The Yargo Trio—Connie Frigo, associate professor of saxophone; Angela Jones-Reus, professor of flute; and Liza Stepanova, assistant professor of piano—stage one of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s first recitals of the 2017-2018 season in Ramsey Concert Hall on Friday, Aug. 25, at 6 p.m.

The trio’s recital is a unique performance that heralds the release of their new album, “Voices, Reimagined,” and reflects the unconventional nature of their collaboration. 

UGA students will have a chance this fall to dig into the musical roots of the city that incubated countless bands and musicians—from R.E.M. to Danger Mouse to Vic Chesnutt—with the “Music in Athens” course.

MUSI 2300 and its honors counterpart, MUSI 2300H, are introductory-level, general studies courses taught by, respectively, Christian Lopez, head of the Russell Library Oral History Program, and Dr. Susan Thomas, professor of music and women’s studies at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. 

Four highly sought-after music educators and performers will take on new faculty roles at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music in the 2017-2018 academic year.

David Fung and Emily Koh join the faculty at the University of Georgia’s music school, and current Hodgson School professors Alison Farley and Liza Stepanova will step into new positions.

Every April, dozens of elementary and middle-school students take the stage of the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center’s 1,100-seat Hodgson Concert Hall. The music education majors who instructed them for a year or more introduce them, conduct them and play alongside them.

And at the end, when families crowd forward with cell phones pointed to the stage, the school children hold their certificates, the college students stand behind them, and the whole group smiles wide, all equally accomplished after a year of work.

Athens’ storied musical tradition continues with the 2017-2018 Thursday Scholarship Series, the flagship concert series from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. 

The concert series, which continues the tradition of “Music Appreciation Programs” started by Hugh Hodgson in the 1930s, features the finest ensembles, faculty and students from the University of Georgia’s music school each month of the fall and spring semesters. Proceeds from the series are a major funding source for many students’ music scholarships and graduate assistantships.

The faculty and staff of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music capped the 2017-2018 academic year by giving one award and receiving another.

Emily Gertsch, lecturer in Composition & Theory, was given the School’s inaugural Excellence in Teaching Award. This award honors a faculty member in the Hodgson School who has shown a sustained commitment and achievement in high-quality instruction.

A group of fellow faculty members approved Gertsch’s nomination, earning her the award and a $500 research allowance for the next academic year.

Two alumni from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music were part of quartets which won gold and silver medals at the 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Ind., on May 12-14.

Gabriel Pique (B. Mus. - Saxophone ’15), of Fuego Quartet, and Brandon Quarles (B. Mus. - Saxophone ’15), of ~Nois, were named gold and silver medal winners, respectively, in the Senior Wind Division. 

Hundreds of student musicians will join with faculty performers for a powerful finale to the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s 2016-2017 premier concert season in Hodgson Concert Hall on Thursday, April 20, at 8 p.m.

The UGA Symphony Orchestra (UGASO) and UGA Combined Choirs are set to perform Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and Mozart’s Requiem in D minor.

Elgar’s work opens the program, with Mark Cedel, director of the UGASO, conducting the orchestra through the fourteen variations.

The musicology/ethnomusicology area of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music received a significant, historical gift earlier this year when Mary Oyer, professor emeritus of music at Goshen College, donated over 70 antique and modern African musical instruments to her former student, Jean Kidula, professor of music at the Hodgson School.

The Hugh Hodgson Faculty Series finishes its 2016-2017 season featuring the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s assistant professor of oboe, Reid Messich, in Ramsey Concert Hall on Tuesday, April 18, at 8 p.m.

Messich will perform works from Jean Françaix, Carl Nielsen, Robert Schumann and Georg Philipp Telemann with help from assistant professor of bassoon Amy Pollard and pianist Greg Hankins (M.M. Performance ’12).