Student high notes

Ekstrand Competition winners: Peyton Hall Magalhaes, Anna McMahon, Logan Banister, Lauren Flaten, Rebecca Ortiz

Honors Competition winners: Jude Dow-Hygelund, Dawna Rae Warren

Sher Distinguished Musician Scholars: Jude Dow-Hygelund, Cian Krueger

Susan L. Porter Memorial Fellowship: O’Neil Jones

NAfME 2022 Student Composers Competition: Ryan Flat

Fulbright Fellowship
The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board named PhD ethnomusicologist Lydia Wagenknecht a Fulbright Fellow. Her dissertation research in Punta Arenas, Chile, engaged local musicians and arts stakeholders to explore how climate change and Antarctic research have shaped musical identity.

 

Dairy Arts Center 30 Under 30 award 
MarieFaith Lane and several other College of Music students and alumni received the Dairy Arts Center’s 30 Under 30 award for their contributions to Colorado’s arts community in exceptional ways. A multifaceted musician who's passionate about teaching, research and collaboration, Lane is an Artist Diploma candidate (solo violin performance), as well as a graduate teaching assistant and communications assistant at our College of Music. She presented her research—“Building Student Resilience + Sparking Long-term Passion in the Collegiate String Instrument Studio” at the 2023 American String Teachers Association National Conference. 

 

Madison Sinan won the 2022 International Women’s Brass Conference Military Band Excerpt Competition and placed third in the Category 1 Solo Division. 

Meet international student Samantha Torres: Music educator + DEI advocate
International student Samantha Torres candidly shares how her culture influenced her to pursue a career in music education, the challenges she’s overcoming, and why attending our College of Music is the best institution to support her in achieving her goals and her DEI mission. “I know with conviction that with every step and even misstep, I continue to learn,” she says. 

Graduate Diversity Recruitment Fellow: Olivia Huizar Conner
“If educators don’t research the heritage of music they program, they can’t know if they are doing its culture justice.” Meet Olivia Huizar Conner and learn how her background inspires her to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in music. Her current research includes analyzing educator perspectives on the cultural authenticity of repertoire used in their classrooms. 

Graduate student spotlight: Andres Orco
Venezuelan Andres Orco is a DMA guitar student in our Thompson Jazz Studies Program with a special interest in advanced rhythm and meter in jazz; as such, he’s also pursuing a Certificate in Music Theory. “Through the certificate program, I received a multidisciplinary education that I think has made me a more well-rounded musician and educator.” 

Historical musicology graduate student presents “Jane Austen Playlist”
For PhD student Laura Klein, a visit to Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire, inspired “The Jane Austen Playlist: Love and Music of Regency England.”