The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will present the next installment in its yearlong celebration of Pittsburgh composers over the weekend of February 7–9 with a program that features new compositions by Department of Music faculty members Mathew Rosenblum and Amy Williams and graduate student Bomi Jang. Rosenblum, Williams, and Jang are three of the five composers commissioned by the PSO to contribute one movement each to a five-movement composition titled The Elements.

Doctoral candidate Sookyung Sul’s new string orchestra composition The Cycle of Encounter received its premiere this fall as part of the 2013 Unji Society Chamber Orchestra Concert Series VIII. The performance took place at the prestigious Seoul Arts Center. Sul was featured as an emerging composer on a program that comprised four highly regarded veterans of Korean contemporary music. Members of South Korea’s acclaimed Hwaum Chamber Orchestra performed all the works on the program.

High on Mathew Rosenblum’s long list of achievements for 2013 was the release of an album devoted to his music by Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Directed by Gil Rose and issued on the orchestra’s own BMOP/sound label, Mathew Rosenblum: Möbius Loop takes its title from Rosenblum’s concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra. The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet commissioned that work and gave the U.S. premiere with the Music on the Edge Chamber Orchestra at Pitt’s Bellefield Hall Auditorium in 2002.

Charles Lwanga’s (PhD 2012) article “Bridging Ethnomusicology and Composition in the First Movement of Justinian Tamusuza’s String Quartet Mu Kkubo Ery’Omusaalaba" was published in the latest issue of Analytical Approaches to World Music.

Composition/Theory doctoral candidate Jeremy Woodruff’s article “A Voice in the Dark: Subversive Sounds of the Living Newspapers and the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37” has been published by Interference: a Journal of Audio Culture. In his research, Woodruff explores the connection between electronic sound (both live and broadcast) in 1930s political theatre and political activism.

Firebird Ensemble recently released an album devoted to music by Professor of composition and theory Eric Moe. The CD, Meanwhile Back at the Ranch, takes its name from one of the evocatively titled compositions contained on the disc. The remaining works on the album live up to Moe’s proclivity for intriguing titles as well: Frozen Hours Melt Melodiously into the Past, riprap, Preamble and Dreamsong from the 4-5 a.m. REM Stage, and Mud Wrestling at the O.K. Corral.

This fall, Dr. Neil Newton joined the Department of Music as a lecturer in music theory. Tasked with leading both graduate seminars in analysis and undergraduate core theory classes, Newton’s innovative teaching style is already making an impact. The New Zealand native typically enters his undergraduate lectures armed with an acoustic guitar and his deep knowledge of both popular and classical music. He then proceeds to introduce each new harmonic concept with a familiar pop song.  It’s an approach that Newton sees as very beneficial to the students.

An upcoming concert by Alia Music Pittsburgh will feature Department of Music alumni and current graduate students. The program will include the world premieres of works of composition and theory graduate students Matt Aelmore (East Liberty for organ and vibraphone) and Aaron Brooks (Tempo Chorale and Tune). Also on the program are works by Ramteen Sazegari (composition and theory graduate student) and Kerrith Livengood (PhD 2012), Krzysztof Penderecki, and Nissim Schaul.

This Friday night (October 4^th) is the first Pitt Night at the Symphony hosted by Pitt Arts and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall! The 2013–14 BNY Mellon Grand Classics season opens with one of the most recognizable works of all time, Carmina Burana. This 20th-century choral masterpiece has been heard countless times in film, television and even at professional sports events.