Women in music
Erin Barra, director of ASU’s popular music program in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre,, is leading a study to explore women’s representation across the music industry. The school is partnering with the Recording Academy and Berklee College of Music to conduct the study, which expands on the 2019 study “Women in the U.S. Music Industry: Obstacles and Opportunities” that Barra co-authored.
Something Fresh
Nov. 18–19, 2020
Class of 21
The Washington Post named JiJi Kim, assistant professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre, to its first-ever Class of 21 for ‘21: Composers and performers who sound like tomorrow. Earlier this year, Kim also received recognition for writing about how a conversation with a student compelled her to confront a “significant blind spot” and challenged her colleagues across the country to examine how their required repertoire lists for both auditions and graduation recitals exclude. Read the NewMusicBox blog.
Virtual theatre
How do you put on a fully produced theatre performance virtually? The scenic and design team in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre tapped into all its resources for the first theatre production of the semester, including 3D scanning, building miniature sets and scale models, creating virtual sets with projecting mapping and more. They documented the process on Instagram.
Television debut
Alum Julian Mendoza, a recent music theatre graduate and first-generation college student, made his television debut singing as “The Knight” on “I Can See Your Voice” on FOX.
“Leading Ladies”
After meeting as student workers at ASU Gammage, Sara Matin and Anthony Procopio discovered they shared a passion for musical theatre and wrote, directed and produced a show that debuted in March 2021. Matin, who is the librettist, lyricist and director of “Leading Ladies: a new musical,” graduated in May 2020 with a degree in theatre with a concentration in acting and a minor in musical theater production. Procopio, who is the composer and music director of the show, is a junior majoring in music composition, music education and psychology. The team’s original vision for the show was a fully staged production, but the pandemic forced Martin and Procopio to shift their plan – holding virtual auditions and outside rehearsals in the cold and dark with blankets and flashlights.
