2022-2023 Pi Kappa Lambda Inductees

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Gretchen Berendt

Gretchen Berendt, an avid orchestral and chamber musician from Wampum, Pennsylvania, will graduate from the Eastman School of Music in May with a Bachelor of Music degree in Horn Performance and a Performer’s Certificate. While at Eastman, Gretchen has performed with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Opera Theater Orchestra, Eastman Philharmonia, Eastman Wind Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Musica Nova, the Eastman Horn Choir, the Barbershop Wind Quintet, and the Empire Film and Media Ensemble. In addition to doing some freelancing in the Rochester area, she has also subbed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Eastman Harmonie. Her notable teachers include Peter Kurau, Maura McCune Corvington, and Mark Houghton.

Since 2013, Gretchen has enjoyed participating in various summer festivals to meet new people and further her musical education. Prior to attending Eastman, Gretchen toured Europe as a member of the National Youth Orchestra performing in world renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall on the BBC Proms, and the Elbphilharmonie. For the past three years, she attended the National Orchestral Institute + Festival. As a result of attending the NOI+F, she had the opportunity to audition for, and successfully claim a spot on the New World Symphony’s substitute and extra player list. At these festivals, Gretchen has performed in masterclasses for William Vermeulen, Gail Williams, David Cooper, and Jennifer Montone to name a few. This summer, she will be attending the Chautauqua Institution.

In addition to music, Gretchen enjoys nail art, reading, knitting, and sewing. This fall, she will be attending the Yale School of Music to pursue a Master of Music degree in Horn Performance.

 

Meg Brilleslyper

Meg Brilleslyper, Colorado Spring native, is a mezzo-soprano in her final year of undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Katherine Ciesinski. Recent roles include Ruggiero in Alcina, Granny and Witch Cover in Into the Woods, and Pane in La Calisto with the Eastman Opera Theater, and Nancy in Albert Herring at the Miami Beach Music Festival. In November 2022, Meg presented Rossini’s La regata veneziana with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra as the most recent Concerto Competition winner. Previously, she was the alto soloist for Beethoven’s Mass in C Major and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Eastman Philharmonia.

Meg is excited to attend both the Young Artist Vocal Academy at Houston Grand Opera and to return to the Aspen Music Festival this summer. Meg is an Arts Leadership Certificate Candidate, the Students’ Association President, a Student Alumni Ambassador, and Secretary for the Sigma Theta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota at Eastman. Meg is thrilled to pursue her master’s degree in Vocal Performance at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in the Fall. Outside of music, Meg enjoys hiking, boxing, cooking, and traveling with her friends and family!

 

Adam Catangui

Tenor Adam Catangui will be graduating with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Nicole Cabell. Adam is one of the proud recipients of the Ornest Award in his class, which is presented each year to 1-4 undergraduate students who have demonstrated academic excellence and are active in the musical life of the school. During his time at Eastman, he had the great honor of taking on many roles in multiple Eastman Opera Theatre productions: Miles in Proving Up, Jack in Into the Woods, Oronte in Alcina, and Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas.

Off the stage, Adam exhibits a passion for getting to know his community. Whether it’s helping out at new student orientation, answering questions during audition days, or attending events as a member of the Student Alumni Association, Adam is always eager to communicate with the people around him. Adam also had the distinct honor of being selected to be a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of St. Louis for this 2022 and 2023 season, for both of which he was the youngest singer in attendance. During their 2023 season, he will sing Spoletta in Tosca and cover the role of Little Bat in Susannah. Next fall, Adam will be continuing his studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas to pursue a Masters in Music.

 

Xingyi Chen

Xingyi Betty Chen, from Hong Kong, has completed her dual bachelor degrees in piano performance and composition at Eastman School of Music. She aspires to express spiritual-philosophical explorations and consolation through music, literature, and visual arts, as well as memory and science. Her musical style embraces Western and Eastern culture and philosophies that have shaped her through her upbringing, the past and the present, the city and nature sounds – she constantly synthesizes her life experiences into music as she believes that music encompasses and reflects the world and humanity, the space and time, as well as extra-musical events.

She is eager to promote new music through performing and composing in different collaborations projects. She participates in OSSIA new music ensemble, Musica Nova, and EARS (Eastman Audio Research Studio), and actively performs in solo, chamber music, and ensemble settings. Her recent collaboration includes a new cello solo with Jeffrey Zeigler, as well as in the Naumburg project “Composing for the Future” for baroque organ in Germany, sponsored by Universität Siegen. In the summer, she participated in Vivace Music Festival and SoundSCAPE Music Festival, and will be participating in Bang On a Can Music Festival this summer.

 

Owen Cummings

Owen Cummings (he/him/his) is a senior at the Eastman School of Music, earning a BM in cello performance, a BM in music theory, and a certificate of achievement in early music. As a cellist, he has both appeared as a soloist and been principal of the Eastman Collegium Musicum, Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra, the Ithaca Community Orchestra, and the Ithaca High School Chamber Orchestra, along with appearing as principal cellist in the Eastman Musica Nova ensemble (cond: Brad Lubman) and assistant principal of the Eastman Philharmonia and the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra (cond: Neal Varon). He looks forward to participating in the National Orchestra Institute (cond: Marin Alsop). Owen has also frequently performed in various chamber music ensembles, having co-founded the Harlow String Quartet and performed at the Bowdoin and Mayfest International Chamber Music Festivals.

He currently studies cello with David Ying; previous teachers include Guy Johnston, John Haines-Eitzen, and Christine Lowe-Diemecke. Outside of cello, Owen has had compositions performed at the NYSSMA Young Composers Showcase and has sung in the ACDA Eastern Honors Choir and the NYSSMA All-State Choir. An occasional organist, Owen has played for the First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, NY, as well as serving as choir director.

On the rare occasion when he is not creating or consuming music, Owen enjoys running, hiking, bingeing media content, and coffee with friends. Owen was born in Ithaca, NY.

 

Daniel Hirshbein

Oboist, sometimes writer, and very tentative composer Daniel Hirshbein (he/him) will soon be receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Dr. Richard Killmer. He regularly played in the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Eastman Philharmonia, and Musica Nova, Eastman’s contemporary music ensemble. He was a winner of the Michigan Youth Arts Festival Concerto Competition, and a finalist in the Dexter Youth Artist Competition. His woodwind quintet, the Sardonic Winds, received Chamber Honors from the Eastman School in the Fall of 2021. He recently finished his second year as a Co-Director of Recruitment of the board of OSSIA New Music, a student-run new music organization at the Eastman School of Music. In this position, he coordinated recruitment efforts and managed rehearsal schedules for new music concerts in Kilbourn Hall.

He has also studied creative writing and English literature at the University of Rochester. He is particularly interested in literary theory and criticism, semiotics, and how the dichotomy of “fiction” and “real life” breaks down under the slightest examination.

 

Jacob Hunter

Jacob Hunter, tenor, finishes his fourth year of his Bachelor’s degree in Applied Music – Voice at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Professor Anthony Dean Griffey. He spent his past summer at the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory where he sang the role of the Schoolmaster in Cunning Little Vixen, and he will be attending the Bard Graduate Vocal Arts Program led by Stephanie Blythe in the fall on a full tuition scholarship, studying with Richard Cox. His Eastman performance titles include: Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Rodney in One Touch of Venus, Kurt Weill Scenes Program, Nurse in Lear on the Second Floor, Phoebus in The Fairy Queen, Mercurio in La Calisto, Tenor Soloist in BWV 101, Nimm Von Uns Herr, Du Treuer Gott, Valcour cover in L’Amant Anonyme and Jack cover in Into the Woods, among others.

Jacob is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy as well as of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artist Vocal Program. He is the 2019 recipient of the Renée Fleming Endowment Scholarship, the 2021 recipient of the Links Inc. Scholarship, and has appeared in past masterclasses directed by Judith Haddon and Lawrence Brownlee. In student leadership, Jacob works as a Dean’s Office Assistant, supporting Eastman’s Dean of Equity and Inclusion, is a Student Alumni Ambassador, and is the current president of the student-led Eastman Queer Alliance.

 

Jory Lane

Jory Lane is a violinist and multi-instrumentalist from Colorado Springs, CO. Jory has studied the violin for 20 years, and has won numerous performance competitions and awards, including the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, the Eastman Violin Concerto Competition, the Broomfield Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the Pikes Peak Philharmonic Concerto Competition, as well as the fourth prize in the Walnut Valley Festival National Mandolin Championship. He has served as concertmaster for orchestras across the country, with tours to Japan, Germany, Prague, Australia, and New Zealand. In summer 2019 he performed in Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra in its summer residency and European tour under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano, with performances in Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, Proms at Royal Albert Hall, Royal Concertgebouw & the Elbphilharmonie.

In May 2023, Jory will perform as part of American Public Media’s Performance Today Young Artist in Residency program, and in June 2023, he will serve as concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, CO under the baton of Michael Stern. Jory is a Performer’s Certificate candidate studying with Renée Jolles at the Eastman School of Music, and this fall he will begin his MM at Juilliard under Laurie Smukler.

 

Emma Milian

Emma Milian will graduate from the Eastman School of Music in May with a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance, a certificate in Arts Leadership, and a certificate in Performance Practice. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Emma has spent the past four years studying in Rochester with professor Renee Jolles.

Emma enjoys performing a variety of repertoire, with a special interest in early music. She plays with the Eastman Collegium ensemble under the direction of Christel Thielmann and Paul O’Dette, including performances at the Rochester Early Music Festival. During the last two years, she has served as concertmaster for the Bach Cantata Series performances at Glory House International church. Throughout her time at Eastman, Emma has been in the concertmaster rotation for the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra and Eastman Philharmonia. In addition to early music, Emma frequently performs contemporary music composed for film. She has served as the concertmaster for the Empire Film and Media Ensemble for the past two years, including a live score-to-picture performance of Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman (score by Danny Elfman). Emma also recently recorded the score (composed by Mark Watters) to WXXI’s upcoming documentary on Eastman as part of their centennial celebration. You can hear her as principal second violin in the orchestral recordings, and first violin in the piano quintet recordings.

During her time at Eastman, Emma has held many jobs with Residential Life, including Orientation Leader, Residential Fellow, and (currently) Residential Advisor. She works closely with the Concert Office as a Head Usher. She also currently holds the position of Marketing, Communications, and Patron Services Intern with the Rochester Philharmonic, as part of her commitment to the Arts Leadership Program.

In the Fall, Emma will begin her Master’s degree at the University of North Texas College of Music. She will study with Julia Bushkova and hold a position in the Bancroft graduate string quartet. She is looking forward to her future in music!

 

Madelin Morales

Cuban-American mezzo-soprano Madelin Morales is a senior vocal performance major with a business minor at the University of Rochester. She is also an Arts Leadership Certificate Candidate. An advocate for representation, Madelin strives to use her passions for opera and business to ensure a brighter, more equitable future for classical music.

Recent operatic roles include: Mercédès in Carmen, Oberto in Alcina, and Taller Daughter in Proving Up. This spring, Madelin sang the role of Paula in Eastman Opera Theatre’s production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas. She was also a winner of the 2023 Schmidt Vocal Arts Undergraduate Competition, and a Finalist at this year’s Friends of Eastman Opera Competition.

Madelin is an active member of the Eastman community. She is the current Director of Finance for the Student’s Association, a Student Alumni Ambassador, and is a founding member of the Campus Activities Board. Through her involvement with the Arts Leadership Program, Madelin interned with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Gateways Music Festival. She was also an active member of Representation Matters (RM), an outreach program created by Travon Walker (21’E). RM educates primary and secondary school students about classical music through a POC and BIPOC lens, with the goal of raising awareness for the lack of representation in classical music.

Madelin was recently awarded the 2023 Anne T. Cummins Prize, given to a graduating senior who has distinguished themselves and excelled in the study of Humanities. She is also a 2022 Ornest Award recipient, awarded for excellence in academic and musical study at Eastman. Selected by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, Madelin is a 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. This summer, Madelin will attend Music Academy of the West as a Lehrer Fellow.

 

Rebecca O’Dell

Rebecca O’Dell grew up in Saugerties, New York, where she studied piano and voice with Rebecca MacDougall, preparing her for music school. Rebecca is a senior at the Eastman School of Music pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in music education. During her time at Eastman she taught elementary general music lessons, middle school and high school choir lessons, as well as private piano lessons. She has served on executive board for various student organizations including secretary of the Student Association, and vice president of the Eastman NAfME Chapter. She has studied with Professor Tony Caramia, and she took two years of voice lessons with Kira Kaplan and Sophia Scattarreggia.

After graduation she hopes to stay in Rochester and start her career as a middle school or high school choir and vocal teacher.  When not making music she enjoys outdoor activities, playing sports, and coaching her volleyball team with Impact VBC.

 

Catherine Reid

Catherine Reid graduates from the studio of Kathleen Bride at the Eastman School of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Archaeology, Technology and Historical Structures at the University of Rochester. Catherine performs regularly in Eastman’s large ensembles, including 2023 performances in Eastman Opera Theatre’s production of Florencia en el Amazonas and as a concerto soloist with the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with Musica Nova and participates as a therapeutic musician in the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Eastman Performing Arts Medicine program.

An avid chamber musician, Catherine cofounded the Tedeschi Trio with Eastman violinist Artur Korotin and cellist Gabriel Hennebury. The trio’s 2022 performance of Luigi Tedeschi’s Suite for violin, cello and harp received the highest score of their division and a Platinum ranking in the Quebec Classical Music Competition. Catherine earned an Eastman Performer’s Certificate in 2022. She studied piano at Eastman with Daniel Kuehler and works as a Program Administrator in Eastman’s Concert Office.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Catherine performed extensively prior to attending Eastman. Her concert performances include as a 2019 concerto soloist with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrews Sill, and in ensembles at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and the French Embassy in Washington, DC. Catherine has participated in Bowdoin International Music Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Curtis Summer Harp Colony, and has played in master classes with Caroline Lizotte, Elizabeth Remy Johnson, Jessica Zhou, and Isabelle Moretti. In March 2022 she was a Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust featured concert artist in Baltimore, MD. Catherine is grateful for her Eastman experiences and generous scholarship support. She will pursue a Master of Music in Performance from the Royal College of Music in London beginning in September 2023. Catherine’s passions also include architecture and her hedgehog, Stuart.

 

Zihan Wu

As a Chinese composer/pianist, Zihan Wu’s music is often praised as full of imagination. Heavily influenced by the sensitive and organic quality of the Orient aesthetic, the mysterious timbre and colorful sonority are always presented in her music. At age 21, she has already worked with the Jack Quartet, Ensemble Court-Circuit, members of the New York Philharmonic and the Lviv Philharmonic, Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble, Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, and Eastman Ossia New Music Ensemble. Her music won several prizes including first prize in 2019 Beijing International Composition Workshop and 2022 MaestrosVision Award International Composition Competition, Eastman Student Composition Award Winner, Eastman departmental prizes every school year since freshman, and “Wanye” Cup Composition Competition for Contemporary Piano Works. She has also attended music festivals including Bowdoin International Music Festival, New Music On the Point, Kansas University Asian Classical Music Initiative International Conference, and Beijing International Composition Workshop as a composer.  As a pianist, her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary. She is especially interested in performing new music, which she frequently performs in the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble and Ossia New Music Ensemble where she serves as secretary.

She previously graduated from Music Middle School affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music and is currently completing her BM degree at Eastman School of Music in both composition and piano performance majors. She will pursue a Master of Music in Composition at Yale School of Music this fall. Her composition teachers include Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, David Liptak, and Matthew Barber. She studies piano with Douglas Humpherys and  Vincent Lenti.  She has also received guides from Derek Bermel, Andreia Pinto Correia, Augusta Read Thomas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Kate Soper, Amy Beth Kirsten, Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, Barry Snyder, Logan Skelton, and others.

 

Samuel Xu

Samuel Xu will graduate from the Eastman School of Music in May with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance under the instruction of Professor Alan Chow. Samuel began studying piano at a young age with both of his parents, and won competitions locally and internationally, including first place of the Arizona Young Artist Piano Competition, the Steinway Avanti Star Piano Competition, the Arizona Musicfest Youth Piano Competition, and the 2015 IIYM International Piano Competition. He was a Chopin National Foundation of America scholarship recipient for four consecutive years from 2016-2020 and has performed in masterclasses with artists such as Olga Kern, Ran Dank, Douglas Humpherys, Lydia Artymiw, and Michael Lewin. During his time at Eastman, Samuel was featured as a guest artist with ensembles such as the Arizona Musicfest Festival Orchestra and Verde Valley Sinfonietta, performing Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto and Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto.

Recently, Samuel performed and worked as a festival associate for the Southeastern Piano Festival in South Carolina, serving as a young jury member for the festival’s international piano competition, and served as a volunteer member of the Eastman Orientation Committee for the Class of 2026. Aside from piano performance, Samuel enjoys spending time in the great outdoors, composing music of various genres, and creating digital art.

 

Chloe Yofan

Chloe Yofan, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is graduating this year with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the studio of Oleh Krysa. She will also receive a Certificate of Achievement in Chamber Music and a minor in Journalism from the University of Rochester. During her time at Eastman, Chloe has held principal positions of the Eastman Philharmonia, most notably performing as concertmaster for their 2022 performance of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. She has also performed in the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra and OSSIA New Music Ensemble.

A member of the Kilbourn Quartet at Eastman, Chloe is an avid chamber musician. Coached by Mimi

Hwang, YooJin Jang, and the Ying Quartet, her quartet was invited to participate in the Intensive Chamber Music course for two semesters, and they have performed numerous times throughout the Rochester community. This semester, the quartet completed their chamber music capstone project, for which they commissioned two pieces by composer Clayton Trumbull based on children’s novels, with funding from Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership Mentorship Grant. The quartet also designed a month-long educational project and interactive performance in collaboration with students at the Children’s School of Rochester No. 15 and the Rochester Public Library.

Chloe has performed in masterclasses with Peter Salaff, the Miro Quartet, Charles Castleman, Elena Urioste, and more. She has attended the Encore Chamber Music Institute, Castleman Quartet Program, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she was a 2022 Instrumental Fellow. In the fall, Chloe will attend the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a master’s degree in violin performance with Sandy Yamamoto.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Katherine Eaton

Katie Eaton is an active performer and educator from St. Petersburg, Florida. She is finishing a Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature – Oboe at the Eastman School of Music. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance with highest honors from the University of South Carolina in 2021. Her primary teachers include Richard Killmer, Rebecca Nagel, Amy Collins, and Mary Watt. Katie has performed as a regular substitute with Symphoria (Syracuse) and the Aiken Symphony.

While at Eastman, Katie has performed with the Eastman Philharmonia, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Eastman Musica Nova, and a wide variety of chamber music. She was a finalist for the Oboe Concerto Competition, and taught as an intern at the Eastman Community Music School. At the University of South Carolina, Katie performed as Principal of the USC Symphony and Wind Ensemble and was involved in chamber music for the duration of her time. In 2019, she was a finalist for the USC Concerto Aria competition and received the LeDare Robinson Undergraduate Award for Academic Excellence. Katie was on faculty with the Congaree New Horizons Band (SC) and the Carolina Music Studio.

During the summers, Katie has attended the National Arts Center Orchestra Mentorship Program, National Music Festival, Kinhaven Young Artist Seminar, and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. She has performed in masterclasses for Jung Choi, Sherry Sylar, Katherine Needleman, John Ferrillo, Robert Walters, and Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida.

While not playing the oboe or making reeds, she enjoys rock climbing, running, and opting outside as much as possible.

 

Andrew Flory

Andrew Flory is a classical guitarist and theorbo player who just finished his DMA course work at Eastman. He received his Performer’s Certificate in classical guitar and is currently working towards his Advanced Performer’s Certificate in Early Music. He is an active solo performer with both classical guitar and theorbo as well as regular ensemble performances as a theorbo player with Collegium Musicum and Schola Cantorum at Christ Church in Rochester.

Notable recent performances include Rochester Guitar Festival 2022, Rochester Fringe Festival 2021 and 2022, RCS Big Guitar Weekend Student and Alumni showcase 2022, Christ Church Candlelight Concert 2023, MUSIC at St. Mark’s 2022 and 2023, The Fairy Queen and King Arthur by Henry Purcell and selection of Monteverdi with Collegium Musicum in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Internationally, Andrew has performed in the UK and Spain.

Andrew received his Master of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2020 under the direction of Allan Neave and Matthew McAllister. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Arkansas in 2015 where he studied with Dr. James Greeson. In addition to his traditional studies, Andrew has studied at Rene Izquierdo’s Camino Artes workshop in Carrion de los Condes, Spain and in numerous lessons and masterclasses with other great guitarists and pedagogues such as Paul Galbraith and Pavel Steidl.

 

Anthony LaLena

Anthony LaLena is a PhD candidate in musicology at the Eastman School of Music, where he also received his DMA in guitar performance and literature in 2019. At Eastman, he has designed and taught courses in twentieth-century music history and guitar pedagogy, provided private guitar instruction, and served as a writing consultant at the Eastman Writing Center. He has also taught private lessons and music history courses at the Eastman Community Music School and interned for ROCmusic through the Arts Leadership Program. Originally from Long Island, New York, he earned his Bachelor of Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia (2013) and his Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music (2015).

As a musician, Anthony has performed across the United States, Ireland, France, Germany, and Spain as a soloist and chamber musician, and presented lecture-recitals on Spanish modernism at numerous guitar festivals, including the Guitar Foundation of America. His musicological interests include music and politics in early twentieth-century Spain and France, and the aesthetics of neoclassicism, failure, and comedy in modernist music. He is especially interested in theatrical genres of the era that merge pantomime, song, dance, and puppetry. His dissertation, titled “Decentering Spanish Music in the Theatrical Works of Manuel de Falla,” explores the ambivalent construction of Spanish musical modernism through analyses of Falla’s eclectic theatrical music that center on performances of “Spanishness” in gender, race, and class. At Eastman, he has been the recipient of Jerald C. Graue Fellowship for excellence in musicological research, the Glenn Watkins Traveling Fellowship, which supported his research at the Archivo Manuel de Falla in Granada, Spain, and the Helmers Student Research and Travel Grant. He currently holds the Elsa T. Johnson Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year.

 

Derek Myler

Derek J. Myler is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music. He holds the MM in Music Theory from the University of Utah (2018) and the BM in Vocal Performance from Weber State University (2015). Derek’s research focuses primarily on the temporal experience of the listener and applies music-theoretical, phenomenological, and cognitive methodologies to the music of Charles Ives and various popular repertoires ranging from 1960s Motown to 2020s K-pop. His dissertation project explores present perceptual experience and multiple temporality in listening to Ives. Additional projects in popular music analysis and Ives studies are ongoing. An article on Ives’s Harvest Home Chorales appeared in the Choral Journal in 2019.

Other areas of interest include Polish music and musicians. In a recent project co-authored with Matt Chiu, Derek hand-encoded a new corpus of over one thousand common-practice cadences that was used to investigate mazurka style in nineteenth-century practice. Additionally, Derek hosts an open-access database of pedagogical examples from the music of Maria Szymanowska for use in the music theory classroom. This year, Derek also taught a new course on the mazurka, exploring with students the origins of the mazurka in Poland in the early nineteenth century, the genre’s subsequent development by Chopin, and post-Chopin legacies into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Derek is passionate about teaching and was awarded Eastman’s Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching in the first year of his PhD program and the University of Rochester’s Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student in his third year. He also currently serves as a co-editor for Intégral, Eastman’s graduate-student-run music theory journal. Before coming to Eastman, Derek taught music theory at the University of Utah as an associate instructor. He also enjoyed several years in Utah working as a music director and vocal coach for community theatres, as a collaborative pianist with area ensembles, and as a piano tuner and technician. Outside of music, he enjoys kayaking with his wife Shelby and their two daughters, as well as running and bread baking.

 

Bailey Paugh

Bailey Paugh is currently finishing her doctorate in Trumpet Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music. She holds a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance and Literature from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance with a minor in German from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to beginning her DMA, Bailey held positions as Instructor of Music Theory at Portland State University and with the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

Bailey has a particular passion for contemporary music, and has performed with Eastman’s Musica Nova, OSSIA, and the Eastman Audio Research Studio. She is a regular substitute with Symphoria, and has also performed with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, and the Portland Columbia Symphony. Bailey appeared as a featured soloist with the Portland State University Wind Ensemble in 2018 and on summer season concerts with the Rapid City Municipal Band from 2011-2014.

In addition to her work as a performer, Bailey is an avid teacher and clinician. A licensed Body Mapping Educator since 2019, Bailey seeks ways to incorporate somatic education and movement into brass pedagogy to not only prevent injury, but to improve technical facility and explore expressive possibilities. She has given workshops, clinics, and masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Utah, and Portland State University. In 2019 she presented a webinar for the Association for Body Mapping Education entitled “Sound the Trumpet, Sound the Body,” and she has also contributed teaching tips to the Association’s Movement Matters newsletter.

When not musicking, Bailey can be found walking and running with her dog Gus, practicing yoga, and playing board games with her partner Pete.

 

Rachael Sanguinetti

Rachael Sanguinetti is a passionate educator and performer. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School of Music in 2015 where she majored in Music Education and Musical Arts. She also minored in Social Psychology and completed an Arts Leadership Certificate. Rachael then went on to earn a master’s degree at Ithaca College in 2018 with a focus in secondary general education and popular music education. Rachael is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Education at the Eastman School of Music.

Rachael has traveled the country presenting at conferences and leading workshops on topics related to student-centered instruction, teacher self-care, and culturally responsive practices. She has completed several research studies on the subject of popular music practices in the K-12 classroom and culturally responsive teaching. She also maintains an active performance career as a soprano, performing across the northeast in musical theatre, opera productions, and in recording sessions.

Before leaving the K-12 classroom to pursue her PhD, Rachael was a K-12 music teacher and Dean of Middle School Students at Allendale Columbia School in Pittsford, NY. She is currently an adjunct professor of music education at Nazareth College in Pittsford, NY. She also currently has an active private piano and voice studio where she works with students age 4 through adult.

 

William Shi

Australian pianist William Shi has garnered first prizes at numerous competitions, including the Petrof, Vivace/Yamaha, and Queensland Piano Competitions. A recipient of the Theme & Variations Foundation Award, the Newton Swift Piano Award, and an American Australian Association Arts Fund Grant, William has appeared at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music and the Australian Piano Duo Festival. In 2021, William was the only American-based Australian to be awarded an Australian Music Foundation (AMF) Award, and in 2022 was the AMF’s recipient of the Guy Parsons Award.

William has accompanied masterclasses with such distinguished artists as Glenn Dicterow, Walter Auer (Principal Flute of the Vienna Philharmonic), Martin Katz, and Renée Fleming, and has worked with the Australian Strings Association Competition, Australasian Double Reed Society National Competition, and the Underground Opera Company. He has given performances in England, Germany, and Austria, in addition to appearing on American concert stages including Santa Barbara’s Granada Theatre and New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall.

William held a teaching assistantship while attaining his Master of Music with Dr. Arkady Aronov from the Mannes School of Music. Additionally, he was the University Medalist at the University of Queensland where he completed his Bachelor of Music (Honors) with Max Olding. At Eastman, William is the teaching assistant for Prof. Natalya Antonova with whom he is currently undertaking a DMA in Piano Performance & Literature, alongside an MM in Piano Accompanying & Chamber Music with Dr. Andrew Harley. He holds a graduate assistantship in accompanying and received the Excellence in Accompanying Award in 2021 and 2022. William currently serves as Adjunct Faculty at Nazareth University and will attend the Tanglewood Music Center this summer as the only fellow accepted to a dual concentration in instrumental and vocal piano.

 

Gregory Smith

Gregory Smith, a native of Pampa, Texas and current student of Andrew Harley, is a collaborative pianist who will earn a Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music this May. He previously graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Brigham Young University, where he studied with Stephen Beus and Jeffrey Shumway. While at BYU, Gregory participated with various institutions, serving as a pianist for various operas, the concert choir, and the wind ensembles, and as a teaching assistant for a music history course.

Passionately committed to both collaborative piano and music theory, Gregory has held a graduate assistantship in studio accompanying and a teaching assistantship in the theory department at Eastman. He is concurrently seeking an Advanced Certificate in Music Theory Pedagogy in addition to his MM degree, and he will continue to do so as he enters Eastman next fall as a candidate for a DMA in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music.

At BYU, Gregory was a proud recipient of 1st prize in the collegiate division of the 2nd annual Utah Young Collaborative Pianists Competition. At Eastman, he was awarded 2nd place pianist in the 2022 Kneisel Lieder Competition and the Koeng award for excellence in vocal collaboration. He looks forward to participating in the Kneisel Competition again in just a few days. Last summer, he studied with Graham Johnson and Martin Katz at the SongFest program on full scholarship as a Brown Loranger Fellow pianist. He eagerly awaits a return to SongFest this summer to study with Katz and Roger Vignoles, and he will also make his debut as a piano fellow in the Toronto Summer Music Academy’s “Art of Song” program. Gregory thanks his family, friends, mentors, and especially his magnificent wife, Christian, for their boundless support.

 

Kevin Lee Sun

Kevin Lee Sun is a pianist, teacher, and researcher whose passions for music, diversity, and human psychology have led him to perform and speak around the world. A native of Sacramento, California, Sun received his Bachelor of Arts and Science in Biology and Classics at Stanford University, then his Master of Music in Piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In the subsequent three years, Sun was a Stanford Medical School student. With his diverse educational background, he has co-authored seven peer-reviewed journal articles of original research in the fields of psychiatry, student mentorship, and Platonic philosophy. While earning his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music, Sun was filmed by VAN Magazine performing at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, recorded as a guest artist of the 30 Bach: The Goldberg Variations podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and presented as a pianist-scholar of the music of living composer Hyo-shin Na at various national conferences.

At Eastman, Sun studied piano with Alexander Kobrin and served as his co-teaching assistant. He also taught applied secondary piano under the supervision of Tamari Gurevich. His applied secondary piano students have won the University of Rochester’s River Campus Concerto Competition, earned prizes at the New York State Music Teachers Association Empire State Competition, and performed piano throughout Rochester. Sun’s own distinctions at Eastman include finalist of the Piano Department’s NYC Solo Debut Competition, recipient of the Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching, and recipient of the Jerald C. Graue Fellowship in Musicology for his paper on Barbara Strozzi. For these successes, Sun thanks all of his Eastman  mentors, as well as his former piano teachers Thomas Schultz, Sharon Mann, Lorna Peters, and Tien Hsieh. He is honored to join the Pi Kappa Lambda society. 

FACULTY

Sylvie Beaudette

Born in Québec, pianist Sylvie Beaudette has a diversified career as a collaborative artist, vocal and chamber music coach, teacher, and arts administrator. She has performed with several artists and groups in Canada, USA, and Switzerland. As a member of the Athena Trio, she performed extensively in Northern California, Pennsylvania and New York States, and recorded Fabulous Femmes, a CD of music by women composers released on the Centaur label in July 2000. She has also appeared on clarinetist Richard Nunemaker’s critically acclaimed CD Multiplicities. With soprano Eileen Strempel, she performed in New York City, Rochester, Syracuse, Boston, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Toronto, and Montréal. Their most celebrated recording: (In)habitation: Settings of Margaret Atwood Poetry by American Women Composers, was released in 2009 by Centaur Records. The disc features songs composed expressly for the duo by some of the top female composers of our time. The Journal of Singing raved about this recording saying, “exemplary; there is so much to admire about how this project was conceived and executed down to the smallest detail (…). A remarkable achievement.”

The Strempel-Beaudette Duo’s other recordings include love lies bleeding, a collection of art songs by Libby Larsen, as well as unto thee I burn, a new CD released in 2015 that includes nineteen song settings of e.e. cummings poetry by North American women composers. The duo’s first disc, With All My Soul, is on the Oasis label and features previously unrecorded works by Marie de Grandval, along with mélodies by Lili Boulanger and Pauline Viardot-Garcia.

A graduate from the Eastman School of Music with a doctorate in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music, Sylvie Beaudette has given guest lectures on the history of French mélodie in Lausanne, Switzerland and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. As diction coach, Dr. Beaudette has worked at the Houston Grand Opera in preparation for Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment and several years at the Université de Sherbrooke, Québec where she taught lyric diction to master’s degree candidates in Choral Conducting. Dr. Beaudette worked as a faculty member at Syracuse University, and at California State University at Chico, where she created an undergraduate program in Piano Accompanying for the Music Department.  She was awarded the 2007 citation from the New York State Music Teachers Association for her musical contributions as a whole as well as her service to the organization as chair of the Commissioned Composer program. Dr. Beaudette is currently working at the Eastman School of Music as Director of Summer@Eastman and as Assistant Professor of Chamber Music and Accompanying. She is the founder and artistic director of Eastman’s Women in Music Festival (2004-2014). She also serves on the board of The First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival and on the Eastman Centennial Planning Committee as co-chair.