School of Music

News

School of Music Faculty and Alumni in Seattle Opera's Production of Wagner's Ring

Every four years the Seattle Opera mounts a summer production of the Ring der Niebelungen, Richard Wagner's remarkable four-opera cycle and definitive work in the transformation of ninteenth-century opera. The Seattle Opera is one of the few opera companies in the nation able to perform the complete, 15-hour cycle. As in the past, members of the School of Music community are part of the successful production. Faculty members Karla Flygare (flute), Dan Williams (oboe), Jennifer Nelson (clarinet), Paul Rafanelli (bassoon), and Rodger Burnett (horn) are members of the orchestra. Alumni Kyung Sun Chee '91 (violin) and Ryan Bede '05 (chorus) also are part of this year's performance.

Two Puget Sound String Faculty Active as Recording Artists, Artists in Residence, and Entrepreneurship

A new recording released last Fall by the contemporary ensemble Brave New Works of quintets by Malcolm Bolcom and William Albright include Maria Sampen, Associate Professor of Violin, and Timothy Christie, Affiliate Artist in Violin. Sampen and Christie also are returning to the Brevard Music Center in 2009 for a second summer as resident faculty. In addition to teaching high school through post-graduate violinists from all over the world, they performed last year with many great artists including Yo Yo Ma, Bill Preucil, Keith Lockhart, and Leila Josefowitz. Tim Christie will begin his summer as the executive and artistic director of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, a non-profit organization he founded that produces two weeks of chamber and solo concerts as well as educational programs in the heart of Washington's wine country. Professor Sampen will be one of the featured performers.

Dawn Padula to Join Music Faculty in Fall

Mezzo soprano Dawn Padula joins the School of Music faculty in 2009-2010 as Director of Vocal Studies. Ms. Padula was chosen from an outstanding pool of applicants in an exhaustive national search begun in Fall 2008. She completed both a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication at Trinity University, a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Houston, where she focused in her dissertation on pedagogical issues with the male voice, particularly registration negotiation and passaggio. As a performing artist she is active in opera, oratorio, and on the concert stage. She has performed many of the major mezzo roles, has been a soloist in such oratorios as Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, and requiems by Mozart and Durufle, and she has a concert repertoire ranging from Baroque to Broadway. She also is an experienced director, leading productions of Into the Woods, The Pirates of Penzance, Gianni Schicchi, and others. She brings to Puget Sound a devotion to teaching, a dedication to performance, and a passion for music. “I am looking forward to collaborating with such an accomplished faculty,” says Padula, “to having the opportunity to work with the very talented student body, and to being a part of the extremely special community that is the University of Puget Sound.”

Brendan Faegre '07 Wins Awards

Composer and percussionist Brendan Faegre '07 has won a BMI Student Composer Award for Tihai, a composition for percussion ensemble. He also was named this year's ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Fellow for study this summer with Don Freund and David Crumb at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. His composition for piano trio, Circular Ruins, received First Prize in the Beethoven Club 2009 Student Composition Contest and will be performed at the Belvedere Chamber Music Festival in Memphis, Tenn. this June. Brendan recently finished his first year as an associate instructor at Indiana University. He is one of several Puget Sound students who have recently pursued graduate study in composition, including Scott Ordway '06, who received his master's degree from the University of Oregon and will begin PhD studies at the University of Pennsylvania this fall; David Roberts '05, who also completed his master's degree from the University of Oregon and will begin a doctoral program at Indiana University this fall; Greg Simon '07, who is currently enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Colorado; and Carmen Caruso '04, who completed a master's in electro-acoustic music at Dartmouth. All are former students of Robert Hutchinson.

The School of Music on YouTube

Watch performances on YouTube of the Piano Monster Concert (February 2008), the University Wind Ensemble featuring a performance of a new composition by Professor Robert Hutchinson (March 2008) and the University Wind Ensemble (March 2009).