Student Spotlight – Fall 2020 – Fred Fox School of Music

“Quartet in Quarantine” – The Grove String Quartet Experience

Creative Achievement Awards 2020

Wing Nok “Kaissy” Yau
Undergraduate
Flute Performance
Student of Dr. Brian Luce

Kaissy Yau is an award-winning flute performance major and UA Honors Scholar whose studies are underwritten by her International Excellence Tuition Scholarship. Her inexhaustible work ethic is evidenced by her success as a performer, maintenance of a 4.0 GPA, impact as a volunteer and instructor of the New Horizons Band, and leadership as the president of the College of Fine Arts Ambassadors and Honors College Partnership through Honors Mentor. She has performed as soloist with various ensembles and has created recordings showcasing not only her musical performance prowess, but also her musical production acumen as a composer, arranger, engineer, and producer. She has masterfully utilized a digital audio workstation for recording and expanding the flute repertoire via her website and social media. Her project is a didactic tool for students in the Fred Fox School of Music as an example of virtual/live performance solutions.

Kaissy’s achievements continue an arc she began as a young performer and athlete. She completed all ABRSM grade level exams and was principal flute of the German Swiss Philharmonic Orchestra and International Concert Orchestra of Hong Kong prior to attending UA.

Dr. Brian Luce remarked about his student, “Kaissy Yau is one of the most enthusiastic and prolific students I have had the privilege of teaching over the past 27 years.”

Andrés Pantoja
Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Guitar Performance
Student of Prof. Thomas Patterson

A distinguished student at the Fred Fox School of Music since January 2016, Andrés Pantoja earned a Master of Music degree, and has now completed all of his required academic coursework for the DMA degree with a 4.0 GPA. A winner of multiple awards and competitions, Andrés has always shown initiative and curiosity in developing new projects. His recent CD, Estampa, 21th Century Chilean Guitar, was financed with a highly competitive grant from the Chilean government. In addition, he has recorded two works for the CD, Música de Barrio, a collection of music by Guillermo Eisner in 2019. His creative impulse inspired him to apply for and win the Medici Scholar Award 2020 to create interactive images that accompany the live performances of the aforementioned cycle Platero and I for guitar and narrator, an original staging that will be a wonderful addition to his career and a delight for audiences. His intellectual interest in and resulting commitment to contemporary music has been very strong. This year he won the TINKER Field Research Grant. His project “Extended Techniques for the Classical Guitar in Chile” was supported for pre-dissertation work in Chile.

Professor Tom Patterson remarked about his student, “Andrés is a humble, gracious, and delightful person. He finds the time and energy to be a devoted husband and father to two young boys while doing excellent academic graduate work in a second language and maintaining world-class ability on the guitar.”

Medici Scholarship Winner Shekela Wanyama

DMA student Shekela Wanyama was awarded a 2020 Medici Scholarship to study remotely with choral music educator and conductor Maria Guinand.

Arizona Arts Studio Series Featuring the Flute Studio

What’s it like inside the flute studio at the Fred Fox School of Music … during COVID. Hear professor Brian Luce and students Kaissy Yau and Melissa Requist discuss reentry and playing on stage at Centennial Hall; and see what role kinesiology and biomechanics has with improving flute performance. Arizona Arts Studio Series takes you inside the studios, labs and rehearsal halls at the College of Fine Arts on the University of Arizona campus.

Fred Fox School of Music
Academic Distinction Award Recipients
Spring 2020

Highest Academic Distinction

Olivia Bustos
Lilly Cottam
Kylee Duron
Victoria Gonzalez
Jenna Gorham
Luiz Guimaraes
Helena Hadlock
Marcus Hawkins
Annaliese Horowitz
Timothy Kimble
Corissa Knecht
Nicholas Lopez
Yujia Luan
Bridget Marlowe
Colin Nossek
Jordan Padilla
Alyssa Prichard
Milo Ratner
Ivory Stephenson
Yihui Wang
Katherine Webster
Daniel Worms

Academic Distinction

Diego Abeytia
Maya Armendariz
Peter Arriola
Zachary Ashland
Katie Baird
Madeline Beatty
Emily Blomstrand
Joseph Branderhorst
Isaac Brodkin
Jacob Buchen
Gabriella Cioca
Callie Claridy
Adam Cole
Yvonne Cox
Yifan Dai
Dennis Eagar
Porter Ellerman
Christopher Esguerra
Kaitlyn Fahrendorf
Eleanor Faussane
Chiara Ferrero
Lylah Field
Jayden Frasure
Brynne Gallup
Briana George
Joshua Hill
Jeremy Hook
Meggie Keung
Thomas Koenig
Elizabeth LaBrie
Mathew Lanning
Shirleen Lee
Junlin Li
Jinyi Liu
Benjamin Loreto
Jacob Lythgoe
Mallory Mahoney
Stefan Mangushev
Ian Mast

Jeremy Meeker-Hackett
Yaowen Mei
Andrew Merica
Elian Meza
Gareth Montanarello
Shane Moran
Angel Moreno
Edward Palmenberg
Alayna Payne
Sophia Rankin
Sarah Rosales
Daniel Saufley
Grace Sheppard
Gabriel Schirn
Jack Schmidgall
Delani Seymour
Timothy Simon
Johnna Smith

Comment on Facebook

One thing that needs to be considered in this time of major climate change concern is the carbon emissions of flying in artists from overseas. The carbon emissions of flying Stockholm-Tucson roundtrip come to about 3 tons per economy class passenger. That is comparable to the carbon emissions produced by the average American in 1 year of driving. Could a US-based organist have played this recital (shorter travel distance and lower emissions)? Or, is Hammarstrom already on tour in the US (thus consolidating multiple recitals into 1 overseas trip)? There is also the option of offsetting flight emissions. Saying this as a DMA grad of the UA organ program and as an astronomy educator who’s following the astronomy field’s efforts to mitigate climate impact.