SPRING WRAP-UP
In the final weeks of the 2021-22 academic year, students and faculty at the School of Music are wrapping up classroom and performance activities, sharing news of recent achievements, and looking forward to challenging new opportunities in the months ahead.
Composition Professor Joël-François Durand will serve as Acting Director of the School of Music through June 2024.
Durand was appointed interim director in early February in the wake of the death of former School of Music director JoAnn Taricani. A member of the School of Music Composition faculty since 1991, Durand had served as associate director of the School since 2002, supervising the advising office and helping students resolve issues regarding grading or other academic issues.
The... Read more
Erin Conor, head of the University of Washington Music, Art, and Drama Libraries, has announced her resignation from the UW effective June 1, 2022. Conor has accepted a position at Harvard University as the Richard F. French Librarian of the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library.
Conor earned an MA in Music History (2006) and and MLIS in Library and Information Science (2008) at the UW, working as a student employee in the Music Library under the supervision of former head Judy Tsou. She went on to... Read more
School of Music students and alumni report recent awards, appointments, publications, promotions, competition wins, and more.
School of Music alumnus Scott Brown retires in June after a distinguished career at Seattle's Roosevelt High School. Brown joined the Roosevelt music program in 1984 after graduating from the UW with a degree in Music Education. Directing the Roosevelt High Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, Jazz Band, and Percussion class, he has spent ... Read more
Honors, awards, accolades, commissions, new appointments and more from the UW School of Music faculty.
Geoffrey Boers, Choral Conducting
Professor Boers conducted the National Association of Music Educators National Honor Choir this past winter. The choir of 240 singers from all fifty states met over a weekend via Zoom and created two virtual choir videos, along with rehearsals, master classes and vocal study.
Boers was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame this... Read more
A closing lecture on June 8 at the Music Building marks a chapter ending of a remarkably productive career for Professor Patricia Shehan Campbell, who has announced her retirement from the University of Washington after 33 years as a faculty member in the School of Music.
Campbell holds appointments in Music Education and Ethnomusicology, and has served as chair of both programs at various times in the past decades since her arrival at the UW in 1989. Under her oversight the School of Music... Read more
School of Music alumnus Emerson Elias Wahl ('18 MM, Percussion Performance) died on April 25, 2022 after a long battle with colon cancer.
By Bonnie Whiting, UW Percussion Studies
School of Music alumnus Emerson Elias Wahl ('18 MM, Percussion Performance) died on April 25, 2022 after a long battle with colon cancer. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he thrived in many creative settings.
From his cathartic, embodied drumming in a professional progressive metal band in his native Los Angeles,... Read more
The former Ethnomusicology Visiting artist (2005-2007) died in Miami on January 28, 2022.
By Shannon Dudley, UW Ethnomusicology
Joe Santiago 1950-2022
Joe Santiago, el bajista con Timba, passed away in Miami on January 28th. The cause of death was cancer. Jose Santiago was born in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, and raised in the South Bronx, NY, where he learned music in public schools. He went on to become one of the most sought-after bass players in salsa and Latin jazz, playing and recording... Read more