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Adam Scott Neal (PhD '14)Adam Scott Neal (b. 1981, Atlanta) is a composer whose work embraces a range of artistic engagement including acoustic and electroacoustic composition, video art, electronics hardware, and improvisation. Before earning his PhD at the University of Florida, Adam studied with Robert Scott Thompson at Georgia State University, earning a BM in music technology and an MM in composition. He also earned an MA in sonic arts from Queen's University Belfast, where he studied with Pedro Rebelo. Adam has enjoyed over 100 performances of his music in 23 states, as well as the UK, Canada, China, Italy, Mexico, Slovenia, and Switzerland. He has organized numerous contemporary music concerts in academic and non-academic settings, including those for Atlanta-based Terminus Ensemble, of which he is Co-Artistic Director. [website] |
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Sean Peuquet (PhD '13)
Sean Peuquet is a composer, installation artist, software programmer, and occasional music hardware tinkerer. His works have been performed at SEAMUS National Conference, ICMC, the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar, Electronic Music Midwest, the Boston CyberArts Festival, the Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium, and the New York City Electronic Music Festival, among other spots. Sean received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 2005, where he studied music, psychology and astronomy. In 2007, Sean earned his Masters degree in Electro-Acoustic Music from Dartmouth College and wrote his thesis on Discoverable Composition, where an audience is not explicitly aware of music happening in its environment. Currently, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Digital Arts at Stetson University and is finishing his Ph.D. in Composition at the University of Florida. His research is focused on compositional, theoretical, and technical approaches to the intersection of music and place. Sean has had the privilege of studying composition and computer music with Jon Appleton, Newton Armstrong, Matthew Burtner, Charles Dodge, Paul Koonce, Larry Polansky, Paul Richards, Marina Rosenfeld, James Paul Sain, Judith Shatin, and Ge Wang.
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Juan Camilo Giraldo VasquezJuan Camilo Giraldo Vasquez is a Colombian saxophonist and composer born in Fresno, Tolima. At an early age, he moved to Ibague, Tolima in order to pursue his studies in the Conservatorio de Musica de Ibague. At the Conservatorio in 2002, he started his musical studies on saxophone with Enrique Ososrio. In 2006, he was awarded with an scholarship to attend the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, where he continued his musical studies with Brian Noyes. Two years later, he achieved the International Baccalaureate Diploma and obtained a Davis Foundation Scholarship to attend the University of Florida where he currently studies saxophone with Dr. Jonathan Helton, Composition with Dr. Paul Koonce and pursue a triple major in Sociology. |
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Russell Brown (PhD '13, MM '04)Russell Brown is currently serving as Instructor of Music Theory and Composition at Valdosta State University. Mr. Brown compositions have been performed on concerts for local, national, and international audiences in venues across the country. His music has also been performed by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (FL) and R20 (Poland). Mr. Brown holds an MM in Music Composition from the University of Florida, an MM in Music Performance from The Ohio State University and a BM in Music Performance from Valdosta State University. Russell Brown is currently a PhD Candidate (ABD) in Music Composition at the University of Florida. He regularly performs contemporary music in various chamber groups and is currently a member of the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra, Valdosta (GA) Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with The Florida Orchestra (Tampa), Gainesville (FL) Chamber Orchestra, and Ocala Symphony Orchestra. |
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Travis Garrison (PhD '13) Travis Garrison is a composer, audio engineer, and performer of electroacoustic music. A common thread throughout his work is a blurring of the boundaries between things organic and things electronic, between the actual and the imagined, and between the real and the hyperreal. Current research interests include computer-based improvisational systems and the aesthetics, history, and theory of electroacoustic music.
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Michael Smith (MM '13)Michael Sterling Smith is a composer and guitarist from Delaware. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware where he studied guitar with Christiaan Taggart and composition with Dr. Jennifer Barker. In 2010 he was awarded with emerging artist fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts.Michael's works consist of solo guitar music and a variety of chamber music. To date he has written for guitar, flute, clarinet, cello, and piano. Recently his work A Light Begins was performed by the University of Delaware guitar ensemble. Michael is currently pursuing a Master's in Music Composition at the University of Florida. [website] |
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Seung-Hye Kim (PhD '12)Seung-Hye Kim is a native of South Korea. She received her BM in piano performance from Seoul National University and a MA in Electroacoustic music composition from Korean National University of Arts. Her pieces have been performed in many international festivals such as FEMF, LITSK, SICMF, ICMC, SEAMUS, NYCEMF, EMM, The 3rd Practice, Siggraph, FEASt, WEALR, SCI, Bourges "Synthese". Her piece Fluctuation for flute and computer has been released on SEAMUS label. She's currently a Ph.D candidate at University of Florida where she studies with Dr. James Sain, Dr. Paul Koonce, and Dr. Paul Richards. |
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Chester Udell (MM '08, PhD '12)From the swamps of Wewahitchka, Florida, Chester Udell received his Bachelor of Music/Digital
Arts from Stetson University (2005). His work engages issues of interactivity for electro-acoustic performances through the use of alternative
controllers, creating electro-acoustic compositions in Csound and supercollider, as well as composing for acoustic instruments.
He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Composition at the University of Florida. [website]
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Justin Johns (MM '12)Justin Johns is a composer of acoustic music from Cape Coral, Florida. He received his B.A. in music theory and composition from Covenant College on top of Lookout Mountain, Georgia. There, he studied composition under Dr. Brandon Kreuze and voice under Dr. Ken W. Anderson. Involved in both academic and professional theatre, Justin also wrote and directed an original score for Bertolt Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle in the fall of 2009.Justin's compositions have been performed in numerous locations around the south, including the Southeastern Composers League Forum, the Georgia Young Composers Festival, and numerous concerts at Covenant College. He was also commissioned to write a song cycle which was performed in Atlanta in the summer of 2009. It is his goal to continue developing his skills in an effort to eventually gain a Ph.D. in composition. |
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Evan Kassof (BM '11)Evan Kassof is a fourth year Music Composition and Physics double major. He has had many of his pieces performed at UF; including works for the UF Symphony Orchestra, Cellorando, the UF Horn Ensemble, the new music ensemble, and others. He was the 2009 winner of the HHMI Creativity in the Arts and Sciences Event, and was commissioned by the UF Water Institute to write a piece for the 2010 Water Symposium. He was also the recipient of a University Scholars Award to compose his opera entitled Judgment. Evan is an active participant in the musical community at UF having formed the Chamber Music Society and being an officer of SCI, the UF Symphony, and Cellorando. In addition, he studies cello with Dr. Steven Thomas and works on the CDMS project in the physics department. |
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Jorge Variego (PhD '11) Jorge Elias Variego is a clarinetist and composer born in Rosario, Argentina. He holds a Bachelor Degree from Universidad Nacional de Rosario and a Masters Degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied with Michael Rusinek and Leonardo Balada. He has performed as soloist with the most renowned orchestras in Argentina and his works have been performed throughout the world. Among other distinctions, he has been awarded First prize in the Carlos Guastavino composition contest, First prize in the Jorge Pena Hen composition contest for youth orchestras, Premio Tribunas de Musica Argentina 2007, ASCAP Award, Society of Composers Students Commission Regional competition. He has received prestigious scholarships from Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Argentina), Antorchas Foundation (Argentina), Fulbright Commission (Argentina), Carnegie Mellon University (USA), Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Music Society, among others. He has been a resident artist at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts for the last five years. |
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Emily Kimball (MM '11)Composer and singer-songwriter Emily Kimball holds a BS in Music Technology from Northeastern University and is a second year masters student at the University of Florida. She is interested in exploring the various ways in which narratives can be represented in her music, and is especially fascinated by the power of the human voice. Her music includes acoustic pieces, as well as works for fixed and mixed media. Trained extensively in ballet from a young age, Emily hopes to combine her love of dance and music through collaboration with dancers and choreographers. |
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Yunkyung Hong (MM '11)
Yunkyung Hong was born in South Korea, and moved to the United States in 2005. She received her bachelor degree from the University of Texas Austin and studied composition with Russell Pinkston, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Donald Grantham. She is currently pursuing the master degree in music composition at the University of Florida.
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Chris Sharp (PhD '11)Chris Sharp is a PhD composition student also studying conducting and wind literature. In addition to
his graduate teaching assistant duties, he contributes musical arrangements for the Gator Marching Band and the UF jazz bands. He currently
has over 100 published works in the catalogs of The FJH Music Company, Alfred Publishing, Jalen/Matrix Publishing, Lorenz Music, Wehr's Music
House and Cyberwinds Music. He has served the music field in many capacities, including 13 years as a trombonist for the Walt Disney World Co.
and four years as a band director at West Orange High School in Orlando.
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Michael Solomon (PhD '10)a composer of occasionally compromising, sometimes marketable, and not-too-abstruse modern classical music. A graduate of Stanford University (BA Music Composition) and Queen's University Belfast (MA Composition), he currently studies at the University of Florida with Paul Koonce, James Paul Sain, and Paul Richards. Believing with every fiber of his being in the exploration and development of new ideas, he composes without regard for consistency in medium, duration, form, harmony, rhythm, volume, timbre, expression, or any particular technical/stylistic milieu. He is currently working on a series of tone paeans to his adopted home of Ireland, hovering in the ideological middleground between Ma Vlast and An American in Paris. [website] |
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Matthew McCabe (PhD '10)
Matthew McCabe earned degrees in music from the University of Richmond, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Florida. Trained as a composer, McCabe has focused on electroacoustic music and the creative use of music technology throughout his career. He worked as the music technology specialist at the University of Richmond for two years following graduation, and has served as the technical director for both the Florida and Third Practice Electroacoustic Music Festivals. He also serves on the board of the Society of Composers, Inc. as a system administrator and web designer.
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Braxton Sherouse (MM '10)[website] |
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Sarah Hersh (MM '10)Sarah Hersh, a transplanted New Yorker currently residing in Gainesville, Florida, composes primarily acoustic new music and enjoys writing for nontraditional ensembles. She is interested in feminist music, unintentional feminism in music, and promoting the music of women composers, as well as advocating for new music in general. She holds a BA in music from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and her Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Florida. Recently Sarah participated in the soundSCAPE New Music Festival in Maccagno, Italy, where her work Gardening in a Jaunty Hat was premiered by the ensemble Duo46. Other groups that have also recently performed her work include the Out of Bounds Ensemble and the University of Florida Saxophone Quartet. Present and former teachers include Paul Richards, Paul Koonce, Phillip Rhodes, Conrad Cummings, Roger Ames, and Scott Miller. [website] |
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Kyle Vegter (BM '09)Kyle Vegter is a Chicago based sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and electronic musician. He works in a variety of mediums, but specializes in multimedia works for fixed audio and live acoustic performance. He is a member of both the experimental sound collective oh+ah and the shadow puppetry troupe Manual Cinema. He performs with both on a regular basis.He graduated from the University of Florida in 2009 where he studied English Literature, Electronic Music Composition, and Mandarin Chinese. He has studied in private lessons or master classes with Jim Sain, Paul Koonce, Paul Richards, Seung Ah-Oh, Chaya Chernowin, and Colby Leider. He has worked in collaboration with a number of artists and organizations in a number of contexts, some of which include: Palomar Ensemble, Homeroom Chicago, Access Contemporary Music, Cassette, The Deep and Holy Sea, The Photographers and The Gainesville Chamber Orchestra. |
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Michael Deall (PhD '08)is currently a PhD doctoral candidate. He completed his BM at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY with a double major in Piano Performance and Music Composition, and his MA at New York University in Composition. Michael's works have been performed overseas in Italy in such cities as Bari, Trani, Rome, Florence & Assisi, many New York venues, The University of Florida, Society of Composers, American Composer's Alliance, The University of Indiana @ Bloomington, the Mahidol College of Music in Salaya, Thailand, Bucharest, Romania, Berlin, Germany and Wroclaw, Poland. Michael will be the Composer-In-Residence at the Constanta International Music Days in Romania where his String Quartet will receive its premiere |
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Suk-Jun Kim (PhD '08)
Suk-Jun Kim's music mainly focuses on the sense of places that are fantastic, imaginary, magical, and realistic, in which listeners can visit, stop by, and dwell. Having won several international composition awards and attracted commissions, Kim's music has been performed worldwide and can be heard on ICMC, IMEB, and SEAMUS labels, and M&R. His research focuses on acousmatic reasoning, imaginal listening, phenomenological approaches to the aesthetics of electroacoustic music, space and place, platial memory and sound, and magical realism in electroacoustic music among others. Kim's interest in platial memory and sound has also led him to expand his medium to installations. He recently had his first solo exhibition in Berlin, Germany.
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Joo Won Park (MM '04, PhD '08)
Joo Won Park is a composer/researcher of music within several genres. His music and audio applications have been featured in several conferences such as the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States Conference, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, and International Computer Music Conference, as well as in print in Electronic Musician, Computer Music Journal, and The Csound Book. He received M.M and Ph.D. in composition at the University of Florida, where he studied with James Paul Sain, Paul Richards, and Paul Koonce. He graduated from Berklee College of Music majoring in Music Synthesis and Contemporary Writing/Production under the direction of Richard Boulanger. Dr. Park was an associate director of Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, and currently serves as an assistant professor of music at the Community College of Philadelphia. His music is available on ICMC 2004 DVD, Spectrum Press, and MIT Press.
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Tim Reed (PhD '08) Tim Reed graduated with a B.A. in Creative Music Technologies from LaGrange College in 1999 and subsequently attended the Dallas Sound Lab School for the Recording Arts in the Fall of 2000. Tim completed his M.M. in composition/theory at Illinois State University in 2004 and his PhD in composition at the University of Florida in 2008. Tim has received awards in the Goliard Ensemble Composition Competition, the LaGrange Symphony Young Artist Composition Competition, and the 2004 Pedrick-Hutson Guitar Duo Commission Contest. Tim's compositions have been performed at various festivals including Music '04 (Cincinnati Conservatory), the 2005 Nong Project, The Kentucky New Music Festival, Electronic Music Midwest, SEAMUS and by the string orchestra, R20 in Wroclaw, Poland. His music has also been featured on radio programs including No Pigeonholes, Difficult Listening, Futhernoise Radio and Foldover. In October of 2003, Tim composed a score for the WIP Studios film, Prison-a-Go-Go!, which has received several awards including Best Feature Film in the Backseat Film Festival. His compositions have been published by Trevco Music and by Lonely Whistle. Tim will join the faculty of Manchester College beginning in Fall of 2008.
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Stefanie Acevedo (BM '08)Stefanie Acevedo (b. 1986) is currently a music theory PhD student at Yale University. She received her bachelor of music degree in composition from UF, where she studied composition under Dr. Paul Koonce, Dr. Paul Basler, and Dr. Paul Richards, trombone under Dr. Arthur Jennings, and carillon under Dr. Laura Ellis. She received a masters degree in music theory from Bowling Green State University, where she completed a thesis on atonal segmentation. Subsequently, she also received a masters degree in psychology, with an emphasis on music cognition, from the University at Buffalo. While at UB, Stefanie studied with Dr. Peter Pfordresher and her thesis focused on metrical and motivic interaction in the perception of tonal patterns. Her current research interests include musical segmentation, form, schema theory, and pedagogical applications of cognitive models. |
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Robert Chastain (BM '08)Robert Chastain (b. 1981), MM San Francisco Conservatory of Music, BM University of Florida, and 2010 Susan and Ford Schumann Fellow to the Aspen Summer Music Festival, began his formal musical training at the age of 17 in the public school system of Pinellas County, Florida. His composition teachers include George Tsontakis, Daniel J. Becker, Paul Richards, James Paul Sain, Paul Koonce, and Paul Basler. He has also presented in masterclasses with John Adams and Libby Larsen.For news of current commissions, performances, prizes, and honors, please visit [www.robertchastain.net] |
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Julian Peterson (MM '08)is originally from Winslow, Arizona, a small town nestled in the heart of the Painted Deserts of northern Arizona. He attended Arizona State University, where he attained degrees in both saxophone performance and music composition. While there he helped to form the Helios Saxophone Quartet, a nationally recognized chamber ensemble that earned prestige by winning the Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and taking first place at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Julian currently lives in Tampa, Florida and teaches courses on electronic music synthesis at New College of Florida while pursuing a Master's degree in music composition at the University of Florida. When not composing, he spends his time raising tortoises and trying to recreate the culinary delights of desert home.[website] |
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Phil Swasey (MM)A Masters of Music Composition student at the University of Florida, his undergraduate degree is in Digital Music with a minor in classical guitar performance from the University of Central Florida. He is very interested in many things musical, with the main focus being in contemporary composition. Aside from academic music, he is also very interested in modern and traditional folk music. He is currently a graduate assistant for Theory I, and runs one of the sections of the Aural Skills lab. [website] |
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Kyle Rowan (BM '07)[website] |
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Chan Ji Kim (PhD '06)Chan Ji is now Assistant Professor of Music at the Brevard Community College in Cocoa, FL
- Teaching Theory/Comp and Electro Music.[website] |
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Tom Nelly (BM '99, MM '01, PhD '06)[website] |
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Yoonjee Kim (MM '06)[website] |
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Dr. Sam Hamm (MM '95, PhD '05)
Samuel J. Hamm, Jr. (b.1968) is the first PhD graduate in music composition from the University of Florida, where his dissertation advisor was Dr. James Paul Sain. He spent the 2005-06 academic year as a postdoctoral fellow in music technology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In fall 2006 he joined the faculty of Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT, where he is currently serves as Associate Professor of Music, overseeing and teaching the music theory and music history sequences, as well as teaching private lessons in composition, euphonium, and tuba. Dr. Hamm also plays bass in the RMC faculty jazz quintet. He remains active as a composer of acoustic, electroacoustic, and mixed-media music within a variety of genres including concert music, theatre, film, and dance. Sam is spending the summer of 2011 working on two substantial commissions: a large song cycle for the BORG Trio (Carolyn Coefield, soprano, Laurel Linde, clarinet, and Jen Bratz, piano), and a film score for "Theatre over Rice and Beans", a documentary on the emergence of Hispanic theatre in New York City directed by UF Associate Professor of Theatre Tony Mata. Prior to doctoral study, Sam completed a BM degree in composition from the University of Alabama (1991), where his primary teacher was Harry Phillips, and a MM in composition from the University of Florida (1995), where his primary teacher was John D. White. In addition, Sam studied composition with Cort Lippe at the University of Buffalo between 1998 and 2000. Dr. Hamm served as editor of the bimonthly Newsletter for the Society of Composers, Incorporated (SCI) from 2006 to 2008. He currently serves as Secretary for the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the College Music Society, and previously served as chapter Treasurer. Dr. Hamm is affiliated with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).[website] |
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Mark Quathamer (MM '04)Mark Quathamer is a producer and radio host for Classic 89 WUFT fm, and works as a free-lance sound and recording technician in the north-central Florida area. His work for WUFT includes producing Health in a Heartbeat, which airs on many public radio stations throughout the US. He is also an audio editor for a well known segment called Recess, which airs on public radio stations across the Country.Mark is a regular host of The Night Bridge, a nightly three-hour jazz program on WUFT fm. In October 2005 he became host of Nothin' But the Blues, which airs on Saturday night. Navigate to the Radio page to view some of his recent play lists. Mark earned a Master of Music in Music Composition in May 2004, from the University of Florida. Composing in a wide range of styles, his music includes works for large and small ensembles, electronic media and works for performer and live electronics. [website] |
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Daniel J. Coe (MM '04)[website] |
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Gina Wilson (MM) |
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Jonathan Smith (BM '04) |
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Nick Hwang (BA)[website] |
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Sabi Lofgren (BA '03)[website] |
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Paul Still (BM '03) |
Thomas Judson (MM '01)Tohm Judson (b. 1976) received his PhD from the University of Iowa where he studied composition with David Gompper and Lawrence Fritts. He received his MM from the University of Florida where he studied with James Paul Sain, Paul Richards, and Budd Udell. His music has been performed in the UK, France, Italy, the Sudan and throughout the United States, including the SEAMUS National Conference, SCI, Electronic Music Midwest, the Festival of New American Music and was a featured artist at the EMIT festival in Tampa, Florida. Dr. Judson has worked with many forms of interactive media including audio, video, installation, and dance, collaborating with artists such as K.T. Nelson of ODC San Francisco, Robert Dick, Holland Hopson, Owen Roberts and most recently with Christopher Cozier for a commission for the University of Iowa Museum of Art. He is a recipient of the Pelzer Fellowship for Composition at the University of Iowa. He currently teaches Music Business and Recording at Winston Salem State University, North Carolina.Dr. Judson's appreciation for many different from of music can be seen in his performances of Mid-Eastern, Brazilian, African, Steel Pan Bands, as well as performing with various orchestras and wind ensembles on bass. Mr. Judson recent work entitled "Syzygy/Syncronicity" was set as a permenant installation and the University of Iowa Museum of Art. This work is an interactive/real-time work that encompassed the entire museum. [website] |
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Sa Woo Lee (MM)holds a B.M. in Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea, and a M.M. in Music Technology from the Korean National University of Arts. Currently, he is pursuing an M.M. in Music Composition at the University of Florida. |
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Juan-Carlos Martinez (MM)Colombian Composer born in Bogota, he has a degree in Electronics Engineering. His academic music career was undertaken on his own and supported by his master; the Latinoamerican Composer Blas Emilio Atehortua. |
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Steve Landis (BM '99)Steven Landis (b.1977) earned both a BM in composition (1999) and an MM in double bass performance (2002) from the University of Florida School of Music. Steven studied composition with James Paul Sain, Paul Richards, Mark Engebretson and bass with Kevin Casseday. Now pursing a career as both composer and performer, Steven holds the position of Principal Bassist with the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra and the Albany Symphony Orchestra.As a composer Mr. Landis works with many mediums including solo instrumental, mixed chamber groups, large ensembles, digital and mixed media, as well as film and theater. Recordings of work by Steven can be found on, Substream films, the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra double-disc release Postcards, releases by I Got Da Beat Productions, and the University of Florida Student Composers CD series. Currently residing in Gainesville, Florida, Mr. Landis maintains a private double bass and piano studio. |
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Dr. Ronald K Parks (MM '92)Ronald Keith Parks, born in Waynesville, NC, is an active composer of acoustic and electronic music. He has written music for numerous professional ensembles and performers including the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, NeXT Ens, and many others. Many of his compositions have been selected for inclusion at numerous national and international festivals and conferences including the Malgrat del Mar International Music Festival, the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States Conference, the International Computer Music Conference, the National Flute Association Conference, and numerous performers and composers concerts and recitals throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia.His honors and awards include the Aaron Copland Award and Residency, the Outstanding Junior Professor Award at Winthrop University, Honorable Mentions in the Shepard Composer of the year award, the Minnesota Compsers Institute, and the MACRO/Truman State composition contest, two Giannini Scholarships for Music Composition plus the Chancellors Award for Excellence at the North Carolina School of the Arts, three Graeffe Memorial Scholarships for Composition, and the Presidential Recognition Award at the University of Florida. Dr. Parks received the BA in composition from the North Carolina School of the Arts, an MM in composition from the University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in composition from the University at Buffalo. He is currently an assistant professor of music technology, theory, and composition and Director of the Winthrop Computer Music Labs at Winthrop University. [website] |