The School of Music community adapts to changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and a sudden and unplanned shift to online learning in Spring 2020. In this issue: New faculty appointments usher in leadership changes at the School of Music and UW Dance, an impending faculty arrival extends introductions, and faculty and student musicians respond to new realities in a variety of ways.
Professor JoAnn Taricani has been named the next director of the University of Washington School of Music. A longtime faculty member in the Music History program at the university, she succeeds Richard Karpen as director in a five-year appointment taking effect July 1, 2020.
UW College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Stacey and Divisional Dean of the Arts Catherine Cole announced the selection following an internal search process that sought input from the School of Music community.
"In... Read more
Soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw is soon to begin a new appointment at the University of Washington, adding a base in Seattle to her artistic communities in Chicago and St. Paul/Minneapolis. Her appointment as artist-in-residence in the Voice program begins in Autumn 2020, but she is already anticipating possibilities for creative collaborations and work with the students she will meet come fall. The Chicago Tribune has deemed Shaw a “cool, precise soprano,” but her creative acumen is... Read more
UW Music History doctoral student Sarah Kolat had been thinking about medical masks even before the COVID 19 pandemic, when her young daughter Anouk contracted an infection in February 2020 requiring a short hospital stay.
“Last month when Anouk was in the hospital, because the type of infection she had, every member of the staff was required to use full PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) when they came into the room. Gloves, masks, and gowns,” Kolat wrote on Facebook in mid-March. “These... Read more
Students in the University of Washington Percussion Studies program are especially challenged this quarter by lack of access to the instruments and on-campus spaces they normally use for rehearsal and performance. Very few have full-sized marimbas, gongs, timpani, or other such instruments at home.
Fortunately, the students and Percussion Studies Chair Bonnie Whiting are well-versed in improvising and incorporating unusual or found objects into their practice. A few weeks into Spring Quarter... Read more
Honors, accolades, research highlights, and other news from the School of Music faculty.
Michael Brockman, Saxophone
Longtime UW saxophone instructor Michael Brockman was inducted into the 2019 Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame at the recent Earshot Golden Ear Awards ceremony on April 4. The award recognizes Brockman’s contributions to the Seattle jazz community through his work a saxophonist, teacher, band leader, and co-founder and co-artistic director of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra,... Read more
Honors, conferences, and recent publications from School of Music students and alumni.
Music Education faculty and a healthy representation of undergraduate and graduate students gathered at the WMEA 2020 conference in Yakima on February 13-16. Former Huskies came in from their school-teaching positions across the state of Washington, from Seattle to Spokane, and from the Canadian border to the Columbia River. School of Music faculty participants at the conference included Patricia Campbell,... Read more
Obituary by Paul de Barros, March 10, 2020 issue of the SeattleTimes
World-renowned clarinetist and composer Bill Smith, whom jazz legend Dave Brubeck once called “one of the all-time greats,” died Saturday, Feb. 29, at his Seattle home, of complications from prostate cancer.... Read more
Obituary from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Sonja Liv Coyman Myklebust, daughter of Carolyn Coyman and Olaf Myklebust, beloved sister to Marit Silje Coyman-Myklebust, passed on January 23, 2020, in Sebastopol, California, after a courageous, year-long bout with brain cancer. Days earlier, on January 12, Sonja celebrated her 34th birthday with a flamingo-themed party, wearing a pink sequined skirt, a feather boa, and a flamboyant, bespoke headpiece adorned with brightly colored... Read more