University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Musicʻs National Association for Music Education Chapter was awarded the 2025 NAfME Collegiate Chapter of Excellence in Professional Development. This award recognizes successful chapter advocacy, music programming, professional development, recruitment strategy, and service projects. UHM Department of Musicʻs NAfME chapter, currently led by Dr. Chet-Yeng Loong, Advisor, Dennis Dilwith III, President, Rina Robin, …
Ethnomusicology pioneer receives Korean presidential award
Reposted from UH News: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Music Professor Emeritus Byong Won Lee was honored with a Republic of Korea Presidential Medal Award. Lee was selected for the award among seven nominees this year in the field of Korean music. The award recognizes excellence in research and scholarship and contribution to the Republic of Korea’s cultural organizations and the …
Double Reed Quartet performs at the International Double Reed Society
Last July, four undergraduate students from the music department at UH Mānoa were asked to perform at the International Double Reed Society’s 53rd annual conference. The double reed quartet (Erin Matsushita, oboe; Emily Fujii, English horn; JP Ovens, bassoon; and Michael Martin, contrabassoon) traveled along with UH Mānoa’s lecturer of bassoon and the quartet’s coach, Marsha Schweitzer, to this year’s …
UH Mānoa Music Department welcomes three new faculty
This Fall, the Music Department at UH Mānoa is fortunate to introduce three new faculty members: Dr. Dustin Ferguson, Dr. Alec Schumacker, and Dr. Yuan-Yu Kuan. Dr. Dustin Ferguson serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music and Interim Associate Director of Bands. In addition to teaching music education courses, he conducts the Concert Band, Symphony Band, and is director of …
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 …
Record donation of $3.5M made to UH Mānoa music department
From UH Foundation A record $3.5-million gift to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa from the Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation will fund the music department’s first-ever endowed chair. The newly established Professor Barbara Barnard Smith Endowed Chair supports the university’s desire and commitment to revitalize its ethnomusicology program and honors the legacy of the late revered UH Mānoa professor who died in 2021. “This …
UH-Mānoa Music Department welcomes new professor Dr. Kim Barclift
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa welcomes new Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Kim Barclift, who will be teaching in the Music Education area. Dr. Barclift comes to us from North Carolina, where she served as the Assistant Director of Bands at Elon University. Additionally, Dr. Barclift supervised student teachers pursuing degrees in instrumental music education at the University of …
Musicology professor featured on award-winning podcast
UH musicology professor, Kate McQuiston PhD, was a featured guest on the March episode of the MUBI Podcast to discuss Stanley Kubrickʻs 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dr. McQuiston has studied film music for years, publishing several articles and the book, “We’ll Meet Again”: Musical Design in the Films of Stanley Kubrick (Oxford University Press, 2013). She first became interested in …
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 …