Ivan Jimenez (PhD 2007) and Tuire Kuusi (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki) received a grant from the Kone Foundation (Finland) to study the way musicians and non-musicians mentally process and remember chord progressions.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette classical music critic Elizabeth Bloom selected the Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival as one of 2015's best classical music events. Co-presented by Music on the Edge and The Andy Warhol Museum, "Beyond" was a three-day festival and symposium featuring leading scholars, performers, and composers of microtonal music.
Composer Amy Williams is the subject of an in-depth article in the most recent edition of Pitt Magazine, The University of Pittsburgh's alumni publication. The article provides a glimpse into Williams' busy life as performer and composer, her creative roots in the University of Buffalo's energetic new music scene, and the successes that led to her current year as a Guggenheim Fellow.
This November, Music on the Edge expanded its mission from being an importer of the world’s most innovative contemporary music to being an exporter. Billed as Music on the Edge in New York, co-directors Eric Moe and Mathew Rosenblum organized a concert featuring primarily Pitt composers at New York City’s Subculture. They assembled an all-star ensemble comprising flutist Lindsey Goodman, percussionist Lisa Pegher, and cellist Dave Eggar. Moe and fellow faculty member Amy Williams shared piano duties.
Congratulations to James Ogburn (PhD 2009) for being named third place winner by The American Prize for his Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra. Ogburn’s Concerto was premiered in June of 2015 by accordionist Heidi Luosujärvi and the Tahiland Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Principal Guest Conductor Claude Villaret. (View the premiere on YouTube.)
Two Department of Music alumni received individual artist grants through the Investing in Professional Artists program (pdf), a partnership of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments. Composers Federico Garcia (PhD 2006) and Philip Thompson (PhD 2002) were among 10 artists in the Pittsburgh region to receive individual artist grants through the fourth funding cycle of Investing in Professional Artists.
The New York premiere of Mathew Rosenblum’s Falling received critical acclaim in The New York Times and New York Classical Review. The New York New Music Ensemble performed Falling in a concert honoring the late composer Lee Hyla, a close friend of Rosenblum’s.
Eric Moe’s year of significant accomplishments was punctuated by an inaugural lecture for his recent appointment as Mellon Professor of Music and the release of his latest all-Moe album
Faculty composer Amy Williams has been named a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow. Williams was one of 175 scholars, artists, and scientists selected from a pool of over 3100 applicants. She intends to spend her fellowship year composing three new pieces and recording a second album of music devoted to her compositions. In addition, she will collaborate with video artist Aaron Henderson, a faculty member of the Department of Studio Arts, in a realization of her complete Cineshape series of chamber works inspired by films.
On Sunday night at the Warhol, Mathew Rosenblum's Ostatnia Runda (for amplified string quartet and six percussionists) brought the Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival to a resouding conclusion. From February 27–March 1, audeinces packed venues at Pitt and the Warhol for three concerts and two symposia that explored the full range of what has become known as microtonal music. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette classical music critic Liz Bloom has written an extensive review of the event for today's editon of the P-G. According to Bloom,