Michigan Muse Spring 2026 > Faculty Updates
Faculty Updates
The updates in this section were submitted by our SMTD community members. If you’d like to submit your news for the next issue of Michigan Muse, please do so via this form.
Jerry Blackstone (right) and SMTD alum Tim Keeler
Jerry Blackstone, emeritus choral conductor and visiting professor in the Sacred Music at Notre Dame (SMND) program at the University of Notre Dame, welcomed choral conducting alum Tim Keeler, artistic director of Chanticleer, to Notre Dame, October 8–9, 2025. Keeler and Chanticleer worked with the SMND Concordia Vocal Ensemble, followed the next day by an inspiring performance in Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.
Anıl Çamcı
Anıl Çamcı (performing arts technology) won the Best Presentation Award at the 2025 International Computer Music Conference, which is a leading gathering of music technology researchers. His presentation of the paper “Wax: Flow-based Audio Programming in the Web Browser,” which he co-authored with performing arts technology master’s student Michael Cella, was chosen by voters out of 92 presentations at the conference. Çamcı was also invited to give a keynote speech, “Creativity Support from the Inside Out: A Look at Tools and Mindsets,” at the SONIFIED 2025 symposium in İstanbul. Furthermore, Çamcı’s work with music therapists at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital on the design of a mobile music therapy application for pediatric care was given an award for Best Collaborative Effort Between Hospital Staff and University Partners.
Amy Chavasse (left) and Malcolm Tulip in a publicity photo for Little Charlotte the Round Ray. Photo: Malcolm Tulip
Amy Chavasse (dance) launched an experimental improvisation practice with Scott Crandall and Olga Rabetskya during the winter 2025 term. Working from the prompt “what came before,” they built a twice-weekly ensemble practice, culminating with a filming session in the Duderstadt Center Video Studio. In May 2025, she traveled with Malcolm Tulip (theatre & drama) to Northampton, Massachusetts, to co-teach improvisation classes and present a new duet, “Little Charlotte the Round Ray,” at the Disguise Festival at the Workroom at A.P.E. Chavasse and Tulip will perform that duet and “deux dogtooth” at the Arthur Miller Theatre on April 25–26, 2026. She continued a collaboration with Luciana Acuña and dance alum Nola Sporn Smith in Buenos Aires with the working title “Collapso.” This project builds on the work “Bailarinas Incendiadas” from last year. Her multiyear project, “Afterlife Plunder,” with musicians Eve Matsigkou and Nefeli Sani from Athens and dance alums Rowan Janusiak and Ariel Vidrio continued with performances in September at BAAD! in New York City. Upcoming performances include ARTSinTANK Dance Festival in Korea and the American Dance Festival.
Timothy Cheek and Students Appear in International Documentary Kaprálová
In February, Timothy Cheek (voice & opera) performed the music of Vítězslava Kaprálová with soprano Marta Reichelová in a special concert presented immediately before the cinema premieres of the international documentary Kaprálová in Brno and Prague, Czech Republic. The film, by award-winning director Petr Záruba and shot in five countries, 2022–25, was nominated for Best Czech Documentary and Best Sound Design at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, winning for Best Sound Design. It features cellist Stephen Isserlis, Cheek playing piano in a recording session with baritone Adam Plachetka, and others, including students from Cheek’s 2022 “Czech Vocal Literature” class: Lauren Fleming, Julian Grabarek, and Sitong Liu.
Poster from the film Kaprálová, which features Timothy Cheek and several SMTD students
SMTD faculty and dozens of alumni share a meal at the Society for Music Teacher Education conference in Indianapolis.
Colleen Conway (music education) recently presented at both the International Conference of the Gordon Institute for Music Learning in Chicago and the Society for Music Teacher Education in Indianapolis. The Journal of Music Teacher Education – where she serves as editor in chief – published an article co-authored by Conway and PhD alum Ann Marie Stanley. Her newest book, Observing in Music Classrooms, co-written with current PhD student Zachary Nenaber, was released in September. Conway also completed a residency at the Eastman School of Music in October and delivered a guest lecture at Gettysburg College last fall.
antonio c. cuyler (entrepreneurship & leadership) presented papers at the Connected Audience Conference in Berlin; the 23rd International Conference on Cultural Economics in Rotterdam; the Nordic Conference on Cultural Policy Research in Oslo; the European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres in Barcelona; and the Social Theory, Politics & the Arts Conference in Philadelphia. He facilitated sessions at the Chorus America and League of American Orchestras conferences, gave a keynote at Eastman School of Music’s Context Conference, and facilitated strategic planning for the organization Decolonizing the Music Room. His co-edited volume, Creative Justice in Arts and Culture: Global Perspectives, is forthcoming.
Hao-Wen “Herman” Dong (center right) with his co-organizers (right) and the invited speakers (left) at the AI for Music workshop, December 2025
Hao-Wen “Herman” Dong (performing arts technology) organized the workshop AI for Music at the Thirty-Ninth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) in San Diego on December 7, 2025. NeurIPS is one of the biggest machine learning conferences, and the workshop attracted more than 150 attendees. In this first NeurIPS workshop dedicated to music since 2011, Dong and his fellow organizers brought together the music and AI communities to facilitate a timely, interdisciplinary conversation on the status and future of AI for music. The workshop featured 59 contributed papers and 14 contributed demos, along with six invited speakers and a panel discussion.
Aaron Dworkin’s new book, Entangleism
Aaron Dworkin (entrepreneurship & leadership) recently released his eighth book, Entangleism: The Small Science and Big Art of Loving Your Life, published by Lenox Avenue Press. The book introduces a new philosophical framework blending quantum concepts, the arts and creativity, and practical reflection on how we live with one another. In addition, he designed and created ChatterArt, a Scrabble-style word game that invites players to experiment with language and creativity. ChatterArt was awarded Best New Word Game App of 2025 from BestofBestReview.com and is now available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, further extending Dworkin’s work at the intersection of arts, innovation, and everyday life.
Walter Everett (music theory), professor emeritus, delivered the keynote address to the 22nd International Conference on Theory and Analysis in Salerno in October 2025. His presentation, “Paul McCartney’s Oedipal Struggle in ‘You Never Give Me Your Money,’” is to be published in Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale in 2026. Everett continues to lead three online seminars on the Beatles’ music annually for RPM-School.com and to present lectures to the Magical Mystery Camp held with the Fab Faux in the Catskills every June.
Kate Fitzpatrick’s newly published book, Motherhood in the Music Education Academy
In 2025, Kate Fitzpatrick (music education, senior leadership) had her second book, co-authored with Bridget Sweet, published by Oxford University Press. The book, Motherhood in the Music Education Academy, provides a scholarly context for women’s experiences in order to expand notions of motherhood, celebrate the often invisible caring work that women do in the academy, and provoke positive change. Also in 2025 she had two research articles published in Journal of Research in Music Education and the International Journal of Music Education. She also presented at the 2025 Symposium on Music Teacher Education and served on a panel for the U-M Department of Pediatrics’ Susan B. Meister Lecture in Child Health Policy.
Gillen: International Commissions and New Programs in Ann Arbor
Shannon Gillen (dance), associate professor, was commissioned to create new work for Zagreb Dance Company in Croatia that will premiere in October 2026, before touring Europe. Additional commissions to create new works include for b12 Mavericks in Berlin and LUZ in Sitges, Spain. Additionally, Gillen will teach and create again for Michigan Movement Performance Projects, a program she founded that supports rising dancers seeking an immersive, apprentice experience with professional dance companies in Ann Arbor, as well as for the b12 festival in Berlin. In 2025, Gillen opened Arts Assembly A2 in downtown Ann Arbor, which serves as a hub for contemporary training and research.
Shannon Gillen. Photo: Courtesy of VIM VIGOR
Patricia Hall was invited to present a paper at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial conference, Music, Violence, Memory.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial invited Patricia Hall (music theory), professor emerita, to present a paper at their recent conference, Music, Violence, Memory in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hall was the keynote speaker at the U-M Medical Science Training Program Scientific Retreat in August 2025 and presented papers on her music from Auschwitz research at Loyola University, New Orleans, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Marc Hannaford (music theory) published “Eric Dolphy’s and Yusef Lateef’s Synthetic Formations” in Music Theory Online, a leading journal of the field. This article won the 2025 Award for Excellence in Jazz Scholarship, given by the Society for Music Theory’s Jazz Interest Group for outstanding contributions to the field of jazz theory and analysis. Hannaford also gave invited and contributed conference talks at Vanderbilt University, the Ohio State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mount Holyoke College, and Washington University in St. Louis.
Christopher Harding (piano) spent a month touring Indonesia and Singapore, traveling also on separate occasions to Bangkok (Mahidol and Chulalongkorn Universities), Sicily (Sicily Music Festival & Competition), Vienna (Global Summer Institute of Music), Shanghai (Shanghai Normal University and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music), Shenyang, and twice to Seoul, where he is a Global Fellow at Ewha Womans University. He also performed and taught at the Tianjin Juilliard School in China, adjudicated for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and taught at both Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati. He was additionally in London in December 2025 for the debut of his student Nhi Luong (third prize at the 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition) at Wigmore Hall.
Faculty Recognized with 2026 Teaching Awards
In November 2025, SMTD announced the recipients of the school’s 2026 teaching awards. Freda Herseth (voice & opera), Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Music, is the recipient of the Harold Haugh Award for excellence in studio teaching. Costume design professor Christianne Myers, Claribel Baird Halstead Collegiate Professor of Theatre & Drama, is the recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award, which recognizes outstanding teaching in any SMTD department. In February 2026, SMTD announced that Tiffany Trent, associate professor and chair of the Department of Theatre & Drama, is the recipient of the Award for Faculty Mentorship. Established in 2023, this award acknowledges faculty mentorship as a critical component of professional service and one of the most important factors in faculty development, success, and retention.
Freda Herseth
Christianne Myers
Tiffany Trent
Bret Hoag at a rehearsal in Costa Rica
In summer 2025, Bret Hoag (guitar) and dance alum Thayer Jonutz traveled to Costa Rica to present the original dance and music collaboration, “Why Do Trees Hide the Splendor of Their Roots?” The work brought together dance students from Oakland University and the National University of Costa Rica, who performed jointly in this cross-cultural project. More recently, Hoag recorded a new guitar work by composer John Hall. He is currently preparing to collaborate with colleagues from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and to record a set of solo pieces by Jonathan Dawe.
Amy E. Hughes’s recently published book. Cover design: Shane Breaux
The latest book by Amy E. Hughes (theatre & drama), An Actor’s Tale: Theater, Culture, and Everyday Life in the Nineteenth-Century United States, was published by the University of Michigan Press in September 2025. Thanks to a TOME publishing grant, the book is open access and free to download or read online. Broadway World included An Actor’s Tale on its “25 Theater Books for Your Fall 2025 Reading List,” American Theatre magazine published an excerpt from it, and Hughes was interviewed about the book on the New Books Network podcast.
Slávka Jelínková
Slávka Jelínková (dance) attended the 7th International Fascia Research Congress in New Orleans to learn about the latest research on fascia and how the subject is related to hyper-mobility, exercises, and injuries. Based on newly learned knowledge, she created a new somatic class for dancers, “Dynamic & Fascial Stretching,” in fall 2025.
Inderjit Kaur
Inderjit Kaur Publishes New Monograph on Sikh Sacred Music
Inderjit Kaur (musicology) published her monograph on Sikh sacred music, Sensational Rhythms of the Ineffable: Ethical Affects in Sikh Sabad Kīrtan (Oxford University Press, 2025). The first musicological study of Sikh sacred music to combine new insights from scriptural songs with an analysis of its three major musical styles, Kaur’s book breaks new ground in several directions. Just as it implements a philosophically attuned analysis of Sikh music, it also offers an unprecedented acoustically oriented study of Sikh philosophy. Executing an innovative decolonial method for ethnographic research and writing, Kaur frames and structures her book with a Sikh theory gleaned from the scriptural songs themselves rather than from Euro-American scholarship. Centering the ethnographic mode of participant sensation, Kaur explores intimate collaborations between rhythm and body to offer a new interdisciplinary theoretical approach to the understanding of the power of music – specifically rhythm – as a process deeply embedded in the vital body and everyday life and centrally relevant for ethical living. Offering unique perspectives on both Sikh sacred music and Sikh philosophy, Kaur’s study illuminates how Sikh musical worship functions as a site of ethical sensations and a practice of the embodiment of a relational oneness – a foundational ethical principle in Sikh philosophy and beyond.
Nicole Keller (right) with conductor Balint Karosi and a chamber orchestra of Cleveland musicians. Photo: John Baumgartner
In early 2025, Nicole Keller (organ) joined the roster of Philip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. Called “America’s leading artist representative for concert organists” by Fanfare magazine, the agency has focused its efforts on the representation of the most celebrated and revered American and European concert organists. In January 2026, Keller recorded her second album featuring concerti and chamber music with organ of composer, organist, and clarinetist Bálint Karosi. The album is scheduled for release later this year on the Raven compact discs label and all major streaming platforms. The project is funded by a Research Catalyst and Innovation Program (RCI) faculty grant awarded by U-M.
James Kibbie (organ), professor emeritus, maintains an active schedule as a performer. Recent concert and workshop engagements have taken him to 10 states, including as soloist with chamber orchestras conducted by Darlene Kuperus and Scott Hyslop. In October he premiered a new composition by Larry Visser honoring JanEl Will. In April the national radio program Pipedreams featured his recording of “Easter Joy,” by Associate Professor Emeritus Theodore Morrison (conducting), recorded in Hill Auditorium with SMTD’s Chamber Choir. Upcoming concert appearances include Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris (May 3) and Westminster Abbey, London (June 14).
A Busy Performance Slate and a U-M Honor for Nancy Ambrose King
Nancy Ambrose King (oboe) was the invited oboe soloist guest artist for Calefax Reed Festival in Amsterdam. She performed a solo recital in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, was featured as guest performer with Calefax on their jubilee concert, and gave a master class to students at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. In addition, she performed the world premiere of Alyssa Morris’s 4 Summer Nights for Oboe and Bassoon with SMTD alum Trevor King at the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival, and she was a featured soloist on the Contemporary Directions Ensemble’s Hill Auditorium concert, performing Berio’s Sequenza VII. In February 2026, U-M named King an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, an honor that recognizes a strong commitment to teaching and learning, excellence and innovation in teaching, and dedication to working effectively with a diverse student body.
Nancy Ambrose King performing at the Calefax Reed Festival in Amsterdam with Oliver Boekhorn, oboist of Calefax Reeds. Photo: Wout Nooitgedagt
Music of the United States of America (MUSA), based at SMTD and sponsored by the American Musicological Society (AMS) under Andrew Kuster (entrepreneurship & leadership), MUSA’s executive editor, has lots to report! During 2025 two new editions were published: MUSA 34: Stephen Sondheim: Follies, Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, and MUSA 35: Opera Parody Songs of Blackface Minstrels. Also, MUSA 33: Early Published Blues and Proto-Blues 1850-1915 won the 2025 Claude V. Palisca Award from the AMS, which recognizes the outstanding scholarly edition in musicology. In 2026, MUSA 36: Way Down East (1920) Directed by D. W. Griffith: Full Orchestral Score Synchronized to the Film, will be published, with more on the way!
Caitlin Lynch (second from left) in Houston Grand Opera’s production of Intelligence, which also featured SMTD alum Janai Brugger (third from left). Photo: Kirk Sides
Caitlin Lynch Performs on Grammy-Winning Opera Recording
OperaLab and modern opera professor Caitlin Lynch sang the role of Callie Van Lew in Houston Grand Opera’s world premiere of the opera Intelligence by Jake Heggie and Gene Sheer. Released in August 2025, the world premiere recording, which also features SMTD alum Janai Brugger, won a 2026 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Lynch and SMTD alum Jonathan Lasch were named Tuesday Musicale of Detroit’s 2025 Artists of the Year. Also an alum of SMTD’s voice department, Lynch sang in the chorus of Susannah by Carlisle Floyd as an undergrad. The title role of that opera has been her dream role ever since, and she realized that dream with Opera Omaha this season.
Gustavo Souza Marques’s new book, Tyler, the Creator’s Hip Hop Revolution: Beyond Gangsta
Tyler, the Creator’s Hip Hop Revolution: Beyond Gangsta, the debut book of Gustavo Souza Marques (musicology), offers a comprehensive analysis of Tyler, the Creator’s musical evolution and cultural impact. Often recognized as one of the most unique and inventive figures in contemporary hip hop history, Tyler’s trajectory serves as a vital case study for the intersection of media, racial studies, and cultural identity. The research explores how his genre-bending work challenges traditional industry narratives while reshaping modern Black aesthetics. By examining his multifaceted career, this book provides critical insights into the shifting landscape of popular music and the creative strategies of an artist who continues to redefine the genre’s boundaries.
Timothy McAllister performing with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Slatkin, March 2025. Photo: Chris Lee
Timothy McAllister (saxophone) made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in March 2025 under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, performing John Corigliano’s Triathlon, which was written for McAllister. Other major solo debuts in fall 2025 included the world premiere tour of Steven Mackey’s Anemology: Concerto for Saxophone with the Monterey Symphony, under the direction of fellow SMTD faculty member Jayce Ogren (conducting), as well as with the Seattle Symphony and the Utah Symphony, the latter of which recorded the work for an upcoming Pentatone release. McAllister also recorded Adolphus Hailstork’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Strings with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for Naxos Records.
Fangfei Miao performing Dragon Moving at the U-M Museum of Art with musicians (from left) Paige Madden, Faye Lu, James Yunhao Koo, and Brenna Lantz-Lewis. Photo: Charlotte Smith
In October 2025, Fangfei Miao (dance) was invited as an artist-in-residence at Hamilton College for two weeks; during her residency, she choreographed a group dance, “In Twilight,” for the dance department’s annual showcase and delivered a campus research talk. In September, in collaboration with alum James Yunhao Koo (musician and composer), Miao choreographed and performed a site-specific dance-theatre work, “Dragon Moving,” at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. At the invitation of Shanghai Theatre Academy, Miao delivered a research presentation and served as a panel discussant at the China International Young Scholar Dance Forum in December 2025.
Jenn Rae Moore participated in the reunion concert for The Bridges of Madison County at Carnegie Hall. Photo: Da Ping Luo
Jenn Rae Moore (theatre & drama, stage management) returned to Chautauqua Theater Company to work on two plays in development: All the Little Boxes, written by Vichet Chum and directed by Mei Ann Teo, and Best for Baby, written by Sharyn Rothstein and directed by Oliver Butler. Current student Kathleen Stanton-Sharpless served as assistant stage manager. In December 2025, Moore also participated in the reunion concert for The Bridges of Madison County at Carnegie Hall (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown), directed by Bartlett Sher and featuring Kelli O’Hara and Steven Pasquale.
Since retiring in 2020, Vince Mountain (theatre & drama), professor emeritus, has maintained a busy schedule of film and television work as an assistant art director. He is currently working in Yonkers, New York, on a new series starring and produced by Ben Stiller and Jessica Chastain for AppleTV. Previous projects for Apple TV include Dope Thief, starring Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura, and multiple seasons of M. Night Shyamalan’s series Servant. He also designed the title set for Shyamalan’s 2023 feature Knock at the Cabin. Last summer he spent time in Pittsburgh working on the period feature film Hershey, a biopic about Milton S. Hershey directed by Mark Waters and due for release in 2026.
Christianne Myers created these tabletop automata as part of a Puppets in Prague course.
This past fall, Christianne Myers (theatre & drama) was proud to be a part of the creative team for the play Here There Are Blueberries at Detroit Public Theatre. Throughout the fall and winter she prepared for her winter 2026 sabbatical, participating in the inaugural Arts Initiative Artists in the Archive program, zooming into a series of automata workshops with Puppets in Prague, and taking part in the Catapult Artist Intensive during the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. She is also honored to be the recipient of the 2026 SMTD Teaching Excellence Award. Myers is writing about her sabbatical adventures in her blog Process & Inquiry.
Tiffany Ng (organ, carillon) continued her advocacy for new music in 2025, starting with the world premiere of “To the Sun,” an audience-interactive piece sonifying data from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. The premiere took place at the Berkeley Center for New Media at University of California, Berkeley, and was co-developed with Greg Niemeyer (UC Berkeley), Chris Chafe (Stanford), and Chelle Gentemann (NASA). Ng presented multiple concerts and a master class at the University of Chicago’s Tower Thoughts carillon new music festival, featuring the world premiere of “Harmony – we flow to hold each other” by Arowah. Ng’s summer recitals included a concert of ambient music on a historic organ in Constância, Portugal, featuring composers Julie Zhu (performing arts technology), Sarah Davachi, and Andrew Stock.
John Pasquale presented a TED talk at the 2026 TEDxUofM conference, which took place on March 14, 2026
John Pasquale (conducting) was invited to present a TED talk at the 2026 TEDxUofM conference, which took place on March 14, 2026. His talk traced his personal and professional journey to becoming the director of one of the world’s most prestigious collegiate athletic ensembles. Pasquale reflected on leadership, resilience, and the power of communication, sharing how he thrives in a highly visible, public-facing role while navigating a significant speech impediment. His story highlights perseverance, authenticity, and the transformative role of music and education.
Chía Patiño directed The House on Mango Street opera at Glimmerglass Festival, featuring SMTD alum Jabari Lewis (on bike). Photo: Glimmerglass Festival
Chía Patiño (voice & opera) staged the world premiere of The House on Mango Street as part of the Glimmerglass Festival‘s celebration of its 50th anniversary season. The opera, sung in English and Spanish, brings to the stage the popular coming-of-age novel by Sandra Cisneros. It follows a young Latina growing up in Chicago as she finds her voice. The music was composed by SMTD alumnus Derek Bermel. The opera premiered April 18, 2025, after more than a year of workshops and collaboration, led by a strong creative team including set designer John Conklin and music director Nicole Paiement.
Jay Pension (entrepreneurship & leadership, theatre & drama) published an article in The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society. The article reports on the first empirical study to apply the Arts-Based Community Engagement (ABCE) model to a real organization (Out of Hand Theater in Atlanta). It demonstrates a positive link between arts-based community engagement and revenue generation. Pension also secured a contract for a new co-authored book (with Anthony Rhine) from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, The Engagement Economy: Lessons from the Arts on How Connection Is Driving the Global Marketplace. This co-authored book builds on their earlier book on a new arts marketing paradigm based on engagement, published by Oxford University Press in 2022.
Doug Perkins during the fall 2025 performance in Snow Canyon State Park in Utah. Photo: Jayme Halbritter
Doug Perkins (percussion) had an exciting stretch of premieres and landmark performances recently. He directed the world premiere of Michael Gordon’s “The Forest of Metal Objects” at the Met Cloisters, in a collaboration between the U-M Percussion Ensemble and Big Dance Theater, presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In August, Perkins gave the US premiere of Freya Waley-Cohen’s “Stone Fruit” at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. In the fall, he helped guide a memorable performance of John Luther Adams’s “Crossing Open Ground,” set amid the dramatic vistas of Snow Canyon State Park in Utah, presented by Liquid Music.
Wayne Petty. Photo: Chris Boyes
Associate Professor Wayne C. Petty (music theory) co-organized the Sixth International Schenker Symposium, which was held at SMTD March 6–8, 2025. With generous support from SMTD, this three-day conference featured 37 papers by an international group of scholars, as well as displays and musical performances.
Jazz Professors and Students Perform Throughout Colombia
In June 2024, a jazz quintet featuring Department of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation professors Daniel Pinilla and Dennis Wilson and SMTD students Annie Hayes, Anna Thielke, and Ethan Moleski toured Colombia through the Centro Colombo Americano. They performed in five cities – Armenia, Manizales, Pereira, Medellín, and Rionegro – giving seven concerts and more than 15 workshops, including a sold-out show at Medellín’s new Teatro El Tesoro. As official guest artists and educators, the group led the newly named University of Michigan Jazz Quintet Tour under the slogan “The Colombo Americano Is Jazz,” offering master classes and performances that fostered deep cultural and musical exchange.
Daniel Pinilla (left), Ethan Moleski, Anna Thielke, Annie Hayes, and Dennis Wilson at Valle del Cocora, Quindio, Colombia
Amy Porter (flute) is the newly appointed chair of the Department of Winds and Percussion at SMTD. In October 2025, she appeared as soloist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, performing Black Athena – Power by Ray Angry, conducted by Alain Trudel. She was also a jury member for the preliminary round of the 2026 Tampere Flute Fest Young Artist Competition in Finland.
A scene from Emilio Rodriguez’s play, Sun in Ya Hands, presented at Interlochen Arts Academy. Photo: Interlochen Arts Academy
Emilio Rodriguez (theatre & drama) had a live performance of his original show Sun in Ya Hands at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor on January 25, 2026, as part of the Not Just for Kids series. The play is a Caribbean-inspired retelling of the classic “Frog Prince” story.
Kara Roseborough (left) onstage at the Detroit Opera House. Photo: Austin T. Richey/Detroit Opera
Kara Roseborough (dance) recently performed with Detroit Opera in “Highways and Valleys,” directed by Kaneza Schaal. The program featured Down in the Valley by Kurt Weill and Highway 1 by William Grant Still. She also served as rehearsal director for the Department of Dance’s production of “Panorama” in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company, presented at the Power Center January 16–18.
Stephen Rush (performing arts technology) wrote – then performed – a piece called “Wedding at Cana,” for pianoforte, percussion instruments including wine glasses and fishline, trumpet, bass, Carnatic guitar, and audience (singing/performed silence). He co-directed a performance of his gameboard/Fluxus opera Ice Guys. He also wrote 51 piano etudes using Carnatic ragas and six fugues on American themes (Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, hymn tunes). Rush is working on a book chapter for Routledge entitled “Music and Social Disruption” and plans to return to India in summer 2026 for the 19th time. He is also writing his fifth choral piece in five years, for the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Ann Arbor.
Research on Concussion Protocols for Performing Arts Students Published in Neurology
Paola Savvidou (wellness), Kristen Schuyten (dance, wellness), and lead researcher Allyssa Memmini – a U-M alumna and associate professor of athletic training at the University of New Mexico – published “Behind the Curtain: Consensus Recommendations to Support University-Level Performing Arts Students’ Return to the Stage after Concussion” in the journal Neurology this year. Missy Beck (dance) and Bohuslava Jelínková (dance) also contributed to this protocol along with clinicians, faculty, researchers, and administrators across the United States. Schuyten has presented this content nationally and internationally through dance and performing arts medicine conferences this year, sharing the work being done at SMTD and assisting with further collaboration across performing arts institutions. In September 2025, Savvidou served as a keynote speaker at the Ohio Music Teachers Association Conference in September 2025, and in March 2026, she presented at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Conference in Chicago about how the music teacher-caregiver-student triangle can effectively support pre-college students’ well-being.
Paola Savvidou
Kristen Schuyten (second from left) with (from left) Phil Schuyten, Allyssa Memmini, and Cindy Munday at a meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association
Peter Sparling
In celebration of Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th anniversary year, Peter Sparling (dance), former principal dancer, has been directing projects and restagings at Crooked Tree Arts Center, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Hope College. He coached the Graham Company in New York City in September 2025 and provided text for a newly released book of photographs of Graham dancers. His paintings have been included in solo and group shows throughout Michigan, including in the lobby of the Power Center for the Performing Arts. He was a featured presenter at Midwest RADFest on March 6, and on April 2 he will present Clones of the Dance as part of the programming series for the Blurred Realities exhibit at the MSU Museum.
Amy West at the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science conference. Photo: Kristen Schuyten
Amy West (dance) is an assistant professor and a health and wellness coach. She presented in 2025 at the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science and the National Dance Education Organization conferences. Her presentations – “Working Smarter, Not Harder: Integrating Health and Wellness Coaching Principles for Dance Students” and “Fuel Your Fire: Wellness Strategies to Ignite, Empower, and Prevent Burnout in Dance Educators” – highlighted a dynamic, interdisciplinary approach to dancer and educator well-being. In addition, West completed her Level 3 Essentrics and Progressing Ballet Technique advanced certifications.
Julie Zhu went on tour with Beyond This Point (Adam Rosenblatt, left, and John Corkill), seen here recording TacocaT in the Duderstadt Video Studio. Photo: Robert Coelius
Julie Zhu (PAT) went on tour with Beyond This Point, performing TacocaT, a 30-minute work exploring the sound of a plywood board through machine learning. They stopped at the New Music + Technology Festival at Virginia Tech’s Cube, Qubit’s “Verify You Are Human” in New York City, and the University of Notre Dame. The plywood synth traveled to Taipei for the C-LAB Sound Festival: DIVERSONICS, where Zhu performed “Ornithologie” with renowned sheng player Wu Wei. Zhu’s choir piece “Le Ré” had its world premiere by Le Transcontemporain during FestyVocal 2025 at Le Corbusier’s Église Saint-Pierre (with a 13-second reverb!), and “The Answers” was performed by the Rothko String Quartet in the Festival Neue Musik Rockenhausen.