The UC Davis Department of Music’s graduate composers have collectively had a fruitful year. Here is a list of their accomplishments.  

Josiah Catalan

 February 2018 
- In a Flash for soprano and electronics performed at the Bowling Green State University Graduate Student Conference

March 2018
– Awarded First Prize in National Association of Composers, USA 39th Annual Young Composer’s Competition

June 2018 
– Composition Fellow at June in Buffalo Festival at the University of Buffalo at New York. Performance of Mirages by Ensemble Mise-en
-Composition Fellow at the Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at the New England Conservatory. Performance of String Quartet Fractal Tracing
-Performance of Aperture Perpetuum by Miranda Cuckson at Spectrum in Brooklyn, NYC

September 2018
-Performance of Wanderlust featured at the Society of Composers, Inc. Graduate Composer’s Conference at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

October 2018
-Premiere of Zephyr for Haegeum and Viola by Soo-yeon Lyuh and Ellen Ruth Rose at the Ann E. Pitzer Center

February 2019
-Composition Fellow at the Red Note New Music Festival Workshop at Illinois State University. Premiere of a new composition by the Iridium Saxophone Quartet

March 2019
-Performance of Fractal Tracing by the Arditti String Quartet at the Robb Composer’s Symposium/Society of Composers, Inc. National Composer’s Conference at the University of New Mexico

Addie Camsuzuo

-participated in 2018 soundSCAPE

Jonathan Favero

-Meditation on King, commissioned by flutist Kelley Barnett of Ensemble Mise-en, premiered in January 2018, Brooklyn, NY 

-Keep On Movin’ commissioned by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, premiered in October 2018, San Francisco, CA

-E Pluribus Unum for solo percussionist, an indeterminate number of players, and audience participation, premiered with percussionist Chris Froh in May 2018, Pitzer Hall, Davis, CA

Daniel Godsil

-Finalist, Lake George Music Festival Composition Competition 2018: “Aeropittura” for flute, viola, cello, and piano

-Finalist, Reno Orchestra Pops Call for Scores: “Streamliner” for orchestra

-Finalist, BTFW (Breaking the Fourth Wall) Composition Competition: “Praxinoscope” for sax quartet

-Earplay New Chamber Music: “Aeropittura” for flute, viola, cello, and piano (Winner of the 2017 Donald Aird Prize). March 19, 2018, San Francisco

-Jihye Chang Sung, piano: “Etudes Chemiques No. 2: Helium” for solo piano. September 28, 2018, San Francisco. 

Aida Shirazi

-April 2018, National Sawdust: NYC premiere of “Albumblatt” for solo piano by Ava Nazar in the framework of the launch concert of the Iranian Female Composers Association

-May 2018, Boston Conservatory: NYC premiere of “Albumblatt” for solo piano by Jacob Greenberg in the framework of New Music Gathering 2018

-Commissions: Après… for solo piano, commissioned by Yael Weiss as part of the “32 Bright Clouds” project, world premiere: January 24, 2019, Strathmore, MD, and new work for solo violin, commissioned by Miranda Cuckson.

Ryan Suleiman

-Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at the New England Conservatory

-Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC) Sierra Branch guest speaker on composition pedagogy, March 2018

-Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at NEC, June 2018

-ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Finalist, 2018

-Für Arvo (2017); Katsuya Yasua, clarinet; Sakurako Kanemitsu, piano. Mu Phi Epsilon Recital. CSUS, March 2018 

-Mists and Sparks (2015); Iditarod Marathon Concert at SICPP, NEC, June 2018

-Under Moonlight (2012); Jennifer Reason, piano. Landscape Music: Rivers and Trails Performance. Empress Theatre, Vallejo CA. September 2018

-Boyce Jeffries and Adam Davis FeNAM Performance. Two Pieces in Variable Order for Solo Percussion. CSUS, 2018.

Joseph Vasinda

-Senior Composition Recital for BM from Texas Tech University

Sarah Wald

-Oct. 2018: Piece for Pierrot ensemble + percussion, Bacchanale, selected from North/South Consonance’s call for scores. Performance: New York, June 2019

-Sept. 2018: Solo piano piece, Dali’s Staircase, published by Imagine Music Publishing.  

-Aug. 2018: Commissioned by Access Contemporary Music to write a piece for Doors Open Milwaukee.  The piece, Music for the Pritzlaff Building, performed in Milwaukee in Sept. 2018. 

-June/July 2018: Attended the Oregon Bach Festival. Her work for organ, Variations, was performed. Wald  performed in several pieces (flute/piccolo). 

-Feb. 2018: Commissioned by Keyed Kontraptions/Guerilla Composers Guild.  The piece, Chorale Figures, was performed in San Francisco in April 2018. 

-Oct. 2017: Her percussion quartet, Pas de Quatre (published by Bachovich) was performed at the Eko Nova concert series in Omaha, NE.  

Recent PhD Graduates in Music Composition and Theory

Philip Acimovic (PhD, 2018)

Bryce Cannell (PhD, 2017) – Lecturer in Music Theory and Composition, California State University Fresno

Christopher Castro (PhD, 2018) – Lecturer in Music Theory and Composition, California State University, Sacramento; Lecturer in Music Theory and Composition, University of California, Davis

Gabriel Bolaños Chamorro (PhD, 2015) - Visiting Lecturer, Bates College, Department of Music

Yu-Hsin Chang (PhD, 2018)

William Cooper (PhD 2015) – Music Theory and Composition Faculty, Walnut Hill School for the Arts; organist and choirmaster, St. James Episcopal Church, New London

Fang-Wei Luo (PhD, 2018)

Alex Van Gils (PhD, 2017)