SUPPORTER HIGH NOTES

Colorado Music home

The College of Music’s Opera Theater Singers (OTS)

The College of Music鈥檚 Opera Theater Singers (OTS) specialize in community engagement opportunities, sharing opera and the performing arts with constituents across Colorado in alignment with our goal to provide professional opportunities for our students. Left to right: OTS Director Jeremy Reger, Tyler Middleton, Davian Raggio, Miguel Ortega Ba帽ales, Hannah Benson, Reagan Hinze and Alice Del Simone.

For more than 20 years, the Eklund Opera Gala has represented a meaningful and enduring partnership between the College of Music and Academy 麻豆影院. Created by Dean Emeritus Dan Sher and Academy Managing Partner Gary Berg, a CU alum鈥攚ith the support of longtime College of Music advocate Bob Charles鈥攖he annual gala was established to raise essential operating support for our opera program, before it was named through the generosity of Paul and Kristina Eklund. On Feb. 22, this year鈥檚 gala continued that proud tradition: Students from our Opera Theater Singers (OTS)鈥攖he Eklund Opera Program鈥檚 community outreach arm鈥攄elighted guests with selections by Rodgers and Hammerstein, offering a preview of the joint Eklund Opera and Musical Theatre production of 鈥淥klahoma!鈥 Jeremy Reger, OTS director and pianist, led the evening鈥檚 performances showcasing the extraordinary artistry and professionalism of our performers.听

The event welcomed a distinguished group of university and community leaders including naming donors Paul and Kristina Eklund;听Music Advisory Board Chair Lynn Streeter; Opera Colorado General Director + CEO Barbara Lynne Jamison; Chancellor Justin Schwartz; Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement + Academic Affairs Margot Neufeld; President + CEO of the CU Foundation Jack Finlaw; College of Music听Dean Emeritus Dan Sher;听College of Music Dean John Davis; and our Eklund Opera Program Director Leigh Holman.听

In addition to the annual gala, our college presents monthly concerts at Academy Mapleton Hill, and the Academy University Hill regularly hosts student recitals in its chapel. These collaborations not only sustain vital operating support for our Eklund Opera Program, but also create meaningful opportunities for students to perform, connect with patrons and experience the transformative power of opera in community.

Scholarship honors the legacy of Mary Ramsour

Mary Ramsour

April 23, 2026
By Adam Goldstein + Sabine Kortals Stein
Joanie and David Andrews established the Mary Catherine Ramsour Memorial Endowed Voice Scholarship Fund to continue the legacy of Joanie Andrews鈥 sister: Mary Ramsour (BM 鈥94, MM 鈥97) earned degrees in voice performance and vocal pedagogy from CU 麻豆影院 and went on to found an opera company, lead a church music program and make creative expression a central pillar in her life. The scholarship in her name is designed to encourage non-traditional voice students to pursue their dreams, as she did.

American Music Research Center acquires Harry Tuft collection

Three photos arranged on top of a notebook

Dec. 2, 2025
By Kathryn Bistodeau
Harry Tuft is the founder of the Denver Folklore Center (DFC) and is credited with helping Colorado become a significant destination in the folk music revival of the 1960s. At the DFC鈥攐riginally opened as a commercial venture selling guitars, banjos, strings and sheet music鈥擳uft regularly hosted jams and hootenannys, eventually producing area concerts as well. The AMRC also recently acquired new material for the as well as materials connected to American bluegrass band Hot Rize, inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2025.
Photo: DFC photos on a notebook Tuft used to produce a Pete Seeger/Arlo Guthrie show.

Gems of the AMRC archives: The George Lynn Memorial Award and the Alex Craig and Christina Lynn-Craig Living Music Award continue with generous bequest

Christina Lynn-Craig + Alex Craig, 1991.

April 23, 2025
By Kathryn Bistodeau
Christina Lynn-Craig (DMA 鈥94, voice + vocal pedagogy), a board member of the college鈥檚 American Music Research Center, is making a generous donation to ensure the continuation of the George Lynn Memorial Award and the Alex Craig and Christina Lynn-Craig Living Music Award. The two awards are given to College of Music students on a rotating basis. This spring, the George Lynn Memorial Award was granted to Glenda Luck and Grace Stringfellow.

Unique klezmer + Yiddish song residency features diverse guest artists

17 Tsvey Brider

Oct. 15, 2025
On Oct. 24-29, the CU 麻豆影院 College of Music hosted a unique klezmer and Yiddish song residency featuring singer Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, accordionist and composer Dmitri Gaskin, violinist Zo毛 Aqua and cellist Raffi Boden鈥攁ll leading musicians in the international Yiddish music scene. Organized by Associate Professor of Music Theory Yonatan Malin, the residency included workshops for the strings, voice and composition areas; guest performances in several classes; a recital featuring Yiddish song, klezmer dances and Central European folk tunes; a workshop on the use of black music in Jewish spaces; and a colloquium on klezmer and Transylvanian folk music pedagogy.

The klezmer + Yiddish song residency was a campus collaboration among the College of Music (American Music Research Center), the Program in Jewish Studies, Jews of Color: Histories and Futures, the Center for African and African American Studies, and the Religious Studies and History departments. In the College of Music, the residency was supported by the Roser Visiting Artist Endowment.

Dease residency 2026

The College of Music鈥檚 Thompson Jazz Studies Program welcomed internationally acclaimed jazz trombonist Michael Dease鈥2025 Guggenheim Composition Fellow and five-time Grammy Award-winner鈥攆or a residency that included master classes, recordings and performances. We鈥檙e grateful for a Roser Visiting Artist Grant that鈥攖ogether with our jazz program and percussion department鈥攕upported the meaningful, inspiring residency.听
Photo: Dease and Assistant Teaching Professor of Jazz Studies Altin Sencalar (front) at a joint recording session of our percussion and jazz trombone ensembles.听