Faculty Updates
Danielle Belen presents her lecture-recital in Stamps Auditorium.
Matthew Bengtson’s new album features works by Roberto Sierra. Cover: Oil painting by Luis Àlvarez Roure
Andrew Bishop pictured with an array of instruments. Photo: Colin McCall
Anıl Çamcı Publishes a New Book and Presents Multiple Papers with PhD Students
Anıl Çamcı (performing arts technology) recently had a book published by Routledge as part of its prestigious Audio Engineering Society Presents series. Virtual Reality Audio: A Guide to Immersive Sound in Virtual Experiences, co-authored with Jason Corey (performing arts technology), offers a comprehensive analysis of VR audio in music, film, and games through practical examples and rich aesthetic, technical, and historical insights. In July, Çamcı served as an invited panelist at the Audio Engineering Society’s International Conference on Audio for Virtual and Augmented Reality and Immersive Games, where he also presented three papers with performing arts technology PhD students Elois Zelada, Hyunkyung Shin, and Jiawen Mao.
Anıl Çamcı
Daniel Cantor (theatre & drama) will be performing in a new play, Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, which will first perform at the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland and then Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. In October, shooting will begin on The Kids, a short film that Cantor has written and is directing and producing.
Vincent Cardinal directed the play Da at Syracuse’s RedHouse Arts Center, starring Michael Doherty (left) as Oliver, Josh Aaron McCabe as Charlie, and Fred Grandy as Da. Photo: Shawn Tysco
Rowan Janusiak and Ariel Vidrio perform Amy Chavasse’s work Afterlife Plunder. Photo: Andy Kim
Amy Chavasse Presents Dance Work in Korea
Amy Chavasse (dance) presented Afterlife Plunder at the ARTSinTANK Dance Festival in Seoul, South Korea, in early July with her collaborators, dance alumnae Rowan Janusiak and Ariel Vidrio and Athens-based musicians Eva Matsigkou and Nefeli Sani. The performances were paired with a week of teaching young artists and early career professionals from Korea. This multi-year creative project has been made possible in part from an ARIA (Arts Research: Incubation & Acceleration) grant from the U-M Arts Initiative. Chavasse then hiked Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in Malaysia, on her way to the Performance Studies International (PSi) Archipelagic Flows conference in Jakarta, where she was a presenter.
Timothy Cheek (second from left) with students and alumni at the Prague Summer Nights Music Festival, Czech Republic.
Timothy Cheek (voice & opera) returned as head coach and pianist at the Prague Summer Nights Young Artists Music Festival. Work included preparing performances of Czech opera scenes at the Nedbal Theatre in Tábor and playing harpsichord for recitatives in fully staged, sold-out productions of Don Giovanni at Prague’s Estates Theatre, where Mozart had conducted the premiere. Cheek also translated Czech poetry by teenage girls imprisoned in the Terezin concentration camp during WWII for composer Lori Laitman’s new work Bonaco, to be premiered by Seattle Girls Choir in January. In August, he recorded an album of Czech songs with baritone Daniel Narducci.
Album Releases, an Award, and Abundant Performances for Amy I-Lin Cheng
Amy I-Lin Cheng (piano, chamber music) released her duo album with clarinetist Chad Burrow, American Landscape, on Centaur Records in January. In February, she received U-M’s Wu Yi-fang Junior Faculty Award, and her duo album In Her Voice: Art Song Settings of Women Poets, with soprano Emily Truckenbrod, was released on Blue Griffin. Her performances included Brightmusic Series (Oklahoma), Danbury Concert Association (Connecticut), Grosse Pointe Music at Memorial Series (Michigan), Ukrainian Institute of America (New York City), Magisterra Chamber Music Series (London, Ontario), a Michigan concert tour of the Upper Peninsula, and world premieres at the Eureka Summer Music Festival (California).
American Landscape is Amy I-Lin Cheng’s new album with Chad Burrow. Cover: MJ Alexander
The Telegraph Quartet – Jeremiah Shaw (left), Eric Chin, Pei-ling Lin, and Joseph Maile – received Chamber Music America’s Album of the Year award. Photo: Lisa-Marie Mazzucco
Colleen Conway (center) at the D’Arms Award ceremony with grad students Zack Nenaber, Katie Smith, Kelsey Dewar, and Tom Flynn, and, to her left, Dean David Gier and Michael Hopkins.
The cover of Virtual Reality Audio, the new book by Jason Corey and Anıl Çamcı
Gabriela Cruz (musicology) has been awarded two major fellowships for 2026–27 to advance her new book project, In Pursuit of Happiness: Comedy on the Modern Musical Stage, 1750–1945. In fall 2026, she will be in residence at the Gulbenkian Institute for Advanced Study in Lisbon, Portugal; in winter 2027, she will continue the project at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. This year, she has published “Franz Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns and Totalitarian Listenership” with the prestigious Opera Quarterly and “The Magic Lantern’s Surreal Song,” the concluding chapter of Spectacles of Light, a new history of the magic lantern as popular entertainment, published by Brepols.
In recent months, antonio c. cuyler (entrepreneurship & leadership) co-published “Where Have All the Black Arts Graduates Gone?” in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society and gave a keynote – “Scrap It, Revamp It: 100 Years of Black History Commemorations (1926–2026)” – at the Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in Leicester, England. He also co-presented at conferences for the Society for Arts Leadership Educators; Diversity in Organizations, Communities, & Nations; and the International Association of Arts and Cultural Management. He moderated a panel and authored an essay for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s premiere of safronia and attended the Black Administrators of Opera Symposium for the premiere of Lalovavi.
Michael Daugherty. Photo: Yopie Prins
As His Retirement Nears, SMTD Gives Concerts of Michael Daugherty’s Music
Michael Daugherty, professor of composition at SMTD for over three decades (1991–2026), will be retiring in December from the composition faculty after teaching and mentoring many of today’s most talented young composers. As a tribute to the Grammy Award-winning composer’s remarkable and prolific musical legacy, SMTD will present a series of concerts of his music during the fall 2026 semester. On October 6, the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, conducted by Jayce Ogren, will perform Daugherty’s Woody Guthrie Suite at Stamps Auditorium. On October 30, the Symphony Band will perform Daugherty’s original music for band at Hill Auditorium, including Cadillac Ranch, Rosa Parks Boulevard, Dona Nobis Pacem, Bells for Stokowski, and his concerto for timpani Raise the Roof. Conductors include Jason Fettig, Michael Haithcock, and John Pasquale. On December 9 at Hill Auditorium, the University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Kiesler, will perform Daugherty’s Superman-inspired Metropolis Symphony; his harp concerto, Harp of Ages; and Route 66.
Aaron and Afa Dworkin receive the Gold Baton Award at the League of American Orchestras national conference. Photo: Amy Raab
Aaron Dworkin (entrepreneurship & leadership) received the League of American Orchestras’ highest honor, the Gold Baton Award, alongside Afa Dworkin, on behalf of the Sphinx Organization. He performed Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait with the Florida Orchestra and co-founded the Citadel Institute, a new organization focused on cybersecurity.
Heather Gilbert was the Tony-nominated lighting designer for The Fear of 13, starring Adrien Brody (left) and Ephraim Sykes. Photo: Emilio Madrid
Heather Gilbert (theatre & drama: lighting design) was nominated for two Tony Awards for the 2025–26 season. She was nominated for Best Lighting Design of a Play for her work on Bug, at Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Fear of 13, produced by Seaview Productions.
Shannon Gillen. Photo: Kirk Donaldson
Shannon Gillen (dance) is the founder and artistic director of the dance company VIM VIGOR, which launched the international contemporary dance platform LUZ. In 2026, LUZ invited 58 professional dancers to Spain to collaborate in the creation of eight new works by Akira Yoshida, Jos Baker, Yasmin Iriel, Sara Colomino, and Gillen; these works premiered at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona in July 2026. Gillen also created a new work for Mavericks in Germany with shows produced at Eden and dock 11 in Berlin. This fall she has been commissioned to create a new work for Zagreb Dance Company, Croatia’s national company, with a world premiere at Zagrebački plesni centar (ZPC) in late 2026. She has been commissioned to create a new work in 2027 for Elon University.
Jonathan A. Gómez (musicology) recently published an article, “Marquis Hill’s Modern Flows: Musical Metapragmatics and Blackness,” in the summer 2026 issue of The Journal of Musicology. Gómez was selected as the 2026–27 Richard and Lillian Ives Faculty Fellow at the U-M Institute for the Humanities, where he will complete his first book project and begin work on a second.
Aya Higuchi Hagelthorn plays the piano while equipped with a spatial computing headset and biometric sensors as part of the Piano Lab Pro project.
Michael Haithcock guest conducts the Symphony Band in Hill Auditorium, April 2026. Photo: Robert Coelius
Patricia Hall (right) at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.
Patricia Hall (music theory), professor emerita, introduced the film The Last Musician of Auschwitz at the 2026 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Her essay, “Berg’s Identification with the Character of Wozzeck,” will appear in the program book for La Monnaie’s November production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in Brussels.
Jungah Han (front left, with elbow on table) is pictured with SMTD students (to her left) Ren Kosiorowski, Kelly Burkel, and Yuchen Ma during a study abroad trip to South Korea. Photo: Kyoung-Jun Eo
Amy E. Hughes. Photo: Scott D. Dexter
Amy E. Hughes (theatre & drama) recently gave a public talk about her latest book, An Actor’s Tale: Theater, Culture, and Everyday Life in the Nineteenth-Century United States (University of Michigan Press, 2025). On September 14, Hughes and Anita Gonzalez (Georgetown University) spoke at “Acting Out: Theater, Labor, and Identity,” an event organized by the Ann Arbor District Library. On October 16, Hughes will give a public virtual (Zoom) talk as part of the Clements Library’s Bookworm series.
A performance of Tzveta Kassabova’s work The Opposite of Killing with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company.
During her sabbatical leave this past winter, Tzveta Kassabova (theatre & drama) pursued several exciting artistic projects. She was commissioned by Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company to stage her signature work The Opposite of Killing. It was performed in April in Salt Lake City with an extended cast, in collaboration with the University of Utah. Kassabova was also invited to set a work at Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán, Mexico. The piece premiered in June and will be performed next year. She will return to Mazatlán with PearsonWidrig DanceTheater in November. Another recent project was a performance art collaboration with Ani Collier. In May, Kassabova was honored with a Bulgarians in Michigan Award.
James Kibbie at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris.
In May, James Kibbie (organ), professor emeritus, performed concerts at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and in June he performed at Westminster Abbey and St. Michael Cornhill in London. In January, he appeared as soloist in Dallas, Texas, with a chamber orchestra conducted by alumnus Scott Hyslop. On March 21, he marked J.S. Bach’s birthday by teaching a master class on Bach for the Detroit chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The performers were students of U-M organ faculty Nicole Keller and Caroline Robinson.
Nancy Ambrose King Performs Around the US and in Michigan with SMTD Colleagues
Nancy Ambrose King (oboe), Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Music, performed recitals and presented master classes at Florida State University, the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, and University of Missouri—Kansas City, and she was the headlining artist for the 2026 IDRS (International Double Reed Society) Midnorth Regional Symposium. She performed and taught at the Round Top and Orford Music Festivals. She also performed with colleagues Amy I-Lin Cheng (chamber music, piano) and Jeffrey Lyman (bassoon) at Kerrytown Concert House and with Nicholas Walker (double bass), Doug Perkins (percussion), and Joseph Gascho (harpsichord) for the Michigan Chamber Players series and at a recital for the U-M Medical School Paths of Excellence program.
Nancy Ambrose King backstage at Round Top Music Festival with Joseph Gascho (left), James Vandemark (Eastman School of Music), and Doug Perkins.
Marie McCarthy (music education) presented the keynote address at the Symposium on the History of Music Education at the University of North Florida, June 4–6, 2026. She created and coordinated a workshop on Irish traditional music and dance for students and alumni of SMTD’s Master of Music in Music Education summer program, held at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, June 14–19. Her article, “Listening Back, Looking Forward: Music Education at America’s 250th,” was published in the June issue of Music Educators Journal. She was a presenter at the 37th International Society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference in Montréal, Canada, July 26–31.
Samantha Mecca has been interviewed about the 60th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” which was first performed live at Hill Auditorium, fall 1966.
Fangfei Miao served as guest editor of a special issue of Dance Research Journal.
Fangfei Miao (dance) was named a recipient of the 2027 Henry Russel Award, the university’s highest honor for faculty members in the early to mid-career stages. In June 2026, her edited special issue “Mobility, Dance, and China” was published in the premier Dance Research Journal, marking the first time that Chinese dance scholars have collectively written in English for readers in Anglophone academia. In July 2026, Miao published another scholarly article, “Abandoned Universalism: Shen Wei and His Early Transnational Dances,” which introduced a new cross-cultural comparative lens for dance historiography. Starting September 1, 2026, Miao began serving as vice president-elect of the Dance Studies Association.
Andy Milne at the Collingwood Music Festival premiere of Try to Fly. Photo: Tjalling Buwe
During summer 2026, Andy Milne (jazz & contemporary improvisation) premiered his first choral commission, “Try to Fly,” performed with the award-winning Elmer Iseler Singers. The SMTD Chamber Choir will present this new work during the fall season. Milne’s film score to Emmy Award–winning director Michèle Stephenson’s True North received its broadcast premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens. Milne also received the Commission of the Year award from Chamber Music America for his piano quintet Chimeric Reveries, premiered by the Isidore String Quartet and to be performed by the Telegraph Quartet.
Christianne Myers works on her puppet, the Witness, at Papermoon Puppet Theatre.
Tiffany Ng performs Seascapes at the 2026 World Carillon Federation Congress in Mafra, Portugal.
Tiffany Ng (carillon) gave the European premiere of “Seascapes,” by Australian concert and film composer Jessica Wells, at the finale of the triennial World Carillon Federation Congress, which took place this year in Mafra, Portugal. The upbeat work for carillon and electronics, featuring late Australian opera singer Jacqueline Dark, is now available as a single on major streaming platforms. Ng also gave the carillon premiere of Timo Andres’s “American Coda” (originally for piano) at Yale University, and she performed and taught master classes at Indiana University Bloomington.
Collaborative Piano Institute faculty Elena Lacheva (left), Ana María Otamendi, Blair Salter, and Amy Petrongelli.
Alumni and Faculty Collaborate to Present the Collaborative Piano Institute
In 2017, Ana María Otamendi (collaborative piano) and Elena Lacheva (collaborative piano), both of whom are alumnae of SMTD, founded the Collaborative Piano Institute (CPI), a three-week summer program for collaborative pianists, singers, instrumentalists, and composers. For the past two summers, CPI has been hosted by SMTD. In 2020, Amy Petrongelli (alumna and winner of the SMTD Emerging Artist in Music Award) was hired to be the director of the Vocal Academy, the voice branch of CPI. Current and past faculty of CPI have included several other alumni – Sahar Nouri, Christopher Turbessi, and Blair Salter – and current SMTD voice faculty Christine Goerke, Caitlin Lynch, Rose Maninno, Stanford Olsen, and Louise Toppin. Martin Katz, professor emeritus and the former head of collaborative piano, has also served on CPI’s faculty. Many CPI past participants have become SMTD students. During summer 2026, CPI welcomed 70 musicians from all over the world (China, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Korea) and from many US states.
Jay Pension (entrepreneurship & leadership, theatre & drama) published an article in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society examining the partnership between American Repertory Theater and Harvard University. The article introduces the concept of partnership externalities. The publication led to an invitation to present on innovative program strategies at the Americans for the Arts Conference. He also published an article in the American Journal of Arts Management on instructor perspectives on introductory arts management courses. In April, he received a SUCCEED grant to develop an edited volume tentatively titled Partnerships in Arts and Culture. His co-edited volume Innovative Pedagogy in Cultural Management Education is forthcoming.
Doug Perkins (front row, center left) with composer Michael Gordon (front row center, plaid shirt) and SMTD faculty and students at a Field of Vision recording session in Hill Auditorium. Photo: Paul Feeny
Doug Perkins (percussion) served as director and producer for a new Cantaloupe Music recording of Michael Gordon’s Field of Vision, released in June. The epic hour-long work, written for the U-M Percussion Ensemble and supported by an SMTD Research Catalyst and Innovation (RCI) Grant, features 36 U-M percussion students, alumni, and faculty. Perkins also collaborated with the Karajan Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the SMTD Department of Chamber Music, and UMS on a week-long SMTD residency, culminating in a side-by-side concert pairing SMTD students and Akademie musicians performing music by Bartók and the premiere of a new work by U-M alumna Julia Wolfe.
Mackenzie Pierce (musicology) was awarded a Fulbright US Scholar Award to Poland. He will be in Warsaw this fall, researching how the music of Fryderyk Chopin was used in international politics and diplomacy during the twentieth century.
Single-handed is Daniel Pinilla’s new solo guitar album. Photo: Andrés Oyuela. Design: Arcal Studio
Daniel Pinilla Releases New Album and Leads Study Abroad Trip to Mongolia
Daniel Pinilla (jazz guitar) released Single-Handed on July 10, 2026. This solo guitar album explores the instrument as a complete musical environment, integrating melody, harmony, rhythm, and form within a single voice. Inspired by Joe Pass, George Van Eps, and Johnny Smith, Pinilla presents compositions by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sam Rivers, and Baden Powell, along with an original work. Recorded in complete, unedited takes, the album captures intimacy, authenticity, and the natural flow of solo guitar performance. Also in July, Pinilla and student Alexander Lahti-Thiam traveled to Mongolia for the 2026 International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ) annual meeting, an extraordinary experience of musical collaboration and cultural exchange. Pinilla co-coached ensembles, presented on jazz improvisation, and hosted jam sessions, while Lahti-Thiam rehearsed and performed in multiple events. Their participation was funded by the Global Engagement Office and the Department of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation.
Paola Savvidou (center left) and Katherine Matuza (center right) at the MHealthy Retreat awards ceremony.
Kristen Schuyten (dance, wellness) was selected to present at multiple conferences this summer, including “Beyond the Brain: How Hypermobility, Hormones, and Neck Strength Influence Concussion Recovery in Female Patients” at the APTA (American Physical Therapy Association) Orthopedics Virtual Conference and “When ‘Sport’ Falls Short: Sport-Related Concussion Clinical Pearls and Research Updates for Performers, Females, and Students” at the APTA Michigan Annual Conference. She also led panel discussions, presentations, and workshops at the 44th Annual PAMA (Performing Arts Medicine Association) International Symposium in New York City regarding concussion research, injury management strategies, energy and nutrition concerns, and figure skating screening.
Faculty and members of Symphony Band Chamber Winds take a break at the beach in Rio de Janeiro, July 2026.
U-M Band Directors and Chamber Winds Perform in Brazil
Led by Courtney Snyder (chair of conducting, associate director of bands), Jason Fettig (director of bands), and Richard Frey (conducting, associate director of bands), the University of Michigan Chamber Winds performed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in July for the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE). They were the featured ensemble for the second round of WASBE’s inaugural International Conductors Competition, performing Mozart’s Serenade in C minor and Stravinsky’s Octet. They also performed two hour-long concerts in the Theatro Municipal and the Igreja de São Francisco de Paula.
Peter Sparling lectures at RADFest. Photo: Fran Dwight
Peter Sparling (dance) has participated in Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th anniversary during the past year by staging Graham works for U-M, Chapman University, Interlochen, Crooked Tree Arts Center, and RADFest. His text is featured in the book Martha Graham Dance Company 100 Years, which also includes photographs by dance alum Deborah (Weisbach) Ory. He created a new work for Hope College to the music of the late composition professor and composer Leslie Bassett, and Malcolm Tulip (theatre & drama) joined his cast of the dance work Our Own American Document for Crooked Tree to music by DMA student Cole Reyes (composition). Sparling curated gallery exhibits including his own paintings in Ann Arbor and Petoskey, Michigan.
A display of Louise Toppin’s new anthology, Black Composers in Art Song.
In July 2026, Louise Toppin (voice & opera) released two anthologies of African American music: Black Composers in Art Song for Hal Leonard and Anthology of Art Songs by Harold Bruce Forsythe, 1908–1976, with SMTD alum Emery Stephens, for Classical Vocal Reprints. Toppin has released 18 anthologies since 2021 with publishers Hal Leonard, Classical Vocal Reprints, Carl Fischer, Casa Ricordi, and Boosey & Hawkes.
Christina Traister (theatre & drama: acting, stage combat) completed her second and final term as president of the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) earlier this year; she was the first woman in the organization’s nearly 50-year history to be elected to the office. She also just finished fight direction and intimacy direction for the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s productions of Frankenstein and The Book Club Play, part of the festival’s 65th season.
Flanked by MT alums Shea Renne (left) and Griffin Binnicker are Catherine Walker, Koji Yamamoto, and Yuriyan Retriever, all sporting t-shirts that say “Go Blue” in Japanese.
Catherine Walker and Alums Put on The Full Monty in Japan
Catherine A. Walker (musical theatre) and musical theatre alums Griffin Binnicker and Shea Renne headed to Japan for a production of The Full Monty in summer 2026. The multinational cast began rehearsals on July 10 in Tokyo; performances began August 19 at the Tokyo International Forum Hall and then transferred to Osaka’s Shin Kabukiza Theatre for a limited run through September 14. Walker served as the music supervisor, joined by the director Trey Ellett and the choreographer Paul McGill. The production starred Koji Yamamoto and Yuriyan Retriever, the comedian and actor known to American audiences from America’s Got Talent.
Nicholas Walker leaving the stage with his double bass after a solo performance. Photo: Kirk Donaldson
Nicholas Walker (double bass) appeared as artist-faculty at the Double Bass Workshop (Florida), the KC BassFest 2026 (Kansas/Missouri), and the Domaine Forget International Music and Dance Academy (Quebec). Walker performed with bass duo partner Etienne Lafrance and taught alongside Szymon Marciniak, Mikyung Sung, François Rabbath, Johnny Hamil, Christian Abreu, Joseph Conyers, and Lizzie Burns, forging international connections and showcasing the talents, values, and spirit of U-M bass students globally. Highlights included reunions with alumni Andrew Ryan, Desmond Bratton, Max Winningham, Christian Chesanek, and Maggie Ryan, and celebrating the healing power of music with practitioner Lloyd Goldstein.
Lighting Designs by Joseph R. Walls
The lighting designs of Joseph R. Walls (dance) include Delusional Beauty, choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa for the National Theatre Ballet of Serbia, and RECAER for COCO Compañía De Danza Contemporánea in Panama City, Panama. He also designed new pieces including Confronting Genius by Heath Gill for Orlando Ballet; Wild Within by Serkan Usta, Darkness Visible by David Morse, Phosphene by Natasha Adorlee, and The Architect by Price Suddarth for Richmond Ballet; and new works for Saint Louis Dance Theatre and Utah Metropolitan Ballet. Walls designed Seven Realms of Attar with the music collective Niyaz, working with alum Ethan Hoffman as the associate lighting designer. Hoffman traveled to collaborate with Walls on the design with support from EXCEL funding. This immersive production featuring interactive lighting and projections across multiple surfaces will premiere in Los Angeles in fall 2026.
Joseph R. Walls designed the lighting (with alum Ethan Hoffman as associate lighting designer) for Seven Realms of Attar.
Amy West (dancer) and Eden West (piano) perform The Women Who Move Us. Photo: Amanda Lesser
Stephen West at the CS Music Vocal Convention with Katherine Ciesinski (left) and Constance Fee, former classmates from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Julie Zhu (right) with Chien-An Yuan live-scoring a silent film at an event presented by UMS and Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti (iFFY). Photo: Doug Coombe
Julie Zhu (performing arts technology) had three premieres: Nepenthes by Kodachrome Quartet (a saxophone quartet) in Seattle; possession for carillon and octophonic electronics at GRAME CNCM in Lyon; and piri puri by Sunhong Kim, who also recorded it for her album Landfill. As part of Resonant Soundscapes, Zhu live-scored The Goddess (1934) and short films hosted by iFFY (Independent Film Festival Ypsilanti) and UMS. Zhu’s duo ZhSh, with technologist Victor Shepardson, was in Reykjavik for a Dark Music Days soundwalk commission and, at the Winter Lights Festival, a reprisal of “Haunting for Notochord and church organ,” which they also performed at Fountain Fest in Grand Rapids, Michigan.