Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Drew Banzhaf (MM ’14) – Double Bass section (one-year position), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Kayla Burggraf (BM ’14) – Principal Flute, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra

Conrad Cornelison (MM ’14) – Adjunct Professor of Bassoon, University of North Florida

Hannah Hammel (MM ’17) – Principal Flute, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Jordan Koransky (MM ’16) – Second Violin section, Houston Symphony Orchestra

Bryan Parkhurst (BM ’07) – Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Aural Skills, Oberlin College and Conservatory

Ivy Ringel (current Master’s student) – Principal Bassoon, The Atlanta Opera

Carey Skinner (BM ’15) – Campaign Associate in the Philanthropy & Advancement Department, The Cleveland Orchestra

Anastasia Sukhopara (MM ’14) – Second Violin section, Houston Symphony Orchestra

Ernie Tovar (current Master’s student) – Fourth Horn, The Philadelphia Orchestra

Competitions, Awards, Performances and Premieres

Double bassist Drew Banzhaf (MM ’14), oboist Margaret Butler (MM ’93) and clarinetist Elizandro Garcia-Montoya (MM ’03) participated in the 27th annual Midsummer’s Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, featuring multiple chamber music programs including works by Eastern European composers.

Current Doctoral student Michael Clark was awarded the Music Teachers National Association Professional Certification. Michael currently studies piano performance with Professor of Piano Dr. Robert Roux.

The Dover String Quartet (MM ’13) released their second album called “Voice of Defiance.” The CD includes Czech composer Viktor Ullmann’s String Quartet No. 3, Op. 46, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68 and Polish composer Szymon Laks’s String Quartet No. 3.

Alumnus Thomas Glass (MM ’16) is the newest addition to the IMG Artists New York Vocal roster. Baritone Thomas is a 2017-2018 Studio Artist at Houston Grand Opera, where he debuted as Baron Duphol in La Traviata.

The inauguration of alumnus Cristle Collins Judd (BM & MM ’83) as Sarah Lawrence College’s 11th president took place on Friday, October 2, 2017.

Alumna Meghan Kasanders (MM ’16) won first place at The Mildred Miller International Voice Competition with the Pittsburgh Festival Opera. Meghan is currently a Young Artist at Opera Saratoga.

Alumnus Joseph Kingma (MM ’13) was the first prize winner of the 2017 Franz Liszt Festival and International Piano Competition.

Pianist Dr. Andreas Klein (DMA ’89) performed the opening concert of the 2017-2018 Brookings-Harbor Friends of Music season. He also opened the 2017-2018 Crooked Tree Arts Center Performing Arts Series in October.

Composer Benjamin Krause’s (DMA ’14) new work String Quartet No. 1 “Cascades” was premiered by the Delgani String Quartet as part of their Cascade Quartet Project; connecting music and landscape through composition, performance, and documentation.

Cellist Francesca McNeeley (MM ’14) and composer Andrew Schneider (BM ’13) are among the roster of Seven Eight Artists, a Houston based Artist Management.

The New York Youth Symphony premiered composer Hilary Purrington’s (BM ’13) composition Daylight at Carnegie Hall in New York this past November.

Alumnus Ricardo Rivera-Soto (MM ’17) was accepted into the Ryan Opera Center, the professional artist-development program for Lyric Opera of Chicago, for the 2018-2019 season.

The Rolston String Quartet (MM ’17) was showcased at the Five Boroughs Music 2017-18 Festival.

Soprano Clara Rottsolk (MM ’02) was among other soloists who performed Mozart’s choral masterpiece Mass in C Minor with the American Classical Orchestra at the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.

Maestro Alastair Willis (MM ’99) conducted his first performance as the music director of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.

Violist Rachel Kuipers Yonan (BM ’08) joined the Ciompi Quartet for two performances this fall in Baldwin Auditorium located at Duke University.

Violinist Jude Ziliak (MM ’11) is the 2018 recipient of the Jeffrey Thomas Award from the American Bach Soloists. The Jeffrey Thomas Award is given annually to a young musician who demonstrates extraordinary promise and accomplishments in the field of early music.

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Zach Bridges (MM ’16) – Tuba section, U.S. Army Ceremonial Band

Lucinda Chiu (MM ’17) – First Violin section, Los Angeles Opera Orchestra

John Church (current Master’s student) – Principal Trombone, Portland Opera

Conrad Cornelison (MM ’14) – Principal Bassoon, Jacksonville Symphony

Stephen Farrell (MM ’17) – Trombone section, Naval Academy Band

Hunter Gordon (MM ’16) – Second Bassoon (one-year position), Charlotte Symphony Orchestra

Sean Gordon (MM ’15) – Second Bassoon, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra

Christian Gray (MM, currently LOA) – Double Bass section, Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center

Derek Jenkins (MM ’13) – Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition, Arkansas State University

Jonathan Kaplan (MM ’17) – Second Trumpet, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra

Milton R. Laufer (DMA ’98) – Director, Western Carolina University’s School of Music

Robert McClure (DMA ’13) – Assistant Professor of Composition/Theory, Ohio University

Boson Mo (current DMA student) – Acting Assistant Concertmaster, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Mike Myers (MM ’97) – Fourth Trumpet, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Robert O’Brien (current Master’s student) – Third Percussion, Houston Ballet Orchestra

Rebecca Reale (BM ’15) – First Violin, Los Angeles Philharmonic

Patty Ryan (MM ’17) – Cello, Artaria String Quartet

William Shaub (former AD student) – Concertmaster, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

Timothy Steeves (current DMA student) – Acting Associate Concertmaster, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Michael Stubbart (MM ’15) – Section Percussion (one-year position), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Hugo A. Valverde Villalobos (current Master’s student) – Second Horn, The Metropolitan Opera

Fei Xie (MM “06) – Principal Bassoon, Minnesota Orchestra

Dian Zhang (current DMA student) – First Violin section, San Francisco Opera

Competitions, Awards, Performances and Premieres

Two Shepherd School alums Frederick Ballentine (MM ’13) and Allegra De Vita (MM ’13) are members the 2017-18 Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists roster with Washington National Opera. The new class of young artists will perform in the Kennedy Center Opera House this coming season.

Composer Lembit Beecher’s (MM ’05) work I Have No Stories to Tell You was part of a site-specific double-bill including Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Lembit also had his work Sophia’s Forest premiered at Drexel University. This work is scored for five voices, custom-built sound sculptures, string quartet and percussion.

Three Shepherd alums Jennifer Johnson Cano (MM ’03), Adam Lau (MM ’10) and Jack Swanson (MM ’16), performed their Mostly Mozart debut in the opening night presentation of The Singing Heart at the Lincoln Center with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Alumnus Douglas DeVries (MM ’16) performed with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra. Other Shepherd School students in the orchestra are current masters students Nicole Haywood, Megan Wright and Emmy Tisdel and alums Eva Dove (MM ’17) and Amanda Galick (MM ‘15).

Alumnus Tommy Dougherty (MM ’15) was among the 2017 Morton Gould Young Composer Award winners from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Music Academy of the West’s 2018 New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program winners include Shepherd School alumna Hannah Hammel (MM ’17) and current graduate student Michael Marks.

Current undergraduate student Keith Hammer won the Aspen Music Festival and School Solo Percussion Competition. He performed Caméléon by Eric Sammut at the latest percussion ensemble concert.

Alumnus Michael Hewitt (MM ’17) performed the role of King Edward III in the 2017 Glimmerglass Festival’s American premiere of Donizetti’s The Siege of Calais. A glowing review emphasized that Michael’s “focused baritone has the weight to convey the darker emotions of an unsympathetic character.” (Opera Warhorses, 2005-2017: William’s Reviews)

Violinist Luke Hsu (BM ’12) won second prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the 2017 Michael Hill International violin competition in New Zealand. The Violin Channel also announced him as a Violin Channel Young Artist.

Alumnus in orchestral conducting Paul H Kirby’s (MM ’79) composition The Night of the Secretary General, a one-person music drama, will be presented October 21 and 22 in New York City, a joint sponsorship of Music at Our Saviour’s Atonement Lutheran Church and the Musicians Club of New York.  James Parks will perform the role of Dag Hammarskjöld.  Further information can be found on the websites of MOSA and MCNY.

Pianist Christina Krause (MM ’11) was selected as a winner of The Music Academy of the West’s 2017 Marilyn Horne Song Competition in Santa Barbara, along with soprano Hannah Rose Kidwell. Christina received the Regina Roney Prize ($5,000) and will be presented in a recital tour that includes a commissioned song cycle by composer Jake Heggie.

Alumnus Stephen Lamb (MM ’02) performed the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto with the U.S. Coast Guard Band on their tour concert in July.

Alumnus Cristian Macelaru (MM ’06, MM ’08) conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in two concerts at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Christian has also been appointed tenured conductor with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

Alumna Hilary Purrington (BM ’13) is the 2017 Underwood Commission Winner. She has received a $15,000 commission for a work that will be premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in a future season. She has also been selected to compose a new work for the New York Youth Symphony which will open the NYY’s 2017-18 season.

The Houston Symphony production of Wozzeck conducted by Hans Graf won the 2017 German ECHO Klassik for best opera recording of the year. Five Shepherd School alumni were part of the production: Frederick Ballentine (MM ‘14), Julia Dawson (MM ‘13), Calvin Griffin (MM ‘13), Brenton Ryan (MM ’11) and Samuel Schultz (BM ’09, MM ‘11). The CD album has also been released by Naxos Music Library.

The Rolston Quartet (MM ’17) were one of the guest ensembles at the 2017 Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival. They have presented masterclasses and given performances to twenty young artists and composers.

The Knoxville Orchestra shared a Q&A with alumnus and new concertmaster William Shaub (former AD student). William will be leading the orchestra is the upcoming 2017-18 season.

Alumna Caroline Shaw’s (BM ‘04) premiere of Broad and Free was performed by Shepherd School Professor of Violin Kathleen Winkler and pianist Conor Hanick at the Music Academy of the West. Caroline completed her undergraduate degree with Kathleen Winkler in violin performance.

Alumna Erin Wall (MM ’00) made her Blossom Music Festival debut with the Cleveland Orchestra singing in a performance titled A Night at the Opera this past July.

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Michael Accinno (BM ’06) – Appointed Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Riverside

Michelle Black (MM ’14) – First Violin Section, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

Tommy Carpenter (MM ’15) – Cello section, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Sophia Cho (BM ’14) – First Violin section, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

Stephen Farrell (MM ’17) – Trombone, United States Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland.

Daniel Hawkins (MM ’17) – Utility Horn, San Francisco Symphony

Natalie Hoe – (MM ’17) – Principal Clarinet, The Florida Orchestra

MuChen Jessica Hsieh (MM ’17) – Principal Second Violin, Houston Symphony Orchestra

Andy Liang (BM ’12, MM ’14) – Second Violin section, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Ryan Little (MM ’17) – Principal Horn, Naples Philharmonic, Florida

Andrew Pedersen (MM ’17) – Double Bass section, Houston Symphony Orchestra

Daryl Robinson (MM ’14) – Assistant Professor and Chair of Organ Studies at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and Cathedral Organist for Christ Church Cathedral, Houston.

Daniel Smith (BM ’13) – Associate Principal Double Bass, San Francisco Symphony

Alicia Valoti (MM ’10) – Appointed Assistant Professor of Viola and Chamber Music, Central Michigan University

Hugo A. Valverde Villalobos (current Master’s student) – Fourth Horn, Sarasota Orchestra

Joshua Vonderheide (current AD student) – Associate Principal Percussion, Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra

Competitions, Awards, Performances and Premieres

Alumnus Aaron Blake (MM ’10) was one of five top winners of the 46th annual George London Awards Competition for American and Canadian singers. He was awarded the George London-Lissner Charitable Fund Award of $10,000.

Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee (former Master’s student) was one of three winners to receive a 2017 Richard Tucker Career Grant as part of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. He also performed with the LA Opera singing Angelotti in Tosca

Grammy award winning Sasha Cooke (MM ’04) performed with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra followed by a performance of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 by Shepherd School Professor of Piano Jon Kimura Parker.

The Dover String Quartet (MM ’13) has been awarded a 2017 Avery Fisher Career Development Grant. This prestigious grant provides professional support to young promising musicians.

Alumna Gabriela Lena Frank (BM ’94, MM ’96) had her work Conquest Requiem premiered by the Houston Symphony. She is also The Houston Symphony’s composer-in-Residence.

Alumnus Calvin Griffin (MM’14) has joined ADA Artist Management. The ADA team works to nurture the careers of the finest performances from emerging to internationally renowned artists.

Pianist Jason Hardick (MM ’01, DMA ’07) will be a special guest at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music 2017-2018 season.

Composer Charles Hulka’s (DMA ’13) work Por la Fuerza las Tierras won first place in Divison 1 of the Tribeca New Music 2017 Young Composer’s Competition.

Cellist Coleman Itzkoff (BM ’14) was one of eleven gold medalists in the string section of the 1st Berline International Music Competition.

Alumna Joanna Latini (MM ’17) will be joining the 2017-18 Barbara and Halsey Sandford Studio Artist Program at the Kentucky Opera.

Alumna Alison Lee (MM ’15) won second place in the 2016 Midwest International Piano Competition.

Current undergraduate composition student Paul Novak won first place in the Sarah and Ernest Butler Texas Young Composers Competition.

2015 George London Award winner and alumna Sarah Mesko (MM ’10) performed a set she titled Stars and Night, at this season’s George London Foundation Recital Series at The Morgan Library & Museum.

Shepherd School piano student Stephanie Ng won second place in the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition performing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto No. 5 with the Waring Festival Orchestra.

Alumnus Kolio Plachkov (MM ’12) performed Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat Major with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra.

Alumna Hilary Purrington (BM ’13) was among the sixteen winning composers in the 2017 American Academy of Arts and Letters awards in music. She received the Charles Ives Scholarship of $7,500 which is given to composition students of great promise.

Alumnus Tomasz Robak (BM ’13) performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Parma Symphony Orchestra at the Valley Gorge Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio under Maestro Laycock.

Alumnus Brenton Ryan (MM ’11) performed with the San Diego Opera singing Gastone in La Traviata

Alumna Stephanie Sanchez (AD ’17) will be a young artist at the 2017 Glimmerglass Festival and will be joining Arizona Opera as a studio artist for the 2017-2018 season.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Glenn Korff School of Music named alumnus Sergio Ruiz (DMA ’04), professor of music and chair of the Georgia College Department of Music, as its new director.

Tenor Jack Swanson (MM ’16) was one of seven winners to receive a 2017 Sara Tucker Study Grant as part of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.

Soprano Erin Wall (MM ’00) made her debut with the Quad-Cites Symphony in March singing Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs (1948) and Richard Wagner’s Liebestod as part of Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (1865).

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Ted Botsford ( BM & BA ’06, MM ’09) – Double Bass section, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Kevin Brown (BM ’10 & MM ’13) – Appointed Assistant Professor of Double Bass, Michigan State University

Natalie Gaynor (current Master’s student) – Principal Second Violin, Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet Orchestra

Jory Herman (BM & MM ’06) – Double Bass section, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Cristle Collins Judd (BM & MM ’83) – Appointed President of Sarah Lawrence College

Rosie Salvucci (BM ’14) – Principal Double Bass, Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Italy

John Walters (current Master’s student) – Second Clarinet, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Kelly Zimba (MM ’15) – Principal Flute, Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Competitions, Awards, Performances and Premieres

Composer Lembit Beecher (MM ’05) is currently the Composer-in-Residence for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Alumnus John Bland (MM ’80) is a founding member of the Mid-Atlantic’s newest professional brass ensemble called BrandyWine Brass. The ensemble’s goal is to create new collaborative programs with other musicians and organizations in the Delaware Valley.

Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson-Cano (MM ’03) is featured on a major new CD release with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on the international music label known as Naxos.

Double Bassist Shawn Conley (BM ’05, MM ’08), was among the musicians in the Silk Road Ensemble which won a 2017 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album: Sing Me Home.

Current honor student in organ performance Monica Czausz recently signed with Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc, one of America’s premier management agencies for concert organists. Monica will perform on the magnificent 104-rank Casavant Freres pipe organ at First Baptist Church in downtown Oklahoma City in a concert presented by the American Guild of Organists.

Ryan Darke (MM ’10) is Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and Associate Professor of Trumpet at the University of Arizona.

Alumnus Glenn Einschlag (MM ’99) is among five distinguished faculty members in the Department of Music at the University of Buffalo to perform in a concert this February. Mr. Einschlag is an adjunct instructor at UB.

Conductor James Gaffigan (MM ’03) returned to Jones Concert Hall to conduct the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He was featured on Houston Public Media to talk about his love of Houston and the music of Beethoven, Strauss, and Liszt.

Tommy Glass (MM ’16) was awarded third place in the 29th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition of the Houston Grand Opera including a cash prize of $3,000. Current Master’s student Geoffrey Hahn won the online Viewer’s Choice Award of $500.

Alumna Sonja Harasim (MM ’08, DMA ’16) is using her Jade Presents Arts Partnership Grant to commission a new piece of music for violin and piano by Professor of Composition and Theory and Director of Graduate Studies Richard Lavenda.

Alumna Abigail Karr (BM ’00, MM ’03) recently released a CD featuring the complete Felix Mendelssohn Violin Sonatas on the Olde Focus Recording Label.

Meghan Kasanders (MM ’16) is among the twenty-nine emerging artists selected to participate in the 2017 Summer Festival as a member of Opera Saratoga’s Young Artist Program.

Alumna Lucia Lin (MM ’85), currently in the first violin section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performed Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Wellesley Symphony.

Alumnus Robert McCauley (MM ’89) had two arias and a vocal quartet from his work The Last of V. – the Death and Life of Virginia Wolfe performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. Region VI Conference at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Verona String Quartet (Jonathan Ong, violin; Dorothy Ro, (MM ’14) violin; Abigail Rojansky, viola; Warren Hagerty, cello), winners of the 2015 Concert Artist Guild Competition, performed their Carnegie Hall debut featuring a world premiere by composer Michael Gilbertson.

Tenor Brenton Ryan (MM ’11), who was part of the cast, and producer Blanton Alspaugh (MM ’87) were part of the Grammy Award-winning production of “The Ghosts of Versailles” for best opera recording and best engineered album, Classical, in the 2017 Grammy Award Ceremony.

Jack Swanson (MM ’16) will make his Los Angeles Opera debut in the lead role in Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in January 2018.

Current Master’s student Anne-Marie Stanley was a finalist in the Eleanor McCollum Competition of the Houston Grand Opera.

Pianist Andrew Staupe (DMA ’16) joined the Maryland Symphony Orchestra in a performance of the romantic Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in celebration of Valentine’s Day at The Maryland Theatre.

Violinist Chloe Trevor (MM ’13) will be featured as the soloist with the East Texas Youth Orchestra. She will also give a free masterclass for string musicians at the University of Texas at Tyler’s Braithwaite Hall.

Chabrelle Williams (MM ’15) was among four Houston District winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She was a member of the first class admitted to the Shepherd School Artist Diploma program.

Alumnus Daniel Zajicek (DMA ’12) is among eight composers whose unpublished works have been selected for the Fort Worth Opera new work series. Daniel’s work “Nothing In The Nothingness” will be presented during the final week of the 2017 Fort Worth Opera  Festival in May.

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Everett Burns (MM ’14) – Third / Associate Principal Horn, Virginia Symphony

William Cedeño (MM, currently LOA) – Principal Flute, South Dakota Symphony

Gina Choi (MM ’12) – Principal Piccolo, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Dana Cullen (former Master’s student) – Fourth / Utility Horn, San Antonio Symphony

Steven Holloway (MM ’13) – Trombone, The United States Navy Band

Cecile-Laure Kouassi (current Master’s student) – Double Bass section, Oslo Philharmonic

Christian Macelaru (BM ’06, MM ’08) – Appointed Music Director and Conductor, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music

Michelle Pan (MM ’14) – Oboe, Suzhou Symphony Orchestra

Madeline Slettedahl (MM ’16) – Pianist, Chicago Lyric Opera Young Artist Program

Daniel Taubenheim (MM ’16) – Associate Principal Trumpet, San Antonio Symphony

Mark Teplitsky (MM ’16) – Principal Flute, San Antonio Symphony

Dawson White (MM ’12) – Section Viola, Houston Grand Opera

Competitions, Awards, Performances and Premieres

The Cassatt String Quartet (Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, (BM ’89), violins; Ah Ling Neu, viola; Elizabeth Anderson, cello) began its inaugural residency in Midland. The residency gave Midland students the opportunity to study with artist teachers, enhance chamber music and orchestra skills and develop chamber music audiences.

Doctoral composition student, Erberk Eryilmaz has had his work chosen to be used in the Moon Arts Project at Carnegie Mellon University. The MoonArk is expected to travel to the Moon aboard a Lunar Lander and intended to remain on the Moon as an enduring time capsule depicting elements of Earth’s art, design, music and many other forms.

Ling-Ling Huang, William Shaub (current Artist Diploma students) and Amanda Galick (MM ’15) are the newest members of 2016-17 Da Camera Young Artist program

The Jasper String Quartet ’08 (John Freivogel and Sae Chonabayashi, violins; Samuel Quintal, viola; Rachel Henderson, cello) kicked off the Montgomery Chamber Music Organization with a performance at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

Composer Benjamin Krause (DMA ’14) was a winner of the Houston Symphony Young Composer Competition and had his work Pathways premiered by the Houston Symphony Orchestra in their season opening performance.

Hannah Hammel (current Master’s student) won first place in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition in San Diego. She was also recognized as having the Best Performance of a Newly Commissioned Piece. Patrick Tsuji (MM ’13)  was awarded third prize in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition.

Pianist Christopher Janwong McKiggan (current Doctoral student) performed Zhou Long’s Postures for Piano and Orchestra with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jose-Luis Novo, at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.

Shepherd’s current quartet-in-residence The Rolston String Quartet (Luri Lee and Jeff Dyrda, violins; Hezekiah Leung, viola; Jonathan Lo, cello) was among seven Astral Artist Competition winners to perform at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Rudy Albach (MM ’15) – Principal Double Bass, Columbus Symphony Orchestra

Renaud Boucher-Browning (BM ’14) and Izumi Miyahara (MM ’10) – members of Da Camera’s 2016-17 Young Artist Program.

Mary Box (MM ’16) – appointed Head Coach / Rehearsal Pianist, Wichita Grand Opera

Allegra De Vita (MM ’14) – (mezzo-soprano) – joins Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz 2016-17 Young Artist Program

Ben Edquist (MM ’15) – Baritone, one of eight 2016-17 Studio Artists at Houston Grand Opera

Sophia Grabandt (MM ’16) – Violin section, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin (Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra)

Jonathan Gunn (BM ’94) – Assistant Professor of Clarinet, University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music

Monica Griffin Hunter (MM ’02) – promoted to Senior Lecturer of Music, Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington

June Kim (MM ’16) – Principal Oboe, Nova Scotia Symphony

Eric Kutz (MM ’94) – Assistant Professor of Cello, University of Maryland

Ian Koziara (MM ’16) – Tenor, new member of Metropolitan Opera’s Lindermann Young Artist Development Program

Kathryn Ladner (MM ’12) – Flute/Piccolo, Houston Symphony Orchestra

Steven Logan (Master’s student) – Principal Timpani, Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra in New Zealand.

Philip Marten (BM ’15) – First Violin section, Kansas City Symphony Orchestra

Markus Osterlund (Undergraduate student) – Assistant Principal / Utility Horn, National Symphony Orchestra

Dr. C. Michael Palmer (MM ’99) – Assistant Professor of Music Education, Ball State University, Indiana

Kevin Pearl (MM ’12) – Assistant Principal Oboe, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Jack Peña (Master’s student) – Principal Bassoon, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

John Romero (MM ’16) – Principal Trombone, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

Jack Swanson (MM ’16) – Tenor, signed by Columbia Artists Management

Rebecca Tobin (MM ’16) – Second Clarinet, one-year position with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer Zhou (MM ’16) – Flute, The United States Army Field Band, Washington, D.C.

Heather Zinninger Yarmel (MM ’10) – Acting one-year Associate Principal Flute, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

Lachezar Kostov (Doctoral student) – Assistant Principal Cello, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Competitions, Awards, Performances, and Premieres 

Undergraduate cello student Katherine Audas, wins the grand prize of 2016 Enkor International Music Competition in the strings division. Enkor is the first global online competition for classical music performers.

Bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee (former Master’s student) won The Don Placido Domingo Ferrer Prize of Zarzuela and tenor Brenton Ryan won the Birgit Nilsson Prize at the 2016 Operalia Competition, in New York.

Nicholas Brownlee (former Master’s student) was the first place winner of the 35th International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition.

Chiara String Quartet, (Rebecca Fischer and Hyeyung Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, (BM ’98) viola; Gregory Beaver, (BM ’98) cello) has announced the release of their new CD called “Bartok By Heart”. The quartet has recorded all six Bartok string quartets by memory.

Doctoral piano student Scott Cuellar won the Gold Medal at the San Antonio International Piano Competition. The competition is held quadrennially and attracts international competitions at a very high standard. Scott also won prizes for best performance of a Romantic work (performing Schumann “Humoreske”) and best performance of a Russian work (Prokofiev 4th Sonata.) The prize includes $15,000 and several concert opportunities in San Antonio next year as well as a guest appearance at the Cactus Pear Music Festival.

Master’s double bass student Michael Marks, was awarded first place in the Double-stop Foundation Competition in New York City. Alum, Michael Fuller (MM ’15) was also awarded second place. Each winner was loaned a fine instrument for the next three years. The Doublestop Foundation provides fine string instruments for deserving musicians who can not afford the investment of an instrument.

The 2016 Jensen Foundation awarded bass Adam Lau (MM ’10) first place in the 17th annual Jensen Foundation Vocal Competition. Mr. Lau received a prize of $15,000. Mezzo-soprano, Allegra De Vita (MM ’14) was awarded second place and received a price of $10,000.

Shepherd composition alum Hilary Purrington (BM ’13) had a work premiered at the 2016 NY Philharmonic Biennial at The Greene Space. Hilary’s piece is called “For your judicious and pious consideration”, arranged for mezzo-soprano, piano, and viola.

Current undergraduate harp student Cindy Qin won first place in the 2016 San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club’s Young Artists Competition.

Shepherd’s graduate quartet-in-residence The Rolston Quartet (Luri Lee and Jeff Dryda, violins; Hezekiah Leung, viola; Jonathan Lo, cello) has won first place of the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet will begin a three-year development career program worth of $150,000, which includes a concert tour throughout Europe and North America, a two-week Banff Centre residency involving recording an album, and a cash prize of $25,000.

The Rolston Quartet (Luri Lee and Jeff Dryda, violins; Hezekiah Leung, viola; Jonathan Lo, cello) received third place in the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition which was held at the University of Michigan. Their reward includes a $3,000 prize.

Pianist Madeline Slettedahl (MM ’16) was selected as a winner of The Music Academy of the West’s 2016 Marilyn Horne Song Competition in Santa Barbara. Madeline received the Regina Roney Prize $4,000 and will be presented in a recital tour that includes a partnership with WQXR, New York’s classical music station.

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Anthony Bellino (Master’s student) – Section Trumpet, ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C.

Ian Hallas (BM ’13) – Section Double Bass, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Evan Halloin (MM ’09) – Associate Principal Double Bass, Kansas City Symphony

Caleb Quillen (Master’s student) – Section Double Bass, Kansas City Symphony

Will Samson (MM ’05) – Section Tuba, ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C.

Daniel Wang (MM ‘14) – Section Viola, San Antonio Symphony

Competitions, Awards, Performances, and Premieres

The alt Default, a trio started by double bassist David Connor (MM ’13) won a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its South Florida Knight Arts Challenge.  The grant will partially fund an after school song-writing residency at a Miami Beach Middle School.  Over the course of twelve workshops, The alt Default will work with school children to help them write, perform, and record their own songs.

The Dover Quartet ’13 makes two New York debuts in 2016: in the Lincoln Center Great Performers series in February and at Carnegie Hall in April.  They are the 2015 recipients of the Hunt Family Award, an Emerging Artist Award given by Lincoln Center.  Ensemble members are Joel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; and Camden Shaw, cello.

Andy Einhorn ’04 will make his New York Philharmonic conducting debut in April 2016 with trumpet soloist Chris Botti.

Composer Gabriela Lena Frank (BM ’94, MM ’96) was the composer in residence at DePauw University’s Music of the 21st Century Festival in February 2016, which included coachings, performances, and a conversation with the composer.  Frank won a Latin Grammy Award for best Contemporary Classical Music Composition in 2009 and was a 2011 Grammy Award nominee for Best Classical Crossover Album.

Undergraduate musicology student Alexandra Krawetz’s paper “Performing Feminine Aging: The Marschallin’s Body in Der Rosenkavalier” has been accepted for publication in the May 2016 issue of Nota Bene: Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Musicology.

Undergraduate student Giancarlo Latta will perform the Texas premiere of composer Stephanie Ann Boyd’s new work for violin and piano in Spring 2016 as part of the 50 State Sonata Project, a co-commission involving one violinist in every state.

New and recent works by composer Robert McClure ’13 were featured in Performing Asia: Drift, a program presented by Asia Society Houston in January 2016.

Master’s student Clare Monfredo has been invited to attend the 2016 Piatigorsky International Cello Festival as a Fellow.  The Festival is presented by the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in partnership with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Angelique Poteat (BM ’08) has won the 2015 American Prize in Composition, orchestral division.  The piece for which she won the award received its world premiere by the Seattle Symphony in January 2016.

Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw (BM ’04) will perform the violin solo of her recently composed work Lo with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in March 2016.  The piece is a co-commission by the PSO, the North Carolina and Indianapolis symphony orchestras in support of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW Festival.  Also in March, Shaw will hold a residency at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Recent Orchestral, Academic, and Professional Appointments

Brittany Boulding Breeden (BM ’04) – Second violin section, Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Jesse Clevenger (Master’s student) – Contracted Substitute Assistant Principal/Utility Horn, Houston Symphony

Peter Garrett (Master’s student) – Section cello, Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Genevieve Micheletti (BM ’12) – Second violin section, Santa Rosa Symphony

Ernesto Tovar-Torres (Master’s student) – Second Horn, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

The Chiara String Quartet – Rebecca Fischer, Hyeyung Julie Yoon, Jonah Sirota (BM ’98) and Gregory Beaver (BM ’98) – Quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015-2016

Competitions, Awards, Performances, and Premieres

The Dover Quartet ‘13 (Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violins; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; Camden Shaw, cello) received Chamber Music America’s 2016 Cleveland Quartet Award.  The award was presented to the quartet by James Dunham, Professor of Viola and former member of the Cleveland Quartet, at a Chamber Music Houston concert at the Shepherd School on November 10, 2015.

Composer, pianist, and Houston Symphony Composer-in-Residence Gabriela Lena Frank (BM ’94, MM ’96) performed the 2015 premiere of her new concerto, commissioned by the Sphinx Organization, with Sphinx Virtuosi in October 2015 on a program entitled Inspiring Women.

Conductor James Gaffigan (MM ’03) will lead the New York Philharmonic in December 2015 in a program that includes Beethoven, Strauss, and a world premiere by Andrew Norman.

Cellist Coleman Itzkoff (BM ’14) and violinist Philip Marten (BM ’15) are American Youth Symphony Fellows for the 2015-2016 season.  Both musicians are principal players in their respective sections.

Hilary Purrington (BM ’13) was awarded the 2015 Melodia Commission by the Women’s Choir of NYC.

Cristian Macelaru (MM ’06) will make his conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic in November 2015 as part of Rachmaninoff: A Philharmonic Festival.

Doctoral violin students Boson Mo and Timothy Steeves have been awarded on loan prestigious instruments from the Canadian Council for the Arts.

In September 2015, Duo Baltinati – pianist Lura Johnson (BM ’96, MM ’00) and cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn – were awarded Second Prize in the Chamber Music Division of the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach am Wörthersee, Austria.

Undergraduate double bass student August Ramos was a national winner of the 2015 National Federation of Music Club’s Student Collegiate Auditions.

Career Updates

Mezzo-soprano Aidan Soder (MM ’99, DMA ’06) received a Fulbright Scholar Award to travel to India to perform Western classical art songs featuring the poetry of Indian Nobel-Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.  She, with fellow alumni Paul Busselberg, baritone (DMA ’07) and Calogero di Liberto, piano (DMA ’06) released Tagoriana on Albany Records.  Soder is an Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

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.

Orchestral and Academic Appointments

Tommy Carpenter (MM ’15) – Cello, New World Symphony

Nina DeCesare (MM ’15) – Double Bass section, Oregon Symphony

Tenor Zachary Devin (MM ’10) was the second place winner in the vocal division of the Southern Illinois Young Artists Competition.

The Dover Quartet (MM ’13) – Quartet-in-Residence, Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.  Group members are Joel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola; and Camden Shaw, cello.

George Goad (MM ’15) – Trumpet, New World Symphony

Philip Hembree (MM ’14) – Second Trumpet, Colorado Symphony

Emily Honeyman (MM ’11) – Double Bass section, Swedish National Opera Orchestra

Tom Hooten (MM ’01) – Faculty position with San Francisco Conservatory of Music (concurrent with position as Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic)

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

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

Brandon Mason (MM ’14) – Double Bass section, Kansas City Symphony

Rebecca Reale (BM ’15) – Violin, New World Symphony

Daryl Robinson (MM ’14) – Assistant Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College of Rider University

Andrew Sandwick (Master’s student) – Second Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra

Chris Walczak (DMA ’13) – Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition, Southern Illinois University

Marty Burnett Wheeler (MM ’88) – Canon Precentor at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Omaha

Jing Zheng (MM ’15) – Section violin, Houston Symphony

Competitions, Awards, Performances, and Premieres

Four of the ten semifinalists in the Houston Symphony’s 2015 Ima Hogg Concerto Competition are from the Shepherd School: current students Hewen Ma (piano), Boson Mo (violin), and Erik Wheeler (cello), and incoming student Stephanie Ng (piano).

Four voice alumni were winners of the 2015 George London Foundation Competition for Singers:  bass Adam Lau (MM ’10), soprano Julia Dawson (MM ’13), and mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko (MM ’10) each received a $10,000 prize, and soprano Amy Owens (MM ’12) received an Encouragement Award of $1,000.

Master’s trumpet student Anthony Bellino has received one of only sixteen Presser Foundation Graduate Student Awards, “designed to encourage and support the advanced education and career of truly exceptional graduate music students who have the potential to make a distinguished contribution to the field of music.”

Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (BM ’04) gave the premiere of faculty composer Pierre Jalbert’s From Dusk to Starry Night with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in April.

Pianist Kimball Gallagher (BM ’02) concluded an 88-concert world tour with a solo recital at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in April.

Composition alumnus Charles Halka (DMA ’13) will have a piece performed at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in August.  His piece Impact was chosen by Music Director Marin Alsop to receive its West Coast premiere on the Grand Finale concert.

William Johnston (MM ‘04) performed the West Coast premiere of Mark Gresham’s Three Essays for Viola and Double String Orchestra with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra in March.

Alumna Christle Collins Judd (MM ’83) has been named a Senior Program Officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Pianist Gloria Kim (MM ’13) will be featured in the 2015 Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.

Mezzo-soprano Sarah Mesko (MM ’10) won Third Prize in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition.

Student ensemble the Prismatic Wind Quintet won the Bronze Medal in the Senior Winds Division of the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.  The group members are James Blanchard (flute), Tamer Edlebi (oboe), Nicholas Davies (clarinet), Isaac Schultz (bassoon), and Markus Osterlund (horn).

Voice student Christian Sanders won First Prize in the Ruth Burr Competition sponsored by the Houston Tuesday Music Club.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation awarded bass-baritone Michael Sumuel (MM ’09) a $10,000 Career Grant.

Voice student Jack Swanson won First Place in the Florida Grand Opera National Voice Competition for Junior Young Artists (ages 20-25).  He also won First Place in the 2015 San Antonio Tuesday Music Club competition.

Career Updates

Violinist Emily Dahl (BM ’07) performs with the Emergence Quartet, a period instrument string quartet based in Boston.

Alumnus Caen Thomason-Redus (MM ’99) serves as the Community Catalyst at Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Tara Slough (BM ’12, BA ‘12) is a PhD candidate in political science at Columbia University.  She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.