Jooyoung Ahn (MM ’85) is a candidate for music director and conductor of the Port Angeles Symphony.
Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee was a Grand Prize winner in the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, receiving $15,000 for career advancement. He was a Shepherd School Master’s student from 2012-14. Mezzo-soprano Allegra De Vita ’14 was one of the competition’s semifinalists. Both singers performed onstage with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as part of the Grand Finals Concert.
Trombonist Mike Clayville (MM ’06) is a member of the contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, which will be touring Korea in April 2015. He is a founding member of NOVUS trombone quartet, which is currently raising funds for a new album.
Piano student Yurie Farnsworth won the Piano Division First Prize and the overall Grand Prize at the 2015 Young Texas Artists Music Competition.
Violin student Tianjie Lu and alumnus Luke Hsu (BM ’12) were selected to compete in the 54th International Violin Competition “Premio Paganini” in Genoa, Italy.
Artist Diploma student Lin Ma has won the position of Associate Principal/2nd Clarinet and E-flat Clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony.
Abigail McKee (MM ’05) has been named the first executive director of the Bach Collegium in San Diego.
The Prismatic Wind Quintet has been accepted to the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. The group includes James Blanchard (flute), Tamer Edlebi (oboe), Nicholas Davies (clarinet), Markus Osterlund (horn), and Issac Schultz (bassoon).
Four Shepherd School alumni will be traveling to Honduras this May as part of an annual outreach sponsored by the America Embassy in Honduras. Hunter Capoccioni (BM ’01, MM ’03), Nathan Cook (MM ’00, DMA ’05), Daphne Gerling (DMA ’07), and Kirsten Yon (DMA ’08) will be teaching lessons to young people in Tegucigalpa.
The Verona String Quartet, which includes violinist alumna Dorothy Ro (MM ’14), won Second Prize in the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.
Voice student Jack Swanson, tenor, won First Place in the San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club Young Artists Competition.
Meta Weiss (BM ’09) performed in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan as part of an American Music Abroad tour with the ensemble Break of Reality.