High School Visit Day and Scholarship Audition Day are fast approaching!
01.08.08 -
Click here for more details and for registration forms.
Generous Donation from Local Benefactors Expand Music Programs
12.18.07 - Fort Collins, CO - The Department of Music in School of the Arts at Colorado State University is proud to announce that it has received a generous donation from local arts supporters and university benefactors Jim and Wendy Franzen to establish a Graduate String Quartet Program and to recruit gifted piano students.
Jim and Wendy Franzen are long-time supporters of Colorado State University and the arts in Fort Collins, and with their recent retirement, they are sharing more of their time and resources to promote the arts.
The Franzens have gifted $40,000 to establish a new Graduate String Quartet Program at Colorado State. Graduate String Quartet fellows will study under the Department of Music's String Faculty - Margaret Miller, assistant professor of viola, Ron Francois, associate professor of violin, Leslie Stewart, director of string pedagogy, and Barbara Thiem, assistant professor of cello.
Students will have the opportunity to take master classes and seminars from visiting guest artists as part of a curriculum that develops the strong artistic and business-related skills required for a successful quartet career. Fellows will hold principle positions in the Colorado State University Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, and the Quartet will serve as a teaching and recruiting instrument for regional high school string musicians.
Dr. Michael Thaut, chair of the Department of Music, Director of Colorado State's Center for Biomedical Research in Music and co-executive director of the School of the Arts, believes the Graduate String Quartet is a vital addition to the Department as it builds its programs to become a world-class music program.
"The establishment of the Graduate String Quartet will attract talented students to Colorado State and advance our reputation as an outstanding music program," he said.
With an additional donation of $10,000, the Franzens are supporting efforts to recruit gifted music students to the Department's piano studies area.
"The Franzens' continued support of music at Colorado State has made critical differences in our progress towards excellence, and we owe them great thanks," said Thaut.
Department of Music Chair, Dr. Michael Thaut, Receives International Honors
12.13.07 - Fort Collins, CO - The Department of Music in School of the Arts is honored to announce that its Chair, Michael Thaut, director of the Center for Biomedical Research in Music and co-executive director of the School of the Arts, has recently received two academic honors that will enhance the national and international reputation of the University.
At the membership meeting of the International Society of Clinical Neuromusicology in Hanover, Germany in November, Thaut was elected president. The society was founded last Spring by a prominent international group of neuroscientists, physicians, therapists, and musicians to promote and support research in the neurobiology of music and applications to all forms of music learning, development, and therapy.
"This is a deep honor, and I am pleased to be the University's representative in gaining international visibility for music and brain research," said Thaut.
The new society will support and advance applied brain research in music that is focused on medicine and rehabilitation, all forms of music education and music learning, and the benefits of music in childhood development. To support that end, the society will also support basic research efforts to understand the neurobiological foundations of music in the brain.
"We want to help advance any understanding how music educates and re-educates the brain, in musicians, patients, young children, students, in all of society," according to Thaut.
Thaut has also received an honorary professorship in music on the faculty of Kurashiki Sakuyo Music University in Japan and will visit and lecture there once a year. A collaborative agreement was signed between Colorado State and Kurashiki Sakuyo Music University to pursue mutual projects, exchanges, and research. The professorship and collaboration will promote valuable campus internationalization and professional development.
Michael Thaut received his masters and Ph.D. in music from Michigan State University. He is also a graduate of the Mozarteum Music Conservatory in Salzburg, Austria. At Colorado State University he is a professor of music and a professor of neuroscience.
Click here for a full biography of Dr. Thaut.
Department of Music, Theatre and Dance Fall Newsletter
10.01.07
Click here to read the newsletter.
Dr. Michael Thaut Elected to Prestigious Posts
08.24.07 - Fort Collins, CO - Dr. Michael Thaut, Director of CSU’s Center for Biomedical Research in Music; Chair of the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, and Co-Executive Director of the School of the Arts, was recently elected a member of the prestigious Academy for Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology (AMN) and the Euro Academy of Multidisciplinary Neurotraumatology (EMN).
At the recent World Congress of the AMN’s international conference, Thaut presented a collaborative research paper on music and neuroscience entitled “Impaired Brain Functioning, Music and Dance in the Orient and Occident.” The prestigious group’s purpose is the advancement of neurotraumatology in research, practical application and teaching.
The EMN is the independent European beach of the AMN and is a recognized and effective group of opinion leaders in neurotrama working together to develop and maintain strong academic links.
Click here for more information about Dr. Michael Thaut.
Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras Wes Kenney wins First Annual Varna International Conductors Competition
07.23.07 - Fort Collins, CO - Colorado State University Department of Music is proud
to announce that Wes Kenney, Associate Professor at Colorado State University and Music Director of the Fort Collins Symphony, has won the first Varna International Conductors Competition, held in Bulgaria. The competition, held in Vidin located in the northwest corner of Bulgaria, was a six-day conducting workshop and competition that ended July 22 and featured conductors from two continents.
Kenney said "I'm thrilled to be selected as the winner of this first competition. The entire experience was extremely positive. With fondness, I tip my hat to my colleagues from two continents for their outstanding performances. I look forward to returning to Bulgaria for concerts in the near future."
Return Engagements in Bulgaria
As part of the winning prize, Kenney will return to Bulgaria during the next season to conduct concerts in Vidin, a picturesque city situated along the Danube River.
The Vidin State Philharmonic Orchestra, founded as a private institution in 1910, became State Orchestra on 28 April, 1949. The competition featured works by renowned composers, including Bartok, Brahms, Beethoven, Shostakovich and Johann Strauss.
Maestro Dion Tchobanov, Chief Conductor of the Sofia Philharmonic, Sofia State Opera, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, saluted Kenney’s performance. “The orchestra, concertmaster, faculty, and myself have concluded unanimously that the winner is Maestro Wes Kenney from Colorado, USA,” Tchobanov said.
Click here for more information about Wes Kenney.
