SUPPORTER HIGH NOTES

The College of Music’s Opera Theater Singers (OTS)—the Eklund Opera Program’s community outreach arm—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 Bañales, 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 �Ǹ�Թ�. Created by Dean Emeritus Dan Sher and Academy Managing Partner Gary Berg, a CU alum—with the support of longtime College of Music advocate Bob Charles—the 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. This year’s gala continued that proud tradition: OTS students delighted guests with selections by Rodgers and Hammerstein, offering a preview of the joint Eklund Opera and Musical Theatre production of “Oklahoma!” Jeremy Reger, OTS director and pianist, led the evening’s performances showcasing the extraordinary artistry and professionalism of our performers.��

The event welcomed a distinguished group of university and community leaders including naming donors Paul and Kristina Eklund;��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; CU Foundation President + CEO Jack Finlaw; College of Music��Dean Emeritus Dan Sher;��College of Music Dean John Davis; and our Eklund Opera Program Director Leigh Holman.��

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 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

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’ sister: Mary Ramsour (BM ’94, MM ’97) earned degrees in voice performance and vocal pedagogy from CU �Ǹ�Թ� 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—originally opened as a commercial venture selling guitars, banjos, strings and sheet music—Tuft 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 ’94), a board member of the college’s 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

Oct. 15, 2025
In October 2025, the CU �Ǹ�Թ� College of Music hosted a unique klezmer and Yiddish song residency featuring singer Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, accordionist and composer Dmitri Gaskin, violinist Zoë Aqua and cellist Raffi Boden—all 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.

The College of Music’s Thompson Jazz Studies Program welcomed internationally acclaimed jazz trombonist Michael Dease—2025 Guggenheim Composition Fellow and five-time Grammy Award-winner—for a residency that included master classes, recordings and performances. We’re grateful for a Roser Visiting Artist Grant that—together with our jazz program and percussion department—supported the meaningful, inspiring residency.|
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Photo: Dease and Assistant Teaching Professor of Jazz Studies Altin Sencalar (front) at a joint recording session of our percussion and jazz trombone ensembles.��

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