Alumni in the News

Asche (B.M. '76, M.M. '78, D.M.A. '83, Keyboard) is the Senior Continuing Lecturer in Piano at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The award is the highest award granted by the organization and previous recipients include renowned pianists John Perry, Stewart Gordon, and Daniel Pollock, as well as mezzo-soprano Federica von Stade and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. Butler School of Music alumnus William Wellborn is also a previous recipient of the award. 

The Music Industry Award, received by Lopez (B.M., Music and Human Learning/Music Education, 2008), is presented by the TBA Board of Directors to a Business Member who has a long history of supporting music education and the Texas Bandmasters Association.

Balboa (D.M.A., String and Harp, 2020) will be teaching String Techniques, String Techniques II and Instrumental Performance Literature. He is also the new string project coordinator and assistant director of the University of Texas at Austin String Project.

Ramos' (M.M., Voice and Opera, 2013) album will feature two song cycles "Tres Poemas de Alfaro" and "País de Sombra" by Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava. The CD is expected to be released by the end of the year. Ramos has been serving as the Associate Director for Music for the Diocese of Austin since 2013. In January 2021, she was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. 

Morrongiello (B.M., Voice and Opera, 2016) will cover Monostatos in The Magic Flute, and The Metropolitan Opera covering the Dean of the Faculty in Cinderella, Don Curzio in Le nozze di Figaro, Player 2 in Brett Dean’s Hamlet, and Sellem in The Rake’s Progress.

"The Chronicle of Nine: The Tragedy of Queen Jane" is a joint project with Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Pachecano (B.M., Voice and Opera, 2006) sings the title character of Lady Jane Grey, a role she also performed in the World Premiere on February 1, 2020 at Jordan Hall in Boston, MA. She also made a house and role debut as the title character in Chicago Opera Theater's live-streamed production of Daniel Catán's "La Hija de Rappaccini" in April 2021. Opera News said of the performance, "Megan Pachecano boasted an ample, shimmering lyric soprano as Beatriz."

Recipient of the 2021-2023 NBCUniversal Composer Diversity Initiative, Chambers (B.M., Music Theory, 2017) has had a dynamic career as a self-titled “composer-creative” entrepreneur. She is the owner of Sweets by Jocelyn, a baking business she started at six years old; author of “The Era of Mixed Feelings,” a collection of curated stories about adolescent experiences and struggles; founder of the online magazine “Majesty Mag”; and host of “The I Am Loved” podcast, which discusses love and self-love.

Staged at Herman Melville's Arrowhead in Massachusetts, Ramirez's (M.A., Performance as Public Practice, 2012) production utilized movement and written text to investigate the deep and possibly romantic relationship between writers Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorn, portrayed by Truss (M.F.A., Acting, 2010).

Ulrich (M.F.A., Costume Technology, 2021) was featured after receiving the 2021 Barbara Matera Award for Costume Making.
 

Gonzales' (B.A., 2019) (TRANS)FORMADA will take place both virtually and in-person on September 3-5.