The halls of the Westbrook Music Building are once again busy and our faculty, staff, students and alumni are all doing amazing things! Read about them here:

Audition Days

Audition Days


Welcome to Audition Days! 

Karen Becker

Karen Becker


Professor of Cello Karen Becker's performance of Laurence Sherr’s piece, premiered by Becker and pianist Jay Mauchley in Kimball Recital Hall at the University of Nebraska two years ago, has been selected for this "Performance Today" on NPR. It will air today.

The performance to air is from June 2015 at the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana.

"Although this is my first time to be selected for this program as a soloist, I have to say I’m particularly excited because of the piece that was selected," Becker said. "Composer Laurence Sherr lives in Atlanta and teaches composition and a course on the Holocaust at Kennesaw State University. His inspiration for this piece is based on his research of songs written during the Holocaust—melodies written by survivors of the Holocaust—those who were part of the resistance and others in the Ghettos and concentration camps. In fact, the translations of the Yiddish title Mir Zaynen Do! is “We Are Here!”  It is a very powerful."

The performance will air during the second hour of "Performance Today". It airs from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (Central) on 91.1 FM in Lincoln. It can also be heard on this website: http://www.yourclassical.org/programs/performance-today/episodes/2017/01/13

Andrew Last

Andrew Last


Alum Andrew Last was recently appointed as conductor of the Luther College Nordic Choir. Currently assistant professor of Music, Last will begin his new duties as director of choral activities at the beginning of the 2017 fall semester.

During his graduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Last worked as the conductor of the Big Red Singers and the City Campus Choir in addition to his roles as assistant conductor of the University Singers, camp director for the Nebraska Show Choir Camp and contest director for the Midwest Cup. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Nebraska.

Read the full release from Luther College: https://www.luther.edu/headlines/?story_id=739476

William White


William White is a finalist for the Arapahoe Philharmonic Solo Competition in Colorado. He will perform the Fantasy by Paul Creston in the finals. White is a freshman Bachelor of Music trombone student.

Kenny Baker


Alum Kenny Baker is featured in the December issue of School Band and Orchestra magazine as one of 50 Directors who make a difference. Baker is at McQueen High School in Reno, Nevada. 

http://sbomagazine.com/resources/1434-directors-who-make-a-difference/5614-sbo-presents-the-19th-annual-50-directors-who-make-a-difference.html

https://mcqueenorchestra.org/McQueenOrchestra/About_Us.html

Jazz Education Network Conference


We will have quite a presence at the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference in New Orleans this week.

The JEN Combo:

Jesse McBee, DMA Jazz Trumpet

Andrew Janak, DMA Jazz Composition (saxophone)

Chris Leach, DMA Jazz Trombone

Wataru Niimori, DMA Jazz Composition (piano)

Eric Hitt, BM Double Bass

Mike Roe, DMA Percussion

The combo performs from 5:00-5:50 onFriday, January 6th.


The following students are participating in the poster session:

Andrew Janak, DMA Jazz Composition (combo and poster session)

Jesse McBee, DMA Jazz Trumpet (combo and poster session)

Patrick Brown, DMA Jazz Saxophone

Sarah Cosano, DMA Saxophone

The poster session is from 2:00-4:00 on Friday, January 6th.

The following student is presenting a research paper:

Max Stehr, DMA Jazz Bass

The research paper presentation is from 1:30-1:55 on Thursday, January 5th.

Nathan LeFeber


Alum Nathan LeFeber is featured in the December issue of School Band and Orchestra magazine as one of 50 Directors who make a difference. LeFeber is at Kearney High School. 

http://sbomagazine.com/resources/1434-directors-who-make-a-difference/5614-sbo-presents-the-19th-annual-50-directors-who-make-a-difference.html

Midwest Clinic

Midwest Clinic


We will be hosting a booth at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago next week. Anyone (students, potential students, faculty and alumni) attending the event is encouraged to stop by and say hi and learn more about the Glenn Korff School of Music. We will be in booth 1937. 

Elizabeth Grunin

Elizabeth Grunin


DMA student Elizabeth Grunin recently was accepted to present at an international forum about the composer, Mieczysław Weinberg, whose works she focused her document on. The forum/conference will be happening in Moscow, Russia in February of 2017. Grunin will be graduating in December of 2016.

The abstract for the document reads: The purpose of this study is to discuss the influences, structure, characteristics, and techniques of performance, encountered in the solo works for cello, composed by Mieczysław Weinberg. 

For more information about the forum, click on the links below:

http://www.sikorski.de/10823/en/0/a/0/international_weinberg_conference_in_moscow_16_to_19_february_2017.html

http://muzobozrenie.ru/in-february-2017-an-international-conference-dedicated-to-moisey-weinberg-will-be-held-in-moscow/

Jennifer Reeves (far right) and other members of clarinet quartet, Hijinx.

Jennifer Reeves


Three days after performing for UNL’s Graduate Concerto Competition and being selected as a winner, clarinetist Jennifer Reeves (DMA Candidate) traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to attend the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors (NACWPI) National Conference for which she received two peer-reviewed invitations to present her work. On October 29 Reeves gave her lecture, “Dreams are Made of These: A Look at Collaboration Outside of the Music Box,” which discussed her process of creating an interdisciplinary arts collaboration between clarinet quartet and visual media. Reeves also performed a recital with her clarinet quartet, Hijinx. The group presented a new collaboration with multimedia titled Introspective. Shiana Montanari, a current doctoral student at UNL, clarinetist, and photographer/videographer for Hijinx, provided the multimedia aspect of the Hijinx collaboration. Montanari, along with Lucas Willsie (UNL alumnus, MM 2015), was also in attendance at the conference, and both performed with the quartet. Founded in 2015, Hijinx was created to present collaborations alongside other artistic disciplines while exploring original music for clarinet quartet. The quartet will present Introspective for their first performance tour January 29 – February 4, 2017. Their bookend performances of this tour will be presented at Doane University on January 29 and UNL’s Midwest Clarifest on February 11, 2017.