Johannes Teppo (MM ’13) advanced to the final round of live auditions for the Principal Cello position of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in Finland, resides at the Turku Concert Hall, the first purpose-built concert hall in Finland and has recorded commercially for such labels as Ondine, Finlandia, and Naxos.

Johannes also advanced to the final round of live auditions for the 2nd Principal Cello position of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Earlier in the year, Johannes was appointed as cello teacher and conductor of the youth symphony orchestra at the Keskisen Uudenmaa Music School in Järvenpää.

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Summertime is here! Deborah Seale, BM ’17, practices outside for a most attentive audience at her family’s 40-acre ranch in La Grange, TX. During the summers, Deborah can be found working at Camp Winchester and, on occasion, singing with the Seale Sisters.

Jun Seo (MM ’11, DMA ’14) in Austin Eurythmy Ensemble’s Project Zero Circle begins its tour tomorrow evening, Friday, May 9, 2014, at 7:30 PM PST, in Fair Oaks, California.

 
For ticket, venue and more information, visit www.projectzerocircle.org.

Italy’s MTSmusictosee presents its second music video of Francesco Mastromatteo (DMA ’12). Francesco performs the George Crumb Sonata for Solo Cello (1955) at Palazzo Sforza Cesarine in Genzano di Roma.

 
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Yi Xin (DMA ’14) advanced to the final round of live auditions for the Assistant Principal Cello position of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He was one of only four cellists remaining from hundreds of applicants worldwide. This is the second year in a row that Yi made the finals of a major orchestra audition.

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, preceded only by the New York Philharmonic. Since September 2005, the American conductor David Robertson is the Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony, having been named to that position in December 2003.

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The Longhorn Cellos are back on American Public Media’s Performance Today!

Heard today during the second hour of the broadcast is the Longhorn Cellos’ performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for Soprano and Cello Ensemble with soprano Mela Dailey and conductor Peter Bay. The recording was made during a concert in Bates Recital Hall in Austin, TX on Friday, September 14, 2012.

Performance Today is broadcast on 260 public radio stations across the country and is heard by about 1.3 million people each week. To find out where and when Performance Today is broadcast in your area, visit http://performancetoday.org/stations.

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At a house concert for UT donors Joe and Teresa Long, Bion Tsang and his students (James Burch DMA ’16, Ying Zhang DMA ’15, Dave Campbell DMA ’14) gave the world premiere performance of Astor Piazzolla’s Otoño Porteño (from his Four Seasons of Buenos Aires) for Four Cellos. Classical guitarist and composer Joseph Williams II (DMA ’13) made this new arrangement based upon Leonid Desyatnikov’s version of the Piazzolla Seasons for solo violin and chamber orchestra.

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Jun Seo (MM ’11, DMA ’14) performs as guest soloist with the Austin Eurythmy Ensemble in their latest production, Project Zero Circle — Begninnings. Featuring the music of Sofia Gubaidulina and Maurice Ravel, the multimedia event first opens in Austin at the Austin Waldorf School Performing Arts Center and then travels on tour to California, Scotland and Switzerland. For ticket, tour and more information, visit www.projectzerocircle.org.

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Congratulations to Esme Devra West (BM ’14) for performing her challenging senior recital of all unaccompanied cello works: Gaspar Cassadó’s Solo Suite, Thomas Demenga’s “EFEU” for Solo Cello (composed for the Emanuel Feuermann International Cello Competition), and Bach’s 4th Solo Suite. The backdrop behind Esme in the breezeway by the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at UT helped make for a memorable evening…

During the Cleveland Orchestra’s visit to the UT Butler School of Music, Principal Cellist Mark Kosower gave a master class for students followed by a short talk by cellist William Brian Thornton.