Congratulations to Hao Zou (MM Composition, ‘21) who was chosen as one of the recipients of the 2021 prestigious ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award. "The young composers recognized by The ASCAP Foundation are taking concert music in new and exciting directions," said Foundation President Paul Williams. "They are the future of the genre and it gives us great pleasure to support and empower them to further their talents.”    Song on the Wind (for full orchestra) was his piece.

Congratulations to Alannah Garnier (MM, vocal performance ’16) and David Sanchez (MM, vocal performance, ‘18) who both appear on the recording of Porgy and Bess performed on the Metropolitan Opera stage that just won the 2021 Grammy for Best Opera Recording.  Sanchez and Garnier both made their MET opera debut during the 2019–20 season performing in Porgy and Bess.  Alannah also performed in Gustavo Dudamel’s performance of a collection of Charles Ives’ symphonies that won a 2021 Grammy for Best Orchestral performances. 

MFA acting alumni are staying busy even during the pandemic.  James Yaegashi (MFA, acting ’98) has appeared in episodes of The Blacklist with James Spader and Donnie Keshwarz (MFA, acting ’98) continues his recurring appearances on Bull starring Michael Weatherly. 

Frank Oakley III (B.A. theatre performance, 2014) appears in Amazon Prime Video's The Underground Railroad, a series based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning book by the same name. The series is directed by Barry Jenkins and Oakley appears in episode 2. The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video May 14, 2021.  Frank is also back as Harlan Bixby in the second season of the hit Netflix series Sweet Magnolias.

Congratulations to both Jonathan Young ( MM piano performance, ‘13) and Kristin Jonina  Taylor (BM, piano performance ’97; MM, piano performance, ’99; DMA, piano performance ’06) for being NATIONAL FINALISTS for the  2021 American Prize in Piano Performance in the professional solo division.