All Sessions

In traditional piano pedagogy, student progress is often measured by standardized assessments - such as exams, competitions, and fixed repertoire milestones. While these systems can provide structure and motivation, they often fail to capture the full scope of a student’s musical development, particularly in areas like creativity, expression, and identity. This session reimagines assessment in the piano studio through a more holistic, student-centered lens. Rather than asking, “How fast can students progress through levels?” this session invites teachers to consider, “How deeply are students engaging with their music, and how personally meaningful is their progress?” The presentation will explore alternative assessment models that foster long-term growth and artistic ownership, including project-based learning, self-reflection tools, and collaborative goal-setting. Examples of these include “Practice MythBusters” projects, monthly “Musical Selfies,” a studio “Question of the Week” wall, a “Progress Passport” initiative, and “Choose Your Own Adventure” unit planning. The session will also highlight the role of student voice and autonomy in defining success, with practical examples from both pre-college and collegiate settings. Attendees will see how students of all levels can document their musical journeys through recordings, creative work, written reflections, and personalized goals. By shifting the focus from product to process, teachers can support a more inclusive and motivational learning environment - one that prepares students not only to perform, but to think, create, and connect through music. This session is ideal for teachers seeking new approaches to measure progress while honoring the individuality of each student.

This demonstration of public music theory reimagines traditional music analysis by presenting Johanna Beyer’s Music of the Spheres as a sports broadcast. Through the voices of fictional commentators Richard Long and Kenny Blankenship, the episode integrates scholarly insights into play-by-play and color commentary, transforming analysis into an engaging narrative experience. This format makes complex theoretical ideas accessible while maintaining analytical rigor, exemplifying the goals of public music theory. Beyer’s work, characterized by its economy of means, balanced forms, and experimental spirit, is ideally suited for this approach. The piece’s clear structure allows listeners to follow analytical threads that connect to broader trends in 20th- and 21st-century music. By framing analysis as performance, this demonstration invites audiences to reconsider how music theory can be communicated – entertaining, educational, and inclusive. The project aims to promote innovative methods of scholarly engagement, attract new listeners to modern classical music, and provide a template to engage nonmusicians.

As a pianist, pedagogue, composer, and music theorist, I believe in the importance of exposing students to diverse repertoire early in their piano studies. While many efforts have been made to broaden the canon, numerous musical traditions—such as those of Indonesia—remain underexplored in piano pedagogy. With its 38 provinces and countless ethnic groups, languages, and dialects, Indonesia offers a remarkably rich musical heritage. As an Indonesian, I am eager to share this repertoire by creating Resonances of Nusantara, a collection of eight original piano pieces I composed, intended for intermediate to early-advanced students. Each piece features folk tunes from different regions of Indonesia, enriched by research into traditional instruments and cultural expressions—including dances, stories, and vocal traditions. Drawing from Indonesian scales, rhythmic patterns, and improvisatory elements, the works evoke the colors and sonorities of traditional instruments through imaginative pianistic gestures. These musical ideas are thoughtfully woven into each composition with scaffolded techniques that nurture both expressive freedom and technical growth. For example, Bubuy Bulan, based on a traditional song from West Java, suggests the sounds of the Saron and Angklung through special pedal effects and tremolos. This session will feature performances and pedagogical analysis of selected works from Resonances of Nusantara, illustrating how students can connect with Indonesia’s cultural context at the keyboard—hearing new sound worlds, internalizing rhythm, and exploring improvisatory ideas. Keyboard demonstrations will offer insight into how these musical elements interconnect and how this repertoire can sit alongside, complement, and expand traditional piano literature.

How effective is a college education in music? And how can effectiveness be measured? Whether ensuring professional success inside or outside the music industry, or providing tools for meaningful lifelong musical experiences, data on alumni outcomes in music are scarce. Arts alumni surveys like SNAAP provide tantalizing glimpses but don’t always capture the unique curricula, pedagogies, and careers that music students experience. We designed and administered a pilot survey to alumni of the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. The 125 responses offer compelling evidence of both the strengths of a collegiate education in music and critical gaps. Despite strong outcomes (95% employment, 66% working professionally in music), alumni identified significant misalignments between their training and career demands (see Table 1). Alumni working in music reported an average of 2.5 areas of work including teaching, performing, and music administration, while a full 35% of respondents reported paid work both in and out of music. After a decade of talking about entrepreneurship and portfolio careers, our findings suggest musical training is still underserving alumni in some basic professional competencies required for sustainable careers. In this discussion forum, we will (1) briefly share preliminary findings and (2) lead a conversation with participants about the opportunities and challenges of alumni research in music and how more comprehensive and nationwide data could help schools reimagine training future musicians and musical leaders. As one of our respondents asked, “How could accurate decisions about the future be made with no data on...the past?”

This lecture-recital explores the emotional and artistic dimensions of American expressionism in the piano music of Louis Karchin. Beginning with an overview of expressionism as a 20th-century artistic movement, the presentation examines its translation into musical language and its distinctive characteristics, including heightened emotional intensity, structural innovation, and evocative harmonic textures. With examples from Karchin’s piano works — Three Epigrams, Ballade, and Curved Space — the lecture-recital highlights how these compositions embody expressionist ideals through vivid musical storytelling and intricate pianistic expression. In particular, Three Epigrams, performed alongside the lecture, illustrates Karchin’s reflections on the music of Charles Wuorinen and Luigi Nono, as well as the visual art of Emilio Vedova. The lecture demonstrates how he interprets existing music and artworks, transforming them into rhythmic vitality, gestural motifs, and musical perceptions of visual art. Through performance and analysis, this presentation reveals how Karchin synthesizes artistic inspiration into an emotionally compelling piano idiom as an expressionist composer. The audience will gain insight into how this contemporary American composer extends the legacy of expressionism while forging a distinctive artistic voice and offering a deeper understanding of the dialogue between music, visual art, and musical expressivity.

At the beginning of 1834 Chopin frequently visited Music Salons of Lina Freppa, Italian singer, where together with friend Vincenzo Bellini enjoyed singing, playing, talking, and even dancing. Chopin was familiar with a variety of opera genres and styles, since he frequently visited opera houses during his times in Warsaw, Berlin, Viena, Wroclaw, Dresden, Munchen, London, and Paris. He was mostly drawn to Italian opera, and to Bel Canto - “beautiful singing or song.” Bel Canto pertains to a singing style of the 18th and early 19th century, featuring emphasis on pure, even tone throughout the vocal registers, temporary rhythmic flexibility known as “tempo rubato”, and heavily ornamented cadenzas that show off virtuosic technical and musical abilities. Chopin masterfully transplants the ‘beautiful singing’ into his pianistic technique and style. His compositional style includes ‘ton balladowy’- narration similar to surreal scenes of romantic opera (i.e Rossini, Meyerbeer), and ‘singing pianistic narration’ similar to vocal parts in Bellini and Donizetti operas (Tomaszewski). Chopin’s fascination with voice is also evident in his teaching: he told once Vera Rubio that if she wishes to play, she should also sing (Eigeldinger). In this lecture-recital a singer and pianist will come together to examine the importance of Bel Canto’s influence on Chopin’s piano music. Examples from vocal repertoire will be presented side by side with a variety of Chopin’s compositions based on opera themes (variations), improvisations, and bel canto stylistic features (melodic contours, portamento, ornamentation, melodic ‘tempo rubato’).

Clara Schumann’s four-hand arrangement of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44 (1842) stands as a remarkable example of 19th-century creative mediation between chamber and piano performance. Far from being a mere transcription, Clara’s adaptation reveals her distinctive pianistic voice, interpretive insight, and pedagogical purpose. By translating a large-scale quintet into a domestic four-hand form, Clara made this monumental work accessible to a wider circle of musicians within the tradition of Hausmusik—a cultural practice that blurred the boundary between the private and public spheres of music-making. This study explores how Clara’s arrangement embodies her dual role as performer and educator. Through comparative analysis of texture, voicing, and structural treatment, I examine how she reimagines the instrumental dialogue of the original quintet within the idiom of collaborative piano. I argue that her arrangement represents a form of creative authorship—an act of reinterpretation that both preserves and transforms Robert’s compositional identity through her pianistic sensibility. By situating this work within the broader context of 19th-century gender, pedagogy, and performance culture, the paper highlights Clara’s active agency as a musician who shaped the reception of her husband’s works while asserting her own artistic vision. The presentation includes live performance excerpts to illustrate the interpretive and technical challenges of this unique adaptation.

Throughout much of the history of Western art music, the dominance of male composers has perpetuated a significant gender imbalance, resulting in a limited representation of diverse artistic perspectives. This disparity is particularly evident in the genre of the concert etude, where works by female composers have rarely been included in competitions, auditions, or the standard piano repertoire. Such exclusion has diminished recognition of the artistic and technical achievements of women composers who contributed profoundly to the development of pianistic virtuosity. This recital examines the concert etudes of Louise Farrenc (1804–1875), Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944), and Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969), three composers whose works exemplify distinct stylistic and historical approaches to virtuoso piano writing. Farrenc’s Twelve Études of Dexterity, Op. 41 synthesize Romantic pianistic demands with Classical balance and precision; during her tenure at the Paris Conservatory, these etudes were required jury pieces, underscoring their pedagogical and artistic significance. Chaminade’s Six Études de Concert reflect the refined lyricism and textural elegance of French Romanticism, demonstrating her command of both expressive nuance and technical brilliance. Bacewicz’s Ten Concert Etudes represent a modernist synthesis of rhythmic vitality, dissonant harmony, and structural innovation, written in defiance of Poland’s mid-century cultural constraints. By illuminating these works, this project seeks to restore their rightful place within the pianistic canon and to foster a more inclusive understanding of virtuosity that acknowledges the ingenuity and artistic contributions of women composers.

Hallucinations is a song cycle that explores the use of generative AI as a source of inspiration rather than a replacement for creativity. This lecture recital presents a set of six songs with texts generated by ChatGPT, deliberately instructed to choose the least probable next word. What emerges is syntactically intact but semantically surreal sentences that challenge expectation. These “forced hallucinations” were compiled, filtered, and grouped, then set to music by a human composer. The cycle’s introductory song, Before We Begin, humorously demonstrates predictive text mechanisms as the pianist attempts to guess the vocalist’s next word with diminishing success. This lecture recital presents the cycle in its entirety, background on the compositional process, and a discussion of the implications of collaboration with large language models.

"Mushroom Songs" was written for the performer, a bass singer with a passion for the vast world of mushrooms and fungus. All of the poetry except "The Little Smoke" (text by the composer) was written by Mya Temanson, who shares this passion. The cycle addresses themes of the natural life/death cycle as experienced through wonder at the fungal world, curiosity about joining this natural cycle, hallucination and pleasure brought on by ingestion, and transformation through death, decay, and new life. Often overlooked, fungal systems play a critical role in nature, from supplying nutrients to tree roots, to decomposing dead materials, transforming them into new life. Fungal networks underground send signals across forests, behaving very much like a brain, maintaining balance throughout the forest network. These signals are represented musically by the "ping" of open-fourth chords heard throughout the work. A central 3-note motive is featured throughout, sometimes inverted or played backwards, representing the duality of life and death. Further, a "death chord," built on this motive in its prime and inverted form combined, appears in several of the songs (first heard at the end of Meditation). These songs are at times dark, at others comical, but always with a feeling of wonder towards the natural world.

William Grant Still was a courageous trailblazer of his era, using his exceptional gifts and accomplishments as a composer and conductor to promote African-American culture to classical audiences in 1930s and 40s, despite the racial barriers of the era. In his masterfully written Suite for Violin and Piano, Still musically brings to life the sculptures of three African-American artists—Richmond Barthé, Sargent Johnson and Augusta Savage—who were part of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s. Through a live performance with visual aids, we will trace how the creative process of the artists inspired music of such striking expression and originality. From Barthé’s African Dancer that evokes the rhythms and melodies of Africa, to Johnson’s Mother and Child described by music of the most tender expression, to Savage’s Gamin set to the jauntiest, wailing jazz, the suite brims with life and character, and brings out all the dramatic possibilities of the violin and piano. Champions of American classical music of the 20th century, we have performed this suite for many years. We will demonstrate excerpts and larger sections of the suite exploring unique details that Still put into each movement of this fascinating work. The listener will also gain a new appreciation for Still as a creative force in American music who wished to bring all people together through his compositions. [Reference recording link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iDfyPnzQs]

As performers and artists, we have a unique platform from which we can be advocates for societal change. This lecture recital will argue for the importance of creating and controlling context in performances. Contextualization in a performance setting allows artists to speak to our current culture, advocate for social causes, and ensures that repertoire stays relevant to contemporary audiences. I will perform Leslie Bassett’s "Soliloquies" for solo Bb clarinet within the context of racial justice to show how a piece composed in 1978 can resonate with modern social and political causes and remain relevant to modern audiences. This performance will demonstrate how repertoire can remain relevant and resonant in contemporary performances. This lecture will also provide strategies and approaches for recontextualization in other performances.

This lecture recital approaches The Deep River Sonata for oboe and piano by Althea Talbot-Howard through the lenses of physicality and arrangement. In performance, musicians and instruments become a tableau for the audience, a means of visualizing overt and interior aspects of the music. While every instrument is rooted in physicality, the differences between instruments can serve to illuminate compositional approaches, personal decisions, and historical resonances. Similarly, compositional choices in arrangement can interact potently with original compositions and with new performances. Talbot-Howard uses four melodies from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Opus 59 for solo piano (numbers 3, 7, 8, and 10) as the basis for her sonata. Interested in creating musical and formal connections between movements while retaining the original keys of Coleridge-Taylor's works, Talbot-Howard introduced two solo interludes between the movements of her sonata. The effect of this careful arrangement and dedication to Coleridge-Taylor's original works is a sonata that feels deeply idiomatic to the oboe. This is especially evident in what Talbot-Howard calls “the pearl of great price,” Deep River itself. Talbot-Howard set about to consciously write a work suited to woodwind performance, albeit one that uses nearly the entire range of the instrument. After discussing physicality as a means of analysis, arrangement, and expression, inspired by the approach of Elisabeth Le Guin in her monograph Boccherini’s Body, the Deep River Sonata will performed in its entirety.

In this lecture-recital I will present and perform significant sections of Violet Archer’s two unaccompanied works for clarinet by Violet Archer (1913 – 2000): Soliloquies (1982) and Four Short Pieces (1995). Each of these works represent distinct priorities found in many of Archer’s compositions. Soliloquies is an advanced work for unaccompanied A and B flat clarinet in three movements that pushes the boundaries of extended altissimo and, at 17 minutes in length, demands substantial endurance from the performer. This work emphasizes vivid chromaticism and fixations on intervallic relationships and development. Four Shorts Pieces, a four-movement student-level work, explores contrasting characters through distinct modal areas, chromatic inflections, and intervallic melodic writing. It also reflects Archer’s commitment to composing approachable contemporary music for young students. This presentation will contextualize both works within Archer’s broader catalog, highlight key compositional strategies, and offer performance suggestions for each piece.

Lawrence Morton (1904-87) was a significant figure in music in Los Angeles from his arrival there in 1940 until his death. Originally a silent movie accompanist and film composer, he wrote prolifically on film music and contemporary music. As impresario, Morton was executive director of the Monday Evening Concerts (1954-71), director of the Ojai Music Festival Intermittently from the 1950s until the 1980s), and curator of music at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art. This presentation details the personal and professional relationship between Morton and Pierre Boulez (1925-2016). Introduced by Stravinsky in the mid-1950s, they remained friends until Morton's death. Morton facilitated Boulez's first U.S. conducting engagement, the premiere of "Le Marteau sans Maître" on the Monday Evening Concerts in 1957. In 1963, Boulez both conducted and played his music on an MEC concert. His final appearance during Morton's MEC tenure was the world premiere of his "Éclat" in 1965. Details of the rehearsals and the works' receptions will be enumerated. Boulez's compositions appeared on nine other concerts during Morton's MEC tenure. Boulez was music director at Ojai seven times between 1967 and 2003, the first two during Morton's leadership. Attention will be given to Boulez's 1970 directorship, which featured 19 compositions, none by Americans. This resulted in public outcry from American experimentalists, followed by Boulez's response. Primary source material for this presentation are documents in three Morton-related collections at UCLA, including much unpublished correspondence between Boulez and Morton relating to his California concerts and more personal matters.

To be a working composer twenty-five years into the twenty-first century is an interesting and confusing position to be in. The democratization of technology has drastically changed the creation, distribution, consumption, and ownership of music ; new fields such as media composition, songwriting, and commercial music are making their way into the academy ; and generative Artificial Intelligence poses new opportunities (or threats, depending on your viewpoint). While the emergent field of Composition Pedagogy is chiefly interested in the instruction of composition in the classroom or studio, composer -oriented professional development is an area that gets little attention in the university setting or in contemporary composition textbooks. A composition studio is a community, and in this paper, we propose reimagining the collegiate composition studio as an incubator for a long-term creativity ecosystem of lifelong learning. Composition instruction is paired with opportunities in publishing, entrepreneurship, and networking, mimicking the skills that professional composers use on a regular basis. Attention is given to areas including attaining orchestral performances, releasing albums, accepting commissions, and generating opportunities. These skills are addressed in the context of individual lessons and group studio classes in ways that carry over into the young professional composer’s career that they might be able to forge their own creative paths forward into this new age of music-making.

Pansori, the Korean art form of sung narrative, occupies a unique position at the intersection of performance, identity, and cultural memory. Emerging in the seventeenth century as a form of popular storytelling, pansori evolved into a codified practice that continues to shape Korean cultural heritage today. This paper examines pansori through a musicological lens, arguing that its distinctive aesthetic—marked by vocal endurance, rough timbre, rhythmic cycles, and audience participation—offers a powerful model for understanding how music constructs and transmits identity. The study first traces pansori’s trajectory from vernacular entertainment to UNESCO-designated Intangible Cultural Heritage, showing how it has served as a medium for resilience, satire, and social commentary. It then analyzes the genre’s core elements—chang (song), aniri (narration), and ballim (gesture)—to demonstrate how pansori collapses boundaries between speech, song, and theater while foregrounding the uniquely Korean expression of han, or collective grief and perseverance. Finally, the paper situates pansori in contemporary contexts, exploring how performers adapt the tradition in global fusion projects while preserving its cultural significance. By presenting pansori not simply as a national art form but as an alternative framework for thinking about voice, narrative, and musical identity, this paper broadens conversations in global musicology. In doing so, it highlights the ways music can embody endurance, articulate communal memory, and reimagine cultural heritage in a modern world.

This study combines passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and soundscape composition to examine and represent the soundscape of the Lumber River, a protected wild area in southern North Carolina. The Lumber River covers more than 100 miles in southeastern North Carolina. While commercial activity is limited along the river, the amount of noise pollution is high. In order to study the Lumber River soundscape through PAM, six field stations within the park were recorded for one to six months. Recordings were analyzed to produce acoustic data including sound pressure levels (dB), species presence levels, and acoustic indices (e.g., ACI, BI). These data reveal not only the impact of noise pollution on the area, but also form a baseline of acoustic activity level for further study. These recordings then form the basis of a data-driven music composition that uses the recordings from the park to create a new work of soundscape music. This work combines the quantitive approach of passive acoustic monitoring with the creative perspective of music composition to create a product that inspires listeners to listen more deeply while revealing information about our ecosystems.

Minnie Riperton, Ramsay Lewis, Earth Wind and Fire; these are some of the many soul and funk acts whose tracks were underscored by the lush orchestrations of Charles Stepney. Stepney was a Chicago-based composer who penned hits for many artists affiliated with Chess Records and its subsidiaries in the 1960s and 1970s. Though working largely behind the scenes and passing away at a relatively young age in 1976, the depth of his influence has led to recent musicological examinations by the likes of Duane Powell, Ayana Contreras, and others. Lesser-known are his many works for concert orchestra and chamber groups, some of which he began composing during his studies at Wilson Junior College and Juilliard. This paper and presentation provide a theoretical analysis of several of these works, tying them back to the experimental devices on display in his commercial output, and positing Stepney as a composer who transcends the cultural popular-classical divide. Stepney’s experimental knack for combining soul, folk, and orchestral forces is perhaps most apparent in his brainchild and supergroup Rotary Connection. It is on their debut album that we get snippets of his concert music as interludes between the album’s songs, including a movement for string quartet and a few sample-based musique concrète pieces. In addition to analyzing these, the presentation will look at Stepney’s “classical-jazz” symphony Cohesion. Scores for this project are obtained in collaboration with musicologist Tammy Kernodle and the estate of Charles Stepney, and are not to be used for commercial purposes.

"This paper presents an autoethnographic investigation of pedagogical transformation, focusing on the journey of a university music instructor as they transition their global music-cultures course to prioritize engaged, student-centered learning. Traditional approaches to teaching world music, which demand a dense, foundational knowledge of non-Western musical practices, history, and cultural context, often result in a difficult choice: either an ethnomusicologically rigorous course that overwhelms undergraduate music majors or a broad survey course that lacks academic depth. To address this challenge and move beyond the limitations of textbook-centered lecturing, this study examines the development and implementation of a new curriculum based on creative podcasting projects through a cooperative cohort learning model. These projects are designed to foster deep engagement with musical material and cultural concepts. Key questions explored include:
-How can an experiential, project-based approach enhance students' understanding and engagement with global musics?
-What is the validity of traditional music school training and conventional lecture formats in preparing students for intercultural study?
-How can we collect qualitative data to understand better the depth of student engagement within a cooperative learning framework? The paper illustrates the impact of this pedagogical shift on the instructor's practice. It provides insights into creating a more meaningful and practical learning experience for students navigating complex musical and cultural material."

From July 1763-August 1941, a group of German immigrants settled along the Volga River in Russia until they either fled to the Americas or were eventually deported. During their time in Russia, the Volga Germans gradually integrated the language, customs, and musical practices of their surrounding environment into their own cultural expression. Firsthand accounts describe Volga German music as a pervasive presence which could be heard on street corners throughout Moscow, performed as chamber and symphonic works at universities, and featured in private concerts and music lessons for the nobility. Although there is evidence that the musical traditions were incorporated directly into the Russian Nationalistic sound, much of this repertoire was lost through sustained Russian interference and suppression. Drawing on close analysis of instrumental practice, documented vocal techniques, narrative descriptions of musical performance and function, and surviving transcriptions of Volga German vocal music from prisoners in concentration camps, this study reconstructs the extent and character of this cultural and musical hybridization. It further examines how these cross-cultural exchanges shaped identifiable musical techniques. Finally, the paper applies these findings to contemporary efforts to revitalize and sustain Volga German musical culture through polkas in the United States. By analyzing the musical traditions of the Volga Germans, this study finds new avenues for examining the transfer and adaptation of musical identities across cultural contexts and provides a comparative framework for understanding similar processes among other marginalized ethnic groups.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are transforming how people learn to sing. Tools such as pitch correction, real-time feedback, and virtual vocal coaches have become increasingly common in vocal instruction. While many studies focus on how these tools improve technical skills, little is known about how students understand themselves as singers when engaging with AI. This literature-based study reviews research from three related areas: AI-supported learning in education, AI in music education, and the development of vocal identity in vocal pedagogy. Building on Johnson and Wetmore’s (2021) view that technology reshapes educational practice, and on Zhang and Aslan’s (2021) discussion of AI’s growing influence in education, this paper examines how intelligent systems shape the ways students experience their voices. In music education, previous studies have focused on instrumental or theoretical applications of AI (Tan & Li, 2021), leaving vocal learning less examined. The paper defines vocal identity as a developing awareness of one’s own singing voice, influenced by social norms, institutional expectations, and technological feedback. It argues that AI-assisted learning should be viewed not only as a technical aid but also as a context where identity, creativity, and agency interact. The paper calls for more interdisciplinary approaches that connect music education, technology, and student experience to rethink what it means to sing and to learn to sing in the age of intelligent machines.

Cécile Chaminade’s music has enjoyed a minor resurgence in the last few years, with interest evident in more performances of a wider range of her music. In her lifetime (1857-1944) she achieved great success as a composer and pianist, with acclaim in the late nineteenth century for her “ballet symphonique” Callirhoë, op. 37 and her Konzertstücke for piano and orchestra (both 1888). Her music was programmed in prestigious venues for a time, and she was praised by Ambroise Thomas as “not a woman who composes, but a composer.” She was financially successful as a composer, and her music became especially popular in England and the United States, where she made a number of tours; local fans established Chaminade Clubs as places to perform her music. I have found myself particularly fascinated by the ambition of her works from the 1880s, in particular the Sonata in C minor for piano, op. 20, the two piano trios, opp. 11 and 34, and the six Études de Concert, op. 35 (1886). I am performing five of these études today, as they are exemplary of the best of her approachable French Romantic style. These pieces are colorful, ingenious, and wide-ranging in their technical demands. As “concert etudes,” they are perhaps less about particular technical challenges than they are character pieces. Nonetheless, the Scherzo, Fileuse, and Tarantelle are all obviously concerned with particular technical issues, including staccato double notes, fluent passage work, and wide spans and perpetual motion.

"This performance will feature the regional premiere of several woman-composed pieces adapted for violin and marimba. The first of these, Melodie No. 2, op. 4 by Fanny Mendelssohn, is a short but haunting work that was initially intended for solo piano but has been revitalized by the adaptation’s novel instrumentation.
The first movement of Clara Schumann’s Drei Romanzen is a standard of the violin repertoire and exemplifies Clara’s mastery of Romantic ideals. The lieder-esque quality that she often employs can be heard throughout the violin’s gentle melody. Alba Rosa Viëtor’s Canzonetta is an overlooked gem that is characterized by lilting melodies that traverses the tonal landscape. Viëtor uses this combination to create an air of mystery that pervades the entire piece. Known for her impressive but tragically brief career, Lili Boulanger helped define the French sound palette of the early 20th-century. Her Nocturne is a meditative exploration of sonic colors, with ever-increasing extensions adding tension over a sustained pedal. Henriëtte Bosmans was one of the foremost Dutch pianists of the twentieth century. Arietta was one of Bosmans’ earliest compositions and exhibits characteristics of some of her idols from the French school, as well as some of her own unique ideas that she would develop in her later works. The sixth and final movement of Amanda Maier’s Six Pieces for Violin and Piano is a sprightly jaunt through several contrasting styles and moods. An accomplished violinist in her own right, Maier’s technical brilliance is on full display in both parts."

This performance seeks to highlight two contemporary piano works by American composers whose backgrounds and styles reflect a unique blend of multiple cultures. Our understanding of what we call "American" music will deepen as a result. Rang de Basant, by Reena Esmail, blends the Indian genre of raga with western classical idiom of the piano solo. Typically improvised on melodic instruments capable of pitch-bending and other techniques not afforded by the piano, "raga" is seldom performed on the western instrument. Esmail, fluent in both Eastern and Western classical music, bridges this gap with stylistic use of pitch clusters, aleatory, and more in this one-of-a-kind piano work. In contrast, Nkeiru Okoye’s does not overtly imbue her Nigerian heritage into her intimate, picturesque piano set, Meanderings. However, her unique pianistic language contains programmatic, colorful expression inseparable from her experience as a Nigerian-American. “When Young Spring Comes” combines irresistible, modern lyricism with buzzing, yet elegant dissonance. “A Still, Quieting Voice,” a slow and reflective homage to a mentor from Okoye’s youth, in whom Okoye found spiritual comfort. “Clouds Welling” marks an expansion in form with several interweaving, recurring sections and thematic material. It explores numerous jazzy and gospel characters throughout (it even embeds the tune of the well-known hymn, "It is Well With My Soul"). The aforementioned expansion in form continues with Meanderings’ newest addition, “Arboreous Tree,” (2024) commissioned by pianist Ethan Stahl. Bristling with energy and optimism, “Arboreous Tree” channels Bach, Debussy, and other canonical composers through a percussive lens.

"How can collegiate music programs inspire students to connect their artistry with themes that matter in their own communities? This workshop introduces interdisciplinary programming as a powerful tool for student engagement, creativity, and civic connection. Drawing from a recent Voices of Justice project (a collaboration between Voice Studios and School of Law), GF150 (with History and American Indian Studies), and an upcoming Constellations concert (with Aerospace), Singing What Matters invites participants to reimagine applied study and performance as a means of civic engagement through music. The session offers adaptable models for project-based learning that align musical performance with social and cultural inquiry. Participants will engage in collaborative planning activities including: • Identifying cross-departmental or co-curricular partners
• Curating thematic repertoire
• Scaffolding student research and reflection
• Tailoring projects to specific ensembles or studios
• Aligning project goals and repertoire with community or partner needs (“Aiming for Essential”)
• Outlining a collaborative project they could implement at their institution in the near future By leveraging college and university strengths—the diversity of disciplines, depth of resources, and breadth of perspectives—participants will explore how interdisciplinary programming can cultivate artist-citizens who connect their craft to society’s evolving needs and values."

This lecture-recital highlights the artistic legacy of Emile Naoumoff (b. 1962), a French-Bulgarian composer and pianist whose career embodies continuity, cultural synthesis, and innovation. As his former student during my master’s studies, I had the privilege to interview him at Indiana University in June 2025, an encounter that preserved his wisdom of words and music. It is rare to find a living link to Nadia Boulanger who at the same time reshapes today’s piano world—Naoumoff revitalizes tradition so that her principles resound with urgency in the twenty-first century. This project positions him as a voice of lasting international influence. Naoumoff’s innovation shines in one of his works, Piano Variations Bulgaria 1300 (1981), commemorating Bulgaria’s 1300th anniversary. Fusing monumental design with asymmetrical Balkan rhythms and lyrical freedom, the work challenges performers to combine virtuosity with tonal nuance, embodying Naoumoff’s conviction that the piano must sing as well as resound. His Franco-Bulgarian identity merges French refinement with Balkan rhythmic vitality, creating a voice that bridges cultures while rooted in the Western canon. At Indiana University, he carries forward Boulanger’s lineage with clarity, expressive freedom, and craft. His dual role as composer and performer recalls Rachmaninoff, affirming his stature as a modern exemplar of the pianist-composer tradition. For me, capturing his words was both a privilege and a responsibility: to safeguard a living connection to Boulanger’s world while affirming Naoumoff’s vital place in today’s global piano culture.

This lecture recital will feature Solidarność (1982), a solo piano work by American composer Marilyn Shrude (b. 1946). Known for her expressive musical language -celebrated for its warmth, lyricism, rich timbre, and intricate fusion of tonality and atonality- Shrude has received numerous honors, including Bowling Green State University’s Distinguished Artist Professor Award and Lifetime Achievement Award, and was the first woman to receive the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for Orchestral Music. Solidarność (Polish for “Solidarity”) was composed in 1982 in response to the Polish Solidarity movement. Founded in 1980 under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa (later president of Poland) the movement ultimately ended Communist rule in Poland in 1989. Shrude's Solidarność conveys uncertainty, perseverance, and fragile optimism (as the outcome was still unknown at the time), and her maternal Polish heritage adds a personal touch. The piece opens with dissonant outbursts followed by softer, mysterious moments, leading to a reflection of Chopin’s Nocturne in B Major, Op. 9 No. 3, more Chopin-esque idioms throughout, and quotes the first line of Poland’s triumphant national anthem, Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, “Poland is Not Yet Lost, While We Live.” General recurring stylistic elements include: atonality, cluster chords, glissandi, use of all three pedals, wide range, and dynamic layers. By addressing the historical significance of the Solidarity movement, examining Shrude’s distinct musical language, and performing the work, this lecture recital aims to show how Solidarność stands as a timeless musical testament to resistance, unity, and collective strength -one that resonates in today’s global climate.

As the music industry rapidly evolves, higher education must respond with curricular models that prepare students for a range of modern career paths. Today’s music students seek more than technical excellence—they want educational experiences that connect their artistic practice to real-world opportunities. This panel discussion explores how a public university program partners with students to design curriculum that reflects those values. By incorporating student feedback and centering relevance, the program has implemented new courses in music business, popular music analysis, and global music studies. These courses allow students to build entrepreneurial skills, cultural fluency, and confidence in the value of their degree. Faculty and students will share their collaborative approach to curriculum design and its impact on student motivation, skill-building, and post-graduation employment readiness. Attendees will hear from both faculty and current students and leave with actionable ideas for launching or expanding interdisciplinary programming in their own institutions. Topics will include how to develop minors and certificates, how to embed career development within creative coursework, and how to meaningfully engage students in shaping their academic paths. By aligning curricular content with contemporary student needs and industry shifts, music educators can help future performers, producers, and artist-citizens thrive in a dynamic and competitive field.

James Tenney’s career as a composer and music theorist was one of investigating sound and form, in search of ways to better engage with the music of the present and future. Throughout his previously less accessible writing, such as his seminal work Meta+Hodos from 1961, he often drew on his extensive computer music knowledge as well as psychology and linguistics toward these goals. Compare to the musicians of the 20th century, today’s musicians are often far more acquainted with conceptual elements he discusses from their greater exposure to music technology and extensive engagement with music outside of the Common Practice Era. As unversities, colleges, and conservatories endeavor to find tools to meaningfully connect foundational music theory concepts beyond the Common Practice Era for musicians who operate in different musical situations, Tenney’s Temporal Gestalt approach may prove to be a method that the current and future generations of musicians can use to holistically conceptualize music in new, meaningful ways. Revisiting Tenney’s theoretical frameworks and creativity is particularly timely, with dual anniveraries of what would have been his 90th birthyear and this year’s 20th anniversary since his passing, as well as the recent passing of perhaps his most consistent advocate, composer and scholar Larry Polansky. In this presentation, basics of Tenney’s approach will be discussed, along with specific demonstrations of applying it to music examples relevant to undergraduate core music theory sequence/courses immediately following it and graduate level coursework will be included.