Welcome to the eighth issue 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.
April 2021
Celebrations — As musicians (performers, musicologists, theorists, educators, composers, ethnomusicologists), we all know how to celebrate. It’s built into our musical DNA. We applaud at the end of concerts and recitals. We applaud at the end of academic papers. We applaud at end-of-term classes. Our applause signals both a sonic closure and…celebration. Closure comes in a variety of forms this year. In many ways, we celebrate our fortitude and our resilience frequently with the applause “reaction” in Zoom chat rooms. And yet many, if not all, of us look forward to more familiar degrees of normalcy in which we can openly celebrate our art and our craft in real time.
Spring. It is the time of year in the academic calendar when we traditionally take a collective, deep breath as we step back from our books, scores, and class notes in order to assess and evaluate our individual achievements. Alums, you certainly remember such moments. And as alums, I’m sure all of you also celebrate closure on new and challenging projects. If any alums out there have “words of wisdom” to pass along to our current and graduating students in the CFA School of Music, feel free to send them along to me. I will be happy to share them with our students.
You can reach me at barz@bu.edu. I look forward to hearing your “words of wisdom”; we will surely learn from each other’s stories.
Calling All CFA School of Music Alums Out There!
We’d like to hear from all alums. What are you up to? New jobs or positions? New creative projects, compositions, performances? Any awards? We want to hear from you. Please communicate directly with Director Gregory Melchor-Barz at barz@bu.edu with your degree and class year, please.
Achievements from the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology
The 2021 Conference for the Northeast Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology (NECSEM) was held on April 10th. The conference featured PhD candidate Duncan Reehl (CFA’24), PhD student Nathaniel Braddock (CFA’27), and Prof. Michael Birenbaum Quintero, who offered the Keynote Address. Congratulations to our fine students and faculty! View the program here.
Chaeyoung Lee (CFA’23), a PhD candidate in Musicology & Ethnomusicology, was awarded an Angela J. & James J. Rallis Memorial Award and a Clarimond Mansfield Award from the BU Center for the Humanities to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in Korea for her dissertation project, “Music and Freedom Across the Border: A Study of Socio-Musical Lives of North Korean Defector Musicians in South Korea.”
Ethnomusicology PhD candidate Duncan Reehl (CFA’24) was awarded a Japan Studies Graduate Research Fellowship from the Japan Foundation to carry out research in Japan for his dissertation project, “Sonic Sutures: An Ethnography of Japanese Buddhist Sounds."
Music Education Celebrations
Many congratulations to DMA in Music Education student Krista Williams (CFA’21), who completed a dazzling seminar on April 1st on her dissertation, “Counterspaces in Band Programs: Experiences of African American Female Band Directors at the Secondary Level.” Many thanks to committee members Gareth Dylan Smith (dissertation supervisor), Liz Gould (second reader), and Tawnya Smith (third reader), whose insights into Krista’s fabulous work were invaluable.
The 12th International Research in Music Education (RiME) Conference, hosted by the Royal College of Music in London, took place April 6th–9th. Prof. Kelly Bylica and DMA student Betty Bauman (CFA’25) presented the following: “Teaching in the Time of COVID-19: Pedagogical Creativity and Epistemological Agility in Music Education.”
DMA Music Education alum Emelyne Bingham (CFA’21) gave a keynote talk at the ABLE conference at Berklee on April 10th on the topic, “Intersectionality and The Social Model of Disability: Reframing Educational Practice.” You can view the presentation at this link.
The National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference was held from April 22nd–24th. Current student and alumni presentations were:
- DMA alum Bryan Powell (CFA’11): Opportunities and Challenges of Modern Band in the Classroom: A Facilitated Discussion Open to All Attendees
- DMA alum Bryan Powell (CFA’11) and Matthew Clauhs: Teaching Core Arts Through Modern Band
- DMA student Jonathan Dillon (CFA’25): Elementary Digital Part-Singing Instruction for Elementary Students
- DMA alum Warren Gramm (CFA’21): Using Ukulele and Technology in Modern
- DMA alum Jennifer Greene (CFA’14): Connecting and Responding With Your Students: Addressing Diversity in the Large Ensemble
Along with colleague Dr. Georgiary Bledsoe, DMA alum Sonya White Hope (CFA’16) will co-direct SankofaSongs Summer Institute: A Virtual Conference for Music Educators and Administrators, PreK–College from July 22nd–24th. With a theme of Scott Joplin’s grand opera Treemonisha, the 2021 institute will offer three days of programming to music teachers and arts administrators, collegiate music education faculty, music education majors, homeschooling, and other interested parents, as well as high school students interested in careers in music education. For more information and to register, please visit SankofaSongs.org.
CFA SoM Presents the African American Song Recital Project
The latest collaboration from Boston University CFA SoM showcases graduate and undergraduate students from the departments of Voice and Collaborative Piano. Curated by Prof. Douglas Sumi and Prof. Shiela Kibbe, the African American Song Recital Project introduced singers and pianists to a catalogue of repertoire that is immensely rewarding to performers and listeners. Click here to access the project’s webpage.
As Prof. Kibbe notes, “Art songs by African American composers and composers of the African diaspora are rich and diverse in poetic heritage, harmonic language, and compositional style. Although African American composers have set texts by many authors and poets, they have been especially drawn to the words of African American writers. Three of the most influential African American poets were Paul Dunbar, James Weldon Johnson, and Langston Hughes.” Watch and listen to this compilation of art songs. The recital program notes written by Prof. Kibbe provide background information on the composers, poets, and texts.
BU SoM Opera Institute Streaming for Virtual Fringe & Mansfield Park
The Opera Institute recently streamed Virtual Fringe and their production of Mansfield Park. The 24th installment of the Fringe Festival at BU consisted of three series, which were each released individually from April 8th–10th. Please find a release about the streamed Fringe Festival performances for your use/reference here. The stream of Mansfield Park went live on Friday, April 23rd at 7:30 p.m. EDT. To read more about the Mansfield Park production, click here.
OI Student Advances in Competitions
Prof. William Lumpkin announces that Kaileigh Riess (CFA’21) has advanced to the finals of the Lotte Lenya Competition. “This is a tremendous achievement and we are extremely proud of her extraordinary talent. I’ll also note the extraordinary efforts of our OI faculty in working with Kaileigh on her unique repertoire required for this competition and for the extra time in helping her create the audition videos.” In addition to the Lotte Lenya Competition, Kaileigh has also been selected as a finalist in the Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition. Kaileigh is currently in the studio of Prof. Penelope Bitzas.
From the Voice Studio of Penelope Bitzas
Soprano Katrina Galka (CFA’13) has advanced to the finals of the Lotte Lenya Competition along with current OI student Kaileigh Riess. Katrina also made her Zurich Opera debut as Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann. The production is available as video on demand until the end of April. Katrina is a former student of Prof. Penelope Bitzas.
Isaac Kim (CFA’17,19), bass, made his debut with Korea National Opera in “Opera Journey” held April 9th–11th. Isaac was a student of Prof. Dr. Jerrold Pope and Prof. Penelope Bitzas.
Choral Lab Final Project
Prof. Ruth Debrot shares a fabulous composition and recording by Ryan Van Fleet (CFA’22), an undergraduate voice student in the Choral Lab. His final project, an original composition, is called “When You Are Old.” The text is by William Butler Yeats. Click here.
Adam Hanna Wins BU Arts Initiative Grant and Is Elected to BMA’s Anti-Racism Committee
We are pleased to announce that DMA student Adam Hanna (CFA’24) has been awarded a grant from the BU Arts Initiative to support his Native American Concerto for Orchestra project, which will appear as part of the Indigenous Voices in the Americas series. Additionally, Adam has been elected as the first Native American member of the Boston Musician Association’s Anti-Racism Committee. This is great news, not only for Indigenous representation, but also for the CFA SoM. We are proud to have Adam representing Boston University in this great opportunity. Congratulations, Adam.
SoM Students Featured in Innovate@BU
2 SoM students competed in Innovate@BU’s Annual New Venture Competition, BU’s biggest pitch competition, on Friday, April 16th. There are two competition tracks: General Ideas and Social Impact Ideas. Both SoM projects are part of the General Ideas track:
- Faith Rodgers (CFA’22): Phonetic Beats teaches phonetic literacy to small children through hip hop music
- Zhuqing Zhang (CFA’22): Sky International Music Education provides online music lessons from teachers around the world and students in China
Innovate@BU is a University-wide initiative to enable all BU Terriers to become drivers of innovation in their own lives, careers, and communities. Innovate@BU's physical home, the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center, hosts experiential learning programs that foster an entrepreneurial mindset and help students develop innovation, communication, and collaboration skills.
From the Viola Studio of Michelle LaCourse
Rayna Yun Chou (CFA’25), DMA candidate, has been chosen to receive a Social Impact Seed Grant from CFA to support and sustain her non-profit project, Accel., an educational website that helps students navigate the audition and admissions process as they apply for music schools. Rayna was the creator and director of the "Concert for One" series on the Celebrity Series of Boston in 2019, and created an experiential installation "I Hear the Light", an experimental social immersive exhibition in Taiwan in 2020, which is now the subject of a documentary film.
Anqing Liu (CFA’21), finishing the MM degree (LfA) in China, has just won a new full-time position in the NingBo Symphony Orchestra. Anqing won a full-time job with the China Academy Orchestra in Beijing earlier this academic year.
Zhuqing Zhang (CFA’22), DMA candidate, has won second prize and funding to further develop and sustain her online music teaching/learning platform “Sky International Music Education” in Innovate@BU's Annual New Venture Competition, BU’s biggest pitch competition. Her company strives to make quality teaching available to children throughout China (and beyond) who would otherwise not have access. In addition to providing online lessons, the program includes diagnostic tools for practice planning, progress monitoring and analysis, and interactive graphics.
A Note on the Music Performance Major
Read The Daily Free Press article highlighting SoM sophomore Molly Farrar (CFA’23) — “Music school is about creating the distinction between being just a cellist and being an artist.” Click here.
Flutist Sonia Richman Joins Marine Fleet Band
Although on a leave of absence, student Sonia Richman, a student of Geralyn Coticone, just won a flute position in the Marine Fleet Band program. Upon completion of Recruit Training and Marine Combat Training, she will enter the Marine Corps as a Private First Class with a Military Occupational Specialty of flute instrumentalist in the Fleet Band program. We applaud Sonia’s achievement!
Terrific News for SoM Student Alyssa Primeau
News flash from Prof. Linda Toote: Alyssa Primeau (CFA’20), the 2020 first prize winner of the Pappoutsakis Competition and current first-year DMA student, has been invited to join the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as a regular member beginning with the 2021-22 season. The position comes with a stipend and offers the opportunity to play and work with musicians of the Chicago Symphony. "Founded in 1919, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago has trained thousands of the nation's finest emerging professional musicians while presenting free concerts at Symphony Center and in schools and other neighborhood venues throughout Greater Chicago.” Alyssa has been a wonderful presence in the flute studio at BU and will be sorely missed.
SoM Alumna Releases New Book
Dr. Brittany Lasch (CFA’16) has published Book of Arias, a collection of 33 opera arias transcribed for trombone. It has already become a top seller! Congratulations, Dr. Lasch!
News from DMA Student Angela DiBartolomeo
We are pleased to announce that DMA horn student Angela DiBartolomeo (CFA’23) recently published an article in a horn newsletter on her Lecture Recital topic of Messiaen's Interstellar Call for solo horn. Angela extends her gratitude to Prof. Andrew Shenton and Prof. Justin Casinghino for their guidance. The Cornucopia newsletter has been running for decades and has thousands of horn-playing subscribers across the world.
SoM Alumna Advances in Rubinstein Piano Competition Finals
Pianist Alexia Mouza (CFA’13) is one of six finalists in the Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, and was voted one of two Audience Favorites. She will perform with the Israeli Philharmonic this week on April 29th and 30th. Alexia received the Artist Diploma from the School of Music, where she studied with Professor Boaz Sharon.
DMA Pianist Xiaopei Xu To Perform at Stewart Gardner Museum
Pianist Xiaopei Xu (CFA’21), a DMA candidate from the studio of Professor Boaz Sharon, will give a recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Calderwood Hall in Boston on Friday, May 14th at 8:00pm. The program can be found here and you can reserve your seat here. Seats will be released first-come-first-served till the allowed capacity is reached. A video recording of the entire concert will be on YouTube about one week after the performance at this link.
Annual Richmond Piano Competition
News from Prof. Tanya Gabrielian: "Congratulations to all of our participants for the Richmond Competition! Our esteemed judges, Ursula Oppens, Stephen Beus, and Sergio Ruiz, were so impressed, and we are so proud to have such a high caliber of performances that we can show off!” Here are the results:
- First Prize: Tianhong Yang (CFA'23)
- Second Prize: Xiaopei Xu (CFA'21)
- Special Prizes for Best Performance of a Black Composer: Alexandru Prigalo (CFA'21) and Anran Qian (CFA'25)
100 Years for 'Carolina Shout' by James P. Johnson
This year marks the 100th-year anniversary of James P. Johnson’s “Carolina Shout”, the first-ever recording of a piano jazz composition. Prof. Boaz Sharon writes, “This work was the Golden Standard by which aspiring jazz pianists of the ’20’s and ’30’s were judged in the famous Harlem ‘Rent Parties’, which, as the name indicates, helped pay the rent by providing attendees with food and drink. Some of the jazz piano legends competed against each other, including Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller and Art Tatum.”
Enjoy a special rendition of “Carolina Shout”, featuring DMA pianist Chengcheng Ma (CFA’23) and undergraduate percussionist Jeff Sagurton (CFA’22). Chengcheng is in the studio of Professor Boaz Sharon, and Jeff has studied with Kyle Brightwell, Timothy Genis, and Samuel Solomon.
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.