Alumni Spotlights

Colarusso's (B.M., 1996; M.M., 1996; D.M.A., Music, 2015) band's new record is now available everywhere. It features the group's original members, current band members and special guests including Willie Nelson, George Strait, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Bill Kirchen and Lee Ann Womack. Recent performances have included prestigious venues like the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Moody Amphitheater in Austin and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. 

 Nailor (B.M., Voice and Opera, 2002) has been hired as a part-time instructor of Applied Music in Voice at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Auchter (B.M., Music Performance, 2019) will perform in for Dialogues of the Carmelites and Romeo and Juliet this spring.

Noted for his “gorgeously constructed stage pictures,” Miller’s (D.M.A., 2015) most recent directing credits include Albert Herring at Chicago Summer Opera, Le nozze di Figaro with the Crane Opera Ensemble, Suor Angelica/ Gianni Schicchi at St. Petersburg Opera (Theatre Tampa Bay nominee for Best Direction) and Turn of the Screw with Texas State University (National Opera Association Production Winner).

The Music Industry Award, received by Lopez (B.M., Music and Human Learning/Music Education, 2008), is presented by the TBA Board of Directors to a Business Member who has a long history of supporting music education and the Texas Bandmasters Association.

Life (and Love) was released by Centaur Records on August 6 and is now available anywhere you buy music: Amazon, Apple, Spotify, etc. It includes two song cycles, Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben and Sara Carina Graef's A Woman's Life and Love. Dr. Boover (D.M.A, Voice and Opera, 2007) and Dr. Tian recorded the album in the summer of 2019. Critical praise from the early release noted: 

"Boover's mezzo-soprano provides just the right penetration of warmth and immediacy to put these songs across with the greatest effect. And let's not forget her superb rapport with Tian, whose role calls upon her to conclude the cycle with a postlude by the piano based on a reprise of the first song. At this point, it all comes together beautifully, the piano effectively carrying on the vital message of A Woman's Life and Love where more words would only prove superfluous. Beautifully realized in the present performance, it adds to a very noticeable feeling of unity." -Atlanta Audio Club

Asche (B.M. '76, M.M. '78, D.M.A. '83, Keyboard) is the Senior Continuing Lecturer in Piano at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The award is the highest award granted by the organization and previous recipients include renowned pianists John Perry, Stewart Gordon, and Daniel Pollock, as well as mezzo-soprano Federica von Stade and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. Butler School of Music alumnus William Wellborn is also a previous recipient of the award. 

Balboa (D.M.A., String and Harp, 2020) will be teaching String Techniques, String Techniques II and Instrumental Performance Literature. He is also the new string project coordinator and assistant director of the University of Texas at Austin String Project.

"The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane" is a joint project with Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Pachecano (B.M., Voice and Opera, 2006) sings the title character of Lady Jane Grey, a role she also performed in the World Premiere on February 1, 2020 at Jordan Hall in Boston, MA. She also made a house and role debut as the title character in Chicago Opera Theater's live-streamed production of Daniel Catán's "La Hija de Rappaccini" in April 2021. Opera News said of the performance, "Megan Pachecano boasted an ample, shimmering lyric soprano as Beatriz."

Ramos' (M.M., Voice and Opera, 2013) album will feature two song cycles "Tres Poemas de Alfaro" and "País de Sombra" by Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava. The CD is expected to be released by the end of the year. Ramos has been serving as the Associate Director for Music for the Diocese of Austin since 2013. In January 2021, she was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.