Motifs

Motifs: May 2025 (Motifs 628134)

melissa.birdsey — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:14:52 +0000

Motifs: May 2025 (Motifs 628134) melissa.birdsey Fri, 05/16/2025 - 10:14 Motifs: May 2025May 21, 2025

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Lawrence Starr (IAC/NMC 59-65) retired from the University of Pennsylvania, where he had taught and directed two master’s programs in organizational dynamics. Starr was then recruited to Thomas Jefferson University, where he designed, taught in, and directed two doctoral programs in leadership. Having retired from Thomas Jefferson University, Starr is now Director of Applied Research at Iacocca Institute of Lehigh University.

Karen Couf Cohen, APR, (IAC/NMC 72-74), owner of Karen Couf Cohen Public Relations, based in Franklin, Michigan, has successfully completed the Examination for Accreditation in Public Relations, which entitles her the APR professional designation. The announcement was made by the Universal Accreditation Board, a consortium of nine professional communication organizations.

Adam Levin (IAC/NMC 77, UNIV 78) has been President of the Long Island Composers Alliance since January 2024. Learn more about his work on his website or LinkedIn profile.

Alfred Martin, Jr. (IAA 91-92) has been appointed Chair of the Department of Cinematic Arts at University of Miami and will release his second book, Fandom for Us, by Us: The Pleasures and Practices of Black Audiences, in April 2025.

Paula Dreyer (IAA 92-94) is a pianist based in central Oregon. Dreyer performs concerts in natural settings—such as the slopes of Mount Bachelor, on the shores of Suttle Lake, or in a lava cave at Juniper Preserve. These unique concerts utilize wireless headphones and invite audiences to explore the surrounding area while Dreyer performs. Learn more about her work.

Dana Olkkonen (IAC 94-96, 98-01; IAA 01-03) was named Head of Studio for the Emmy Award-winning Vox Media Studios. In her new role, Olkkonen oversees the television and film business for the entire Vox Media publishing portfolio. Olkkonen joined Vox Media Studios in 2017 as VP of development and led the entertainment division’s Los Angeles-based development team, most recently serving as VP of TV & Film.

Adam Orford (IAA 97-98, IAC St 99) has started a new job as associate professor of law at Fordham University School of Law in New York City. He focuses on climate change, clean energy, and environmental sustainability.

Cameron Martin (IAA 97-00) has been working on the heARTs healing eARTh project for over ten years. The project includes a series of children’s books; the first, Everyone is Different pART 1, will be available on Amazon soon. A portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the Children’s Heart Foundation.

Stanford Thompson (IAC 00-03, IAC St 05-06, 08) was featured on a 60 Minutes segment on March 16, 2025. Thompson is the executive director of the Chicago-based nonprofit Equity Arc, which seeks to create a level playing field for BIPOC classical musicians in the United States.

Silvae Mercedes (IAA 01-02) will appear as Audrey in Shakespeare’s As You Like It in her first season as a member of the Birmingham Actors Conservatory at the Stratford Theatre Festival of Canada. Mercedes was first introduced to the Stratford Theatre Festival during her time at Interlochen Arts Academy, when Alexander Technique coach Kelly McEvenue assisted the graduating class with university audition preparations.

Rad Pereira (IAC 03, IAA 05-08, IAC St 08)—formerly known as Rebeca Rad—will be playing Chesky in Becoming Eve at New York Theater Workshop. They are also on the co-leadership team at Network of Ensemble Theaters, building solidarity economy systems for artists.

Shelby Acosta (IAA 08-11) is currently starring as Prima Flaca in the Broadway musical Real Women Have Curves.

Jay Julio (IAC 12, IAA 12-14) plays violin and viola for the national tour of Hamilton. Julio recently spoke with Interlochen Public Radio about performing on the Broadway tour.

Whan Ri-Ahn (Seong-Hwan Lee - IAA 12-15) is excited to return to the U.S. for the first time since graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2015 for the world premiere of his orchestra piece with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in June. He is also composing a piece for the London Symphony Orchestra.

Peter DiMaggio (IAC 18, IAA 19) is currently in the process of starting an indie record label, Passeri Records. Founded and run by artists, Passeri Records operates under an equitable business model in which artists retain ownership and creative control over their music. DiMaggio’s forthcoming debut album will serve as proof of concept for the label.

Motifs: March 2025 (Motifs 627574)

melissa.birdsey — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 14:07:43 +0000

Motifs: March 2025 (Motifs 627574) melissa.birdsey Tue, 03/11/2025 - 10:07 Motifs: March 2025March 12, 2025

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Sondra (Raines) Brooks (IAA 74-77) released her memoir, Not Good Enough Girl: A Memoir of an Inconvenient Daughter, on March 4, 2025. The book is distributed by Simon & Schuster and is available at all major outlets.

Jim Stephenson (IAC/NMC 79-84, 86; IAA 83-86; IAC Fac 04; AS Fac 08) composed the score for the Joffrey Ballet’s production of The Princess and the Pea, which ran Feb. 20 through March 2. The Texas Christian University Wind Symphony will premiere Stephenson’s Symphony No. 5 on March 28 as part of the College Band Directors National Association National Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Howard Lovy (IAC St 84-85) wrote the novel, Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story, which will be released through Vine Leaves Press on April 29. Set partly at Interlochen in 1985 and 2025, it follows young musicians Jake Rosner and Caitlin Doyle, whose summer romance ends abruptly. Forty years later, their old song goes viral, forcing them to reunite. The novel explores music, aging, and second chances.

Marshall Gilkes (IAC 94, IAA 95-96) was named Associate Professor of Jazz Trombone at Eastman School of Music.

Mezzo-soprano Cayenne Teeter (IAA 19-20) was recognized as one of four winners in the St. Louis District of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Teeter appeared with the Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center in 2023 and 2024 and will join the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Artist Program in the summer of 2025.

Motifs: January/February 2025 (Motifs 627437)

melissa.birdsey — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 17:21:56 +0000

Motifs: January/February 2025 (Motifs 627437) melissa.birdsey Mon, 02/10/2025 - 12:21 Motifs: January/February 2025February 12, 2025

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Liz Lerman (IAC/NMC 60-62) was honored as a Dance Magazine Award winner on Dec. 2, 2024. An acclaimed choreographer, performer, writer, educator, and speaker, Lerman currently serves as a Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts professor at Arizona State University.

David Glass (IAC/NMC 65-66, IAA 65-67, IAC St 69) has been studying The Urantia Book (published 1955) for over five decades and has helped organize Urantia conferences at local, regional, national, and international levels. In 2024, he accepted membership on the Education Committee of Urantia Fellowship. He writes articles and poetry and has facilitated an online study program for Urantia Book readers since 2021.

Wes Horner (IAA 69-72) composed Three Songs for Baritone and Orchestra, which was premiered by the Oberlin Sinfonietta and soloist Timothy LeFebvre on May 2, 2024. Former Interlochen faculty member Timothy Weiss (IAA Fac 90-92; IAC Fac 91-94, 98) conducted the performance.

In October, publisher Dr. Marti (Homeyer) Thomas (IAC/NMC 82-83, IAA 87-89) released the book Guardians of the Vote: History, Heroes, and the Legacy of Voting Rights—1960s v. Today. The book includes a forward written by Tavis Smiley, a national TV host and Black community advocate. The book was awarded Amazon’s #1 release in four categories.

Brit Washburn (IAA 89-93, IAC St 92-93) will release a new collection of poems, What is Given, through Wet Cement Press on April 15. The collection, which is composed of poems written over the past five years, is currently available for pre-order through the publisher’s website.

Dr. Brett Griffiths (IAA 90-91) co-edited Two-Year College Writing Studies: Rationale and Praxis for Just Teaching, a comprehensive overview of the two-year college writing teaching experience. The book was awarded both the MLA Mina P. Shaughnessy Award and the 2025 CCCC Book Award for Best Edited Collection.

Julia Christensen (IAA 93-94) is one of the artist-investigators featured in Remote Sensing in the Field, an exhibition at the Center for Land Use Interpretation’s Desert Research Center that is part of Getty PST: Art and Science Collide. In addition to a recent iteration of her singing antenna-tree, Christensen will present a new work: A series of six videos that illustrates the behavior of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.

Megan Sesma (IAC 97) was recently named to Cohort 7 of Sphinx LEAD, a two-year leadership program designed to evolve the arts landscape by empowering the next generation of executive arts leaders and addressing systemic obstacles within Black and Latino communities. Sesma is Principal Harpist with the U.S. Coast Guard Band and adjunct harp faculty at the University of Connecticut, Connecticut College, and Wesleyan University.

Keelan Whitmore (IAA 98-99, IAC St 99) was selected as one of the winners of the Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works Choreographic Competition. As one of the competition’s winners, Whitmore will choreograph an original work for Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet Conservatory, Trainees, and Joffrey Studio Company. The Winning Works will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's Edlis Neeson Theater in March.

Gary Schultz (IAA 98-00, IAC St 01)—also known as JuniperFoam—is a film, video, and music artist and teacher based in Berlin. He is currently the Programme Lead for the Music and Sound Design for Visual Media course of study at Catalyst Institute of Creative Arts and Technology.

Maya Erskine (IAC 98, 02) was nominated for the 2025 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series - Drama for her portrayal of Jane Smith in the Amazon Prime series Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Kit Williamson (IAA 02-04) is a director and writer for the new series Unconventional, which premiered on streaming service Revry on Feb. 11, 2025. Williamson also stars in the series as Noah.

Rachel C. Allen (IAA 04-05) was recently appointed curator of modern and contemporary art at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington. Allen, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Delaware, began her new role on Nov. 1, 2024.

Neal Gupta (IAA 09-11) is the Associate Director of Good Night, and Good Luck, a new play starring and co-written by George Clooney. The play will premiere on Broadway in March 2025.

Alyssa Katahara (IAC 11, 13; IAA 13-14) was appointed principal harp of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2024-25 season.

Sav Buist (IAA 12-13) and Katie Larson (IAC 05, 08-12; IAA 12-14) performed with country artist Lainey Wilson at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards on Nov. 20, 2024. Buist and Larson, who co-founded the indie rock group The Accidentals, were part of the string section for Wilson’s live performance of “4X4XU.”

Shane Bagwell (IAA 15-17) served as director of photography for “Swollen,” a short film by screenwriter and director Roxy Sophie Sorkin. The film was one of just 57 shorts selected from more than 11,000 submissions to screen at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Claud (IAA 16-17) was a special guest at the Ally Coalition’s 10th annual Talent Show. During the show, Claud performed their new song “You Sure Know How To Make Me” and joined Rick Antonoff—the father of legendary singer-songwriter Jack Antonoff—for a duet of “Soft Spot.” Claud also shared how they met and studied with Ally Coalition co-founder and Grammy Award winner Andrew Dost (IAC Fac 21-22, IAA Fac 21-23) while at Interlochen Arts Academy.

Andrew Burhans (IAC 19, IAA 19-21) joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as associate principal horn at the beginning of the 2024-25 season.

Sonya Moomaw (IAC 22) won second place in the Junior Division of the 28th Annual Sphinx Competition.

Elaina Stuppler (IO 22) was selected as a 2025 YoungArts Winner with Distinction for Voice/Singer-Songwriter. Stuppler, who studied conducting with Dr. Matthew Schlomer via Interlochen Online during the summer of 2022, joined 34 other Interlochen alumni and 13 current Arts Academy students as winners in the prestigious national award program.

Motifs: November 2024 (Motifs 627216)

melissa.birdsey — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 16:06:43 +0000

Motifs: November 2024 (Motifs 627216) melissa.birdsey Tue, 10/29/2024 - 12:06 Motifs: November 2024November 13, 2024

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Martha Smith (UNIV 56, IAC St 56) was a University of Michigan graduate student in the summer of 1956, when she was able to take elective hours at Interlochen due to the Interlochen Arts Camp-University of Michigan connection. Smith was also hired for Camp jobs—which gave a then-financially poor new music teacher room and board for eight weeks, plus those credit hours. Among other things, Smith worked in women’s uniforms and sat the phone at the faculty hideout below Kresge. She had listened to Interlochen concerts via WJR-Detroit since she was a child, so it was a thrill to be on campus. Since moving to Central Michigan University, she has returned to Interlochen’s campus for shows and concerts three-plus times per summer for 68 years. Anyone else reading who was at Interlochen in 1956?

Stephanie Sheppard (IAA 62-65) recently unveiled a new photo mural, selected by the New York State Thruway Authority for display in the Iroquois Service Area near her hometown of Little Falls, New York. The stunning image of the South William Street Bridge in Little Falls, taken in 2019, is Sheppard’s third public installation, following a multi-billboard installation in Los Angeles with Project Nightlight and a ten-photo series for the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Cultural Affairs exhibited in the Southwest Airlines terminal at LAX.

Ken Giles (IAC/NMC 63-65, IAA 63-67) has taught violin and viola at the DC Youth Orchestra Program for more than 10 years, including all types of music: classics, fiddle tunes, and civil rights songs. He teaches music history. His students play “We Shall Overcome” and understand the importance of the civil rights movement.

Arega Ali (IAC/NMC 66, IAA 66-67, IAC St 67, 73, 76) has retired after 28 years of teaching music in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Anne Wharton (IAA 74-75) recently retired from a career in engineering, working in aerospace and mobile phone infrastructure as a communications engineer. During the latter part of her career she worked on spacecraft, last working on communications for NASA’s Lunar Gateway on the Artemis program. She has always continued to play the flute and perform, and still plays in orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Monique Mead (IAC/NMC 83) is an Associate Teaching Professor, Director of Music Entrepreneurship, and Chair of Music Education, Entrepreneurship, and Musicianship Division at Carnegie Mellon University. She was interviewed recently in NEXTpittsburgh about expanding her repertoire by creating a unique sound bath experience to support the mental health of everyone from teens to seniors. The aural meditation experience prompts the listener to access deep levels of relaxation.

Ranardo-Domeico Grays (AS 88, IAC/NMC 89, IAA 89-90) choreographed For Love’s Sake, four heartfelt works that embrace the power of love. For Love’s Sake will be performed by VISIONS Contemporary Ballet—an ethnically diverse company celebrating contemporary dance rooted in the Black experience—at the Riverside Theater in New York City from Nov. 15-17, 2024. Grays founded VISIONS Contemporary Ballet and serves as its artistic director.

In May, Nicholas Phan (AS 93-94, IAC 95-96) released A Change Is Gonna Come, an album celebrating song as a form of protest with Palaver Strings, a Portland, Maine-based string ensemble dedicated to creating social change through music. In August, Deutsche Grammophon released Phan’s recording of Kaija Sariaaho's opera Adriana Mater with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony.

Pianist and composer Aaron Diehl (IAC 99-00) was the special guest on the Oct. 15 episode of the Speaking Soundly podcast, which is hosted by Metropolitan Opera Principal Trumpet and fellow Arts Camp alumnus David Krauss (IAC/NMC 86-87). During the episode, Diehl shared his childhood musical influences, his musical journey, and how meeting Eldar Djangirov (IAC 98-01) at Interlochen Arts Camp was a turning point in his musicianship.

Kristen Martin (IAC 96, 98-99, IAA 00-01) and Sarah Killough (IAA 04-06) were recently announced as members of the new Broadway cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Martin, who plays the principal role of Delphini Diggory, and Killough, who portrays Ginny Potter, joined the Tony Award-winning play on Nov. 12.

Holly Weis (IAC 99-01) commissioned and is producing a new musical based on A Chorus Line composer Marvin Hamlisch’s autobiographical children’s book Marvin Makes Music. The work received an industry reading at Ripley Grier Studios in New York City on Sept. 26 under the direction of Scott Weinstein. Beyond her work with the musical, Weis continues to practice as an ophthalmologist in Chicago, Illinois.

RJ Magee (IAC 02-05, IAA 06-08) is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. His teaching load includes all levels of Acting and MT History, as well as the mentoring of undergraduate student directors. Next semester, he will be directing an adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, with performances taking place in February 2025.

Michael Thurber (IAA 03-05, IAC St 05-06) was an artist-in-residence at the University of Wyoming from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1. During his residency, Thurber presented a public keynote talk titled “Unlocking Creativity” and gave two performances with other acclaimed visiting artists.

Lily Honigberg (IAC 08-09, IAA 10-14) is a professional violinist based in Los Angeles. Honigberg has written string parts for artists such as Shaboozey, FINNEAS, Ty Dolla $ign, Bebe Rexha, and more, and is currently touring with Dasha. She also frequently collaborates with former Arts Academy classmate Lauren Jones (IAC 12, IAA 12-14, IAC Fac 18-19); Honigberg recently joined Jones’ trio, Trousdale, for a performance of their hit song “Point Your Finger.”

Juan Riveros (IAC 15, IAA 15-17) was recently appointed to Michigan State University’s Strings Area Faculty as Instructor of Harp. He also maintains a private studio of harp students and serves as the Diversity Coordinator for the American Harp Society.

Four Interlochen alumni were selected as semifinalists in the 28th annual Sphinx Competition. Cellist Miquel Fuentes (IAC 15, IAA 15-17) is a semifinalist in the Senior Division and will compete for the $50,000 Robert Frederick Smith Prize. Violinist Cyrano Jett Rosentrater (IAC 20), cellist Sonya Moomaw (IAC 22), and violinist Sydney Li-Jenkins (IAC 19) will compete for the $10,000 Junior Division prize. The finals concerts for both age divisions will take place in January 2025. Founded by fellow Interlochen alumnus Aaron Dworkin (IAA 86-88), the Sphinx Competition is a national competition for string musicians that transforms lives by celebrating artistic talent, providing career advancement opportunities, and addressing systemic obstacles within Black and Latino communities.

Motifs: September 2024 (Motifs 627056)

melissa.birdsey — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 17:54:27 +0000

Motifs: September 2024 (Motifs 627056) melissa.birdsey Wed, 09/04/2024 - 13:54 Motifs: September 2024September 11, 2024

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Phyllis Gold Berenson (IAC/NMC 53-56, 58; UNIV 59), Director of Ukraine Research, was recently honored as Volunteer of the Year by JewishGen.org. The Ukraine records project has transcribed 2.8 million genealogical records in the past two years. As Director, she works to further the organization's mission to acquire, preserve, transcribe, and provide cost-free access to Jewish genealogical records.

Laurie Anderson (IAC/NMC 62-63) released her latest album, Amelia, on Aug. 30, 2024. The hybrid genre album traces American pilot Amelia Earhart’s doomed final flight.

William “Bill” Bing (IAC/NMC 63, IAA 63-65) retired from playing trumpet professionally a few years ago. His career in Los Angeles included positions with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Bing also taught trumpet at several universities and served as Director of Bands at California Institute of Technology.

Duane Cadotte (AS 64) is a Vietnam veteran and Bronze Star recipient, having served in the Army from 1971-1974. Cadotte graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1980 as a music minor, and has continued to play his euphonium since 1974 in his church orchestra. He has also performed with the Annie Moses Band at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

Sheryl Szady (IAC St 71-79; IAA St 75-76; IAA Fac 76-82, 83-84; IAC Fac 80-84) was honored as one of advertising agency 6’s 100 Under 100 Exceptional Women in recognition of her advocacy for women in sports at the University of Michigan.

Vincent Covello (AS 85) released his latest album, Torchlights, on Aug. 2, 2024.

Garth Greenwell (IAA 94-96) released his third novel, Small Rain, through Farrar, Straus and Giroux on Sept. 3, 2024. The book was named one of TIME’s 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024; Greenwell was also recently profiled in Vulture ahead of the book’s release.

Jonathan Lombardo (IAC 95; IAA 96-00; IAC Fac 14-19, 21-24; IAA Fac 16) was recently appointed Lecturer of Music (Trombone) at State University of New York at Fredonia. Lombardo previously held the position in an interim capacity during the 2023-24 academic year. He has served as the principal trombonist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005.

Anne-Marie Oomen (IAA Fac 97-14) received the Michigan Author Award from the Library of Michigan during an event on Sept. 7, 2024. Oomen has penned several Michigan Notable Book selections, including Pulling Down the Barn, House of Fields, The Lake Michigan Mermaid, ELEMENTAL: A Collection of Michigan Nonfiction, and As Long as I Know You: The Mom Book. Her most recent work, The Long Fields: Essays of Comfort and Home, was released in June 2023.

Los Angeles-based jazz trumpeter, composer, and producer Dan Rosenboom (IAC 99, IAA 99-00) and his Polarity Quintet performed at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on Aug. 15. A full multi-camera concert film is available on the museum’s Hammer Channel website. Rosenboom is known as a prolific member of the Los Angeles creative music scene, having released more than 25 albums of original music as a solo artist and bandleader, and has supported over 60 artists across over 100 releases on his label, Orenda Records.

Michael Arden (IAC 99, IAA 99-01, IAC St 01) will be honored with a Muse Award during Prospect Musicals’ 25th Anniversary Gala on Sept. 30, 2024. The event will be co-hosted by acclaimed theatre artists Jay Armstrong Johnson and Jaygee Macapugay.

Farkhad Khudyev (IAC 01, IAA 01-04, IAC St 03-05) is one of five finalists for the position of music director with the Eugene Symphony. As part of the selection process, Khudyev will conduct the symphony in its Nov. 21 performance, which will feature Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

Kara Huber (IAA 04-06, IAC St 06, IAC Fac 22-24, IAA Fac 22-) released an album of the complete solo piano works of Joan Tower. The recording presents the iconic American composer in a uniquely intimate setting and was recorded on campus by Michael Culler and produced by Mark Travis.

Kelly Campbell (IAA 05-06) is the producer of The Wake, a new short film from John Patrick Shanley starring Nicole Byer, PJ Adzima, and Dave Coleman. The film will premiere at the SoHo Film Festival on Tuesday, Sept. 17. Campbell would like to invite all Interlochen alumni to attend the premiere, as well as the pre-performance networking hour and post-show Q&A with Shanley.

Torsten Johnson (IAA 05-08, IAC St 13) is currently touring with the Tony Award-winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The show will run at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago through February before moving on to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Emily Koch (IAC 06-07, IAA 07-09) will appear as Debra in the national tour of Kimberly Akimbo, which kicked off this month.

Dr. Sergio Muñoz Leiva (IAC 09, IAA 09-10) was appointed as Director of Chamber Music at College of the Holy Cross starting Fall 2024; he had served in the same role in an interim capacity since Fall 2022. Also since Fall 2022, Muñoz Leiva has served as Music Theory Instructor at Project STEP, a nonprofit organization that provides young string players from historically underrepresented groups in classical music with comprehensive music instruction. Muñoz Leiva performs as a freelancer on both modern and baroque viola with orchestral and chamber ensembles in Boston and New England.

Marike de Koker (IAA 14-17) received her master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Impact Entrepreneurship from The New School, where she was awarded the Alsop Entrepreneurship Award. On Sept. 15, de Koker will partner with the Àkójọpọ̀ Music Foundation to launch a nonprofit e-commerce marketplace for Pan-African art music. The site, akojopo.com, will offer digital sheet music and interpretive resources; lessons and workshops; a Pan-African art music blog; and community directories. Through the site, de Koker hopes to build a digital platform that will put Pan-African music in the spotlight.

Bowen Ha (IAA 17-19) will join the San Francisco Symphony as fourth chair bass this September. Ha’s first program with the symphony, “Music from Studio Ghibli,” runs Sept. 5-8.

Jonah Cohen (IAC 19, IAA 20-22) received a 2024 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award in recognition of his leadership of the Nowbeat Project. The Nowbeat Project, which Cohen founded while at Interlochen, offers young composers from around the world opportunities for mentorship, networking, and performance through virtual showcase concerts on YouTube. Since the project launched, the project has recorded 180 minutes of new music by student composers from 17 U.S. states and five countries.

Oren Safdie (IAA Fac 21-22, IAA Parent) will release his film The Man Who Saved the Internet with a Sunflower next year. The drama recently won the Best of Show at IndieFest and the Audience Best Feature at LA's Dances with Films Festival. Another of Safdie’s films, Lunch Hour, is currently in production. Safdie’s play Survival of the Unfit made its North American premiere at the Great Barrington Public Theatre this summer; it will move to New York City next year. His one-man show Beyond Ken Dryden was nominated for Best Production at the St. Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival, and will open in Toronto next May.

Motifs: July 2024 (Motifs 626630)

melissa.birdsey — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 15:56:28 +0000

Motifs: July 2024 (Motifs 626630) melissa.birdsey Wed, 07/10/2024 - 11:56 Motifs: July 2024July 24, 2024

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Annie Fullard (IAC/NMC 76, IAC Fac 16-17) was recently announced as the incoming Director of Chamber Music at The Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University. A violinist and founding member of the Cavani Quartet, Fullard will join the Peabody faculty in Fall 2024.

Phyllis Weliver (IAC/NMC 76-77, 79-86; IAA 82-86; IAC St 86-89, 91-92, 94-96, 98-00; ICA St 92-94), a professor at Saint Louis University, will be a Macgeorge Fellow at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and, jointly, a 2024 Sugden Fellow at Queen's College, University of Melbourne, Australia. As historical consultant for Zadie Smith's The Fraud (2023), Weliver recently enjoyed a rare opportunity for a researcher to support the authenticity of a modern novel.

Dermot Mulroney (IAC/NMC 79) and Jackson Rathbone (IAA 01-03) will star in Phil Blattenberger’s forthcoming crime thriller Laws of Man.

Lilly Schwartz (IAA 82-84, IAC St 89) recently joined the Presidio Theatre as executive and artistic director. Schwartz comes to Presidio after more than 10 years as the artistic director of SFJAZZ.

Michael Arden (IAC 99, IAA 99-01, IAC St 01) will direct the Broadway premiere of the new musical Maybe Happy Ending at the Belasco Theatre this fall. The musical—which features music by Will Aronson, lyrics by Hue Park, and a book by both Aronson and Park—will star Emmy Award-winning actor Darren Criss and Helen J Shen. Dane Laffrey (IAA 99-01, IAC St 01) will design the set and additional video.

César Alvarez (IAA 97-99) recently released their debut album, egg. Alvarez, who currently serves as assistant professor of music at Dartmouth College, performed songs from the album at Joe’s Pub in New York City on May 25, 2024.

Obadiah Baker (IAC 98, IAA 99-01) won the Great Lakes Emmy Award for Best Musical Composition/Arrangement for the PBS documentary The Shadow Between Us. The film received four total nominations and received two awards. Baker recently graduated from Drexel University with an Ed.D. in Leadership and Management with a concentration in Creativity and Innovation.

Alexis Michelle (IAC 97-00, IAA 00-02) starred as Albin in a production of La Cage aux Folles at Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires.

Keitaro Harada (IAA 02-04, IAC 03) was recently appointed director of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Harada will act as the Music and Artistic Director Designate during the 2024-25 season before taking the helm in 2025. Harada joins three fellow Arts Camp and Arts Academy alumni—violinists Kristin Greenlaw-Gibson (IAA 87-89, IAC St 90-91) and William Manley (IAA 86-90) and tubist Timothy Northcut (IAC/NMC 78)—who are musicians in the orchestra.

Austin Stewart (IAA 02-05) will join the Aspen Music Festival and School as the next vice president for advancement. Dr. Stewart will join the senior management and work closely with that team, President & CEO Alan Fletcher, and the Board of Trustees on strategic planning, operations, and oversight of philanthropic programs to advance the goals of the AMFS.

Mikio Sasaki (IAC 05, 07-08) joined the Grammy Award-nominated Canadian Brass in June. Sasaki first met fellow quintet members Chuck Daellenbach, Joe Burgstaller, and Jeff Nelsen at Interlochen Arts Camp in the summer of 2008.

Jack Schwimmer (IAC 07-08, IAC St 10-12, ICA St 15-19) was recently appointed Development Director of Rosie’s House, a free afterschool music program based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Noah Ricketts (IAA 09-10, IAC St 10) is currently starring as Nick Carraway in the Broadway production of The Great Gatsby.

Sunny (Wenxin) Liu (IAA 09-11) directed the documentary film Pianoman, which made its debut at the Atlanta Film Festival. The film follows an undocumented Mexican immigrant as he strives to achieve his dream of establishing a piano factory in Yonkers, New York. Fellow alumna Moni Guo (IAA 10-12) served as composer and music supervisor for the film. Trevor Misplay (IAC 07-08, IAA 08-12) and Gaga Won (IAC 10-11, IAA 10-12) also contributed.

Samuel Hollister (IAC 10-13, IAC St 16-17) was named the Assistant Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony under Music Director Stéphane Denève starting in September 2024. He will also be The Fred M. Saigh Youth Orchestra Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Hollister was recommended by conductors Marin Alsop and Leonard Slatkin and chosen over three other candidates invited to audition following an international search.

Sav Buist (IAA 12-13) and Katie Larson (IAC 05, 08-12; IAA 12-14)—known professionally as The Accidentals—and Joshua Davis (IAA Fac 18-24; IAC Fac 20, 22-23) headlined the closing night of the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City on July 6, 2024.

Ada Brooks (IAA 13-15) recently won a euphonium position with the West Point Band. Brooks’ journey from audition to boot camp to first concert was chronicled in a New York Times feature written by Sarah Diamond.

Tianlu “Jerry” Xu (IAA 13-16) recently won a cello position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Nathaniel Heyder (IAA 14-17) has been selected as one of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music’s 15 composers-in-residence. Cristian Mӑcelaru (IAA 97-99, IAC 98) and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra will rehearse Heyder’s short piece unbound: Phase 1 and present the work’s world premiere as part of the Festival’s Aug. 3 program.

Jessie Thoman (IAC Fac 15, 17) was recently appointed the inaugural associate dean of the Division of Performing Arts at Alfred University. Thoman previously served as Professor of Music at the University of Tennessee.

Vocalists Daniel Voigt (IAA 17-21), Neenah Fuste (IO 20, IAA 20-22), and Briggs Williamson (IAA 20-24) and trumpeter Dr. Curt Christensen (IAC/NMC 78-81) will perform in Opera Night at Barns of Rose Hill in Berryville, Virginia on Friday, Aug. 23. The showcase will feature a selection of arias by renowned composers.

Aspen Jacobsen (IAA 20-22) and her co-writer, Isabella Gueck, recently won the 2024 New Moon Songwriting Challenge with their song “Pray for Love.” Current Arts Academy students Zinnia Dungjen (IAA 22-) and Audrey Mason (IAC 19, IAA 22-) were runners-up in the statewide competition for Michigan songwriting duos.

Christine Keedy Brown (IAC 21-22) was a finalist for a Silver Knight Award, an honor sponsored by the Miami Herald and the Knight Foundation that celebrates academic excellence and community service projects by south Florida high school students. Brown has also received a National Merit Scholarship to study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she intends to participate in the MIT Orchestra.

Motifs: May 2024 (Motifs 626411)

melissa.birdsey — Fri, 10 May 2024 15:33:12 +0000

Motifs: May 2024 (Motifs 626411) melissa.birdsey Fri, 05/10/2024 - 11:33 Motifs: May 2024May 10, 2024

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Conductor and trumpeter Gerard Schwarz (IAC/NMC 60-62) was recently featured on an episode of David Krauss’s (IAC/NMC 86-87) Speaking Soundly podcast. In the episode, Schwarz discusses his formative musical experiences—including his summers at Interlochen—his early musical influences, and his decision to pivot from trumpet to conducting. The episode can be streamed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or the podcast’s website.

After graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy as a tuba major, Dr. Gerald Rogan (IAA 62-64) attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and performed with the marching band at the Rose Bowl. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1972. Rogan moved to northern California and practiced as an emergency medicine and family practice physician for 23 years. He served a total of eight years as the California Medicare and Medicaid Director, and currently works as a consultant to the medical industry. Rogan is married and has two step-grandchildren. He lives in Sacramento, California and Fairfax, Virginia.

Christopher Pilafian (IAA 70-71) presented a solo one-day show of representational and abstract paintings at The Lantern House in Los Angeles, California, on April 21. Piliafian is a visual and theatre artist and Studio Professor Emeritus at the UC Santa Barbara Department of Theater and Dance.

Violinist, conductor, and professor Andrés Cárdenes (IAC/NMC 72, IAA 72-75) will retire this May after 47 years of teaching. Cárdenes has spent the past 35 years on faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, where he currently serves as the Dorothy Richard Starling & Alexander Speyer, Jr. University Professor of Violin, Director of Orchestral Studies, and Music Director of the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic.

After 38 years directing multi-camera network television, Jeffrey Kay (IAA 73-75) is now the Senior Director/Multimedia at Charter Communications. Following his planned retirement in 2025, Kay and his wife will be exploring the East Coast from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean aboard their Nordhavn trawler. Kay now has a two-year-old grandson and reports that "life is pretty good."

Arturs Weible (IAC/NMC 81-85, IAA 85-89) has been a music teacher in the Chicago Public Schools for 25 years. Weible recently connected with Chicago Civic Orchestra clarinetist Dr. Amy Hur (IAA 11-14, IAC 13), who gave a presentation and a performance for second graders at Frederic Chopin Elementary School through a partnership between the orchestra and Chicago Public Schools. Hur and Weible enjoyed talking about their Arts Academy faculty and reflecting on the ‘ripple effects’ of their instructors’ teaching through their own work in the Chicago area.

Angie Kim’s (IAA 84-87) New York Times best-selling novel Happiness Falls will be adapted as a television series by Stone Village Television and Under the Influence Production. Actor Ethan Hawke will serve as an executive producer for—and potentially star in—the series. Kim will return to Interlochen later this month to deliver the commencement address at the 62nd Interlochen Arts Academy Commencement.

Christine Smith (IAA 87-88, ICA St 93-95) recently retired from her 15-year federal government career in cybersecurity and counterterrorism. Smith received the civilian medal for Operation Enduring Freedom from Secretary Hagel and the Joint Civilian Service Award from Central Command commander GEN Austin for her assistance in improving U.S.-Pakistan relations after Usama bin Laden was killed.

Hornist Brad Gemeinhardt (IAC 94, IAA 94-96) and pianist Martha Locker premiered Kevin Newton’s Hill House during the Juilliard Pre-College Faculty Recital on April 20, 2024.

Allie X (IAA 01-03) released her third studio album, Girl With No Face, on Feb. 23, 2024. The album, which was almost entirely written and produced by Allie X, received favorable reviews from critics including Metacritic, AllMusic, and Slant Magazine.

Nathan Lutz (IAC 02-03) was recently appointed executive director of the Carmel Bach Festival. Lutz previously served as director of operations and education programs at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and was a double bass fellow for the New World Symphony.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph (IAC 03, IAC St 05) will star alongside Halle Bailey and Kelvin Harrison Jr. in Pharrell Williams’ coming-of-age movie musical. The yet-unnamed project is inspired by Williams’ childhood home in Virginia Beach and features a screenplay by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson.

Joshua McClendon’s (IAC 10-15, IAA 15-18) musical studies—including his time as a student of Crispin Campbell at Interlochen Arts Academy—were chronicled in a new book by Voncile Campbell, Joshua’s Journey to Juilliard. McClendon currently serves as the cellist of the Isidore String Quartet, which won the 2022 Banff International Quartet Competition and a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Asia Pyron (IAC 12, IAA 12-16, IAC St 16) has been selected to participate in the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Dance’s Choreographic Institute. Pyron is one of just four choreographers chosen from a pool of more than 150 applicants for the four-week summer residency program.

Levi Boylan (IAC 13-17, IAA 18-19) graduated from The Juilliard School and currently serves as the principal trombone of the New Jersey Symphony. He recently performed Ferdinand David’s Concertino for Trombone with Imperial Brass during their April 28 performance at the Montclair Salvation Army Citadel.

Majo Rivero (IAA 15-17) will co-produce and direct a performance by the International World Tour Cast of West Side Story at 54 Below on May 28, 2024.

Conor Dailey (IAC 15, 17-18; IAA 15-19; IAC St 19-23) will be completing field work at the Sagarmatha National Park and Buffer Zone in Nepal during the month of May, assessing reforestation and carbon sequestration in the region. The research is being conducted in partnership with the Himalayan Trust through Ball State University, where Dailey is currently completing graduate studies in Geology and Natural Resources.

Robin Easter (IAC 16, IAC St 18-19) recently published their debut graphic novel, Upstaged. The book, which is both written and illustrated by Easter, is set at a summer theatre camp.

Broner McCoy (IAC 18-19, IAA 18-19) has been selected as the first recipient of the Al Fisher Scholarship Grant by the Interlochen Society of Bassists.

T.G. Sparks (IAC 23) published his debut novel, which was workshopped at the Interlochen Arts Camp Novel Writing Intensive last summer, in February 2024. The Last Siren (Blue Forge Press) explores a world where the boundaries of gender, species, and love are as fluid as the sea itself.

Motifs: March 2024 (Motifs 625884)

melissa.birdsey — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 15:47:12 +0000

Motifs: March 2024 (Motifs 625884) melissa.birdsey Mon, 03/18/2024 - 11:47 Motifs: March 2024March 27, 2024

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Jonathan Newmark’s (IAC/NMC 68) flute-marimba composition, “Better on Slickrock” (2015), was performed by Polish flutist Iwona Glinka and Greek percussionist Panos Thiotis on the album Percussion+. The album, which was released on the Phasma-Music label in 2023, is the fourth CD to include Newmark’s works. Newmark was also selected for his third artist residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia.

Dr. Deborah Podolka (IAC/NMC 75-79, IAC St 08) is now the music consultant and flute teacher for the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District. She is also the owner of The Cibolo Flute studio in Cibolo, Texas.

Dara Levan (IAC/NMC 83-90, IAC St 94) made her fiction debut with It Could Be Worse (Regalo Press), which launched on March 12. The book, partially set at a music camp in Michigan, tells the inspiring story of a young mother’s awakening to the truth about her parents. Levan is a storyteller and the founder and host of Every Soul Has a Story, a podcast in which she interviews inspiring people from around the globe about their life journeys.

Jewel (IAA 90-92) will present an immersive art experience, The Portal, at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art from May 4 to July 28. The one-of-a-kind journey features a 200-piece aerial drone show, a meditative art walk, a never-before-seen painting and sculpture by Jewel, and chef-crafted dining options.

Jonathan Smucker (IAA 93-96), tenor, has won a tenured position in the San Francisco Opera Chorus beginning March 2024. Smucker has sung with the chorus since 2018, first as an extra chorister, then in the regular chorus in 2022 and 2023. In that time, he has appeared in the world premiere of John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra, the San Francisco premieres of Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego and Mason Bates’s The (r)Evolution of Steve Jobs, as well as notable productions of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. He will sing with the chorus in the U.S. premiere of Kaia Saariaho’s Innocence this June. Smucker is a lecturer in voice at San José State University, where he serves as Voice Area Co-coordinator. He has made San Francisco his home since attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Postgraduate Diploma in Voice. He is also a member of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Chorale and the American Bach Soloists Choir & Cantorei.

Bestselling author Cynthia's (Rice) Ellingsen (IAA 94-95, IAC St 95) will release her tenth novel, The Lost Letters of Aisling, on April 1. The book was selected as a March pick for the Amazon First Reads program.

Lance Horne (IAC 94-95, IAA 94-96) was featured in the recent New York Times article “Reports of Cabaret’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.” Horne currently hosts weekly Monday night sing-alongs at East Village’s Club Cumming.

Writer and Director Jordan Anderson (IAC 97-99, ICCA 16) has completed production on the feature documentary Marqueetown, which is touring 20 cities across Michigan to benefit arthouse movie theaters before premiering on PBS in the fall. The true story of a man's quest to restore the theater of his youth has also been selected to the Fresh Coast, Green Bay, Arizona International and Capital City Film Festivals, among others. The documentary features an original score by Andrew Dost (IAC Fac 21-22, IAA Fac 21-22).

Heidi Radtke (AS 99, IAA 99-00) is currently in her second year as the lecturer of saxophone at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Her debut solo album, Convergence, was released March 1, 2024 on Navona Records.

Michael Arden (IAC 99, IAA 99-01, IAC St 01) will direct the pre-Broadway run of Stephen Schwartz’s The Queen of Versailles at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre from July 16 to Aug. 18. The production, which will announce its Broadway run at a later date, stars Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth as Jacqueline Siegel.

Lora Lee Gayer (IAC 02-03, IAA 03-06, IAC St 06) will appear as Ellen Rabinowitz in a production of Daniel Goldstein and Michael Friedman’s The Unknown Soldier at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The musical will run March 29 to May 5, 2024.

Ross Baum (IAC 04-07) composed the music for the new musical Gun & Powder, which will have its pre-Broadway production at Paper Mill Playhouse in April. The musical features a book and lyrics by Angelica Chéri, and stars Ciara Renée and Liisi LaFontaine under the direction of Tony Award nominee Stevie Walker-Webb. The musical previously won the 2018 Richard Rodgers Award and premiered at Washington, D.C.'s Signature Theatre in 2020.

Katherine DeYoung (IAC 11) and Ruby Dibble (IAC 11) were selected as semifinalists in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2023-24 Laffont Competition. The two mezzo-sopranos competed in the national semifinals on the Met Opera stage on Monday, March 11.

Charlotte Shao’s (IAA 15-18) Fall/Winter 2024 runway collection, “Glacial Requiem,” was featured at Tokyo Fashion Week. The collection offers a poignant narrative of our planet’s struggle against modernity and climate change and was crafted with eco-friendly materials. Shao launched her personal brand, SISIO, in 2018.

Emma Kerkman (IAC 17) was selected as the winner of the 2024 Dell Award (formerly the Isaac Asimov Award) for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing for her story, “Lolo’s Last Run.” The award goes to the best unpublished and unsold science fiction or fantasy short story submitted by a full-time undergraduate college student. As the recipient of the Dell Award, Kerkman will receive a $500 prize, attend the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, and have her story published in an upcoming edition of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine.

Elizabeth Hanje (IAA 19-20) recently won the Houston Grand Opera's 36th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition. Hanje was selected to receive the $10,000 prize from a field of more than 900 applicants through a competitive audition process and performed live with seven other finalists in the Concert of Arias on Feb. 2.

Motifs: January 2024 (Motifs 625716)

melissa.birdsey — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 19:28:16 +0000

Motifs: January 2024 (Motifs 625716) melissa.birdsey Fri, 01/12/2024 - 14:28 Motifs: January 2024January 31, 2024

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Kay Emerick Regester (IAC/NMC 58, 61-62; IAA 62-64) remained musical—mostly voice—throughout her adulthood, during which she participated in choirs. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, then received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Ohio University. She moved to Ventura, California, where she maintained a private practice in forensic psychology. She is now semi-retired after a 40-year career. Regester has also been an avid birder for 30 years; she has practiced birding all over the U.S. and done some overseas birding. Her favorite Michigan bird is the cerulean warbler.

Cate Caplin (IAC/NMC 69-71) directed the music video for “Confide in Me” by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester.

Eric Schweikert (IAC/NMC 76-80, IAA 80-82) won a national audition to become principal timpanist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Composer Adam R. Levin (NMC 77, UNIV 78) is a member and public relations director of the Long Island Composers Alliance (New York). Levin was appointed the Alliance's president in January.

Kirsten Agresta-Copely (AS 81, 83-84) was recently nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album for her album Aquamarine. Agresta-Copely, who studied piano at Interlochen, is a New York City-based harpist and composer who has made music for heads of state, in blockbuster movie soundtracks, alongside Billboard 100 artists, and on the world’s most recognized stages.

Anthony Rapp (IAC 85-86) and his partner welcomed their second child on Nov. 25, 2023.

Marshall Gilkes (IAC 94, IAA 95-96) released his latest album, LifeSongs, on Jan. 26, 2024. The album features the WDR Big Band of Cologne, Germany.

Dustin Tucker (IAA 94-98, IAC St 09) is currently starring as Francis Henshall in the Good Theater’s (Portland, Maine) production of One Man, Two Guvnors. Tucker also recently appeared in the Golden Globe Award- and Academy Award-nominated films The Holdovers and American Fiction.

Kevin Sanders (IAC 97-98, IAA 97-98) was announced as the new dean of the Baylor University School of Music in December. Sanders will begin his new appointment on July 1, 2024.

Stoll Vaughan (IAA 97-98) will release his fifth album, Dream in Color, on Feb. 23, 2024.

Anne-Marie Oomen (IAA Fac 97-14) was selected as the recipient of the Library of Michigan’s 2023-24 Michigan Author Award. Her sixth essay collection, The Long Fields: Essays, was released by Cornerstone Press in June 2023.

Maya Erskine (IAC 98, 02) stars as Jane Smith in the Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The series, which premieres Feb. 2, reimagines the 2005 spy movie of the same name. Erskine is also writing and starring opposite Nicole Kidman on HBO’s forthcoming adaptation of the novel The Perfect Nanny.

Hannah Ross (IAC 02-04, 07) and Lia Uribe (IAC Fac 18) have been selected to participate in Sphinx LEAD as part of the program’s sixth cohort. Ross and Uribe will spend the next two years engaging in networking and mentorship opportunities and attending leadership retreats at top institutions nationwide.

Jason (Jin Suk) Yu (IAC 04, IAA 04-07) joined the Cleveland Orchestra as assistant principal second violin (the James and Donna Reid Chair) on Jan. 8, 2024. Yu previously served as a member of the New York Philharmonic violin section.

Charlotte Gruman (IAC 06-11, IAA 11-15) was one of ten Chicago-based artists selected as a 2023 3Arts Awardee. As a recipient of the award, Gruman will receive a $30,000 unrestricted grant to support her work in cultural accessibility. Gruman currently works as an accessibility consultant who creates accessible performance protocols and sensory-friendly spaces for museums, theatres, libraries, festivals, and other venues.

Betty Who (IAC 07, IAA 07-10) made her Broadway debut as Persephone in the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown in September 2023. The Australian pop artist stars opposite Tony Award nominee Phillip Boykin in Anaïs Mitchell’s jazz-infused retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Andrew Richardson (IAA 10-13) made his professional stage debut as Sky Masterson in Nicholas Hynter’s production of Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre in London, U.K. Richardson received an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination for Best Emerging Talent for his portrayal of Masterson. The production, which received the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical, runs through Aug. 31, 2024.

Kendra Sobania (IAC 10, 12-14; IAA 13-14) was selected as the recipient of The Walter and Peggy Grauman Fellowship in Classical Music. The fellowship program, which is presented by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, grants a $15,000 award to advance the career of an exceptionally talented Los Angeles-based piano or string musician as they transition from formal education to the professional music world.

Hadley Robinson (IAA 12-14) appeared in two films released during the holiday season: Anyone But You and The Boys in the Boat. Robinson appeared as Halle in Anyone But You, a romantic comedy based on Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. Fellow alumnus Dermot Mulroney (IAC/NMC 79) also appeared in the Dec. 22 release. George Clooney’s biographical sports drama The Boys in the Boat featured Robinson as Joyce Simdars.

Mary Grace Ellerbee (IAC 14, IAC St 21-23) currently serves as Associate Conductor/Keys 2 for the second national tour of Pretty Woman: The Musical. In 2022-2023, she made her national tour debut as Keys 2 on the sixth North American tour of Cats. Ellerbee also just released an EP titled “Quatre Chansons Cadiennes.” The EP, which features the first Cajun French art song ever written, is part of Ellerbee’s project Gumbo De Musique: The Cajun French Art Song Project.

Former Arts Academy roommates Jillian Michelle Smith (IAC 15, 17; IAA 18-19) and Florence Bannigan (IAA 18-20) imagined a Barbie-themed concert while attending the Academy. In 2022, Smith produced a concert of songs from the Barbie movies at New York City’s Tony Award-honored venue 54 Below. Smith and Bannigan have since presented three encore performances featuring Broadway performers and fellow Interlochen alumni. This June, Smith and Bannigan will bring the show to Crazy Coqs on London’s West End—an enduring testament to the global Interlochen experience.

Samantha Shelton (IAC 18), who performs under the name Lenox Monroe, released her debut single on Oct. 18, 2023. Titled “Growing Up Sucks,” the song offers a light-hearted commentary on the struggles of adolescence.

Chandler Currier (IAC 19, IAA 20-21) was appointed Principal Tuba of the Nashville Symphony in November 2023.

Najee Greenlee (IAC 19, IAA 19-21, IAC St 22) was recently selected to participate in the 2023-24 Performance Today Young Artists in Residence Program. As a selectee, Greenlee will record performances and interviews with host Fred Child for broadcast on Performance Today and will participate in outreach opportunities to elementary and middle school students. He is currently in his second year at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Tadao Tomokiyo (IO 20, IAC 21-22) made his Carnegie Hall debut as part of InterHarmony International Music Festival’s showcase A Flower Blooms in Snow. Tomokiyo performed Franz Schubert’s trio “Auf dem Strom” with two other emerging artists during the Jan. 25 performance.

Keira Cromwell (IAC 22) won the grand prize in the 2023 Quad City Symphony Youth Ensembles Concerto Competition. As the winner of the competition, Cromwell will perform Édouard Lalo’s Cello Concerto during the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s April 28 concert at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa.

Cellist Sonya Moomaw (IAC 22) won third place in junior division of the 27th Annual Sphinx Competition.

Julia Zhang (IO 22-23) had her original story, “The First Chickens and Ducks in Space,” published in the summer 2023 edition of Magic Dragon. Published quarterly, Magic Dragon encourages creative expression in young children by publishing writing and artwork by artists age 12 and under.

Motifs: November 2023 (Motifs 625586)

melissa.birdsey — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 18:18:08 +0000

Motifs: November 2023 (Motifs 625586) melissa.birdsey Thu, 11/02/2023 - 14:18 Motifs: November 2023November 8, 2023

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Peter Sparling (AS 64-66, IAA 66-69; IAC/NMC St 70; IAC/NMC Fac 72) is having a busy fall and winter season, with multiple exhibitions and performances around Michigan. He created and directed Dance the Rainbow… Or Dismantling the Patriarchy to Make Way for Free Expression, which was presented on Sept. 26 at Commongrounds/The Alluvion in Traverse City. Joining him were dancers Katie Dorn (IAA Fac 19-present, IAC Fac 20-23) and Leslie Williams (IAC/NMC 90; IAC 91-92; IAA 92-96; IAC Fac 06-09, 11-23). The lecture-demonstration celebrated Up North Pride Week and the installation of Sparling's paintings. A solo show of his paintings, Dancing up the Walls: Solos, Duets & Trios on Canvas, was featured in October at 22 North Gallery in Ypsilanti. Sparling’s video, Seven Elegies, was selected for Wealthy Theatre Presents: Experimental Selections from Open Projector Night, to be shown at The Grand Rapids Art Museum from Oct. 7, 2023 to Jan. 14, 2024. His video animation, Picture This, was screened in Screen Dance International’s Detroit and Ann Arbor programs in September and October. His choreography for “Waltz of the Flowers” will highlight Crooked Tree School of Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker in December at Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Petoskey.

Debra Cash (IAC/NMC 66-67, 69, 72) recently joined the Jewish Women's Archive as its Chief Development Officer. Prior to joining the Archive, Cash spent eight years as executive director of Boston Dance Alliance, which was named one of the four best small nonprofits in Massachusetts under her leadership.

Robert Stephenson (IAC/NMC 70-71, IAA 70-73) recently released his new book, Aesop Variations: Three Stories of Frogs, Birds and Crustaceans, through Page Publishing. The book, which is illustrated by Cheyenne Cerny, is available online and at bookstores across the nation. In addition to his work as an author, Stephenson has enjoyed a 45-year career as an orchestral oboist, primarily with the Utah Symphony.

Kathleen Kaska Perez (IAC/NMC 75-76; IAC St 84-89, 96-02; ICA St 02-13) and her family have moved to Fleming Island, Florida. Perez continues in her position as IT Product Analyst for HealthTrust Workforce Solutions in her new work-from-home office.

Sean Young (IAA 76-78) made her stage debut in October in Rider McDowell’s new play Ode to the Wasp Woman. Young portrays troubled actress Susan Cabot in the play, which runs Oct. 30 to Jan. 31 at the Actors Temple Theatre in New York City.

Karen Rehner (IAC/NMC 87, IAA 87-91) was recently appointed Provincial Court Judge of the Provincial Court in Grand Bank, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Prior to her appointment, Rehner served as Crown Counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and in Toronto, Ontario.

Brit Washburn (IAA 89-93, IAC St 92-93) published Homing In: Attempts on a Life of Poetry and Purpose, a collection of essays from Alexandria Quarterly Press. Her poetry collection, Notwithstanding, was published by Wet Cement Press in 2019. Washburn teaches in the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

Paola Prestini’s (IAC 90-91, IAA 91-93) latest opera, The Old Man and the Sea, premiered at ASU Gammage in Tempe, Arizona, on Nov. 4, 2023. Inspired by the beloved novella by Ernest Hemingway, the opera stars renowned baritone Nathan Gunn as the narrator/Santiago. Prestini’s husband, former Kronos Quartet cellist Jeffrey Ziegler, performs her original score.

Julia Christensen (IAA 93-94) will release her first album, Tree Songs Art Center, in December. The album, which is produced in collaboration with the Space Song Foundation, parses sensor data from three trees to create songs that express the light, moisture, and temperature the trees experienced over the course of a year. Christensen also has artworks on display at galleries across Ohio, including the Allen Memorial Art Museum, the Beeler Gallery at Columbus College of Art and Design, and Oberlin College’s Baron Gallery.

Joseph Mayon (IAA 95-98) recently joined the Union County Performing Arts Center as the inaugural artistic director of the New Jersey Opera Theater.

Miss Velvet (IAC 98, 01, 06) released her new single, “Zumirez,” on Sept. 29. The single precedes her forthcoming LP, Traveler, which is set for release in late 2023.

Aaron Diehl (IAC 99-00) released his fourth album, Zodiac Suite, with Mack Avenue Records on Sept. 15, 2023. The album features Diehl as soloist with orchestral collective The Knights, which includes fellow alumni Yaira Matyakubova (IAC 93-94, IAA 94-96), violin; Kyle Armbrust (IAC 99), viola; Alex Sopp (IAA 97-01), flute; Erik Höltje (IAC 90, IAA 90-94), bassoon; and Joseph Gramley (IAC 85-87, IAA 86-88), percussion. Zodiac Suite is the first complete, large-scale recording of Mary Lou Williams’ 12-movement classical-jazz fusion suite of the same name.

Jenna Matecki (IAC 03) released the second edition of her book The Hours Before Dusk: Finding Light in Cities Around the World on Oct. 17. The book is available at Barnes and Noble, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and at indie bookstores across the United States.

Marina Kondo (IAC 10, IAA 10-13) portrays Susan in the national tour of Marianne Elliott’s gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. The production is the musical’s first major U.S. union tour since the 1970s.

Chloe Baldwin (IAC 10, 12) appears as Dusty in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of Selina Fillinger’s farce POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. The show runs through Dec. 10, 2023.

Kathryn McCarthy (IAA 12-14, IAC St 14) has received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production from UCF and won accolades for her scripts and films alike since graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy. She is currently working on the short film “With Her Own Hands,” which stars McKenna Quigley Harrington (Tulsa King, Susie Searches) and Lauren Megan McCarthy (world premiere, Bethany Sees the Stars).

Matthew Melillo (IAC 13-16) was recently appointed contrabassoonist of the Florida Orchestra.

Violist Adrian Jackson (IAC 17, IAA 17-18) was recently named the first recipient of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra’s Gunderson Fellowship Program. Through the program, Jackson will present concerts in the La Crosse, Wisconsin community each week and work with the Central High School orchestra, Boys and Girls Club Free Violin Lessons Program, and the Gunderson Health System’s healing arts program.

Carter West’s (IAC 23) art installation opened at Branson School in Ross, California this month. The installation, which is supported by the Raabe Family Fellowship for the Arts, features ten portraits of under-recognized women–including mathematician Gladys West and chemists Tu Youyou and Rosalind Franklin–alongside biographies about their lives and work.