Composition
On Feb. 26 and 27, the College of Music’s annual Genevieve McVey Wisner Lectureship will feature trailblazing composer, musician and sound installation artist Raven Chacon. Even as he tackles weighty questions in his work, Chacon also finds power and joy in the ability to create—a boon he looks forward to sharing during his residency. “No matter what our occupation or how we spend our daily lives, we should be conscious of the work we can do to improve upon justice and the way we treat each other,” says Chacon, the first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.
Graduate students Nicholas Felder and Ian Gunnarschja recently received grants to support innovative projects that advance equity in music and wellness among neurodiverse musicians.
With support from a ¶¶Ňő¶ĚĘÓƵ Boulder Center for Humanities & the Arts grant, the Chicago-based ~Nois Saxophone Quartet returned to the College of Music as guest artists in our Faculty Tuesdays series and SoundWorks series. Says Composition Chair Carter Pann, “These guys increase the learning horizon tenfold.”
College of Music Jazz Studies Lecturer Matt Smiley has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship enabling him to advance his compositional goals by exploring the intersection of jazz and contemporary classical music, and embracing improvisation and innovative composition techniques that challenge the boundaries of both genres.
At the ¶¶Ňő¶ĚĘÓƵ Boulder Entrepreneurship Center for Music, students can find the skills and tools they need for their music careers. This spring, the ECM awarded $5,820 in grants to support eight student-led professional development and community engagement projects.
The College of Music’s 2024 New Opera Workshop (¶¶Ňő¶ĚĘÓƵ NOW) is underway, leading up to performances of Gene Scheer’s “Polly Peachum”—as well as performances of opera scenes presented by our Composer Fellows’ Initiative—in June.
Join us on March 7 for student performances celebrating women-identifying composers.
This year marks a milestone for Professor of Musicology Carlo Caballero who—along with his academic partner Stephen Rumph, professor of music history at the University of Washington—will co-host the Fauré Centennial Festival in Boulder, Feb. 27-March 3.
Isabel Goodwin graduates this month with dual Bachelor of Music degrees—one in composition and one in bassoon performance. During their four years at our College of Music, the instrument has served as a gateway to their creative growth, personal connections and artistic expression.
Alumnus Dylan Fixmer’s variegated and prolific career aims to inspire empathy and advance community engagement.