Master’s student Sam Almaguer has accepted a two-year position as Principal Clarinet of the North Carolina Symphony.
Former student Nicholas Brownlee, tenor (graduate studies 2014), won first place in the Palm Springs Opera Guild Vocal Competition in December 2014.
Kristen Bruya (MM ’06) has been appointed Principal Double Bass of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Jennifer Johnson Cano (MM ’08) and Carolyn Sproule (MM ’12), mezzo-sopranos, appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s recent production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Cano is also a finalist in the 2015 International Opera Awards in the Young Singer category.
Alumni Mike Clayville (MM ’06), Garrett Schumann (BM ’10), and Joelle Zigman (BM ’12) were presenters at the inaugural New Music Gathering in January 2015 held at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Nina DeCesare (BM ’14) has been appointed to the double bass section of the Oregon Symphony.
Master’s voice student Ben Edquist, baritone, is a finalist in the Houston Grand Opera’s 2015 Concert of Arias competition for young singers.
Gabriela Lena Frank, (BM ’94, MM ’96) is Composer-in-Residence with the Houston Symphony.
Former student Danielle Kuhlmann (graduate studies 2007) has joined the horn section of the San Diego Symphony.
Brady Lanier (BM ’92) is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Viola da Gamba Performance at Indiana University and is working as an arranger and composer.
Adam Lau, bass (MM ’10) and Amy Owens, soprano (MM ’12) have been cast in Opera Naples’ production of Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte in February 2015.
Master’s student Ian Mayton has been appointed as Fourth Horn of the Houston Symphony.
Kevin Pearl (MM ‘12) has won Assistant Principal/Second Oboe with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. All members of the section are now Shepherd School alumni (Katherine Young Steele MM ’03 – Principal Oboe; Margaret Butler MM ’93 – English Horn).
Lauren Snouffer, soprano (MM ’09) and Rafael Moras, tenor (MM ’14) performed theroles of Konstanze and Pedrillo, respectively, in the Houston Symphony’s semi-staged performance of Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio in January 2015.
Jonathan Swartz (BM ’95, DMA ’03) has been named Artistic Director of Madeline Island Music Camp in Minnesota.
Dawson White (MM ’12) is a violist with the Houston Ballet and serves as Adjunct Professor of Viola & Chamber Music at Sam Houston State University.
Carlos Vicente (MM ’05) is the Director of Marketing at Sarasota Opera.