Alumni Spotlights

Zenobi (M.M., Voice and Opera, 2003/D.M.A, Voice and Opera, 2011) continues to excel as a performer and pedagogue. Her debut album, Joys Abiding: Soprano Baritone Duets by Historical Women Composers, recorded with fellow UT alumni baritone Oliver Worthington and pianist Chuck Dillard, is out on the Navona label in February 2022.

This 2021 distinction applauds the heroes of the music industry, the people who saved the day during the pandemic. Lee (B.A., Music, 1998) has been honored for her distinctive advocacy leadership through the pandemic in founding PAMAC (Performing Arts Managers and Agents Coalition) and playing a pivotal role in the industry-wide lobbying effort that led to the enactment of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants program, providing $16.5 Billion in relief to the U.S. arts and culture industry.

Fletcher (B.M., Violin Performance) has performed with the Texas Chamber Orchestra in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and is a director of orchestra and chamber ensembles as well as a professional classical and jazz violinist. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed the Llano resident to the commission Tuesday, Nov. 16.

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. 

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

 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.

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).

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 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