• Programs
  • Apply
  • Give
  • College of Fine Arts Home
  • Students
    • Advising
    • Areas of Study
    • Degrees
    • Ensembles
    • Student Organizations
    • Studios
  • Admissions
    • How to Apply
    • Auditions
    • Scholarships & Financial Aid
    • Music Theory Readiness Exam
    • Deadlines
  • People
    • Directory
    • Musicians for Hire
    • Faculty Research
    • Music Advisory Board
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Outreach
  • Facilities
    • Concert Halls
    • Recording Studio
    • Electro-Acoustic Music Studio
    • Technical Department
    • Fine Arts Library
  • Donate
    • Giving
    • Medici Circle
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • College of Fine Arts Home
Home › News & Events › News › Student Spotlight – Fall 2020

Student Spotlight – Fall 2020

October 13, 2020

The Fred Fox School of Music is proud of the achievements of all our students. This page captures our students’ musical curiosity and embodiment of the passion, dedication, creativity, and talent developed and nourished within the school by our very talented faculty and staff. We celebrate their hard work and ingenuity in pursuit of pedagogy, scholarship, and artistic creation. Dr. Lori J Wiest Director, Fred Fox School of Music The University of Arizona

 


“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

 

 

News & Events

  • News
  • Events
  • Outreach

Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

1 day ago

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Friday Night at Fred Fox is LIVE on YouTube!
... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

View Comments
  • Likes: 5
  • Shares: 5
  • Comments: 2

Comment on Facebook

I don't listen to enough percussion music, this was amazing!

Mesmerizing performance! Congratulations to UARIZONA Percussion and Morris Palter!

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

1 day ago

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

River Town Duo releases a debut album featuring original works by six contemporary composers Including pulitzer prize-winning Caroline Shaw.

River Town Duo features Philip Alejo (double bass) and Claire Happel Ashe (harp). Bassist Philip Alejo currently teaches at University of Arizona in Tucson (Associate Professor of Music, Double Bass).

Online Streaming:

Composers: Caroline Shaw (b.1982), Whitney Ashe (b.1971), Derick Evans (b.1991), Hannah Lash (b.1981), Evan Premo (b.1985), Stephen Andrew Taylor (b.1965)

Works: 1. "For Claire & Philip" (2014) by Caroline Shaw, 2. "The Circuitous Six" (2016) by Whitney Ashe, 3. "On Lotusland" (2015) by Derick Evans, 4-5. "Leaves, Space" (2015) by Hannah Lash, 6-7. "Two Meditations on Poems of Mary Oliver" (2017) by Evan Premo, 8-12. "Oxygen" (2017) by Stephen Andrew Taylor

About River Town Duo
Founded in 2012, River Town Duo has presented dozens of recitals at venues including the University of Arizona, University of Illinois, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Mackinac Island Music Festival, University of Notre Dame, and the University of Wisconsin, among others. River Town Duo has also performed recitals as invited artists at the International Society of Bassists Convention and the American Harp Society Summer Institute. Although there are only a handful of double bass and harp duos in the world, over 20 composers have written works for this instrumentation. River Town Duo is committed to commissioning new works from influential composers and adding to the growing repertoire of pieces for double bass and harp. River Town Duo comprises double bassist Philip Alejo and harpist Claire Happel Ashe.

Philip Alejo is the Associate Professor of Music, Double Bass at the University of Arizona and Artist Faculty at the Bay View Music Festival. Previously he served as Associate Principal Bass of the Quad City Symphony and Visiting Professor of Bass at the University of Michigan. A former member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Philip has additionally performed with the Tucson Symphony, Arizona Opera, Ensemble Dal Niente, Flint Symphony, and Ann Arbor Symphony. His numerous music festivals and residencies include Spoleto Festival USA, Lucerne Festival, Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, Mackinac Island Music Festival, Oaxaca Instrumenta, Aldeburgh Festival, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. Philip teaches at the Arizona ASTA Bass Jams and the Richard Davis Bass Conference at the University of Wisconsin. He was recently named Guest Professor at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music and MusAid Teaching Artist at El Sistema, El Salvador. Philip holds degrees from Oberlin College (BA, BM), Yale University (MM), and the University of Michigan (DMA), where his principal teachers included Diana Gannett, Donald Palma, Peter Dominguez, and Thomas Sperl.

Claire Happel Ashe is a versatile performer known for integrating diverse aspects of movement and music. As a harpist, she has appeared with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of the Dominican Republic, and the Newberry Consort among many other ensembles. She regularly collaborates in chamber music performances with oboist Karisa Werdon (Immer Neu), and guitarist James Moore and mandolin player Jeremy Harting (Noble Fowl Trio). An advocate of new music, she has performed with contemporary ensembles such as the Chicago Composers Orchestra, International Ensemble Modern Academy, and the Pulitzer Series of St. Louis, and commissioned new works with grants from the Urbana Public Arts Program, City of Chicago Cultural Affairs, American Harp Society, and the Illinois Arts Council. In the summers, she has performed at the Midwest Harp Festival, American Harp Society Conferences and Institutes in Chicago, Logan (UT), and Tacoma (WA), and presented at the World Harp Congress in Dublin and Alexander Technique Congress in Chicago. In addition to performances on the modern pedal harp, Claire has performed on the Baroque triple harp since 2016 mentored by artists such as Cheryl Ann Fulton, Charlotte Mattax Moersch, and Christa Patton at the Madison Early Music Festival and Queens College Early Opera Workshop. She holds degrees in music performance from Yale University and the University of Illinois, where she also received a BFA in Dance, and was a 2007-08 Fulbright Scholar in Prague. She has served on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, Illinois Summer Youth Music, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and as a teaching assistant at Yale University, the University of Illinois, and the Music in the Mountains Festival. She currently teaches harp, Alexander Technique, and movement at the Music Institute of Chicago, Valparaiso University, Olivet Nazarene University, and the James Hart Harp Program in the Homewood Public Schools.
... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

View Comments
  • Likes: 9
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

4 days ago

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Tune in on Friday nights at 7:00 p.m. for livestream performances


Subscribe to the Fred Fox School of Music YouTube Channel


Follow us on social media:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Concertlist
... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

View Comments
  • Likes: 3
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

5 days ago

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Registration is now open for UArizona Virtual Clarinet Day! Mark your calendars for Jan. 17, 2021 and join us for this free event! ... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

View Comments
  • Likes: 6
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

1 week ago

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Congratulations to DMA candidate Erik Peregrine!

https://facebook.com/UAChoirs/photos/…
... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

View Comments
  • Likes: 15
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Congratulations, Erik! We are so proud of you!!

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

1 week ago

The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music

Tucson Bass Jam
Virtual Event (Zoom)
Sunday, January 17, 2021
1:00-5:00 p.m.
Free Admission

The Tucson Bass Jam is an ASTA and University of Arizona sponsored virtual clinic on Zoom for beginning, intermediate, and advanced double bass students, music educators, and community bass players of any age from Southern Arizona.

Faculty Director:
Philip Alejo, The University of Arizona

Guest Artists:
Issac Trapkus, New York Philharmonic
Juan J. García Jiménez, National Autonomous University of Mexico, CEPROMUSIC

Registration and Fees:
Tucson Bass Jam will be free of charge in 2021.

Registration: Participants should contact Philip Alejo (palejo@email.arizona.edu) to register. A Zoom link and entry code will be sent to every registered participant prior to the event. Registration on the day of the event will be possible, but not recommended. Any high school student interested in playing their regional excerpts for Isaac Trapkus should also contact Philip Alejo.

Schedule of Events:
Sunday, January 17, 2021
1:00-5:00 p.m.

1:00 - 1:15 p.m.
Welcome and introductions

1:20 - 2:00 p.m. Warm-ups with Philip Alejo (beginner/intermediate) and Juan García (advanced)

2:00 - 2:50 p.m.
New and experimental music with Juan García

3:00 - 3:55 p.m.
Masterclass on regional excerpts with Isaac Trapkus

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Masterclass for UA students with Isaac Trapkus

Guest Artist Biographies

Bassist Isaac Trapkus joined the New York Philharmonic in November 2016. Before joining the Philharmonic he was a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and, before that, principal double bass of the New Haven Symphony while he was studying with Leigh Mesh, associate principal bass of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Mr. Trapkus is a product of Iowa’s public school music program and began his bass studies with Linda Gannett of Davenport, Iowa. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Diana Gannett, and a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with former New York Philharmonic Principal Bass Eugene Levinson. At Michigan, Isaac Trapkus became the first bassist in 30 years to win the school’s concerto competition, for which he performed Tubin’s Bass Concerto. He also won Juilliard’s bass concerto competition, performing Vanhal’s Bass Concerto. During his study he performed with the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany. Mr. Trapkus volunteers as a designer and administrator with IMSLP, the online sheet music library.

Juan J. García Jiménez is a musician specializing in contemporary music and improvisation, who lives and works in Mexico City. Since 2012, he is a member of the ensemble at the Center for Experimentation and Production of Contemporary Music (CEPROMUSIC) and since 2018 is part of the faculty at the Music School of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the School of Art of Yucatán (ESAY). He has collaborated with orchestras and chamber ensembles internationally and has also developed a career in improvised and experimental music, collaborating since 2001 with iconic characters in the development of contemporary music. His practice stems from studies and practices within the musical tradition combined with a broad foray into new music, prominently in sonic explorations and experimentations. He has also developed innovative teaching techniques that have led him to mix traditional and experimental musical ideas and practices within the classroom.

García studied double bass at the University of Houston under the tutelage of Dennis Whittaker and earned a master's degree at Arizona State University under Catalin Rotaru in 2008. Since then he has fully devoted himself to teaching, performing, and disseminating new music, premiering hundreds of works by composers from around the world with the CEPROMUSIC Ensemble, Liminar Ensemble, and the Low Frequency Trio. Important performances include concerts at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), The Darmstadt Summer Festival (Germany), No Idea Festival (Austin), the Tate Modern (UK), and the Rothko Chapel (Houston).
... See MoreSee Less

View on Facebook
·Share

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linked InShare by Email

View Comments
  • Likes: 6
  • Shares: 9
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

Load more
  • Students
    • Advising
    • Areas of Study
    • Degrees
    • Ensembles
    • Student Organizations
    • Studios
  • Admissions
    • How to Apply
    • Auditions
    • Scholarships & Financial Aid
    • Music Theory Readiness Exam
    • Deadlines
  • People
    • Directory
    • Musicians for Hire
    • Faculty Research
    • Music Advisory Board
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Outreach
  • Facilities
    • Concert Halls
    • Recording Studio
    • Electro-Acoustic Music Studio
    • Technical Department
    • Fine Arts Library
  • Donate
    • Giving
    • Medici Circle

Fred Fox School Of Music

P.O. BOX 210004
1017 North Olive Road
Music Building, Room 109
Tucson, AZ 85721-0004

Email: musicweb@cfa.arizona.edu

Phone: 520.621.1655

Fax: 520.621.8118


Forms & Resources Console

Copyright © University of Arizona 2021

University Privacy Statement

College of Fine Arts

P.O. BOX 210004
1017 North Olive Road
Music Building, Room 111
Tucson, AZ 85721-0004

Email: finearts@cfa.arizona.edu

Phone: 520.621.1302

Fax: 520.621.1307

en English
en Englishes Spanishzh-CN Chinese (Simplified)ko Korean