Student news

Nate Bonin and Danny Kaminski are the 2023 Sher Distinguished Musician Scholars! Learn more about these students and their dreams for the future.

The American Music Research Center’s interim director, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Austin Okigbo, shares the center’s fall semester highlights—including free performances of “Song of Pueblo” on campus and in Pueblo, Colorado.

“A Boulder treasure”—We’re celebrating the inspiring, illustrious career of longtime CU Presents Executive Director Joan McLean Braun who will retire at the end of this academic year.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s biennial residency at our College of Music returns for three days packed with sectionals, rehearsals, mock auditions, master classes, a Q&A and a Faculty Tuesdays concert.

Professor of Musicology Robert Shay and 10 of our students went beyond the traditional classroom this summer—to Vienna, Austria! Part of the CU Boulder Study Abroad program, this exciting, interdisciplinary two-week experience was one of several instructor-led Global Seminars.

In this edition of the Dean’s Downbeat, Dean John Davis offers reflections and a vision for the future as he shares highlights from our newly revamped annual digital magazine—Colorado Music. “...our mission matters more than ever. Because what we do as musicians requires not only skill, but humanity—that is, the simultaneous conveyance of emotion, connection and understanding. Colorado Music takes stock of how far we’ve come.”

Congratulations to Izzy Fincher—the College of Music’s Outstanding Graduating Senior this spring—who will graduate with a BM in classical guitar performance, a BA in journalism, a business minor with a Music Entrepreneurship Certificate and a Music Theory Certificate, exemplifying the College of Music’s universal musician mission.

In addition to Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and our collaboration with El Sistema Colorado, the College of Music’s upcoming CU at Boettcher concert will feature the world premiere of composer Carter Pann’s new work: his five-movement, 17-minute Symphony No. 3–“On The Importance of Our Democracy.”

Erika Gossett will graduate next month with a BM in flute performance, as well as a BA in media studies, a minor in business and a Music Entrepreneurship Certificate, exemplifying the College of Music’s universal musician vision. Additionally, her climate change-focused venture, Piña Designs, is a finalist in the New Venture Challenge. Finals are April 12: Join us!

Venezuelan Andres Orco is a DMA guitar student in our Thompson Jazz Studies Program with a special interest in advanced rhythm and meter in jazz; as such, he’s also pursuing a Certificate in Music Theory. “Through the certificate program, I received a multidisciplinary education that I think has made me a more well-rounded musician and educator.”