College of Music in the News

myre
March 6, 2024

Graduate Work to Be Premiered at Carnegie Hall

Cody Thomas Myre (BM ’19, Composition) will have his work titled, “Broken Glass” for concert band, premiered at Carnegie Hall June 2024 by Switzerland’s Das Blasorchester Stadtmusik Luzern at the New York Sounds of Summer Music Festival. The piece was selected as the winner of the 2023 World Projects Composition Competition.

carter
March 5, 2024

Two Alumni Receive Animation Award Nominations

UNT alum Kristopher Carter (BM ’93) and his two partners Lolita Ritmanis and fellow UNT alum Michael McCuistion (BM ’87), were nominated for “Best Music-TV/Media” in the 51st Annie Awards™ for their composing of the music for the Warner Brothers animated movie, “Babylon 5: The Road Home!” The award honors excellence in the field of animation.

Sungji Hong
January 3, 2024

Composition Faculty Named Fellow

UNT Assistant Professor of Composition, Sungji Hong, has been selected as a Civitella Ranieri Music Fellow for their 2024 and 2025 seasons. "Civitella Ranieri Fellowships are awarded through a careful nomination and jury process by a rotating group of distinguished artists, academics, and critics that ensures access to a highly diverse group of emerging and accomplished candidates from around the world." The residency is hosted in a 15th-century castle in the Umbrian region of Italy.

Album cover art
October 30, 2023

Professor Releases Cd

UNT’s Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater hosts Professor of Composition Jon Christopher Nelson’s performance of works from the Neuma Records release of  The Persistence of Time and Memory. It is, "...inviting the listener to perceive connections with sounds they may remember from their past."

May 5, 2023

Stout Premieres Commissioned Work

As part of the 150th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas, the temple collaborated with AURORA in producing “Light Years - An Innovative Art and Technology Experience.” The Temple commission by David Stout, UNT Professor of Composition Studies, is titled “In Their Arms We Hold the Sky,” a panoramic film and music work.

May 5, 2023

Newest Presser Graduate Scholar Named

The 2023 Presser Foundation Graduate Award winner is Colin Stokes. He is a UNT College of Music PhD student in the Division of Composition Studies. His proposal was titled “Otherness Together, a collaborative intermedia piece exploring issues of racial identity, transnationality, and otherness.” The piece will be created in collaboration with United Arab Emirates-born Palestinian visual artist Qais Assali. According to the Presser Foundation, "The program is designed to encourage and support, in a special way, the advanced education and career of truly exceptional graduate music students who have the potential to make a distinguished contribution to the field of music."

May 5, 2023

College of Music Welcomes Faculty to New Position

Kirsten Soriano is welcomed in her new position as Associate Dean for Operations. Dr. Soriano has more than twenty years of experience in academic and arts administration for organizations, including the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Ensemble Dal Niente, for which she is the founder and served as Executive Director. During this time, Ensemble Dal Niente produced over one hundred concerts in Chicago and New York and received the Kranichsteiner Stipendium Preise during the 45th Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany.

April 7, 2023

UNT at Seamus

Held in New York City, the 2023 national conference of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) is once again well represented by 12 University of North Texas students, alumni and faculty.

October 10, 2022

Composition Professor Receives Fellowship

Jon Nelson, Professor of Composition, received a University of North Texas Institute for the Advancement for the Arts Faculty Fellowship (IAA) for 2022-2023. The IAA allows faculty members a semester of leave to pursue creative research in the arts to promote artistic and creative expression at UNT.

October 10, 2022

Alumnus Wins

The American Viola Society announced the winner of the 2022 Maurice Gardner Competition for Composers. First Prize was awarded to Daniel Sabzghabaei (BM '14, Honors College), for “Under This Blue of My Land” for viola and voice to be performed at the 2022 AVS Festival and the 47th International Viola Congress.

Anuj Bhutani
September 22, 2022

Alumnus Wins Award

Anuj Bhutani (BM '21) has been awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation's Morton Gould Award for “On Letting Go” for solo cello and live electronics.

UNT Welcome Center

UNT Named Best Performing Arts School

College Gazette named the University of North Texas the Best Performing Arts College in the United States. According to the authors, “These [ten institutions] are exceptionally prestigious schools that regularly invite major guest artists to campus, are highly selective, and have stellar faculty who are accomplished performing artists themselves.” In addition to the significant offerings of the College of Music, the ranking includes our friends in UNT Department of Dance and Theatre along with the extensive UNT Music Library. 
http://collegegazette.com

Yamaha Excellence

UNT College Of Music Named To Distinguished List

 The Yamaha Institution of Excellence program has included the UNT College of Music in its inaugural list of 10 distinguished colleges and universities recognizing extraordinary commitment to innovation in the study of music. “These schools rise to the level of exceptional academic leadership that first inspired Yamaha to introduce this vital program and we are eager to join with them in a shared mission,” said Dan Rodowicz, senior director, Institutional Sales, Yamaha. According to John W. Richmond, dean of UNT’s College of Music, “We are thrilled to be included in Yamaha’s inaugural class of Institutions of Excellence and are eager to evolve our relationship with Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) from a transactional one to a collaborative one. We envision collaborations across domains in music performance, music technology, music education, music production/distribution, instrument design/engineering/testing, music business and musicians’ health. We believe this new way of work to be enlightened and momentous. We can’t wait to get started!”
https://tinyurl.com/yamahaunt