News Stories

After playing a song he had written six years ago over and over in his head, Vernon Rust finally got his chance to record it recently at the Mosaic Sound Collective in Austin’s far eastside. He played guitar and sang vocals and was accompanied by recent Butler School of Music alumnus Matthew Gustafson who played cello. It was made possible with funding from the Graduate Music Award from the Presser Foundation, which was awarded to Butler School doctor of musical arts candidate Abbey Young last spring.

The Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin has named Cliff Croomes as the new associate director of bands and the director of the Longhorn Band. He will step into this new role June 1. Croomes is a 2001 graduate of the Butler School of Music and an alumnus of the Longhorn Band. He most recently served as the assistant director of bands at Louisiana State University and as the music director and principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Baton Rouge.

The Risus Quartet, comprised of Butler School Students Haeni Lee, Jieun Yoo, Mary Eunkyung Chang and Bobae Lee resident in Seoul, South Korea during the pandemic, won a gold medal in the Senior Strings Division and the Grand Prize at the 48th Annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in Notre Dame, Indiana. The quartet was trained remotely over the past year by Butler School Violin Professors Sandy Yamamoto and Daniel Ching.

The Butler School of Music is pleased to announce two new faculty members, Dr. LaToya Webb and Dr. Justin West, who will both begin teaching next fall.Webb is joining the Butler School as Assistant Director of the Longhorn Band and Assistant Professor of Practice in Conducting. She comes from positions at Auburn and Grambling State Universities where she is an instructor of wind conducting.  

The new COVID Transformational Online Instruction Contributions Awards announced by UT's Provost's Office for non-tenure-track instructional faculty recognize innovation and excellence in the creation of systems, programs or resources for online instruction in response to the pandemic.

As he prepares for the next chapter, Butler School of Music senior Nicholas Ryland has mixed feelings about moving on. Set to graduate with a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance, Ryland said he’ll miss the community and support he’s received as a Butler School student, but is curious to explore performance opportunities in a “new normal” of in-person shows. 

Sarah Hetrick, who graduated this year with a DMA in Saxophone Performance, was recently appointed as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX, where she’ll teach applied saxophone and woodwind methods.

The Butler School’s Indigo E. Fischer received one of the Graduate School’s student awards, which she was honored with for her outstanding recital called An Audio and Visual Exploration of Music from the 18th Century to Today. Indigo premiered the video in December, 2020, as part of her Master of Music program.

After 27 years with the Butler School of Music, endeared Professor of Piano Pedagogy Sophia Gilmson, who retired last year, was approved by the university president’s office for emeritus status.