YSM Alum & Student News | September 2024

We’re continually inspired by the successes our students and alums are enjoying. Please join us in applauding them!

Baritone Daniel Bircher ’06MM ’07AD was named director of choral and vocal studies position at Oklahoma Christian University.

Double-bassist Sam Bobinski ’15MM, percussionist Doug Perry ’14AD, and violinist Matheus Souza ’14MM are featured soloists on the soundtrack to the video game Star Wars Outlaws. The music for this most recent release in the Star Wars game franchise was composed by Wilbert Roget II ’05BA.

Horn player Emily Boyer ’06MM was named WSHU’s new morning classical music host. In addition to her performance background, Boyer is a music educator and lifelong classical public radio listener. Classical Music with Emily Boyer airs on weekdays, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 91.1 FM and streams at wshu.org and on the station's app.

Choral conductor Matthew Cramer ’17MM founded and conducted the chamber choir Tantalus in the ensemble’s debut as part of the Albany Symphony's American Music Festival, held in the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At the festival, Tantalus performed YSM faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis’ In the eternal and recorded the work for future release. Cramer can also be heard singing with The Crossing on its album Ochre. Released on Navona Records, the album features recent works by George Lewis ’74BA, Caroline Shaw ’07MM, and Ayanna Woods ’15BA.

Cameron Daly ’18BA ’20MM was appointed associate principal violinist of the Seattle Symphony. Daly is the former first violinist of the Callisto Quartet, with which he recently completed a residency at the Yale School of Music, and has previously held orchestral positions in the Naples Philharmonic and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Composer Natalie Dietterich ’16MM ’17MMA was appointed to the faculty at the Yale University Department of Music, where she will serve as full-time lecturer and teaching lab specialist.

Derek Hartman ’21MM ’27DMA was named lecturer in piano at Vanderbilt University.

Brian Harlow-Jennings ’01MM ’05MMA ’10DMA, Christopher Harlow-Jennings ’04MM, and organist David Ouzts ’87MM participated in the Cambridge Choral Summer Course hosted by Gonville & Caius College at the University of Cambridge, where participants attended daily lectures, master classes, rehearsals, and choral services and sang Compline at St. John's College and Choral Evensong at Ely Cathedral.

Flutist Sophia Jean ’25MM won first place at the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, at which she also gave the “Best Performance” of a work commissioned by the organization. Sophia, who passed successfully from an initial tape round through in-person quarter-final, semi-final, and final rounds, earned a generous cash prize at the competition, which was held in San Antonio, Texas.

Cellist Lachezar Kostov ’08AD was named the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s associate principal cellist and will hold the ensemble’s Ona Hixson Dater chair. Lachezar previously served as associate principal cellist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Oji Hall in Tokyo.

Clarinetist Seunghee Lee ’92MM ’94AD followed her Grammy Award-nominated album Aspire with a new release titled Intermezzo, featuring works by contemporary Italian composer Michele Mangani. Lee is joined on the recording by the Manhattan Chamber Players and pianist Steven Beck. “Intermezzo,” Lee said, “presents a deeply personal program that reflects (my) musical journey and celebrates themes of rejuvenation and artistic rediscovery. The album shines a light on the importance of self-care, demonstrating how embracing life's pauses can inspire revitalized creativity and confidence.”

Katie Liu ’24MMA was appointed associate principal violist of the Seattle Symphony. Liu has competed in such major viola competitions such as the Primrose Competition and the Hindemith International Viola Competition and previously served as principal violist of the American Youth Symphony and section violist of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

Vocalist and composer Thomas Lloyd ’78MAR ’79MM received the 2024 Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence from the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. The lifetime-achievement award was named for the founder of the Singing City Choir in Philadelphia. Lloyd serves as canon for music and the arts at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, artistic director of the Bucks County Choral Society, and emeritus professor of music at Haverford College.

Baritone Dean Murphy ’17MM will make his Royal Danish Opera debut in the title role in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia in February and his Teatro la Fenice debut as Der junge Herr in Weill’s Der Protagonist in May.

Composer Tim Olsen ’88MM ’89MMA ’95DMA released Obsidian, a recording by the Tim Olsen Big Band, featuring nine original works and one arrangement. Olsen serves as professor of music at Union College in Schenectady, NY, where he teaches courses in music theory, jazz improvisation, and music cultures of the African diaspora. He also directs the Union College Jazz Ensemble.

Andy Park ’24BS ’25MM won third prize at the prestigious Primrose International Viola Competition in Los Angeles.

Emily Rekrut-Pressey ’23MM ’24MMA earned a position in the viola section of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Cellist Rhonda Rider ’80MM released an album on Ravello Records called The Petrified Forest Project. Inspired by the American Southwest, the recording features music for cello by Raven Chacon, Ian Gottlieb ’15MM, Laurie San Martin, Eric Moe, Kurt Rohde, and Mischa Salkind-Pearl.

Ian Rosenbaum ’10MM ’11AD was named associate professor of percussion at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University.

Braydon Ross ’25MM won First Prize in the University Division at the 2024 International Horn Competition of America. He also performed at the 2024 International Horn Symposium alongside horn players Gretchen Berendt ’25MM, Oved Rico ’25MM, and William Sands ’24MM ’25MMA.

Cellist Inbal Segev ’93CERT will join the American Composers Orchestra in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall for the New York premiere of Ukrainian composer Victoria Vita Polevá’s The Bell. Segev premiered the piece in 2023 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, which co-commissioned the piece along with the London Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra.

Lucas Wong ’06MM ’07MMA ’12DMA was named lecturer in piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Percussionist Michael Yeung ’22MM ’23MMA ’24AD will make his Carnegie Hall debut on Oct. 17 in a recital featuring music by Debussy, Piazzolla, and Messiaen that he has arranged for marimba and vibraphone, and works by Xenakis, Georges Aperghis, and James Wood.

A book by percussionist Kevin Zetina ’20MM ’21MMA titled Polyrhythms Through Pop Music was published by Liquidrum. The book features seven snare drum solos, each of which is scored for performance with a different song from the pop music idiom. The music ranges in style from hip-hop to mathcore, djent, and microtonal EDM.

These news updates feature current students and alums. Submit your news by Nov. 1 to be included in the next YSM Alums and Student News roundup.