Alumni in the News

Altin Brennan Sencalar  (B.M., Jazz Studies, 2017) played and arranged music for the 60th anniversary of Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. He backed the Temptations, Jennifer Hudson, Neyo, Big Sean, and the Four Tops among others. He was also hired as Adjunct Professor of Music at Central Texas College in Killeen, Texas.  Photo by Sarah Milligan.

Recent alumnus Andrew G. Rodriguez (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2019) joins the Professional Training Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville. This program guides talented and motivated early-career theatre professionals to undertake a nine-month long training program that combines practical experience with professional development opportunities.

Alumna Kimberly Belflower's (M.F.A. 2017) play John Proctor is the Villain was selected as one of 33 new plays on the 2019 Kilroys List, which includes un-produced and underproduced plays by women, trans and non-binary authors. Titles are selected by nomination through the New Play Exchange. 

Alumni Travis Tate (M.F.A. 2018) and Graham Schmidt (M.F.A. 2018) have teamed up for Theatre East's 5X5 Drama Series, presenting Tate's work Color at the End of the World. Theatre East is an official partner of NYC Pride and this year's 5X5 Drama Series features original, commissioned work celebrating the LGBTQ community remembering the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. 

Jacques Colimon (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2014) joins the ensemble for the new series The Society, now streaming on Netflix. 

Andrew Aaron Valdez (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2017) has been named one of Cleveland Public Theatre's 2019/2020 Premiere Fellows. The Fellowship includes a cash award, with additional funds available for projects, professional development and access to space, equipment and other assets.

Hyeyoung Song (D.M.A., Piano, 2016) was honored with the title "Master Pianist" by Weatherford College in acknowledgement of her contributions and dedication as a performer, educator and music administrator. Song founded and successfully directed the first Weatherford College International Piano Competition this April, and has been performing extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the spring 2019 season. 

Tamara Johnson (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2007), founded Sweet Pass Sculpture Park, which presents "May Show: Looms," an exhibition in collaboration with SMU's Pollock Gallery and organized by Austin art collective, Partial Shade. Sweet Pass will also be showing a recent film by Virgina Lee Montgomery and a site-responsive painting by Timothy Harding. 

Becca Borrelli, (M.F.A., Art Education, 2013) has created coloring books featuring iconic Austin scenes through her entrepreneurial business, Becca Borrelli Illustrations. 

Keith Clifton (B.M., Voice and Opera, 1990) is a professor of musicology and coordinator of graduate studies at Central Michigan University, where he's taught since 2002. In late 2017, Clifton presented the paper, "Boléromania: Ravel, Pop Culture, and the Twilight of Espagnolade" at the 100th anniversary conference of the French Society for Musicology in Paris. His recent publications include articles and reviews for the Journal of Musicological Research, Fontes Artis Musicae, and the A-R Online Music Anthology. After completing a three-year term with the Committee on Career Related Issues of the American Musicological Society, he was recently elected Secretary of the Midwest chapter of the AMS. He is an active recitalist, oratorio soloist and chorister. Photo by William Lauerbach.