The University of Georgia Wind Ensemble will present the world premiere of Declarations, a new composition for wind band, on May 9 at the 2014 Spring Undergraduate Commencement. The piece, composed by past Hugh Hodgson School of Music professor Steve Dancz, will commemorate the final performance of departing Director of Bands John P. Lynch.

Cynthia Johnston Turner, currently director of wind ensembles at Cornell University, has been named new director of bands at the University of Georgia.

Turner succeeds John P. Lynch, who has been director of bands in the university's Hugh Hodgson School of Music since 2007.

Conductor Daniel Bara and the University of Georgia Hodgson Singers will present a European Tour Send-Off Concert on Thursday, May 15 at 7:00 pm in Hodgson Concert Hall. 

The group, which serves as the flagship choral ensemble for the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will present selections from their upcoming European tour on the road to the 2014 International Choral Competition Ave Verum in Baden, Austria. The performance will showcase a wide variety of art song including sacred texts and folk songs of love and loss from Lithuania, England, and America.

Recent Hugh Hodgson School of Music graduate students Joshua and Kristen Holritz will both perform at an upcoming concert hosted by the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta. The event, dubbed the annual "Spring Fling, will be held at St. John United Methodist Church in Atlanta and also features Robert Henry, piano, and Mary Ann Hill, soprano.

From the Pro-Mozart Society press release:

Congratulations to sophomore piano performance student Geneva Stonecipher, recent recipient of the Dean Piano Award. The award, which is sponsored by the Georgia Federation of Music Clubs, is part of a statewide competition for students ages 19 - 26 and carries with it a prize of $2,000.

Stonecipher, seated at right with alumna Kitty Blissit, professor Martha Thomas, and HHSOM director Dale Monson, is a native of Colbert, GA.

William Drabkin, professor of music theory at the University of Southampton, will visit UGA for a presentation and seminar April 22. Drabkin will give a presentation on “Schenker and His Circle: Grappling with Bach’s Two-Part Invention in C Minor” in Room 410 of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music from 12:30-1:10 p.m.

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music 2014 Convocation will take place on May 8th at 7:00 pm in Hodgson Concert Hall.  Tickets for the event may be reserved by contacting Edith Hollander at edith@uga.edu or by calling 706-542-2701.

Our speaker this year will be Mary Frances Early, the first African American to graduate from the University of Georgia (Master of Music Education, 1962).

Congratulations to DMA piano performance major Hyorim Lee, one of several instrumentalists selected for the first prize winner category at the 2014 American Protégé International Concerto Competition! This win means that Lee will be featured at a winner's recital in December 2014 in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Lee will perform alongside students from such respected establishments as The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, Yale University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, and LA's Colburn School of the Arts.

The University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music trombone, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet studios have been quite busy as of late! Here are a few recent highlights.

Congratulations to Hugh Hodgson School of Music graduate student Elizabeth Whittenburg Ozment, recipient of UGA's 2014 Graduate School Excellence in Teaching Award.

The award recognizes graduate student teacher of the highest level, selecting only five winners from across the entire university each year.

Ms. Ozment was nominated for this award by the Institute for Women's Studies, for whom she has taught for the past few years. Ms. Ozment also held instructional TA positions in the HHSOM during the course of her degree.