In Memoriam: CCM Professor Emeritus Eiji Hashimoto

We are saddened to share news of the passing of CCM Professor Emeritus Eiji Hashimoto, Professor of Harpsichord and Harpsichordist-in-Residence at CCM from 1968 to 2001. Hashimoto passed away on Jan. 14, 2021, at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Hashimoto; his three children: Christine (Kirk) Merritt, Ken (Allison Dubinski) Hashimoto, and Erica Hashimoto; and five granddaughters: Katherine and Elizabeth Merritt, Scarlette and Sabina Hashimoto, and Naomi Hashimoto. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date.

An internationally renowned concert artist and scholar of baroque music, Hashimoto performed with critical acclaim throughout the United States and around the world. As a soloist, he dazzled audiences in more than 50 international tours and released numerous CDs. His own editions of 18th-century keyboard music remain highly regarded.

Born in Tokyo in 1931, Hashimoto began musical training as a child and graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music with a major in organ in 1955. He came to the US under a Fulbright study grant to pursue graduate studies in musicology and composition at the University of Chicago (Master of Arts in 1959) and then in harpsichord at the Yale University School of Music (Master of Music in 1962) under Ralph Kirkpatrick.

Upon returning to Japan, Hashimoto taught at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo until he was invited by the French government to spend six months in France doing research in 1967. During his subsequent US tour, he performed in Cincinnati, which led to an invitation to teach at CCM beginning in 1968.

Hashimoto maintained an active performance and recording schedule throughout his 33-year long tenure at CCM. During this time he performed with many CCM ensembles, spent several summers conducting for CCM’s Opera Theatre of Lucca program in Italy, and also performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and at the May Festival.

Hashimoto also formed CCM’s Ensemble for Eighteenth Century Music, recording with the ensemble and taking it on several tours, including to Japan in 1988, to Mexico in 1993, and to many cities across the US. The El Porvenir newspaper in Monterrey, Mexico, declared “They came, they played and they conquered” following Hashimoto’s November 1993 performance with CCM’s Ensemble for Eighteenth Century Music. In 2001, Hashimoto’s then-colleague (and now emeriti faculty member) Clare Callahan told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Eiji is our Baroque touchstone … and his dedicated work with the Eighteenth Century Orchestra gave students and faculty alike a sense of the fun people had with music of that time.”

In 1978 and 1981, Hashimoto received the Prize of Excellence from the Japanese government for his recitals in Tokyo. In 1984, he received UC’s coveted Rieveschl Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Works. He was a recipient of the Ohio Arts Council’s solo artist grant, was also selected for the 1988-89 Arts Midwest Performing Arts Touring Program and was awarded the “Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels,” the highest honor awarded by the state of Kentucky for special achievements, by the governor of Kentucky in 1990. He was twice awarded research grants by the Rockefeller Foundation for scholarly residencies in Bellagio, Italy.

Please join us in sending your thoughts, prayers and condolences to Eiji’s family and friends. You can learn more about Eiji’s career by visiting Janelle Gelfand’s “Janelle’s Notes” blog. Tributes can be shared through the Neidhard-Young Funeral Home website. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date. Eiji influenced and inspired multiple generations of students, colleagues and music lovers during his three decades at CCM. He will be deeply missed.

Grammy-Nominated Pianist, Composer and Educator Sergio Pamies Joins CCM’s Jazz Faculty

UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of Sergio Pamies, DMA, to the college’s roster of distinguished performing and media arts faculty members. An accomplished pianist, composer and educator, Pamies’ appointment as Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano begins on Aug. 15, 2020.

Born in 1983 in Granada, Spain, Pamies has published four albums under his name: EntreAmigos (PSM, 2008), Borrachito (Bebyne Records, 2011), What Brought You Here? (Bebyne Records, 2017) and Summer Night at La Corrala: Solo Piano(expected October 2020). Critics have acknowledged his talent for composition, the lyrical qualities of his playing, and his natural and spontaneous ability to fuse the traditional jazz language and flamenco music of his childhood.

Pamies has performed at festivals in Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Colombia, Perú, China, Spain and the United States. He has collaborated with outstanding artists such as Dave Liebman, Christian Scott, Rubem Dantas, Antonio Serrano, Diego Amador, Pepe Luis Carmona “Habichuela,” Quamon Fowler, Brad Leali, Quincy Davis, Stockton Helbing, Ashleigh Smith, Samuel Torres, Tatiana Mayfield, Michael Miskiewicz and Joan Albert Amargós. Besides leading his own projects, he has produced other artists such as Verso Suelto (Verso Suelto, Youkali Music 2016), Korean singer Roja (My Shining Hour, Mirrorball Music, 2013) and The Zebras (Flamenco Jazz Project, North Texas Jazz, 2011).

Previously, Pamies taught jazz piano, jazz arranging and composition, in addition to leading the small group program, at University of Texas in Arlington. Pamies has given master classes and presented his research at Universidad de Granada (Spain), University of North Texas, University of Central Oklahoma, University of Texas at Arlington (USA), East Shanghai Normal University, Contemporary Music Institute of Zhuhai (China), Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Universidad Industrial de Santander and Universidad EAFIT de Medellín (Colombia), among other institutions. Pamies is a frequent collaborator of the European Piano Teachers Association’s Piano Professional journal, and a reviewer for the scholarly journal Jazz Education in Research and Practice.

Pamies received his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano (Liceo Conservatory in Barcelona, 2007), and then moved to the United States to study with Stefan Karlsson and complete a master’s degree in Jazz Piano at the University of North Texas (UNT), where he was awarded “Outstanding Student” in 2011. Pamies finished his doctoral studies (DMA in Jazz Piano) in 2016. He was the pianist of the seven-time Grammy nominated One O’Clock Lab Band at UNT, where he had the opportunity to perform with guest artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Arturo Sandoval, Marvin Stamm, Wycliffe Gordon, Doc Severinsen and Chuck Findley. As a member of the One O’Clock rhythm section, he has accompanied artists such as Christian McBride, Peter Bernstein, Lewis Nash, Tim Hagans and Greg Osby, among others. He is the featured soloist on Rich DeRosa’s composition “Neil,” which received a Grammy nomination in 2016 for “Best Instrumental Composition.”

In 2015, Pamies was selected for the “Latin Jazz Traditions” concert organized by Carnegie Hall, performing there with Paquito D’Rivera, having his composition “Dudú” selected for the program. In 2014, Pamies was awarded with the “Best Representation of Granada in a Foreign Country” youth cultural award by the Youth Institute of Andalucía, Spain. He has received seven DownBeat student awards: Best Instrumental Soloist (2013), Best Large Ensemble (2014) and Best Latin Group (2012) among them.

“CCM is home to one of the country’s top-rated jazz programs, and Sergio’s expertise as a pianist, composer and educator makes him an ideal addition to our world-class faculty. He is a wonderful successor to our dear colleague Stephen Allee, who retired earlier this year.” said Romanstein. “I want to recognize the excellent work of our search committee chaired by Scott Belck, which included Craig Bailey, Rusty Burge, Aaron Jacobs and BettyAnne Gottlieb.”

About CCM Jazz Studies

Offering both bachelor and master of music degrees, the Jazz Studies program at CCM teaches the fundamentals of classical music, stylistic elements of each historical jazz period, strategies for enhancing originality, techniques of electronic media and today’s cutting-edge trends that defy categorization. In 2019, CCM’s Department of Jazz Studies was named the inaugural college affiliate of the acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center, a distinction reserved for the country’s top-ranked jazz programs.

By receiving a wide musical perspective and the command of a broad jazz language, students in CCM’s jazz programs are equipped to pursue a future in jazz music. At the same time, this thorough course of study serves as the best preparation for related careers in commercial music.

Learn more by visiting ccm.uc.edu and sign up for our new email newsletter at ccm.uc.edu/subscribe

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Featured image at top: New CCM Jazz Studies faculty member Sergio Pamies.

CCM Announces Kristy Swift as New Assistant Professor of Musicology

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of musicologist and organist Kristy Swift, PhD and DMA, to the college’s roster of distinguished faculty members. Swift’s appointment as Assistant Professor of Musicology – Educator begins on Aug. 15, 2020. A two-time alumna of CCM, Swift (DMA Organ, ’98; PhD Musicology, ’13) is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology – Educator.

Swift’s research interests include digital humanities, film music, historiography, identity and music, music history pedagogy, music of Cincinnati and opera. Her monograph Thinking About Music History: Textbooks and the Canon is forthcoming from Clemson University Press. She is a member of the CCM Cincinnati Sounds: Exploring a Musical City Through Digital Exhibits project team, which received the UC Strategic Collaborative Award.

Swift has presented her research at annual meetings of the American Musicological Society, Society for American Music, Music and the Moving Image and Music History Pedagogy Conferences. Her work has been published in the Journal of Music History Pedagogy, The Diapason and Music Research Forum. Swift has taught hybrid and traditional face-to-face courses in American opera, madness in opera, opera and disability, politics and opera, protest(ed) music, Copland, Handel, Verdi, Wagner, research and writing, and graduate and undergraduate music history surveys at CCM and at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

As soloist and accompanist, she has performed throughout the United States in venues ranging from local Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky sites to Carnegie Hall. She has also served as director of music and organist at churches in Ohio and Florida.

Swift earned a PhD in musicology and DMA in organ studying with Roberta Gary at CCM. She also received an MM in organ studying with William Bodine and BM in education from the University of Florida. She served on the organ committee at Newtown United Methodist Church in Cincinnati for the installation of the M. P. Rathke Opus 8 pipe organ.

“I am grateful to Musicology Search Committee Chair Jonathan Kregor and committee members Amy Beegle, Jenny Doctor, Scott Linford and Stephen Meyer for their collaborative effort on this successful search,” said Romanstein. “We look forward to welcoming Kristy Swift to her new position at CCM this fall.”

About CCM

Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. The school’s educational roots date back to 1867, and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time.

CCM offers nine degree types (BA, BM, BFA, MFA, MM, MA, AD, DMA, PhD) in nearly 120 possible majors. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

CCM’s world-class facilities provide a highly creative and multidisciplinary artistic environment. In 2017, the college completed a $15-million renovation of its major performance spaces, ensuring that CCM’s facilities remain state-of-the-art.

The school’s roster of eminent faculty regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts. Learn more at ccm.uc.edu

CCM Announces Megan Steigerwald Ille as New Assistant Professor of Musicology

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of musicologist Megan Steigerwald Ille, PhD, to the college’s roster of distinguished faculty members. Steigerwald Ille’s appointment as Assistant Professor of Musicology – Educator begins on Aug. 15, 2020.

Steigerwald Ille is a musicologist whose research and teaching considers the intersections of operatic, popular and digital cultures in the 21st century in the United States and Canada. Her book-in-progress, Opera for Everyone: Experimenting with American Opera in the Digital Age, explores changing modes of spectatorship and performer labor in contemporary opera in the US through an in-depth ethnographic study of the LA-based experimental opera company called The Industry.

She has articles forthcoming in the Journal of the Society of American Music and The Opera Quarterly. Since 2018 she has served as a Postdoctoral Fellow of Digital Cultures in the American Culture Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis.

Steigerwald Ille completed her PhD in Historical Musicology and a certificate in Ethnomusicology at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.

“I am grateful to Musicology Search Committee Chair Jonathan Kregor and committee members Amy Beegle, Jenny Doctor, Scott Linford and Stephen Meyer for their work finding CCM’s next great musicology professor,” said Romanstein. “We look forward to welcoming Megan Steigerwald Ille to the CCM family.”

About CCM

Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. The school’s educational roots date back to 1867, and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time.

CCM offers nine degree types (BA, BM, BFA, MFA, MM, MA, AD, DMA, PhD) in nearly 120 possible majors. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

CCM’s world-class facilities provide a highly creative and multidisciplinary artistic environment. In 2017, the college completed a $15-million renovation of its major performance spaces, ensuring that CCM’s facilities remain state-of-the-art.

The school’s roster of eminent faculty regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts. Learn more at ccm.uc.edu

CCM Announces Shelina Brown as New Assistant Professor of American Music

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of musicologist Shelina Brown to the college’s roster of distinguished faculty members. Brown’s appointment as Assistant Professor of American Music begins on Aug. 15, 2020.

Brown holds an MA and PhD from UCLA’s Department of Musicology. Her primary research project centers on experimental vocal practices and cultural resistance within underground music scenes. Brown’s dissertation project, “Yoko Ono’s Experimental Vocality as Matrixial Borderspace: Theorizing Yoko Ono’s Extended Vocal Technique and her Contributions to the Development of Underground and Popular Vocal Repertoires, 1968-Present,” focused on Yoko Ono’s extended vocal techniques of the late 1960s and early 1970s that came to influence a range of counter-hegemonic vocalists throughout the late 20th century.

Brown’s methodological approach draws upon contemporary feminist psychoanalytical theories, adapting these for the purpose of musical analysis of vocality and gendered subjectivization. In this vein, her theoretical approach to music studies aims to bring feminist psychoanalysis into dialogue with posthuman thought, queer studies and critical race theory.

A Canadian national raised in Kyoto, Japan, Brown also holds a Master’s in Comparative Literature specializing in modern Japanese literature. Prior to commencing studies in musicology, Shelina was employed as a sessional lecturer of modern Japanese literature at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Brown’s article “Scream from the Heart: Yoko Ono’s Rock ’n’ Roll Revolution” has been published in Sheila Whiteley’s compilation, Countercultures and Popular Music (Ashgate, 2014). She is currently preparing an article, “Of Insects and Interstices: Yoko Ono’s Experimental Short Film, Fly (1970) and the Synaesthetic Un-Mapping of the Abstract Female Nude,” which will be forthcoming in 2021. Brown has presented papers at annual meetings including SEM (Society for Ethnomusicology), IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music), AAS (American Association for Asian Studies) and EMP (Experience Music Project).

A long-term participant in underground and independent music scenes, Brown has been active as a vocalist and instrumentalist in several new wave and garage rock bands over the past 10 years. She still maintains close ties to the Los Angeles underground, and looks forward to exploring music scenes across Ohio.

“I send my gratitude to our search committee comprised of Jonathan Kregor (chair), Stefan Fiol, Jeongwon Joe, Matthew Peattie and Shauna Steele for their work in finding CCM’s next great professor of American music,” said Romanstein. “We look forward to welcoming Shelina Brown this fall.”

About CCM

Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. The school’s educational roots date back to 1867, and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time.

CCM offers nine degree types (BA, BM, BFA, MFA, MM, MA, AD, DMA, PhD) in nearly 120 possible majors. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

CCM’s world-class facilities provide a highly creative and multidisciplinary artistic environment. In 2017, the college completed a $15-million renovation of its major performance spaces, ensuring that CCM’s facilities remain state-of-the-art.

The school’s roster of eminent faculty regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts. Learn more at ccm.uc.edu

CCM Announces Joe Miller as New Director of Choral Studies

UC College-Conservatory of Music Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of choral conductor Joe Miller, DMA, to the college’s roster of distinguished faculty members. A leading authority in the field of choral conducting, Miller is also a two-time graduate of CCM (MM, ‘92; DMA, ‘97). His appointment as professor and director of CCM’s lauded Choral Studies program begins on Aug. 15, 2020, pending approval of the University’s Board of Trustees.

Since 2006, Miller has served as conductor of two of the most renowned choral ensembles in the US: the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir. He has also served as director of choral activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. In addition to his responsibilities at Westminster, Miller has been artistic director of choral activities for the renowned Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, since 2007. He has also served as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra Symphonic Choir since 2016.

“CCM has a distinguished history of choral performance and conductor training, and our alumni occupy leadership positions throughout the world,” said Romanstein. “Joe Miller has worked with the world’s leading ensembles, conductors and artists and I am proud to welcome him back to CCM as a colleague. Joe has a firm grasp of the immense opportunities available to 21st century artists and he will serve as a worthy successor to our illustrious colleague Professor Earl Rivers, who retires this spring after a nearly 50-year tenure at CCM.”

“As an alumnus, I owe much to this great institution,” said Miller. “My education at CCM has provided deep roots that have enabled me to grow a diverse and wide-reaching career, and I am honored to help lead the next chapter of this fine institution. I am excited to partner with my new CCM colleagues to find new ways to connect the dots between our ever-changing technology-minded world and our need for shared human experiences.”

Miller’s appointment concludes a national search that began when Earl Rivers, CCM’s long-time director of choral studies, announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2019-20 academic year. “I am grateful to our search committee chair Mark Gibson and committee members L. Brett Scott, Gwendolyn Coleman, Robyn Lana, Marie-France Lefebvreand Daniel Weeks for their work finding CCM’s next great ensembles and conducting professor,” said Romanstein.

About Joe Miller

Miller’s recent seasons leading the Westminster Choir have included concert tours in Beijing, China and in Spain, as well as participation in the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona and groundbreaking performances of Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning Anthracite Fields at the historic Roebling WireWorks as part of Westminster’s Transforming Space project.

After viewing a staged performance of Joby Talbot’s demanding Path of Miracles at the 2019 Spoleto Festival USA, D.C. Theatre Scene wrote, “Joe Miller is a fearless artist. His bold leadership and trust in these young singers enabled his choristers to forego the ‘stand and deliver,’ score-bound habits of their genre and ‘walk with him’ on this special journey. Not only did the singers need to memorize their parts, no mean feat, but follow his baton’s bid from any part of the auditorium and sing in any body position. Miller constantly challenged them in the process and inspired them to work confidently, well outside their comfort zone.”

The New York Times described the Westminster Choir’s 2014 Festival performance of John Adams’ El Niño as “superb” and wrote, “Meticulously prepared … the chorus was remarkable for its precision, unanimity and power.” The Wall Street Journal praised the same performance, crediting “the fine Westminster Choir and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, under the direction of Joe Miller.” The Post and Courier wrote about their performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, “This was an evening of near-flawless execution and many moments of ravishing beauty and power. It will go down as a highlight (maybe even THE highlight) of this year’s festival, and, I think, as the work with which Joe Miller established his credentials to lead an extended choral/orchestral masterwork, not just recreating Bach’s music but also putting his own interpretive stamp on the whole.”

Miller has made four recordings with the Westminster Choir. American Record Guide wrote about the choir’s newest CD, Frank Martin: Mass for Double Choir, “This is gorgeous singing … with perfect blend, intonation, diction, ensemble and musicality.” The Heart’s Reflection: Music of Daniel Elder was hailed by Minnesota Public Radio’s Classical Notes as “simply astounding.”  Miller’s debut recording with the ensemble, Flower of Beauty, received four stars from Choir & Organ magazine and earned critical praise from American Record Guide, which described the Westminster Choir as “the gold standard for academic choirs in America.”

As conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Miller has collaborated with some of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, earning him critical praise. The New York Timeswrote about Symphonic Choir’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Cleveland Orchestra, “Joe Miller’s Westminster Symphonic Choir was subtle when asked and powerful when turned loose.” Recent seasons have included performances with the Philharmoniker Berliner and Sir Simon Rattle; The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and Gustavo Dudamel.

Prior to his time at Westminster Choir College, Miller served on the faculty of Western Michigan University, California State University and Whitman College. He is the 2016 recipient of the Maynard Klein Award for Distinguished Service to Choral Music, which is presented by ACDA-Michigan in recognition of artistic excellence and a lifetime of leadership in the field of choral music.

Miller received his DMA in Choral Conducting with a cognate in Voice from CCM in 1997. He received his MM in Choral Conducting from CCM in 1992. In 1987, he graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee with a BS in Music Education and Voice.

About CCM Choral Studies

Recognized by US News and World Report as one of this country’s leading conducting programs, CCM’s Department of Choral Studies is widely known for its excellence in training conductors for successful, lifelong careers in the choral arts.

CCM’s Master of Music and Doctor of Music Arts programs provide professional-level experiences in rehearsals and performances, developing musicianship and technique, and acquiring knowledge of styles, performance practices and repertoire.

MM and DMA graduates of CCM’s Choral Studies programs are conducting and administrating highly successful professional, collegiate, symphonic, secondary, children’s and church choir programs throughout the world.

For more information about CCM, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

CCM Announces Michael Mergen as New Associate Professor of Trumpet

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of acclaimed trumpeter/cornetist Michael Mergen to the college’s roster of distinguished performance faculty members. Mergen’s appointment as Associate Professor of Trumpet begins on Aug. 15, 2020.

Known for his strong and beautiful sound, Mergen is currently a member of the trumpet/cornet section of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. He also performs with the Blossom Festival Band in Ohio and is a founding member of Valor Brass. In addition, Mergen has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the Washington Symphonic Brass, the Singapore Symphony in the Republic of Singapore, the Harrisburg Symphony in Pennsylvania and the Choral Arts Society of Washington. He was a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and attended the Aspen Music Festival. He has worked with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, Osmo Vanska, John Williams and Bramwell Tovey.

Dedicated to education, Mergen currently serves as guest artist and applied faculty at the Penn State Honors Music Institute teaching trumpet. In addition, he has given numerous master classes at world-class institutions including The Juilliard School, University of Michigan, Eastman School of Music, University of Illinois and many others. He has brought his passion for music education to middle and high schools in the Washington D.C. area as part of the Marine Band’s “Music in the Schools Initiative,” formulating a rich program for brass quintets, which he has led in numerous performances. Mergen also maintains a studio of private trumpet students.

As an active soloist, Mergen’s solo performances include numerous appearances with the “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band and most recently with the Allentown Band, which was televised in Pennsylvania. He sounded Taps for the White House moment of silence in observance of 9/11 in 2018 and 2019 as well as the 2017 nationally televised Memorial Day Concert at the US Capitol. He also co-commissioned Hanging by a Thread, a four-movement work for solo trumpet and solo tuba with wind ensemble by James Stephenson and with his brother Paul gave the U.S. premiere with the DePauw University Concert Band in 2018. Recordings of his solo performances can be heard on both the “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band YouTube channel and website. Additional non-solo recordings include numerous volumes of the U.S. Marine Band’s annual recording as well as the Valor Brass recording Inaugural.

Mergen began his musical journey at age nine. His early studies included The Juilliard School Pre-College and the Kinhaven Music School summer program. He received his Bachelor in Music degree in both Trumpet Performance and Music Education from the University of Michigan, his Master of Music degree in Trumpet Performance from Eastman School of Music, and he completed the Doctor of Music Arts degree in Performance from The Catholic University of America in 2008. He is honored to have studied with Charles Daval, Charles Geyer and the late Armando Ghitalla.

A lifelong learner, when not performing or teaching, Mergen further channels his passion for music into creating arrangements for brass quintet and trumpet ensemble, and exploring the history of the trumpet and cornet.

“Michael Mergen is a superb addition to our faculty and a wonderful successor to our distinguished colleague Professor Alan Siebert, who retires this spring after a nearly 30-year tenure at CCM,” said Romanstein. “Michael’s expertise as both an international performing artist and an accomplished educator will help us continue to prepare future generations of students for positions on the world stage. I am grateful to Trumpet Search Committee Chair Scott Belck and committee members Sandra Rivers, Denise Tryon, Timothy Anderson and Timothy Northcut for their work finding CCM’s next great trumpet professor.”

Please join us in welcoming Professor Mergen to the CCM family!

About CCM

Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. The school’s educational roots date back to 1867, and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time.

CCM offers nine degree types (BA, BM, BFA, MFA, MM, MA, AD, DMA, PhD) in nearly 120 possible majors. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

CCM’s world-class facilities provide a highly creative and multidisciplinary artistic environment. In 2017, the college completed a $15-million renovation of its major performance spaces, ensuring that CCM’s facilities remain state-of-the-art.

The school’s roster of eminent faculty regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts.

For more information about CCM, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.

Emmy Award-Winning Producer Donald Hancock is Named Assistant Professor of Film and Television Production at CCM

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the appointment of Donald Hancock to the position of Assistant Professor of Film and Television Production in CCM’s Division of E-Media. Hancock joined CCM’s faculty as an adjunct in 2012. His new appointment will begin on Aug. 15, 2019.

Hancock is an Emmy Award-winning producer, professor and an active member of the media community. He has an MA in Film and Television from Savannah College of Art and Design and a BFA in E-Media from CCM. Hancock currently works as a producer at CET, Cincinnati’s PBS Member Station. He has produced “The Art Show,” CET’s weekly art magazine program, since 2013. He also produces content for a variety of partners with CET, including ArtsWave and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Hancock won a Regional Emmy Award for “Cincinnati’s Music Hall: The Next Movement,” a 60-minute documentary that he co-wrote, produced and shot. The documentary details the historic $150 million renovation of Cincinnati’s National Historic Landmark. Watch a promotional spot for the documentary below.

In 2013, Hancock was chosen as one of 25 producers from around the country to participate in the PBS/CPB Producer’s Academy, whose goal is to engage a talented pool of diverse producers in public broadcasting. Hancock has also partnered with WGBH and PBS to produce content around national programming including “Finding Your Roots,” “American Experience” and “Downton Abbey.”

For the past seven years, Hancock has been an adjunct professor at CCM, teaching Digital Video and Integrated Media Production courses to sophomore and junior-level students. In his spare time, he serves on the Executive Board for the UC Center for Film and Media Studies, as well as the community advisory board at Elementz Urban Arts Center. He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, a member of the Broadcast Education Association and volunteers as a Big Brother in the Big Brother Big Sisters Program.

Dean Romanstein thanked search committee members Kevin Burke (chair), Peter DePietro, John Hebbeler, Tondra Holt and Hagit Limor for their work on finding CCM’s new Assistant Professor of Film and Television Production.

Please join us in congratulating Donald Hancock on his new appointment!

Shauna Steele Is Named Associate Professor of Dance and Chair of Dance Department at CCM

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the appointment of arts administrator, educator, performer and choreographer Shauna Steele to the college’s dance faculty. Steele’s appointment as Associate Professor of Dance and Chair of the Dance Department begins on Aug. 15, 2019.

An administrator and educator with nearly two decades of experience, Steele most recently taught at Michigan’s Hope College where she taught dance history and criticism, jazz, modern, improvisation, assisted the historic and social dance sections, and mentored Student Dance Showcase choreographers. From 2011-18 Steele served as the Dance Program Director and Associate Professor of Dance at Anderson University in Indiana.

“I am excited by ongoing education, both that which I teach and that which I learn from my students,” Steele says. “I find challenge and reward in teaching and am inspired by my students and the movement that grows from class sessions, both academic and technique.”

She is the founder and artistic director of Mocha Dance Project – which pursues projects engaging the fusion of photography, video, dance and collaboration – and was the Associate Director for RusticGroove Dance.

Arts administrator, educator, performer and choreographer Shauna Steele.

Her research interests include dance in world culture and context, Africanized movement in the Diaspora of Western culture (specifically Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean), the influences of Celtic traditions on art and movement, the function of art in restricted or repressed environments, and body movement logic. She was the artistic director of Parallel Differences youth dance and the Associate Instructor for the Indiana University African American Arts Institute’s dance company. Her choreography has appeared in Robert Hay-Smith’s Pollen: The Musical, RADfest, The Tank NYC, Midwest RADfest, the Arizona Positivity Project and the Ypsilanti Fringe Festival. She has taught master classes in Roots of Jazz Dance and served as dance faculty at Grand Valley State University, Eastern Michigan University, Anderson University and the University of Michigan’s MPulse summer dance institute. She has lead master classes and workshops in improvisational movement, African dance, modern dance, jazz, Afro-jazz and hip hop. Her professional credits include Windfall Dancers, African American Dance Company, Dancers Studio Inc., Sancocho: Musica and Dance Collage and Ann Arbor Dance Works. She has performed in Robin Wilson’s Slave Moth, in Alexandra Beller’s Reasons for Moving and in Gay Delanghe’s Motor Tango/Tangle.

Her past projects include Millstones in August 2010 and The Positivity Project in Tempe, Arizona in October 2010. Her current choreography projects include Disobedient Objects/Caged Bird Legacy (a site-specific work), Sacred Ground (an evening length concert in three parts), /ˈākər/ (which delves into compulsive behavior and the need to sort, measure and catalogue), Leyenda in Winter (a dance for camera work), Still Frame (a video dance project) and Passengers (a contemporary modern work).

A published dance scholar, Steele’s co-authored textbook Experiencing Dance: A Creative Approach to Dance Appreciation (2011) examines the ever-changing culture of dance and provides a basic historical context and appreciation of dance as an art form. Her research articles include Exploring Choreographic Responsibility through the ‘Cultural Lens’ (2013); Drawing Parallel Lines: Dance, Architecture, and Society (2009); and Drawing Parallel Lines in Dance, Architecture, and Society: African American Modern Dance, and Jewish Deconstructivist Architecture (2006), among others.

Steele received her MFA in Dance Choreography and Performance with a focus area in History and Technology from the University of Michigan in 2006, and a BGS in Arts and Humanities with a focus area in Cultural Anthropology and Dance from Indiana University in 2002. She is a member of the American College Dance Association, World Dance Alliance and the National Dance Education Organization.

Dean Romanstein thanked search committee members Diane Lala (co-chair), Denton Yockey (co-chair), Rebecca Bromels, Qi Jiang and Regina Truhart for their work on finding CCM’s new Associate Professor of Dance and Chair of the Dance Department.

Please join us in welcoming Shauna Steele to the CCM family!

Acclaimed Musician Demarre McGill Is Named Associate Professor of Flute at CCM

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the appointment of Demarre McGill to the position of Associate Professor of Flute at CCM. McGill joined CCM’s faculty on a visiting basis in 2017. His new appointment will begin on Aug. 15, 2019.

Winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and Sphinx Medal of Excellence, McGill is a leading soloist, recitalist, and chamber and orchestral musician.

Photo by Denver Rispel.

At age 15, he appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony and he has since appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Diego and Baltimore symphony orchestras. In 2018 he performed and presented master classes in South Africa, Korea and Japan. That same year, he was soloist with the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall and he performed with the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC in a May 20^thprogram entitled “Bernstein the Humanitarian.”

Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, McGill previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He recently served as acting principal flute of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and earlier with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

A founding member of The Myriad Trio, and former member of Chamber Music Society Two, McGill has participated in the Aspen, Santa Fe, Marlboro, Seattle and Stellenbosch chamber music festivals, to name a few. He is the co-founder of The Art of Élan and, along with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale, founded the McGill/McHale Trio in 2014. The trio’s first CD, Portraits, was released in August 2017 to rave reviews.

His media credits include appearances on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, A&E Network’s The Gifted Ones and NBC’s Today Show and Nightly News. McGill also appeared on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood with his brother when they were teenagers.

A native of Chicago, McGill began studying the flute at age seven and attended the Merit School of Music. In the years that followed, he studied with Susan Levitin before leaving Chicago. He received his Bachelor’s degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and a Master’s degree at The Juilliard School.

Dean Romanstein thanked search committee members James Bunte (chair), Ron Aufmann, Mark Ostoich, Sandra Rivers and Heather Verbeck for their work on finding CCM’s new Associate Professor of Flute.

Please join us in congratulating Demarre McGill on his new appointment!