Boyer College of Music and Dance mourns the loss of Professor Emeritus Roger A. Dean, who passed away on June 3. He was 87.
Dr. Dean was a professor of music education and former chair of the Department of Music Education and Therapy. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Dean was also active in his local community as a longtime member of the Doylestown United Methodist Church.
“He was an exceptional professor and mentor to his students, a fine musician, a person of character and principle,” said Dr. Jeffrey Cornelius, former dean of Boyer College. “[His] vision helped...
Trumpeter Terell Stafford is celebrating his 25th year as Director of Jazz and Instrumental Studies at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. On April 19th and 20th, his students competed with nine other university jazz programs in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2022 Jack Rudin Jazz Championship and finished second. Here’s a look at some of the exceptional students in the Temple program.
Banks Sapnar
Outstanding Trumpet
Growing up in Haddonfield, NJ, Banks Sapnar’s first exposure to jazz was a compendium CD his mother gave him, which was filled with Duke...
Dr. Stephen Willier has announced his retirement from Boyer College of Music and Dance and Temple University.
Willier is an associate professor in the Department of Music Studies, known well for his courses on the history of opera and music from 1600-1950. He completed his doctoral studies in musicology at the University of Illinois in 1987, where his dissertation was The Impact of the Gothic on Early Nineteenth-Century Opera.
Willier taught at Arizona State University and the University of Illinois before coming to Temple in 1989. In more recent years, his book Vincenzo...
New this year, Chorus America established the Alice Parker Fund Award to support the composition and thoughtful presentation of choral music based in the traditions of Black and Latinx communities. The award recognizes the exemplary work of a Black or Latinx composer or an ensemble that respectfully and authentically presents works incorporating these traditions and experiences.
Dr. Rollo Dilworth is the 2022 recipient of the Alice Parker Fund Award. Dilworth is a prolific composer and arranger, a renowned conductor, and a master educator who has celebrated the...
Boyer College is pleased to announce that the Temple University Jazz Band (TUJB) placed second at the 2022 Jack Rudin Jazz Championship, hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) on April 19 and 20. Judges included pianist Ayn Inserto, saxophonist/vocalist Camille Thurman, drummer Jeff Hamilton, trumpeter Randy Brecker and JALC Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.
Directed by Terell Stafford, TUJB competed against nine well-regarded university jazz programs from across the country. An evening combo showcase in The Appel Room kicked off day one of...
Honoring the retirement of Dr. Cynthia Folio, the Department of Music Studies welcomes the distinguished professor of music studies as the first presenter for the new CPCA@C4C Colloquium Series.
Folio is a composer, music theorist and accomplished flutist who has taught at Temple University for more than 30 years. Prior to Temple, Folio taught music theory and flute at Texas Christian University and performed in the Fort Worth Symphony. As a professor at Temple, she has received numerous awards including the 1994 Lindback Award for Distinguished...
Boyer College congratulates Dr. Shana Goldin-Perschbacher on the release of Queer Country, published by the University of Illinois Press on March 22, 2022. Her new book examines transgender and queer performances of country and Americana music through explorations of sincerity, genre trouble, journey, rurality, misrepresentation, masking and collaboration.
Goldin-Perschbacher is an assistant professor of music studies who teaches courses for music majors, non-majors and graduate students in popular music, critical theory (especially engaging issues of...
When Terell Stafford was a young and budding trumpet player, he was told he might have a problem. The way in which he applies his mouth to his mouthpiece—what is referred to as his embouchure by those in the profession—is crooked.
“One teacher said, ‘If you can’t play right in the center you won’t be able to play past the age of 25,’” Stafford said. Still, his love for the trumpet never faded, and he continued to frequent clubs, taking in as much music as possible.
Then he received guidance and encouragement from jazz greats like Wynton Marsalis and Clark Terry, and...
At the conclusion of the 2021-22 academic year, Professor Kun-Yang Lin will retire from his position at Boyer College. The dance department will celebrate Lin's 19 years of service through a special, end-of-semester free event entitled Dancing Mind, Thinking Body.
Lin is well-known in the dance community as the founder and artistic director of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers (KYL/D), based right here in Philadelphia. He also co-founded KYL/D's CHI Movement Arts Center, a product of his devotion to artistic excellence and movement research and his...
On March 20, the Temple University Symphony Orchestra and Choirs returned to the Kimmel Cultural Campus for the first time since 2019 to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under the baton of guest conductor Kensho Watanabe.
As part of the annual concert event, Boyer College presented its 2022 Boyer College Tribute Award to music therapy alumna and visiting professor Tamsen Ann Ziff, BYR '16. The evening was marked by a very special surprise performance by internationally renowned soprano Renée Fleming, a friend of Ziff's who was thrilled to join us in honoring her. Fleming...
After almost a full academic year back on campus for in-person classes, we wanted to take a moment to recognize our faculty for their extraordinary achievements throughout 2021. Despite a virtual spring 2021 and select events remaining online-only, members of the full-time Boyer faculty continued to perform, present, publish and receive awards.
Read Boyer College of Music and Dance 2021 Faculty News
Dear Boyer Community,
It is with incredible sadness that I share with you that Florence Brown Palmore passed away on Saturday, February 26. We were informed two weeks ago that her health had been gradually improving. Since then, however, she became ill again and her condition declined very rapidly. Her family was with her at the end to provide her comfort and peace.
More information about final arrangements will be shared as they are available. Until then, please keep Florence’s family in your thoughts.
Florence dedicated so much of her life to the students,...
The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) announced the results of its 2022 elections. Dr. Deborah Confredo was named president-elect of NAfME National, a position she will start this year and hold until 2024.
Dr. Confredo is a professor of music education and the director of online graduate programs in music education at the Boyer College. In addition to numerous published articles on music education, pedagogy and research, Confredo is an instrumental editor, arranger, author and consultant for the FJH Music Company. A 42-year veteran...
On Jan. 24, Fareed Simpson-Hankins, BYR ’19, ’21, premiered his video series, Second Line Bebop, on YouTube. Of the public’s positive reaction, he said, “I don’t think people were expecting it to be what it was, which is a good feeling for jazz musicians, as we don’t like to be predictable.”
The video series highlights the cultural parallels between Philadelphia and New Orleans with a focus on jazz music. It was the culmination of research that Simpson-Hankins conducted with support from a $10,000 stipend granted through the Presser Graduate Music Award. Only graduate...
This month, Network for New Music presents its long-awaited Intersections program celebrating Professor Jan Krzywicki’s 30th anniversary as its conductor. The performances will take place Sunday, February 27 at 3:00pm (Settlement Music School, 416 Queen Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147) and Monday, February 28 at 7:30pm (Roberts Hall, Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 19041). Learn more about the events: https://www.networkfornewmusic.org/20212022-season
The program will include Krzywicki’s work Catching Light; the premiere...
Boyer College of Music and Dance presents its Third Annual Keyboard Department Festival, January 28 - February 6, 2022. These events are free and open to the public.
This year's Festival will feature faculty and students from the Department of Keyboard Studies in a series of recitals celebrating music by Iberian and Latinx composers. All performances will take place in Rock Hall Auditorium (1715 N. Broad) except for January 31, February 2 and February 6 as noted. Masks are required to attend, regardless of vaccination status.
Festival Schedule
Friday, January...
With a nod to Temple’s jazz program, the Philadelphia Inquirer named the Rite of Swing Jazz Café one of the city’s top 12 spots for live jazz. Boyer alumnus Tim Brey, '12 calls the weekly event one of jazz’s “best kept secrets” in Philly, where community members can experience live jazz performances by guest artists, Boyer faculty and its students for no charge. The Rite of Swing takes place in the Temple Performing Arts Center lobby on Thursdays throughout the semester from 4:30-6:30 PM.
Read the full article
American musicologist and performer Steven D. Zohn will receive the Georg Philipp Telemann Award on March 27, 2022 at a ceremony in Magdeburg, Germany. The winner of the 2022 Telemann Award has been associated with Telemann’s birthplace Magdeburg for many years as an active participant in international scholarly conferences, as an editorial board member and editor of the Telemann edition and as a member of the executive committee of the International Telemann Society. Zohn’s writings on Telemann have appeared in leading journals and reference works. In addition...
Dr. Charles Abramovic has been inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame, a prestigious designation recognizing the work of North America’s most committed and passionate piano educators. 2021 marks the second class of honorees, following the Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2019.
Each teacher inducted into the Hall of Fame was nominated by a Steinway & Sons showroom in the teacher’s home region. The teachers’ names are now displayed on a commemorative display wall inside the iconic factory.
Dr. Charles Abramovic is Nominated by Jacobs Music for...