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March 5, 2025
Renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain died in December 2025 in San Francisco at age 73. He served two terms as Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist at the University of Washington: as a young man (aged 18) in the 1969-70 academic year; and in Fall 2017, when he performed with School of Music students and faculty and guest violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan to a full house at the UW's Meany Hall. He was much beloved by the community of musicians and scholars at the UW and the greater Seattle... Read more
March 5, 2025
Composer and University of Washington professor emerita Diane Thome died peacefully Sunday, January 12, at home in Seattle, attended by close friends and her sister Mona. Former chair of the composition program at the UW, Thome served on the School of Music faculty from 1977 to 2006.
Born January 25, 1942, Thome declared her intention to become a composer at the age of eight and began her studies in composing at age twelve with teacher Robert Strassburg. She cited his influence, along with... Read more
March 5, 2025
Matthew Zhong Qing Wu passed away on November 19, 2024, a few months after his 38th birthday. He was a brave warrior in his 15-month long battle with lung cancer. A beloved husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend, he graced this earth with his intelligence and gentleness, and made the world a better place.
Born in San Francisco, California, Matt grew up in Vancouver, Washington and attended Skyview High School. He played the violin in the Portland Youth Philharmonic, with whom he... Read more
March 5, 2025
When people who knew him say that Glenn D. White was a “Renaissance individual,” they are remembering a brilliant and affable man whose careers variously included work as a physicist, sound engineer, inventor, university educator, wine purveyor, and pipe organ repairman.
The former School of Music faculty member was in a class all his own, a physicist passionate about music who taught acoustics, laboratory instrumentation, recording technology, and research methods at the School of Music from... Read more
March 4, 2025
Recent honors awarded to violist Melia Watras, head of the UW Strings program, recognize her distinguished contributions to the instrument as performer, composer, teacher, and leader. The Maurice W. Riley Award, granted annually by the American Viola Society (AVS), honors outstanding exemplars of the viola world. Watras was presented the award at the 2024 AVS Festival, held at the Colburn School in Los Angeles this past summer.
AVS also commissioned a work from Watras for viola ensemble. Her... Read more
February 26, 2025
By Lauren KirschmanUW News
Ted Poor doesn’t separate his work as a professional musician and his teaching responsibilities at the University of Washington.
At the UW, he’s the associate director of the School of Music and an associate professor of jazz studies. The rest of his calendar is filled with tours, performances and recording sessions. While the packed schedule can occasionally be difficult to navigate, Poor said his two worlds aren’t really disconnected.
“My work here at the UW and... Read more
February 25, 2025
February 25, 2025
An ambitious Black History Month celebration project at the University of Washington School of Music convened faculty, students, and staff around pipe organs in six different Seattle locations in the creation of the Black Composers Project.
Created and led by Dr. Stephen Price, head of organ studies at the UW, the project culminated in a one-hour video featuring original music and adaptations of works by composers Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George; Scott Joplin; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor... Read more
February 14, 2025
In his 30 years at the School of Music, trumpeter Roy Cummings influenced the musical training of thousands of students, introducing them to the greats of the jazz art form and encouraging their professional and musical aspirations. He also was a cofounder of the School’s Jazz Studies Program, serving as its chair from 1979 to 1993.
Cummings’ career at UW began in 1970 when he became a trumpet instructor after earning music and music education degrees at UW, and continued with his longtime... Read more
February 6, 2025
In a recent interview with Bloomberg Law, School of Music adjunct faculty member Peter Nicolas weighs in on the impacts on songwriters of recent court rulings in favor of Spotify USA Inc. and its "bundling" pricing structure that drastically reduced royalty payment to artists on the streaming platform.
The ruling, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, opens the door for providers like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to mimic Spotify’s royalty-slashing... Read more