Faculty Updates

Matthew Bengtson (piano) has begun a new YouTube series, Exploring Repertoire, introducing rare piano solo works. This series is in addition to the Michigan Recording Project, which he organizes and which features high-quality performances of rare repertoire by students, faculty, and recent graduates of the program.

Charli Brissey (dance) has been researching and creating a new solo performance, Fawn, which weaves various etymological and mythological lineages of “fawn” and “faun” into an inherently queer production grappling with questions of grief, survival, desire, power, and vulnerability in a precarious ecosystem. Brissey was an artist-in-residence at the Tofte Lake Center in Ely, Minnesota, during June 2025, where they built an original surround-sound design for the project. Fawn will premiere March 13–15, 2026, at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse, followed by an international tour of the performance over the next two years.

Daniel Cantor (theatre & drama) performed in a production of the play Waste, directed by Carey Perloff, at Marin Theatre Company. He performed in a production of the play He Who Has Ten Thousand Horses as part of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s new play residency, Ground Floor. He performed in workshops at the Goodman Theatre of the new play Novel, with director Aaron Posner, and STMD alum Chess Jakob’s play The American Five. In July he served in an artist residency at the Ragdale Foundation, performing a new dance/theatre piece, Salome.

antonio c. cuyler (entrepreneurship & leadership, voice & opera) published his book Achieving Creative Justice in the U.S. Creative Sector with Routledge and wrote a chapter in the book The Routledge Companion to Governance in the Arts World. He also co-authored an article with Matt Carruthers, digital scholarship and research data specialist with U-M Library, and Jason Imbesi, librarian at the SMTD Music Library, in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society. He joined a delegation to Cuba for professional research and meetings. cuyler also led a group of five U-M students as scholars at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. In addition to a deep immersion in Gullah Geechie culture, the students and cuyler created projects in response to daily prompts on movement, migration, and music. Their residency will culminate in a performance at the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County in the fall. Generous support from the Center for World Performance Studies made this opportunity possible.

Skidmore College awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Humane Letters) to Aaron Dworkin (entrepreneurship & leadership), who delivered a commencement address there in May. In February, Dworkin performed his work American Rhapsody with the East Texas Symphony under Maestro Richard Lee.

The University of California at Irvine invited Walter Everett (music theory), professor emeritus, to deliver his talk “Three Tracks from the Beatles’ Revolver” in May. In June, Everett spoke on two topics on the Beatles’ musical and poetic techniques at the Magical Mystery Camp in Woodstock, New York. In July, he presented his paper “Paul McCartney’s Oedipal Struggle” at the Manchester Music Analysis Conference in the UK, and he was the subject of a three-hour interview for a Dutch documentary on the Beatles’ music. Everett also teaches three or four multimedia online courses each year on the analysis of the Beatles’ and others’ rock music for rpm-school.com.

Karen Fournier (music theory) will have her second book, Punk and Disorderly, published by Bloomsbury Academic Press in February 2026. The book explores the unique role played by women in the creation of the early British punk scene through analyses of the visual art, fashion, songs, lyrics, and memoirs created by its female participants.

Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus and former director of bands Michael Haithcock continues to enjoy a busy and productive professional schedule in retirement. During the 2024–25 academic year, Haithcock conducted and taught conducting at Louisiana State University, the University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina Greensboro, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Illinois, and Temple University, in addition to conducting the Kentucky All-State Band in Louisville. A frequent visitor to graduate seminars outside of Ann Arbor via Zoom, Haithcock also enjoyed returning to the podium with the Symphony Band in Hill Auditorium as a guest.

Christopher Harding (piano) traveled with Aaron Berofsky (violin) to Bangkok in January 2025 for concerts and master classes at Mahidol and Chulalongkorn Universities, as well as master class teaching at the Piano Academy of Bangkok. Harding presented lecture recitals and master classes at Northwestern University and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in March and served as a judge for the finals of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Piano Concerto Competition. He spent the month of May teaching and performing in Seoul, Indonesia, and Singapore, and in July he participated in festivals in Florida, Sicily, and Austria.

On June 9, 2025, Joan Holland (harp) performed as the guest recitalist for Harpisphere, a week-long harp workshop in Houston, Texas. She also gave a master class and coached the ensemble.

Nadine Hubbs (musicology), who is also an SMTD alum (PhD ’90, music theory), received a 2025–26 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) fellowship to finish her book Border Country: Mexico, America, and Country Music; she will present research from the project this fall in Cleveland, under the auspices of the American Musicological Society – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Lecture. Her essay celebrating Andrew Mead (music theory faculty, 1982–2013) upon his retirement from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music will appear in a forthcoming issue of Indiana Theory Review.

Way back before the term entrepreneur was in general use, Christopher Kendall (SMTD dean, 2005–15) founded two still-thriving chamber music groups. New music ensemble-in-residence at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, 21st Century Consort, will mark its 50th anniversary with a celebratory season in 2025–26. Also founded and directed by Kendall and also approaching its 50th season in 2026 is the Folger Consort, early music ensemble-in-residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Kendall has remained actively engaged with these ensembles throughout his career as a conductor (including five years as associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony) and academic leader.

In May, Nancy Ambrose King (oboe) served as president of the jury for the prestigious Prague Spring Competition, which received over 250 oboe entrants from across the globe. In this capacity, she appeared frequently on Czech media and adjudicated with seven internationally prominent jury members. She presented master classes and performed recitals at Penn State, the University of Denver, the University of Northern Colorado, Colorado State University, the University of South Carolina, and University of North Carolina Greensboro. She performed as part of the Kerrytown Concert House series and served on the oboe faculty at the Round Top Music Festival. She released recordings of oboe music by underrepresented composers, including Ruth Gipps, Grazyna Bacewicz, and Viet Cuong.

Marie McCarthy (music education), who is also an SMTD alumna (MM ’86, piano; PhD ’90, music education), co-edited Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin: A Life in Music, which was launched at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick in October 2024. During her sabbatical leave in winter 2025, she completed manuscripts on African American music education history and a critique of music education at the Sesqui-Centennial of the Declaration of Independence in preparation for the 250th anniversary in 2026. She attended the Mountain Lake Colloquium for Teachers of General Music Methods in Virginia, May 18–21, along with students and alumni of the U-M program in music education.

An article by Christianne Myers (theatre & drama), Chloe Chapin, and Sydney Maresca – “ReDressing the Narrative: Combating Systemic Marginalization through Collective Engagement in Costume Pedagogy” – appeared in the most recent issue of Studies in Costume & Performance (December 2024), a special issue devoted to costume pedagogy. During the summer of 2025, Myers designed the costumes for Michigan Stage’s production of Waitress and co-led the sixth annual ReDressing the Narrative workshop for the American Theatrical Costume Association. This year’s theme was “Embodiment” and the event featured a keynote address by theatre & drama colleague Christina Traister.

Patiño Directs Operas at Opera Colorado and Glimmerglass

Chía Patiño (voice & opera) directed La Fille du Regiment at Opera Colorado in November 2024. Monét X Change was the Duchess of Krakenthorp and Peter Strummer, an experienced Sulpice, created a tender and funny father to his Marie, Katrina Galka. All were masterfully conducted by Ari Pelto. After more than a year of preparation and workshops, Patiño directed the world premiere of The House on Mango Street, by alum Derek Bermel and Sandra Cisneros, on July 18, 2025, at the Glimmerglass Festival. The creative team included Nicole Paiement as music director, John Conklin as set designer, Erik Teague as costume designer, and Amith Chandrashaker as lighting designer.

In conjunction with UMS, Doug Perkins (percussion) led a trip to Berlin with students from the chamber music program for a week of coachings and performances in collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic. SMTD students were coached by members of the orchestra, attended rehearsals and performances, and participated in outreach concerts throughout Berlin presented by the Philharmonic. Matt Albert, chair of the Department of Chamber Music, along with Cayenne Harris and members of the UMS team, also participated. The students on the trip were the Citrine Quartet (Alexander Procajlo, Zachary Solomon, Rimas Stapusaitis, Harry Xie), Trio Laval (Jordan Bartel, Sean Yan, Sarina Zhang), and percussionist Paige Madden.

Stephen Rush (performing arts technology) finished his jazz oratorio for big band and singers, Middle Passage, with text by Robert Hayden (the first Black English professor at U-M). He finished and premiered Wedding at Cana – a radical experience for three percussionists (including wine glasses and fishline-piano), Carnatic guitar, bass, piano, and trumpet – with audience silence. Rush also finished a book chapter, “Music and Sleep Project: Sleep Data as Techno Music,” for a book called Music and Sleep out of the University of Freiburg (Switzerland).

Paola Savvidou (wellness) presented on the music teacher’s role in student mental health for the national conference of the Music Teachers National Association and the Piano Conference: NCKP (formerly known as the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy). She is writing a chapter, “Health-Related Coursework,” for The Oxford Handbook of Musician Health Advocacy (forthcoming). Her collaborative research project with Kristen Schuyten (dance) and Allyssa Memmini, U-M alumna and associate professor of athletic training at University of New Mexico, aimed at reaching consensus on strategies for supporting university performing arts students after a concussion, was accepted for presentation at the Sports Neuropsychology Society/Concussion in Sport Group Symposium.

Since retiring in 2018, Peter Sparling – Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus – has had his paintings featured in numerous group shows and four solo exhibits, including two in the U-M Power Center lobby. His videos have been screened at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Screen Dance International, the Poetic Phonotheque, and Muestra Movimiento Audiovisual. He has choreographed for the Crooked Tree School of Ballet, the Berkshire Bach Society, Manchester Music Festival, the Midwest RADFest, and Terpsichore Collective. He will be participating as regisseur, lecturer, and coach for Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th anniversary in 2026.

In spring 2025, Malcolm Tulip (theatre & drama) and Amy Chavasse (dance) created a new dance-theatre duet, “Little Charlotte the Round Ray.” This cautionary tale, told as speculative fiction in movement, song, and storytelling, examines the desperation that can emerge from belief systems that elevate hysteria and wishful thinking. They premiered it at an event called “Disguise” in Northampton, Massachusetts, and they expect to continue developing the piece and to present it in Ann Arbor.

Stephen West has once again been elected chair of the Department of Voice & Opera. He recently sang the baritone solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Dexter Community Orchestra; presented a solo recital for the 100th anniversary celebration of Allied Arts, a Denver organization that supports aspiring young singers; and was a soloist on two SMTD faculty showcases during the 2024–25 academic year. He also represented the Department of Voice & Opera with master classes and personal interviews at the CS Convention & Vocal Competition in Chicago in May 2025. Future engagements include narrating Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with the Dexter Community Orchestra and six yearly concerts as master of ceremonies/narrator for the Dexter Community Band.

In April 2025, Robin Wilson (dance) performed with INSPIRIT, a dance company, in the evening-length work What We Ask of Flesh at the Dance Complex in Boston. Future performances are scheduled for Old Dominion University in October 2025 and Colby College in Waterville, Maine, in February 2026. In May 2025, Wilson performed Ancestral Haiku with Marion Hayden and her Legacy ensemble and with Alexandria Davis at the Alluvion in Traverse City. Wilson was also awarded the 2025 Charles Moody and Lester Monts Lifetime Achievement Award during U-M’s Black Celebratory commencement ceremonies. In August 2025, Wilson attended the New Waves! dance conference in Trinidad & Tobago.