Students and Alumni in the News

10/07  Bassist and jazz alumnus Derrick Hodge stepped into the limelight this month to debut the new Derrick Hodge Project at the Blue Note in New York for a one night only performance.  Hodge, who has performed with Terell Stafford, Kanye West, Terence Blanchard and Mulgrew Miller, sees this band as a "starting point for a lifelong quest to keep music honest, relevant to the people and uninhibited by genre."

09/07 Soprano Geraldine Bianco will be among the soloists in “A Grand Night for Singing,” the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical revue presented by the Theater League of Clifton (New Jersey). Geraldine Bianco was heard this past spring singing for the New Jersey State Opera Guild.  She also performs regularly with the Coro D’Italia, a traditional Italian performance group, singing opera arias and Neapolitan songs. Bianco debuted at Carnegie Hall in “The Gift of Music” and has sung with the Montclair Chamber Ensemble in their “Tribute to Bernstein” concert narrated by Jamey Bernstein Thomas, and with the Livingston Symphony. Bianco holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in voice and opera performance from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance. She continued her training under the wing of the late Metropolitan Opera basso Jerome Hines. She is also the musical director of the annual musical at Rand Elementary School in Montclair, and has a private voice studio in Montclair.

08/07 Boyer alumnus Timothy Schwartz has been appointed as professor of violin and viola as well as chair of the string department at Lehigh University.  Congratulations Professor Schwartz.

07/07 Boyer alumnus Emiliano Pardo-Tristán (D.M.A. in Composition, ’06) is organizing the “VI International Guitar Encounter, Panama 2007,” which will take place in Panama City from July 23-28. He will teach a seminar on Guitar Technique and Interpretation and will give a conference on the guitar music of composer Roque Cordero. Pardo-Tristán is the founder and artistic director of this guitar festival, which is currently the most important one in Panama. On this ocassion he will have two world premieres: “Pastiche” for five clarinets, violin, and guitar by the Panamanian group Clarinon; and “The Land of the Chucuchuco” for guitar quartet by EntreQuatre, a renowned Spanish guitar quartet. The Panama National Orchestra will also perform his “Fantasía” for strings. In one of the six festival concerts, Pardo-Tristán will play music from his recently released CD: “Contemporary Chamber Music from Panama” which includes performances by Boyer College of Music and Dance teachers and students. For a Spanish Blog of the “VI International Guitar Encounter, Panama 2007,” please visit:

http://agp-encuentro-2007.blogspot.com/

Emiliano’s CD’s can be purchased at:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/emiliano2

 

11/06 Boyer College doctoral student and alum Louis Anthony deLise (BM ’74, MM ’02) arranged and conducted “You Are My Friend” on Patti LaBelle’s latest release The Gospel According to Patti.  This is deLise’s second CD collaboration with Patti LaBelle.

Read the Haddonfield Performing Arts Center press release.

09/06 Boyer College student Leon Boykins has been selected to receive the 2006 Pittsburgh Jazz Society/Mellon Jazz Scholarship.  Chosen by a panel of nationally recognized jazz musicians and educators on the basis of his scholarship application and accompanying audition tape, Boykins will receive a $5000 award from the Pittsburgh Jazz Society and Mellon Jazz.

Read the Pittsburgh Jazz Society/Mellon Jazz press release.

08/06 Currently director of choral activities and Cyril M. Stretansky Professor of Choral Music at Susquehanna University, Temple Alumnus Cyril Stretansky (M Mu Ed, '65) has been named the newest recipient of the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence.  Named in honor of the long-time professor of music and director of choral activities at Temple University who founded the nationally revered Singing City Choral Society, the award recognizes distinguished artistic leadership and excellence in choral conducting.

Read the Susquehanna University press release.

 

07/06 ABC7Chicago.com: “The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University's Cabaret Series continues with ‘On Stage with Susan Werner,’ Saturday, July 15 at 8 p.m. Audiences of ‘On Stage with Susan Werner’ can look forward to a brilliant, soulful and clever performance from an artist who has given a ‘new face to a very old art form,’ according to The Boston Herald. Her performance at the Chicago Cabaret Convention was ‘by far the most striking set of the evening. She may be the most promising, triple-threat artist to have emerged in Chicago since Patricia Barber’ raved Chicago Tribune. Werner's fourth nationally released recording, I Can't Be New, has been described as ‘Carole King's Tapestry meets Ella Fitzgerald's Cole Porter Songbook.’”  Susan Werner graduated from the Boyer College in 1993 with a Master's Degree in Music Performance.

Read the full story from ABC7Chicago.com.

Read more about Susan Werner.

Read more about the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University.

 

05/06 Newsworthy: Boyer College Doctoral Student Richard McIntyre wins first prize in annual New York Virtuoso Singers Choral Composition Competition.

In addition to receiving a cash award, McIntyre’s piece Vitium Cantorum will be premiered by the New York Virtuoso Singers on October 29, 2006 at Columbia University’s (NY) Miller Theater.  A DMA student studying with Maurice Wright, McIntyre holds degrees from The College of New Jersey and The Boston Conservatory and teaches at Voorhees High School in New Jersey.

Founded in 1988 by conductor Harold Rosenbaum, The New York Virtuoso Singers has become this country's leading exponent of contemporary choral music.  With grants from The Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, The Koussevitzky Foundation of the Library of Congress and other sources, the organization has commissioned 17 works by composers including Michael Gordon, David Felder, David Winkler, George Tsontakis, and Tristan Keuris. The New York Virtuoso Singers has premiered dozens of works by composers such as Luciano Berio, John Harbison, Hans Werner Henze, Louis Andriessen, Shulamit Ran, George Perle, Ernst Krenek, Thea Musgrave, Jonathan Harvey, Arvo Pärt and Andrew Imbrie.

Read more about the New York Virtuoso Singers.

04/06 Newsworthy: Temple University's Collegiate Music Educators National Conference (CMENC) Chapter garners two Chapter of Excellence Awards.  CMENC Chapter 51 will receive Chapter of Excellence Awards for "Chapter Program" and "Recruitment Technique" at the National MENC Conference in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, April 20th.  These awards recognize the outstanding work being done by the future music educators at our College.

Read the MENC Press Release.

02/06 Newsworthy: Kevin Finnerty, a junior in the Boyer College of Music and Dance, was the first student to represent Temple University in the World Champion Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. He toured the country with 134 other talented musicians from around the globe in the pursuit of the coveted DCI gold medal. The Cadets set a new standard of excellence in the drum corps activity by claiming a record-breaking championship last summer in Foxboro, MA.

01/06 Newsworthy: Angelica Minero (B.Mus. '03,

M.Mus. '05), who received a Master of Music degree in Music History in 2005 and is now an adjunct faculty member for that department, recently received the Louis Auld Prize from the Lyrica Society for her submission, "Anywhere Out of the World; Escapism in Baudelaire-Duparc's L'Invitation au voyage". This paper was part of her MM thesis in music history. The prize carries a cash award, publication of the article in the society's journal, Ars lyrica, and an invitation to present the paper at the 2006 national meeting of the American Musicological Society in Los Angeles. 

Kristy Riggs, a current MM student and teaching assistant in the Music History department, will present her study, "Bartok in the Desert: Challenges to a European Conducting Research in North Africa in the Early Twentieth Century," at two conferences in Spring 2006. The first will be held in Budapest in March at the Institute for Musicology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and is entitled, "Bartok's Orbit: The Context and Sphere of Influence of His Work". The second is the Bard Bartok Conference, to be held at Bard College, New York, in early June. Ms. Riggs' paper is drawn from her MM thesis in Music History of the same title. Both Angelica Minero and Kristy Riggs worked with Prof. Stephen Willier, Associate Professor of Music History, as their thesis advisor.

12/05 Temple Times: Mena Hanna, a senior majoring in composition in the Boyer College of Music and Dance, has been awarded a Marshall Scholarship.  He is one of just 40 students selected nationwide to receive what is recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious scholarships.  Winners pursue two years of graduate study in their chosen field at an institution in the United Kingdom.  Hanna, an Honors student who expects to graduate summa cum laude, will study musicology and composition at Oxford University.

Read the January 26, 2006 article from the Temple Times.

 

09/05 Newsworthy: Choral Conducting alum Thomas Hong (M.Mus. '97) has been appointed Assistant Conductor of the New York Youth Symphony.  He holds the David Alan Miller Conducting Fellowship.

 

07/05 Newsworthy: Prema Kesselman (B.Mus. '03) has been awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship.  Some of the largest, most competitive scholarships available in the fine or performing arts, the 10 scholarships are chosen through a national competition and can be worth up to $300,000 each.  Prema plans to use the scholarship to attend Trinity College of Music in London.

Read the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation news release.

 

06/05 Newsworthy: Boyer College graduate Troy Herion (B.Mus. '05) and student Mena Mark Hanna will have their newest compositions premiered in Italy this August.  International Opera Theater, a Philadelphia-based opera company, commissioned a chamber opera - an operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" from Herion in November 2005. Hanna, originally a singer with the company, received a commission for a 25-30 minute piece for soprano, narrator, and chamber ensemble after the directors became acquainted with his compositional work.  His piece takes a children’s story by an Umbrian poet as its source material. In addition, Hanna has received support for both preparation and continuation of his project from Temple’s Diamond Scholars Program.  Through this honor, Hanna will receive a stipend and will work closely with Boyer Faculty member and Associate Dean Richard Brodhead as his mentor.

Find out more about International Opera Theater.

 

05/05 Tom DiNardo/PhiladelphiaDaily News: “Composer Troy Herion (B.Mus. '05), 23, is celebrating his graduation from Temple University's Boyer College of Music in the best possible way. He'll head to Italy's Teatro Avvaloranti, in the Umbrian town of Citta della Pieve, where his operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's ‘A Winter's Tale’ will be staged.”

Read the entire article from the Philadelphia Daily News.

Read the Temple University News Release about Troy Herion.

 

05/05 Newsworthy: Each year, the Boyer College presents awards and honors to many of our outstanding students.  The 2005 Awards Ceremony was held in Rock Hall Auditorium on Wednesday, May 18th at 4:30PM.  Congratulations to all of our award winning students!

Click here to view the full list of awards and honors.

 

05/05 Newsworthy:  Several students from the Music Preparatory Division took part in the taping of an “All-Philadelphia” edition of From the Top on Tuesday, May 24th at 8:00PM at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater.  This nationally broadcast show is Public Radio International’s showcase for America’s best young classical musicians.  The Prep students featured include cellist Nicholas Bodnar (age 15, from Princeton, NJ) performing Gaspar Cassado’s “Requiebros,” violinist Robyn Bollinger (age 13, from Haddonfield, NJ) performing the Allegro moderato from Sergei Prokofiev’s violin Concerto No. 2 in G Major.  The Violin Nonet, made up of nine violinists who are recipients of Starling Scholarships to Temple Music Prep, performed Arcady Dubensky’s “Fugue for Nine Stands of First Violins.”  The “All-Philadelphia” edition of From the Top is slated to be aired in the Fall of 2005.

Read more about the student performers.

Find out more about the Music Preparatory Division.

Find information about From the Top.

 

05/05 Newsworthy: Prema Kesselman (B.Mus. '03) to perform at Carnegie Hall.  Boyer College Alumnus Prema Kesselman will perform her New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 5:30PM.  Since her concerto debut at the age of 15, she has performed as soloist with the Colburn Chamber Orchestra, the Herbert Zipper Orchestra, Orchestra da Camera and the Temple University Symphony Orchestra.  Upcoming engagements include concerts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as participation in the Universal Symphony Orchestra, comprised of eminent musicians from all over the world, convening in Italy with concerts in India.

 

05/05 Newsworthy: Boyer College student Marianela Boan (MFA, Dance) will be presenting a new work created in Philadelphia in the Destination PHL series at the Painted Bride.  The piece will then travel to Santo Domingo in July to be presented in the Festival de Casa Teatro.   Ms. Boan will also be creating a new work ion the Staatstheater Company in Germany in May as part the Oldenberg Festival, and in June and July she will be choreographing a new musical titled Besame Mucho in Mexico City.

 

05/05 Newsworthy: The Boyer College of Music plans to graduate its first true Ph.D. candidate in Music Therapy at graduation ceremonies on the Temple University Main Campus in May 2005.  Douglas Keith successfully defended his dissertation, entitled Understanding Music Improvisations: A Comparison of Methods of Meaning-Making, in April 2005.

 

04/05 Newsworthy:  25 members of our Collegiate Music Educators National Conference (CMENC) chapter sponsored a day-long Arts Camp for 48 children and 6 staff from Grandma’s Kids on Saturday, April 9, 2005. During the day, CMENC students engaged Grandma’s Kids in sessions on world music, improvisation, meet the instruments, movement, and percussion instruments. During dinner, a jazz quartet performed for the children. CMENC had been providing music for the children at their schools (Blackenburg, Blaine, Harrison, and McKinley of Philadelphia School District) since spring 2004. The Arts Camp was a culminating activity for the service-learning partnership between CMENC and Grandma’s Kids. The partnership has plans to continue activity through the summer and during the 2005-2006 academic year.

Find out more about the Temple University CMENC Chapter.

Get more information about Grandma’s Kids.

 

04/05 Al Hunter Jr./Philadelphia Daily News: “The Temple University Jazz Band, directed by trumpeter Terell Stafford, has a few impressive gigs lined up.  On Sunday, the band performs in the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater to celebrate Count Basie and his Music.  Frank Wess, 83, the featured saxophone and flute soloist in Bassie’s band in the 1950s, will be the special guest.  The next day, Wess and the 19-member temple band head to New York City for a gig at Dizzy’s Club in the Jazz at Lincoln Center Building.  And May 6-7, the band performs at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan.”  The concerts in Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. were all played to full houses.  The Philadelphia and New York concerts featured a new arrangement of Frank Loesser’s “I’ve Never Been In Love Before” by Boyer College student Yoichi Uzeki.  In Washington D.C., the band joined the Terell Stafford Quartet (including Boyer faculty members Terell Stafford on trumpet and Bruce Barth on piano, and Boyer alumnus Derrick Hodge (B.Mus. '01) on bass) and vocalist Carla Cook.

Click here to read the Temple University Press Release.

 

04/05 Newsworthy: Robyn Bollinger, violin and Nicholas Bodnar, cello, and an ensemble featuring 9 of the Temple Music Prep Starling Scholarship winners were selected for a live performance of the hit Public Radio International Show FROM THE TOP at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts presented by The Philadelphia Orchestra, Temple University Music Preparatory Division, Settlement Music School and WRTI-FM.

Click here to read more about the Temple Music Prep.

 

03/05 Joe McAllister/News of Delaware County:  “Angela Zator Nelson (M.Mus. ‘01) adds ‘strokes of color’ to the Philadelphia Orchestra.”  This cover story from the Life section highlights Boyer faculty member and alumnus Angela Zator Nelson prior to her solo performance with the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.  “Nelson combines her love of music and education with the best of both worlds: as a member of the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra and an instructor on the music faculty at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.  ‘Practice, like anything else, becomes second nature,’ says Nelson, 29, who shares a house filled with instruments in Lansdowne with her musician-husband Michael.  ‘I’ve been practicing the marimba for 3 to 4 hours a day.  In school, it was eight hours a day.’

 

03/05 Harriet Goodheart/Temple Times: Temple Symphony concert to feature tribute: Guest percussionist Angela Zator Nelson (M.Mus. ‘01) will honor her mentor, Professor Alan Abel.  The article highlights Angela Zator Nelson, her experiences at Temple University, and her upcoming solo performance with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra.  “’I feel so honored to be performing at this concert,’ said Zator Nelson, who has not only followed in her mentor’s footsteps to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s percussion section, but also is an adjunct faculty member at the Boyer College of Music and Dance.  ‘On top of his unparalleled playing, Alan Abel has made such an impact on his students’ lives.  I continue to learn from him.  I will never forget his support, generosity and kindness in the weeks leading up to my first performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He allowed me full rein of the studio in his basement to study and practice, and he’d come down every so often and offer me priceless insight into the great orchestra he was a part of for so many years.’”

Click here to read the Temple University Press Release.

http://www.temple.edu/news_media/hg0503_113.html

 

03/05 Peter Burwasser/Philadelphia City Paper: “Drum Major: Philadelphia Orchestra’s Don Liuzzi (M.Mus. ‘87) says the trick to percussion is dancing.”  Boyer alumnus Don Liuzzi is featured in this article prior to a Distinguished Alumni Concert which he performed at Settlement Music School.  The program featured several pieces by Boyer faculty member Maurice Wright.  “Don Liuzzi does not confound the stereotype.  Like most percussionists, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal timpanist got his start by banging pots and pans in his mother’s kitchen. And, yes, there was the obligatory rock band stint. But Liuzzi is a musical artist who raises his instrument to the level of the other members of the orchestra.  His tympani, as well as the snare drums, blocks, triangles and cymbals of his colleagues, are as vital to the famous sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra as are the violins and trumpets.”   “…the rest of the program is given to the music of Maurice Wright, a Temple colleague whose work, according to Liuzzi, ‘moves at different levels, shifting traditions.  You can’t pin it down.  It has drive and humor.’”

 

03/05 Newsworthy: Selected Boyer dance students attended the Mid-Atlantic American College Dance Festival in Richmond, VA.  Student works by Laini Hester (MFA, Dance) and Megan Mazarick (MFA, Dance) were chosen and performed for the Gala Concert. 

 

01/05 Newsworthy: DanceBoom!, the annual Philadelphia dance festival, offered a wide array of Africanist based dance worked this year, featuring works by Boyer College Professors Kariamu Welsh (Kariamu and Company: Traditions) and Merian Soto, as well as alumni Tania Isaac (MFA ’00), Paule Turner (court) (MFA '97), and Charles O. Anderson (dance theater X) (MFA '02).

01/05 Newsworthy: Professor Karen Bond and alumna Indira Etwaroo (Ph.D ’04) recently published a chapter titled “If I really see you…: Experiences of Identity and Difference in a Higher Education Setting” in the book The Arts, Education, and Social Change: Little Signs of Hope (M.C. Powell and V.M. Speiser, eds).  The chapter focuses on their experiences teaching the Temple University course “Dance, Movement, & Pluralism.”

 

12/04 Jill Yris/Philadelphia Music Makers: “At age 27, Adriana Linares not only has the drive to perform and succeed, but a remarkable vitality and Paganini-like skills that puts her in with the most seasoned artists.”  This article, A Soaring Spirit: Adriana Linares, violist, highlights this recent Boyer College, the support of faculty member Luis Biava, and her path towards studying at Temple with Philadelphia Orchestra principal violist Roberto Diaz.  Linares is currently performing with the Satori Chamber Players, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and the newly formed quartet the Dali String Quartet.

Click here to read more from Philadelphia Music Makers.

 

08/04 Boyer percussion alumni, members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, perform under the baton of Luis Biava at Philadelphia's Mann Center for the Performing Arts in his final concert as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

05/04 Newsworthy: Each year, the Boyer College presents awards and honors to many of our outstanding students.  Read the list of 2004 Awards Ceremony recipients. Congratulations to all of our award winning students!

05/04 Springfield Township " Enterprise " announces The Ambler Symphony concert featuring violin soloist, Millie Bai (B.Mus. '89, M.Mus. '91). She will play the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto by Ho Zhan Hao/Cheng Gang. Ms. Bai has appeared in concerts with Luciano Pavarotti, Sarah Brightman, Tony Bennett, Vince Gill, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Ray Charles and Rod Stewart.

05/04 Composer and Audio Producer Lou Delise (B.Mus. '74, M.Mus. '02) arranged and conducted the string orchestra for 2 Steps Away, a song written by his son Jonathan for Patti LaBelle's new album, Private Journey.

04/04 The Anni Baker (B.Mus. '93) Celebratory Concert to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation featured a World Premiere cantata by Philadelphia composer, Andrea Clearfield (DMA '01) sung by the Temple University Children's Choir. The performance, presented by Orchestra 2001, took place at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

04/04 Newsworthy: The Temple University General Alumni Association is pleased to present Hugh Panaro (B.Mus. '85) with the Boyer College of Music Certificate of Honor for his illustrious career in musical theater.

03/04 Newsworthy: Boyer Alumnus John Feierabend (PhD '84) "was recently honored as a Lowell Mason Fellow by the National Association of Music Educators (MENC) at its annual Fund for Advancement of Music Education (FAME) dinner...  Beginning with his work at Temple University in the late 1970s, through his publication of "Music for Little People" and his "First Steps in Music" program, no one working with children in the field of music education is unaware of or uninfluenced by his materials.  Currently, Feierabend is creating a public television series based on his First Steps in Music curriculum."

-Hartt School press release dated 3/17/04

03/04 Newsworthy: Luigi Mazzocchi (M.Mus. '00), violin, member of the Serafin String Quartet. They have been "heralded around the globe for concerts and recordings, receiving critical acclaim in the press." Mazzochi has performed extensively: solo, orchestral, chamber; he is completing a Doctorate at Boyer College of Music. The Serafin String Quartet performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, March 27th at 8:30PM.  The program included the Worle Premiere of faculty member, David Laganella's String Quartet.

Click here to learn more about the Serafin String Quartet.

03/04 Newsworthy: Mikhail Yanovitsky (DMA '02), piano, a native of Leningrad, earned a Doctorate from the Boyer College of Music. He has won many competitions, and has performed with world-renowned orchestras and has appeared at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center .

03/04 Newsworthy: Congratulations to Olive Prince, whose solo work 'Figment of Her' was selected for the gala concert at Smith College ACDFA. Thanks also to Rebecca Lloyd-Jones and Barbara Domue for presenting your work and to all ACDFA dancers and participants for being such great ambassadors for Temple Dance.

02/04 Newsworthy: Derrick Hodge (B.Mus. '01), jazz bass, is on a tour with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. After the tour he will travel to London to record the soundtrack to Blade III with Blanchard and the London Symphony Orchestra. Hodge graduated in 2001.

01/04 Newsworthy: Robert A. Birman (B.Mus. '89): "San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchesrtra has been named Musical America's 2004 Ensemble of the Year." First orchestra from California to receive award. "Philharmonia's Executive Director and Temple University College of Music alumnus, Robert A. Birman said 'Our Musicians are musicians are deeply moved . . .'" Birman joined the organization in October 2001 . . . while at TU from 1985 to 1989 he majored in percussion performance under Glen Steele. He says "Some of my favorite memories are of the chamber orchestra rehearsals . . . and getting to know so much inspiring repertoire. Luis Biava introduced me to the music of Prokofiev. (Suite from the Love for Three Oranges and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler) experiences that changed my life." Birman is listed in Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. "I owe it to Glen Steele, my academic advisor, for introducing me to the larger world of art's management. . . Environments that encourage cross-fertilization of experiences-like that at Temple University -do a great service to the development of the artistic leaders of the future."

Click here for more information about the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Click here to read Musical America's feature on the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

10/03 Catholic Spirit (NJ) prints: "Mount Airy St. Mary Academy Concert Series will host performances by Timothy Schwarz and Michael Sheadel.  Schwarz... is pursuing a doctorate in violin performance at Temple University.  [Sheadel] presently teacher at Temple University..."

10/03 City Suburban News prints: "The Delaware County Youth Orchestra is proud to welcome Thomas Hong (M.Mus. '97) as its new music director and conductor.  [Hong] obtained degrees from Temple University and the Curtis Institute."

09/03 Town Talk (Del. County) prints: "The internationally acclaimed and youthful pianist Paolo Vairo will stage a recital... at Darlington Arts Center.  Vairo was recently awarded a full scholarship, a teaching assistantship and the position of adjunct faculty at Temple."

09/03 Philadelphia Orchestra Press Release announces the appointment of Christopher Deviney (M.Mus. '87) to the position of principal percussion.  Additional Boyer graduates and former students of Alan Abel: Don S. Liuzzi (M.Mus. '81), principal timpani; and Angela Zator-Nelson (M.Mus. '01), associate principal timpani.