Michigan Muse Fall 2025 > Student Updates
Student Updates
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Commencement 2025
On May 2, 2025, a few hundred newly minted SMTD graduates crossed the stage at Hill Auditorium, ready to begin the next phase of their lives. Acclaimed composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer Andrew Lippa (BM ’87, voice, music education) – known for Broadway musicals including The Big Fish, The Addams Family, and The Wild Party – was the commencement speaker. Several graduating students were honored as recipients of annual awards: Arin Francis (BFA, musical theatre) – Willis Patterson Award; Ella Hursh (BM, music education, flute) – Albert A. Stanley Medal; Ariya Laothitipong (BM, piano) – Earl V. Moore Award (Music); Reese Leif (BTA, performing arts management) – Earl V. Moore Award (Theatre & Drama); Madison Rogers (BFA, dance) – Earl V. Moore Award (Dance); Alyssa Sunew (BFA, musical theatre) – Earl V. Moore Award (Musical Theatre); and Sylvie Tran (PhD, music theory) – Earl V. Moore Award (Music). Student speaker Jason Zhang (BM, composition) spoke of the importance of making art: “Why make art at all? Because we need to feel, we need to connect. We need to be heard and understood.” He spoke of art’s power to change the world, acknowledging that “this goal may seem farfetched, and these challenges may seem insurmountable.” But he conveyed hope that this graduating class could have a powerful impact. “Look around,” he said. “We have each other. We are not alone. Because we’re more than a school. We’re a community.”
SMTD students celebrate post-commencement, May 2025. Photo: Peter Smith
Five SMTD dance students partnered with the School of Kinesiology, the Arts Initiative, and the U-M Concussion Center to create a piece of performance art exploring their experience with concussion and the recovery process. Performing solo works in front of a beautiful mural in the Concussion Center were Eve Anderson (BFA ’27, dance), Paige Ashley (BFA ’25, dance), Anastasia Bredikhina (BFA ’25, dance), Mya Waple (BFA ’25, dance), and Caitlyn Wade (BFA ’25, dance).
Myah Bridgewater (middle) presenting with fellow awardees on the Emerging Scholars panel at the Mid-America Theatre Conference, March 2025. Photo: Karin Waidley
Myah Bridgewater (BFA ’25, acting) was awarded a place on the Emerging Scholars panel at the Mid-America Theatre Conference in Atlanta in March 2025. She was one of only three undergraduates to present at this national conference, and she also received a research award and faculty mentorship for the conference. Her paper, “(R)Evolutionary Theatre: Four Foundations for Community Change,” focused on the arts-based research and community engagement she explored while an exchange student in South Africa.
Cerus Quartet: Roberto Campa (left), Laura Ramsay, Kyle Kato, and Samuel Dishon
Cerus Quartet Wins Fischoff Gold Medal and Concert Artists Guild Award
In May 2025, the Cerus Quartet earned the gold medal in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and won the 2025 Concert Artists Guild (CAG) Louis and Susan Meisel Competition. The Cerus Quartet consists of Roberto Campa (BM ’23, MM ’25, saxophone) on soprano saxophone, Laura Ramsay (BM ’24, saxophone, music education) on alto, Kyle Kato (MM ’26, saxophone, chamber music) on tenor, and Samuel Dishon (MM ’26, saxophone, chamber music) on baritone. Earning the Fischoff gold medal involves a monetary prize, professional development services, and performance opportunities. The CAG award includes a multi-year management contract, a New York debut performance, career mentorship, and participation in “citizen musician” training, which CAG describes as helping artists “connect their music to the greater world.” The Cerus Quartet won first prize and the Michigan Prize (awarded for best performance of a piece written by a U-M composer) in SMTD’s Briggs Chamber Music Competition in 2023 and won first prize in the 2024 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Chamber Music Competition.
Alfredo Cabrera (the Soldier, left) and Adri Friebel (the Mirror Self) during the premiere of SHOOT!. In the background is a partial list of victims of state-sponsored violence in Venezuela, 1989–2024.
Alfredo Cabrera (DMA ’25, composition) premiered his one-act operatic monodrama, SHOOT!, on April 11, 2025, at the University of Michigan’s Duderstadt Video Studio. The work follows a young Venezuelan National Guard soldier ordered to fire on peaceful protesters, tracing his psychological and spiritual reckoning. Guided by La Reina, the goddess María Lionza, and a spectral Mirror Self, the soldier confronts his identity, conscience, and complicity. The score weaves Venezuelan tonadas with contemporary electronic elements, while AI-mediated visuals create an immersive, layered experience. SHOOT! offers a powerful reflection on memory, agency, and the personal costs of state violence.
Luke Viskupic (left), Charlotte Kosek, Sadie Holloway, Shirley Han, Chloe Meyer, and Bo Chenoweth in Washington, DC
In June 2025, six music education students attended the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) Collegiate Leadership Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC. This event brought together NAfME collegiate members for learning sessions, advocacy training, and professional networking. It culminated with what’s known as Hill Day, when attendees meet with congressional representatives and staffers on Capitol Hill to advocate at the federal level on behalf of music education. The students who attended this event were Bo Chenoweth (BM ’27, saxophone, music education), Shirley Han (BM ’28, piano, music education), Sadie Holloway (BM ’28, voice, music education), Charlotte Kosek (BM ’28, oboe, music education), Chloe Meyer (BM ’26, bassoon, music education), and Luke Viskupic (BM ’28, clarinet, music education).
2025 Briggs Chamber Music Competition Winners
On Saturday, April 5, the 2025 Dale and Nancy Briggs Chamber Music Competition, featuring 11 ensembles, was held in Britton Recital Hall. Made possible by support from the Dale & Nancy Briggs Chamber Music Endowed Enrichment Fund, the Briggs Competition was created to encourage the excellence of chamber music performance at SMTD and to provide performance opportunities for small ensembles. First prize was won by the Zephyr Trio, which consists of Mia Cotton (BM ’25) on flute, Selina Langfeldt (BM ’25) on oboe, and Jiyeon Lee (MM ’26) on piano. Evergreen Quartet – with Makaela Foerderer (MM ’26) on violin, Solveig Geenen (MM ’25) on violin, Isabel Aronin (MM ’26) on viola, and Dayoung Park (MM ’25) on cello – won second prize in the competition. Third prize went to Trio Laval, with Jordan Bartel (SM ’25) on violin, Sarina Zhang (DMA ’25) on cello, and Sean Terada Yang (MM ’25) on piano. The Myriad Project, with Emily Brownlee (SM ’25) on oboe, Donald Schweikert (MM ’25) on bassoon, and Daniel Fecteau (MM ’25) on electric violin and loop station, took Honorable Mention and won the Michigan Composition Prize. To be considered for the Michigan Composition Prize, which is given to the best performance of a piece written by a current or former SMTD composition student, the Myriad Project performed to what we hold dear, a composition by Cole Reyes (DMA ’26). Also receiving Honorable Mention was the Modello Trio, with Ting-Yu Yeh (BM ’25) on flute, Solomon Sigmon (BM ’25) on clarinet, and Emma Fu (BMA ’25) on piano.
The Zephyr Trio (from left): Mia Cotton, Jiyeon Lee, and Selina Langfeldt. Photo: Colin McCall
OUT Ensemble in DC: Sophie Bracken (left), David Michael, Alan Cook, Abby Bracken, and Jenna Stokes. Photo: Da Ping Luo
OUT Ensemble traveled to WorldPride in Washington, DC, for its pride concert series. The group premiered Dominick DiOrio’s Our Wildest Imagining with the Gay Men’s Chorus and played an event for the Human Rights Conference. OUT also performed with the International Pride Orchestra in its orchestral and chamber concerts. In addition to its performances, the quintet received coaching from members of the US Marine Band. OUT Ensemble’s members are: Alan Cook (MM ’26, flute, chamber music), Abby Bracken (MM ’26, oboe, chamber music), Sophie Bracken (MM ’26, clarinet, chamber music), Jenna Stokes (MM ’25, horn), and David Michael (BM ’25, music education).
Corinne Galligan giving a keynote lecture at Lawrence University’s Music Education Symposium, explaining that neurodiversity is more of a spectrum than a binary classification.
Corinne Galligan (PhD ’26, music education) completed her certificate in learning differences and neurodiversity, with a specialization in executive function, through Landmark College in January 2025. During the winter 2025 semester, she presented at the Michigan Music Conference, the Minnesota Music Educators Association Midwinter Convention, the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, and the Mountain Lake Colloquium for Teachers of General Music Methods. She also gave a virtual professional development session in Michigan, was a keynote speaker at Lawrence University’s (Wisconsin) Music Education Symposium, and published a research-based practitioner article in Minnesota’s state music education journal.
Izzy Chilian (left), Shelby Alexander, Sophia Lane, Maya Guacci, and Ellie Van Engen at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
A Special Presentation of Julius Caesar for the Ides of March
On March 15, theatre & drama students participated in a special Family Day celebration of the Ides of March at the Kelsey Museum of Archeology. This event offered an engaging look at the culture and history of ancient Rome, including crafting activities, gallery tours, and dramatic scenes from last fall’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Participating were actors Izzy Chilian (BFA ’25), Sophia Lane (BFA ’25), Shelby Alexander (BTA ’25), and Maya Guacci (BFA ’27), and costume designer Ellie Van Engen (BFA ’26). Professor Emerita Priscilla Lindsay coordinated the outdoor performances, and Alexander adapted the scenes and wrote the accompanying narration. Museum director Will Pestle declared the performances exciting additions to the day’s offerings and a wonderful collaboration between the Department of Theatre & Drama and the Kelsey Museum.
Ellen Hayashi
Ellen Hayashi (BM ’25, violin) was recently selected from a competitive audition process to participate in the New York String Orchestra Seminar presented in Carnegie Hall, December 2024. Hayashi studies with Danielle Belen at SMTD.
Adithya Sastry (left), Alyssa Hernandez, and Brenna Lantz-Lewis
Each year, UMS and SMTD select students for a unique internship experience in which they are paired with internationally renowned artists and companies, including dance, theatre, and music ensembles. This highly competitive program helps prepare students for the demands that working artists face in the contemporary marketplace. The 2025–26 21st Century Artist Interns are: Alyssa Hernandez (BFA ’26, dance), who has been placed with Ballet BC; and Brenna Lantz-Lewis (BM ’27, percussion), who will intern with musician and composer Andy Akiho; and Adithya Sastry (BS ’26, sound engineering), who will work with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. After having spent the summer working with these artists, the interns will continue throughout the academic year to support their respective artists during their visit to Ann Arbor as part of UMS’s 2025–26 season.
Cecilia Hiros presenting her research at the North American Conference for Video Game Music. Photo: Sarah Pozderac-Chenevey
Cecilia Hiros (BM ’21, harp, music theory; PhD ’27, music theory) recently presented her research at the 12th annual meeting of the North American Conference for Video Game Music. Her work, “Marvel’s Spider Man 2 and Imagined Deafness,” explores how the game’s sound designers created a deaf soundscape for a side-quest featuring deaf character Hailey Cooper. Hiros then collaborated with a recent master’s in performing arts technology graduate, Natalia Quintanilla-Cabrera, to reconstruct additional deaf soundscapes from other experiences of deafness and hearing loss. They plan to continue this work with the goal of publishing the developed research in the Journal for Sound and Music in Games.
Samuel Hsieh (left) with EXCEL Lab staff and the 2023–24 cohort during an EXCELerator workshop session
Samuel Hsieh (MM ’25, chamber music; SM ’25, clarinet) has been working as the coordinator of learning and operations at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) since August 2024. Thanks to his prior internship through EXCEL, he was able to secure a full-time position. Hsieh plans to continue his work at the DSO while also running his nonprofit, East Zodiac, which highlights Asian composers and their music. In addition, he is building his private clarinet lesson studio, which currently serves around 30 students in the Ann Arbor area. Through these combined efforts, Hsieh hopes to inspire the next generation of musicians and amplify underrepresented voices in classical music.
Two SMTD Students Win 2025 BMI Composer Awards
On May 28, 2025, the BMI Foundation and BMI announced the recipients of the 73rd annual BMI Composer Awards, and the winners included two SMTD students: Cole Reyes (DMA ’26, composition) and Jason Zhang (BM ’25, composition). Zhang, 22, received the Carlos Surinach Award as the youngest winner of the competition. Reyes, a composer, educator, and arts administrator who studies at SMTD with Roshanne Etezady, won for his composition burnt sienna for chamber orchestra. Zhang won for his composition like Clockwork, perpetuum for string quartet. BMI – a rights management company representing songwriters, composers, and music publishers – and the nonprofit BMI Foundation have awarded over 600 grants to young composers since the competition began, recognizing superior ability in music composition. All works in the competition were judged anonymously, and six winners were chosen from 650 applicants.
Cole Reyes (2nd from left) and Jason Zhang (5th from left) are pictured with the other winners of the BMI Composer Award and representatives of BMI and the BMI Foundation. Photo by Brian Berson for BMI
Alexis Lamb at the 2024 Refugia Festival. Photo: Alexis Lamb
Alexis Lamb (DMA ’25, composition) founded Refugia Festival while at SMTD and was proud to present the festival’s second season at Nichols Arboretum on Sunday, September 28, 2025. Lamb worked closely with the EXCEL Lab to develop Refugia Festival, including participating in the 2024 Performing Arts EXCELerator and earning the 2025 EXCEL Throm Family Innovation Award. Naomi Wolfe (BFA ’26, performing arts technology) served as Refugia Festival’s inaugural intern this past year as part of her performing arts management and entrepreneurship minor through SMTD.
Reese Leif presented her dramaturgy work for John Proctor Is the Villain at KCACTF in Madison, Wisconsin. Photo: Leo Kupferberg
Reese Leif (BTA ’25, performing arts management) was the regional winner of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) dramaturgy competition. She then competed as one of five regional winners at the national level and was awarded a two-month fellowship to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.
Nora Farley (left) and Stephen Elsinger
Winners of 2024–25 Brehm Prizes in Composition
The winners of the 2024–25 Brehm Prizes for original compositions are Nora Farley (MM ’25, composition), who won the Brehm Prize in Choral Composition, and Stephen Elsinger (BM ’27, composition), who won the Brehm Prize in Instrumental Composition. In addition to a monetary prize, the winners also earn the honor of having their work premiered by one of SMTD’s major ensembles in the following academic year. Farley’s prize-winning work, Precatio Terrae: A Prayer to Earth, is scored for SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) choir with flute, piano, and percussion, and it is set to the text of a pre-Christian, Latin-language prayer to the Earth Mother. Elsinger’s winning work, Ad Astra, is a concert band piece influenced by Leonard Bernstein as well as various cinematic, symphonic, and jazz works.
Ryan Lofland (BM ’26, tuba, music education) was recognized as one of 20 U-M Stamps Scholars. The nationally recognized Stamps Scholars Program, selecting from nearly 475,000 applicants nationwide, provides support to approximately 250 students annually, honoring undergraduates who exemplify exceptional leadership and scholarship. Through a partnership with the Office of the Vice President for Research, U-M Stamps Scholars participate in an 11-week Summer Fellowship hosted by the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. Lofland used this fellowship to advance his research on equitable music education for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
SMTD students and alumni after the International Pride Orchestra’s June 5 concert, with IPO founder Michael Roest (front, right). Photo: Da Ping Luo
On June 5, 2025, twelve U-M students and alumni participated in the third annual concert of the International Pride Orchestra (IPO) at the Strathmore Music Center. IPO, founded by Michael Roest (MM ’26, orchestral conducting), is a nonprofit organization that brings together LGBTQIA+ musicians from around the world to present concerts, celebrate community, and raise funds for LGBTQIA+ causes. This year, IPO raised over $20,000 for Whitman-Walker, a healthcare organization “founded to support the needs of the LGBTQ community” in the Washington, DC, area. The audience of 1,166 people was treated to a program of American music hosted by drag queen Peaches Christ and featuring solo pianist Sara Davis Buechner.
The Concerto Competition Offers Extraordinary Performance Opportunity
The annual Concerto Competition awards winners the coveted prize of playing their selected concerti with one of SMTD’s major ensembles at a future concert in Hill Auditorium. The winners of the 2025 Undergraduate Concerto Competition were Ellen Hayashi (BM ’25, violin) and Lauren Troutman (BM ’26, saxophone, music education). Hayashi, who studies with Professor Danielle Belen, performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 35, accompanied by Naki Sung Kripfgans, collaborative pianist for the Department of Strings. Troutman, a member of Professor Timothy McAllister’s studio, performed André Waignein’s Rhapsody for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. She was accompanied by Liz Ames, collaborative pianist for the Department of Winds & Percussion. The winners of the Graduate Concerto Competition were Catherine Goode (DMA ’26, voice) and Cheryl Pandora (MM ’26, piano). Goode, a soprano who studied with Professor Amanda Majeski, performed Libby Larsen’s Sonnets from the Portuguese and was accompanied by Eric Head (MM ’25, collaborative piano). Pandora played Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3, op. 26, with So Hyang In (DMA ’27, piano) as the accompanist. She studies with Professor Christopher Harding, chair of the Department of Piano. In addition to the opportunity to perform their concerti with a major ensemble, all winners also earn the Bossart Prize, a monetary award.
The Concerto Competition winners, clockwise from top left: Ellen Hayashi, Lauren Troutman, Catherine Goode, Cheryl Pandora. Photo: Chris Boyes
Latimer Rogland plays the Marilyn Mason Organ in the Blanche Anderson Moore Recital Hall in the Earl V. Moore Building. Photo: Doug Coombe
Latimer Rogland (BMA ’27, organ) released another iteration in a continuing series of ambient and experimental releases on Bandcamp Fridays, an event set up by independent streaming platform Bandcamp in which they send the musician all profits from an artist’s sales, allowing for a more ethical practice of streaming than conventional services like Spotify. With art by Lars van Dooren, the May 2, 2025, release features manipulated pipe organ through randomized electronics, creating uncanny but sublime soundscapes. The B-side is a live performance of an existing track from the first iteration of the à la Dada cabaret, with vocals by Juliet Schlefer (BM ’22, MM ’24, voice).
Grace Ryan
Grace Ryan (MM ’26, voice) was selected to join the Florentine Opera’s Summer Studio Ensemble in Milwaukee, and she sang the role of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Derek Wang’s opera Scalia/Ginsburg.
Sasha Gusikhin won the 2025 EXCEL Prize.
EXCEL Lab Announces 2025 Prize Winners
In April 2025, the EXCEL Lab, SMTD’s center for performing arts entrepreneurship, leadership, and career services, announced its 2025 prize winners. Each of the prizes comes with funding as well as ongoing mentorship. Sasha Gusikhin (BMA ’25, voice) took home the EXCEL Prize for her NeuroArts Productions, a mental health advocacy group that focuses on the therapeutic power of the performing arts. Two students won Throm Family Innovation Awards, made possible by a gift from Carrie and Peter Throm and the Throm Family Innovation Fund. Alexis Lamb (DMA ’25, composition) won for Refugia Festival, which she founded and launched in 2024, and Michael Roest (MM ’26, conducting) won for the International Pride Orchestra, which debuted in 2023. Winning the EXCEL Impact Award were Alana Howard (MFA ’27, dance), of Alana Michelle Productions; Samuel Hsieh (SM ’25, clarinet), of East Zodiac Music; and Jasmine Wong (DMA ’25, piano), Hyerim Lee (MM ’20, chamber music, piano; DMA ’24, piano), and Nhi Luong (DMA ’25, piano) of the Lunar New Year Piano Series.
Lauren Blair Smith. Photo: Lam Photography
Lauren Blair Smith (MFA ’27, dance) has been named a finalist in the Maggie Allesee Choreography Competition multiple times, and she won the 2024 award for screendance choreography. Smith received the competitive Student Academic Multicultural Initiative Grant Award to present her choreography at the Detroit Dance City Festival. She was a guest speaker for the Society for Women Engineers’ Women in Leadership Conference 2025. She helped direct, choreograph for, and organize the 2025 U-M First Year Dance Company. Smith is conducting dance research in Singapore, Vietnam, Berlin, New York City, and Amsterdam through support from the Center for World Performance Studies certificate program.
Eden West. Photo: Amanda Lesser
Eden West (BM ’25, piano, music education) was named a Presser Scholar, receiving the 2024–25 Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award of $3,000 to advance her musical studies. Presented annually by the Presser Foundation, the award celebrates exceptional students in music studies at higher education institutions, recognizing those who have “achieved a high level of musical and academic excellence, demonstrated leadership and service, and contributed to an inclusive community,” according to the foundation’s website. One student is nominated annually by SMTD faculty.