This week at the College of Music: Community edition - Nov. 30, 2023

Composer with a cause
Alumnus Dylan Fixmer’s variegated and prolific career aims to inspire empathy and advance community engagement. “I want music to have a purpose,” he says. With an undergrad diploma from CU Boulder in hand, he spent a decade teaching in small Colorado towns such as Hotchkiss and Rifle, also serving as a counselor at the YMCA of the Rockies. Along the way, he earned a master’s in music education from Indiana University. But life as a composer beckoned. His Violin Concerto was premiered by the Greeley Philharmonic in September 2022—in partnership with the Greeley Family House and other homelessness assistance organizations to increase support for the unhoused. His wife—alumna Sarah Off, pictured with Fixmer above—performed the premiere on an instrument once owned by Terri Sternberg, an accomplished musician who had fallen on hard times, became homeless and died in 2013. Learning her story propelled Fixmer to create a heartfelt concerto that generated critical raves, a radio broadcast on Colorado Public Radio and eventually helped bring attention to the cause of homelessness as far away as London and Paris. MORE

• Director who built CU Presents to retire after 30 years (Daily Camera, Denver Post): Joan McLean Braun built CU Presents into what it is today: The home of all performing arts at CU Boulder with 500 events per year spanning from opera and concerts to Shakespeare and theatre. Braun, born and raised in Boulder and an alumna of the university, was appointed the executive director of CU Presents in 2001 and will retire in June after a 30-year career. Braun’s remarkable legacy inspires our invitation for donations to the Artist Series endowment in her honor, with the goal of reaching $1 million this season.
• On Dec. 4, our Thompson Jazz Studies Program will perform two sets (6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.) at Dazzle! Directed by Professor of Jazz Studies John Gunther, our award-winning big bands will perform Duke Ellington’s fantastic jazz interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s famous score for “The Nutcracker Suite.”

• Stay current with the College of Music in our online newsroom.
• Preview, download or print CU Presents digital programs—performances, student recitals + past programs.
• Questions? Check out Buff Info, CU Boulder’s centralized point of contact for information and resources.