Congratulations to Deborah Seale (BM in Music Studies ’16), on the birth of her first opus, Quinn Elaine Matthews earlier this morning!
Diana Burgess (BM ’15) is featured guest today on Johnny Goudie’s podcast how did i get here chatting aobut her new solo album, You Run, in which Diana sings and plays all the instruments: cello, tenor guitar, tenor banjo, waterphone and percussion. Listen to the entire conversation at PodBean.
Diana Burgess (BM ’15) appears prominently as cellist and vocalist in Curtis McMurtry’s newest album, Toothless Messiah, out on February 5th at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify Music and YouTube Music.
Francesco Mastromatteo (DMA ’12) has been named “Fiduciario” (Associate Director) of the Residency of Rodi Garganico of Conservatorio “Umberto Giordano” in Foggia, the second largest province in Italy. Congratulations, Francesco!
For more information, visit www.conservatoriofoggia.it.
This past weekend, Austin Camerata presented its first Music Trivia Night via YouTube Premiere. Artistic Director Daniel Kopp (MM ’18), Cory Blais (MM ’19) and others performed pop, hip-hop, jazz, rock, classical, country, and broadway…
Friction Quartet Debuts New Works for C4NM
by Jessica Balik

Any creative undertaking is bounded by certain constraints, such as the time you have to finish it or the fixed size of your canvas. You can argue whether these constraints impede or enhance creativity. Indisputably, though, our current times provide plenty of them: Musicians cannot rehearse in groups while individually sheltering in place, for example, and even when musicians play together over a video conferencing platform, the vagaries of internet connectivity can cause parts that should happen simultaneously to align imperfectly.
But on Saturday, Nov. 28, San Francisco’s Center for New Music (C4NM) presented four new works for string quartet — by Davide Verotta, Shawne Anell Workman, Monica Chew, and Allan Crossman — that were created with virtual-performance restrictions in mind. The Friction Quartet, with each member playing from their own home, streamed this intrepid program called “Composing in the Time of the Pandemic.”
Catch Dylan Rieck’s (MM ’09) concert debut of original music for solo cello, all composed during the 2020 pandemic. This concert is made possible with the generous support of Shierry Nicholsen and Michael Schultheis. The digital concert with interactive chat premieres on YouTube on Sunday, November 22, 2020, at 4:30pm PT…
Francesco Mastromatteo (DMA ’12) World Premiere performance of Kevin Hanlon’s That’s it II for Cello Solo is now posted to YouTube…
Although Dylan Rieck’s (MM ’09) work with the Portland Opera Orchestra as its Principal Cellist has been put on hold due to the ongoing pandemic, Dylan has kept busy with the cello. He received a commission to write a new suite for solo cello, which he just finished and recorded. You can hear the Suite for Solo Cello in A Minor at Soundcloud.
On June 12, as a wedding gift, David Campbell (DMA ’15) gave his wife Christina the most uniquely touching gift, a music video tribute “Holding On” with The Brilliance’s David Gungor…
