“Art is possibility, expression is potential.”

That’s according to , the Pulitzer Prize-winning Diné composer, musician and sound installation artist slated to deliver the ���������� Boulder College of Music’s annual  Genevieve McVey Wisner lecture on Feb. 26. In his wide-ranging and ambitious oeuvre, Chacon—a member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico—has tackled themes ranging from colonization to displacement to questions of environmental stewardship and conservation.

The myriad media he’s chosen to explore these themes reflect a spirit of creative exploration. His Pulitzer Prize-winning work, “Voiceless Mass,” is an ensemble work composed specifically to be performed in any space of worship with high ceilings and pipe organ. “Sound Ladder” is a sound installation—debuted in 2024—that features a sequence of 16 pine planks hung from ceiling to floor; for this work, Chacon collaborated with members of the Bål Nango family, a Sámi family of reindeer herders and land guardians.

Chacon has built instruments and explored new ways to present sound. He’s paired his compositions with visual cues and physical components, and drawn upon the very land surrounding his compositions to convey his messages.

“I think art is there to show that we can all think in different ways, we can all dream in ways we didn’t know we could,” Chacon explains. “We’re in danger when we become narrow and exclude possibilities.” That philosophy is part of the lure of Chacon’s upcoming visit to Boulder. Working firsthand with students and offering novel perspectives about the possibilities of self-expression reconnects the artist to his own commitment to learning and growth; the chance to explore his work and style with developing musicians and artists holds its own unique appeal.

“Part of my interest in giving lectures and visiting universities is to share my work and offer music students insights into ways that music doesn’t have to be on the stage,” Chacon says, also reflecting the College of Music’s universal musician approach to achieving our mission. “It can be presented in different media—performance art, sound sculpture, as film or video. I am really interested in sharing my different tactics with students.”

The concept of place plays a large role in Chacon’s work and one of the pieces he’ll detail in his lecture is located in the United Arab Emirates in a “ghost village” that was originally assigned to a tribe of nomads by the government. “Being that they’re nomadic people, they did not move in. These houses are being taken by the desert,” Chacon explains. 

“I’ve collaborated with these individuals and musicians to record their songs,” he adds, noting that the ultimate effect of the installation is that “it sounds like their music is moving through these houses and into the desert.”

It’s an immediacy that Chacon stresses in his approach to music. While he’s a classically trained composer and musician, he’s careful not to undervalue the importance of the indefinable elements of the art form—the aspects of music that can’t necessarily be conveyed in a classroom, studio or textbook.

“I do feel like I’m continually learning,” says Chacon . I’m always seeking out the best media that an artwork should take. I’m constantly researching new technologies—experiencing exhibitions, artists and concerts. 

“I’m still a big fan of being able to see musicians play, even more so than listening to recordings. I think live music is not only an obligation or responsibility, but it’s something that is wonderful to do, as a member of an audience.”

Even as he tackles weighty questions in his work, Chacon also finds power and joy in the ability to create—a boon he looks forward to sharing during his residency. “No matter what our occupation or how we spend our daily lives, we should be conscious of the work we can do to improve upon justice and the way we treat each other.”
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Join us for the College of Music’s annual Genevieve McVey Wisner Lectureship* featuring Raven Chacon on Feb. 26 at 11:30 a.m., Chamber Hall (S102), Imig Music Building. On Feb. 27 at 9:30 a.m., Room NB185, Imig Music Building, Chacon will be part of a panel discussion, “Situating your soul’s work in a hegemonic sphere.” Both events are free and open to the public. 

Raven Chacon’s residency is made possible by the ���������� Boulder American Music Research Center, the College of Music’s composition department and the college’s Diverse Musicians’ Alliance. 

*Having graduated from Western University in Kansas—an historically Black college—with her first bachelor’s degree in 1922, Genevieve McVey Wisner became the first Black graduate of the College of Music in 1940 with a bachelor’s degree in music education, followed by a master’s degree in 1944 at age 42.

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Photo: Internationally acclaimed clarinetist Mariam Adam headlines Colorado Clarinet Day 2025.

It seemed like a nice idea, recalls Professor of Clarinet Daniel Silver: Let’s gather together the clarinet programs at Colorado’s four major Front Range university music departments and create a day celebrating the clarinet with workshops, exhibits, a lecture, maybe a concert or two and a master class with a guest artist. Let's call it Colorado Clarinet Day.

That was 15 years ago—and it's been going strong ever since. On Jan. 19, 2025, Colorado Clarinet Day returns to the ���������� Boulder College of Music.

“There’s always been camaraderie among us,” notes Silver, referring to his counterparts at Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. The clarinet departments agreed to each hold a Clarinet Day annually, with the locale rotating, so that each campus would host every four years; thus, it falls on ���������� Boulder to welcome clarinet lovers to our Imig Music Building next month.

Every Colorado Clarinet Day is different, Silver points out. “Each host puts their own stamp on it.”

The upcoming Clarinet Day will begin with a morning recital by Colorado players (with guests from Wyoming), followed by Silver's talk on practicing techniques. An afternoon concert by the Ambler Clarinet Choir will be followed by a free evening recital featuring guest clarinetist —with Suyeon Kim, associate teaching professor, collaborative piano—at 6:45 p.m. in Grusin Music Hall.

Silver notes the significance of Adam’s presence. A founding member of Imani Winds and a sought-after international soloist, she represents more than a superior interpreter of the clarinet: “She’s a woman of color and—going back 30 years—there haven’t been many like her in the music world. We need more like her, shining a light on (musicians) who are not white males.”

Referencing the College of Music’s universal musician approach to achieving its mission, he adds: “We’re seeing a reflection of that here, where we’ve taken steps to increase the diversity of our people.”

Recalling the first Clarinet Day, Silver points out: “We had about 60 attendees. Now, each event attracts around 200.” So, who are all those clarinet lovers? Students, alumni, educators and performers, as well as exhibitors—from Brad Behn and Brandon Chambers to the Flesher-Hinton Music Company, Mark Sloss Professional Wind Instrument Consultants and Vandoren | Dansr.

Lastly, Silver highlighted another important category of attendees: “Audiences who just want to hear good music.”

We thank all participating staff, faculty, and guest artists and teachers; and we thank the Roser Visiting Artists Program, the ���������� Boulder Center for Humanities & the Arts and Conn-Selmer for their support of Colorado Clarinet Day.

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Harumi Rhodes has mixed feelings about observing The Milestone. As second violinist of the world-renowned, Grammy Award-winning Takács Quartet, she understands the significance of the group’s founding a half-century ago. 

“It’s a monumental moment and we’re approaching it with a sense of awe,” she admits. “I feel humbled. Yet, in another sense, for us it’s business as usual.” Much of that business takes place right here in Boulder.

Joining Rhodes in conversation is first violinist Ed Dusinberre, who’s also her husband. The English-born musician reflects on the group’s remarkable musical journey filled with loss, personnel changes and—most of all—brilliant music making.

“I find myself thinking about all our former quartet members—we wouldn’t be celebrating this milestone today except for them,” says Dusinberre, recalling that the original quartet was formed by students at the Music Academy in Budapest, Hungary, in 1975. 

“They were so young, living behind the Iron Curtain, wondering how they could fulfill their musical aspirations worldwide,” he adds.

Hard work and winning prestigious awards in several European competitions led to an American tour in 1982 and—following several U.S.-based short-term residencies—the decision to permanently relocate their families to the United States in 1985-86. Soon after, the players accepted an invitation to become the resident quartet at the University of Colorado Boulder—and they’ve resided here ever since, though not without challenges. Gábor Takács-Nagy stepped down in 1993 and now enjoys a successful career as a conductor and teacher worldwide. The following year, violist Gábor Ormai was diagnosed with cancer and retired, passing away in 1995. The late Roger Tapping succeeded him, leaving to spend time with his family in 2005; in turn, he was succeeded by Geraldine Walther. Upon the retirement of founding second violinist Károly Schranz, Harumi Rhodes joined the quartet in 2018. 

As the first new member in 1993, Dusinberre recalls the challenge of being a non-Hungarian. “It was a big adjustment for me, but I appreciated the welcoming, adventurous spirit of the players and the warmth of their collective sound,” he says. “The process was similar when Harumi and then Richard joined”—referring to current violist Richard O’Neill who succeeded Walther in 2020. Grammy-Award winner for Best Classical Instrumental Solo Performance in 2021, O’Neill is only the second person to receive an award for a viola performance in the history of this category. 

Today, cellist András Fejér remains the sole original member of the Takács Quartet.

For Rhodes, becoming a member of the Takács was thrilling. “The College of Music is a musical home for us. We feel grateful to be embedded in this university and the community.”

Although the Takács maintain an international touring schedule that takes up about half of their time, the foursome prioritizes time with their students, working in partnership with Meta Weiss, the College of Music’s chamber music coordinator.

It may surprise some audience members who’ve been regulars at sold-out Takács Quartet concerts to learn that the group’s campus connection extends beyond Grusin Music Hall. As Dusinberre notes, their decades-long residency is centered around daily hands-on work with College of Music students.

“Our relationship with the college is the glue that keeps us together,” he stresses. “Our graduate string quartet program inspires us to think about future generations.” This two-year program consists of intense work with a promising ensemble, preparing and guiding the young artists into the demanding world of quartet playing.

“The newest quartet we’re working with is the Michigan-based ,” adds Rhodes. “We’ll listen to their interests and help them to develop a unique musical voice.”

The College of Music’s chamber music program has a long track record of success. The Brisbane, Australia-based is a good example: Via email, first violinist Daniel Kowalik shared that his group met the Takács at a music festival in Sydney in 2011—at that time, the Orava had been together for five years. They soon came to ���������� Boulder to study with the Takács.

“We always worked with one member at a time,” wrote Kowalik. “They rotated, so we had time with each member. I asked lots of questions, from general well-being to dealing with the pressures of performing.”

Today, the Orava Quartet enjoys an active schedule and has been signed by Deutsche Grammophon. Their Boulder experience “really helped launch us into having a career,” Kowalik noted. “Our coachings were invaluable and absolutely essential to learning the craft. Being mentored by the Takács forever changed how I think about and approach music making.”

For many students at the College of Music, a career as a performer isn’t their only goal—and the Takács Quartet is sensitive to that, too. “It’s only partly about making music,” Rhodes emphasizes. “Much of what we focus on when we’re talking with students has to do with how to make a life in music.” 

Dusinberre treasures those conversations. “I ask students to identify individual favorite moments in a piece and we explore different ways to heighten those moments. Hopefully they learn about each others’ musical tastes and how to use their individual ideas to shape a unified interpretation.” 

When touring and recording sessions wind down, these beloved artists find a special joy in coming home to Boulder, visiting with faculty colleagues, and sharing their knowledge and experience with students. As Rhodes says, “The gritty and beautiful work of a string quartet happens offstage in the rehearsal room. We feel so grateful that—after many decades—this process continues in our home at ���������� Boulder.”

The Takács Quartet’s 50^th anniversary season is generously sponsored by Barbara and Chris Christoffersen.

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Betancourt—a native of Venezuela and an accomplished classical guitarist—will continue to serve as director at Macky which welcomes more than 100,000 people to over 100 events every season. He says adding the beloved series to the venue’s portfolio has the potential to turn over a new page for both.

“The Artist Series has been evolving for decades with an unparalleled cultural impact,” he says. “Having the Artist Series within Macky’s portfolio helps the venue to be a presenter as much as a facility for rent.”

Betancourt says the Artist Series will continue to delight long-time patrons as it also seeks to expand and diversify its programming.

“The series will still include dance, classical music, jazz, performing arts from all over the world, as well as new genres. Keeping true to its well-established mission while feeling the cultural pulse in Boulder will help determine its evolution,” he says. “There will be wonderful choices for our legacy and new audiences to enjoy.”

When ���������� Presents Executive Director Joan Braun retired at the end of June after 30 years, it was determined that it made sense to separate the curation of the Artist Series from the operations of ���������� Presents. Braun and ���������� Boulder College of Music Dean John Davis recommended Betancourt to be the Artist Series director as the most natural choice.

“Rudy is an excellent, accomplished musician and he has impeccable taste and awareness of the music scene,” Braun says. “As director of Macky, he also is very aware of audience tastes and preferences, and what they respond to. He can see some different pathways and possibilities and I’m excited to see what he does with it.”

“Joan’s legacy of innovation in the arts and securing the Artist Series’ place in the hearts of its audiences is a tall order—one that I am honored to continue. I am excited to work with the College of Music’s leadership and the Artist Series Advisory Board. It is a real privilege,” Betancourt says.

Betancourt will continue to work closely with the staff at ���������� Presents. “The ���������� Presents team brings unparalleled knowledge of how to reach our audiences and cultivate our relationship with them,” he says. “Continuing and deepening this collaboration will be paramount to the success of the series.”

���������� Presents will continue to work with other as well as with the and .

Tickets for the are on sale now.

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Overseeing ���������� Presents requires administrative skill, a steady hand and a cool head. Just consider the competition Metzroth had to contend with after longtime director Joan Braun retired at the end of last season.

“I’m happy that the College of Music conducted a national search,” says Metzroth. “I think there were about three dozen applicants.” But one look at his résumé and it’s not surprising that Metzroth landed the position. For starters, his years of experience in nearly every aspect of the theater—backstage, onstage, above-stage, you name it—is mind-boggling. As his local credits will attest, he’s been everywhere at ���������� Presents for decades. Plus, his enthusiasm is contagious.

“I’ve always had a love for the theater,” he says. As for his relationship with ���������� Boulder, he became box office manager in 2007, handling ticketing for campus performing arts events for nine years. That’s no small task, he emphasizes: “The ticketing software [Tessitura] goes incredibly deep, and takes a long time to learn and teach.” Moving further up the ladder, he became director of operations at ���������� Presents in 2017. 

Today, Metzroth’s responsibilities entail close involvement in managing the Artist Series in Macky Auditorium and Takács Quartet concerts in Grusin Music Hall. But there are more shows to handle—a lot more. “There are some 450 on-campus events including about 350 College of Music events, 50 Theatre & Dance Department events and 50 Colorado Shakespeare Festival performances,” he explains. “I’ll be involved in strategy, ticketing, and marketing and communications for all our series, particularly College of Music events. You have to know what’s important to all of them, to know their goals.”

Not that he intends to remain invisible. “I never want this to be a desk job,” stresses the four-time ���������� Boulder alumnus. “I see myself as a community ambassador—I want to bring audiences into performing arts experiences.”

In previous years, you could usually find Metzroth behind a box office window handling ticket sales. With a laugh, he says those days may not be entirely behind him. “Yeah, I might have to work there some nights, if we’re short-staffed.”

But as long as there’s a show going on, ���������� Presents’ new executive director is happy. “We’re performance- and outreach-oriented,” he adds. “An example of upcoming outreach opportunities are student matinees of [Engelbert Humperdinck’s] ‘’ in October. We’ll be bringing in students from kindergarten through second grade. That will take some coordinating with a number of schools.”

Sounds like a lot of work for “Metz”—but it’s a good bet he’ll be as excited as all those kids when the school buses arrive.

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Last summer, the College of Music and  (SPA) kicked off a new partnership to welcome 22 talented string students—ages 11-17—to our campus for an intensive scholarship program emphasizing cultural diversity. 

This month, June 20-30, it’s déjâ vu as auditioned youths engage in lessons, master classes and performances with their instructors and guest teachers—all under the auspices of the Sphinx Organization and thanks to a DEI Impact Grant from the ���������� Boulder Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

That’s a lot to plan and implement. Yet for Alex Gonzalez—returning SPA faculty member and College of Music assistant professor of violin—it’s all a joy. “It’s wonderful to see how the SPA gives the kids space to grow, presenting them options as they pursue music,” he says.

In between, Gonzalez explains, the students do more than improve their skills on violin, viola, cello and bass: “For example, Jim Brody, who runs the College of Music’s wellness program, instructed them in healthy playing habits. It’s so important for them to learn how to prevent injury and avoid poor practice positions.” Gonzalez also notes a master class by violinist Andrea Segar who’ll join the College of Music faculty as assistant professor of violin this fall. 

Success stories are many. Among the 22 students who’ve flown in from around the country, a few are returning from last summer’s inaugural SPA on our campus; and, according to Gonzalez, three students from the first cohort have applied for admission to ���������� Boulder and were accepted—including SPA alum Ryannah Blackman who will join Gonzalez’s violin studio as a freshman performance major this fall. “She told me, ‘The SPA made me want to settle here,’” he says. 

A member of the Sphinx Virtuosi where he’s concertmaster, touring extensively with the group across the country and abroad, Gonzalez understands first-hand that the road to success in music isn’t without its challenges. But programs like the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization, established in 1997 to focus on “increasing representation of Black and Latinx artists in classical music,” have done much to ease and advance that journey.

Intense teaching and motivation are valuable, of course, but the SPA provides something else, Gonzales discovered: “There’s a sense of community here, friendships have developed,” he says. “These kids are sharing their love of music, of being together. I think it lifts them up. 

“They’ve worked hard but they got Sundays off, so they went on field trips. They went to the Pearl Street Mall and they took hikes. They got to see Boulder.” 

See you next year, SPA!

SPA faculty and students will perform in Grusin Music Hall tonight and this weekend.

Photos: Kathryn Bistodeau, Sphinx Organization

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“I was so taken by the harmonies and I started looking at scores. I didn’t realize then that my career would become centered on Fauré.”

Pursuing a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, Caballero’s graduate dissertation was on Fauré. From there, his love and admiration for the Frenchman’s music continued to grow. He’s since written books about Fauré and edited critical editions of the composer’s two piano quintets for “The Complete Works of Gabriel Fauré.” Yes, he’s also published studies on ballet music of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, and social continuities in French music from the 18^th to the 20^th centuries. But one composer remains close to his heart and his academic pursuits. Particularly these days. ​

This year marks a milestone for Caballero who—along with his academic partner Stephen Rumph, professor of music history at the University of Washington—will co-host the in Boulder, Feb. 27-March 3. comprising this major, global gathering of ���������� Boulder faculty and student musicians alongside panelists from France, Canada, Israel, Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United States are free and open to the public although  is appreciated from those who plan to attend the conference. 

Before enumerating the impressive number of papers to be presented, concerts to be held and new works to be premiered, Caballero shares how the whole project began. “I visited Stephen in Seattle in the summer of 2021,” he recalls. The two men had worked together previously, co-editing “Fauré Studies” for Cambridge University Press. “We were strolling on the beach—talking about how 2024 was the 100^th anniversary of Fauré’s death—and Stephen said, ‘Why don’t we do a festival?’ That’s how it all started.” 

In retrospect, Caballero points out, Rumph’s casual suggestion proved advantageous. Getting the ball rolling, and planning and sending out all the invitations and calls for papers so early, resulted in strong interest and a healthy number of acceptances.

There was much to do in the months that followed: Grants to write and submit, campus facilities to secure and—here’s a surprise—composers to commission. “The [including on Feb. 27] will offer a kaleidoscopic experience, not just a look back,” Caballero explains. In addition to chamber music by Fauré in diverse instrumentations, the festival will feature works by his contemporaries—like Maurice Ravel, Mel Bonis and Cécile Chaminade—as well as nine new commissions by both professional composers and students.

“It was Stephen’s idea to connect these new works to the legacy of Fauré, but in the composers’ own style,” says Caballero, who further notes that will be presented as part of the festival, including one of his own—“The Smith’s Harmonic Forge: Voice-Leading in the First Movement of Fauré’s Second Piano Quartet.” 

Caballero is optimistic that the Fauré Centennial ​Festival will continue to raise appreciation of Fauré’s music. For him, the attraction is singular: “My academic career is fueled by the beauty of his music.” 

The Fauré Centennial ​Festival—held on campus at the Imig Music Building and Macky Auditorium, and at Boulder’s First Congregational Church—is supported by the Dr. C. W. Bixler Family Foundation, the ���������� Boulder College of Music, the Center for Humanities & the Arts and the Research & Innovation Office. 

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O’Neil Jones—a third-year DMA student in choral conducting and literature at the College of Music—is bringing those sounds to Boulder. 

Jones has created the first statewide Jamaican Choral Music Symposium, Feb. 22-25, to elevate the history, language and musical elements of Jamaican choral music through direct interaction with natives of the country. by the University Singers who are based at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. The group, now led by Franklin Halliburton, will appear here thanks to a $25,000 Roser Visiting Artists Program grant awarded to Jones. Halliburton is a key figure in furthering Jamaican choral music as a genre, having worked with choral conductor-composer over some 20 years prior to his passing.

“This music is a major part of who we are,” stresses Jones. “Jamaicans know this music, but they don’t know who wrote it.” A native of Montego Bay, he grew up singing those songs in church, noting that Jamaica has 1,600 churches, the largest per-capita number of any country in the world. “The music was not being preserved, beyond simply being performed,” he explains. Indeed, while there were sacred songs being sung all over the island, most were never written down or were notated in different versions. 

Today, Jones—who’s also the 2023-24 recipient of the Susan L. Porter Memorial Fellowship—is advancing one of the goals of our American Music Research Center by bringing the choral music and culture of his island home to a wider audience this month, including the participation of area high schools and the ���������� Boulder University Singers, Chamber Singers and Treble Chorus. He also hopes to publish the music of Jamaican choral composers. 

Primary among those is a major force in Jamaican choral music—and a pivotal figure in the lives of both Jones and Halliburton: Noel Dexter (1938-2019). “He’s the reason I’m here,” says Jones. “He was my mentor, he gave me my first voice lesson and he taught me how to conduct.” Their bond began in 2009 and continued until Dexter’s death.

Dexter sent Jones on a journey of discovery that led him to Boulder. Since Jamaica had no serious conducting program, he encouraged his young student to enroll at Mississippi’s Alcorn State University where another of Dexter’s former students had been teaching. Jones obliged, then continued his studies at the University of Southern Mississippi. Eventually, he met Assistant Professor of Voice Andrew Garland at a national singing competition at ���������� Boulder. “���������� allowed me to accept Professor Garland’s invitation to continue studying voice while actively pursuing a career in conducting,” Jones says. 

In 2021, he settled in Boulder, although Jamaica remained close to his heart. “In preparing my conducting recitals, I included one song by Mr. Dexter to honor his memory—from there, the zeal to bring more of his music to the world was ignited,” he adds.

The ���������� Boulder College of Music presents at Macky Auditorium on Feb. 25, 2024.

Photos: O’Neil Jones (top); Noel Dexter (right). 

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Photo: Bruns and Crumb at a recording session of “Metamorphoses, Book II” at Swarthmore College in 2021.

Writing music can be a lonely occupation—very private, very demanding. So it’s no surprise that most composers come across as intimidating individuals. Not so with an affable gentleman like George Crumb, although you’d never expect it from listening to his complex, often transcendent music.

“My mom connected with him,” recalls ���������� Boulder College of Music Associate Professor of Music Theory Steven Bruns, who will retire in May. “She always said George seemed like a nice fellow from down the street.” Anyone who spent some time with the late composer (including this writer) walked away amazed at how instantly likable he was. Yet, as Bruns is well aware, when Crumb died on Feb. 6, 2022, at age 92, the world lost one of its most brilliant and influential music makers.

Bruns and Crumb each served as faculty members at the College of Music—Crumb, from 1959 to 1964 and Bruns from 1987 to his pending retirement. But they shared more than that: A close, long-lasting professional relationship and a deep friendship that began in 1992. “I first met George in Prague, where I was lecturing on his music at a week-long Crumb Festival,” Bruns recounts, “I wrote my dissertation on Mahler and later published an article that traced the many connections between his music and Crumb’s. George wrote to express his delight with my perspective.

“That whole experience changed my life. I continued to write about Crumb’s music and eventually became his archivist.”

In fact, the professor’s work continued to involve more than organizing Crumb’s papers and manuscripts. “I’ve had access to an amazing amount of material,” Bruns says. “I was able to scan so much—his sketches, his letters, photographs, almost everything.” He’s still working on this massive project and there’s more: Bridge Records, the label run by Crumb’s devoted friends David and Becky Starobin, recently released —Bruns was a key participant, attending recording sessions and writing liner notes. 

You’d think that digging through Crumb’s library of papers and collaborating with the Starobins on the Bridge recordings would keep the professor busy enough in his upcoming retirement. Well, guess again. Bruns has also been involved in a film project about the late composer.

“The film is built around a concert that was held in May 2022 of Crumb’s ‘Ancient Voices of Children’ [1970], three months after George died,” explains Bruns. Among the performers at this program by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York were soprano Tony Arnold, pianist Gilbert Kalish and percussionist Daniel Druckman. “That performance is the point of departure for a one-hour documentary that will include various interviews,” adds Bruns. “I’m one of the talking heads.” Directed by Tristan Cook, “” will have its world premiere at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, in late March.

The point of the film—and the theme of his continuing post-academic labors on behalf of the late composer—is simple: “I want to tell people who he was, to keep his music alive.”

That goal may sound puzzling, knowing how brilliant a composer Crumb was, knowing the praise his works consistently received, the well-attended performances in concert halls around the world and the awards he won—the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 and a Grammy in 2001, among many other honors. But that’s no guarantee of a permanent place in the consciousness of a fickle public. 

“George was extremely self-critical and very humble. He never engaged in catty talk about his composer colleagues,” adds Bruns. In other words, he kept a low profile and was hardly the self-marketing sort. So, what does the future hold for his music now that he’s gone? Where does one look for Crumb’s works and what role will Bruns play in that search?

“I’ll do all I can to invite new listeners into the sound world of George Crumb,” Bruns replies. He’s working on a book about the composer, hoping to educate a wider audience about the impact of the man’s music. Meanwhile, the collected compositions are not gathering dust, he reports. “There are at least a half-dozen works that are solidly in the repertoire. In addition to regular concert performances, there are multiple recordings of nearly every composition. For example, more than 20 pianists have released recordings of ‘Makrokosmos, Volumes I & II’ [1972 and 1973]. A good starter piece is ‘Vox Balaenae’ [‘Voice of the Whale’], Crumb’s dream-like trio for flute, cello and piano.” 

Those who experience Crumb’s music are in for an amazing surprise, Bruns promises. “Every piece creates a powerful connection with an audience.”

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Not one to mince words, College of Music alumnus gets right to the point: “I want music to have a purpose,” he says. But finding his purpose didn’t come right away. 

Fixmer earned a bachelor’s degree in music education in 2010 and went straight into teaching. Which was fine. Still, he admits, “I’d been composing my whole life. I was always noodling on some sort of piece.

“Five years ago, my mom showed my wife [alumna Sarah Off] and me a song I’d written many years ago. I guess I’ve always been a composer.”

But first things first: With an undergrad diploma from ���������� Boulder in hand, he spent a decade teaching in small Colorado towns such as Hotchkiss and Rifle, also serving as a counselor at the YMCA of the Rockies. Along the way, he earned a master’s in music education from Indiana University. Truth be told, Fixmer got his biggest kick out of time spent in Hotchkiss, population 875.

“I put together a little 8^th-grade jazz band,” he reminisces, somehow managing to keep a straight face as he listed the instrumentation: “We had two tubas, a bass clarinet and drums. I played piano and there were some other instruments. But the best part was, they played my compositions.”

Are we starting to see a pattern here? Fixmer, 35, recalls that, yes, while pursuing his degree at our College of Music, he studied composition and theory with noted Professor of Composition Carter Pann. Even as he pursued his graduate degree in music education and found work in the classroom, life as a composer continued to beckon. “I was always going through textbooks on composing,” says Fixmer, exemplifying the college’s universal musician mission. “I wanted to expand my vocabulary.”

And so it came to pass, in a big and meaningful way. Fixmer not only found life as a composer, but he found a way of writing music with a purpose. “I’m not sure I’d ever want to write a piece of absolute music,” he admits, referring to a composition that is simply a collection of melodies with no storyline or subtext. Instead, Fixmer creates for a reason.

Consider his Violin Concerto, premiered by the Greeley Philharmonic in September 2022—in partnership with the Greeley Family House and other homelessness assistance organizations to increase support for the unhoused. This work has such an extraordinary backstory that it deserves a movie treatment. Off performed the premiere on an instrument once owned by Terri Sternberg—an accomplished musician who had fallen on hard times, became homeless and died in 2013. Learning her story propelled Fixmer to create a heartfelt concerto that generated critical raves, a radio broadcast on and eventually helped bring attention to the cause of homelessness as far away as London and Paris.  

His deep concern about people goes beyond writing a thoughtful piece of music, he stresses. “In Greeley, I’m on a homelessness task force. That’s part of my desire in identifying topics to write about—ones that focus on human connections.” 

Those connections now include some of Fixmer’s neighbors in Northern Colorado. Recently, another of his orchestral works was premiered by the Greeley Philharmonic where he now serves as composer-in-residence and where he’s created an impactful education outreach program. His “”—commissioned by the Greeley Philharmonic and the Weld Community Foundation—was unveiled in October at the Union Colony Civic Center. “It’s for the people of Weld County,” he says, “to describe the experience of living here, of what brings people to this county.”

There’s not enough space to cover all that the JW Pepper Editor’s Choice Award recipient has to offer. No space to discuss his children’s Spanish-language opera, “Clara y los Cuarto Caminos” (“Clara and the Four Ways”). Nor to get around to his side career in a guitar-fiddle duo with his wife, appearing at folk festivals playing bluegrass and traditional foot-tapping Irish tunes. No time to write about a commissioned work aimed at increasing interest in mental illness. 

Once again, Fixmer—with recent commissions and premieres under his belt from UC Health, Opera Guanajuato and the Crested Butte Music Festival, among others—doesn’t mince words. “I don’t want to be typecast,” he says.

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