Author Archive


Photo of Duncan Tuomi

Choral Music master’s student Duncan Tuomi wins American Choral Directors Association award

September 22, 2021

Duncan Tuomi, a Master’s student in Choral Music and associate conductor of the USC Thornton University Chorus, took home top honors at the 2021 ACDA Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Competition for his submission, “The Rose that Bare Jesu.”


Photo of Nicolas Lell Benavides

West Edge Opera commissions Nicolas Lell Benavides to write “Dolores,” an opera about labor organizer and activist Dolores Huerta

September 20, 2021

Post-doctoral candidate Nicolas Lell Benavides has been commissioned by Berkeley’s West Edge Opera to write “Dolores,” an opera about United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta.


Photo of Angela Meade

Angela Meade headlines Wexford Festival Opera 2021 season

September 16, 2021

An operatic soprano, Meade has won more than 50 vocal competitions, including the grand prize at the 2009 Montreal International Musical Competition.


Split screen photo of Carlos Rafael Rivera and Ludwig Göransson

Two Screen Scoring alums take home 2021 Creative Arts Emmy Awards

September 13, 2021

Ludwig Göransson (GCRT ’08) won his second Emmy for his work on Disney+’s “The Mandalorian,” with Carlos Rafael Rivera (DMA ’10) earning his second Emmy with a win for “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix.


Photo of two violinists posing outside their VW bus

Two alums celebrate one year on the road with win from San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Choice Award for streaming documentary series

September 12, 2021

Over the past 12 months, USC Thornton alumni and violinists Etienne Gara (GCRT ’13) and YuEun Kim (GCRT ’15, AD ’17) have traveled from the Mexican border to Canada in “Boris,” the 1971 Volkswagen bus, to bring “music and human bonding at safe distances” to non-traditional venues like organic farms and wineries. The two founding… Continue reading Two alums celebrate one year on the road with win from San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Choice Award for streaming documentary series


Photo of Ted Bordeau

Songwriter Ted Bordeau Receives 2021 ASCAP Scholarship

September 9, 2021

USC Thornton Music Industry student Ted Bordeau is the 2021 recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Molly Hyman Music Scholarship.


Photo of Raashi Kulkarni conducting in a screen scoring session at a recording studio

Raashi Kulkarni selected for the Universal Composers Initiative with NBCUniversal

September 7, 2021

Alum Raashi Kulkarni (GCRT ’16, MM ’18) is one of eight composers selected for the Universal Composers Initiative, a development program for composers from underrepresented backgrounds created by NBCUniversal and the Global Talent Development and Inclusion Group.


Photo of Juliette Herlin

Juliette Herlin named to cello faculty at Texas Christian University

September 1, 2021

This fall, alum Juliette Herlin (DMA ’20) was named a visiting lecturer in cello at the Texas Christian University College of Fine Arts in Fort Worth.


Photo of Maxine Eilander playing harp

Maxine Eilander

August 30, 2021

Maxine is adjunct professor of historical harps at the USC Thornton School of Music. She has most recently started working on a project of harp and violin music by little known female composers of the Classical and Romantic periods with violinist Tekla Cunningham. 


Hunter Noack performs outdoors on a Steinway grand piano in front of a mountain

Alum Hunter Noack hauls Steinway through Pacific Northwest parks for In A Landscape concert series

August 30, 2021

Hunter Noack (BM ’11) a Keyboard Studies alum, has created an outdoor concert series as a way to both familiarize nature lovers with classical music and introduce classical music lovers to the great outdoors.