Click here for more information on the production and to purchase tickets: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/liveonstage/dc2025/ The following has been reposted from UH News. The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is bringing a powerful exploration of Black heritage and identity to the stage with Beige: An Afro Ballet, an interdisciplinary collaboration by graduate students Jonathan Clarke Sypert and Marcus Moore. The performance, which features an …
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 …
Hula icon Vicky Holt Takamine honored with prestigious Gish Prize
Reposted from UH News: Victoria “Vicky” Holt Takamine, a retired University of Hawaiʻi dance lecturer and revered kumu hula (master hula teacher) was awarded the 31st annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the most highly regarded arts honors in the world. Valued at more than $450,000, the award recognizes individuals who have significantly advanced the arts and created meaningful social …
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 …
Gwen Nakamura featured on Hawaii News Now
Featured on ‘Upfront’ with Guy Hagi, a segment of Hawaii News Now, “local legend” Gwen Nakamura (’84) has been the assistant marching band director at UH Mānoa for over 30 years. Nakamura’s distinguishing feature at every basketball, volleyball, and football game is her giant balloon hat. She explained in the video/podcast: “one of our band students was from Maui– her …
PhD candidate Susan Jacob publishes paper on Protect Maunakea Movement
Susan Jacob, a doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology, published her article, “The Moving Mountain: Performance for Mauna a Wākea during the Protect Maunakea Movement,” in the spring 2024 issue of the Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAIS). Indiana University describes NAIS as publishing “the best interdisciplinary scholarship in international Native American and Indigenous Studies.” Jacob’s article illustrates how Kānaka Maoli (Native …
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 …
Dr. Zen Kuriyama (’15) begins position at Bates College as Assistant Professor of Music
Dr. Zen Kuriyama earned a PhD in Musicology this past spring at Brandeis University and began a new position at Bates College this fall as Assistant Professor of Music (tenured track). Holding graduate degrees in vocal performance, choral conducting, and musicology, his multi-disciplinary training and scholarship has given rise to choral and orchestral conducting opportunities, several invited lectures, peer-reviewed publications, …
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 …