WRTI Young Artist Spotlight: Saxophonist Katie Neary

by Lydia Veilleux
December 18
Katie Neary is an 18-year-old jazz saxophonist from the Philadelphia area. She is a first-year jazz studies performance student at Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, where she participates in various jazz ensembles. Katie attended Harriton High School and was formerly a member of the Lower Merion and Harriton Jazz Bands, the Philadelphia Youth Jazz Orchestra, the Helen K. Schwartz Advanced Jazz Ensemble at Settlement Music School, and the Kimmel Cultural Campus Creative Music Program jazz ensemble. Outside of playing music, Katie is learning the dance...

Boyer's 2023 soloist competition awards four winners

by Boyer College
December 14
This week, Boyer music students competed in the semifinal and final rounds of the 42nd annual student soloist competition. The adjudicating panel, comprised of Boyer's instrumental and vocal faculty, selected four winners who will perform their winning repertoire with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra on April 25 at the Temple Performing Arts Center. Julia Kuzmina (MM in Violin Performance), student of Laura H. Carnell Professor Eduard Schmieder: CHAUSSON Poème, Op. 25 Andreia Lucaciu (MM in Voice Performance), student of Associate Professor Christine...

Fall updates from Temple Music Prep

by Boyer College
December 01
This fall, Temple Music Prep hosted a variety of guest artists and saw many successes among its students, alumni and faculty. In October, Temple Music Prep continued its cultural exchange partnership with the Tónskóli Sigursveins D. Kristinssonar, based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Visiting students from Iceland spent the week rehearsing, performing and engaging in master classes here in Philadelphia, including a joint master class with the Center for Gifted Young Musicians (CGYM) featuring Music Prep alumna and violist Sheila Browne. Videos from their concert at the Trinity...

Honoring Larry McKenna

by Boyer College
November 22
The Boyer College of Music and Dance mourns the loss of saxophonist and jazz legend Larry McKenna. McKenna's storied career in performance, arranging and music education transcended six decades. A longtime friend of the Boyer College, McKenna spent several years as adjunct faculty for the Jazz Studies department, imparting a wealth of musical knowledge on many generations of Temple jazz students. McKenna's final recording project, World on a String, was released on Boyer's BCM&D Records label earlier this year. Jazz adjunct and Boyer alumnus Dan...

Voice and Opera students attend Met Opera dress rehearsal

by Boyer College
November 16
This week, Distinguished Visiting Professor Ann Ziff welcomed select Voice and Opera students to the final dress rehearsal for Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazones, which opens tonight at the Metropolitan Opera. Catán's 1996 opera tells the enchanting story of an opera diva who returns to her native South America to perform at the legendary opera house of Manaus—and to search for her lost lover, who has vanished into the jungle. "Fabulous Philadelphian" Yannick Nézet-Séguin is on the podium for this production, which runs through December 14. Seven undergraduate...

Boyer percussion students place in PASIC 2023 competitions

by Boyer College
November 13
Last week, four Boyer percussion students placed in two PASIC 2023 competitions. PASIC, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, took place Nov 8-11 in Indianapolis, IN. Freshman Tristan Bouyer, sophomore Livi Keenan, junior Elijah Nice, and second-year master's student Yeonju You took first place out of 20 pre-selected groups in PASIC's collegiate-level chamber competition. Coached by Associate Professor Phillip O'Banion, Adjunct Professor Bill Wozniak, Dean Robert Stroker and others, this remarkably talented group of performance majors won with ...

BCM+D Records Releases World Premiere Recording Showcasing Contemporary American Women Composers

by Bucklesweet Media
September 26
Before She Became Fire: BCM+D Records Releases World Premiere Recording Showcasing Contemporary American Women Composers The album features mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis and pianist Samuel Martin and explores complex themes of life, death and legacy. WASHINGTON– BCM+D Records, the recording label of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, released a new piano/vocal album this fall featuring mezzo-soprano Kathryn Leemhuis and pianist Samuel Martin entitled Before She Became Fire. The world premiere recording features a collection of remarkable...

Honoring JoAnne Epps

by Robert T. Stroker
September 20
Dear CPCA Community, The shockingly sudden passing of Acting President JoAnne Epps is felt acutely by so many of us. She was great leader, colleague and friend. Her years of service to Temple University provided her with a wonderful understanding of the vastness of this university and all of its parts, and she was passionate about seeing every one of us succeed. Her dedication to the mission and the people that form our Temple University community will continue to be inspiration to all.  Additional information regarding a memorial service will be announced by the...

Boyer College Spring/Summer 2023 Faculty News

by Boyer College
September 15
A new academic year is underway, and the faculty of the Boyer College of Music and Dance have continued to actively record, publish, create/curate artistic works, win awards, perform, present at conferences and more. We look forward to what's in store for the rest of 2023-2024! Read Boyer College of Music and Dance Spring/Summer 2023 News

Bill Cunliffe's "Rainforests" released on BCM+D Records

by Boyer College
September 08
Jazz Pianist, Composer and Grammy Award-Winning Arranger Bill Cunliffe’s Three-Part Composition Rainforests Celebrates the Tropical Mangroves Performed by the Temple University Studio Orchestra with Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Tim Warfield, Bruce Barth, Mike Boone and Justin Faulkner Conducted by José Luis Domínguez Available on Digital Platforms on September 8 via BCM+D Records While jazz pianist, composer and Grammy Award-winning arranger Bill Cunliffe continued to teach and arrange music with normal efficiency during the COVID...

What does queer performance have in common with country music?

by Kiki Volkert
June 22
Boyer Professor Shana Goldin-Perschbacher, author of Queer Country, explains the similarities between queer performance and country music, including topics of longing, isolation, community, sincerity and wearing a costume. A recently released book Queer Country, written by associate professor of music studies at Boyer College of Music and Dance Shana Goldin-Perschbacher, has received recognition as one of the best music books of 2022 from Pitchfork, Variety and other notable publications. Goldin-Perschbacher specializes in popular music studies and identity studies, which...

Boyer students and faculty light up the Kimmel Center at 20th annual concert

by Brent Baum
June 02
On March 31, Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance continued its tradition of performing both traditional and modern masterpieces at its 20th Annual Concert at the Kimmel Cultural Campus.  The Temple University Choirs, Symphony Orchestra and Studio Orchestra performed Done Made My Vow by Adolphus Hailstork, the world premiere of Labyrinth by Billy Childs and Suite From The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky.  “All three pieces received standing ovations and there was real electricity in the house. You could feel it. The space is beautiful and the...

Lorenzo Mazzamuto, BYR ’20, joins Teatro Massimo Bellini as concertmaster

by Patricia Thrasher Mazzamuto
May 17
Lorenzo Mazzamuto, BYR ’20, a string pedagogy alumnus, won the audition for the concertmaster position with the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Sicily in February 2023. Mazzamuto officially gave his first performance with the Teatro Massimo Bellini on Saturday, April 15, conducted by music director Fabrizio Maria Carminati. Mazzamuto comes from a family of classical musicians, so it was of no surprise when he began his first violin lessons at the age of three. At the age of nine, he was accepted into the State Conservatory of Music Vincenzo Bellini and studied under Vito...

Announcing Boyer College's 2023 Faculty Retirees

by Boyer College
May 15
With the conclusion of the 22-23 academic year, Boyer College of Music and Dance bids a fond farewell to three of its distinguished full-time professors. Dr. David Cannata, Dr. Matthew Greenbaum and Prof. Jan Krzywicki, all of the Department of Music Studies, will retire from Temple University at the end of June. Honoring their countless contributions to their fields and to Boyer College, highlights of their successes and publications have been outlined below. Dr. David Cannata, associate professor of music history Dr. David Cannata's musicological interests have been...

Temple University Studio Orchestra's Jazz at Lincoln Center performance receives stellar review

by Sarah Downs
April 20
Read the full review on Front Row Center. Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance has a robust, award-winning music program. Their excellence was well in evidence at Rose Hall on Sunday night April 16th, in a Classical- Jazz concert that featured the University’s Symphony Orchestra, Studio Orchestra, and Jazz Band. In addition, Temple’s Faculty Jazz Sextet performed, celebrating their new CD Fly With the Wind. In a flurry of energetic percussion, daring brass and beguiling strings, the various ensembles shone, performing in several styles, from a pure...

Sara Davis Buechner honored by Temple with prestigious faculty award

by Boyer College
April 17
Annually, Temple recognizes its faculty members’ achievements in teaching, research, creativity and service with its prestigious faculty awards, the university’s greatest honors given to teachers and scholars. Current and former students and colleagues alike nominate the recipients. This year, Temple selected Sara Davis Buechner, professor of keyboard studies, for its Faculty Award for Creative Achievement. View all of the 2023 awardees.