October 2025

As October begins, we have a variety of diverse and interesting programs to enjoy. Two programs celebrate Hispanic heritage in very different ways. Two of our new faculty members, Lina Andonovska and Colm O’Hara, have put together fantastic programs that will illustrate how fortunate we are to have them at Emory. EUSO and the University Chorus are collaborating to present Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. There is truly something for everyone. You can find out more about these programs below. Enjoy!

With best wishes,

Gray Crouse

A note about the event entries below. You can click on most of the headings of the events and be taken directly to the Music Calendar listing for that event for additional details. At the time of publication, the programs for many of these events are not yet available but will typically be added to the Calendar entry close to the performance date. You can also click on most of the names of the groups and performers and will be taken to more information about them. There is not enough room in the newsletter to include their bios, but it is well worth reading about them.

This program celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with compositions by Ignacio Cervantes, Alberto Ginastera and others, performed by Emory piano students. It is a great opportunity to hear our very talented piano students play interesting repertoire that you may not have had a chance to hear live.

The Emory Sound Collective, directed by Lina Andonovska (one of our new faculty members!), is a new initiative of the Department of Music dedicated to adventurous programming, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the cultivation of new voices in contemporary music. This debut concert is especially significant as it is dedicated to Terry Riley (pictured above) in celebration of his 90th birthday, honoring his transformative impact on contemporary music.

The program features:

• In C (1964) — Terry Riley
• Entr’acte (2011) — Caroline Shaw
• Approaches and Departures (1998) — Pauline Oliveros
• Still Life with Avalanche (2008) — Missy Mazzoli

Together, these works trace a journey through minimalism, deep listening, and genre-bending sound worlds. From Riley’s communal classic In C to Shaw’s playful reimagining of Haydn, Oliveros’s meditative explorations, and Mazzoli’s powerful collision of beauty and chaos, the program embodies the ensemble’s commitment to innovation, community, and sonic adventure. We would be honored to have any of the Friends of Music there on the evening. 

This program is taking place in the context of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) Annual Meeting. The event is hosted by SEM's Latin American & Caribbean Music Section and Dance, Movement, and Gesture sections. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required at this link.

Join us for an innovative community engagement event exploring how Atlanta and Southern immigrant communities use music, dance, and movement to navigate today's political landscape.

The free event will bring together local and regional community members and artists to examine the vital role of cultural expression in building resilience and stronger community voices. It will feature performances, discussion, and interactive sessions that showcase artistic practices as tools for cultural preservation, political expression, and community building.

It will feature performances and dance workshops by: "Descendencia Oaxaqueña" Philharmonic Band of North Carolina; DJ / "La Coloteca" Founder Josephine Figuroa; and Paso Fino Dance Company.

The Emory University Symphony Orchestra and University Chorus join forces to present Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Eric Nelson and Paul Bhasin direct. Any chance to hear a live performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony performed by an outstanding chorus and orchestra is special. What makes this event extra special is that it marks the return of Eric Nelson to the choral-orchestral podium after a year’s absence.

Note that although the event is free, tickets are required. Tickets are available ONLINE or by calling the Box Office at 404.727.5050. There is a $6 fee for tickets unless you get them at the Schwartz Center Box Center.

‘Timeless’

A concert of famous melodies from ancient Ireland to contemporary Brazil.

This concert features the new conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Colm O’Hara, and will be a great introduction to one of our new faculty members! Following are Colm's comments about this concert:

What I would say is that the theme of the concert is famous, timeless melodies - Holst's Jupiter, Coplands Appalachian Shaker melody, (that I remember from my own childhood - 'Dance, Dance wherever you may be!'). There's a really beautiful Siciliano on solo trumpet by Malcolm Arnold, some haunting Ravel, and an exciting, almost-completely 1/8th note melody written by Brazilian genius Hermeto Pascoal (pictured above). I arranged the piece as a gift to the ensemble - it's a lot of fun! Sadly, he just passed away mid-September.

We will also play 3 Irish traditional melodies - 2 of which are my arrangements. One of which is a 'post minimalist style' arrangement of a beautiful 9/8 'Slipjig' called The Butterfly, that I dedicate to all the beautiful gardens and parks of Atlanta (I have never seen such big, beautiful butterflies as here! )-- My other arrangement, 'Danny Boy' was premiered in Blessington, Ireland in 2011 for the visit of Her Excellency, Mary McAleese, President of Ireland. 

EWE is a 40 piece group, with wind, brass, percussion and harp. All in all, it should be a very warm beautiful sound throughout. The students are sounding great, working hard, and are excited about the concert!

Because the guest for this symposium has had to cancel, the Vocal Symposium will be postponed for a later time.

This is part of the ECMSA Masterclass Series, giving the public an opportunity to observe master musicians working with some of Emory’s finest undergraduate talents.

Ukrainian-American pianist Marina Lomazov has established herself as one of the most passionate and charismatic performers on the concert scene today. Ms. Lomazov is a Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music.

EUSO has a fine online collection of some of their recent performances. Most of their recordings are available on the Media page of their website. EUSO also has a YouTube page, and that includes a few selections not available on their Media page, including the Richard Strauss Four Last Songs from their March 6, 2025 concert. There is hope that it will be possible to expand the student video performances available, but it is a large amount of work to make and edit the videos and there are also complications in navigating various copyright issues. Thanks to Paul Bhasin for the great videos that are posted!

There are two relatively recent EUSO videos that are only available on the Schwartz Center Virtual Stage. On January 26, 2024, the Canadian Brass gave a great sold-out concert. For two of their pieces, they invited Emory student musicians to play with them. The video of the Gabrieli Jubilate Deo is on the virtual stage. The second is the EUSO World Premiere of Marejada de los Muertos by Johanny Navarro, performed on the April 26 and 27 2024 concerts.

A big Thank You to those who have contributed during this year, and especially to those of you who have contributed in the past few months and have even increased your level of support or are new or returning supporters! There is no way to thank you enough. It was the strong level of giving last year that enabled us to substantially increase our grants to music students and faculty for this year.

Much of our support for students and faculty is through grants to provide scholarships for students to help pay for required music fees, to help fund undergraduate research projects, and to provide enhancements for classes. You can see the grants for the 2025-2026 year by clicking here.

A special thanks to those of you who are sustaining members, either through payroll deduction, or a continuing contribution on your credit card. On the donations page you can choose to give a one-time gift or a monthly gift. You can click here to donate or visit our FOM page for other ways to give.

The list of members can be seen by clicking here.

Please Note: It is surprisingly difficult to generate a list of members who are current in their giving. Please let us know if you are missing from the list or your donations have not been properly credited. We measure our giving year from the start of our annual campaign, which is usually in July of each year. Some members give through payroll deduction or give more than one gift per year (thank you to both!) and we want to make sure we correctly acknowledge the level of giving. We don't have a set format for how names are listed and depend on member's preference. Sometimes we make mistakes. Please let us know if you find any errors in the list of members above. You can just reply to this newsletter and we will be glad to correct any mistakes. The date that the list was updated is given at the bottom. Among other problems, we are finding that it can take several weeks for us to get news of gifts.

This newsletter focuses on Emory music students and faculty. There is clearly much additional music being performed in Atlanta, including many performances at Emory. There is no space in this newsletter to give specific information about those many performances, and most of them are separately well advertised. All music performances on the Emory campus are listed in the Music At Emory Calendar. Below is information about the separate music organizations with strong Emory ties.

The Schwartz Center is the hub of music at Emory, with the Performing Arts Studio being a major secondary location for many recitals and concerts. In addition to the Box Office that sells tickets for all ticketed events, the Schwartz Center hosts two major concert series, the Candler Concerts and the Schwartz Artists in Residence.

I assume that all of our readers are familiar with ECMSA, whose Artistic Director is Professor William Ransom. All of their concerts are free, which is certainly remarkable given the extremely high quality of their performances with professional musicians. ECMSA has a variety of music series, most of which are at the Schwartz Center. The full array of their concerts can be seen on the ECMSA website.

Of particular note is the Masterclass Series which is an incredible gift for our students. These masterclasses feature outstanding musicians who will teach Emory students in these classes. Moreover, our members are invited to attend these masterclasses. There are ten masterclasses planned for this year, with an impressive array of artists involved.

The Artistic Director of the Atlanta Master Chorale is Professor of Music Eric Nelson, and the chorale is one of the finest in the country. All of their local performances are in the Schwartz Center, and tickets for concerts are available through the Schwartz Center Box Office or online. Last year AMC celebrated its 40th Anniversary Concert Season. This year AMC celebrates the return of Eric Nelson who was out last year on medical leave. The Chorale has an extensive YouTube site with over 250 videos with almost 4,000,000 views!

Not only is the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra a great orchestra, but our students benefit greatly from the ASO, as many of the Music Department Artist Affiliates are ASO musicians. The entire ASO concert series is detailed on the ASO website.

The ASO responded to the pandemic in a very creative way, beginning a series of "Behind the Curtain" performances featuring musicians playing without an audience. The "Behind the Curtain" series has continued, with a very modest yearly charge, featuring a selection of recorded performances from previous weeks.  Even if you can attend the live ASO performances, viewing the Behind the Curtain programs gives an entirely different perspective than you can get from the audience. Unless you are a player, it is rare to get close enough to a player to see the strings vibrate!