Student News

NOVEMBER 2009

Samantha Biniker, piano, Jean Hee Lee, violin, and Andrew Hayhurst won the Michigan State Competition of the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Chamber Music Competition on November 1, performing trios by Mendelssohn and Paul Schoenfield. They will represent Michigan at the Divisional competition in January. The trio was coached by Alicia Doudna, adjunct faculty and member of the Phoenix String Quartet now in residence at Michigan, Christopher Harding, Assistant Professor of Piano and Chamber Music, and Paul Schoenfield, Professor of Composition.

Trio La Vita, composed of members Maria Bessmeltseva, violin, Carrie Pierce, cello, and Misuzu Tanaka, piano, recently took several awards at the Joan and Daniel Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition and Festival, held November 4-8 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. The trio, working together only since August of 2009, took Second Prize, in addition to the John Ireland Prize for an “Outstanding Performance of a John Ireland Piano Trio”, the Jeremy Rutenberg Prize for an “Outstanding Performance of a Classical Trio”, and the Melpomone Prize for the “Piano Trio with the Most Potential”. The trio coached extensively with Christopher Harding, Assistant Professor of Piano and Chamber Music, Anthony Elliott, Professor of Cello,Yehonatan Berick, Associate Professor of Violin, and Alicia Doudna, adjunct faculty in violin and member of the Phoenix String Quartet now in residence at Michigan.

The Sweetwater Trio, comprised of members David Ormai, violin, Eric Moore, cello, and Julia Siciliano, piano, traveled to the same competition and festival and garnered two honorable mention awards as well: Honorable Mention recognizing an “Outstanding Performance of a Beethoven Piano Trio” and Honorable Mention recognizing a “Performance of a John Ireland Piano Trio”. The Sweetwater trio coached with Gabe Bolkosky, associated faculty in violin and member of the resident Phoenix Quartet, and Christopher Harding, Assistant Professor of Piano and Chamber Music.

October 2009

The Yersinia Saxophone Quartet—Robert Young (soprano sax), Zach Stern (alto sax), Joseph Girard (tenor sax), and Daniel Blumenthal (baritone sax), all students of Professor Donald Sinta—traveled to the University Notre Dame to compete in the 2009 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in May. After three days of competition, the ensemble won the silver medal in the senior wind division, a high honor and the quartet's most prestigious accomplishment since their genesis in September 2008. Fischoff, the largest and certainly one of the most prestigious chamber music competitions in the country, invites selected groups through a taped preliminary audition.

To see their winning performance, visit the Fischoff Web site at www.fischoff.org. It’s on the home page.

Two students in Performing Arts Technology were finalists in the recent student recording competition at the Audio Engineering Society international convention in New York City (Oct 9-12, 2009). Rishi Daftuar placed first in the category of Stereo World/Folk and Christopher Conover placed second in the category of Stereo Pop/Rock. Click here for more information about the competition results. 

Yaniv Dinur won a special prize in the Fourth Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition that was held in Mexico City in September 22-27. 16 participants were invited to the competition out of 103 applicants from 33 countries around the world. 6 participants were chosen to go on to the Semi-Final round, and 3 of them made it to the Finals. The gala concert of the competition was broadcasted live on Mexican national television.  There was only one prize at stake, as the Mata Competition awards only the first prize. However, the jury of the competition decided to create another prize especially for Yaniv, $2000 and concerts with different orchestras in Latin America.  In a review that was publish in the national Mexico newspaper "La Jornada" was written: "Dinur swept the audience even before he appeared on stage: he ordered the stage manager to remove the music stand, which was already spectacular for conducting from memory lets you concentrate on making music. And so he did to the delight of the public."   Yaniv is currently in his third and last year of the DMA Orchestral Conducting program with Kenneth Kiesler.

September 2009

Pius Cheung, who is working on his doctorate in percussion with Michael Udow, was written up in an article in The New York Times on Sunday, August 30, on the occasion of the release of his Goldberg Variations for marimba. The article said that Cheung “surmounts the contrapuntal hurdles and offers a stylish, deeply expressive interpretation notable for its clear voicing, eloquent phrasing, and wide range of color and dynamics.” 

Click here to read the entire article.

June 2009

Three percussionists, students of percussion faculty member Joe Gramley performed with Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble, of which Gramley is a member, on the June 9 telecast of “Live from Lincoln Center” at 8:00 p.m. The students are sophomore Nick Rifken, junior Michael Coletti, and senior Ian Sullivan. They played percussion on two Osvaldo Golijov works, Tancas Serrada a Muru and Wah Habibi, which will close the show.

May 2009

Senior Wes Mason has been cast as Reinaldo Arenas in the world premiere (May 2010) of Jorge Martin's "Before Night Falls", presented by the Fort Worth Opera.

April 2009

Seth Moore, a senior in the Department of Theatre & Drama whose Hopwood Award-winning play Jonesin’ is being staged at the Arthur Miller Theatre April 2-5 and April 9-12, 2009, just found out he will be the recipient of a second Hopwood, in the same category, drama, but this time for a work called The Man with America Skin. The Hopwoods will be presented at a ceremony on April 22 at 3:30 p.m. at Rackham.

November 2008

The School of Music, Theatre & Dance will be well represented at Carnegie Orchestral Repertoire Workshop

Four SMTD students—out of sixteen total chosen from around the country—have been selected to participate in an orchestral repertoire workshop for winds and brass at Carnegie Hall.

Elise Shopes, a senior in flute, Andrew Parker and Jason Bergman, doctoral students in oboe and trumpet respectively, and Jordan Henry, tuba, who graduated last year with a bachelor’s and is now working on a master’s at Wisconsin, will participate in the program.

Said Bergman, “This is a wonderful opportunity to study with principal players of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, to hear those same orchestras in concert, and to receive coaching on challenging orchestral repertoire. This will also be a great opportunity for us to represent the University of Michigan in New York City.”

Scheduled for November 9 through 14, the workshop will steep participants in the orchestral culture, with private lessons, sectional rehearsals of major brass and wind repertoire, and in concerts by all three participating orchestras. There will be little or no down time—even lunch sessions will be put to good use as a chance for further discussion. Then, on November 11 and 12, mock auditions, open to the public, will be held in Weill Recital Hall before a panel of distinguished professional musicians, including SMTD’s own Carolyn Jantsch (BM ’06), now principal tuba with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

“The opportunity to perform a public mock orchestral audition in Carnegie Hall will be a great experience,” said Bergman, “but more than a little overwhelming!” But this is exactly the kind of experience young musicians need as they strike out on their own in the highly competitive world of auditioning for orchestral openings.

Those who auditioned for the sixteen slots were asked to write a short essay on what inspired them as artists in their personal and professional lives and what they would hope to gain from the week-long experience. They also had to submit an unedited CD of excerpts from a list of works designated by the workshop, two required works, two of their own choosing. Each applicant also had to select one movement from a concerto.

October 2008

Rishi Daftaur, a PAT student majoring in sound engineering, just won first place in the jazz & blues category of the Audio Engineering Society’s (AES) annual student competition. Second and third place in that division went to students from German universities. AES is an international professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology, with members from around the globe. Its purpose is to stimulate and facilitate advances in this constantly changing field and to encourage and disseminate new developments. An AES student assembly has 4000 members and is growing, and represents all parts of the world.

David Requiro, master’s student working with Richard Aaron and first-place winner of the 2008 Naumburg International Cello Award, will be presented by the Foundation on Thursday, October 22 at 8:00 p.m. in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, in a program of Beethoven, Brahms, Cassadó, Mozart, Debussy, and U-M’s own William Bolcom (Capriccio for cello and piano). In a press release, the Foundation described Requiro as “one of today’s most promising young cellists.”

September 2008

Students from Professor Nancy Ambrose King’s oboe studio have been faring well in competitions around the globe. Caroline Ross, working on her bachelor’s in oboe, was awarded third prize in the International Double Reed Society’s Young Artist Competition, appearing as a finalist in the competition, which took place at the 37th annual conference of the International Double Reed Society, in Provo, UT. Emily Cappo, also an undergraduate, was selected to enter the competition and finished third in the highly competitive preliminary round. Kaycee Ware, graduate student in oboe, was a finalist in the Prague International Oboe competition, one of only two American oboists chosen to participate in the finals.

Amita Prakash, master’s student in voice, won first place in the National Society of Arts and Letters voice competition, which entitled her to compete in the national competition in Indiana in May. She was awarded a scholarship in recognition of her obvious talent.

Yurel Echezarreta, a junior in the musical theatre program, has been cast in the Broadway revival of West Side Story. The production goes to Washington, D.C. for previews starting in December, with a scheduled opening in New York in March. Yurel will be in school until the end of October, when rehearsals start.

Acting student in theatre & drama Mckean Sheu was an extra in the Drew Barrymore film, Whip It, staring Ellen Page (Juno) and filmed in various locations in Michigan, including Ypsilanti. He also auditioned for and landed two more roles, in the films, Blue Sky, an independent feature film to star D.B. Sweeney, Joanna Cassidy, and Kurt Dreyer, and Tristan, both slated to begin shooting later this fall. Earlier this summer, Scheu played the role of Wyatt in the feature film Art House, staring indie queen Greta Gerwig and directed by Victor Fanucchi.

Sarah Frisof, flute, has won second place in the National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition. The award includes a cash prize.  Sarah is pursuing a DMA in flute performance and studies with Amy Porter.

David Requiro, cello, has won first prize in the 2008 Walter W. Naumburg International Violoncello Competition.  The award includes a cash prize, a New York recital debut and recital and orchestral performances.  David is pursuing a MM in cello performance and studies with Richard Aaron.

The 2008 Gilmore Keyboard Festival invited several of Michigan’s finest student pianists to take part in its prestigious masterclass series during the months of April and May. Ilya Blinov (DMA), a student of Arthur Greene, Zhu Zhu (BM) and Nozomi Marusawa (BM), students of Logan Skelton, Hye-Won Jung (MM) and SunAh Lee (DMA), students of Christopher Harding, were all selected to perform for international performing and teaching artists including Christopher Taylor, Lori Sims, and Paul Lewis.

DMA candidate Ya-Chi Cheng won the principal percussion position with the San Antonio Symphony.  (March 2008)

Pius Cheung, marimba, is one of only two winners of the 2008 Young Concert Artists Competition in New York.   Pius is pursuing a DMA in percussion and studies with Michael Udow.