September 2023 College News

Jason Thibodeaux (left) and Matthew Moreno (right) will lead student at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference 12 School, with its Going the Extra Mile award. Spencer H. Reichman is currently preparing for the Salt Marsh Opera (CT) production of Falstaff as Ford, after which he will perform with Opera Modesto as Watson in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant . This past spring, Reichman performed the roles of Paris in Romeo & Juliette with Opera San Antonio, Germont in Traviata with Shreveport Opera, appeared with The Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors, and this past summer joined the Santa Fe Opera as an apprentice artist, covering Sacristan in Tosca and performing as The Hunter in Rusalka . In recent years, he has performed with Nashville Opera, New Orleans Opera Association, Pensacola Opera, Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, Shreveport Opera, and The Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, and has been a young artist/apprentice d with Central City Opera, Hautauqua Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Saratoga Young Artist Program. [11] St. Philip’s College in San Antonio has hired Samuel Robles to teach woodwinds, music appreciation, and jazz ensemble. Southwest ISD proclaimed Karen Rios, a teacher at Ronald McNair Middle School, the 2023 New Fine Arts Teacher of the Year. Benjamin Ruiz was recently chosen as the Tenor Artist in Residence at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and this season will make his American debut as Beppe in Pagliacci. Future roles at Lyric Opera KC include Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette while covering Romeo and Ollie in Sketchbook for Ollie . Ruiz was accepted into The Manhattan School of Music in NYC as an Edgar Fosters Daniels Scholarship recipient, graduating with honors and Master of Music in Vocal Performance in May 2023. While at MSM, he played John Styx in Orpheus in the Underworld , Don Basilio/Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro , and L’Italien in Angélique under the baton of Metropolitan Opera maestro, Pierre ValletRuiz made his European debut in Freiburg, Germany, in 2017 at the Mittelsächsisches Theatre as Professor Würchem in Der Vogelhändler by Carl Zeller. He received First Prize in the 2023 Inaugural Duncan Williams Voice Competition hosted by the Sphinx Foundation and New York City Opera, an Encouragement Award Winner for the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and was Award Winner of the 2023 Alan M. and Joan Taub Benjamin Ruiz was recently chosen as the Tenor Artist in Residence at Lyric Opera of Kansas City 11 Spencer Reichman recently performed for the Salt Marsh Opera's production of Falstaff 10 22 | September | College News