School of Music highlight reel

​Students and faculty in the School of Music aren't letting classes slow them down. The school recently recognized the accomplishments its community has made so far in the fall semester.

Students

• Sepehr Pirasteh was commissioned to compose a cello quartet for the Detroit Composers Project. His "Sacrifice for Brothers" for string orchestra was performed by Argentina's Orquestra Criança Cidadã.
• CMU's Zenith Saxophone Quartet performed by invitation at the Michigan Music Teachers Association annual conference in Novi, Michigan.

Faculty

• Jay Batzner spent two days as a guest composter at Missouri Western State University, teaching composition lessons and presenting his creative work.
• Lindabeth Binkley performed as principal oboe at the Lexington Bach Festival and with the Flint Symphony Orchestra.
• Mark Cox attended the 33rd annual Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival as a judge for the tuba artist division. Cox also was accepted to co-present with colleague Patty Welch at the 2019 Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• Keith Clifton was appointed program chair of the American Musicological Society Midwest Chapter for 2018-19.
• Scott Harding's band, Iron Fist, and its song "Does It Take Two" was selected from 300 entries to be featured on an Australian radio station.
• Neil Mueller performed with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and with a chamber ensemble at the University of Michigan.
• Alicia Valoti was named principal viola for the Midland Symphony Orchestra and the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra for the 2018-19 season.
• Evan Ware's work "American Apocalypse!" premiered on Oct. 4 in Staples Family Concert Hall and was performed by guest trumpeter Ivano Ascari and Neil Mueller. It was recorded for commercial release in Ascari's CD collection "New Music for Trumpet."
• Tracy Watson sang the "Britten Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac" at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as part of its homecoming concert.
• Adrienne Wiley presided over the Michigan Music Teachers State Conference in Novi, Michigan, and has been invited to become the East Central Division Competitions Coordinator for Music Teacher's National Association.

Written by Anna Kendall, University Communications intern