September 2024 Newsletter

Department News
		Inaugural Summer Intensive, Jacobs Composition Academy The first Jacobs Composition Academy (JCA) Summer Intensive proved to be a huge success for students and faculty alike. Formed and directed by third-year doctoral student Corey Chang, who serves as the assistant director of the Jacobs Composition Academy during the fall and spring semesters, this new summer composition program gives students of all ages private instruction from some of Indiana University’s top award-winning graduate students, as well as composition professors Don Freund (JCA founder), Han Lash, and David Dzubay, and culminates with two concerts and eighteen premieres from track 1 participants. In addition, students this year were given the opportunity to witness lectures by distinguished guest composers and new music leaders Joan Tower, Amy Beth Kirsten, Cheng Jin Koh, Tengku Irfan, and Jiji Kim, all of whom provided important and diverse insights on being a composer and new music advocate.

Alumni News
		Alarm Will Sound premieres Stefan Freund’s Instrumentation Variations “Instrumentation Variations” by Stefan Freund (BM ’97) was premiered by Alarm Will Sound at the Mizzou International Composers Festival in July.

		Marjorie Rusche’s Border Songs published in North Star Collection BORDER SONGS by Marjorie Rusche (DM ’96) is now published online by North Star Music, on their 21st Century American Art Song Series. The creation of this composition was supported by South Shore Arts and a FY2024 Arts Project Support Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

		Kian Ravaei (MM ’24) Awarded 2024 Chamber Music America Commissioning Grant This year, Chamber Music America is supporting the creation of three new pieces, including Kian Ravaei’s new string quartet for the Sheffield Chamber Players. On the heels of his last string quartet, The Little Things, Ravaei will be writing his most ambitious string quartet to date.

		Felipe Tovar-Henao’s Research and works featured in recent and upcoming events This summer, The research paper by Felipe Tovar-Henao (DM ’20) “Emergent Patterns: Music Generation Through Markovian Feedback” and the piece «salsa al vapor» for piano and electronics were both presented at the 2024 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and the International Computer Music Conference in Seoul, South Korea.In August, his piece «Enjambres» received its second performance and NYC premiere at the 2024 TIME:SPANS Festival, performed by the award-winning ensemble, Alarm Will Sound. «salsa al vapor» will also be performed at CLICK Fest 2024 at Ohio University. Additionally, he has been invited to deliver the opening keynote at the symposium «Código y Cadencia: siguiéndole el paso a la computación en el análisis y la creación musical» at Universidad de Antioquia, in Medellín, Colombia.For more details, visit Felipe’s personal website.

Student News
		Courage Barda (third-year BM) Is Announced The Capital Hearings’ 2024 Young Composers Competition Winner On October 5th, the Washington D.C.–based choral ensemble The Capital Hearings will perform Courage Barda’s composition “Give orange me,” for which Barda was awarded winner of their 2024 Young Composers Competition. The text for “Give orange me” comes from Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee that was the subject of an animal language acquisition study in the latter part of the 20th century, who is credited with signing the sentence, “Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you.” Read the press release here and visit Courage’s website here.

		Caleb Endres wins Indiana Music Teachers state composition competition Jacobs composer Caleb Endres (BM ’27) won the IMTA OPUS Young Artist Category competition with his string quartet (2 cellos) “To the Skies.” Caleb’s work will be performed at the state conference in October and entered in the TMTA National Composition Competition.

		Corey Chang Pioneers International Initiative, “East-West Collaboration” Last May, “East-West Collaboration,” a cross-cultural music initiative, was led by Corey Chang, along with a team of musicians and faculty from Indiana University and Zhejiang Conservatory. Supported by various departments from both institutions, this project sought to blend Eastern and Western musical traditions by commissioning four composers from the Jacobs School of Music—students Corey Chang, Xinyuan Deng, and Huan Sun, as well as alumna Shuyu Lin—to create chamber works for both traditional Chinese and Western instruments. These pieces were all performed by performance majors at the Zhejiang Conservatory on May 16, 2024, following a series of masterclasses, honors, and celebrations between the Zhejiang faculty and Dean Abra Bush.This commitment to fostering creative exchanges has set a new standard for international collaboration, paving the way for continued partnerships between the two universities. You can read more about the project and collaboration between the two institutions on Corey Chang’s webpage, as well as press release articles from Xinhuanet and IU Global.

		Huan Sun Performances of Stem Huan Sun’s piece, Stem, written for orchestra, was performed by the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2024 Breaking Barriers Festival in Ravinia, Chicago. This performance was supported by New Music USA as part of a collaborative workshop featuring three Midwest-based women composers, in partnership with the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship.

Faculty News
		Don Freund’s Killing Time featured in Galician saxophone study “Análise en relación ao elemento verbal na obra Killing Time de Don Freund” was topic of an extended treatise and the centerpiece of a recital given by Galician saxophonist Noelia Fraga Rivera in June in Vigo, Galicia, Spain.Freund’s Summer Serenade premiered by Jacobs Summer String Academy The violins of the Jacobs Summer String Academy premiered Don Freund’s Summer Serenade (Concerto Grosso for Violin Orchestra) at their closing Gala Concert in Auer Hall July 19th. The String Academy’s violin virtuosi open the summer with Freund’s Seven Violin Duets.

		Claude Baker’s “Carmen Infernarum” in NYC Alarm Will Sound will give the NYC premiere of Claude Baker’s Carmen Infernarum Machinarum Fugax at their NYC “Time:Spans” concert, August 22.

		Recent Air Traffic Performances for John Gibson Air Traffic, John Gibson’s piece for trumpet and electronics about the flight of honeybees, received performances this spring and summer at the Electronic Music Midwest festival (Lewis University, outside Chicago), MOXsonic (University of Central Missouri), the University of Cincinnati CCM Sonic Explorations series, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and the International Computer Music Conference in Seoul, where he had a fun reunion with current and recent IU students.