Two alumni composers, Joshua Harris (PhD 2013) and Mark Oliveiro (PhD 2016), were selected to participate in the ICMC 2018 Conference in Daegu, South Korea, 5-10 August 2018.
Faculty composer Joseph Klein will present an academic paper titled "Practical Applications of D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s On Growth and Form on Musical Materials and Structures" at the On Growth and Form Centenary Conference, 13-15 October 2017 at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). The paper includes an analysis of three original compositions that are related to Thompson's research: the road in its unfoldings, Occam's Razor, and Interstices. Klein has also been invited to present a lecture on his work at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
Graduate composer Bihe Wen’s composition Regression for fixed media was selected from among more than 450 submissions for performance at the ISCM World New Music Days held at the Beijing Modern Music Festival, 19-26 May 2018. It was also selected for performance in Semaine internationale de la musique électroacoustique SIME 2018, 18-24 April 2018, at the Université Lille in Lille, France.
Graduate composer Christopher Poovey's composition Dripstone for baritone saxophone and stereo fixed media will receive its New York City premiere at the 2017 Bushwick Open Studios at MISE-EN_PLACE, which takes place 23-24 September 2017.
Alumnus composer Daniel Sabzghabaei (BM 2014) recently received a commission from the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) for a new work for soprano, baritone, and piano to be performed on their Next concert series. The performance will be on 11 December 2017 in NYC at the CUNY Graduate Center inside the Elebash Recital Hall as part of the Bernstein Marathon, celebrating his 100th anniversary.
Doctoral composer Michael Smith presented his research on using Virtual Reality for 3D spatialization at the Sounds in Space conference at the University of Derby (England) in June 2018. Michael discussed his software VRSoundMapper and its various options for positioning sounds in a 3D sound field.
On 11-12 December 2017, Nothing in the Nothingness, an opera by alumnus composer Daniel Zajicek (MM 2006) and John Grimmet was performed by the Nautilus Music-Theater in Minneapolis/Saint Paul. This one-act operatic monologue chronicles the thought process of a young man trapped in a coma, and explores what it means to be alive and functioning in a vegetative state when consciousness is not possible. It featured Nautilus performers Eric Morris and Cathleen Fuller, with music director Mind Eschendor.
Alumnus composer Joshua Harris (PhD 2013) was commissioned by the Akropolis Reed Quintet to compose Geryoneïs (The Song of Geryon), which was premiered in October 2017 at Sweet Briar College.
Alumnus composer Daniel Sabzghabaei (BM 2014) was selected as a VocalEssence ReMix Composer Fellow. He will be working with Minnesota's premier choral ensemble VocalEssence and composer mentor Timothy Takach in various workshop sessions on two new commissions for a cappella chorus: one will be premiered in the fall 2017 at the Minnesota ACDA conference, the other at McNally Smith College in the spring 2018.
Works by two UNT composers have been selected for performance on the 2018 SCI Student National Conference at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (September 2018): doctoral composer Jacob Thiede's work And everything in-betweenfor flute and computer music, and alumnus composer Daniel Sabzghabaei's (BM 2014) wind ensemble work, ThruDimension, the latter of which will be performed by the IU Symphonic Band, conducted by Prof. Eric M. Smedley.
Doctoral composer Jacob Thiede presented his paper titled The Broken Saxophone: Exploring problems and solutions to contemporary saxophone techniques through Alex Mincek's "Ali" at the 2018 Biennial North American Saxophone Alliance Conference held at the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music in March 2018.
Faculty composer Joseph Klein will be the featured speaker at two concerts by Orchestra 2001 in April 2018, including the Philadelphia premiere of Frank Zappa's The Yellow Shark at The Fillmore Philly in April 2018. This residency was supported by a grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, and will also include a program of works by Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern, and Pierre Boulez.
Nine UNT-affiliated composers were selected to participate in the SEAMUS 2018 Conference at the University in St. Cloud of Oregon, 29-31 March 2018: faculty members Panayiotis Kokoras and Marco Buongiorno Nardelli, students Miguel Espinel, Christopher Poovey, and Mark Vaughn, and alumni Paul Thomas, David Gedosh, Eli Fieldsteel, and Mikel Kuehn.
Graduate composer Bihe Wen’s work In Limbo for soprano recorder, male voice and fixed media won first prize in the mixed media category of the 2017 Musicacoustica-Beijing Competition.
Besieged by an Expert Sun, a multimedia work by graduate composer Alejandro Carrillo, has been selected as part of the 39th Manuel Enríquez International New Music Forum in Mexico City. Alejandro will perform the work on 24 September 2017 in the National University’s Contemporary Art Museum.
