Recent Faculty Achievements

Karim Al-Zand, Professor of Composition and Theory

Performance of Al-Jazari’s Ingenious Clocks commissioned by the Houston Symphony on March 15, 2025

Performance of Luctus Profugis, a lament for string orchestra and percussion, by the Minnesota Orchestra

Winner of the 2024 Barlow Prize

 

Anthony Brandt, Professor of Composition and Theory 

Launched the Music, Mind and Body Lab, which brings together artists and scientists to advance inquiries into music and creativity and their contributions to quality of life

Musiqa, an organization led by co-founder and artistic director Anthony Brandt, awarded the Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Year Award by Chamber Music America for “Meeting of Minds"

 

Erik Broess, Assistant Professor of Musicology 

“'A Much More Valuable Signature’: Gender, Factory Labor, and the Mythology of Builder-Signed Amplifiers from Fender’s ‘Tweed’ Era, 1948–60,” in the Journal of the Society for American Music was awarded the Best Essay in Popular Music Scholarship by the American Musicological Society's Popular Music Study Group and the Richard Waterman Junior Scholar Prize by the Society of Ethnomusicology

 

Shih-Hui Chen, Professor of Composition and Theory 

Performance of new work for ensemble aisthesis at KlangForum Heidelberg in Germany

Chamber opera or/and 《給女兒的話》will be touring in Taiwan in Hualien 花蓮, Taipei 台北, Taichung台中 and Chiayi 嘉義 in March 2024

 

Arthur Gottschalk, Professor of Composition and Theory

Bogliaso Fellowship to compose two new works: one for Italian bass clarinetist Rocco Parisi, and the other an homage to Charles “Yardbird” Parker for Italian saxophone trio Sintonia

Won the Global Music Award for Classical Music for Litany, libretto by W.E.B. DuBois, recorded by the Prairie View A&M Concert Choir with the Axiom String Quartet 

Won the Presidential Award for Mentorship bestowed by Rice University 

 

Erin Hannigan, Professor of Oboe

Performed as principal oboe with the New York Philharmonic alongside pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and as principal oboe with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan

 

Jerry Hou, Artist Teacher of Orchestras and Ensembles 

Appointed Music Director of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in the 25-26 season and beyond

Made his conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic 

 

Pierre Jalbert, Professor and Chair of Composition & Theory 

2025 Artist-in-Residence at Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, composing a new piece for the Germany-based Morgenstern Piano Trio

New York Premiere of Equilibrium, a new work for clarinet and string quartet, at Chamber Music Society on Apr 17, 2025

Received a 2024 Music Commission from Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress

 

Alexandra Kieffer, Associate Professor of Musicology 

Received a George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation Fellowship  

 

Richard Lavenda, Professor of Composition and Theory and Director of Graduate Studies

Winner of the Provost’s Award for Outstanding Doctoral Adviser

 

Matthew Loden, Lynette S. Autrey Dean of Music, Professor of Executive Music Management

Represented the Shepherd School at the Riyadh Music Summit in Saudi Arabia, delivering a keynote address on Flagship Musical Institutions and Their Civic Role and joining panel discussions with industry leaders focused on music education, technology, and collaboration in the global music ecosystem.

 

Ana María Martínez, Professor of Voice 

Appointed 2026 Texas State Musician-Classical, one of the state’s highest artistic honors

Sang the role of Despina in Così fan tutte with Lyric Opera

Sang the role of Catrina in El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) by composer Gabriela Lena Frank (Shepherd School of Music alumnus) and librettist Nilo Cruz at LA Opera 

Sang the role of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City 

Sang the role of Elisabetta in Don Carlo at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany  

 

Sohyoung Park, Artist Teacher of Piano and Piano Pedagogy 

Lecture recital at Piano Teachers Congress of New York (co-presented by New York University) 

 

Jon Kimura Parker, Professor of Piano 

Performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the LA Philharmonic in February 2025, filling in for Yuja Wang

Toured with the Taiwan Symphony Youth Orchestra as soloist in Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Guest Artist-in-Residence, Colburn School, Los Angeles 

Teaching Artist and Finalist Concerto Coach, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Fort Worth 

Creative Partner, concerto soloist, and solo performer, Minnesota Orchestra 

 

Timothy Pitts, Professor of Double Bass 

Member of the Artist Faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School, Aspen, Colorado

 

Nick Platoff, Associate Professor of Trombone

Performed with Queens of the Stone Age in San Francisco and Sigur Rós in Portland

Premiered his new composition “Mars Dreams of Mozart” with the Chamber Orchestra of Kona and soloist Mars Gelfo in Hawaii

 

Valentin Radutiu, Professor of Cello

Began his role as Artist in Residence of the Timișoara Philharmonic in Romania, marking the start of a multi-season collaboration as an orchestral soloist and in recital

 

Danielle Ward-Griffin, Assistant Professor of Musicology 

H. Earle Johnson Bequest for Book Publication Subvention

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship 

 

Robert Yekovich, Professor of Composition and Theory 

Appointed to the board of the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg Foundation in New York City