Alumni Spotlights

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.

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. 

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

"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."

Recipient of the 2021-2023 NBCUniversal Composer Diversity Initiative, Chambers (B.M., Music Theory, 2017) has had a dynamic career as a self-titled “composer-creative” entrepreneur. She is the owner of Sweets by Jocelyn, a baking business she started at six years old; author of “The Era of Mixed Feelings,” a collection of curated stories about adolescent experiences and struggles; founder of the online magazine “Majesty Mag”; and host of “The I Am Loved” podcast, which discusses love and self-love.

Morrongiello (B.M., Voice and Opera, 2016) will cover Monostatos in The Magic Flute, and The Metropolitan Opera covering the Dean of the Faculty in Cinderella, Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, Player 2 in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, and Sellem in The Rake’s Progress.

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. 

Amsel (B.M., Conducting, 2012) will lead the orchestra in a variety of programs including Symphonic, Chamber, Family and Education concerts. Prior to this appointment, he was selected to the Aspen Conducting Academy, where he will perform in eight concerts this summer at the Aspen Music Festival.

Zuniga (D.M.A., Double Bass Performance, 2015) has been appointed to a faculty position as Double Bass professor at the National University Panamá in Panamá. 

Following the release of Fears' (B.M., Music Performance, 2013) powerful new six-song EP, "Canopy," Jeff McCord from KUTX called it "intimate, intense and sublime."