September_CollegeNews24

STUDENT ACCOLADES Saxophonist Miles Avelar was admitted via audition to perform in the Fellowship Program at Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival from July 25-August 4, hosted by the Juilliard School in New York. [8] Voice students Klaudia Chance, Abraham Cruz, Isabella Gonzalez, and Jenna Winslow took part in Opera San Antonio-Classical Music Institute’s Young Artist Program in San Antonio. They were featured on concerts of zarzuela music with the “King of Zarzuela”— Pablo Zinger. Music theory graduate student Garrett Douglas won the first prize at the 1st International Graduate Confer- ence for Music Research with his paper on “Revisiting the Life and Music of Julia D. Owen (1868-1964): Com- poser and Educator.” Douglas was admitted to the Ph.D. program in music theory at the University of North Texas with full-ride fellowship and assistantship. Netflix released the documentary film Going Varsity in Mariachi to wild acclaim. This documentary about competitive high school mariachi in Texas was filmed in 2021-2022 and premiered January 22, 2023, at the Sun- dance Film Festival. Going Varsity in Mariachi received five award nominations and won the 2023 Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award for U.S. Documentary at Sundance. Texas State mariachi student Abigail C. Gar- cia was one member of the Edinburg North High School Mariachi Oro featured in the film. Undergraduate music education student, Nolan Hop- kins , released Toyota Corolla on all streaming plat- forms. Hopkins co-wrote this song with recent music graduate Thomas Shafer , played all instruments, sang, engineered, mixed, and mastered the track in his home studio. [9] Jessa Miller, Megan Magill, and Katelyn Segarra — voice students at Texas State—participated in Sull’Aqva, a summer program for singers co-founded by voice faculty member Suzanne Ramo in Venice, Italy. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Recent oboe alumnus Bobby Harris was select- ed via national audition as one of two Emerging Young Artists at the Victoria Bach Festival, pro- viding Harris opportunities to perform a variety of solo concerts around Victoria, Texas. Saxophone alumnus, Josue Mora , was signed as an Artist/Clinician by Vandoren USA. [10] Eight Texas State flute alumni performed in and/ or conducted flute choir performances at the Na- tional Flute Association Convention. Two alumni, Daniel Pardo and Hilary Janysek , are committee chairs and will be program chairs for the 2026 NFA annual convention in Portland, OR. Graduate music education alumnus, Kurt Zotz , published an article in the 2023 issue of the Texas Music Education Research Journal , a result of his capstone project entitled “They Need Our Help: Mentoring First-Year Band Directors.” Zotz currently serves as an Assistant Band Director at McCormick Middle School in Hays ISD, where he teaches beginning band students and conducts the concert band. 16 | September | College News College of Fine Arts and Communication | 17 8 9 10 In Fall 2024, Joel David Frahm joined Texas State as an Assistant Professor of Jazz Saxophone. For three decades, Joel has been one of New York City’s most active saxophonists, performing and recording with Dianne Schurr, the Jimmy Heath Big Band, Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau, Betty Carter, Kurt Elling, Freddy Cole, and countless other artists. He has appeared at jazz festivals around the world, including the Newport Jazz Festival, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, the Festival Internacional de Jazz in Santiago, Chile, the Siena Jazz Festival in Italy, the Festival Internacional de Jazz del Teatro Libre in Bogotá, Columbia, and the Festival International Django Reinhard in Samois sur Seine, France. In addition, Joel has received two Grammy Awards and one Grammy nomination as a sideman, and he was elected to DownBeat magazine’s 2023 reader’s polls for tenor and soprano saxophone. Joel earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz/Commercial Music from the Manhattan School of Music, and in addition to his performance career, he taught thirteen years at The New School in NYC. #FACULT Y S POT L I GHT Miles Avelar performed at the Chamber Music Festival hosted by the Juilliard School in New York Nolan Hopkins, undergraduate music education student released Toyota Corolla on all streaming platforms Saxophone alumnus, Josue Mora, was signed as an Artist/Clinician by Vandoren USA