Summer 2024 Quarter Notes

This issue of Quarter Notes our final edition of the 2023-24 academic year is dedicated to our students. Their hard work, practice, and accomplishments may sometimes go unrecognized in the constant flurry of activity in our busy school, but our community is stronger, more vibrant, and more inspiring thanks to the incredible care and tenacity our students demonstrate in their time with us. Our Class of 2024 graduates are already looking ahead to the next chapters of their academic, artistic, and professional careers, and we bid them farewell and wish them the greatest success in all of their endeavors. This issue contains news from just a few of our extraordinary students, but each and every one of them make important contributions to our community, and for that we are proud and grateful. 
—Joël-François Durand, Acting Director, School of Music

The University of Washington School of Music celebrated its Class of 2024 on Friday, June 7 with the school’s annual Grand Finale, featuring student and faculty remarks, a performance by harpist Kelly Hou (BM Orchestral Instruments, BS Informatics), and a graduate processional across the stage of the School of Music’s Brechemin Auditorium. The Class of 2024 includes 55 graduates, with 26 earning graduate degrees and 29 earning bachelor’s degrees. Of the undergraduates, seven students… Read more
School of Music graduate Olivia Wang has been named a 2023-24 recipient of the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Medal, a distinction awarded to the top graduating senior of each division of the College.  “This is one of the most distinguished honors we bestow, and I’m very pleased to commend you on your amazing record of academic achievement,” wrote Arts and Sciences Dean Dianne Harris in her commendation letter to Wang.  Along with making exceptional… Read more
School of Music students and alumni report recent academic and artistic appointments, awards and distinctions and new career directions in the beginning weeks of Summer 2024. School of Music doctoral student Daren Weissfisch (DMA, Orchestral Conducting) was recently announced as the new music director of Seattle’s Lake Union Civic Orchestra. The selection followed a year-long search and a season of auditions. “The orchestra and the audience loved his infectious energy, charisma… Read more
School of Music faculty report recent performances, tour dates, recordings, residencies and other notable achievements.  Shannon Dudley, Ethnomusicology Chair of the UW’s Ethnomusicology program recently co-led, with School of Music affiliate faculty Marisol Berríos-Miranda, a quarter-long study abroad program in León, Spain. The program included a week of study with master musician and educator Paco Diez, guest lectures by several Spanish ethnomusicologists, Spanish… Read more
School of Music friends and alumni returned to campus on May 31, 2024 for the second annual UW Music Homecoming. Co-hosted by the School of Music and the UW Alumni Association, the event followed a performance by the UW Symphony Orchestra and Combined UW Choirs at Meany Hall, the final School of Music performance at Meany for the 2023-24 concert season.  Held at the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, the reception included live jazz by a UW student trio… Read more
School of Music student Markus Teuton, graduating in June 2024 with a BM in Jazz Studies and a BA in Comparative History of Ideas, is featured in this article by Nancy Joseph of Arts and Sciences Perspectives. Markus Teuton (Cherokee Nation) spent years listening to bands perform at Seattle’s annual Folklife Festival. This May, he took the stage with his own band, Joint Souls. Made up of UW jazz musicians, Joint Souls… Read more
UW Ethnomusicology Professor Gabriel Solis discusses implications of Spotify’s recent price increases in this episode of LAist's Airtalk podcast.Featured on LAist 
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