April 2025

There is a lot in this issue. We are very pleased to announce the Junior and Senior winners of our Friends of Music Excellence Awards, Ashwini Narayanan and Sanjay Aiyer. You can read about them below and I think you will agree that both of them are amazing students. We invite all of our members to our Annual Meeting on Sunday, April 6 at 6pm. Details are below and if you are able to attend you will get to hear some of our students perform, meet Ashwini and Sanjay, and enjoy a reception afterwards. Just let us know you will be attending so we will have enough food and drink!

I will highlight just two of the events below. The film screening of Playing the Changes will be of particular interest to those of you interested in any aspect of jazz. The film covers not only the rise of the Dave Brubeck quartet but the work of his son Darius Brubeck and his wife Catherine against apartheid in South Africa and Darius and Catherine will be present to discuss the film after its showing. The Concert Choir is also giving its final concert of the year. They are one of the best college choirs in the country and in Eric Nelson’s absence this year have continued to perform at a very high level with their interim director, Jon Easter.

The collaborative piano and chamber ensembles concerts will be opportunities to hear a variety of music in combinations that you probably will rarely hear otherwise. I hope you will have a chance to attend some of the student recitals. I am continually impressed to read about these students and their impressive musical backgrounds. It is also astounding that all of the recitalists, as well as our two award winners, are double majors in the college. This is a testament to their work ethic and to Emory College, which is able to provide an outstanding environment for both music study as well many other fields.

Finally, we are beginning to get information about your contributions for this year. I apologize that our list of members has been relatively out of date. It is not yet perfect, but is closer. Many many thanks to those of you who have contributed this year. If you have not yet had a chance to contribute, I encourage you to do so if you are able. The funds we receive this year will be used to fund student and faculty activities next year.

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.

We invite all of our members to attend our Annual Meeting on Sunday, April 6 at 6pm in the Schwartz Center. This will be a time of celebration with a chance to hear some of our students perform, to give our FOM Excellence in Music awards to two students (see below), have a VERY short business meeting, and then enjoy a reception where you can meet our performers and award winners.

If you are able to attend, please let us know by sending an email to friendsofmusic@emory.edu. Free parking is available in the Fishburne Parking Deck, adjacent to the Schwartz Center. Our meeting will begin in Tharpe Hall; to get there enter at the rear of the building and follow the signs to Tharpe.

Each year FoM recognizes a current junior and graduating senior for excellence based on performance, academic excellence, leadership, and service, and each award includes a $1000 stipend.

The Friends of Music Junior Award Winner is Ashwini Narayanan. Ashwini is pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology and a B.A. in Vocal Performance at Emory. She is an Emory Caring Chords Music Volunteer in Atlanta, GA, where she engages residents at an assisted memory care facility through live musical performances to enhance their well-being and cognitive stimulation. She was twice a finalist in the Emory University Concerto & Aria Competition (April 2024, March 2025) and is a recipient of the Liberal Arts Scholar of Emory University Scholarship. Her academic excellence is further recognized by her placement on the Emory College Dean's List. In addition to her musical and academic pursuits, Ashwini is dedicated to healthcare service. Since August 2023, she has worked as a runner at the Glenn Family Breast Clinic, Winship Cancer Institute, assisting clinical staff by greeting patients, helping them prepare for exams, and organizing medical forms for screenings. She also volunteers in the emergency room at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, IL. She is currently working on her senior honors project exploring the use of coloratura to portray and express emotion in staged operatic repertoire as it relates to arias surrounding Shakespearean text. 

The Friends of Music Senior Award Winner is Sanjay Aiyer. Sanjay Aiyar is a senior double majoring in biology and piano performance. He maintains a GPA of 3.83 and is currently preparing to perform a hybrid Honors Recital focusing on Liszt's "Annees de Pelerinage" Premiere Annee: Suisse. During his undergraduate years at Emory Sanjay has volunteered at the American Cancer Society Atlanta chapter as well as the “Snack in a Backpack” (food for at-risk kids) and “Hands on ATL” (Title 1 school enrichment programs), the Coatesville (PA) Community Youth & Women’s Alliance (food distribution), the Musicopia (perform-a-thons and fundraising) and other organizations aiming to bring music to clinical settings. This past summer Sanjay  participated in the Solinaria Music Festival in Sozopol, Bulgaria where he performed at the residence of the South Korean Ambassador for Bulgaria and was interviewed by Bulgarian National Radio. Sanjay has also participated in masterclasses with Victor Rosenbaum, Candler Artist Zhang Zuo (Zee Zee), and Norman Krieger. During his free time Sanjay enjoys tutoring students focusing mainly on collegiate level organic chemistry. Sanjay is also the vice President of Emory’s DII Club Baseball and was included in Emory's Dean List for Spring of 2024 (4.0 GPA). Sanjay was awarded the prestigious William B. Dickinson Scholarship at Emory University and was granted a Pathways Internship Award (Global Award) for his international travel to Bulgaria in summer of 2024. He was also invited by the Mayor of Atlanta to perform with Emory’s North Indian ensemble at Atlanta City Hall and is nationally ranked (champion division) in the GeoGuessr game which he plays in his spare time. 

If listening to one pianist perform is good, is listening to two at one time twice as good? You can judge for yourself at this program given by some of our amazing piano students who perform some of the best-known pieces in four-hand and two-hand piano repertoire. Certainly the opportunity to hear this literature live is much rarer than for the single repertoire.

This event is a screening of new documentary film Playing The Changes – Tracking Darius Brubeck about the jazz pianist and educator Darius Brubeck, and his wife Cathy, during their years in apartheid South Africa. Darius and Cathy will be present at the screening and will lead a discussion session afterwards. They will also be on campus and will have various interactions with students during their visit.

This review in Paris Move, translated from the original French, gives a good overview of the film:

“It is usually not easy to be the son of a legend, especially if you decide to try to follow in his footsteps in your career. Of the six children of legendary jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck (three of whom also pursued musical careers), Darius is the eldest. His first name was given to him by his father in homage to his own mentor and teacher, the French composer Darius Milhaud. Having graduated in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 1969, and having married a South African, he moved to Durban in 1983, to teach in the Music Department of the University of Natal, where he initiated the very first university course in jazz on the African continent. The double (triple?) merit of this film lies not only in the richly documented transcription of the rise of the Dave Brubeck Quartet during the fifties (which earned them the great honor of a tour in Poland – then in the middle of the Cold War between the American and Soviet blocs), in the continuation of the soft power radio programs “Voice Of America”, but also in the story, still too little known to the general public, of the artistic, cultural and militant commitment of Darius Brubeck against apartheid. Interspersed with numerous testimonies (including those of Darius and his wife Catherine in person), as well as archive images restoring the explosive climate of the country in the years preceding the abolition of the racist and fascist regime which oppressed it, here is a remarkable and moving documentary, testifying to the highly emancipatory power of music against all discrimination.”

More information about Darius and Cathy can be found here:

https://dariusbrubeck.com/.

This is a great opportunity to hear a variety of different student ensembles. Mentored by Emory’s artist faculty, student musicians perform chamber works for a variety of different ensembles. Performing in this concert are a Percussion Ensemble, a Guitar Ensemble, a Trombone Ensemble, a Saxophone Quartet, a String Trio, several String Quartets, a String Quintet, and a Cello Ensemble! The program for this concert can be seen by clicking here.

Sing, Be, Live. Concert Choir’s upcoming performance will feature songs about love from a variety of perspectives, including excerpts from Shakespeare, folk songs from England and hymn texts. The program eventually shifts into a larger perspective on love for our planet and community. Some of the composers featured are Gustav Holst, Dan Forest, Emma Lou Diemer and Sydney Guillaume. The program for this concert can be seen by clicking here.

The program for this senior recital can be seen by clicking here.

Performer Bios

David Klimjack, piano, is a junior at Emory, and has been playing the piano since he was in first grade. Throughout that time he competed in several competitions, winning the MMTA Sonata Contest on three occasions, MMTA Piano Virtuoso Competition, and was a finalist at Alabama’s piano district. At Emory, Klimjack studies under professor Todd Qualls. He also volunteers every Sunday at Atlanta’s Hope Lodge, a cancer patient center, where he plays piano both solo and in groups for residents. Outside of piano, Klimjack is a member and part of the recruitment committee for Phi Delta Epsilon, Emory’s pre-medical fraternity, as well as a member of Emory’s chess club. Klimjack is a double major in both chemistry and music, and enjoys his position as a TA for organic chemistry lab. Klimjack is currently preparing to apply for medical school where he hopes to become an ophthalmologist.

Katie Shin, violin, is a life-long musician, starting the violin at the age of five. She pursued music competitively through childhood, participating in programs like Georgia All-State Orchestra, and becoming a finalist in music performance for the Governor’s Honors Program in high school. Shin was a violinist in the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra from 2017–2021, and fell in love with the community. Offered the prestigious Music Liberal Arts Scholarship to attend Emory, she decided to join the Emory University Symphony Orchestra. She is the current orchestral operations manager of the EUSO and is taught by Professor Jessica Wu of the Vega Quartet. Aside from performance, Shin conducts clinical research in the Baby Brain Optimization Project (BBOP) Lab in the School of Medicine. She engages heavily with music therapy at BBOP, studying how music interventions can improve the health outcomes of children. She is a senior graduating this May with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Music Performance. Shin hopes to go to graduate school and pursue a career in maternal and child health promotion and health policy. She dedicates this recital to her parents, who have sacrificed so much in her avid pursuit of music.

The complete program for this recital can be seen by clicking here.

Peiming Yang Bio

Peiming Yang is a fourth-year student at Emory double majoring in psychology and music composition. He began studying piano at age four under various teachers and continued on himself into high school and college. At Emory, he studied piano with Elena Cholakova, and composition with Adam Mirza and Katherine Young. In the music department, Yang has played in several chamber ensembles, composition showcases, and the SURE program of summer 2024.

With merely nothing planned for the future, Yang decided to embrace the uncertainties and chaos with the certainties of sound and emotions, as a composer, and a pianist.

The pieces in my recital reflect the numerous musical experiences that have shaped me during my time at Emory and beyond. Last summer, I had the opportunity to perform my first lead role, playing Bastienne in Mozart’s opera Bastien und Bastienne in Salzburg, Austria. Living for six weeks in Mozart’s birthplace inspired me to explore his piano and vocal works alike, such as his concert aria “Vado, ma dove?” and pieces from operas such as Le nozze di Figaro and La clemenza di Tito. While in Salzburg, I also studied German, which drew me to the music of composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, and Richard Strauss, the latter of who composed my favorite lieder, “Die Georgine.”

Since high school, I’ve been committed to highlighting the works of women composers, who are often overlooked in standard repertoire compared to their male counterparts. For this recital, I chose to perform Amy Beach’s Three Browning Songs, a song cycle I find especially melodic and powerful. I’m also drawn to songs involving themes of the night, which I explore in virtuosic French melodies by Debussy and Liszt. In contrast, the energetic rhythms and Spanish influence in “Les Filles de Cadix” add a playful flair to this French art song.

At Emory, my teacher Dr. Bethany Mamola encouraged me to expand my repertoire by branching more into musical theater, leading me to explore songs by Sondheim. In addition to working with my incredible accompanist Sonny Yoo, I’ve also collaborated with two close friends - Charles on double bass and mezzo-soprano Ava - for a more collaborative musical experience.

The first time I ever heard an opera aria it was by Puccini, and I’ve dreamed of singing his music ever since. I’m thrilled to finally bring that dream to life in this recital’s finale. I’m deeply grateful to the Friends of Music for giving me several scholarships over the past few years, which have helped me continue to grow as a musician.

Anushka Basu Bio

Anushka Basu (26C) is a junior at Emory University from the San Francisco Bay Area, pursuing a double major in Vocal Performance and Quantitative Social Science: Data Science. She has been studying classical singing for nine years and currently studies voice under Dr. Bethany Mamola, whose support she is very grateful for. Before attending Emory, she participated in programs such as the Washington National Opera Institute, the Metropolitan Opera Guild High School Opera Singers Intensive, and SongFest at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has also won awards in competitions such as the KMMC & Trinity Laban Conservatoire Art Song Festival, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the Pacific Musical Society & Foundation Competition. Last summer, she performed her first lead role as Bastienne in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne in Salzburg, Austria.



At Emory, Anushka is a finalist in the 2025 Emory Concerto and Aria Competition and has performed in master classes with esteemed artists such as Jake Heggie, Mary Saunders Barton, and Ann Baltz. In addition to singing, she has played piano for sixteen years and has been involved in Emory ensembles such as Stageworks, Collaborative Piano, and University Chorus. She also enjoys performing at campus events, including the annual Hocofest and the Adhoc Showcase. Anushka currently serves as Vice President of Programming for Delta Phi Epsilon and as an Event Coordinator for Music for Change. In her free time, she enjoys biking, reading, walking around Lullwater, and spending time with her guinea pig, Pianetta - named after her love for piano and operettas.

EUSO is building a YouTube page with selected videos of some recent performances. You can go to their YouTube page and see everything that is available. 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. Thanks to Paul Bhasin for the great videos that are posted!

Although most of the EUSO performances are on YouTube, there are two videos from earlier this year that are on the Schwartz Center Virtual Stage. On January 26 of this year, 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 program for the concert can be seen by clicking here). On March 7 of this year, EUSO gave a program featuring two works. The Mahler Symphony 1 was the second piece; the video of that wonderful performance is on the EUSO YouTube page. The first piece on the program was the Southeastern premiere of Vital Sines by Viet Cuong, played by EUSO with Eighth Blackbird. The video of that piece is on the Schwartz Virtual Stage and well worth watching. The program for that concert can be seen by clicking here.

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 this 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. It has been particularly difficult this year. We used to get a notice every time a donation was made to Friends of Music. Apparently Emory Giving started using a new database last year and we stopped getting those notices. Your contributions are being credited to the correct account--we are just not getting the information we used to get. Please let us know if you are missing from the 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 Emory Arts Calendar (linked to in the top left of our newsletters). 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 there is a livestream option for concert tickets, available through the Schwartz Center Box Office. In addition, all purchased tickets include a link to the livestream recording for one week after the concert. I usually view the recording at least once after attending the concert, surely a form of having one's cake and eating it too! For those of you who can't attend their concerts live, viewing the livestream is a great option.

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. There continues to be a lot of excitement about the ASO’s new (as of two years ago) Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann. An indication of her “rock star” status is this from her ASO biography:

Named "Best Conductor of the Year" at the 2024 Oper! Awards, Nathalie Stutzmann has been the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2022 and is the second woman in history to lead a major American orchestra. She is also the Principal Guest Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Nathalie made big news in the opera pit in 2023 with her debut in Wagner’s Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival. She also made "a splashy debut" and "the coup of the year" (The New York Times) with her unanimously acclaimed double debuts at the Metropolitan Opera.

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!