Guggenheim Fellowship

Professor Peter Schmelz, associate professor in the School of Music, won a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship to continue his research and complete a book on unofficial exchanges of scores and recordings during the Cold War. Schmelz is ASU’s 33rd Guggenheim Fellow; others include Herberger Institute faculty Professor Betsy Schneider and Regents Professor Mark Klett. Out of nearly 3,000 applicants, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded 168 fellowships this year to scholars, artists and scientists. Schmelz is an associate professor of musicology and faculty affiliate of ASU’s Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies.

 Above Musical Theatre and Opera: Triassic Parc
April 5–14, 2019

The gift of music 

For their entire lives, Laura Bartlett’s parents loved classical music, especially organ music. And now their legacy will include the gift of music, thanks to a scholarship in their honor. In memory of Douglas M. Bartlett and Susan B. Bartlett, the Bartlett-Armstrong Family Scholarship was established to help talented graduate music students pursue their education and careers in organ performance in the School of Music. “Creating a scholarship will allow my family to see firsthand how our philanthropy makes a difference as we will have the opportunity to develop relationships with the students and witness their growth and artistry both on campus and in community concerts,” Laura Bartlett said.

Path to Pulitzer Prize

The 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music went to the composer of “p r i s m” — an opera that had its first developmental workshop at the School of Music and was commissioned and developed by a School of Music alumna. The opera was one of the first projects workshopped at ASU as part of the Music Theatre and Opera program’s new works initiative, which is forging a new 21st-century model toward the creation of new works and establishing ASU as a major developer of new and innovative music theatre and opera. During the “p r i s m” workshop, composer Ellen Reid, librettist Roxie Perkins and ASU alumna Beth Morrison, whose company commissioned and produced the opera, were in residence at the school and worked with music theater and opera students.

Above ASU Symphony Orchestra: Strauss, Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski
Sept. 22, 2018

Numbers reflect 2018-19 and are accurate as of June 30, 2019.

Laniakea String Quartet, “prism” workshop and Bartlett-Armstrong Scholarship photos, courtesy
Triassic Parc photo by Tim Trumble
CBDNA photo by Charlie Leight
ASU Symphony Orchestra photos by Ashley Lowery