Alumni Spotlights

Butler School of Music Alum, Alan E. Hicks (D.M.A., 2009) has been appointed Director of the Emerging Artist Program for the Green Mountain Opera Festival for the 2014 season and stage director for The Rape of Lucretia for the 2014 Festival season. In May of 2014, Alan will direct The Turn of the Screw for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. 

Joseph V. Williams II (DMA, '13), classical guitarist and composer, is the 2013-2014 Composer in Residence for the Austin Classical Guitar Society. 

Jonathan Santore (Music Composition, '87) won The American Prize in Composition 2013, in the category for professional composers of choral music. He is Chair of the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, where he has taught composition and theory since 1994, and is Composer in Residence for the New Hampshire Master Chorale. His composition Front Porch Poems, for mezzo, viola, and piano, is featured on the Chiaroscuro Trio's new CD New People, just issued by Albany Records; Aurelien and Elizabeth Petillot, founding members of Chiaroscuro, are also both alumni of the Butler School of Music.
 

Miles Maner (Music, '07) was appointed Bassoonist and Contrabassoonist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Miles grew up in Austin and got his Masters in Music at the Shepherd School, then played in the Kansas City Symphony for a few years. Evidently, when CSO conductor Ricardo Muti shook his hand, he said to Miles with a twinkle in his eyes, "You do know the contrabassoon is bigger than you are.". 

Andrew Rudin's (B.A. Music, '62) new "Sonata for Piano" was premiered by pianist Beth Levin May 5 at Spectrum in New York City. On that same day, the Dallas-based ensemble, Voice of Change, presented his "Sonata for Violin and Piano". In Philadelphia, on May 6, Lloyd Smith, cellist and Marcantonio Barone presented his "Sonata for Cello and Piano" in Philadelphia, under the auspices of 1807 & Friends. Rudin begins an operatic collaboration with Texas writer, Ann McCutchan in June. Three new CD's of Rudin's music are scheduled for release on Centaur Records. "September Trilogy" for string orchestra will have its premiere in Fall 2014 by Philadelphia-based Orchestra 200l, honoring his 75th birthday.

American conductor Garrett Keast is building a reputation for musical excellence with orchestras in Europe and the United States. In the 2012/13 season he has enjoyed successful debuts with the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Philharmoniker Hamburg and the Hamburg Ballet, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Bach Collegium München, and has been re-invited a third time to conduct at the Opera National de Paris. Additionally, he has conducted the Orchestre de Paris, North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, RIAS Jugendorchester and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Dates ahead include debuts with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz, the Fort Worth Opera Festival, the Virginia Opera, and a return to the Hamburg Ballet. 

In a special performance, David Cloyd (B.A., Music Performance, '98) with violinist Miranda Scoma will be opening for label-mate James McCartney at the Lovin Cup in Rochester on May 14th. McCartney is currently on a 47-date, 27-state tour of the USA in advance of the release of his new album, Me (ECR Music Group).

Bruce Ludwick, Jr. (M.M., Organ Performance with Emphasis in Sacred Music, 2008) was appointed Director of Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Birmingham, AL as of January 1, 2013. Erin Montalto Ludwick (M.M., Vocal Performance, 2008) is from Birmingham and happy to be back home where she is setting up a private voice studio. Their wedding was at the Cathedral of St. Paul in June 2009 and was played by the late Dr. Gerre Hancock (former Professor of Organ and Sacred Music at UT-Austin). Bruce looks forward to building upon the foundation of the cathedral’s choirs to include comprehensive choirs for youth and children as well as an organ recital series.

David Viscoli, Professor of Piano, (B.M. 1987) was selected as a recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Alexandre Dossin (DMA, Music, 2001) is a tenured faculty member at the University of Oregon. His recordings include: Russian Transcriptions, to be included in Naxos' ongoing international series "Complete Piano Works by Franz Liszt," which was released in July 2012; Rachmaninoff: Prelude in c# minor, op. 3 no. 2, Preludes op. 23; recording and editorial work, Schirmer Performance Editions, released in November 2012; Rachmaninoff:  Preludes op. 32; recording and editorial work, Schirmer Performance Editions, to be released in 2013; and Leonard Bernstein: Piano Works, Naxos American Classics Series, to be released late 2013. A full discography is available at www.dossin.net.