Welcome to the inaugural edition of High Notes: News from CFA School of Music. High Notes is intended as a monthly information column that highlights the high notes achieved by our students. Feel free to pass along any items of interest, especially related to our students and alums, directly to Cami Sylvia.
September 2020
Fall 2020—CFA School of Music Embraces Learn from Anywhere
Yes, we are back in the building. We are making music. We are studying, composing, writing, singing, and playing. Some of us are live in-person, some are remote, and some are embracing hybrid pedagogical models. All are thriving. This is how you study and make music in a pandemic!
With the enormous efforts of the SoM staff, the doors swung open on the first day of classes. Practice rooms were assigned to enable contact tracing. Studio lessons were scheduled. Weekly testing protocols were followed. And… after so much organization and time, the orchestras, choruses, and wind ensemble finally began to perform according to a reduced, but safe and socially distanced rehearsal strategy.
During the first few weeks of the semester, there were musical pop-up concerts offered by string players, contributing enormously to the soundscape of the building. From day one, new technologies helped engage students in new ways both in our classrooms as well as at home around the world. While there are no public concerts planned for the semester due to COVID-19 concerns, there will nevertheless be planned livestream events and recorded concerts sprinkled throughout the semester. Stay tuned to hear some terrific music-making from the CFA School of Music.
New Faculty
The SoM welcomed 5 new colleagues to 855 Commonwealth Avenue this semester: Jamie Burton (orchestral conducting), Kelly Bylica (Music Education), David Guzman (voice), Brian Kellum (Music Education), and Gareth Smith (Music Education). Each brings enormous talent and energy to their work with our students.
Students, Events, and Successes
- Recent CFA SoM alumna Lina González-Granados recently won Third Prize in the prestigious International “La Maestra” conducting competition in addition to being awarded the Special Prize for European Concert Halls. The award ceremony just concluded at the Philarmonie de Paris Concert Hall with the Mozart Paris Orchestra. Wonderful news for the CFA SoM in Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept.15-Oct.15). Over the summer, Lina was also a recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and $50,000 career grant.
- Recent CFA tuba graduate Jose Martínez has launched a new website. Jose is principal tuba of the National Orchestra of Spain as well as a member of Duo2Arts!, a dance and music project cofounded with ballerina Sherezade Soriano.
- Online DMA Music Education student Mark Potvin decided the best way to rehearse one of his choirs given COVID-19 restrictions was in an outdoor pool! Mark is currently an instructor of music and a conductor at Luther College in Iowa. Read the article here.
- Katja Kleyensteuber, on-campus BU Master’s Music Ed student, has written a children's book to help students choose an instrument (especially during COVID times). It's available on Amazon - or you can purchase a PDF directly from Katja.
- DMA Composition Student Jinhee Han has had two of her works published this year. To my daughter for trumpet and bass trombone is featured in this year’s Women And Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture. Additionally, Echo me (ii) for trumpet and b-flat clarinet and Echoes of home (i) for bassoon, cello, and piano were selected for BabelScores.
Best,
Gregory Melchor-Barz, Ph.D.
Director and Professor
Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Music
Founded in 1872, Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Music combines the intimacy and intensity of traditional conservatory-style training with a broad liberal arts education at the undergraduate level and elective coursework at the graduate level. The school offers degrees in performance, conducting, composition and theory, musicology, music education, and historical performance, as well as artist and performance diplomas and a certificate program in its Opera Institute.
Learn More about School of Music