Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Efrain Amaya (MM ’88) – Minot State University, Minot Symphony Director

Josh Baker (current Master’s student) – Principal Bassoon, Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra

Aubrey Bergauer (BA/BM ’05) – Executive Director, California Symphony

Maura Corvington (MM ’13) – Second horn, Rochester Philharmonic

Ben Edquist (MM ’15) – Houston Grand Opera Studio Artist, 2015-16

Karl Fenner (MM ‘06) – Section double bass, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Antoinette Gan (MM ’15) – Section cello, Oregon Symphony

Joseph Grimmer (MM ’13) – Principal Bassoon, Washington National Opera and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra

Jonathan Gunn (BM ’94) – Principal Clarinet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (from Acting Principal)

Greg Hammond (MM ’15) – Trombone, United States Army Band

Henrik Heide (MM ’09) – Associate Principal Flute, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Evan Hulbert (BM ’15) – Associate Principal Bass, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Andrea Jarrett (MM ’15) – Second violin section, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Pam Kiesling (MM ’08) and Alex Kovling (MM ’15) – Horn, U.S. Navy Band, Washington

Erin Lano (MM ’07) – Second/Third Horn, Richmond Symphony

Lin Ma (MM ’13) – Assistant Principal and E-flat Clarinet, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Jarita Ng (MM ’15) – Section Viola, Houston Symphony

Richard Rhoads (MM ’84) – Associate Director/Organist, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wilmington, NC and accompanist, Wilmington Boys’ Choir

Dorothy Ro (MM ’14) – Violinist in the Verona Quartet, appointed as the new graduate string quartet in residence at the Juilliard School

Amulet Strange (MM ’14) – Principal Flute, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra

John Turman (BM ’15) – Third horn, Seattle Symphony

Kelly Zimba (MM ’15) – Flute/piccolo, New World Symphony

Jennifer Zhou (MM ’16) – Flute, National Repertory Orchestra

David D. Connor, double bass (MM ’13); Anthony Parce, viola (BM ’09), and Hellen Weberpal, cello (MM ’12) are part of the first group of Houston Symphony Community-Embedded Musicians who will spend time in schools, neighborhoods and health care settings, as well as perform onstage with the orchestra, beginning in the fall of 2015.

Competitions, Awards, Performances, and Premieres

Monica Czausz (current undergraduate student)  won First Place in the Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition in September 2015.

Maria Failla (BM ’11) performed the role of Antonia and understudied Aldonza in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s in-house production of Man of la Mancha.

Jessica Goldbaum (MM ’15) is one of five musicians selected from a national search to participate in the International Cultural Exchange for Classical Musicians for 2015-16.  The program places talented young musicians in a 10 month residency performance program with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, Bosnia.

Charles Halka (DMA ’13) is one of ten American composers chosen for the 2015 Copland House Residency Awards, all-expenses-paid stays at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley.  The Residents will live and work, one at a time, for three to eight weeks in the house near New York City.  As Copland House Residents, they will also become eligible for post-residency awards, commissions, and performances that advance their work.

Career Updates

Junko Ueno Garrett (DMA ’98) is a Piano Instructor at Occidental College in Los Angeles.  In 2015-16 she will be making a South American solo concert tour, performing and conducting masterclasses in several cities in Brazil, Uruguay, and Chile as part of a cultural exchange organized by the Japanese government.