In addition to showers and spring flowers, April is the month when students who have been accepted to college programs must make admission decisions. For graduate students, the date is April 15th, and for undergraduates “National College Decision Day” is May 1st. With nearly 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, why should students choose UNC Greensboro’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)? The answers can be found in the College itself, the University, and the city of Greensboro.
CVPA has the dual distinction of being one of the country’s premier institutions for the visual and performing arts, and the most comprehensive arts institution in North Carolina. With Schools of Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre, and multi-disciplinary Arts Administration and Musical Theatre programs, CVPA offers nationally accredited programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. It has over 1,400 students taught and mentored by a distinguished faculty of over 100, making CVPA a vibrant community of artists, educators, and scholars. The College offers an exciting array of educational opportunities: from study abroad opportunities to internships, from entrepreneurial experiences to community-engagement projects, and from an arts-based living community to over 400 performances, exhibitions, productions, and masterclasses each year.
Additionally, at UNC Greensboro, students find the best of both worlds: the personalized studio training of an arts conservatory and the resources of a research university. Nationally recognized for its affordability and educational value, UNC Greensboro makes higher education attainable to a diverse learning community. Our in-state tuition of $7,468 is a bargain when compared with other state systems of higher education (e.g., in-state tuition at Michigan State University is $15,436). Many of our students minor or double major in fields such as education, the humanities, the sciences, or the social sciences, thus taking advantage of the wider opportunities at UNC Greensboro.
Within Greensboro, students can make connections with a robust arts community, expanding the educational experience beyond the classroom, studio, or rehearsal hall. CVPA students and faculty partner with such local arts organizations as Amplify Black Voices Theatre Festival, Dance Project, Eastern Music Festival, Greenhill Center for NC Art, Greensboro Dance Film Festival, Greensboro Opera, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, and Triad Stage. Greensboro is perfectly situated in the center of the state, which makes day trips to Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Wilmington for performances and exhibits easily accessible. Beyond North Carolina, CVPA has robust networks of alumni in New York; Los Angeles; Washington, DC; Atlanta; Boston; and Chicago, and these networks provide professional networking opportunities for CVPA students after graduation.
Students ultimately choose CVPA for a variety of reasons: to study with a particular faculty member, because of the ranking of a particular degree program, or by talking with one of our over 7,000 alumni. Our student body currently draws from 33 of the 50 states and from 8 foreign countries. In a month fraught with admissions decisions and deadlines, we hope that students’ artistic and educational paths will lead them to UNC Greensboro’s College of Visual and Performing Arts—an inclusive learning community that transforms lives!
bruce d. mcclung, Dean
College of Visual and Performing Arts
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CVPA HITS ALL THE BASES, AND GREENSBORO BRINGS IT HOME |
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UNC Greensboro’s College of Visual and Performing Arts has the dual distinction of being one of the country’s premier institutions for the visual and performing arts, and the most comprehensive arts institution in the state of North Carolina.
In its Schools of Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre, and multi-disciplinary Arts Administration and Musical Theatre programs, CVPA offers nationally accredited programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.
Our faculty are professional artists themselves—active and recognized in their respective fields—who bring current industry standards and expectations into the classroom and studio.
And on top of that, the location can't be beat. We talked to some faculty, alumni, and students about why Greensboro is the plus-plus of studying and working at UNCG.
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Dr. Annie Jeng
Asst. Professor of Piano, Piano Pedagogy
Finding the Green in Greensboro
“I think that’s what surprised me the most about Greensboro is that there are all of these beautiful—just stunning— nature areas. Places where you can escape and enjoy nature.”
Professor Annie Jeng grew up in the Washington, DC area and has lived in New York and Michigan. She came to UNCG four years ago to teach Piano and Piano Pedagogy in the School of Music. She says she was never much of an outdoorsy person, but COVID hit not long after her arrival in North Carolina:
“Suddenly, everyone was hitting the great outdoors, and I had a little more time. I started exploring the trails and greenways. I bought a kayak and a paddle board, and I hit the lakes. When the weather’s nice one of my favorite things to do is to take my kayak out to Lake Brandt and hang out there on the water or hike along the trails.”
Photo: Annie Jeng doing yoga on her paddle board at Lake Brandt in Greensboro.
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Neil Shepherd
BA Theatre; Business Coordinator, School of Music
Directing Attention to a Thriving Arts Scene
“The quality of faculty, staff, and resources that CVPA offers a student, no matter what area they’re in, is exceptional. The opportunity for students to augment what they’re learning with real-world experiences is phenomenal. To be able to learn and do so at the same time is invaluable. It is most essential in arts education. You learn it faster by doing it, and Greensboro is a place where you’re going to find those opportunities.”
Neil Shepherd says sometimes he feels like a father figure for the Triad theater community. He’s been involved in productions at UNCG and just about every community theater organization in the area, since coming to the University as the Business Services Coordinator for what was then the Theatre Department in 2002.
Photo: Neil Shepherd in Lexington’s Edward C. Smith Civic Center where Lexington Live performs.
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Students Say Why Greensboro Is a Great Home Away from Home |
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Brooklyn Haynes ’23
New Media and Design
“I love the diversity of Greensboro. I love how lively the city is; there's always something going on! I like to call it the ‘Goldilocks City’— it’s large enough that something's always happening, but small enough that you can usually find parking!
My absolute favorite thing to do in Greensboro is go to the comic book shop—specifically Parts Unknown on Spring Garden Street. John, the owner, is one of the best people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. The walk over there is worth it just to talk to John. I make time in my schedule to go every single week, and it is the highlight of my week, if not my entire undergraduate career.”
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Hala Elalfy ’23
Music Education
“It honestly makes me feel like I am in a movie when I walk around Greensboro. That there is ALWAYS something happening. For coffeeshops, you can find me at Northern Roots Coffee or Tate Street Coffee House! They are both so cozy in different ways and great places to do homework. Another favorite spot is the Greensboro Arboretum. It is the absolute best place for a picnic. I go there for relaxation or just to read and take in the beautiful nature. For inspiration, I like attending open mic nights at Common Grounds and Oden Brewing Company to hear some new music. And for laughs, it’s fun to attend comedy standup nights at the Green Bean on Elm or The Idiot Box!”
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Malik Winston ’25
Violin Performance and
Pre-Physical Therapy
“One thing I love about Greensboro is the city’s downtown area.
There are a lot of local bakeries, shops, and restaurants to go to on the weekend. It’s also a really great scene during the evening along Elm Street.
My favorite place to go with friends is the Friendly Shopping Center. There are a lot of places to shop and eat.
For relaxation, I would say check out Coffeeology on Tate Street. It always feels like a safe space, and it’s a good place to grab a bite to eat and hang out for a while.”
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When you’re ready for a road trip, you’re in luck! Greensboro is perfectly situated in the center of the state, which makes weekend excursions to Atlanta and DC or day trips to Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, or Wilmington for performances and exhibits easily accessible. A quick trip to New York is also easy with several non-stop flights each day. |
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Jordan Speas (’21 BFA Acting) is touring with the Broadway musical Aladdin, which will be coming to the Blumenthal Center for the Performing Arts in Charlotte this month. Speas will go on as the Sultan on April 5th and 6th and as the Genie on April 8th.
Elzbieta Tokarska (’19 DMA Violin Performance) has been appointed Assistant Professor of Classical Violin at Belmont University.
Elizabethe Gene (’16 MFA Acting) can be seen at Triad Stage in The Revolutionists, a new play by Lauren Gunderson about four women during the French Revolution. A review by the online arts journal CVNC said Gene “played Marie Antoinette…with pitch perfect petulance.” The Revolutionists runs through April 8th.
Carrie Graham (’16 BM Flute Performance) received a shout-out in Of Note, the blog of WDAV Classical Public Radio, for her curation of the Charlotte Symphony’s 2023–2024 season as it relates to increasing representation of female and artists/composers of color. Read more here.
David Blalock (’09 BA Vocal Performance) is performing this season at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. Blalock is singing the role of Gastone.
Bonnie Becker (’77 BFA Theatre Technical Production) and Julie DeVore
(’10 BFA Theatre Technical Production) are production stage managers for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical Bad Cinderella, which had its official opening on Broadway on March 23rd.
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Alumni News & Notes are compiled from self-submissions
and from the University’s news clip service.
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Raleigh Alumni Cocktail Party
Thursday, May 4th @ 5:00–7:00 pm
Chicago Alumni Brunch
Sunday, May 7th @ 12:00–2:00 pm
Invitations are sent by email, so please make sure we have your current mailing address
so that you’ll be invited to the Alumni event in your area.
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FACULTY/STAFF NEWS & NOTES
Guy Capuzzo is the recipient of Scholars’ Travel Funding for the session he co-proposed and co-chaired at the American Musicological Society/Society for Music Theory meeting in New Orleans.
Robin Gee (Associate Professor of African, Contemporary Technique, and Choreography) begins festival touring of her film What’s Bred in the Blood and Bone. It features Maurice Watson (Assistant Professor of Dance), Clarice Young (Assistant Professor of Dance), MFA Candidate Elijah Motley, and an original score by Atiba Rorie (Dance Music Coordinator). UNCG Media Studies Faculty Kevin Wells and Michael Frierson worked behind the scenes to craft the collaborative project supported by a UNCG She Can/We Can grant. Inspired by the work of Ida Bell Wells, whose writing documented the episodic period of lynchings in the 1890s, What’s Bred in the Blood and Bone is a study of space and place, girded by the collective experiences of brown bodies.
Donald Hartmann (Professor of Voice) and Inãra Zandmane (Academic Professional Professor in Piano) performed a recent recital of works by Handel, Robert Schumann, and Barber. Hartmann, who has been singing professionally for 44 years, was a freshman at UNCG 50 years ago, beginning his studies in 1972.
Donald A. Hodges (Professor Emeritus of Music and former Covington Distinguished Professor of Music Education, and Director of the Institute for Music Research) has published the following six books since retiring in 2017:
Hodges, D. (2023, forthcoming). Introduction to Music Education Research. Shanghai: Shanghai Conservatory Press.
Miksza, P., Shaw, J., Kapulka Richerme, L., Hash, P., & Hodges, D. (2023). Music Education Research: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Creech, A., & Hodges, D. (Eds.). (2021). International Handbook of Music Psychology in Education and the Community Across the Lifecourse. London: Routledge.
Hodges, D. (2020). Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology, 2d ed. New York: Routledge.
Hodges, D. (2017). A Concise Survey of Music Philosophy. New York: Routledge.
Hodges has also given recent presentations at universities in Florida, Indiana, Michigan, and Utah, and internationally at universities in Helsinki, Uppsala, and Western Ontario.
Annie Jeng (Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy) and her co-directors of the organization A Seat at the Piano are recipients of the 2023 MTNA-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. Jeng is the Founder and Executive Director of A Seat at the Piano, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding solo piano repertoire beyond the traditional Western European canon.
Daniel Castro Pantoja (Assistant Professor of Musicology) published “Grasping the Global, Historicizing Negativity” as part of a colloquy “Theorizing Global Music History” in the Journal of the American Musicological Society (JAMS) in its Winter 2023 issue. This will be Castro Pantoja’s second publication in JAMS within a year.
Faculty/Staff News & Notes are compiled from self-submissions
and from the University’s news clip service.
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Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of a new Director for the School of Art and two new faculty appointments in the School of Music. |
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Professor Barbara Campbell Thomas will assume her position as Director of the School of Art on August 1st.
Campbell Thomas is currently Professor of Art at UNCG’s School of Art where she has taught for twenty years. She has spent her professional life balancing a deep commitment to education and art. While at UNCG, Dr. Campbell Thomas has been Director of the Gatewood Gallery as well as Director of Undergraduate Studies. She is a founding member of the School of Art’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and currently serves the School of Art as Faculty Senator.
The search committee was chaired by Professor Jennifer Meanley and included Professors Tori Foster and Hannah Grannemann, and Drs. Sunny Spillane and Emily Voelker.
Barbara Campbell Thomas photo by Lissa Gotwals, first published in Art of The State: Celebrating the Visual Art of North Carolina, published by UNC Press, 2022.
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Dr. Jungho Kim has been named Associate Professor of Conducting and Director of Orchestras in the School of Music.
Dr. Kim has conducted numerous orchestras around the world including the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, Savaria Symphony Orchestra and Dohnanyi Orchestra Budafok in Hungary, Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, and Buffalo Philharmonic.
Dr. Kim comes to CVPA from the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University where he served as Assistant Professor of Conducting and Director of Orchestra.
The search committee was chaired by Dr. Carole Ott Coelho and included Professor Marjorie Bagley; Drs. Jonathan Caldwell, Rebecca MacLeod, Quinton Parker, and Eric Willie; and Dandrick Glenn (graduate student).
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Dr. Courtney Miller has been appointed Assistant Professor of Oboe in the School of Music.
Dr. Miller is recognized for her exquisite playing and innovative performances. Fanfare magazine hails her as “a performer of considerable skill, with an unfailingly lovely sound, abundant technical ability, and a special gift for turning notes into poetry.” She has performed recital tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America.
Dr. Miller’s 2019 album, Portuguese Perspectives, spotlights world premiere recordings by Portuguese composers, including several new commissions by Miller. This album and her 2015 release, Modern Fairy Tales, are available on all streaming platforms. American Record Guide praises her “seamless consistency in the various registers of the oboe…and sensitive phrasing and articulation.” This summer in Thailand, she will perform works from her newest album, Hans Gál: Works for Viola, Piano, Violin, and Oboe.
The search committee was chaired by Dr. Michael Burns and included Drs. Erika Boysen, Jonathan Caldwell, and Andy Hudson; and Siena Stevens (undergraduate student).
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IN MEMORIAM: JACK MASARIE |
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Professor Emeritus Jack Masarie, a member of the School of Music’s faculty for 36 years from 1972 to 2008, passed away on Thursday, March 23rd at the age of 80.
A native of California, Jack Masarie attended The Julliard School where he received his Bachelor of Music. He earned his Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University. A former member of the Toledo and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, Masarie joined UNCG’s School of Music in 1972. He was a founding member of the Market Street Brass and the EastWind Quintet. He played principal horn as a member of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and served as auxiliary horn and substituted with the Roanoke, Lynchburg, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, and North Carolina Symphonies.
Professor Masarie spent eighteen summers at the Brevard Music Center teaching, coaching, and playing principal horn in the Festival Orchestra. Masarie was a frequent performer on the natural horn, the valveless predecessor to the modern horn, and was an educational specialist for United Musical Instruments, maker of Conn horns.
Photo: “Jack Masarie in his trademark hat, 2005,” courtesy of the Southeast Horn Workshop.
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Chris Thomas Printmaking Group Show: “The Printmakers’ Left”
April 1st–24th @ 9:00 am–4:00 pm | Gatewood Studio Arts Gallery
ChristinaMaria Xochitlzihuatl Artist Talk
Victoria and Ron Milstein Fund for Interdisciplinary Art and Social Practice
April 10th @ 6:00 pm | Curry Auditorium
Spring Dances 2023
April 14th and 15th @ 7:30 pm | Coleman Dance Theatre
Rock of Ages by Chris D’Arienzo, Arrangements and Orchestrations by Ethan Popp
April 14th–22nd | Taylor Theatre
Wind Ensemble—Garrett Klein, trumpet
April 20th @ 7:30 pm | UNCG Auditorium
Dance BFA Thesis Concert
April 20th and 21st @ 7:30 pm, April 22nd @ 2:00 and 7:30 pm | Coleman Dance Theatre
Jazz Ensemble I featuring Roxy Coss, Miles Davis Jazz Festival
April 21st @ 7:30 pm | UNCG Auditorium
Old Time Ensemble
April 25th @ 7:30 pm | Organ Hall, Music Building
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There’s nothing like a Chris Botti concert.
He’s the complete package: a dazzling trumpeter at home in everything from jazz to pop to rock, a brilliant bandleader who lets his players shine, and a born showman whose joy at being onstage is infectious. See him live and you’ll understand why musical stars from Sting to Paul Simon to Joni Mitchell have been eager to share his stage.
Watch your mail, email, and our website for the full 2023–2024 UNCG Concert and Lecture Series season announcement coming soon!
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CLOSING SPOTLIGHT
The School of Dance BFA major choreography was selected first for the Mid-Atlantic South Regional Gala Performance on March 12th at Sweet Briar College and then for the ACDA National Festival in Long Beach in May 2023. The piece will be performed during Spring Dances in Coleman Dance Theatre on April 14th and 15th. Standing, from left: Emily Dumonceaux, Laniya Smith, Clara Kennedy. Kneeling, from left: Dasia Amos, Morgan Burgess, Grayson Kelsh.
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The College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) e-Newsletter is published eight times a year in September, October, November, December, February, March, April, and May.
The e-Newsletter is emailed to CVPA alumni, faculty, staff, students, patrons, and donors. Please feel free to forward your copy, and anyone who would like their name to be added to our distribution list can contact us via uncgarts@uncg.edu.
The e-Newsletter is edited by Terri Relos, Director of External Relations. Archived issues can be found in the “News” section of the CVPA website. To submit Alumni News & Notes, please use this form. To submit Faculty/Staff News & Notes, use this form.
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100 McIver St, Greensboro, NC 27412-5010
Tel: 336-334-5789
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