Paul Gabriel Cosme, a PhD in Composition student at UH Mānoa Department of Music, is a recipient of the 2025 John Young Scholarship, which will support his research on the musical customs of three ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines: Maguindanao, Maranao, and Sama, culminating in a kulintang concerto. The western genre concerto is traditionally composed for an instrumental soloist, such …
Marcus Moore debuts original ballet score – Beige: An Afro Ballet
Marcus Moore, a UH Mānoa Master’s of Music in Composition student, in collaboration with Jonathan Clarke Sypert, MFA student with the Department of Theatre & Dance, debuted an original ballet score – Beige: An Afro Ballet, which explores Black heritage and identity while drawing inspiration from Black diasporic music. “During my formative years, my family and friends would use music …
Creativity on record: works by UH Music Department faculty Dr. Alec Schumacker and Dr. Takuma Itoh acclaimed
Cantus, one of the top professional vocal groups in the country, performed Dr. Alec Schumacker‘s arrangement of “Over the Rainbow” during their recent concert series and released a video recording of it on Facebook and Instagram in September. The low-voice ensemble is renowned for its signature warmth, blend, innovative programming, and captivating performances. The Washington Post lauds the ensemble’s sound …
Dr. Marie Jocelyn U. Marfil nominated in the 2024 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards
Dr. Marie Jocelyn U. Marfil (PhD ’15) was one of the nominees for Compilation Album of the Year in the 2024 Nā Hoku Hanohano Awards for her work on the album Kāwili 2. One of the album’s producers, Maui attorney Lance D. Collins, told HPR last year, “The first album [Kāwili] was primarily Philippine folk songs that have been interpreted …
PhD in composition candidate Rafael Borges Amaral premieres chamber work for sheng, guitar, and string quartet at the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, (OSESP), known as The São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in English, is the primary orchestra of São Paulo, Brazil. During a visit this past March, PhD in composition candidate Rafael Borges Amaral performed in and premiered an intercultural chamber piece for chromatic sheng, guitar, and string orchestra with sheng virtuoso Wu Wei. Sheng– the mouth …
Graduate composer Paul Cosme collaborates with JACK Quartet
Paul Gabriel L. Cosme, a master’s student in composition, collaborated with the JACK Quartet in New York last September 25, 2023 as a part of the ensemble’s JACK Studio. The quartet played Cosme’s piece A Filipino in New York. The work is inspired by stories of Filipino immigrants in New York as well as soundscapes from the city and various …
Composition alum Thomas Goedecke joins faculty at UH Maui College
Thomas Goedecke (Phd, Composition) joins the Institute of Hawaiian Music at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College (UHMC) as a tenure-track instructor where he teaches a range of introductory and intermediate music courses with emphasis in Hawaiian music, music history, music theory, and performance. “I am looking forward to contributing to the excellent programs built by Dr. Keola Donaghy and Dr. …
Music Faculty & Staff Recognized at 2024 UH-Mānoa Awards Ceremony
The Music Department was well represented at the annual UH-Mānoa Awards Ceremony this year, with two faculty and one staff member being recognized for their achievements. Donald Reid Womack, Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research The Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research is awarded by the University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents in recognition of scholarly contributions that expand the boundaries of …
Hawaiʻi Symphony to premiere new educational symphony
The Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra is set to perform Symphony of the Hawai’i Forests at the Hawai’i Theatre Center on April 20th and 21st. The concert will be exclusively for 4th through 12th-grade students, and will feature six movements of new music written by local composers accompanied by original animations by local animators, a hula presentation, and a collection of artworks …
Saxophone and Horn duo complete semester-long residency in new music with UH composition students
Dr. Jennifer Blackwell (Music Education) and Performer-Composer Brian Kavolius-Matherne (Brian KM) have completed a semester-long residency working with six of UH’s graduate composition students on original compositions for Alto Saxophone and Horn. The residency, which took place in Fall 2021, consisted of reading sessions, individual meetings with composers, and informational sessions on writing for the instruments, culminating in the recording …