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College of Music Jazz Studies Lecturer Matt Smiley has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship enabling him to advance his compositional goals by exploring the intersection of jazz and contemporary classical music, and embracing improvisation and innovative composition techniques that challenge the boundaries of both genres.

The College of Music has had an alternatively-sized keyboard on loan since April 2023. Recent graduate Abigail Terrill shares how the narrower keyboard is helpful, why it’s needed and what her thesis research found about the process of transitioning between pianos.

“I find myself thinking about all our former quartet members—we wouldn’t be celebrating this milestone today except for them,” says first violinist Ed Dusinberre. Adds second violinist Harumi Rhodes, “It’s a monumental moment and we’re approaching it with a sense of awe. I feel humbled. Yet, in another sense, for us it’s business as usual.” And much of that business takes place right here in Boulder.

Last summer, the College of Music and Sphinx Performance Academy kicked off a new partnership to welcome talented string students—ages 11-17—to our campus for an intensive scholarship program emphasizing cultural diversity. This month, it’s déjâ vu as auditioned youths engage in lessons, master classes and more, culminating in public performances tonight and this weekend.

The College of Music’s 2024 New Opera Workshop (CU NOW) is underway, leading up to performances of Gene Scheer’s “Polly Peachum”—as well as performances of opera scenes presented by our Composer Fellows’ Initiative—in June.

Uy will join the College of Music’s musicology faculty as an associate professor and assume leadership of the AMRC this fall, bringing to his new responsibilities a rich background in musicological research as well as a broadly-based perspective on academic administration.

As the first violinist of the renowned Lydian String Quartet in residence at Brandeis University, Segar previously served as a professor in the university’s Department of Music.

Retiring Professor of Harpsichord Robert Hill reflects on his career, the College of Music’s universal musician mission and the academic community as “a formalized laboratory for thought.”

Associate Professor of Jazz Studies Paul McKee reflects on the impact of mentorship and shares the spirit of his new, three-part arrangement of “Pomp & Circumstance” to be premiered at the spring 2024 university commencement ceremony!

Rock/jazz drumming giant Chad Wackerman will hold a rare residency at our College of Music next week. Mike Barnett, associate teaching professor in composition and music theory, shares how the residency demonstrates the college’s universal musician mission. “As an artist, you can grow throughout your entire life,” he says.