News

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.

The Butler School of Music proudly awards Associate Professor of Musicology Hannah Lewis and Associate Professor of Collaborative Piano Collette Valentine with this year’s Teaching Excellence Awards.

Assistant Professor of Practice in Mariachi and Ethnomusicology Monica Fogelquist is an editor of a new publication called the International Journal of Mariachi Education and Performance. The journal, which is published three times per year and is available as a free digital download, is a nonprofit educational resource dedicated to the advancement of mariachi education and the preservation of mariachi history and style, according to the publication’s website.

Andy J. Normann, a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology, is heading to the University of the Witwaterstrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, for one year as a recipient of a Research Award from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. While there, he’ll conduct fieldwork for his dissertation on the South African music industry.

John Bimbiras, a Butler School of Music Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology, won a fellowship this week from the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute. Housed in The City College of New York, the $10,000 award will send him to the institute to scour through its vast archival and library resources for his dissertation research. 

The Butler School's Percussion Ensemble 2020, led by professor Thomas Burritt, released a 50-minute-video based on Yaz Lancaster's piece dis[armed]. It explores gun violence in the U.S., particularly mass shootings and the killing of unarmed Black people by police, and encourages a thoughtful reflection on where our country can go from here. Supporting works include Joseph Pereira (Mallet Quartet), Devonté Hynes (Perfectly Voiceless), and a world premiere of (Elysium Infernum) by UT Percussion DMA student Cy Miessler.

Bion Tsang, a Butler School professor of cello, performed virtually Saturday Night in a Chamber Music International concert. Playing alongside four other relatively unfamiliar violinists and violists, Scott Cantrell, writing for the Dallas Morning News, said the group sounded "like they had been playing together for years."