2023-24Colorado MusichomeClass notes

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Colleen White (DMA ‘17), Paul Zaborac (DMA ‘17) and Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao (DMA ‘19)- Scheherazade Music Festival
Great ideas can come from anywhere—even a meal with your friends. Three CU Boulder College of Music alumni—Colleen White (DMA ’17), Paul Zaborac (DMA ’17) and Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao (DMA ’19)—developed a vision for the Scheherazade Music Festival (SMF) over brunch. Today, the SMF is an incubator for innovation and connection through chamber music, pushing the art form forward and bringing performers, composers and audiences together. The nonprofit festival, held in Manhattan, Kansas, debuted in 2023 and will return for its second season in June 2024.

Among the many remarkable achievements of College of Music alumni in recent months, we’re pleased to share these highlights:

Kedrick Armstrong Kedrick Armstrong (MM’23) was appointed.


Annie Booth Annie Booth (BM ’11, MM ’20) presented on a panel at the American Musicological Society conference about supporting gender inclusivity in jazz education and presented two initiatives she created—the SheBop Young Women in Jazz Workshop and Brava Jazz Publishing.


Michael Fiday The named Michael Fiday (BM ’83) a recipient of its 2024 Awards in Music.


Indigo Fischer Indigo Fischer (BM ’19) is artistic operations manager at the Music Academy of the West.


Alejandro Gómez Guillén (DMA ’17) is director of orchestras at Arizona State University’s School of Music, Dance and Theatre.


Jordan Holloway opened the Colorado Music Festival’s July 16, 2023 program which also included a world premiere by our Professor of Composition Carter Pann.


Aaron Jenkins Aaron Jenkins (BA ’16) won the Utah district round of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.


Victor Avila-Luvsangenden Victor Avila-Luvsangenden (DMA ’23)—an Australian violinist of Venezuelan and Mongolian heritage—is the Bozeman Symphony’snew principal second violin.


Winona Martin Winona Martin (BM ’18) won the Colorado-Wyoming district round of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.


John McKeever (DMA ’21) is director of orchestral activities at the University of Missouri School of Music.


Ian Mertes Ian Mertes (MM ’21) is second trumpet player with the Atlanta Symphony.


Josh Reed Josh Reed (DMA ’16) and visual artist Emily Ward Bivens (MA ’04) joined forces to create an immersive experience—“.” Reed is assistant professor of jazz trumpet at the University of Nevada School of Music and coordinates its jazz and improvisational music program.


Mara Riley Mara Riley (BM ’20) won the 2023 Colorado Bach Ensemble Young Artist Competition.


Rafael Antonio Rodríguez Rafael Antonio Rodríguez (DMA ’18) is at the University of Memphis, Tennessee.


Emma Shubin (BA ’13) is an ambassador clinician artist for the William S. Haynes Flute Company and serves as assistant principal/piccolist of the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra. A Suzuki, Dalcroze and integrative educator, she also co-founded Colorado-based nonprofit, creating programming that supports the balanced development of individuals, families and communities by connecting music, movement, art and science.


Jacob West Jacob West (MA ’22) is development and operations associate for the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies serving more than 1,000 students in 10 orchestras.


Wei Wu Grammy-winning alumnus Wei Wu (MM’13) wowed us with his triumphant, with the San Francisco Opera in “The (R)Evolution of Steve Jobs”—an opera by Mason Bates and Mark Campbell about the rise of Apple. Campbell (BA ’75)is a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning librettist/lyricist who’s well known to the College of Music’s New Opera Workshop (CU NOW).


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