Recent News
When violinist Ron Patterson joined the School of Music faculty in 1999, he was wrapping up 20 years as concertmaster of the l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, reporting directly to Prince Rainier of Monaco. His 35-year professional career had included concertmaster positions with orchestras and chamber orchestras in Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, and St. Louis, and his formal violin studies were with the great Russian violinist Jascha Heifetz. He had performed throughout the… Read more
School of Music Professor Emeritus George Bozarth died on October 31, 2025 in La Conner, Washington. A noted musicologist whose areas of research focused on the life and music of Johannes Brahms as well as studies in early music, he was an instigator and founder of several notable chamber music series as well as a collector and curator of historical keyboards.An eminent Brahms scholar and a lifelong supporter of the American Brahms Society (ABS), Professor Bozarth was a founder of the ABS in… Read more
School of Music faculty report recent performances, honors, appointments, presentations, and more. Michael Brockman, saxophoneFaculty artist-in-residence Michael Brockman was featured on the cover of the November 2025 issue of Earshot Jazz magazine as he prepares to “pass the torch” to new leadership of the Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra, which he co-founded with drummer and educator Clarence Acox and has led for the past 30 years. Three finalists for the next… Read more
School of Music students and alumni report recent appointments, performances, honors, and achievements.Taro Kobayashi (’14 BM, Classical Guitar Performance; BS, Physics), former student of Michael Partington, completed a doctorate in music at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in January of 2025. He officially graduated with a DPhil (PhD) in Music on July 19, 2025. He dedicated his doctoral dissertation to the late UW Music History Professor JoAnn Taricani… Read more
School of Music friend Roger Soder has recently created enhanced opportunities for UW strings students with his generous contributions to the memorial scholarship honoring his parents that he and his late wife, Jane, first established in 2008. Since its creation, the Pauline and Paul Soder Memorial Scholarship has helped financially needy and musically promising students at the School of Music continue their UW educations. Directed to supporting undergraduate or graduate students studying… Read more
A small and dedicated group of School of Music students are carrying on the work and mission of the School of Music Student Advisory Council (SOMSAC), formed in 2020 by UW music students to provide a voice for students and their concerns.Meeting each Friday in the School of Music Fishbowl, the group engages in ongoing projects related to improving the School of Music environment and spaces for students as well as community outreach endeavors intended to serve the greater Seattle community.In… Read more
School of Music alumnus Liam Near died in late July, 2025 in a drowning near Bremerton, Washington. A gifted educator and multi-instrumentalist admired for his skill in working with young children, Near graduated from the UW School of Music in 2020 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. In addition to his involvement with many groups and ensembles at the School of Music, he was a member of the Husky Marching Band sousaphone section from 2016-2020. After graduation from the UW,… Read more
School of Music alumna Cindy Beitmen (MM, Vocal Performance), a significant and much-beloved figure in the Bay Area early music community, died on April 15, 2024 of metastatic colon cancer. Beitmen earned a Master of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Washington in the early 1990s, performing and studying under the tutelage of Margriet Tindemans, singing with Margriet’s Collegium and the Medieval Women’s Choir. While in Seattle, she also performed as soloist with the Seattle… Read more
