Points of Pride lists faculty, student and alumni achievements. It is accumulated and produced three times a year, generally in January, March, and October.
Grants and Awards
Paul Barnes, Hixson-Lied Professor of Piano, received a plaque recognizing him as the recipient of a Hixson-Lied Professorship from Dean Giacomo Oliva at this Fall's Convocation on Aug. 17.
Susan Dewsnap (M.F.A. Art 2008), received Best of Show in the prestigious 18th Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National. Her piece "Lidded Jar" won the top honor in this highly juried exhibition of some of the finest examples of functional pottery in the U.S. The exhibition continues through Nov. 14 at Kevin Lehman's Pottery in Lancaster, Pa. Other alumni juried into the exhibition included Monica Ripley (M.F.A. 2003), Seth Green (M.F.A. 2009) and Amy Smith (M.F.A. 2001). (Scroll down for photo)
Carla Potter (M.F.A. Art 2010) and Autumn Cipala (M.F.A. Art 2009) each had pieces selected for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) 2011 Biennial Exhibition, which will run Jan. 29-April 24, 2011, at the Tampa Museum of Art. More than 895 applicants submitted more than 1,600 works for the juried exhibition. Forty-five artworks were selected by 45 artists. The jurors were Glenn R. Brown, Julia Galloway and Arthur Gonzalez. (Scroll down for photo)
Faculty
John Bailey, Larson Professor of Flute, gave masterclasses and coached flute ensembles for the Raleigh Flute Association's Flute Choir Day in April, working with both younger students and professionals in flute quartets, flute octets and flute choirs. Bailey conducted the International Flute Orchestra, a group of 35 professional flutists and flute teachers, on tour in Belgium and the Netherlands in May, with concerts in Bruxelles, Ghent, Maastricht and Amsterdam. He also conducted the National High School Flute Choir at the annual national convention of the National Flute Association in Anaheim, Calif., in August. At the convention, Bailey also gave a lecture/recital on John La Montaine's solo flute sonata and performed a work by UNL Composer Emeritus Randall Snyder and two other pieces.
Diane Barger, Professor of Clarinet, completed her third term (6th consecutive year) as Treasurer of the International Clarinet Association at the end of August and was appointed as Nebraska State Chair for the ICA. Two of her D.M.A. alumni Elizabeth Aleksander (D.M.A. 2008) and Jessica Vansteenburg (D.M.A. 2010) were finalists in the ICA Research Competition and presented at the July ICA ClarinetFest in Austin, Texas. Barger, principal clarinetist of Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra, performed Scott McAllister's "X Concerto for Clarinet and Strings" with the LSO in their opening season concert on Sept. 17 and recently hosted the 15th annual Midwest ClariFest at UNL on Oct. 4.
Anthony Bushard, Assistant Professor of Music History, published "Film Music" in Listening to Music, 6th edition, edited by Craig Wright (Cengage Learning, Belmont, Calif., 2011). He presented "The Curious Case of Paseo Hall: Newspaper Coverage of the Kansas City Jazz Scene During the 1930s," and "White Picket Harmonies: Aaron Copland's Influence on Thomas Newman's Suburban Scoring,"at the National Meeting of the College Music Society in Minneapolis in September. He also presented "White Picket Harmonies..." at the National Meeting of the Society for American Music in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in March.
Ed Forde, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, has been selected to have an exhibition of his paintings Oct. 24-Dec. 2, 2011, at the Nebraska Arts Council's Fred Simon Gallery, located in the Burlington Building at 1004 Farnam St., Lower Level, in Omaha. His work was selected among 56 applications by Nebraska artists for six spots on the exhibition schedule. Forde and Associate Professor of Art Eddie Dominguez had an exhibition on display in October at the Burris Hall Gallery at New Mexico Highlands University.
William Grange, Hixson-Lied Professor of Theatre, was Guest Professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany during the Spring Semester of 2010, under the auspices of the German Academic Exchange Service. The German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) is a publicly-funded research organization of higher education institutions in Germany. The organization has provided funding for several projects Grange has undertaken, resulting in the publication of numerous books and articles. This most recent project included teaching a course titled "The Golden Age of Hollywood" at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies and a graduate seminar on contemporary American Drama in the university's English Literature Institute. He also conducted research on German actresses in the 19th and 20th centuries at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin. Grange's most recent book "Historical Dictionary of German Literature to 1945" will be published by Scarecrow Press in early 2011.
Kevin Hanrahan, Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy, received Best Poster Paper Award at the National Teachers of Singing National Conference in Salt Lake City in July for his paper entitled "The Use of the Voice Range Profile in Assigning Repertoire: An Evaluation."
Karen Kunc, Cather Professor of Art, participated in Pecha Kucha Lincoln at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln on Sept. 28. The participating artists present 20 images in 20 seconds in this fun, fast-paced event. Other alumni and students participating in the event included George Sisson (B.F.A. 2000), Bryan Klopping (B.F.A.), Jamie Burmeister (M.F.A. 2005),
Peter Lefferts, Hixson-Lied Professor of Music, contributed two of the 19 chapters in "The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music" by editor Mark Everist (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Stanley V. Kleppinger, Assistant Professor of Music Theory, presented "A Perception-Based Model for Analysis of Post-Tonal Pitch-Centric Music" to the annual conference of Music Theory Midwest in May at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Kleppinger also serves as secretary for Music Theory Midwest and will manage local arrangements for the 2011 conference when it comes to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Glenn Nierman, Associate Director of the School of Music and Steinhart Professor of Music Education, presented a paper on the relevance of music aptitude for 21st century schools at the 29th World Congress of the International Society of Music Education (ISME) in Beijing in August. He also presented a paper on development of music education leaders for the 21st century at the ISME Music in Schools and Teacher Education Commission Seminar in Shenyang, China, this summer. Glenn continues to serve MENC: The National Association of Music Education as the Immediate Past President for the North Central Division.
Giacomo M. Oliva, Professor and Endowed Dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, chaired a panel presentation entitled "International Education and Exchanges: Expanding Opportunities for Music Faculty" and also participated as a panelist in the presentation entitled "Leadership in the Music Academy" at the annual meeting of the College Music Society in Minneapolis on Sept. 24. His NET produced presentation Ragtime Cabaret has had 287 airings in 22 states since being picked up for national distribution by the National Educational Television Association (NETA) in October 2009. Oliva also performed a song cabaret with his daughter at Sweet Caroline's Comedy Club in New York City in August, and served as chair of the NASM visiting team for Georgia State University in early October.
The Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer and Julie Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello) performed Oct. 17 at Poisson Rouge in New York City. The concert was the first in their year-long Creator/Curator series. For this series, the Chiara has commissioned four stellar young composers to write a new work and to curate the concert on which the new work is to be performed, choosing music that illustrates their influences, inspiration and heritage. The inaugural creator/curator was Gabriela Lena Frank. Other young composers commissioned this year for this series include Nico Muhly, Huang Ruo and Daniel Ott.
The Moran Quintet (John Bailey, flute; William McMullen, oboe; Diane Barger, clarinet; Alan Mattingly, horn; and Jeffrey McCray, bassoon) presented their fall tour, where they performed in recital and gave masterclasses at Drake University, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and St. Olaf. Their tour culminated in a lecture/performance (with Assistant Professor of Practice Dale Bazan) at the College Music Society National Conference in Minneapolis. The Moran Quintet was also featured on American Public Media's Composers Datebook on Sept. 22 for their performance of Jennifer Higdon's "Autumn Music."
The University of Nebraska Brass Quintet (Associate Professor of Trumpet Darryl White, Lecturer of Trumpet K. Craig Bircher, Assistant Professor of Horn Alan Mattingly, Senior Lecturer of Tuba Craig Fuller and Associate Professor of Trombone Scott Anderson) was funded by the Hixson-lied College to tour the Czech Republic from May 1-6 in support of the newly commissioned work "Copernicus for Brass Quintet and Wind Ensemble" by Juraj Filas. The performance was with the Prague Castle Guard and Police Band conducted by Colonel Vaclav Blahunek. The visit coincided with the 65th year Celebration of Liberation by the Czech Republic commemorating the date that allied troops freed Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation. Through a series of fortuitous events, the brass quintet was also invited to perform in a series of recitals of World War II era American Music for three separate celebrations. The first of these celebrations was in the 16th century castle near the town of Klatovy. Other performances were in Domazlice and Katovice. The quintet also presented a recital on Sept. 18 as part of the Meadowlark Festival at the Deer Creek Winery outside of Lincoln.
The UNL Faculty Jazz Ensemble was featured in a special on NET entitled Jazz Cabaret, which has been running this fall. Both a 30-minute and 60-minute "Director's Cut" version of the program were created and have aired. The 30-minute version will be distributed nationally by the National Educational Telecommunications Association. The UNL Faculty Jazz Ensemble includes Paul Haar, saxophone; Darryl White, trumpet; Eric Richards, trombone; Peter Bouffard, guitar; Rusty White, double bass; Tom Larson, piano; and Steve Helfand, drums. Also joining the septet on several songs is UNL graduate student and alto saxophonist Brandon Holloman.
Students
The School of Music's Ezinma Trio performed at the Chancellor's State of the University address on Thursday, Sept. 9 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. The Trio includes Meredith Ramsay (B.M.), violin; Timothy Paek (B.M.), cello; and Michael Glur-Zoucha (B.M.), piano. They are mentored by the Chiara String Quartet.
School of Music vocal students Adria Caffaro (B.M.), Melanie Holm (B.M.) and Steven Soebbing (D.M.A.) performed in Austria this summer with the American Institute of Musical Studies.
Joseph Mumm (B.M.) won the Lincoln Municipal Band solo competition, as well as the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition. He will perform the Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra by Nino Rota with the Orchestra on Feb. 10, 2011 at both 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Mumm was also selected to perform at the 2010 Performance Studies Trombone Masterclasses with Michael Mulcahy from July 18-22 at Northwestern University. This summer trombone workshop featured an exhaustive exposure to fundamentals, training for orchestral auditions, masterclasses focusing on the interpretation of solo literature and chamber music performance.
Patrick O'Halloran (M.M.) performed with the Des Moines Metro Opera and participated in the James Collier Apprentice Artist Program, also with the Des Moines Metro Opera, this summer.
Brian Paden (M.M.), trombone, toured with the Offutt Air Force Jazz Band "The Noteables" from Aug. 13-21.
Alumni
Tyanne Bennett (B.A. Music 2010) is working toward a graduate degree in music therapy at the University of Kansas.
Andy Converse (D.M.A. 2009) is Lecturer of Trombone at Texas A&M University in Kingsville. He will teach trombone majors, as well as perform. He has also won the position as Principal Trombone with the Mid-Texas Symphony.
Kara Davidson (B.A. Theatre 2009), completed a nine-month apprenticeship at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Ky., and moved to New York City in April. She was cast in the "The Revival" in September at Theatre Row and also a lead role in "Follow Me Down," which opens at the Flea Theatre in Soho on Oct. 22.
Joshua Deutmeyer (M.M. 2010) is the Middle School Band Director at Waukee, Iowa.
Teresa Dwyer (B.M.E. 2009) is the Middle School Band Director in Columbus, Neb.
Howard "Rusty" Edwards (B.M.E. 1976) has published hymns in books used by 37 denominations in Australia, Canada, China, England, Japan, New Zealand, Polynesia, Scotland and the U.S. He is an Oxford Foundaiton Fellow and has been a visiting fellow at Seminary of the Southwest (Austin, Texas) and the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music.
Prilla Smith Brackett (M.F.A. Art 1981), has an exhibition "Places of the Heart" at The Hess Gallery at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Oct. 20-Dec. 1, 2010. Brackett creates paintings, drawings and prints that combine the forest landscape and human-made elements - most recently domestic furniture - into dreamlike, uncanny images that allow imagination and memory to wander and surface, making unexpected associations.
Andy Strain (B.A. Music 2001), played the trombone with singer-songwriter Joanne Newsom on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Aug. 11 on ABC. He is currently on a world tour with Newsom.
Matt Walley (B.A. Music 2010) received a graduate teaching assistantship at the University of Georgia, where he studies with Joshua Bynum.
Programs
The School of Music's Chamber Music Institute had a very successful, week-long program in June. Seven chamber ensembles and six composers from across the U.S. participated. Ten UNL faculty, including the Chiara String Quartet, served as coaches for the groups, which gave three performances, including premieres of new works. The fellows were also invited to attend the Meadowlark Music Festival's concert at a local winery.