The performances, titled Celebrating Alumni Composers, included standard instrumentations (woodwind and brass quintets), unusual combinations (piano, percussion, clarinet, and oboe), and solo works by School of Music graduates. The composers’ music was performed in Mills Concert Hall by the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, the Wingra Woodwind Quintet, the UW Wind Ensemble, and other faculty and students.
The alumni composers included:
- Jeffery Stadelman ’83, MA’85, associate professor of music composition at the University of Buffalo
- Paula Matthusen ’01, assistant professor of music at Wesleyan University
- William Rhoads ’96, vice president of marketing & communications for Orchestra of St. Luke’s and The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City
- Andrew Rindfleisch ’87, professor of composition at Cleveland State University
- Kevin Ernste ’97, professor of composition at Cornell University
Since graduating from UW, these alumni have pursued careers in a variety of fields: acoustic and electronic composition, musicology, theory, audio production, conducting, education, concert management and administration, performance, and others.
“One thing this festival has allowed me to do is to actually think about my time at UW and how that time in my life propelled me to where I am now,” said Rhoads. “Coming back to Madison after having working now two decades in the music industry in NYC brings back a multitude of fond memories and an immense feeling of gratitude for the invaluable experiences I gained as a student.”
To view the UW School of Music’s upcoming concerts and events, please visit music.wisc.edu/events.
