At the CU Boulder Entrepreneurship Center for Music (ECM), students can find the skills and tools they need for their music careers. Most recently, the ECM awarded $5,820 in artist assistance grants to support eight student-led professional development and community engagement projects including:
Josie ArnettJosie Arnett
鈥淚鈥檓 really picky about which pieces I release on streaming platforms because I鈥檓 20 and need to be able to write really bad music 鈥� and then release the things that I really love,鈥� says Josie Arnett, an undergraduate composition student.听
鈥淟ast fall, I got the opportunity to write a saxophone quartet piece for a group that travels all over the United States. I was really happy with the piece and really proud of it, so I reached out to a faculty member who set me up with the CU Boulder graduate saxophone quartet.鈥�
Sanitas Saxophone QuartetWorking with the Sanitas Saxophone Quartet, College of Music Recording Engineer Kevin Harbison and a mixing artist, Arnett recorded the piece for projected release on streaming platforms this summer. The ECM grant helped pay the artists and distribution fee.
Arnett says she learned a lot about how to interact in a professional recording setting and enjoyed collaborating within the College of Music. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been fun to work with people that have a lot of energy, positive attitudes and are just really excited about what they do,鈥� she shares.
Alice Del Simone
At the end of May, DMA student in voice performance and pedagogy Alice Del Simone was part of a workshop presentation at the Voice Foundation Symposium in Philadelphia titled 鈥淟egato Then and Now, Vibrato Edition: A Close-Up of What Happens Between the Pitches in the Classical Bel Canto Tradition.鈥澨�
鈥淭he workshop offered a toolbox of exercises for how to teach the type of legato singing that was happening at the end of the 1800s, beginning of the 1900s when we started to have recordings available,鈥� Del Simone says.
鈥淚t was my very first time presenting at a conference where there are often hurdles for a young academic to get an invitation to present. I鈥檝e been lucky that I鈥檝e been able to work with a group of people who are more prominent in the community than myself.鈥�
During the symposium, Del Simone stayed at the conference hotel, partially funded by her ECM grant.听
Zachary Howarth
Zachary Howarth, a DMA student in jazz studies, will go on the road this summer to record music in studios in Reno and South Lake Tahoe. Howarth also hopes to perform this music live in venues across Colorado and Nevada.听
The project will involve a contemporary jazz quartet鈥攖rumpet, piano, bass, drums鈥攚riting and recording the music. The ECM grant will help the project get off the ground by assisting with studio fees, production costs and travel expenses.听
鈥淭he opportunity to write, record and play music with such high-level artists is invaluable to my collaborative research in compositional tendencies in contemporary jazz mediums and fully improvised music,鈥� Howarth says.听
SeaJun KwonSeaJun Kwon
SeaJun Kwon, also a DMA student in jazz studies, likes writing compositions that push the boundaries of jazz music including 鈥淎vant Shorts鈥濃��10 etudes exploring micro tonalities and rhythmic concepts that aren鈥檛 commonly used in jazz compositions.听
Kwon plans to compose these etudes and begin recording them over the summer, using a microphone setup funded by an ECM grant.听
鈥淚 thought I鈥檇 write a bunch of super short compositions that focus on different ideas to develop myself and provide my community with these resources,鈥� Kwon says.听
By keeping them brief, he hopes to make the compositions more accessible and useful for his community.听
鈥淧eople are really busy, there are so many things that you have to do and also so many distractions,鈥� Kwon says. 鈥淚 think these short compositions put less pressure on people鈥攖hey can work on them for 10 minutes and still learn from them.鈥澨�
Er-Hsuan Li with orchestraEr-Hsuan Li
Er-Hsuan Li graduated from the College of Music in May with a DMA in piano performance. In April, he held a concert featuring the world premiere of John Clay Allen鈥檚 鈥溾�澨齝oncerto for piano and strings along with Dmitri Shostakovich鈥檚 Piano Concerto No. 1.
鈥淚t was a very fun event,鈥� Li says. 鈥淓ven though it was off-campus, it was really CU that made this possible because that鈥檚 how we connected.鈥�
Many CU Boulder musicians participated including conductor and Associate Director of Orchestras Renee Gilliland, composition alumnus John Clay Allen, Anna Kallinikos鈥攚ho鈥檚 majoring in trumpet performance and minoring in business鈥攁nd the majority of the 18-member orchestra. The ECM grant assisted Li with compensating the performers and renting the venue.
鈥淚 had performed in front of an orchestra only once before when I was a high schooler,鈥� Li recalls. 鈥淪o it was really special for me that鈥攁fter 13 years鈥擨 got to do this again professionally. And I would like to think that I am a better musician now compared to then!鈥�
Ethan StahlEthan Stahl
When Ethan Stahl discovered Nkeiru Okoye鈥檚 music, he knew he鈥檇听found something special. 鈥淚 loved her music so much that I began working on it for one of my degree recitals,鈥� he says. 鈥淓ventually, it became evident that I had enough material to create a lecture recital.鈥�
To prepare, Stahl鈥攚ho鈥檚 pursuing a DMA in piano performance鈥攊nterviewed Okoye about her music. 鈥淲e talked on the phone for a few hours and in that conversation, she proposed the idea of writing a piece for me to add to one of the sets of piano pieces that I was studying.鈥� The ECM grant helped fund Okoye鈥檚 contribution.
Okoye鈥檚 music is already part of the American Music Research Center鈥檚 Helen Walker-Hill Collection; her upcoming composition will be added to the collection.
鈥淥koye is extremely novel in the world of piano composition,鈥� Stahl adds. 鈥淚鈥檝e never heard piano music that is similar stylistically to hers.鈥澨�
Natalie Trejo
Artist Diploma student Natalie Trejo competed in the finals for the Austin Flute Society鈥檚 Young Artist Competition in April鈥攁nd the ECM grant helped her get there.听
鈥淚 submitted the preliminary recordings back in January. From there, they selected three finalists to perform in the live final round in Austin, Texas,鈥� Trejo says. 鈥淚t went really well. I ended up getting third but I was very happy with how I played and I was not nervous at all.鈥�
Trejo performed Chen Yi鈥檚 鈥淢emory鈥� for solo flute and Frank Martin鈥檚 鈥淏allade鈥� for flute and piano.听
鈥淚 love doing competitions because I get to learn new repertoire, meet new flutists, make connections and get to know the other finalists鈥攊t鈥檚 very important and humbling, but still encouraging,鈥� Trejo says.
Jonathon Winter
Another spring 2024 graduate, Jonathon Winter鈥攚ho earned a DMA in violin performance鈥攔ecorded four pieces to be compiled into an album titled 鈥淥rigin: Music by Women of the Americas.鈥� The pieces are 鈥渒o鈥檜 inoa鈥� by Leilehua Lanzilotti, 鈥淪cratch the Surface鈥� by Dana Kaufman, 鈥淪tring Poetic鈥� by Jennifer Higdon and 鈥淪ue帽os de Chambi鈥� by Gabriel Lena Frank.
鈥淚 picked some fiendishly difficult music to play but it was so worth it,鈥� Winter says. 鈥淚 learned so much about preparing for recordings and what that actually entails.鈥�
Winter worked with pianist and Postdoctoral Lecturer Barbara Noyes, as well as Kevin Harbison to record all four pieces over the course of seven months. Winter will continue the project over the summer with the goal of finding a label to disseminate the recordings.
Congratulations to all grant recipients and our thanks to this year鈥檚 adjudicators: College of Music staff member Kathryn Bistodeau, Music Advisory Board member Laurie Hathorn and University of Denver entrepreneurship faculty member Neil Pollard.听
