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 …
UH’s Symphony Orchestra director named to Pacific Business News’ 40 under 40
Reposted from University of Hawaii News: Joseph Stepec, an associate professor of music at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, has been named to the 2024 40 under 40 list by Pacific Business News. Stepec serves as the music director of the UH Mānoa Symphony Orchestra, director of the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony’s Symphony Program and artistic director of the Pacific Music Institute. He was recognized alongside the other …
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 …
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. …