Student news

Recently, The Washington Post listed “22 composers and performers to watch in 2022.” Included were two CU Boulder College of Music students: Kedrick Armstrong, a first-year master’s student in orchestral conducting and composer Anthony Green, who attended our Doctor of Musical Arts program. Be inspired by the impressive trajectory of their careers and learn how both confront issues of diversity in classical conservatory curriculum.

In this edition of our monthly Dean’s Downbeat, John Davis reflects on our students’ successes, introduces new violin faculty—welcome, Alex Gonzalez!—and celebrates Susan Thomas’ BFA Excellence Award. Transcending pandemic burnout, “our faculty offer anchorage through their teaching excellence, and their wonderfully consistent artistic achievements as performers, composers and researchers,” he writes.

On Feb. 20, flutist Courtney Badura (BM '23) and violinist Reuben Kebede (AD '22) took the "gold." Congratulations!

Brooklyn, New York-based saxophonist, composer and improviser Aakash Mittal is collaborating with current master’s student MarieFaith Lane on a project blending Hindustani and Western classical music.

Isabel Goodwin—a third-year bassoon performance + composition student—shares her College of Music experience, including helpful tips on creating a successful portfolio, how faculty support and inspire her, and how to gain creativity from difficult circumstances.

“Even as we bear witness to loss and unknowable challenges with compassion and care, I see us rebounding with resilience again and again—undeterred in our shared quest for excellence, dogged in our pursuit to inform and influence what it means to be a successful, fulfilled creative artist in an increasingly diverse and interdisciplinary musical landscape.”

Silver and Gold Music Scholarship recipient Jennifer Kaphammer—a first-year student majoring in music technology—shares how the scholarship impacts and inspires her future in music and technology.

As part of a weekend honoring diverse women composers, join us for a full orchestration of “Seven Miniatures for Piano” comprising seven standalone pieces—each of which reveals different facets of Florence Price’s creative personality. CU Boulder student and alumni composers completed the orchestrations.

Discovering and playing the music of composers who have been historically marginalized is a wonderful educational experience for all students, regardless of gender or ethnicity, says Professor of Piano Pedagogy Alejandro Cremaschi.

College of Music student ambassador and bassoonist Laynie Metsker recently shared with us—and Future Buffs—her perspectives on becoming a music educator.