Spring 2017 Quarter Notes

With just a few weeks remaining in 2016-17 at the School of Music, we reflect on some recent accomplishments, honors, and transitions, investigate ongoing research and performance activities, and bid farewell to a beloved friend. This issue of Quarter Notes contains all of the above, plus details of a culminating performance on our concert season that will bring together the combined forces of the UW's voice, choral, and instrumental students, joined by community singers, actors and a special guest conductor in an epic performance of Verdi's Requiem.

Archival Transitions Under Way

Ethnomusicology Archives and Music Library Transitions photo: Steve Korn

When longtime UW Ethnomusicology Archivist Laurel Sercombe retired from the UW last June after more than 30 years as archivist, many wondered how the archives would change in her absence or if her high standards could possibly be met by any successor. Now, nearly a year later, several truths are evident: One might leave but not really leave; it’s hard to say goodbye; and: If one is diligent, one might be able to help guide the direction of change toward the best possible outcome. To that end, a… Read more

UW Music in the Common Tent: Life lessons from Tent City 3

Faculty cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir performs at Tent City 3.

Graduate choral conducting student Jennifer Rodgers discovers what is possible when a university that provides space for a homeless encampment also has a world-class music department. Throughout Winter Quarter 2017 a most interesting mix of sounds could be heard coming from the W-35 parking lot of the University of Washington and the crowded, colorful, fenced-in community of Tent City 3. On Mondays, the normal cacophony of the camp (in residence at the UW’s southern edge from late November… Read more

Flute Association honors for Goday

University of Washington DMA flute student Gemma Goday won two competitions recently sponsored by the National Flute Association, winning performance spots at the organization’s annual convention in August 2017 in Minneapolis. Her travels to Minneapolis for the convention will be supported through a scholarship award from UW Music granted in recognition of her accomplishments. Goday won both The Convention Performers Competition and the Baroque Flute Masterclass Competition in the association’s… Read more

Marc Seales a 2017 WWU Distinguished Alumnus

Jazz Studies Professor Marc Seales is the Western Washington University 2017 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for the College of Fine & Performing Arts. The longtime UW Music faculty member, a graduate of WWU’s music program, will be recognized, along with distinguished graduates of all of WWU’s colleges, in a ceremony at Western’s Bellingham campus on May 18. The awards, established in 1980, are the most prestigious honors bestowed by the Western Alumni Association on alumni and members… Read more

Passages: Mina Brechemin Person

A public memorial service on Sunday, March 26, 2017 at the School of Music’s Brechemin Auditorium honored the life of Mina Bloedel (Brechemin) Person, who died Feb. 10 following a recent struggle with lung cancer. Born in Manhattan on May 18, 1946, to Louis Brechemin and Charlotte Van Alstyne (Bloedel) Brechemin, Mina was a Seattle resident since the early 1950s, attending the Bush School and Smith College before ultimately graduating from the University of Washington, where she studied… Read more

Two Seattle-area Performances of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín

A unique and profound recreation of Verdi’s Requiem as performed by prisoners of the Terezin concentration camp in Nazi Germany brings together current and past students of UW Music, community musicians, theater professionals and guest conductor and creator Murry Sidlin in two upcoming performances of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín. Performed internationally to great acclaim and the subject of a 2012 documentary broadcast widely on public television, Defiant Requiem: Verdi at… Read more

Thank You

Your gifts to our scholarship funds provide our students educational and performance opportunities that would otherwise not be possible, and we are grateful for your generosity. To make a gift in support of UW music students, please view a list of priority funds here. Thank you!