Faculty
On Jan. 19, 2025, Colorado Clarinet Day returns to the CU «Ƶ College of Music! The annual day-long event this year features internationally acclaimed clarinetist Mariam Adam.
Meet Melda Turunçoğlu who graduates this month with a master's in guitar performance!
Meet Clarrisse Bosman who graduates this month with bachelor’s degrees in both bassoon performance and instrumental music education!
In his year-end message, Dean John Davis reflects on the college's commitment to both refining and expanding our offerings: "Our faculty members, advisors and other staff are highly motivated to ensure that our students not only master their chosen craft, but also emerge as well-rounded, adaptable professionals prepared to take on the opportunities and challenges of a rapidly changing world."
We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2024-25 Bruce Ekstrand Memorial Graduate Student Performance Competition: The Koa String Quartet!
With support from a CU «Ƶ 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.
The College of Music has had an alternatively-sized keyboard on loan since April 2023. Recent graduate Abigail Terrill shares how the narrower keyboard is helpful, why it’s needed and what her thesis research found about the process of transitioning between pianos.
“I find myself thinking about all our former quartet members—we wouldn’t be celebrating this milestone today except for them,” says first violinist Ed Dusinberre. Adds second violinist Harumi Rhodes, “It’s a monumental moment and we’re approaching it with a sense of awe. I feel humbled. Yet, in another sense, for us it’s business as usual.” And much of that business takes place right here in «Ƶ.
Last summer, the College of Music and Sphinx Performance Academy kicked off a new partnership to welcome talented string students—ages 11-17—to our campus for an intensive scholarship program emphasizing cultural diversity. This month, it’s déjâ vu as auditioned youths engage in lessons, master classes and more, culminating in public performances tonight and this weekend.