At the CU Boulder College of Music, student ingenuity and creativity know no bounds. Recently, two graduate students—Nicholas Felder, a DMA student in music composition and Ian Gunnarschja, a master’s student in saxophone performance and pedagogy—received grants supporting their innovative projects.

Felder’s grant came from  with support from the CU Boulder Office of the Provost and CU Boulder University Libraries. Open CU shares educational resources across the four CU campuses and beyond; any content created is made publicly available.

“My project—Equitable Practices in Music—will be an open Canvas course focusing on topics such as personal and social identity, systems of power and oppression, and cultural humility,” Felder says, “to support my Basic Composition class as well as student musicians broadly.”

Along with developing this resource, he has been leading equity workshops at our College of Music to help students consider practices such as compassionate listening and open communication. “I would love to thank the open educational resource [OER] leads and the CU Boulder Digital Accessibility Office for all their support and guidance during the development of this project,” Felder adds.

While the College of Music is fortunate to have DEI Director Alexis McClain on staff, other colleges and schools of music across the country don’t have their own diversity, equity and inclusion resources or staff. “They rely on university programming to implement equitable practices,” Felder explains. “I’m looking forward to sharing this content with students in the College of Music and music schools nationwide.”

Gunnarschja’s grant came from the CU Boulder Center for Humanities & the Arts' MFA/MM Excellence in Creative Research Microgrant which supports the creative practice of master’s students—e.g., equipment, space, materials and honoraria that are not otherwise covered.

“The grant supports my development of an accessible website that supports neurodiverse musicians in their pursuit of wellness,” Gunnarschja says. “This resource will focus on practices such as the Alexander Technique, Body Mapping and Dalcroze, alongside a curated selection of general resources that are beneficial to the neurodivergent community.”

More specifically, the CHA grant will help fund the website domain, allow Gunnarschja to interview experts and increase accessibility on the website.

“This website represents a novel approach to a master’s thesis by prioritizing an accessible, user-friendly and lasting format,” Gunnarschja adds. “I aim to foster a thriving community where musicians of varying neurodiversity can connect, support one another and access wellness resources that meet their unique needs.

“I look forward to creating a space where I can curate resources that I would have benefited from as a neurodiverse musician.”

Congratulations to Felder and Gunnarschja for their meaningful achievements!

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Photo: Internationally acclaimed clarinetist Mariam Adam headlines Colorado Clarinet Day 2025.

It seemed like a nice idea, recalls Professor of Clarinet Daniel Silver: Let’s gather together the clarinet programs at Colorado’s four major Front Range university music departments and create a day celebrating the clarinet with workshops, exhibits, a lecture, maybe a concert or two and a master class with a guest artist. Let's call it Colorado Clarinet Day.

That was 15 years ago—and it's been going strong ever since. On Jan. 19, 2025, Colorado Clarinet Day returns to the CU Boulder College of Music.

“There’s always been camaraderie among us,” notes Silver, referring to his counterparts at Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. The clarinet departments agreed to each hold a Clarinet Day annually, with the locale rotating, so that each campus would host every four years; thus, it falls on CU Boulder to welcome clarinet lovers to our Imig Music Building next month.

Every Colorado Clarinet Day is different, Silver points out. “Each host puts their own stamp on it.”

The upcoming Clarinet Day will begin with a morning recital by Colorado players (with guests from Wyoming), followed by Silver's talk on practicing techniques. An afternoon concert by the Ambler Clarinet Choir will be followed by a free evening recital featuring guest clarinetist —with Suyeon Kim, associate teaching professor, collaborative piano—at 6:45 p.m. in Grusin Music Hall.

Silver notes the significance of Adam’s presence. A founding member of Imani Winds and a sought-after international soloist, she represents more than a superior interpreter of the clarinet: “She’s a woman of color and—going back 30 years—there haven’t been many like her in the music world. We need more like her, shining a light on (musicians) who are not white males.”

Referencing the College of Music’s universal musician approach to achieving its mission, he adds: “We’re seeing a reflection of that here, where we’ve taken steps to increase the diversity of our people.”

Recalling the first Clarinet Day, Silver points out: “We had about 60 attendees. Now, each event attracts around 200.” So, who are all those clarinet lovers? Students, alumni, educators and performers, as well as exhibitors—from Brad Behn and Brandon Chambers to the Flesher-Hinton Music Company, Mark Sloss Professional Wind Instrument Consultants and Vandoren | Dansr.

Lastly, Silver highlighted another important category of attendees: “Audiences who just want to hear good music.”

We thank all participating staff, faculty, and guest artists and teachers; and we thank the Roser Visiting Artists Program, the CU Boulder Center for Humanities & the Arts and Conn-Selmer for their support of Colorado Clarinet Day.

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NASM celebrates 100 years
Last month, Dean John Davis attended the annual meeting—and centennial celebration—of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) in Chicago, Illinois. This organization of schools, conservatories, colleges and universities establishes national standards for undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as other credentials for music and music-related disciplines. Our college has been a member since 1941.

Dear friends,

As we approach our much-anticipated annual Holiday Festival performances this weekend, I’m filled with awe and gratitude as I reflect on a busy, successful fall semester at the CU Boulder College of Music—including continued progress in developing multiskilled, multifaceted universal musicians.

Our commitment to both refining and expanding our offerings has never felt more relevant—and more urgent; our faculty members, advisors and other staff are highly motivated to ensure that our students not only master their chosen craft, but also emerge as well-rounded, adaptable professionals prepared to take on the opportunities and challenges of a rapidly changing world.

Having represented our College of Music at several conferences this fall—including, among others, the annual conferences of the College Music Society and National Association of Music Executives at State Universities, the National Association of Schools of Music annual meeting, and the annual conference of the International Council for Arts Deans in Montreal, Canada—I was heartened to observe that our work at CU Boulder reflects real-world trends and mandates in music education. Colleges and schools like ours are similarly focused on widening students’ horizons, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations and emphasizing broadly-based skills. I’m proud that our approach amplifies current best practices at comparable institutions, nationally and internationally.

We’re also aware that the landscape of higher education is shifting and that we must be vigilant, agile and proactive. In the new year, changes to federal policies may impact how we accomplish—and communicate—our work; what ������’t changing, however, is our commitment to support our students with the resources, knowledge, experiences and inspirations they need to succeed and thrive in their chosen ventures—and in life. To that end, we continue to deepen our relationships with campus partners including Chancellor Justin Schwartz, who champions our efforts. The new CU Boulder chancellor has encouraged our campus community to embody courage, curiosity, care and consistency as we engage with one another, prioritize free expression and pursue creative ideas. His vision aligns with our values and I’m optimistic that the College of Music—along with all arts and humanities units on campus—will prosper under his leadership, and sustain our current momentum in student recruitment and retention.

By reimagining our offerings to include more diverse disciplines and perspectives, we’re implementing a richer, more holistic educational experience for our students that ignites their explorations across wide-ranging fields of interest—while nurturing their capacity to engage meaningfully, compassionately and confidently with the summons of our time.

From our dedicated community of supporters to our versatile students to our forward-looking faculty and staff, I’m immensely proud of what we’ve already achieved together. In the new year, stay tuned for announcements of our most recent programmatic and curricular developments that meet the moment—including a new BA degree emphasis.

Meanwhile, I wish you peaceful, joyful holidays!

John Davis
Dean, College of Music

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Cody Goetz (MM ’19, piano performance + pedagogy) was part of the first cohort to graduate from the College of Music with a Graduate Certificate in Arts Administration. In 2022, he became executive director of . 

“It's my firm belief that the arts administration program helped prepare me to become a nonprofit executive,” Goetz says. 

According to its website, Mundi Project “actively breaks down socioeconomic and generational barriers by providing high quality music experiences for all.” Mundi Project programs place donated pianos with people or organizations that can’t afford them, teach community piano classes, put on workshops and concerts covering various musical cultures and intergenerational learning, and more.

Under Goetz's leadership, Mundi Project is the recipient of a $130,000 grant from as part of a new pilot program from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with South Arts and in collaboration with the other five U.S. regional arts organizations. More than 4,000 organizations applied; only . 

“These grants support specific projects that will strengthen the organizations’ capacity to sustain meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation for underserved groups and communities,” shares Goetz.

Specific to Mundi Project, the ArtsHERE award will support two key initiatives: Creating a strategic plan and providing professional development in community music education, trauma-informed practices, accessibility and cultural competency for staff, board, teaching artists and volunteers. “These initiatives will strengthen Mundi Project’s capacity, cultivate an inclusive culture and improve program delivery to better serve diverse communities,” adds Goetz.

“I want to express my gratitude for my educational experience at CU Boulder and how the power of my experience has led me to have early successes in my arts administration career.”

Congratulations to Goetz and the entire Mundi Project team!

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“The length of alternative keyboards is the same as standard keyboards, only the width of each key is very slightly smaller,” Terrill says. The CU Boulder College of Music has had such a keyboard on loan from the since April 2023, featuring a six-inch octave instead of the standard six-and-a-half-inch octave.

“The reason I got interested was because I have tendonitis and I noticed a bunch of my female pianist friends were also getting tendonitis. I’ve had friends who have had to quit because they got some kind of severe playing-related injury,” Terrill says.

can help pianists avoid injuries sustained from over-reaching and enable individuals with smaller hands to play some repertoire that is physically impossible for them to perform on standard-size pianos. 

“Keyboards are made to a standard size and the human hand is not a standard size,” says Jennifer Hayghe, associate professor of piano and chair of the Roser Piano + Keyboard Program at the College of Music. “In my 25 years as a professor, I have seen the number of students with injuries rise exponentially. I spend a lot of my time working with students trying to reduce their stress and tension and work through the injuries they’ve accrued. I do believe that if we had smaller keyboards as a standard thing, that would not be an issue.”

The piece loaned to the College of Music is a piano action—that is, the keyboard and the mechanism that causes hammers to strike the strings when keys are pressed. This action can technically fit onto any piano, though some fittings are more difficult than others. Mark Mikkelson and Phil Taylor, both piano technicians at the College of Music, say they put in 50 to 60 hours of work fitting the alternative keyboard into a Steinway piano.

“The problem in making these keyboards for Steinway instruments is that Steinways are entirely handmade, which means they’re not all exactly the same,” Hayghe explains. “So when alternative keyboards are made as close as possible to a ‘standard’ Steinway size, all these little adjustments are necessary. It took a long time and a lot of adjusting to get that keyboard used to that piano.” 

As part of her master’s thesis, Terrill discovered that attitudes around alternative keyboards are often of disdain. “I was really frustrated when I first started this research because I was telling people how unfair it was to not have smaller keyboards available to students—and the reaction I heard most was people saying ‘you don’t need that, you just need to fix your technique.’ So my response was, if I can show numbers to people who don’t want to bother with having to switch sizes, that may be more convincing.”

Terrill’s thesis project involved 15 pianists playing a musical excerpt on a standard piano, and then on a narrow keyboard. She measured their errors when initially playing on the alternative keyboard and after 10 minutes of practice. 

“We found that everyone by the end—transitioning from the standard size to the second try on the narrow keyboard—had fewer errors than on the first try,” Terrill says. “Most of them said ‘I wish I could practice more on it.’”

Since graduating this spring, Terrill has been teaching piano lessons—another instance when narrow keyboards would be helpful. “Most instruments have smaller versions for when you’re learning as a kid, but not the piano,” she notes.

“I really see this as an equality issue. I’m looking for movement from people. I want to push for more research and for people to have conversations about it—I think even arguments will help.”

Related:
(NPR)

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Betancourt—a native of Venezuela and an accomplished classical guitarist—will continue to serve as director at Macky which welcomes more than 100,000 people to over 100 events every season. He says adding the beloved series to the venue’s portfolio has the potential to turn over a new page for both.

“The Artist Series has been evolving for decades with an unparalleled cultural impact,” he says. “Having the Artist Series within Macky’s portfolio helps the venue to be a presenter as much as a facility for rent.”

Betancourt says the Artist Series will continue to delight long-time patrons as it also seeks to expand and diversify its programming.

“The series will still include dance, classical music, jazz, performing arts from all over the world, as well as new genres. Keeping true to its well-established mission while feeling the cultural pulse in Boulder will help determine its evolution,” he says. “There will be wonderful choices for our legacy and new audiences to enjoy.”

When CU Presents Executive Director Joan Braun retired at the end of June after 30 years, it was determined that it made sense to separate the curation of the Artist Series from the operations of CU Presents. Braun and CU Boulder College of Music Dean John Davis recommended Betancourt to be the Artist Series director as the most natural choice.

“Rudy is an excellent, accomplished musician and he has impeccable taste and awareness of the music scene,” Braun says. “As director of Macky, he also is very aware of audience tastes and preferences, and what they respond to. He can see some different pathways and possibilities and I’m excited to see what he does with it.”

“Joan’s legacy of innovation in the arts and securing the Artist Series’ place in the hearts of its audiences is a tall order—one that I am honored to continue. I am excited to work with the College of Music’s leadership and the Artist Series Advisory Board. It is a real privilege,” Betancourt says.

Betancourt will continue to work closely with the staff at CU Presents. “The CU Presents team brings unparalleled knowledge of how to reach our audiences and cultivate our relationship with them,” he says. “Continuing and deepening this collaboration will be paramount to the success of the series.”

CU Presents will continue to work with other as well as with the and .

Tickets for the are on sale now.

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Overseeing CU Presents requires administrative skill, a steady hand and a cool head. Just consider the competition Metzroth had to contend with after longtime director Joan Braun retired at the end of last season.

“I’m happy that the College of Music conducted a national search,” says Metzroth. “I think there were about three dozen applicants.” But one look at his résumé and it’s not surprising that Metzroth landed the position. For starters, his years of experience in nearly every aspect of the theater—backstage, onstage, above-stage, you name it—is mind-boggling. As his local credits will attest, he’s been everywhere at CU Presents for decades. Plus, his enthusiasm is contagious.

“I’ve always had a love for the theater,” he says. As for his relationship with CU Boulder, he became box office manager in 2007, handling ticketing for campus performing arts events for nine years. That’s no small task, he emphasizes: “The ticketing software [Tessitura] goes incredibly deep, and takes a long time to learn and teach.” Moving further up the ladder, he became director of operations at CU Presents in 2017. 

Today, Metzroth’s responsibilities entail close involvement in managing the Artist Series in Macky Auditorium and Takács Quartet concerts in Grusin Music Hall. But there are more shows to handle—a lot more. “There are some 450 on-campus events including about 350 College of Music events, 50 Theatre & Dance Department events and 50 Colorado Shakespeare Festival performances,” he explains. “I’ll be involved in strategy, ticketing, and marketing and communications for all our series, particularly College of Music events. You have to know what’s important to all of them, to know their goals.”

Not that he intends to remain invisible. “I never want this to be a desk job,” stresses the four-time CU Boulder alumnus. “I see myself as a community ambassador—I want to bring audiences into performing arts experiences.”

In previous years, you could usually find Metzroth behind a box office window handling ticket sales. With a laugh, he says those days may not be entirely behind him. “Yeah, I might have to work there some nights, if we’re short-staffed.”

But as long as there’s a show going on, CU Presents’ new executive director is happy. “We’re performance- and outreach-oriented,” he adds. “An example of upcoming outreach opportunities are student matinees of [Engelbert Humperdinck’s] ‘’ in October. We’ll be bringing in students from kindergarten through second grade. That will take some coordinating with a number of schools.”

Sounds like a lot of work for “Metz”—but it’s a good bet he’ll be as excited as all those kids when the school buses arrive.

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Last summer, the College of Music and  (SPA) kicked off a new partnership to welcome 22 talented string students—ages 11-17—to our campus for an intensive scholarship program emphasizing cultural diversity. 

This month, June 20-30, it’s déjâ vu as auditioned youths engage in lessons, master classes and performances with their instructors and guest teachers—all under the auspices of the Sphinx Organization and thanks to a DEI Impact Grant from the CU Boulder Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

That’s a lot to plan and implement. Yet for Alex Gonzalez—returning SPA faculty member and College of Music assistant professor of violin—it’s all a joy. “It’s wonderful to see how the SPA gives the kids space to grow, presenting them options as they pursue music,” he says.

In between, Gonzalez explains, the students do more than improve their skills on violin, viola, cello and bass: “For example, Jim Brody, who runs the College of Music’s wellness program, instructed them in healthy playing habits. It’s so important for them to learn how to prevent injury and avoid poor practice positions.” Gonzalez also notes a master class by violinist Andrea Segar who’ll join the College of Music faculty as assistant professor of violin this fall. 

Success stories are many. Among the 22 students who’ve flown in from around the country, a few are returning from last summer’s inaugural SPA on our campus; and, according to Gonzalez, three students from the first cohort have applied for admission to CU Boulder and were accepted—including SPA alum Ryannah Blackman who will join Gonzalez’s violin studio as a freshman performance major this fall. “She told me, ‘The SPA made me want to settle here,’” he says. 

A member of the Sphinx Virtuosi where he’s concertmaster, touring extensively with the group across the country and abroad, Gonzalez understands first-hand that the road to success in music ������’t without its challenges. But programs like the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization, established in 1997 to focus on “increasing representation of Black and Latinx artists in classical music,” have done much to ease and advance that journey.

Intense teaching and motivation are valuable, of course, but the SPA provides something else, Gonzales discovered: “There’s a sense of community here, friendships have developed,” he says. “These kids are sharing their love of music, of being together. I think it lifts them up. 

“They’ve worked hard but they got Sundays off, so they went on field trips. They went to the Pearl Street Mall and they took hikes. They got to see Boulder.” 

See you next year, SPA!

SPA faculty and students will perform in Grusin Music Hall tonight and this weekend.

Photos: Kathryn Bistodeau, Sphinx Organization

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“I’m looking forward to further developing the projects I started through my research here at CU Boulder,” says Yamaguchi. “Completing this degree has helped me realize my strength and solidify my focus as a multifaceted artist.”

Yamaguchi came to CU Boulder as a doctoral student with credentials as an accomplished teacher, performer and entrepreneur. She started playing violin at age 8 (she describes her musical roots as being a “Suzuki violin kid”), and went on to earn a bachelor’s in music from the University of Minnesota and a master’s from Florida State University.

Our College of Music offered Yamaguchi opportunities to expand her already refined approach as a musician, educator and artist. Thanks in part to the mentorship of top-notch faculty and the availability of top-tier academic resources, Yamaguchi has deepened her connection to music—and to the history of the art form.

Her time at CU Boulder saw Yamaguchi researching and creating a new edition of two violin sonatas by Nobu Kōda, a Japanese composer of the Meiji era whose works were historically excluded from the classical canon, due in part to the fact that she was a woman. 

The DMA program also offered Yamaguchi the chance to create a new curriculum for beginning string students. This curriculum, which focuses on teaching music theory through composition and improvisation, wasn’t just theoretical: Yamaguchi had the chance to put the system into practice with students at El Sistema Colorado.

In addition, Yamaguchi—who’s also the inaugural recipient of the András Szentkirályi Memorial Scholarship—found opportunities to present her research, insights and innovations to an audience beyond our campus. In 2023, she presented during the National American String Teachers Association’s annual conference, specifically detailing research that drew connections between bell hooks’ pedagogical framework and music education.

All of these accomplishments align with the mission that Yamaguchi had in mind when she decided to pursue her doctoral work at CU Boulder. “I was looking for a program that would allow me to gain hands-on teaching experience and explore my interdisciplinary research interests,” she says.

“I was very fortunate to have a graduate teaching assistantship throughout my degree,” she adds, explaining that the assistantship allowed her to interact firsthand with students, and to learn the ins and outs of the academic world. “I taught lessons to undergraduate and graduate students, assisted with music theory courses and grew my understanding of the inner workings of academia.”

All of this valuable experience is set to pay off in very practical ways. This spring, for example, Yamaguchi will head directly from Boulder to Wisconsin where she’ll manage this year’s Blackbird Creative Lab, a prestigious musical immersion event hosted by Grammy Award-winning musicians—surely only the first of many ways that she’ll carry what she learned at our College of Music into the wider world.

“The DMA challenged me in ways that were expected and unexpected,” she concludes. “Throughout, I’ve been very grateful for the community of teachers and colleagues who have supported me. The relationships I’ve formed at CU will continue.”

Congratulations, Joy—and to all our fantastic 2024 graduates!

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“[In the United States,] I pronounce my last name ‘Wee,’” he replies to Question No. 1, explaining that his family is Chinese-Filipino. “My parents immigrated from Manila and I was born in Las Vegas. I grew up in southern California.”

Question No. 2 addresses the bottom of his bio, which notes that Uy “biked across the United States, from California to Massachusetts, in 42 days.” 

So, the obvious query: Will he peddle his way from Massachusetts to begin his new position in Boulder? More laughter. “Actually, I thought about it—but only for a minute.” Instead, he’ll pack his bags and drive west to assume a critical role at our college.

“The center provides an excellent opportunity for a researcher and professor,” he says. “In Boulder, I can immerse myself in the center’s archives, as well as incorporate the material in my teaching.”

Uy has a rich background in academia: He’s published a book on public and private arts funding and his other work appears in American Music, Journal of the Society for American Music, Journal of Musicology, and Music and Arts in Action. He’s also the recipient of several prestigious teaching awards and served as the Allston Burr Resident Dean of Dunster House and Assistant Dean of Harvard College from 2017 to 2023.

Uy is enthusiastic about the wide-ranging responsibilities and activities ahead of him. “I want to gain a deeper understanding of how the center operates and learn from its remarkable previous directors,” he says. “From them, the advisory board and others, I can think about how best to realize the center’s mission and how to achieve the goals of helping students and the community engage with our archival material. Perhaps our amazing performers within the College of Music students and faculty can showcase this music.

“I look forward to working with both undergraduate and graduate students, and I hope to continue to raise the profile of the AMRC.”

Uy also speaks in admiration of the college’s universal musician mission to develop well-rounded, multiskilled students. “I think the work of the center ties in with this mission perfectly,” he says. “Through what we do, what we research and what we write, we can all learn more about ourselves.”

“We should remember the AMRC’s location and history as part of the ‘American West,’” he adds. “Integral to our work will be documenting, preserving and performing the contributions of Native Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans and African Americans. This is what America really looks and looked like.

“At the AMRC, we can support this research, preservation and history sharing.”

The first person in his family to attend college in the United States—earning a bachelor’s at the University of California, Berkeley; a master’s at Oxford University; and a doctorate at Harvard University—Uy identifies as a member of the BGLTQ community and a person of color who’s committed to a more socially just world. He is an avid coxswain, runner and peony farmer.

Welcome!

Our gratitude to Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Austin Okigbo who served as interim director of the American Music Research Center this past academic year.

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