Recent Awards (list from the past decade)
Archive of previous newsletters
November 2021 Newsletter
Alumni News |
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Jason Bahr (MM ‘99, DM ‘03) Completing New Opera Jason Bahr has been hired as the bass section leader for the Opera Naples Chorus in Naples, FL. He is also putting the finishing touches on his first opera, a one-act called The Gift of The Magi based on the short story by O. Henry. |
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David DeBoor Canfield’s Concerto after Elgar Recorded The Concerto after Elgar by IU grad David DeBoor Canfield (DM, 1982) has been recorded by violist and former JSoM faculty member Csaba Erdélyi, conductor Ian Hobson and the Sinfonia da Camera for release on the English Toccata Classics label. This work was written to fill a major void in the viola concerto literature with this work in Romantic style, and was premiered by the forces who recorded it in October of 2019. The work is modeled after the great English master’s concertos for violin and cello, although the music is Canfield’s own. Akin to Elgar’s famous Enigma Variations, he has, however, hidden about a dozen musical “puns” (i.e., brief quotes from Elgar’s oeuvre) into this work. Some of these are obvious, but others will likely elude the most ardent Elgarian.A saxophone and orchestra version of this same work was premiered by IU grad Kenneth Tse at the Lerici Music Festival in Italy this past August.Hobson, in his capacity as a world-renowned pianist, has also commissioned Canfield to write a Symphonic Concerto after Mahler, given the fact that Mahler is one of the few great composers who never wrote a piano (or any other) concerto. Canfield began this four-movement, 45-minute work in June of 2021 and hopes to complete it by the end of the year. |
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Fall Premieres of Stacy Garrop (DM ’00) In September and October of 2021, Stacy Garrop had world premieres of several commissioned works written prior to or during the pandemic: Spectacle of Light performed by the Music of the Baroque, To Music by soprano Michelle Areyzaga and pianist (and IU alum) Winston Choi on behalf of Cedille Records, Silver Linings by saxophonist Clifford Leaman and marimbist Scott Herring, Vivos Voco by carillonneur Linda Dzuris, and Chiaroscuro by the Rembrandt Chamber Musicians. Additionally, at Chicago’s Ear Taxi Festival, violist Michael Hall and pianist Michael Delfin performed Krakatoa and the CHAI Collaborative Ensemble played My Dearest Ruth. Michael Hall also performed The Solitude of Stars, accompanied by pianist Marianne Parker, at the Bowling Green State University New Music Festival. In the orchestra realm, the Annapolis Symphony performed Pandora Undone while the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra played Lo Yisa Goy. |
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New Works by Till Meyn (MM ’96) Premiered In October, Till Meyn had premiere performances of his new work for two e-flat clarinets and string quartet Canzoni di Fiori. The performances involved members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Victoria Luperi, clarinet) and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (Ivan Pertruzziello, clarinet), and coincided with the International Clarinet Association New Music Weekend, where Meyn and musicians gave a panel discussion about collaborating on the composition. Also in October, Meyn had the premiere performance of his new work for mixed choir Invitation to Love by the TCU Concert Chorale under the direction of Chris Aspaas. In November, the TCU Symphony String Orchestra will premiere Meyn’s new work Euphoria in Fort Worth, Texas. Meyn is currently working on Dauntless, a multi-movement composition for wind symphony, and is looking forward to spring performances of his new works Ascendant Grooves for two pianos, and Running the Gamut for saxophone, vibraphone, piano, and percussion. |
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New Album Release and World Premiere for Matthew Peterson (MM ‘06) On December 8, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, European Gramophone and Matthew Peterson celebrate the release of Smooth Fat Nasty: Matthew Peterson – the saxophone music with a concert and release-party in Stockholm, Sweden. Featuring solo, duo and quartet works composed 2017-2021, the album will be available on all streaming services and a limited-pressing of CDs will be for sale through ALOADED. Select tracks have been released as singles during European Gramophone’s saxophone festival. The EP release of Lament for Sven-David Sandström (2021, Saxophone Quartet) was recently included on Spotify’s “New Classical Releases” playlist and streamed over 50,000 times.On October 22 Bengt Ollén and Sofia Vokalensemble gave the world premiere performance of Matthew Peterson’s three motets for All Saints Day – Salve Regina, Non Nobis, and “And lo, a great multitude” – at Allhelgonakyrkan in Lund, Sweden, as part of Lund Choral Festival 2021 The performance was recorded by Swedish Radio P2 for broadcast in November. October 27-31 the choir tours the Basque Country of Spain with these works, which were commissioned by Musik i Syd for Lund Choral Festival. |
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Dreams Interrupted by Mark Phillips (MM ’80; DM ’86) Returns to the Concert Hall Mark Phillips (MM, 1980; DM, 1986) will be performed at Roosevelt University, under the baton of guest conductor Leslie Dunner. on November 17 at 7:30pm CST (Ganz Hall 430 S. Michigan Ave., 7th Floor Chicago, IL 60605). Also included on the program will be music by Adolphus Hailstork, Arvo Pärt, William Grant Still, and Valerie Coleman. More information is available here. |
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Anton von Sehrwald (BM ’21) wins First Prize in Twisted Spruce Composition Competition Composer and guitarist Anton von Sehrwald – a first-year Master of Music candidate in the Composition Department of Mannes School of Music, College of Performing Arts at The New School in New York City – has been awarded the First Prize for Composition at the 2021 Twisted Spruce Symposium and Competition, October 1, 2021, for his new piece for guitar solo, Beyond Reach.The symposium pairs guitarists with composers to collaborate in producing new repertoire for guitar that the guitarists then premiere in a showcase of symposium works. Additionally, guitarists must perform a piece written after 1990, and a third work of their choice from any style or era. Anton’s top prize-winning composition, Beyond Reach was written for Indiana University Master’s candidate in guitar performance Marisa Sardo, who recently commissioned Anton to write a guitar sonata for her. Beyond Reach is the first movement of that work in progress.Marisa won the Guitar Prize at the Twisted Spruce Symposium and Competition for her performances. |
Student News |
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Cleveland Chamber Symphony NEOSonicFest 2020 Features New Work by Daixuan Ai. The Cleveland Chamber Symphony will be premiering 10 chamber ensemble pieces as part of CCS’s 2020 Young & Emerging Composers Concert on October 31, 2021, at 3 p.m. Daixuan Ai’s piece Three Xiangxi Folk Songs (2020) will be performed on this concert. You may attend the concert virtually via an internet link that will be posted on CCS’s website: clevelandchambersymphony.org |
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Album Release of Newly Commissioned Work by Daniel Cueto Daniel Cueto’s guitar ensemble work Alcatraz, commissioned in 2020 by the Sicarú Ensemble and the FONCA (National Endowment for Culture) of México, has been recorded by Sicarú in their new album Candombé!. The album will be commercially available on November 26 and will be accompanied by a release event on Mexican national radio. Listen to the release event on November 26, 11:30pm (Indiana time) through this link. |
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Seare Farhat Selected for Collaborations with JACK Quartet and GLFCAM Seare Farhat was invited to join the 2021 JACK Quartet Studio cohort. Through this, he will be commissioned to create a new work for the JACK Quartet through two-year residency, which will culminate in a public premiere of the work in 2023. Seare was also selected as a Balhest Eeble Composer Fellow for the 2021-23 cycle through the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. He will have a new work workshopped and performed by resident performers Nathalie Joachim, Haruka Fujji, and Charles Overton in June 2022. |
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Isaac Smith Selected as Arranger for New Brass Album Isaac Smith has been selected to collaborate as an arranger with professional brass quintet The Game Brass on their upcoming album of video game covers, Brass Effect. He has previously collaborated with the group as a tubist and euphonist on their most recent album, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda: The Horns of Hyrule. The upcoming album will consist of space-themed video game music scored for brass by several arrangers chosen by the group. Isaac will be arranging “Rockmen: Battle” from the award-winning indie game FTL: Faster than Light. The release of the album on their Bandcamp and YouTube channel is planned for early 2022. |
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Undergraduate Walker Smith Presents his Chemistry Research at Pfizer Headquarters and Rice University
Undergraduate Music Composition and Chemistry double major Walker Smith has had a very successful semester of organic chemistry research. Following a productive summer of research funded by a prestigious Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the American Chemical Society, he has had the chance to present his work in several national conferences. In September he presented at Pfizer headquarters to an audience of industry leaders and distinguished academic professors. In October, he presented his work at the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium at Rice University and received the “Outstanding Presentation in Organic Chemistry” award. His summer research project focused on developing methods using light to enable cycloaddition reactions. Cycloadditions are important for the synthesis of medicines and natural products, but existing methods for these reactions are currently very limited. Walker plans to continue pursuing his research and sharing his work! |
Faculty News |
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Don Freund Premieres and Performances in Auer Recitals Don Freund presented 4 of his recent Piano Preludes in his September “Music for Heavy Listening” (Bach and Freund) Auer Hall piano recital, including the premiere of his Prelude 2021 constituent contusions (insurrection echoes). A mid-October “Sundays in Auer” concert featured the premiere of his bassoon quartet Tonal Fabrications and three other major chamber works. Just posted on YouTube is Freund’s Saxophone Scrolling Score Playlist, including new videos of his Sunscapes concerto and Louder than Words. |
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