September_CollegeNews24

MUSIC Music, Music Studies, Per formance, & Sound Recording Technolog y FACULTY ACCOLADES Ames Asbell performed at viola conferences on both national and international levels. In June, she presented a lecture-recital retrospective of commissioned viola ensemble works at the 2024 American Viola Society Festival and Primrose International Viola Competition held at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. The following month, she performed the solo-viola composition Sieben Kleine Barock-Tänze by German composer Charlotte Hampe at the 49th International Viola Congress in Campinas, Brazil. On September 7, Asbell and the viola studio hosted the Second Annual TXST ViolaFest, welcoming over 100 students from middle school through college to the Texas State campus for a day of viola learning, performances, and camaraderie. Featured guest artists included Lenny Schranze (University of Memphis & Interlochen Arts Center), Daphne Gerling (University of North Texas), Kathryn Steely (Baylor University, emerita), Dr. Dwight Pounds, Western Kentucky University (Emeritus), Dr. Ruben Balboa (Southwestern University), and other area viola instructors. Classes included viola ensembles, masterclasses, All-State preparation, technique classes, and improvisation classes. Texas State students Jose Rivera (MM, Conducting) and Carolyn Stennis (BM, Music Education) also served as viola ensemble conductors. [1] Christopher Besch served as the 210 Festival Vocal Program’s director for the Opera San Antonio-Classical Music Institute Young Artist Program. He also performed Maxwell Davies’s atonal masterpiece Eight Songs for a Mad King —a musical drama focusing on mental health and how it affects society—for their subscription series concerts. [2] Mary Ellen Cavitt served as adjudicator for the Foundation for Music Education’s National Wind Band Mark of Excellence competition this past summer. The Mark of Excellence project seeks to recognize and award 12 | September | College News 1 2 3 outstanding achievement in performance by high school and middle school bands, choirs, and orchestras. The project gathers entries from throughout the United States and provides valuable feedback for all entrants. A unique competitive environment is created, which allows ensembles to compare their performance quality to other outstanding groups from across the country. Ian Davidson performed as Principal Oboe of the Victoria Bach Festival in Victoria, Texas. In this performance of orchestral works by Liszt and Saint- Saëns, he was joined by Texas State oboe alumni Mika Valenzuela and Korrigan Korthauer. Each year the Victoria Bach Festival brings together professional musicians from around the country for a week of concerts. In late July 2024, Cynthia I. Gonzales presented at the Advanced Placement Annual Conference on the topic of sight singing. This was the second consecutive year she was invited to share pedagogical tips for teachers of AP Music Theory. [3] Gonzales partnered with Texas State School of Music alumna Amy Dixon Hatch (BM 2011, MM 2013), an Assistant Professor of Instruction at UT-Arlington, and Rachel Mann , Associate Professor at UT-RGV, to present at the biennial Pedagogy into Practice, a peer-reviewed conference focused on music theory pedagogy. Their presentation, “Fostering Diversity in Music Theory Pedagogy: Developing Hispanic and Latin American Music Resources for the Classroom,” explored repertoire suitable to include in music theory and aural skills classes. Gonzales, Hatch, and Mann have recently been invited to deliver the annual pedagogy keynote at the next meeting of the Texas Society for Music Theory in February 2025 to be hosted at Baylor University. The PBS documentary WHAM Re-Bop-Boom-Bam: The Swing Jazz of Eddie Durham , which features interviews with Hank Hehmsoth , was nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Regional Emmy Award in Arts and Entertainment—Long Form. Born in San Marcos, Texas, Durham became a leading architect of the Kansas City swing jazz sound in the 1920s and 1930s. As a trombonist, guitarist, writer, and arranger, he helped to author the signature sounds of Count Basie, Benny Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, and Glenn Miller, while his pioneering work with amplified and electric guitars would usher in the rock ‘n roll of today. Hank Hehmsoth’s studio recording track "Mirror, Mirror" from his acclaimed jazz piano trio album Hank Hehmsoth (A Night of Chick Corea Music) , has been selected for worldwide licensing and release by Compigram. This exciting compilation, Good Mood Café: Instrumental Blend Vol. 1 , includes twenty tracks of uplifting and soothing instrumental music. “Mirror, Mirror” showcases Hehmsoth’s masterful interpretation of Chick Corea’s influence, accompanied by the exceptional talents of Scott Laningham on drums and Spencer Starnes on bass, both of whom died tragically too young. This track also appears on the compilation Jazz & Blues Smooth Mix for Warm Summer Nights. Hehmsoth’s track “A New Day” was featured on Global Instrumentation—New Discoveries , a recording project curated by Ron Murx, who described “A New Day” as a “captivating instrumental jazz piano piece that exudes a sense of freshness and optimism. The track showcases Hehmsoth’s exceptional piano skills, weaving intricate melodies and harmonies that feel both spontaneous and thoughtfully composed. The music flows effortlessly, creating a serene yet uplifting atmosphere that draws listeners in.” His trio version of Sting’s “Fields of Gold” appears on Late Night Rider and Jazz, Blues, and Cappuccino , and he recently contributed music to Modern Restaurant Music Mix Vol. 5 . Davidson and clarinetist Vanguel Tangarov performed Édouard Desteney's monumental trio for oboe, clarinet and piano at the International Clarinet Convention in Dublin, Ireland. Joining them on the program was pianist Ekaterina Tangarova. Selected via international peer review, this was the trio’s second performance of the Desteney: the first came at the 2024 Victoria Bach Festival, by invitation from the VBF Artistic Committee, and the third took place in recital at Texas State University in August. College of Fine Arts and Communication | 13 Ames Asbell at the Second AnnualTXST ViolaFest. Christopher Besch performing Eight Songs for a Mad King Cynthia I. Gonzales presents at the Advanced Placement Annual Conference