²ÊÃñ±¦µä

During the holidays, no matter how you celebrate or what your beliefs, music is almost always an important part of the celebration, according to Thomas Riis, a musicologist and director of the American Music Research Center in the University of Colorado at Boulder’s College of Music.

Sophomore flute performance major Sasha Haft has been named one of 4 finalists for piccolo for the 2011 YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

On Thursday, December 2nd, CU Jazz Ensemble I took part in the first St. Vrain Jazz Festival. Seven high schools from the St. Vrain school district took part in the festival, which is in its inaugural year. The following high schools participated: Niwot, Erie, Frederick, Longmont, Silver Creek, Mead and Lyons. Niwot had two bands participate!

Macky Auditorium, one of the College of Music’s premiere performance venues, has just launched a new interactive website, macky.colorado.edu! There you can find many new features that will help to enhance your visit to Macky including:

College of Music graduate students John Lindsey and Nicole Vogel have been invited to perform a scene fromCarmen at the National Opera Association National Convention in San Antonio, Texas on January 6. Together with music director Christopher Zemliauskas, this scene will also be performed on the opera scenes program Tuesday, December 7 in the Music Theatre.

Hsing-ay Hsu, director of Pendulum New Music, just released her new CD, Barber Centennial. This album features Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata and his Piano Concerto (which won him a Pultizer Prize), recorded in Moscow with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. Samuel Barber is one of the most lyrical and poetic 20th century composers.

Peter Cooper, oboe, Brook Ferguson, flute, Yoshiyuki Ishikawa, bassoon, and Bill Douglas, piano perform Bill Douglas’ ‘Cantilena’ from Quartet for Flute, Oboe Bassoon and Piano (2010). This video was recorded live, September 7 2010 at the Faculty Tuesday Series in Grusin Music Hall at the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Music.

Colten Crandell, trumpet; Isaac Friedman, trumpet; Virginia Arnette, horn; Mary Mixter, trombone, and Eric Hom, tuba perform Mary Mixter’s composition Chorale for Brass Quintet October 27, 2010 in Grusin Music Hall on the Pendulum New Music Series.

On Wednesday, November 3, 2010, the 49th Annual Madrigal Festival took place at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Congratulations to the following CU student performers and their teachers for winning the following awards at the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) state competition. The competition is open to anyone in the State of Colorado and winners will advance to the Division Competition in January in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.