Students in the UNT College of Music study with a highly acclaimed faculty of performers, composers, scholars and researchers, all of whom are dedicated to teaching the highly diverse student body that chooses to attend UNT.
UNT College of Music professor Richard Sparks will be signing his new book, 'The Conductor's Toolbox', at the GIA Publications booth February 15 at 2:30 during the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) state convention.
Led by music director and UNT College of Music professor Elizabeth McNutt, www.SoundsModern.org was named to arts journalist Robin Coffelt’s 10 favorite music performances of 2018!
The UNT Opera performance of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen has been named to arts journalist Gregory Sullivan Isaacs' 10 favorite music and opera performances for 2018.
FACULTY RECOGNITION: "Benign Strangers," a CD released in July by Ko Omura and UNT College of Music jazz guitar professor, Davy Money, has been listed as one of the Best CDs of 2018 by Downbeat Magazine. The recording was assisted through the UNT College of Music Creative Activity Award.
Since the 1960s, UNT College of Music alumni, faculty and staff have worked on projects nominated for Grammy Awards as well as Grammy-winning projects. Our One O’Clock Lab Band students, composers and arrangers have garnered seven nominations of their own over the years.
College of Music alumni, faculty and staff collaborated in the following nominated projects:
Mike Williams (trumpet) for “All About That Basie,” by The Count Basie Orchestra, nominated in the following category:
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Jeff Driskill (saxophone), Jack Wengrosky (trumpet), Derek Pyle (trombone) and Brian McKee (bassoon) for “American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom” by the John Daversa Big Band, nominated in the following category:
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Ben Kono (woodwinds) “All Can Work,” by the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, nominated in the following category:
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Michael Mayes (baritone) for “Heggie: Great Scott,” by Jake Heggie, composer; Terrence McNally, librettist; performed by the Dallas Orchestra (including 11 UNT alumni and 6 UNT faculty) and Dallas Opera Chorus (including 18 UNT alumni); conducted by Patrick Summers nominated in the following category:
Best Contemporary classical Composition
UNT alumna Maren Morris, is up for five awards:
Maren Morris for “The Middle,” nominated in the following categories:
Record of the Year
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Maren Morris for “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” nominated in the following category:
Best Country Solo Performance
Maren Morris for “Dear Hate,” nominated in the following categories:
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
Best Country Song
Grammy winners will be announced at the Feb. 10 awards ceremony in New York. In 2018, UNT alumni Edward Stephan and Frank Greene were part of projects that earned three Grammy Awards.
Channel 11 CBS/Dallas will be broadcasting the Klyde Warren Park Christmas tree lighting event in Dallas on Saturday December 15th at 6:30 pm featuring the UNT Two O'Clock Lab Band.
WASHINGTON⎯Gunnery Sgt. Sara Sheffield, a graduate of the University of North Texas will participate in former President George H. W. Bush’s State Funeral as a vocalist with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Chamber Orchestra. The funeral is to be held on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Washington National Cathedral.
President Bush’s State Funeral marks the 14th such event for which “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band or Marine Chamber Orchestra has performed. “The President’s Own” was present for the State Funerals of the following former Presidents: Gerald Ford in 2007, Ronald Reagan in 2004, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1969, Herbert Hoover in 1964, John F. Kennedy in 1963, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, William Howard Taft in 1930, William McKinley in 1901, Ulysses S. Grant in 1885, James Garfield in 1881, Abraham Lincoln in 1865, Zachary Taylor in 1850, and John Quincy Adams in 1848.
“We have been fortunate to have had wonderful moments with every President we serve, but President and Mrs. Bush’s gratitude for our Marines and for the special music we provide in The People’s House was especially warm and always engaging,” said Marine Band Director Col. Jason K. Fettig. “He never missed an opportunity to connect with those around him and thank them for their contributions, and the men and women in the band who got to know President Bush both during his administration and in the many years beyond will always remember his ever-present appreciation and admiration for all those who served our nation alongside him.”
At the third International Festival of Czech Music, the University of North Texas signed Memoranda of Understanding with the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno and the Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. Partnerships among UNT and these two distinguished Czech universities have existed on for some time, but the formalizing of understandings is new and important. Dean John W. Richmond of the UNT College of Music observed that, "These partnerships create important opportunties for faculty and students alike. The initial momentum for these relationships was made possible, in large measure, through the generous support of the Czech Educational Foundation of Texas. We simply could not be more grateful to them for their enthusiasm, encouragement, and generosity."
Next steps in this partnership are likely to focus on opera, chamber music, music education, and composition for media.
Parking: Guests can receive free event parking by contacting Ayesha Bakali at ayesha.bakali@unt.edu
Background: Sunday’s concert is part of a larger project to introduce Arabic music to UNT classrooms, particularly Arabic language and music classes. Musicians from Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture ensemble have visited Arabic language and music classrooms throughout the semester to offer workshops and introduce students to Darbouke (an Arab percussion instrument) and the Oud (the Arab lute). Al-Bustan, Arabic for “The Garden,” is an organization dedicated to presenting and teaching Arab culture through the arts and language.
Sunday’s concert will feature internationally acclaimed and award winning Arab musicians Hafez Kotain and Issam Rafea. Students from the UNT Arabic language program and ethnomusicology program will join the musicians for a percussion medley. The performance also will feature dabke (Levantine Folkloric dance), a solo performance of an Arab-Andalusian 12th-century song by doctoral musicology student, Júlia Coelho, and improvisation with doctoral enthnomusicology student, Yuxin Mei, on Pipa (Chinese lute).
The project is made possible by a Charn Uswachoke International Development Fund Grant and a grant from the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation.
What: The University of North TexasCollege of Music hosts the third International Festival of Czech Music. The program includes an academic conference, concerts, multimedia performances and lectures open to the public. For a full list of events visit https://czech.music.unt.edu
When: Nov. 27 (Tuesday) – Dec. 1 (Saturday)
Where: For conference, performance and lecture times/locations on the UNT campus visit https://czech.music.unt.edu/. A post-festival tour of five Texas-Czech communities featuring scenes from Leoš Janáček's Příhody lišky Bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen) will take place Dec. 2 (Sunday) – Dec. 8 (Saturday). For a complete list of locations and ticket information visit https://czech.music.unt.edu/tour.
Parking: For the most up-to-date information on directions to the College of Music and the Murchison Performing Arts Center, construction, and parking, please click here.
Background: The University of North Texas College of Music hosts its third International Festival of Czech Music. This year, the festival helps commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia following the end of World War I. The keynote work of the festival is the Leoš Janáček opera Příhody lišky Bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen) directed by Jonathan Eaton, The Margot and Bill Winspear Chair in Opera Studies. The production features UNT opera singers and orchestra under the direction of Maestro David Itkin and includes the talents of children from the Dallas Czech School who portray the opera’s little foxes.
Other festival performance highlights include a production of Vít Zouhar’s “Coronide: A Serious (and yet delightfully comic) Opera about Love and Unverified Information,” the Dvořák “Piano Concerto” featuring internationally renowned Czech pianist Sára Medková, and the multimedia performance “Tastes: ASound and Video Performance Recalling the Smells and Tastes of the Tea Ceremony in Shanghai.”
The conference will feature a day of composition and multimedia sessions featuring speakers and discussion about topics such as: Adaptive sound design in video games, game programming research and education at the Laboratory for Recreational Computing, and “The Sounds in the Machine: ‘Metroid’s’ Cybernetic Soundscape.” A second day of sessions will focus on general academic and music topics including the conference’s keynote speakers: Jaroslav Miller, rector of Palacký University, who will discuss “The Events of 1918 and the Formation of Czechoslovakia;” and Jaroslav Křivánek, pastor of the Hussite Church, who will present “The Formation of Czechoslovak Hussite Church after 1918.”
The UNT International Festival of Czech Music is co-sponsored by the Janáček Academy of Music and Palacký University Olomouc.
About the UNT College of Music
The College of Music is one of the nation’s largest and most respected comprehensive music schools. It offers fully accredited degrees from the bachelor to doctoral levels and is home to the world’s first jazz studies degree program. Faculty include internationally acclaimed artists and scholars in composition, conducting, ethnomusicology, music education, music entrepreneurship, music history, music theory, performance and performance and performing arts health. The college presents more than 1,100 concerts and recitals annually. UNT music alumni can be found around the globe in impressive, award-winning careers across a wide-range of music professions. Visit the College of Music online calendar at http://music.unt.edu/calendar and connect with the College of Music on Facebook at Facebook.com/UNTCollegeofMusic, and on Twitter at @UNTCoM
JAZZ SINGERS NEW CD DROPS: The UNT Jazz Singers newest recording, A Thousand Nights, is released to the public
"A Thousand Nights is the fourth album recorded by UNT Jazz Singers since I began teaching at UNT in Fall 2011, and I was aiming for it to showcase the diverse musical spectrum to which I strive to expose the students for their enjoyment and growth. For the first time, we asked our guest artists-in-residence who came to UNT during the spring of 2017 and 2018 if they would be willing to be on our album, and we’re honored and delighted that all three of them said “Yes”! The way that these beautiful artists gave of themselves both musically and personally during the time they were at UNT will leave an indelible mark on all of our lives, and we are confident that you too will feel the joy and passion of their music-making. In addition to the three guest artist tracks, of course, there are eight others, and I’m most proud of the fact that over half of the music was arranged by our students!" – Jennifer Barnes
NEW RANKING: The Hollywood Reporter has ranked #UNTCoM at 19 in the "Top 25 Music Schools for Composing in Film and TV." See our advertisement on slide 51 and details on slides 58 and 59. https://bit.ly/2K969GR
FORT WORTH, TX—November 5, 2018 — The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with the University of North Texas A Cappella Choir. The first performance in this partnership will be the annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah under the baton of FWSO Associate Conductor Alejandro Gómez Guillén on Monday December 3, 2018 at Bass Performance Hall.
This group of exceptional young performers is part of an illustrious history of choral excellence including an international tour and various performances at national choral conferences. The new partnership will highlight the extraordinary level of musicianship achieved at the collegiate level in the North Texas region.
“We in the University of North Texas College of Music could not be more thrilled with the partnership that is emerging this year with our distinguished colleagues at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra,” stated John W. Richmond, Ph. D, Professor and Dean of the College of Music. “This inaugural collaboration of Handel’s Messiah is the first of what we hope will be many wonderful partnerships in the years ahead stretching across the gamut of our shared musical interests. We are so grateful to live among such gifted partners.”
“The University of North Texas A Cappella Choir is thrilled to collaborate with Maestro Alejandro Gómez Guillén and the Fort Worth Symphony for the December 2018 production of Handel’s much-loved Messiah. The 50-voice chorus and UNT soloists will share this masterwork in an exuberant and historically-informed performance,” said Allen Hightower, DMA, Professor and Director of Choral Studies, and Director of the A Cappella Choir. “We are so pleased to strengthen the relationship between the UNT College of Music and one of Fort Worth’s great artistic treasures, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.”
There will be a single performance of this program at Bass Performance Hall on Monday, December 3, 2018 at 7:30 PM. Tickets range from $27.50 – $82.50 and can be purchased by calling the FWSO Ticket Office at 817-665-6000 or by visiting www.fwsymphony.org.
About Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is deeply committed to uniting its community through performance, education, and outreach, reaching an audience of more than 200,000 annually. Since its beginnings in 1912, the FWSO has been an essential thread in the city’s cultural fabric and the very foundation of Fort Worth’s performing arts. Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya, now in his 19th season at the artistic helm of the FWSO, has led the orchestra into the 21st century to new levels of excellence. Under his leadership, the FWSO has performed at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras. Throughout his tenure, the FWSO has released 13 recordings – with several being world premiere releases – garnering international acclaim. Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the FWSO have embraced creative collaborations through residencies, partnerships, and commissions. As the principal resident company of the acoustically superb Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, the Orchestra performs a full season of concerts featuring internationally-acclaimed guest artists and works by living composers. The Orchestra performs and partners with the Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, The Cliburn, and Performing Arts Fort Worth. Each summer at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the FWSO presents Concerts In The Garden – a series of family-friendly concerts that has become a city-wide tradition. Additionally, the orchestra hosts an annual Festival of Orchestras, providing an opportunity for non-professional orchestras across the state of Texas to perform in Bass Performance Hall. The FWSO keeps exceptional musical experiences at the heart of its community. After all—life is better with music!
DENTON (UNT), Texas - At the request of the Consul General of India in Houston, TX, the University of North TexasCollege of Music has produced and released an original arrangement and music video to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth.
“Gandhi has influenced and inspired the world through his example of peace and nonviolence,” said UNT President Neal Smatresk. “This has been a tremendous opportunity for our UNT College of Music students to be part of the global celebration of his legacy.”
The Consul General of India, Anupam Ray, asked if the UNT College of Music could create an original arrangement of one of Gandhi’s favorite Indian devotional hymns as part of the anniversary celebration. The College had less than four weeks to write, record and produce the piece, maintaining its original melody and text while adding the unique signature sound of the College of Music.
The request came in August, 2018 before the start of the fall semester.
“I knew that if anyone could make this happen, it was the outstanding faculty and students at our College of Music,” said John W. Richmond, dean of the College of Music.
Virani is a cultural researcher with performance and teaching experience in North Indian devotional music and regularly performs spiritual songs in a mix of traditional and contemporary styles. As a child, he grew up singing and hearing the hymn chosen for the project.
“This was an incredible opportunity to reimagine this song in a uniquely UNT jazz-style arrangement,” Virani said. “It was very touching to me because it connected my cultural and religious upbringing with the work I do here at the College of Music.”
Eckert teaches vocal jazz and songwriting and is also internationally recognized as a live and studio vocalist, songwriter and arranger.
“The students and I learned so much throughout this process,” Eckert said. “We learned about a different language, different musical instruments, a different singing style, and a different performance tradition. We learned more about Gandhi and his philosophy, and we learned about working together to blend cultures.”
The hymn is based on a 15th-century poem by Narsi Mehta who is one of many religious devotional Bhakti poet-saints whose poetry was written in the language of the common people of the region, Gujarati. Gandhi was born and raised in Gujarat, India and the hymn was one of many he heard growing up. The hymn’s chorus, “A true person of God understands the suffering of the downtrodden,” undoubtedly resonated with Gandhi’s deep-felt beliefs and the hymn became one of his favorites. He used it often in public gatherings and political rallies and it has been associated with him ever since.
Eckert and Virani worked together to create an arrangement that is true to the hymn’s cultural style, while adding elements that make it unique to the jazz style of the College of Music.
Manjira (finger symbols) and the tabla (North Indian drum) are essential to the piece’s identity as an Indian devotional piece. Piano and double bass add a full sense of the jazz sound and a cajón (Peruvian box-shaped drum) compliments the rhythm of the tabla. Soloists in flute and violin provide a rich tonal quality that endures in an Indian style.
Eckert and Virani worked together to arrange the piece. Virani provided a melodic and rhythmic arrangement of the song and instrumental solos and Eckert re-harmonized and arranged the piece for the vocalists. The project was particularly challenging since neither Virani nor Eckert nor any of the students speak Gujarati.
“I got a translation of each line of text,” Eckert said. “Even though Dr. Virani does not speak Gujarati, he grew up with the hymn and had performed the piece before. I listened and recorded him as he sang, learning the diction line-by-line.”
Eckert and Virani rehearsed their arrangement several times with 11 College of Music vocal jazz students, including one full rehearsal with the instrumentalists. Eckert secured a studio, Luminous Sound, owned by College of Music alumnus Paul Loomis, for one eight-hour session. Working with Grammy-award-winning engineer Tre Nagella, the instrumentalists were recorded first, followed by the instrumental interludes and then the vocalists.
College of Music videographer Jordan Bailey recorded the session that was to become the music video. The vocal tracks were sent to College of Music alumnus Zach Yaholkovsky for some preliminary vocal edits to help Nagella meet the quick deadline, and the project was mixed by Nagella the next evening to complete the project on time.
“This remarkable collaboration made something happen that no one could have imagined individually,” Richmond said. “Not only was a wonderful piece of music forged, but wonderful friendships, as well.”
The original arrangement can be streamed or downloaded from numerous platforms including:
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Aaron Olguin, (BM '16) & (MM '18) has been appointed Principal Bass of the Trondheim, Norway Symphony Orchestra. His tenure begins January 2019.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Jackie Gao (DMA, violin) was an associate producer on the documentary series "Treasures of The Earth" that won the Gold World Medal of The New York Festivals Best TV and Films 2018. This documentary series, filmed in multiple countries, has three episodes: Gems, Metals and Power. It was produced by NOVA and broadcast on PBS at the end of 2016.
"It will take us on a journey deep inside Earth to uncover the mysteries of how these treasures were created, and to explore how they have allowed humankind to progress and build our great civilizations." NOVA official webpage.
