This has been an exciting year for Samee Griffith(DMA, 2015). She and her husband Aaron Mood (who got his MM in piano performance from UNCG a few years ago) opened the Star City Music Studios in Miamisburg OH which has been getting local attention. On April 3rd, 2015, Samee gave her final DMA at Wright State University in Ohio. Then she graduated in May 2015 with the DMA. And, in between, on April 15th, she gave birth to her first child, Evvy.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Percussion Ensemble has been named a winner in the Percussive Arts Society’s (PAS) International Percussion Ensemble Competition. Annually, three university percussion ensembles are selected through a call-for-tapes competition, and the UNCG Percussion Ensemble was selected for one of these coveted positions. In the last four years, ensembles from the Eastman School of Music, Yale University, University of Kentucky, University of Texas, and Florida State University were some of the winners, so the UNCG Percussion Ensemble is in esteemed company. The UNCG Percussion Ensemble has been invited to perform a showcase concert at the 2015 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in San Antonio, TX, on Saturday, November 14, at 10:00a.m. For their showcase concert, the UNCG Percussion Ensemble will premiere four new works by Michael Burritt, Anna Meadors, Jason Treuting, and Jamie Whitmarsh.

The UNCG Percussion Ensemble will perform a PASIC Preview Concert on Monday evening, November 2, at 7:30p.m. in the UNCG School of Music Recital Hall.

Prof. Gavin Douglas recently published an annotated bibliography on “Buddhist Music” as part of the Oxford Bibliographies series.

“Developed cooperatively with scholars and librarians worldwide, Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritatvie research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this cutting-edge resource guides researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.”

Donald Hartmann will be singing the role of Monterone in Piedmont Opera‘s upcoming production of “Rigoletto.” Bob Overman will be singing the title role. Both Donald and Bob studied voice with the late Charles Lynam. This will be the first production these two singers have shared the opera stage since singing in a UNCG production of “Falstaff” in Aycock Auditorium in 1979.

Cynthia Ling Lee will present a paper, “Homeland as Beloved: Translating Viraha for (Post)colonial Contexts,” at the World Dance Alliance Asia-Pacific Conference at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, from October 16-18, 2015.