The Hugh Hodgson School of Music dedicated its brand new Steinway Concert Grand Piano this past Tuesday. The instrument, a gift to the Hodgson School from Elaine Collier Neal in honor of her husband, Richard Gladstone Neal, Jr., was selected March 14 from the Steinway Gallery in New York City. The dedication culminated in a concert from the HHSOM keyboard faculty.

The 2nd Thursday Scholarship Concert Series continues on Thursday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall with the Hodgson Wind Ensemble, premiere wind band at the University of Georgia. Tickets for the performance are $18/$5 for students and can be obtained via the UGA Performing Arts Center box office.

Hugh Hodgson School of Music professor of tuba and euphonium David Zerkel will present the latest recital in the Hodgson Faculty Series at 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 2. Tickets to the performance, which takes place in Ramsey Concert Hall, are $10, $5 for UGA students with ID.

The program features Three Reflections by James Woodward; David Gillingham’s Jabberwocky; Reflections on the Mississippi by Michael Daugherty; Anthony Plog’s Nocturne; and the Halsey Stevens tuba sonatina. 

The University of Georgia Wind Symphony will hold their inaugural concert of the academic year on Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. in Hodgson Concert Hall. The concert, structured around the theme of dance, is free and open to the public.

On August 14, 2014, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and conductor Luke Dollman premiered Our Don, the first symphony written by Hodgson School professor Natalie Williams. The composition is a multi-media symphonic work commissioned by the State Government of South Australia as an orchestral tribute to the late cricketing great, Sir Donald Bradman, AC.

The piece met critical acclaim from international reviewers, including The Guardian:

Congratulations to Michael Pace, recently named Teacher of the Year at Jefferson Middle School in Jefferson, GA. Mr. Pace graduated from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music in 2011 with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education, and has been at JMS for three years.

Photo courtesy of Jefferson Middle School

Viola professor Maggie Snyder presents the opening recital of the 2014-2015 Hugh Hodgson Faculty Series on Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall. Tickets to the performance, which also features faculty accompanists Anatoly Sheludyakov and Damon Denton, are $10, $5 for UGA students with ID.

    

Damon Denton, piano, will appears as featured soloist with the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra and conductor Mark Cedel on Thursday, September 11 in Hodgson Concert Hall. The performance, which opens the 2014-2015 Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s 2nd Thursday Scholarship Concert Series, will be the first to feature the series’ new 7:30 p.m. start time. Tickets are $18/$5 for students and available via the UGA Performing Arts Center box office at 706/542-4400 or online at pac.uga.edu.

Hugh Hodgson School of Music assistant professor of music theory Rebecca Simpson-Litke was named a 2014-2016 CTL Lilly Teaching Fellow this summer.

Ten fellows are selected each spring semester to participate in the program, an appointment which lasts two years.

Simpson-Litke is the tenth Hodgson School faculty member to be chosen for the group during its thirty-year history.

Congratulations to DMA student David McLemore, who recently placed third in the tuba division of the 2014 Jeju International Brass & Percussion Competition in South Korea. The event attracts the most talented bass trombone, euphonium, tuba, and percussion players from around the globe. McLemore was the only American to place in any of the four divisions.

McLemore is a student of Hugh Hodgson School of Music professor David Zerkel.