Alumni News
Charles M. Atkinson (Ph.D. 1975) At the recent meeting of the International Musicological Society held in Athens, Greece, August 22-26, Charles M. Atkinson Professor Emeritus, Musicology, The Ohio State University, presented “On Modulation in Early Medieval Chant: The φθοραί in Byzantium and the vitia in the West,” a paper co-authored with Professor Gerda Wolfram of the University of Vienna, and participated in the IMS Roundtable “Translation, Transformation, and Mediation in Christian Music of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.” His presentation for the Roundtable was titled “On Modulation in Eastern and Western Chant.” In addition to his presentations he chaired the session “Tonality, Modality, Pitch.”
Kent Ross Brooks (B.A. 2000) received the Fletcher Undergraduate Research Prize, an award for mentoring the most outstanding 2023 summer research project at Northwestern University. Of the 74 nominations, Brooks and his student, Olivia Pierce, were the top winners in the Arts, Humanities, and Performance category. Their research explores best practices for performing music from minoritized traditions in ways that are appreciative rather than appropriative. Brooks is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Northwestern’s Department of Performance Studies. His work focuses on the performance and socio-historical implications of Black gospel music in the United States.
Patrick Dow (B.A. 2019) made his debut at English National Opera as Fiorello in The Barber of Seville in February and this summer made his debut at Garsington Opera Festival as Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro and Oeo (the moon man) in Andrew Norman’s Trip to the Moon.
Dr. Aya Esther Hayashi (B.Mus. 2008), as the Development Director for People’s Theatre Project, has successfully raised $30 million in public and private funds for The People’s Theatre Centro Cultural Inmigrante. This 19,000-sf, state-of-the-art facility will be NYC’s first cultural center dedicated to the immigrant experience and New York State’s largest Latine-operated theatre. More information, press, and ways to support this historic project can be found on PTP’s capital project page.
Julia Holoman (B.Mus. 2023) was a young artist this summer at the Ravinia Festival and is pursuing her MM in Vocal Performance at Rice University.
Hunter Hoyle (B.Mus. 2022) is currently a third-year Ph.D. student in Music Theory and Cognition at Northwestern University. This past spring, he received his en-route M.A. in Music Theory and Cognition from Northwestern. Hunter’s first published journal article, entitled “Reconsidering ‘Classical’ vs. ‘Recombinant’ Teleologies: A Case Study of Philip Glass’s Piano Etude No. 6,” is forthcoming in Music Analysis.
Emily Hynes (Ph.D. 2024) completed her Ph.D. this spring with her dissertation “The Legacy of Incarceration: How Prison Music Became a Commodity in the Popular Music Industry” under the advisement of Jocelyn Neal.
Tara Jordan (Ph.D. 2024) served on the organizing committee for the 13th Annual UNC-KCL Graduate Student Music Conference, held at UNC in May. She also completed her Ph.D. this spring with her dissertation “‘Mi, Monastir’: Remembrance and Reconstruction of Interwar Monastir’s Jewish Musical Life” under the advisement of Michael Figueroa.
Steven Kennedy (M.A. 1991) had three premieres of orchestral music in 2023. In December, the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra (MA) premiered his Rejoice-A Holiday Overture! as part of their Holiday Pops concert. In March, the UMASS-Lowell Symphony premiered If We But Move to Light and the Toccata for Orchestra.
Olivia Kesler (B.A. 2023) is beginning her MM in Vocal Performance at UNC-Greensboro
Isabelle Kosempa (B.Mus. 20124) is beginning her M.M. in Vocal Performance at Rice University and spent the summer as a young artist in Brevard’s Janiec Opera Company.
James Lane (B.Mus. 1999, M.A.T. 2000) was the department’s keynote speaker for the 2024 Commencement Ceremony in May. His address was titled “Music Studies at UNC can launch graduates into a great life and career.”
Carrina Macaluso (B.Mus. 2024) is beginning her M.M. in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Kennedy Miller (B.Mus. 2022) graduated with her M.M. in Vocal Performance from London’s Royal Academy of Music, on a British Marshall Scholarship.
Emily Siar (B.Mus. 2014) has been appointed Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She also won first place at the national level of the NATSAA Young Artist Awards this year.
Sierriana Terry (Ph.D. 2024) completed her Ph.D. this spring with her dissertation, “Harmony & Hues: Blerd Views on the Fusion of Black Culture and Japanese Animation” under the advisement of David Garcia. Dr. Terry taught Music History courses as an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University for both summer semesters and will continue for the 2024-25 academic year.
Pablo Vega (B.Mus. 2008) has taught music production courses in the department for the last two years as a lecturer and was named a Teaching Assistant Professor this spring. “I’m both excited and energized to teach music production at Carolina! These classes are the start of what I hope to be a blossoming program,” noted Pablo. He also serves as the faculty advisor of the UNC music production club Legacy Productions.
Eric Wells (B.Mus. 1995) received the Bandworld Legion of Honor from the John Philip Sousa Foundation in Fall 2023. The Bandworld Legion of Honor was establlished in 1989 to “honor, over the course of a year, eight of the finest band directors in our business.” Upon receiving the honor, Eric told Bandworld staff, “the longer I teach, the more I believe that I have to understand the individual student on some level before I am allowed to be a stakeholder in their education. My job as an educator is to help students become lifelong learners, productive citizens, and champions of music.”
Kendall Winter (Ph.D. 2024) was a 2024 recipient of UNC’s Boka Hadzija Award for Distinguished University Service. Her nominators cited her years of participation and leadership in the Graduate and Professional Student Government and her contributions to the field of musicology through her teaching and research at UNC and through her engagement in national organizations as deserving of this recognition. She presented “Hegemonic Refashioning: The 1888 Song Leaflet of the American Woman Suffrage Association” at AMS. This spring, Kendall completed her Ph.D. with the dissertation “Suffragist and Antisuffragist Songs in the United States, 1867-1920” under the advisement of Annegret Fauser. Dr. Winter looks forward to starting a new chapter as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA this fall.
In Memoriam
The department is greatly saddened to share the news of Ph.D. alumnus Travis Stimeling’s passing in November 2023. “Travis was a dear friend and colleague of many in the department, an active musicologist, prolific author, beloved mentor, and leader in the fields of country music, bluegrass, and regional music studies,” Professor Jocelyn Neal stated.