Alumni News

Music Department Graduation 2007

Norman Adams (BS dual-major in EE and Music 2000; MS Electrical Engineering, 2001; PhD Electrical Engineering at University of Michigan)  writes: After completing the BS and MS at UVa in 2001, I moved to Ann Arbor.  Last fall I defended my PhD, "A Model of Head-Related Transfer Functions based on a State-Space Analysis," which has applications in 3D sound with headphones.  I have published in several other areas, including music information retrieval, and time-frequency visualization, and have composed several pieces of computer music.  I am currently working at a start-up in Ann Arbor, finishing my MA in Performing Arts Technology at the University of Michigan, and looking for other opportunities in warmer climates.

Vijith Assar (BA Psychology; Music 2004) writes: I am still the music editor at the Hook, where we just finished building a major new website dedicated to the local music scene, and I've also been writing articles for national publications like PopMatters, Tape Op, and Electronic Musician.  I am working at the Music Resource Center part-time, and I'm also now working at the Monkeyclaus recording studio out in Nelson County, which just launched a music download store that I helped design.
  
Daniel Bernstein (MA Composition, 1994) is the founder and CEO of Sandlot Games Corporation, a leading casual games company located in the Seattle area. For the last 6 years, Sandlot Games has been developing bestselling video games including Cake Mania, Westward, Tradewinds and Super Granny. Sandlot Games have been played hundreds of millions of times on the Internet, on video game consoles, and on mobile phones. Daniel Bernstein continues to compose music soundtracks for most of the video games Sandlot Games develops.

Kelly Gross writes: Since completing my Master’s degree in Critical and Comparative Studies in 2005, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Neil Lerner to contribute an article-length version of my Master’s thesis to Sounding Off:  Theorizing Disability in Music, eds. Neil Lerner and Joseph Straus (New York:  Routledge Press, 2006) entitled “Female Subjectivity, Disability and Musical Authorship in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Blue.” In 2005 I began exclusively teaching private classical piano, and still work out of a studio at the Music Education Center.  Since 2006, I have been working at the University as a piano instructor as well, and I’m so honored to be building up a studio of wonderfully dedicated students!

Benjamin Levy is organizing a national concert tour this spring as part of his Music Inspires Health campaign.  Performers to include: Ingrid Michaelson (April 18 - in Washington DC), Ben Kweller, Victor
Wooten, Lisa Loeb, Trey Songz, Ari Hest, Toby Lightman, and many other rock musicians. Ben recently filmed several HIV/STD prevention short films in LA with a grant from Panavision.  He also worked with violinist Hilary Hahn to film a HIV prevention film in Atlanta. For more info, visit www.musicinspireshealth.org.

Michael Mizrahi writes “I am now living in New York City participating in a groundbreaking new two-year program sponsored by Carnegie Hall called The Academy.  I and 33 other fellows perform concerts in Carnegie Hall and work in New York City public schools 1 1/2 days a week.  My piano trio, the Moet Trio, is in residence at Boston's New England Conservatory.  My new music group, NOW Ensemble, just released its first CD on the New Amsterdam label.  We visited UVA for a residency last Spring.  I just completed my DMA at the Yale School of Music.

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