RECENT APPOINTMENTS
Congratulations to the following students and alumni on their recent professional appointments!
Sam Almaguer (MM studies) – Second Clarinet, Detroit Symphony Orchestra (2014-15 season)
Four of our voice alumni join the Los Angeles Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program this fall: Nicholas Brownlee, Frederick Ballentine, Rafael Moras (all MM’14) and Brenton Ryan (MM’11).
Kayla Burggraf (BM ’14) – Principal Flute, Des Moines Symphony
Megan (Levin) Conley (BM ’05, MM ’09) – Principal Harp, Houston Symphony
Marcus DeLoach (DMA ’14) – Assistant Professor of Voice, Temple University
Eric Esparza (BM ’00, MM ’06) – Director of Choral Activities, DePaul University.
Carlton Ford (MM ‘12) – baritone, Ensemble singer, Deutsche Oper Berlin (2014-15 season).
Molly Gebrian (DMA ’13) – Assistant Professor of Viola, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
William Gerlach (MM studies) – Principal Trumpet, National Symphony Orchestra
Allyson Goodman (MM ‘13) – Principal Viola, Washington National Opera and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
Henrik Heide (BM ’10) – Associate Principal Flute, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Miran Kim (MM studies) – First violin section, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Sean Krissman (current Master’s student) – Principal Clarinet, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
Danielle Kuhlmann (MM studies) – Second Horn, San Diego Symphony
Lin Ma (AD studies) – Interim Second Clarinet, Houston Symphony (2014-15 season)
Ben Odhner (MM ’14) – Section violin, Colorado Symphony
Michael Severance (MM ’14) – Third Bassoon/Contrabassoon, San Francisco Opera
Rachel Shepard (MM ’12) – Assistant Concertmaster, Houston Ballet
Rachel Sigman (MM ’14) joins the Utah Opera Resident Artist Program this fall.
Keith Stonum (BM ’08) – Cologne Opera
Scott Strong (MM studies) – Third Horn, Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Anastasia Sukhopara (MM ’14) – Section violin, Houston Symphony (2014-15 season).
Julie Thayer (MM ’09) – Horn, St. Louis Symphony
Cassandra Kunkel Tilly, Esq. (BM ’89) – Executive Director, Opera Fairbanks
Dawson White (MM ’12) – Section viola, Houston Ballet Orchestra
Melissa Wilmot (MM ’14) – First violin section, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
Yi Zhao (MM ’13 / AD studies) – Assistant Concertmaster, Colorado Symphony
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ALUMNI NEWS
Conrad Cornelison and Teresa Procter (both MM ’14) have been selected as Da Camera of Houston Young Artist Fellows for the 2014-15 season.
The Mexican National Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Charles Halka’s (DMA ’13) orchestral work, Impact. The piece kicked off the opening concert of the 36th annual International New Music Forum in Mexico City in May.
Harpist Mason Morton (BM ’10) appeared on season nine of NBC’s America’s Got Talent as part of the foursome Sons of Serendip. The group advanced to the competition finale and finished fourth out of some 100,000 acts that auditioned for a place on the show.
This summer’s PARMA Music Festival in Portsmouth, New Hampshire included performances by pianist Kris Becker (MM ’07) and violinist Christine Kim (MM ’06, DMA ’10), and a performance of Mechanismus, an electronic composition by Garrett Schumann (BM ’10).
The Pegasus Trio (violinist Yi Zhao (MM ’14); cellist Coleman Itzkoff (BM ’14); and pianist Andrew Staupe (current DMA student) were an ensemble in residence at the La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest 2014.
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STUDENT NEWS
Freshman violist David Berghoff was among the winners in the Junior Division of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition – his Quartet Fuoco took the First Place Medal and Scholarship.
The Maestro Foundation in California awarded Master’s student Anthony Bracewell a new violin by competitive audition.
Pianists Hui Shan Chin and Ryo Kaneko placed First and Second, respectively, in the PianoSummer at New Paltz’s Jacob Flier International Piano Competition. As part of Chin’s first place win, she performed Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 in G minor with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic.
Junior violinist Rhea Chung and sophomore cellist Daniel Tavani performed as soloists with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in June, an honor they received as past winners of the NSO’s Young Soloists’ Competition for D.C.-area high school students.
In May, Master’s trumpet student George Goad won First Place in the Orchestral Excerpt Competition at the International Trumpet Guild conference.
Artist Diploma student Lin Ma won the $25,000 First Prize in the Houston Symphony’s 2014 Ima Hogg Concerto Competition for young artists.
The New York Philharmonic and Music Academy of the West have selected Shepherd students Anthony Bellino (trumpet), Sean Krissman (clarinet), Jennifer Zhou (flute) and alumnus Michael Severance (MM ‘14), bassoon, to participate in their first-ever Global Academy Initiative partnership. As part of the fellowship program, they will study and perform with the New York Philharmonic in January 2015.
Freshman violist Austin Simmons won Third Place in the Chamber Music International Young Artists’s Solo Music Competition in June.
In June, Master’s percussion student Michael Stubbart appeared as a soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra in Russel Peck’s Concerto for Percussion Trio, The Glory and the Grandeur.
Shepherd School doctoral student Zhu Zhu was a recipient of Rice University’s Lodieska Stockbridge Vaughn Fellowship in May. This prestigious award goes to graduate students whose record at Rice shows evidence of outstanding achievement and promise.