Colorado Music
By the numbers
within six months of graduation
were admitted to their first-choice school
*Of those surveyed.
in addition to music
related to their major in their careers
Igniting innovation, artistry + belonging
CU Boulder to offer music production concentration beginning in 2025 (Daily Camera)
More: (Inside Higher Ed)
Dean John Davis describes how today’s music students want more than a traditional music education. To help meet that demand, the College of Music has developed a set of microcredentials in recent years.
(CPR/KRCC)
Performed by El Pueblo Ensemble and our CU Boulder Chamber Orchestra last fall, “Song of Pueblo” tells the history of its namesake city and the surrounding region in music and images. Learn more about our American Music Research Center’s Soundscapes of the People: A Musical Ethnography of Pueblo, Colorado project.
New takes on a traditional tune: Jazz program arranges, records three styles of ‘Pomp & Circumstance’
Just in time for the 2024 commencement ceremony, the College of Music’s Thompson Jazz Studies Program provided this year’s graduates with new takes on the timeless rendition of Sir Edward Elgar’s “Pomp & Circumstance” theme. The traditional graduation march was reimagined by Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Paul McKee in three distinct, captivating styles: Latin jazz, New Orleans funk and big band swing!
Engaged, inspired students
Louis Saxton named Spring 2024 Outstanding Graduating Senior
At the College of Music’s commencement ceremony on May 9, we celebrated the remarkable accomplishments and indelible impact of undergraduate cellist Louis Saxton.
It was hardly a typical four years for Saxton: His freshman year was 2020, coinciding with pandemic lockdowns. And in 2021, Saxton was onsite when shots broke out at the Table Mesa King Soopers; he fled from the tragic violence, only to return the next day to play Bach’s Cello Suite 1 in G Major to offer a degree of healing. Through it all, Saxton relied on the spirit of solidarity, strength and kindness that he experienced at our College of Music—to great success.
A two-time graduate competition winner
Last fall, violinist Rinat Erlichman won first prize in the 2023-24 Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Graduate Student Performance Competition.
A few months later, in early spring, Erlichman performed Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47—accompanied by Postdoctoral Lecturer Barbara Noyes—to become the graduate winner of the College of Music’s annual Concerto Competition (Louis Saxton was the undergraduate competition winner). To enjoy the winners’ performances with the CU Boulder Symphony Orchestra in the fall, visit .
Grad student brings first statewide Jamaican Choral Music Symposium to Boulder
Mention Jamaican music to most Americans and the pop sounds of reggae usually come to mind. But there’s much more—the wonderfully rich harmonies of choral music, hundreds of rarely heard sacred songs and folk songs that deserve more exposure.
This spring, O’Neil Jones—a DMA student in choral conducting and literature—brought those sounds to Boulder, elevating the history, language and musical elements of Jamaican choral music.
Trailblazing alumni
Joshua Russell named 2024 Distinguished Alumnus
At the College of Music’s 2024 recognition ceremony in May, we welcomed esteemed music educator Joshua Russell (PhD ’07) back to campus to present him the College of Music’s 2024 Distinguished Alumnus Award! With degrees from Indiana, Shepherd and Northwestern universities—before earning a doctorate at our College of Music—Russell exemplifies what it means to be a universal musician: Beyond his earned expertise in classical, jazz and contemporary musical styles, his research interests include musician health, teacher education, string education and psycho-social/cognitive development in musical learning and teaching.
Reflecting on his College of Music experience, Russell recalls the significant impact of his mentors and peers in shaping his career trajectory.
(Central City Opera)
We’re thrilled that lyric soprano and double alumna Cynthia Lawrence (MM ’87, BM ’83)—who studied with the late Professor Emerita Barbara Doscher—will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame on June 29, along with the Central City Opera’s late conductor/artistic director John Moriarty and Keith Miller, a former CU Boulder football player turned opera singer who sang in the College of Music’s opera chorus.
Also of note, soprano Christie Conover (MM ’10)—who serves as opera production assistant for the College of Music’s Eklund Opera Program—will appear in the CCO’s production of “Street Scene” this summer in the role of Rose. Scott Finlay, who also attended our College of Music, currently serves as CCO president + CEO.
Alumnus Dylan Fixmer—composer with a cause
Dylan Fixmer’s (BME ’10) variegated and prolific career aims to inspire empathy and advance community engagement. “I want music to have a purpose,” he says. Indeed, Fixmer’s recently premiered Violin Concerto—which aims to increase support for the unhoused—generated critical raves, a radio broadcast and more.
Fixmer not only found life as a composer, but he found a way of writing music with a purpose. “I’m not sure I’d ever want to write a piece of absolute music,” he admits, referring to a composition that is simply a collection of melodies with no storyline or subtext. Instead, Fixmer creates for a reason.
Accomplished, dedicated faculty
Upholding the impact and legacy of composer George Crumb
Associate Professor of Music Theory Emeritus Steven Bruns and the late, renowned composer George Crumb—who passed away two years ago today—shared a close, long-lasting professional relationship and a deep friendship that began in 1992. Bruns—who retired this spring—reflects on his 40-year career (37 years at CU Boulder including serving as associate dean, 2006-19) and on his role as Crumb’s archivist and biographer.
Bruns and Crumb each served as faculty members at the College of Music—Crumb, from 1959 to 1964; and Bruns since 1987.
Remembering Fauré—a century later
This spring marked a milestone for Professor of Musicology Carlo Caballero who—along with his academic partner Stephen Rumph, professor of music history at the University of Washington—co-hosted the Fauré Centennial Festival in Boulder.
Festival events comprising this major, global gathering of CU Boulder faculty and student musicians—alongside panelists from France, Canada, Israel, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States—included an impressive number of presentations, concerts and premieres.
Building relationships through music making
The Grammy Award-winning Takács Quartet is not only internationally recognized for its impressive artistic achievements, but also its members’ many community engagement activities—including a new partnership with El Sistema Colorado (ESC) for the 2023-’24 academic year. The partnership comprises “mirror/mentoring” activities, side-by-side rehearsals, roundtable discussions and interactive teaching/coaching sessions. ESC students and their chaperones were also guests of the Takács Quartet on our campus. Shares Harumi Rhodes, the quartet’s second violinist: “We are grateful to work alongside the wonderful ESC teaching artists already in place—many of whom are College of Music students or alumni—to create a user-friendly curriculum that emphasizes building relationships through music making.”
More: (NPR)
On NPR’s Morning Edition, the Takács Quartet—ensemble-in-residence at our College of Music—discusses Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s “Flow.” The quartet commissioned the composition and gave it its world premiere in November 2023 and then toured it across the country—including .
(New York Times)
Enterprising, devoted staff
“A Boulder treasure”—Celebrating the inspiring, illustrious career of longtime CU Presents Executive Director Joan McLean Braun
Joan McLean Braun built into what it is today: The home of all performing arts at the University of Colorado Boulder, with 500 events a year spanning from opera and concerts to Shakespeare and theater. Braun, born and raised in Boulder and an alumna of the university, was appointed the executive director of CU Presents in 2001 and retires this month (June 2024) after an influential 30-year career at CU Boulder.
More: Director who built CU Presents to retire after 30 years (Daily Camera)
Senior House Manager Rojana Savoye named 2023 Chancellor’s Employee of the Year
We’re so proud that longtime Senior House Manager Rojana Savoye was selected as one of just four recipients of the Chancellor’s 2023 Employee of the Year award! Savoye is deeply deserving of this campus-level recognition. For more than two decades, she has maintained positive public relations with CU Boulder patrons, presenters and co-workers; managed and enforced operational policies and procedures within the College of Music; and hired, supervised and mentored student ushers.
Fortepiano refurb a labor of love
It was a long time coming. Piano Technician Mark Mikkelsen—who, for more than eight years, has supported the care and maintenance of the College of Music’s fleet of 160 pianos, two harpsichords and an organ—was thrilled when the opportunity arose to rebuild, refurbish and restore one of two fortepianos donated to our college by the late Douglas Taylor and his wife, Avlona, as an in-kind gift in 2019.
A community of supporters
All that we do is elevated by the support of our community. Included in the broad impact of the College of Music’s generous donors, we’re pleased to share these recent highlights:
Materials from renowned blues banjo player Otis Taylor now a part of CU’s American Music Research Center’s archival collections
—an internationally renowned and Boulder-based blues banjo player—has been at the forefront of Black banjo music and materials from his decades-long career are now part of the University of Colorado Boulder’s American Music Research Center (AMRC) archival collections housed in the University Libraries’ Rare and Distinctive (RaD) Collections.
More: (Denver Post)
Donor support puts Glenn Miller collections in the spotlight
More: CU Boulder to begin exploring 1,400 boxes of the Glenn Miller archive (Daily Camera)
Coda
In memoriam
College of Music mourns passing of alumnus Ben Pollack
Recognized for his dedication to music students and music education, Ben Pollack (BME ’14) was named the first-ever recipient of the Colorado Music Educators Association’s Young Teacher of the Year (2019). “Teaching music is the most important thing I do,” he said in an interview celebrating his CMEA award. “It has to matter every day.”
Celebrating the legacy and impact of Anna Sie, lifelong supporter of the arts and humanity
Known for her heartfelt philanthropy on both local and national levels, Anna Sie left a powerful legacy of impact at CU Boulder, including establishing a transformational student scholarship in the College of Music with her husband, John, and endowing several faculty chairs.
Guest artists + residencies
The College of Music welcomed many accomplished, inspiring guest artists this academic year, including in part:
—pٳܰ&Բ;
Bose/Pastor Duo
Brazilian pianist Diego Caetano
Broadway conductor, arranger + music supervisor Eric Stern
Broadway stage actor, singer, acting teacher + professor Bob Westenberg
Colorado Symphony members Carolyn Kunicki + Nicholas Tisherman
Choral composer Joan Szymko
Composer Les Miller
Composer Stacy Garrop
Composer + electronic music performer Angélica Negrón
Composer, multi-instrumentalist, educator + Gregory Walker
Director, producer, videographer + narrator Katrina Miller
Dream Create Inspire Tour
Drummer, composer + bandleader John Hollenbeck + his band GEORGE
Drumming legend + clinician Chad Wackerman—pٳܰ&Բ;
Dutch pianist Henry Kelder
El Sistema Colorado’s Executive Director + alumna Ingrid Larragoity-Martin
Ethnomusicologist Aaron Salā
Guitar alumnus Andrew Wilder
Italian classical guitarists Nello Alessi + Diego Campagna
Klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals + silent film pianist Donald Sosin
Music Inclusion Coalition
Music historian Stephen Rumph, University of Washington
~Nois saxophone quartet
Pianist Joyce Yang
Pianist Margo Garrett
Pianist Nnenna Ogwo
Pianists Gulimina Mahamuti + George Lopez
Sanitas Quartet
Saxophonist Rami El-Farrah
Sphinx Performance Academy
Stage Director Sara Widzer
The Cleveland Orchestra
Trombonist Bradley Palmer
University Singers (University of the West Indies, Jamaica)—pٳܰ&Բ;
Uvalde High School Mariachi Band—“Los Coyotes”
Venture capitalist Matt McCall
Violinist William Terwilliger
Encore!
Last fall, a special Faculty Tuesdays event—the first of its kind at our College of Music—featured works by Asian composers performed by musicians of Asian descent. “Alexandra Nguyen and friends”—including Yoshiyuki Ishikawa, Suyeon Kim, Hsiao-Ling Lin, Victor Avila Luvsangenden, Mutsumi Moteki, David Requiro, Harumi Rhodes and Meta Weiss—presented solo, duo and trio works by composers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Taiwanese and Vietnamese origin.
Professor of Conducting Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Allan McMurray was inducted into the Colorado Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. McMurray was nominated for the well-deserved honor by College of Music Dean Emeritus Daniel Sher.
This spring, we had the honor of hosting the award-winning Uvalde High School Varsity Ensemble, Mariachi Los Coyotes, at our College of Music. The group’s special partnership with the Boulder Concert Chorale showcased a performance that beautifully intertwined choral masterpieces of Bach and Beethoven with the rich cultural heritage of mariachi music.
More:
(Boulder Reporting Lab)
Uvalde high school mariachi group visits Boulder County (Daily Camera)
For the first time in summer 2023—the College of Music and Sphinx Performance Academy (SPA) partnered to provide a full-scholarship intensive summer chamber music and solo performance program focused on cultural diversity for string musicians ages 11-17. Like the SPA’s long-term partners—including The Juilliard School—our College of Music will again host this nationally acclaimed program on the CU Boulder campus, June 20-30, 2024. The SPA offers a curriculum that includes lessons, master classes, recitals, career enrichment sessions and mentorship tailored to each student.
More: CU Boulder hosts national music program to advance diversity in classical music
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Editor-in-Chief: Sabine Kortals Stein, Senior Director of Communications