For the past twelve years, Collage has been an annual celebration of the new academic year for the UNCG School of Music, taking place in early September. Given concerns about the COVID–19 pandemic, the School has decided to postpone the concert until January 30, 2021. We hope that circumstances will be much safer by that time, and that students, faculty, and our concert patrons can gather with renewed enthusiasm.

More than 300 School of Music students and many of our world-class faculty members will perform on Collage, making this our most spectacular event of the year. The concert will immerse you in  a non-stop evening of amazing performances. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit the School of Music Collage Scholarship Fund.

Look for more information regarding ticket sales in the fall. We hope to begin ticket sales on December 1, and look forward to seeing you on campus for live performances again as soon as possible!

The UNC Greensboro Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Eric Willie, has been named a winner of the 2020 Percussive Arts Society’s International Percussion Ensemble Competition (IPEC). The honor is awarded annually to only three ensembles. This is the second time in five years that the UNCG Percussion Ensemble has received the IPEC award.

The ensemble has been invited to present a Showcase concert at the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention in November, which will be held virtually this year due to COVID-19.

Dr. Willie says he is extremely proud of the work his students did for the competition:

“Winning a showcase concert in the Percussive Arts Society’s International Percussion Ensemble is the highest award for our art form. The students in the ensemble worked diligently to perfect the music for the recordings we submitted. It’s clear their efforts paid off! We’re looking forward to being a part of the showcase this fall.”

In addition to UNCG, the other two IPEC award recipients for 2020 are the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Alabama. Past winners include the Eastman School of Music, Yale University, Indiana University, and the University of North Texas.

Photo: The UNCG Percussion Ensemble
Back Row, Left to Right:
Dr. Eric Willie, Director
Sam Nichols
Kyle Wilson
Gabe Mann
Joseph Healy
Daniel Humphrey
Calogero Giambusso
Kellan Crabtree
Hunter Mullins
Andrew Barlow

Front Row, Left to Right:
Sydney Alden
Anna Langley
Sam Williams
Lauren Ogle
Jake Twaddell
Hannah Clemens
Zach Baker
James Kohrt
John O’Donnell
Seth Blevins

Quarantine project by Nick Stubblefield ’10 BM – the cover of a tune his parents wrote. Nick says, “It’s neat when music can bring generations together. In this case, it brought my parents together with me. I come from a musical family that wrote a number of songs back in their day. They pitched that I cover one of their songs from the 1980s — No Access. It’s a great tune (lyrics by my mom Cindy, music by my dad, Jerry “Lightnin’ Stubblefield). Theirs was hard rock. Mine is jazzy RnB.”

The American Prize in Opera Performance has announced the 2019-2020 winners, with UNCG Opera Theatre’s production of Falstaff receiving second place in the college/university division, tying with Louisiana State University.

Falstaff, Verdi’s last opera, is a revenge comedy based on Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. The UNCG production, mounted in the spring of 2019 and directed by David Holley, included 10 principals, a chorus of 30, and the University Symphony Orchestra. Metropolitan Opera baritone Richard Zeller was in the title role. Peter Perret was the conductor. Costumes were designed by Deborah Bell and created with the help of costume design students. The set was designed by Randy McMullen with design and production students, and Chip Haas served as technical director.

In addition to the second place honor for the production, Holley is a finalist for the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize for stage direction, and Perret is a finalist for the Opera Conducting Award.

The UNCG Opera Theatre is the recipient of a number of awards. Seven productions have won First Place in the National Opera Association Opera Production Competition, including Susannah, Little Women, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Consul, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Don Giovanni, and five production have placed Second: Galileo Galilei, L’Enfant et les sortilèges, La vida breve, and Albert Herring and Gianni Schicchi. The Magic Flute and Amahl and the Night Visitors have received Third Place.

The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts, unique in scope and structure. Founded in 2010, contestants hail from all fifty states, representing literally hundreds of communities and arts organizations across the nation.

The Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Office (URSCO) Community Based Undergraduate Research and Creativity Award was presented to four students: Triston Broadway, Gabriel Figuracion, Maguette Seye, and Heather Lofdahl.

The team collaborated with Dr. Rebecca MacLeod to write a grant in support of the creation of a diverse online music learning community for young people by young people in partnership with Peck Elementary School and the Peck Alumni Leadership Program (PAL). The project seeks to provide more diverse examples of performers and musical styles for young string musicians.

The grant-writing team included:

• Triston Broadway – music composition major, alumnus of the Peck Alumni Leadership Program
• Gabe Figuracion – music education major
• Maguette Seye – biology major, member of Sinfonia, alumnus of the Peck Alumni Leadership Program
• Heather Lofdahl – PhD Music Education student, Peck Alumni Leadership Coordinator

The Undergraduate Research and Creativity Award (URCA) is designed to help faculty and students partner in meaningful projects that result in advances in understanding within their discipline/field of study. The community-based research (CBR) initiation grant supports proposals that represent collaborative partnerships among community partner, student, and faculty teams. Projects should advance the development of community partner capacity, student learning through the high impact practice of undergraduate research, and facilitate the evolution of faculty scholarly identity as it relates to community-identified needs.