Laura Cetilia
In 2022, Laura Cetilia (composition) looks forward to hosting the ensemble Red Desert as part of the Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players concert series, a retreat at I Park with Ghost Ensemble, the premiere of her first sinfonietta by the Festival Chamber Orchestra, a portrait concert in Chicago performed by a.per.io.dic ensemble, the release of a premiere by Alvin Lucier on Important Records, a commission of a solo/multi-channel work from the Albany Museum of Art, a work for solo guitar premiered by Noppakorn Auesirinucroch, performing cello with the Cornell Wind Symphony in a new composition by Josh Biggs, and a commission for cello ensemble by the Providence Cello Festival.
Michele Cheng
Michele Cheng (composition) was recently selected as a featured composer at the MATA Festival, in which she will perform her work Doyennes’ Diaries with the International Contemporary Ensemble at Roulette (Brooklyn, US) in May. Her audiovisual piece in ambisonics, Speed Dating, will be featured at MANTIS Festival (Manchester, UK) in March and Sonorities Festival (Belfast, UK) in April. She is also working on a violin concerto commissioned by Baroque Camerata (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) for their upcoming album in late 2022. As a JACK Studio artist (2020-2022), her commissioned project will be premiered by the JACK Quartet this summer in NYC.
John Eagle
John Eagle (composition) presented his collaborative performance installation Sound House (co-created with artists Janie Geiser and Cassia Streb) at the Wende Museum in Los Angeles in early February. The piece utilizes 8 movable speaker/wall instruments that he has been developing since 2016. He also performed a concert with Dog Star Orchestra in Los Angeles in December, with new works by Michael Pisaro-Liu and Laura Steenberge. His new instrument system (a water-modulated clarinet of sorts) and composition will be premiered in concerts in New York City in April and he is directing music for a Charles Gaines sound installation going up this summer.
Thomas Feng
Since summer 2021, Thomas Feng (keyboard studies) has performed a duo recital with Richard Valitutto, given a midday solo recital, and performed in the TIME:SPANS Festival in New York. Two more solo recitals at Cornell are upcoming in the month of March. Presently he is continuing his research into the piano music of Milton Babbitt, exploring in particular its rhythmic aspects in performance. He is also currently the TA for the Cornell piano studio.
Nathan Mondry
Nathan Mondry (keyboard studies) performed in concerts at Schloss Köthen in Germany (harpsichord) and Oxford University (organ), in addition to several concerts at Cornell. Plans for the spring and summer include historical improvisation masterclasses/performances at University of Michigan and the European Fortepiano Academy, as well as recordings with historic instruments from the Bate Collection and Adlington Hall in the UK.
Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei
In 2021, Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei (composition) was selected for Copland House's CULTIVATE program, where Music from Copland House premiered his new commission, Residues I. Ostinato. He was also an Artist-in-Residence from April-May with the Ellis Beauregard in Rockland, Maine. Daniel's a cappella work Golī az dast beraft, commissioned by Minneapolis' VocalEssence, won First Prize in Chorus Austin's and the Institute of Choral Creativity's Composer Competitions, resulting in multiple performances of the work in Austin and Kansas City. His string quartet At any rate II. what remains, commissioned by National Sawdust for JACK Quartet, won First Prize in loadbang's 2021 Commission Competition. In support of his continuing research into Farsi and Persian music, Daniel was awarded both a summer and academic year FLAS grant from the Einaudi Center and the US Department of Education. 2022 will see the premiere of a new work for loadbang, a solo bass work commissioned by Robert Black and the Moab Music Festival, and a workshop of his upcoming monodrama ▢△◯ supported by a 2019 OPERA America IDEA Grant. https://danielsabzghabaei.com/
Degrees Awarded
We congratulate our recent graduates with the following degrees conferred:
Sergio Cote Barco - DMA Composition (August 2021)
Peter Fahey - DMA Composition (May 2021)
Charles Peck - DMA Composition (December 2021)
Becky Lu - PhD Musicology (August 2021)
Elizabeth Lyon - PhD Musicology (May 2021)
Lee Tyson - PhD Musicology (August 2021)
Zoe Weiss - PhD Musicology (December 2021)