STUDENT NEWS

Students Launch UMEC-LA Networking Event

A new tradition was born this March with the launch of the first ever UMEC-LA Networking Night, an event which brought together past and present Wolverines who are united by a common passion: entertainment. The event, coordinated through the Los Angeles branch of the University of Michigan Entertainment Coalition, provided students from all across campus the opportunity to network both with their peers as well as with successful alumni currently working in the entertainment industry. 

Senior BFA theatre performance major, April Moreau, and senior communications major and Global Media Studies minor, Amy Fleischman, built this event from the ground up, starting in the Fall of 2011.  Amy and April—who both plan to move to Los Angeles after graduation to pursue careers in the entertainment industry—shared the goal of getting to know their fellow LA-bound Wolverines better in preparation for making the move to the West Coast.  April and Amy also shared the desire to learn from successful alumni who are already working in the entertainment industry.  On March 16, they turned these hopes into reality with the launch of UMEC-LA Networking Night. 

The event brought together students from various disciplines—theatre, screen arts & cultures, communications, and many more—to discuss the entertainment industry and expand their personal network of Wolverines. In addition, students received advice about breaking into the industry from visiting Los Angeles-based alumni Marc Kamler (Agency for the Performing Arts), Daniel Pipski (Working Title Television), Amanda Adelson (Dickhouse Productions), Aaron Saidman (Studio Lambert), screenwriter Yoni Brenner, New York-based alum Zachary Booth (currently starring on “Damages”), Michigan-based alumni Danny Mooney and Eddie Rubin (Deep Blue Pictures), as well as friend of the Michigan family, casting director and TV producer Marla Brodsky-Kamler.

Students and alumni alike expressed rave reviews about the first ever UMEC-LA Networking Night. This is sure to be a tradition that continues for years to come.

Student Photography Contest Celebrates North Campus; Music Student Wins Top Prize

The Living Arts Program Board, led by Jill Bender and Ed Utter, organized a photo competition to celebrate North Campus. Three outside judges evaluated 125 photographs on the basis of aesthetics and how they represented North Campus. First prize went to SMTD student Peter Shin (BM '14, composition); second prize to Daniel Chern, and third prize to Jerald Shi. Congratulations to the winners and to the Living Arts Program Board! The photographs were displayed at the Duderstadt Connector Hallway and can be seen on the Living Arts website.

U-M Students Create Performance Arts Outreach for Detroit School Children

From the outside, the Michigan League building will look like its usual stately self on the morning of Friday, March 9.  On the inside, however, its hallowed halls will be alive with more than 150 Detroit Public School children who will be singing, dancing, acting, drumming and, of course, laughing as they partake in a day of immersion in the performing arts.  The event is the second to be staged by MPOW (Michigan Performance Outreach Workshop), a student-run initiative that was launched last semester by two musical theatre majors at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD). 

“It never would have happened if we both weren’t such idealists.”  That’s the first thing that Ashley Park (right above) says about the new outreach organization that she and her friend Laura Reed(left above) founded. MPOW is a labor of love for Park, a junior, and Reed, who graduated in December. Both began the fall term obsessed with an idea that came to them last August: to bring Detroit school children, whose arts programs have been cut, to the U-M campus to participate in the performing arts.

“Frankly, we had no idea what a big thing we were undertaking,” said Park, an Ann Arbor native who became MPOW’s spokesperson while Reed, from Walnut Creek, CA, took an extended post-graduation trip abroad.  “That’s probably just as well, because we might not have gone ahead if we knew exactly what we were getting into.”

What these visionary young women did know was that they wanted to find a way to reach children who rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to experience the excitement, inspiration and empowerment that comes from participating in the performing arts.  It was not a school project and it was not for credit; it was a personal mission.

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Doctoral Students Win Top Prizes at New National Competition

At the inaugural 4x4 Prizes for Composition and Conducting, jointly sponsored by the Oklahoma University Symphony Orchestra, its music director Jonathan Shames and the OU School of Music Composition Department, two SMTD music doctoral students won the top prizes.  Warren Puffer Jones took first prize for "the most artistic conducting of new orchestral music" and Michael Thomas Foumai won first prize for "most successful orchestral composition." Foumai's composition was conducted by Jones in a concert with the University of Oklahoma Symphony on Feb. 12, and will subsequently be published on iTunes University.

“We were looking for a new dimension to offer our students and audience,” said OU's Jonathan Shames. “We wanted to attract the finest young composers and conductors by offering them a chance to meet each other and establish connections.” Shames added that there are many contests for new compositions or for young conductors, but none that bring these two groups together.

Music Students Win Gates Cambridge Scholarships

Two SMTD music students have won the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge  in the United Kingdom. The students are Madeline Huberth,  a double major in cello and physics, and Sean Collins, a double major in piano and chemistry.  The Gates Cambridge Scholarships, established by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are highly competitive full-cost scholarships awarded to outstanding applicants from outside the U.K. to pursue a full-time graduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. Only 40 U.S. citizens are awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship each year. In addition to intellectual ability and leadership capacity, the scholarship criteria include an applicant's "desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowldege to improve the lives of others."

Student Receives Handel Institute Research Grant

Alison DeSimone, a doctoral candidate in musicology, has just been named a 2011 recipient of the Handel Institute Research Grant, awarded by The Handel Institute of the United Kingdom.

Earlier this fall, DeSimone was awarded the Walter L. Arnstein prize for best graduate student paper given at the 2011 Midwest Conference on British Studies.  Her research in the U.K. is supported by an Overseas Doctoral Fellowship from the Institute of Musical Research at the School of Advanced Study of The University of London, as well as a Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant and a Rackham International Research Award.  

DeSimone was awarded the 2011 J. Merrill Knapp Research Fellowship by The American Handel Society, and the 2011 Leland Fox Award from the National Opera Association for the best scholarly paper on an opera topic.  Her early research was supported by a summer research grant from the U-M program in medieval and early modern studies; in 2010-11 she was awarded the Louise E. Cuyler Prize in Musicology at U-M, and (with Prof. Louise K. Stein) was mentored through a Distinguished Research Partnership from the Rackham Graduate School.

Akropolis Ree Quintet Wins Chamber Music Competitions

The Akropolis Reed Quintet, founded at UM in 2009, won the Grand Prize of two national chamber music competitions in consecutive weekends. On March 26th they competed and won a grand prize of $3,000 at the finals of the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The state and division qualifying rounds were held in October and January respectively. On April 2nd they competed in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition semi-finals after being invited from a round of CD submissions along with professional chamber music ensembles from (or formerly of) the United State's most prestigious music conservatories, including Yale, the Cleveland Institute, Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, and others. Akropolis was one of five ensembles selected to participate in the final round at the Missouri Theater on Sunday April 3rd, where the judges selected them as co-grand prize winners. They shared the honor with the Aeolus String Quartet, the first time the judges have ever granted a tie for grand prize ($3,500 to each ensemble).

Along their two grand prize journeys, Akropolis made waves as the first reed quintet to succeed in the United States' national chamber music competitions. Their program, in addition to its unique original music for "reed quintet," included a transcription of Rameau's Nouvelle Harpsichord Suite. The energy, originality, and technical execution of their program transcended classical chamber music tradition, winning over Plowman's acclaimed panel of judges: pianist Anne Epperson, violinist Peter Salaff (founder of the world renowned and Grammy-winning Cleveland Quartet), and former U-M professor and internationally recognized clarinetist David Shifrin. Akropolis is particularly honored to have shared the grand prize stage with a polished and successful string quartet like Aeolus, proving that there are no boundaries for excellent chamber music.

Akropolis is: Tim Gocklin - oboe (junior); Kari Dion - clarinet (senior); Matt Landry - saxophone (recent graduate)
Andrew Koeppe - bass clarinet (masters); and Ryan Reynolds - bassoon (junior).

TEDxUM: “Encouraging crazy ideas”

TEDxUM, scheduled for all day Friday, April 8, at the Michigan Theatre, expects to draw 1,700 people to campus. TEDxUM, a spin-off from the national movement TED, “aims to bring a TED-like experience to the University of Michigan by showcasing the most fascinating thinkers and doers for a day of presentations, discussions, entertainment, and art." While all 1,700 seats at the Michigan Theatre are filled, the conference will be streaming live during the day; visit their Web site on April 8 here. During the TEDx event they will be displaying a twitter and facebook feed where people can actively comment and contribute their thoughts about the incredible talks that are going on.

The School of Music, Theatre & Dance has a direct connection to TEDxUM through presenters at the conference. AJ Holmes, Ali Gordon, and Carlos Valdes (pictured, left), musical theatre undergraduates, will stage the first university-sponsored musical, Gibson Fleck, created by students. Donia Jarrar, a master’s student in composition, was born in Kuwait and fled the country during the Gulf War, to Egypt, where her family still resides. During the recent uprising there—and feeling helpless watching it unfold from her apartment in Ann Arbor—Donia started her own blog to translate what she was hearing from friends and loved ones into English. She will speak about her remarkable story.

Choral Conducting Students Win Awards

Michigan brought home awards from the recent American Choral Directors Association conference, held in Chicago March 9-12. Both Ken Sieloff, a junior majoring in choral music education and a member of the U-M Men's Glee Club, and Arian Khaefi, DMA in choral conducting, advanced to the finals in their respective divisions. Over 150 students submitted applications to the two divisions, undergrad and graduate; of those only 7 undergraduates and 8 graduate students were selected to advance. Ken Sieloff won the undergraduate national choral conducting competition and Arian Khaefi was one of four finalists in the graduate division. “They were both fantastic,” said Professor Jerry Blackstone, SMTD Director of Choirs.

DMA student in oboe, Nermis Mieses, working with Professor Nancy Ambrose King, just won First Prize in the Santa Catarina International Oboe Competition in Brazil.  She also won the prize for Best Interpretation of a Brazilian Piece.

Tubist David McLemore, 23, a master’s candidate in tuba performance working with Fritz Kaenzig, was one of five finalists in the 55th annual WAMSO Young Artist Competition, of the Minnesota Orchestra, out of an original field of 63 contestants.  Mr. McLemore was awarded a full scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival and School for summer 2011.

EuFouria Wins Quartet Competition

The University of Michigan trombone quartet, EuFouria was named winner of this year’s Eastern Trombone Workshop National Quartet Competition. They will present a split recital at the 2011 Eastern Trombone Workshop in March. The members of the quartet are James Ginn, Christopher Hernacki, James Layfield and Patrick Montgomery.

Two Dance Students Win ACDFA/Dance Magazine Honors

Sarah Konner and Austin Selden, class of ’10, presented their original dance Dirty up to the Knuckles at the regional conference of the American College Dance Festival earlier this spring. Their work was one of only four selected from over 40 competing schools to advance to the ACDFA National Festival, held in late May, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The National Festival is THE showcase for outstanding choreography and performing at the college level, nationwide. The ACDFA/Dance Magazine award panelists recognized Konner, from Atlanta, GA, and Selden, a native of Farmington Hills, MI, for their “relaxed natural stage presence … The ease with which they spoke, inhabited character portrayals, and dance and sang was remarkable.”

May 2010

SMTD Students Perform at the Kennedy Center

The School of Music, Theatre & Dance was well represented at the Kennedy Center on Monday, May 10, in its sixth year of participation in the Millennium Stage Conservatory Project. The Project invites students from fifteen of the top conservatories across the country for performances that highlight and showcase the “incredible talent coming up through the conservatories.”

Timothy Steeves, violin, Daniel Graser, saxophone, SiYi Fang, piano, Nicole Greenidge, soprano, and Kevin Miller, accompanist, were selected to represent the School in a program of solos, with a repertoire ranging from Kaprálová to Ravel to Rachmaninoff to Liszt.

A week later, on Monday, May 17, Jarita Ng, viola, who studies with Yizhak Schotten and Rebecca Albers, was invited to the Kennedy Center as one of a select group of 15 musicians from the Conservatory Project schools, to perform as part of the Kennedy Center’s John Adams: Perspectives, a two-week exploration into the work of this American composer.

Ms. Ng had performed Adams’s Chamber Symphony last year, with the U-M Contemporary Directions Ensemble. “That experience helped me considerably, with only two days to rehearse a work Adams himself describes as ‘the hardest piece I’ve ever written.’ The other players in the Chamber Ensemble were extremely talented. The coaches, Teddy Abrams and Nicolas Kendall—Dean Kendall’s nephew—worked very hard putting the piece together and polishing the performance.”

The musicians met John Adams in rehearsal the day of the performance. “He talked with us about new music and its future,” says Ng. “The performance itself was enjoyable beyond words, playing such a challenging yet fun work with brilliant colleagues under the baton of the composer.”

To see either performance, visit http://kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/conservatory.html

APRIL 2010

Dance Students Visit Paul Taylor Dance Company
Restaging Paul Taylor’s landmark 1980 Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal), under the direction of Taylor re-stager and former dancer Ruth Andrien, for the 2010 Power Center performance, was both a challenge and a thrill for our dance students. That profound experience was further reinforced in March, when fourteen lucky students went to New York City for three days with the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Managing director John Tomlinson gave students a tour of the New York City Center, where the company has its season. While in New York, they had a chance to observe a dress rehearsal and attend four of the PTDC performances. They were invited to take part in two master classes at Taylor’s new studio on Grand Street, one taught by Andrien, who will also, incidentally, act as this summer’s artistic director for U-M Paul Taylor intensive, June 19-July 1.

Other thrills and chills included a chance to chat with dance critic Deborah Jowitt (Village Voice, New York Times) and be a part of a Taylor alumni reception, attended by several of the original Sacre cast members. This fall, October 7-9, as part of an ongoing celebration of Taylor’s 80th birthday, University Musical Society will present the Paul Taylor Dance Company in its 2010-2011 season. Plans are in the works for the students to reprise their Sacre performance while the company is in town.

"I’ve spent almost a year now researching Paul Taylor and his company,” says graduate dance student Daniela Carmen Blechner, “but to actually see the company perform, meet the past and present dancers, and be part of Taylor's 80th Birthday celebration is incredible. What I got from this one experience surpasses anything I could have gotten from books or videos."

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.