Recent Awards (list from the past decade)
Archive of previous newsletters
March 2022 Newsletter
Department NewsMultiple Honors for IU Students and Alumni in Tribeca New Music Competition |
Alumni News |
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Ryn Jorgensen (BM ’20) Recording in London Ryn Jorgensen visited AIR Studios in London in late January, conducting a 51-piece orchestra to record the final music of their score for short film “Easy as Pie” from director Helena Burgeño. Ryn will be remaining in London for the first half of February as well to prepare for upcoming work at Abbey Road and the VOCES8 center with composer Christopher Tin (Civilization IV, VI). There, they will assist with recordings with VOCES8 and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Tin’s new album, The Lost Birds. |
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Luka Marinkovic (BM ’19) in National Musical Theatre Tour and Upcoming Performances Luka Marinkovic is currently serving as Associate Music Director and Keyboard 1 player for a national Broadway tour of two musical theatre productions, “An American in Paris” and “South Pacific”. He is performing in 35 states across the US, including three shows in Indiana. Tickets for upcoming shows may be purchased here. When he is back home in New York City, Luka will premiere his chamber compositions in a recital series at Uncommonly Studio on July 7, 9, 14, and 16. Tickets for these performances may be purchased here. |
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Mark Phillips is turning 70 in 2022 Getting off to an early start on celebrating his upcoming 70th birthday, Mark Phillips (MM, 1980; DM, 1986) was treated to full concert of his electroacoustic music organized and performed by his former colleagues at Ohio University on February 9. On April 24, his fantasy for violin and orchestra, To Joy Returning, will be performed by violin soloist Solomiya Ivakhiv with the New Westchester Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Steven Huang. If you would like to participate in the 70th birthday celebration of his music, visit www.coolvillemusic.com or contact the composer by email: phillipm@ohio.edu. |
Student News |
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Daixuan Ai’s Premiere with CityMusic Cleveland Commissioned by CityMusic Cleveland last year, Daixuan Ai’s new chamber work Trio for Oboe, Viola, and Piano (2021) will be performed on 2 chamber concerts in Lakewood, Ohio as a part of CMC’s 2021-2022 “Justice, Equality, Hope” Chamber Music Series. Read the program notes here: https://daixuanai.com/trio-for-oboe-viola-and-piano-2021. |
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Yi-De Chen Featured in EMERGE Workshop and Performance Yi-De Chen’s Diffusion for String Quartet (2021) has been chosen to be featured in the EMERGE 2022, Texas—Julius Quartet—Virtual Concert at 7 pm on Feb 24, 2022! He is one of nine composers who were selected this year. |
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Hippocrates Cheng was featured in a documentary and an interview. Recently, Hippocrates Cheng was featured in a documentary titled: “Encounter 偶 ” presented by Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Awardees Association. It was about his collaboration with a music group “Sync 5,” a Chinese-Western mixed ensemble and a puppetry master Wong Fai in Hong Kong. The documentary used his past concert recordings as the documentary music. Watch the full documentary here. Hippocrates also received another interview about his composition and musical journey. The title of it is “Where East meets West (and beyond): Explore the imaginative musical world of composer Hippocrates Cheng” and read the full interview here. |
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Composition Minor Ben Horne Wins Cross-Country Chamber Consortium Commission Benjamin Horne has been awarded its first ever Black, Latinx and Indigenous Emerging Composer Commission. His work will be performed by the Atlanta Chamber Players (Atlanta), Decoda (New York), Fifth House Ensemble (Chicago), Musiqa (Houston) and SOLI Chamber Ensemble (San Antonio). |
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Walker Smith wins JSoM Innovation Competition for his Proposal “Maestro Molecules” Senior composition and chemistry double major recently won the 2022 Jacobs School of Music 2022 Innovation Competition. This proposal is based on his recent composition “The Sound of Molecules,” which answered the question, “What does a molecule sound like?” While it may seem like an absurd question, Walker has combined his expertise in chemical research, electronic music, and scientific communication to take audiences on an immersive audiovisual tour of the molecular world. The first-place prize of $3000 from this competition will support the development of a one-hour version of this show, which will be premiered at WonderLab Museum of Science in Bloomington in Fall 2022. Stay tuned! In addition, MM composition student Xinyuan Deng, along with con-presenter Sage Hamm, received third prize in the same competition for their InterArt Collective initiative. They received a prize of $500. |
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Jack Szczuka Wins 2022 NOTUS Choral Composition Contest. Jack Szczuka has been named the first-prize winner of the 2022 NOTUS Student Composition Contest for his piece Birga-Birga Boramiz. The piece will be performed on 4/3/22 at the final NOTUS concert of the academic year. Birga-Birga Boramiz is the first of an ongoing three-part series of vocal works setting text from Fozil Yo’ldoshog’li’s version of the ancient Uzbek epic, Alpomish. More information can be found on the press release. Click here for Szczuka’s YouTube channel, which has the clip of the premiere from spring 2021, and will have the video of the performance from the NOTUS concert upon conclusion. |
Faculty News |
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Upcoming Performances and a New Orchestra Piece for Prof. Don Freund Don Freund’s “Ornery Prelude” and alum Stefan Freund’s “The Devil Dances with Tom Sawyer” — both works for “Histoire” ensemble — will be featured on the March 9 concert of the Blueprint Ensemble in Nashville, Tennessee along with Stravinsky’s iconic work. Don Freund’s symphony-scale Urban Pastorale, a “Decade of Commissions” work celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the IU Department of Music (1911 – 2011) and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the IU School of Music (1921 – 2021), will be premiered by the IU Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestro Thomas Wilkins on their March 6, 3 pm concert in the Musical Arts Center. The 3 pm concert will be streamed on IUMusicLive. |
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Prof. Aaron Travers receives Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters Aaron Travers is one of four composers who received a $10,000 Arts and Letters Awards in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award honors outstanding artistic achievement and acknowledge composers who have arrived at their own voice. Each composer will receive an additional $10,000 to record their work and will also have their music presented in a concert at the Academy. The other composers who received the award are Marcos Balter, Erin Gee, and James Mobberley. |
Upcoming Events |
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(* Starred events are REQUIRED for IU composition students) |