Faculty

A New Look on the North Side of the Music Building!

Prof. Buchanan is one of fifteen talented scholars from Eastern Europe and North America convening for a two-week residency hosted by the American University in Bulgaria

Dr. Roman (saxophone) and Dr. Whitaker (trombone) will join the UIUC School of Music faculty in August 2024!

Professor Stephen Taylor (Composition, Theory, and Music Technology faculty) received a 2024 Music Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award acknowledges "composers as artists who have arrived at their own voice." The award provides support for recording as well as a spring performance at the Arts and Letters location in New York. The award will be presented at the Academy’s annual May celebration. Congratulations Professor Taylor!

Illinois Music piano professors Rochelle Sennet and Chi-Chen Wu guided students at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago with real-time piano instruction during a masterclass using the technology of the Yamaha Disklavier DCFX concert grand piano.

Dr. Rochelle Sennet's latest recording, Bach to Black: Suites for Piano, Volume III was released February 1, 2024 on Albany Records.

In addition to featuring the complete French Suites and the French Overture in B Minor by J.S. Bach, this 3-disc recording also features suites by four Black women composers Montague Ring, Margaret Bonds, Nkeiru Okoye, Betty Jackson King, world premieres of works by Adolphus Hailstork and James Lee III, as well as a suite by William Grant Still. It is also available via digital streaming platforms, such as YouTube Music.

Professor Barrington Coleman has been selected by Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs to receive the 2024 award for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Humanities in honor of Black History Month. Treasurer Frerichs will host this annual celebration recognizing the unique contributions of the African American community throughout Illinois on Thursday, February 22, 2024, at noon in the Illinois State Treasurer’s office in Springfield.

In September, the Central Region Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) announced the awarding of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Ollie Watts Davis, Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Fine and Applied Arts and Professor of Voice in the School of Music, where she holds the Suzanne and William Allen Distinguished Professorship.

Professor Guido Sánchez Portuguez (Guitar) performed and led a 1000-member guitar ensemble at the Fourth World Culture Festival!