On Monday, December 1, the University of Georgia British Brass Band will present a special holiday concert in Hodgson Hall. The 8:00 pm performance, which features students and brass ensembles from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, is led by professor and former New York Philharmonic principal trumpet Phil Smith.

Congratulations to Eric Willoughby (BM Ed '94) who was recently named Bartow County Teacher of the Year. Willoughby is a former member of the Redcoat Marching band and currently is Director of Bands at Woodland High School in Cartersville, GA.

In addition to WHS, Willoughby has also taught at Joseph Wheeler and Peachtree Ridge High Schools.

In the age of privacy debates and revelations of government electronic surveillance by Edward Snowden and others, University of Georgia Director of Bands Cynthia Johnston Turner has a message for Google.

Congratulations to the University of Georgia saxophone studio! Undergraduate performance majors Gabe Pique and Brandon Quarles, as well as first-year DMA student and Shawna Pennock, recently competed in the International Saxophone Symposium and Competition at Columbus State University. Out of 70 contestants, Pique was one of six chosen to advance.

Pique also won first prize in the Young Artist Woodwind category of the Georgia MTNA competition on November 4th, with fellow Hodgson student Brandon Quarles taking alternate.

Hailed by The Washington Post as possessing a voice "without qualification, one of the very few most beautiful in the world." Kathleen Battle will join the UGA Hodgson SIngers on Sunday, November 9 at 3:00 pm in Hodgson Concert Hall. The performance, comprised of of spirituals and hymns, celebrates the roots of African-American music and freedom via the Underground Railroad.

Battle is well known as an operatic light lyric soprano, and is a veteran of the Metropolitan Opera. From her official website:

 

Join international trumpeter, conductor, composer, and teacher Stephen Burns for an insightful exploration in a Seminar on Professional Development Thursday, November 13 at noon in Edge Recital Hall of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. Burns' background as Founder and Artistic Director of Fulcrum Point New Music Project lends him a unique perspective into how to to follow your aspirations. The seminar is free and open to the public.

The University of Georgia Opera Theatre will present “Hansel and Gretel” in a three-night engagement Nov. 5-7 at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall.

The performance, part of both the UGA Spotlight on the Arts Festival and the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s 2nd Thursday Scholarship Concert Series, also features the Georgia Children’s Chorus, dance department and UGA Symphony Orchestra, conducted by professor Mark Cedel.

Congratulations to Hugh Hodgson School of Music students John Hennecken, Daniel Elder, and Jeremy Fermin!

On September 26, 2014, Symphony Orchestra Augusta performed Everything Beautiful In Its Time, a work by DMA composition student John Hennecken. The piece was also programmed this past summer in Japan, and both pieces were conducted by SOA music director Shizuo Z. Kuwahara.

The Concert on the Lawn, an autumnal staple at the University of Georgia, returns to the school's historic North Campus Lawn once more this Friday, October 17 at 12:30 pm. Enjoy an hour of good fellowship and fun at this free concert by the Hodgson Wind Ensemble and director of bands Cynthia Johnston Turner!

Congratulations to two Hodgson School students who recently won orchestral positions! DJ Creech won second trumpet with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, while first year DMA percussion student Jacob Powers won a position as section percussionist with the Tucson Symphony!