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“If there’s a reason to have hope in a world of upheaval and unrest, it’s experiencing a young person openly and courageously sharing their musical gift, including their angst or protest against injustices of all kinds. Beauty lies in their inimitable expression of their truth through music in a range of settings not limited to the concert hall. Beauty underpins our universal musician mission, for music majors and non-majors alike.”

Adriana Ripley—a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s in musical theatre at the College of Music—shares her favorite aspects of the College of Music and reveals the ways in which her music education is preparing her for a promising career.

Nate Bonin and Danny Kaminski are the 2023 Sher Distinguished Musician Scholars! Learn more about these students and their dreams for the future.

The American Music Research Center’s interim director, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology Austin Okigbo, shares the center’s fall semester highlights—including free performances of “Song of Pueblo” on campus and in Pueblo, Colorado.

“A Boulder treasure”—We’re celebrating the inspiring, illustrious career of longtime CU Presents Executive Director Joan McLean Braun who will retire at the end of this academic year.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s biennial residency at our College of Music returns for three days packed with sectionals, rehearsals, mock auditions, master classes, a Q&A and a Faculty Tuesdays concert.

Professor of Musicology Robert Shay and 10 of our students went beyond the traditional classroom this summer—to Vienna, Austria! Part of the ��ƷSM����ӰƬ Study Abroad program, this exciting, interdisciplinary two-week experience was one of several instructor-led Global Seminars.

In this edition of the Dean’s Downbeat, Dean John Davis offers reflections and a vision for the future as he shares highlights from our newly revamped annual digital magazine—Colorado Music. “...our mission matters more than ever. Because what we do as musicians requires not only skill, but humanity—that is, the simultaneous conveyance of emotion, connection and understanding. Colorado Music takes stock of how far we’ve come.”

Congratulations to Izzy Fincher—the College of Music’s Outstanding Graduating Senior this spring—who will graduate with a BM in classical guitar performance, a BA in journalism, a business minor with a Music Entrepreneurship Certificate and a Music Theory Certificate, exemplifying the College of Music’s universal musician mission.

In addition to Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and our collaboration with El Sistema Colorado, the College of Music’s upcoming CU at Boettcher concert will feature the world premiere of composer Carter Pann’s new work: his five-movement, 17-minute Symphony No. 3–“On The Importance of Our Democracy.”