Alumni Spotlights

Altin Sencalar (B.M., Jazz Studies, 2017) has completed a midwest tour with The Temptations and the Four Tops, and will be playing with the two-time Grammy winner Christian McBride Big Band on their first night of their West Coast tour in Mesa, Arizona, in late April. 
 

Sean Reed (B.M., Brass, 1995) recently released an album with John Marcellus titled, "Trombone Songs." 

Jim Friedhofer (B.M., Music Education, 1986) has spring 2019 performances scheduled as a member of the Houston Symphony Chorus (Orff, Carmina Burana; Rachmaninoff, The Bells) and as a member of the La Jolla Symphony Chorus (Bernstein, Symphony No. 3, Kaddish). In June 2019, he will participate in the Longhorn Alumni Band at the 75th D-Day anniversary ceremonies in Normandy, France. He also continues practicing as a civil litigation lawyer in Friedhofer PC in San Diego, California. 

Alan E. Hicks (D.M.A., 2009) has been appointed Director of Opera Theatre at San Diego State University in a newly created joint position with San Diego opera. In addition to his duties at SDSU, Dr. Hicks will also serve on the staff of San Diego Opera.

Steve Parker (D.M.A., Music, 2012) is the recipient of this year’s Tito’s Prize, a $15,000 cash award funded by the Texas vodka company and administered through Austin arts organization Big Medium, who give the winning artist a solo show staged during the East Austin Studio. Initiated last year, the Tito’s Prize is the largest cash prize granted to an Austin visual artist.

Daniel Madrid (M.M., Music, 2013) has been hired as the Executive Assistant to the General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera House.

Jonathan Santore (M.M., Composition, 1987) has been awarded the 2018 Distinguished Teaching Award at Plymouth State University, where he's taught since 1994. He previously received the PSU Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 2011.

Hank Hehmsoth (M.M., Applied Music/Voice/Piano, 1976) has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for his ongoing project, Reminiscences of NEA Jazz Master Dan Morganstern. The project will capture Morgenstern’s first-hand reminiscences and decades-spanning scholarly research on Kansas City jazz and its big bands, as well as preeminent individual artists and their styles and innovations. Hehmsoth received his first NEA grant in 1979.

Alan E. Hicks (D.M.A., Music, 2009) has been appointed Director of Opera Theatre at San Diego State University in a newly created joint position with San Diego Opera. In addition to his duties at SDSU, Dr. Hicks will serve on the staff of San Diego Opera.

Claire Costin (B.F.A., Music Performance, 2004) was installed as a Board Director on the Alpha Phi Foundation 2018-2020 Board of Directors on June 23, 2018.