September 2017 College News

MUSIC Music, Music Studies, Per formance, & Sound Recording Technolog y FACULTY ACCOLADES Paula Bird was just elected President of the Greater Austin Suzuki Association for a 2-year term. Hank Hehmsoth , Russell Scanlon , and former faculty John Mills presented a charity benefit jazz performance part of HAAM Day. Hank Hehmsoth (piano) and Russell Scanlon (guitar) were orchestra pit musicians for the national Broadway tour of Something Rotten! at Bass Concert Hall May 30 - June 4. It is a very precise show, with fast segues, patch changes, and technical issues, in a variety of styles -- medieval, chorale, Basie swing, hard rock, jazz, James Brown, and 70’s pop music. Hank Hehmsoth was featured lead jazz piano to a sold- out audience for La La Land – In Concert on June 30 with the Austin Symphony at the Long Center. [ 1 ] La La Land won six Oscars in 2017, including Best Song and Best Musical Score. The William Morris Talent Agency in Hollywood sent Hank 30+ video sync clips to work on, coordinating his hands with the closeups in the film. Other performers included guest LA conductor Thiago Tiberio, as well as Texas State faculty Bobby Lopez , Ian Davidson , David Dawson , Genaro Gonzalez , Kari Klier , and Daris Word Hale . The open-access student computer lab in the Music Building, directed by Hank Hehmsoth , has received a Texas State grant of $45,000 to upgrade equipment. All 24 workstations will get new, faster computers and continue to offer specialized music software for student use in music course work and creative projects. Donors with fond memories of Tilden piano teacher Betty Dickinson have funded a $260,000 endowment in her name. The endowment benefits participants in the Texas State International Piano Festival, directed by Dr. Jason Kwak and set for June 3-11 at the Performing Arts Center. Hank Hehmsoth was featured lead jazz piano to a sold-out audience for “La La Land – In Concert” The Texas State Chamber Orchestra on a tour of Eastern Europe Eliud Garcia (BM’15), Camden Scarborough (BM ’17) and current student Ramiro Cortez in Germany 12 | September | College News 1 2 3 Butch Miles recently performed at the Vail Jazz Party in Vail, CO. One highlight was a special tribute to Buddy Rich honoring what would have been his 100th birthday. The great Jeff Hamilton and Butch shared the duties of attempting to play Buddy’s music. They worked with the wonderful H2 Big Band from Denver and played “Love For Sale”, “Norwegian Wood”, “Sister Sadie”, “Groovin’ Hard”, “One O’Clock Jump” and Jeff and Butch traded back and forth during “West Side Story Suite.” STUDENT ACCOLADES Danielle Stevens, Jessica Hall, Briana Dunn, Hilary Janysek, Julia Escobar , Ziqing Guan , Josh Valdez , and Dr. Adah Jones , Professor of Flute, performed at the National Flute Association convention in Minneapolis in August. The Texas State Chamber Orchestra returned from a fabulous tour of Eastern Europe. [ 2 ] Led by director Carolyn Watson and faculty soloists Ames Asbell and Karla Hamelin , they performed in Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. Associate Dean Mary Ellen Cavitt helped lead the tour. They also visited places such as Budapest’s Castle Hill and Heroes’ Square, Esterhazy Palace, Schönbrunn Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and enjoyed a dinner cruise along the Vltava. Student players: Seattle Adams , Anne Archer , Kathleen Beavers , Teresa Bejar , Esteban Borjas , Terri Boutte , Shijun Chen , Vikas Chopra , Kimberly Cordon , Anna Cullnane , Emily Edwards , Nabile Galvan Garcia , Stephanie Garcia , Ziqing Guan , Cody Hoang , Arianna Jefferson , Daniel Keller , Bethany Lee , Jordan LePage , Jingyu Li , Julia Perez , Eric Puente , Oliver Richards , Hope Talton , Peter Thoeni , Connor Towns , Anna Trevino , Elizabeth Valvano , Gabriel Vazquez , Sarah Walters , Aaron Wells , and Celeste Wilmot . ALUMNI ACCOLADES Kevin Dugat (BM ‘13) was recently appointed as the Coordinator of University Bands at Schreiner University. Eliud Garcia (BM’15), Camden Scarborough (BM ’17) and current student Ramiro Cortez spent a month in Germany performing orchestral and chamber music at the Collegium Musicum Schloss Pommersfelden International Summer Academy. [ 3] Eliud recently College of Fine Arts and Communication | 13 completed a master’s degree from Yale University and is currently a teaching artist fellow for Yale’s In-School Initiatives Program. He was also offered the bass trombone position with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in Egypt. Camden is beginning his master’s degree in performance at Northwestern University, and Ramiro will be graduating with a Music Studies degree May 2018 with plans to pursue a master’s degree in trombone performance. Twenty-seven Music Education graduates got jobs all over the country as band directors and music teachers. SCHOOL ACCOLADES Performing-Art-Schools.com ranks Texas State’s School of Music #20 in the country and 2nd in Texas out of 460 performing arts schools offering music degree programs. Dr. Martin McCain performed and taught at the PRIZM International Chamber Music Festival in Memphis, where he performed and coached chamber ensembles in addition to performing in the PRIZM Chamber Orchestra with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony and Metropolitan Opera. McCain traveled to Sibenik, Croatia to serve on the faculty at the English Brass Academy and held a similar position at the Austin Chamber Music Festival. His summer residencies ended in China with performances in Hong Kong and serving on the jury for the Macau International Trombone Competition. MEMPHIS, CROATIA, CHINA