Alumni News | March 2023

Join us in congratulating our alums on their outstanding accomplishments.

Trumpeter Theo Van Dyck ’18MM released Messages in the Air, a debut album that features six newly commissioned works for trumpet and electronics by Alex Chadwell, Saad Haddad, Tom Morrison, Nathan Prillaman ’13BA, and Connor Elias Way. Messages in the Air is available on all streaming platforms.

Flutist Amir Farsi ’19MM, who is in the final year of a fellowship with Ensemble Connect, signed with Suòno Artist Management.

The Afro-Cuban Suite by composer, bassist, and educator Jeff Fuller ’67BA ’69MM was premiered by the Yale Concert Band, which commissioned the piece, in February in Woolsey Hall. The performance was conducted by Yale Bands Director Thomas C. Duffy.

Pianist Simon Karakulidi ’22MM won the Gold Medal/City of Pontoise Prize at the 2023 Piano Campus Festival International Competition in Pontoise, France. Karakulidi earned a cash prize and will return to France next season to perform and record.

Organist Colin Lynch ’06MM was appointed Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church in Copley Square, in Boston. Lynch will oversee and lead all aspects of Trinity’s music program, directing the Trinity Choirs and Choristers, managing an extensive concert series, and serving as Principal Organist.

Baritone Dean Murphy ’17MM debuted at Theater an der Wien debut as Fürst Ottokar in Der Freischütz and at Semperoper Dresden debut as Schaunard in La Bohème.

Organist Iain Quinn ’04MM was promoted to Professor of Organ at Florida State University. Two new books by Quinn will be published in 2023: Music and Religion in the Writings of Ian McEwan (Boydell & Brewer) and Rudolph Ganz, Patriotism, and Standardization of The Star-Spangled Banner, 1907-1958 (Routledge).

Organist and choral conductor Michael Smith ’03MM is the new President of the Royal School of Church Music in America, whose “goal is to uplift the spiritual life of our communities through high quality choral music,” which involves the training of singers and support of music directors. Smith’s “goals include amplifying diversity, equity, and inclusion, and growing the membership.”

Violinist Domenic Salerni ’11MM won a Grammy Award, as a member of the Attacca Quartet, for Evergreen (Nonesuch Records, 2022), an album of music by composer Caroline Shaw ’07MM. Evergreen, which won in the “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance” category, followed Orange (Nonesuch, 2019), for which the Attacca Quartet and Shaw also won a Grammy Award in the same category.

Submit your news by May 1 to be included in our next update.