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Recent News
March 10, 2025
Joël-François Durand has accepted a new appointment as director of the School of Music, a three-year term effective on July 1, 2025. He has served as acting director of the School since February 2022.
College of Arts and Sciences Dean Dianne Harris and Divisional Dean for the Arts Gabriel Solis announced the appointment March 7 in a joint letter emailed to School of Music faculty and staff.
“We are confident that Joël will continue to provide excellent leadership and ask that you join us in... Read more
March 6, 2025
School of Music students and alumni report recent recordings, appointments, prestigious engagements, new career directions, and a pageant win.
Emily Acri (’20 DMA, Strings) began a new position in January 2025 as the education and community engagement coordinator at Seattle Chamber Music Society (SCMS). This role helps to facilitate an array of programs that SCMS offers, including the SCMS Youth Academy and the new Adult Academy, the SCMS Lecture Series, Azure Family Concerts... Read more
March 6, 2025
School of Music faculty report recent honors and appointments, publications, world premieres, and other notable achievements.
Robin McCabe, piano
Robin McCabe served as a judge for the Russian Chamber Music Foundation Concerto Competition in November 2024. In February, she led a guest master class at Seattle Pacific University.
David Alexander Rahbee, Orchestral Activities
David A. Rahbee appeared as guest conductor with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, January 26, in a program... Read more
March 6, 2025
The word “retirement” may conjure images of naps, gardening, reading, travel, and other leisurely pursuits, but the scholarly and artistic work of many retired School of Music faculty continues unabated after their exit from professorial duties at the University of Washington. Below are just a few recent updates from former longtime professors who have retired in recent years. Many thanks to Professor Emerita Patricia Campbell, Music Education, for instigating this report!
George Bozarth,... Read more
March 6, 2025
School of Music students are "popping up" in the community via an ongoing series of performances in community venues that have been received with enthusiasm and appreciation by audiences across the city.
In a pop-up concert on February 28, UW music students provided comfort and enrichment to patients and loved ones at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Students from the saxophone studio of Michael Brockman performed in the hospital cafeteria for patients, families, and staff, and over live Zoom for... Read more
March 5, 2025
Renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain died in December 2024 in San Francisco at age 73. He served two terms as Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist at the University of Washington: as a young man in the 1969-70 academic year; and in Fall 2017, when his residency culminated in a performance 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... 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