of Washington has been the domain of professor Marc Seales for the past 37 years, but after June 30 of this year, he will no longer be a familiar sight around the Music Building, and visitors will no longer be invited to take a seat among the piles of papers and books, photos, mementos, and the two grand pianos that occupy his small office on the ground floor of the Music Building.
Reflecting upon his years at the UW on a recent morning and why he’s retiring this... Read more
May 22, 2025
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... Read more
May 22, 2025
Cellist John Popham and violinist Pala Garcia begin new faculty appointments in Fall 2025 at the School of Music. Popham will serve as assistant professor of cello and Garcia (his spouse) as artist-in-residence in violin performance.
“We are very pleased to have successfully completed our search for a new assistant professor of cello and to welcome John Popham to the School of Music faculty,” says Director Joël-François Durand. “We are extremely fortunate that a spousal agreement with the UW... Read more
May 22, 2025
New publications, recordings, world premieres, clinician gigs, media coverage, and keynote presentations are among recent news reported by School of Music faculty.
William Dougherty, Composition
The newly appointed assistant professor (Composition) and his work with his Philadelphia-based organization and ensemble, Hearing Philadelphia, was featured recently in a... Read more
May 20, 2025
May 16, 2025
A bequest from composer and longtime former UW professor Diane Thome will provide enduring support for doctoral students at the University of Washington.
The professor emerita’s creation of two endowments—the Diane Thome Composition Fellowship in Music and the Diane Thome Composition Fellowship in DXARTS—will provide support for outstanding doctoral composition students at the UW for years to come.
“Diane Thome was a longtime beloved colleague, and we are delighted that her bequest to support... Read more
May 16, 2025
Winners of divisional concerto competitions held at the School of Music this academic year perform with the UW Symphony on June 6 at Meany Hall. Kaisho Barnhill, marimba; Flora Cummings, viola; and Sandy Huang, piano join the orchestra in a program featuring their winning concerto excerpts.
Cummings, an undergraduate viola student of Melia Watras double majoring in Viola Performance and Wildlife Conservation, performs the first movement of York Bowen's Viola Concerto in C minor, Op. 25.... Read more
May 15, 2025
As Professor Timothy Salzman wraps up a 38-year career as director of bands at the University of Washington, he is reflecting on his years as head of the graduate wind conducting program at the University and looking ahead to what comes after retirement—family time, and plenty of it. Recalling a career of many milestone achievements, Professor Salzman notes that his former graduate students have gone on to land positions at 73 universities and colleges throughout the United States. Now, in... Read more