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“While there’s no playbook for the unprecedented and the unknowable, by channeling collective despair into collective creativity, we become artistic entrepreneurs, contributing to society in impactful ways.” In this year-end reflection on triumphs over turmoils, Dean Davis offers his perspective on music as essential to human betterment.

In a delayed celebration of the College of Music’s 100th anniversary, the CU Symphony Orchestra will perform a specially commissioned work by renowned composer Christopher Theofanidis. “The one thing you can do is create something that represents you—a musical poem that you leave behind for others to enjoy and perform,” says the Grammy-nominated composer whose “On the Bridge of the Eternal” will debut in Macky Auditorium on April 26.

To support our students’ and our community’s musical development, the College of Music offers summer session courses and richly varied summer programming.

Recent alumnus Kaleb Chesnic has already made his mark on flute repertoire by transcribing all three of Edvard Grieg’s violin sonatas. He shared with us how his debut recording with collaborative pianist and alumna Nathália Kato came to be.

In this edition of our monthly Dean’s Downbeat, John Davis reflects on our students’ successes, introduces new violin faculty—welcome, Alex Gonzalez!—and celebrates Susan Thomas’ BFA Excellence Award. Transcending pandemic burnout, “our faculty offer anchorage through their teaching excellence, and their wonderfully consistent artistic achievements as performers, composers and researchers,” he writes.  

“Even as we bear witness to loss and unknowable challenges with compassion and care, I see us rebounding with resilience again and again—undeterred in our shared quest for excellence, dogged in our pursuit to inform and influence what it means to be a successful, fulfilled creative artist in an increasingly diverse and interdisciplinary musical landscape.”

As part of a weekend honoring diverse women composers, join us for a full orchestration of “Seven Miniatures for Piano” comprising seven standalone pieces—each of which reveals different facets of Florence Price’s creative personality. CU Boulder student and alumni composers completed the orchestrations.

Discovering and playing the music of composers who have been historically marginalized is a wonderful educational experience for all students, regardless of gender or ethnicity, says Professor of Piano Pedagogy Alejandro Cremaschi.

Assistant Professor of Composition and Pendulum New Music Director Annika Socolofsky discusses her recent incentive prize and how she perceives her role as a composer, performer and educator.

As 2021 comes to a close and I reflect on my first year as Dean, I’m filled with gratitude for our College of Music family and all we’ve accomplished in a new and evolving hybrid learning environment. I’m especially proud of our progress to ensure an increasingly welcoming spirit within our beautifully expanded Imig Music Building.