Alumnus Wins Dr. Pepper Scholarship
Vocal Studies graduate, Mario Antonio Porras (BM '20), won a $50,000 scholarship from the Dr. Pepper 2020 Tuition Giveaway to continue his education.
Vocal Studies graduate, Mario Antonio Porras (BM '20), won a $50,000 scholarship from the Dr. Pepper 2020 Tuition Giveaway to continue his education.
Jazz Studies student Joshua C. Jennings has been named a 2021 National YoungArts Foundation Merit winner in Jazz Trumpet.
Arsentiy Kharitonov (DMA ‘17) was awarded First Place (Gold) in the All-Russia Composers Competition "STAM" in Moscow. He also received Special Prize from the Composers Expert Council. His composition in the finals was "Four Vignettes for Four Violins" written for and performed by Professor of Violin, Julia Bushkova and the soloists of ensemble ViolUNTi.
MM student jazz pianist and former One O'Clock Lab Band® member Michael Clement's composition, “Evading Karmacities,” to be highlighted during the 2021 Jazz Education Network National Conference. The Young Composer Showcase Session takes place on January 9, 2021 and will be performed by the Ryan Middagh Jazz Orchestra.
DMA tuba student, David Humphreys, has been appointed Adjunct Instructor of Music, Tuba and Euphonium at Texas Woman’s University in Denton beginning January 2021.
MM student, Vannesa Nates, joins the National Alliance for Audition Support training program in a collaborative effort led by the Sphinx Organization “to increase diversity in American orchestras by offering Black and Latinx musicians a customized combination of mentoring, audition preparation, financial support and audition previews.”
John W. Richmond, Dean of the UNT College of Music, stands with 67 boxes containing materials for the Bruce Broughton Collection. The collection is to be quarantined then scanned for scholarly observation and research then permanently stored at the Research Collections Library.
Amy Wilson (MM ’07) Artistic Director of the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra, spoke with Georgia based Huthmaker Violins “Classes for the Curious Musician – Amy Wilson, Woman in Charge” where she discusses what it’s like to become a conductor and what a musician can do to be a contributing, vital member of an ensemble.
The Yale Institute of Sacred Music has appointed Steven Friedson, University Distinguished Research Professor of Music and Anthropology, to its new Black Sacred Arts Steering Committee to design and implement a series of international conferences and related publications over the next four years. “This initiative will make a substantial contribution to an underrepresented field of study and to the diversification of sacred music studies.”
Garry Williams (MEd ’19, BM ’99) has become the Director of Arts Conservatories at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Texas.
Geoffrey Durbin, (MM'11) euphonium, recently won a position with U.S. Navy Fleet Band Activities. He also holds a DMA from the University of Memphis.
The National Opera Association Opera Production Competition for 2019-2020 recently announced that the UNT Opera production of Don Giovanni won 2nd Place in Division VI of the competition. Jonathan Eaton is the Margot and Bill Winspear Chair in Opera Studies.
Lindsay Pope (DMA ’19) has received the Julius Herford Dissertation Prize recognizing outstanding doctoral terminal research project in choral music. Her dissertation titled Beyond the Binary: The Intersection of Gender and Cross-Cultural Identity in Reena Esmail's Life and Choral Works was previously honored with the University of North Texas 2019 Toulouse Dissertation Award in the Fine Arts field by the Toulouse Graduate School. According to Allen Hightower, Professor of Music and UNT College of Music Director of Choral Studies says, “There is no higher academic recognition in our field than the Julius Herford Dissertation Prize.”
The American Brahms Society has awarded the Karl Geiringer Scholarship to current UNT PhD student, Robert Anderson, in support of his dissertation “Ideale Hausmusik”: Johannes Brahms’s Vocal Quartets (opp. 31, 52, 64, 65, 92, 103) and the Politics of Domestic Music.
Brandon Hawkins, euphonium and University of North Texas Master of Music student, recently won a position with U.S. Navy Fleet Band.
Assistant Professor of Jazz Guitar, Davy Mooney, his book and his new video series, Advanced Improvisational Concepts, were all showcased along with a Division of Jazz Studies shout out.
Check out the Byken Franckling review of the One O'Clock Lab Band® recording, LAB 2019, directed by Alan Baylock.
NHK televised concert, "Motto Shikoku Ongakusai 2020" featured Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies, Jonathan "Capital" Patterson (3rd from the left), as music director, performer and expert commentator. He starred alongside Japanese comedian Kiyotaka Nanbara as a guest commentator for the entire program. He was music director, arranger and guitarist for four songs that included collaborations with JPOP stars Angela Aki and Hiroshi Miyama, a 23-piece traditional Japanese festival ensemble, and a large-scale arrangement combining 16 ensembles and more than 170 participants into one socially distanced musical performance.
Tyler Austin (MM ’14) Artistic Director & Conductor of Maryland Chamber Winds announced the drop of their first album 'Preludes + Recitations'. The album includes playing by Brian Do, current UNT DMA student, Danielle Fisher (MM '18) and Matthew Hudgens (MM ’15)
Michelle Herring Folta (PhD ’15, MMED ’12) has been named one of ten finalists for the 2021 GRAMMY Music Educator Award. She is Associate Professor of choral/general music education at Columbus State University in Georgia (USA).
Denton Record-Chronicle features editor Lucinda Breeding interviewed Brian F. Wright, Assistant Professor of Music History in an article about the life and career of Eddie Van Halen. Photo: G.J. McCarthy/Dallas Morning News file photo
Nat Irvin, II (DMA ’87, Composition) and sons appear on Denton Black Film Festival SoulTalk with Frederick “Nick” Nichelson, DBFF Music Director, discussing Denton connections and their work on the American horror film Antebellum and other projects.
Hyeyoun Jang (DMA ’19) is Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth Department of Music.
Shuo-Hui Sophie Hung, (DMA '18) has joined Southwestern Oklahoma State University as tenure-track Assistant Professor of Music in Piano.
Master’s degree student, Joy Elise Mote, has joined the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Fort Worth, Texas) as an Adjunct Professor of Voice in the School of Church Music and Worship.