Alumni News

John Ferguson (DM ‘99) will present the first performances of Keyboard Pieces, a new work for soloist in thirteen movements, each featuring a keyboard instrument (piano, harpsichord, toy piano, melodica, accordion, organ, various electronic keyboards). Excerpts will be performed at King’s Chapel in Boston, MA on November 19 at 12:15pm, and the entire work will be premiered at MIT’s Killian Hall in Cambridge on November 22 at 7:00 p.m. Please visit John Ferguson’s website for information. 

Dr. Benjamin Taylor (DM ‘14) enjoyed the recent Asia Premiere of his Saxophone Quartet Concerto Aurum Tetra in Hong Kong as well as performances of other works in Thailand, Portugal, Australia, Puerto Rico, and the UK.  At home, he has enjoyed recent premieres of newly commissioned works all over the USA; Living on Rock and Roll, a concerto for rock band soloists, Sunset Highway, for wind band and audio track, Player Two Press Start, another work for wind band and audio track, and Forever Falcons, a fanfare for wind ensemble.  In July 2024, Dr. Taylor directed a special Video Game Scoring Workshop through the Music Creators Academy which was a tremendous success. Recent commissions include a new work for flute and audio track for the Utah Flute Association and his first Symphony for Wind Ensemble commissioned by a consortium jointly led by directors Lauren Reynolds (U of Delaware), Trae Blanco (Butler), and Shawn Smith (Brigham Young University). Please explore his music further at his website. 

Body: Timothy Reinholz is named Finalist for The American Prize in 2024 for two categories in the professional division. Aspects of the Thaw is named finalist for Orchestra Music and Wave Decay – Papakolea, written for two violas and four percussionists, is named finalist for Instrumental Chamber Music. 

Dr. Chen’s (DM ’22) Awakening for piano trio captivated audiences at the Italy Alba Festival, performed by the esteemed SOLI Chamber Ensemble (Ertan Torgul, violin; David Mollenauer, violoncello; Carolyn True, piano). This innovative piece combines extended techniques and experimental sounds, pushing the boundaries of traditional music composition.Curtain of Summer Breeze, a composition for guzheng and live electronics, was a featured work at the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF) in 2024. Initially commissioned by Taiwan’s prestigious TimeArt Studio in the summer of 2023, the piece showcases the exceptional talents of 21-stringed guzheng performer Jing-Mu Kuo, blending the timbres of untradi-tional playing techniques with the electroacoustic soundscapes.

Lara Downes’s album This Land, a reflection on diverse American journeys, includes Kian Ravaei’s piece Variations on “This Land is Your Land” alongside works by Arturo O’Farrill, Jake Heggie, and others. Additionally, Ravaei’s piece Navazi for 2 violas, commissioned by Tallā Rouge, appears on their debut album Shapes in Collective Space. 

Student News

Cooper Wood’s Celestial Bodies will receive two performances this month: Oct. 6th at the Eugene Difficult Music Ensemble’s 3rd Annual New Music Festival in Oregon, and Oct. 25th at the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival. Written to commemorate the total solar eclipse that occurred last spring, the piece was premiered in Auer Hall as part of the IU Jacobs Solar Eclipse Celebration Concert. To learn more about Cooper and his music, visit his website. 

Daixuan Ai has been commissioned by the Sing Me A Story Foundation to create a new orchestral piece, which will be premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on January 24 and 25, 2025. The piece will be based on a story written by a 7-year-old cancer survivor. This new work will be featured in ISO’s “The Concerto” program, which also includes Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. 

Daroo Lee’s “Psalm 13” has been selected for performance at the 2024 National Conference of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. The performance will take place on October 11th at Houghton University in New York. 

Faculty News

The IU Chamber Orchestra, under guest conductor Scott Sandmeier, will give the premiere of P.Q. Phan’s Clarinet Concerto with Gábor Varga as clarinet soloist.  The concert will be held October 23 at 8pm in Auer Hall. 

Chi Wang’s latest composition, Fusion of Horizons, will have its world premiere at the Musicacoustica and Global Digital Expo Joint Conference in Hangzhou, China. Chi will also deliver a lecture and serve as a juror for the Musicacoustica International Electronic Music Competition. In addition, Margaret Dolinsky and Chi Wang’s audio-visual artwork, Entangled Embrace: Echoes of Intimacy, is currently on display at the Grunwald Gallery of Art from September 3 through November 16, 2024. Chi has also been invited as a featured artist at the TURN UP Multimedia Festival at the University of Arizona. 

Upcoming Events

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