2025 Recap: Faculty Project Highlights
Each year, School of Music faculty members undertake personal projects, making important contributions to their respective academic and performance fields. These projects can range from published research to albums, books, and presentations at conferences. Our faculty are proud to share their knowledge and expertise with a global community of musicians, music educators, academics, and the general public.
Music Education Professor Akosua Addo’s paper “Giving Voice to Africans in Musical Arts Education Discourse” was published in the Philosophy of Music Education Review in Fall 2025. The paper centers African philosophical perspectives in musical arts education, drawing on Kwasi Wiredu's notion of "conceptual decolonization" to discuss how Western music education models diverge from African worldviews, notions of being, values, and knowledge.
In spring 2025, Director of Bands Emily Threinen embarked on her sabbatical, focusing on several projects, including performance, creativity, scholarship, teaching, and pedagogy. She worked on a digital release of the University Wind Ensemble Fire and Ice: Double Concerto, featuring Dean Sorenson and Marissa Benedict, and submitted chapters for book publications, including “Beyond the Baton” and “Rehearsing the Band, Volume 4.” Threinen was invited to conduct in several state all-state bands, including Oklahoma, Missouri, East Tennessee, and Nebraska. In March and April, she traveled to Asia, where she was a clinician for the Singapore Youth Band Festival and an invited conductor for The Association for Music in International Schools in South Korea. She was a guest conductor and clinician in several performances spanning the globe, including Texas Tech University, National Concert Band of Heredia of Costa Rica, University of Illinois, Georgia State University, and American Band College Summer Program.
Professor of Composition Alex Lubet and Professor of Voice Victoria Vargas released an album Amy Levy: Songs of Love and Loss and have received positive reviews for the album in many outlets, including Recording Artists Guild Digital Magazine. The piece was composed by Alex Lubet, who also plays Mountain Dulcimer on the album, and Victoria Vargas sings.
Percussion Professor Fernando Meza brought his percussion studio to Costa Rica in May for a joint tour with the Universidad de Costa Rica Percussion Ensemble. Professor. Meza also performed in Costa Rica in June at the International Festival of Percussion Ensembles as a guest of the Costa Rica-UNED Percussion Ensemble and traveled to Spain in October to offer masterclasses at the Conservatories of Riba Roja de Turia and Valencia. As part of his research on the marimba from Costa Rica, Prof. Meza has been collaborating with Prof. Razziel Acevedo of the University of Costa Rica for an upcoming book, and their article “Guanacaste: 200 o más años de música tradicional con la marimba, su música y su afinación” was recently published through the Ministry of Culture of Costa Rica for an anthology celebrating the bicentennial of the annexation of Nicoya to Costa Rica.
Professor Matthew Mehaffey brought the University Singers to Italy to help celebrate the 500th birthday of Italian composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina in the composer’s hometown of Palestrina, Italy.
Composition professor Sivan Cohen Elias has released a new electroacoustic album entitled “Melting Planets” as a composer-performer together with two collaborators, Lauren Siess and Cole Blouin. Instruments include viola, electric guitar, no-input mixer, many sound instruments, and live electronics.
Voice Professor Philip Zawisza performed the Bass solos in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Mankato Symphony on December 20th, conducted by Maestro Ernesto Estigarribia. He also performed "Plotiyu Usnuv"(Song of Light) in Church Slavonic at St. Constantine's Ukrainian Church in Minneapolis at their Chorale Festival on October 19th.
As part of the Monday Music Series, a special concert commemorating the 80th Anniversary of Korean Liberation Day was held on November 24 at Ultan Recital Hall in Minnesota. The program brought together music and history in a meaningful tribute honoring Korea’s journey toward freedom. Organized by Christine Kim, Oboe Faculty, the concert featured a collaborative ensemble of Minnesota-based musicians, along with guest performers from Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The program consisted entirely of works by Korean composers, highlighting the depth, diversity, and expressive power of Korean musical voices. Performers included the Samulnori Team from Sejong Academy, Eunice Koh (violin), Soojin Lee (gayageum), Christine Kim (oboe), SangYoon Kim (clarinet), Hyun Kim (piano), Jiwon Lee (piano), Seokho Park (tenor), and Jiyeon Hwang (soprano).
Dr. Danni Gilbert (music education faculty) and Catherine Grimm (PhD student in music education), along with music education colleagues from other institutions, had a research poster published in the November issue of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) e-Journal. The research project, "A Comparison of Self-Reported Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among University Music Majors and Non-Music Majors: A Current Perspective," examined mental health concerns among university undergraduate and graduate music majors and found them to be more severe than college students from other disciplines, particularly among students who identify as women or gender minorities.
Dr. Gilbert's original study of the same title was also published in the peer-reviewed NAfME journal, the Journal of Music Teacher Education. Co-authors included Dr. Mary Beth Hilbers and Dr. Ellie Johnson (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Dr. Emily Chapman (Fort Hays State University), and Catherine Grimm, doctoral student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
In April, Maja Radovanlija (Guitar faculty) and Milena Petković (SOM Guitar DMA alumni) performed the monumental work Oceana by Osvaldo Golijov, with Border CrosSing at the Ordway.
Professor Rahaim's compositions "Heart-Arsenal" and "Çirîkey Jiyanewa" were performed at the Modulus Festival in Vancouver, BC, in November 2025. These pieces were composed for an ensemble of new instruments built from decommissioned rifles by sculptor Pedram Baldari.
Music Theory professor Alyssa Barna had several publications released in 2025, with a focus on analysis of popular music.
- “Revision, Extension, and Repetition: Analyzing Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)’,” in Taylor Swift: The Star, The Songs, The Fans, edited by Christa Bentley, Kate Galloway, Paula Harper. Routledge Press.
- "Vocal Production, Mimesis, and Social Media in Bedroom Pop,” Music Theory Online, co-authored with Caroline McLaughlin.
- “Writing (Re)Considered,” Music Theory Spectrum.
University Wind Ensemble Fire and Ice: Double Concerto, featuring Director of Jazz Studies Dean Sorenson on trombone and Professor of Trumpet Marissa Benedict. Conducted by Emily Threinen. Available on several streaming platforms.
