This spring, Composition/Theory doctoral candidate Aaron Brooks received premieres of two new works by New York-based ensemble Collide-O-Scope Music.  Both concerts took place in New York City. On an April 13^th program at Greenwich House, Brooks’ Loop and Effect was presented along with works by Donald Martino, Charles Wuorinen, Jonathan Harvey, Salvatore Sciarrino, and COSM co-director Lou Bunk. Brooks structured Loop and Effect in such a way that live electronics gradually take over the piece.

Jonghee Kang, a graduate student in composition and theory, has had a busy and successful year. She completed a commission for gayageum ensemble, won the Dead Elf Prize in composition, and will participate in festivals in Münster, Germany and Buffalo, New York in the coming months.

Mathew Rosenblum, Professor of Music in composition and theory, has been named a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow. He is among 175 scholars, artists, and scientists selected in recognition of prior achievement and exceptional promise.

Department of Music Ensemble-in-Residence IonSound Project always has a busy March at Pitt and this March is busier than ever. The group’s next concert is the second installment of CreatION Sound, a yearlong project exploring the interface between music and technology for which they received a Spark Award.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has commissioned University of Pittsburgh composers Professor Mathew Rosenblum, Assistant Professor Amy Williams, and current doctoral candidate Bomi Jang for the orchestra’s 2013–14 season in what is being billed as the Year of Pittsburgh Composers.

Scenes from Composition and Theory PhD candidate Nizan Leibovich’s opera The Peace will be presented as part of Vertical Player Repertory’s Celebration of National Opera Week. VPR commissioned Leibovich and librettist Isidore Elias to create The Peace for its In the Works development series. Act I of the work in progress will be presented in Brooklyn on October 28 and November 4 as a staged reading.

Mathew Rosenblum’s latest CD, Circadian Rhythms, is now available from New World Records. Most the works on the album were composed within the last ten years and three are recorded here for the first time.

In the first year of their Investing in Professional Artists program, the Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation have awarded Amy Williams a $10,000 creative development grant to record her recent chamber music.

Roger Zahab’s Akron Chronogram, a multimedia work commissioned by the Akron Symphony Orchestra, received glowing reviews in both the Akron Beacon Journal and ClevelandClassical.com.

Kerry Clawson of the Akron Beacon Journal wrote,

“Throughout the quickly shifting, 22-minute score, Zahab included mysterious chimes and multiple surprises, including having the musicians stomp their feet rhythmically. Among the most beautiful moments was cellist Michael DeBruyn’s solo, paired with an image of a white moon against a black sky.”

David Gerard Mathews (PhD 2011, comp/theory) was recently awarded an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council to study the onde Martenot in Montreal with ondist Geneviève Grenier. We asked David to tells us about how he became interested in this unique instrument and how his time of study will help him achieve his creative goals.