Published: Feb. 8, 2011

alumniThanks to Hsing-Ay Hsu for compiling this information. To send your new for future updates, email cupendulum@gmail.com.

Danny Schade BM/2008/Percussion, BME/2008/Elementary General
Private lesson teacher, Substitute teacher, Freelance drummer/composer.His first album was just released: “Predestination and Other Games of Chance… the Soundtrack.” Featuring music from his scoring of the podcast-audio-drama, Antithesis. Danny has also composed and self produced over 90 pieces of music in 2010.

“CU was such an awesome experience, it made me the musician I am today. Thanks to the profs, the peers and of course… the Pendulum. You’re an inspiration, keep the new music rolling!”

Brandon Vaccaro DMA/2009/Composition
Assistant Professor of Music, Kent State University; Freelance composer, audio engineer, producer,Award winning score for A Complex Villainelle (acomplexvillainelle.com); Score for Univ. of Colorado, Denver Accreditation video

“CU was an incredible experience. The faculty is first-rate, and the opportunities provided to us as composition students were great!”

Eliana Maria Murphy BM/2003 Piano Performance, MM/2005 Piano Performance
DMA student at Cincinnati Conservatory, piano teacher, organist and cantor. Composed and directed “Michaelmas Fire,” a choral piece, at Tara Performing Arts High School in 2009 and 2010

Dustin Rumsey BM/2009/ Composition
Composer/soundtrack engineer for Square Two Productions, Private Lesson teacher

“CU exposed me to the best combination musical techniques, free-expression, and performance opportunities I think I could have gotten. Excellent school, excellent faculty, and Pendulum is a fantastic program.”

Jennie Dorris MM/2005
Founder, Telling Stories
Founded award-winning ensemble that features both words and music, now produced as a radio show for Colorado Public Radio. Commissioned countless new works and work with university student composers to perform their works.

Ryan Spencer BM/2008
Freelance Composer, Arranger, Sound Engineer, Trumpeter,Currently working on a few new pieces for grade III-IV Wind Ensemble and some arrangements for string orchestra as well as mixed chorus. Also producing a series of solo/ensemble pieces for young musicians called the ((VI Series)) which has variable instrumentation and accompanying practice CDs. Will be an exhibitor at CMEA for 2011.

“Loved the composition program at CU, and continue to have excellent relationships with professors and peers I met there. Am sorely tempted to come back!”

MinTze Wu Graduate Quartet 2002-2003
teaching/performing/presenting festivals,Artistic director of Sounds of Lyons Music Festival andco-director of Gros Morne Summer Music.Created “Earth Program” based on Vasks Piano Trio, “Death of The Pugilist” with music by Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Hermes Camacho MM/2006/Composition
DMA student in composition at The University of Texas at Austin Instructor of music at UT, composition co-chair of GAMMA-UT (conference and concert series), conductor of the Sacramento Youth Symphony Chamber music Workshop, recently instituting a guest composer/commissioning program, and currently completing my dissertation at the university.

“I had a wonderful time at CU and learned so much from the fantastic faculty. What better than the backdrop of the Flatirons to write and perform music?”

Emily Takahashi MMA Piano Performanceteaching/performing/accompanying
Boulder area, Deep Listening concert Series Sept, 2010-February 2011

Greg Simon MM/2010/Composition
adjunct instructor of theory at CU and at the Metropolitan State College of Denver,composition fellow at the Brevard Music Center.Recent performances at the Mayne Stage in Chicago, the Western International Band Clinic, and the California Band Directors’ Association Convention, among other places. It’s also been featured on Chicago’s WFMT Classical Music Radio, and will be on upcoming recordings by the Fifth House Ensemble and the California All State Band. awards from California State University, Bakersfield; the College Band Directors’ National Association. a new commission from the Corvallis Youth Symphony. active as a player, and performing currently with the Park Hill Brass, the Quartex, Signel-Z and other jazz projects in Denver and Boulder.

Steve Snethkamp composition
DMA candidate at Indiana University, private teaching,recent compositions include:
Ritual : Irrational – MM thesis for large chamber ensemble
D A R K

A R K D

R K D A

K D A R (recycling dark) – a four movement, sonata length piecefor solo piano

Time Waves – a surround sound chamber ensemble
Wooden Rain, Metallic Blossoms – for 8 channel fixed media

Susan Olenwine, piano &Thomas Eric Angerhofer, voice
Denver area,Collaborating on the chamber music of eric ewazen

Steven Snowden MM composition/2008
DMA candidate University of Texas at Austin, Instructor of introductory and intermediate electronic composition at UT
Co-director of the Fast>>Forward>>Austin Music Festival, performing with several improv/experimental groups in the Austin area, Feverishly trying to fill commissions for new acoustic and electroacoustic works, attempting not to burn myself with a soldering iron.

“Talk about being in the right place at the right time! CU was the perfect creative incubator for me during my masters. I learned so much and had so much fun. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be the composer that I am today without the guidance and encouragement that I received at CU.”

Paul Hembree MM composition/2009
PhD candidate in Composition at the University of California, San Diego, where he studies with Roger Reynolds. At UCSD he continues to compose acoustic chamber music, computer music and video art drawing from a wide range of resources and influences. Major projects include Passion, a setting of poetry by German expressionist poet Georg Trakl, for soprano and chamber ensemble, which will be released on the fifth installment Sound Check, a UCSD Department of Music CD series. mUTTERANCEs, forpiano quartet, deconstructs standard instrumental practice, exploring the notion of instrumental musique concrete, while seeking to provoke a mimetic response in its listeners. His most recent project was Blue Sky Catastrophe, for solo trumpet, which was just recorded by International Contemporary Ensemble member Peter Evans. These three works all take the topology of their constituent instruments and the physical nature of sound as the basic material. In addition to composition, his pursuitsat UCSD have included improvisation and performance on trumpet, musical cognitive science, theoretical extrapolations of John Cage and Edgard Varese, and the instruction of basic music theory and counterpoint.

Byron Weigel MM comp
Tacoma community college, adjunct professor

Curtis Broome MM percussion
working in indie music in Denver, recently played music of Nate Wheeler; CU Foundation administration

Nate Wheeler MM comp 2010
freelance composer, recording engineer

Chris Rippey MM comp
working in indie music in Boulder, recently released a CD