2021 Wrap Up

As we close 2021 and the fall term, we look back on the accomplishments, news stories, and updates of some of our students, faculty, and alumni.

  • Allion Salvador, Emma Simmons, and Elin Schlichting, students in Hal Grossman's violin studio, took home top honors from the 2021 Music International Grand Prix Competition.
  • Paul John Rudoi and vocal ensemble Cantus released Manifesto in June. In keeping with Cantus' commitment to create new music for tenors, baritones, and basses, the works on Manifesto were written specifically for Cantus. Rudio's "Song of Sky and Sea: A Song of Realization" can be heard on the album and may be recognizable to those who heard the mixed-choir version of the final movement performed by the University of Oregon Chamber Choir in 2019.
  • James Ellickson-Brown (MA, Music Education, 1980) completed his 35th year with the U.S. Department of State in June. During his career as a Public Diplomacy Officer, he notes that “I have had the opportunity to make use of my musical background in arranging concerts spanning multiple genres—classical, gospel, hip-hop and jazz.” In his current role, he is focused on recruiting the next generation of diplomats.
  • Evan Doster (French Horn) from Lydia Van Dreel's studio has won Oregon Sinfonietta’s '21 concerto competition. In addition to a $1,000 prize, Evan will be featured on the Chamber Music Society of Oregon's 2022 performance of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4.
  • Drew Nobile, UO Associate Professor of Music Theory, received the prestigious "Society for Music Theory Emerging Scholar Book Award" for Form as Harmony in Rock Music. The award honors an outstanding book published within 10 years of the author’s receipt of the PhD.
  • Taiwanese-born Sharon Yi-Hsuan Wu, a Masters in Piano Performance student in Claire Wachter's studio, has been awarded first prize in the Oregon Music Teachers Association Young Artist Competition in Portland. Sharon is a scholarship recipient at SOMD, and is a GE in collaborative piano. Sharon is trilingual and speaks Mandarin, Korean, and English fluently.
  • Three members of Alexandre Dossin's piano studio have received competitive awards. Marina Bengoa, Silver Medal at the Seattle Piano Competition and Festival (Virtuoso Artists, Solo Division Professional); Dylan Nguyen, Gold Medal at the Seattle Piano Competition and Festival (Virtuoso Artists, Ages 19 and Up); Alessandro Fonseca, Second Prize, Medici International Music Competition.
  • Tao Li, a doctoral student in the data-driven instrument performance program with Jeffrey Stolet has been named the winner of the Libby Larsen Prize in the "Search for New Music Competition" by the International Alliance for Women in Music. Her piece, entitled Wu Ren Kan Ji, is for cello and fixed digital audio media.