RSS‘A new energy:’ Growth creates new faces, spaces at CMU
Growth creates new faces, spaces at CMU
QUICKREAD
JOIN THE BAND
Colorado Mesa University starts its marching band program this fall and still wants to add students.
Any CMU student, regardless of major, is welcome to join provided they have prior high school or college marching band experience.
Director Jonathan Hinkle is not expecting the band to march during halftime shows this year, but band members will play at home football games, he said.
“We want to add to the spirit of game day,” Hinkle said. “Pump up the football team and other athletic programs, add to campus camaraderie.”
Call Hinkle at 248-1325 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you are a university student interested in joining the CMU marching band.
SEE THE SHOW
The performance calendar for the 2012–13 Colorado Mesa University is out and here are some of the dates for what you can expect see and hear at performances this school year.
Out & About will have further information on times, stages and tickets as show dates approach.
Main stage theater shows:
“RENT” — Sept. 27–23, Oct. 3–6.
“Almost Maine” — Nov. 14–17.
“The Pirates of Penzance” (includes CMU Symphony Orchestra) — Feb. 28–March 3, March 6–9.
“The Glass Menagerie” — April 17–20.
Dance showcases:
Fall for Dance — Dec. 7–8.
Spring Into Dance — April 26–27.
Music recitals:
Sept. 13 — Faculty Gala.
Sept. 25 — Voice Faculty Gala.
Oct. 1 — Sean Flanigan, trombone.
Oct. 4 — Mary Lindsey Bailey, oboe.
Oct. 8 — Symphony Orchestra.
Oct. 11 — Wind Symphony.
Oct. 18 — Fall Choral Concert.
Oct. 22 — Jazz Ensemble & Jazz Combos.
Nov. 1 — Faculty Brass Quintet.
Nov. 3 — Guest Artist Recital: Daphne Gerling, viola.
Nov. 6 — Chamber Orchestra.
Nov. 10 — Western Colorado Percussion Festival.
Nov. 13 — An Evening of Opera.
Nov. 16 — String Benefit Concert.
Nov. 19 — Darin Kamstra, percussion.
Nov. 29 — Guest Artist Recital: Stoneback Sisters, trumpet.
Nov. 30 — Wind Symphony.
Dec. 1 — Best of the West Final Concert.
Dec. 3 — Student Chamber Ensembles.
Dec. 5 — Kathleen Ruhleder, mezzo-soprano.
Dec. 9 — Holiday Concert.
Feb. 2 — BrassFest Final Concert.
Feb. 2 — Greg Hustis, horn.
Feb. 9 — Saxophone Day Final Concert.
Feb. 16 — Flute Day Final Concert.
Feb. 23 — Clarinet Day Final Concert.
March 14 — Wind Symphony & Jazz Ensemble.
March 15 — Guest Artist Recital: Martin Schuring, oboe.
March 21 — Las Americans Piano Trio.
April 8 — Percussion Ensemble.
April 12 — Festival for Creative Pianists: Judges and Director Recital.
April 13 — Festival for Creative Pianists: Winners Recital.
April 25 — Jane Kuenzel, flute.
April 26 — Faculty Brass Quintet.
April 29 — Student Chamber Ensemble.
April 30 — Women’s Choir with CMU Vocal Chords.
May 2 — Guest Artist Recital: Eric Alexander, jazz saxophone with Faculty Jazz Quartet and Jazz Ensemble.
May 4 — Symphony Orchestra.
May 5 — Kristen Yeon-Ji Yum, cello.
May 10 — Wind Symphony.
The sights and sounds of a few of Colorado Mesa University’s most visible departments are changing.
Heading into the 2012–13 school year, CMU’s theater, music and art departments have added faculty and/or new building space to accommodate growing enrollment and growth in the educational experience the university offers, two department heads said recently.
Both Tim Pinnow, head of the theater department, and Calvin Hofer, head of the music department, said “there is a new energy” in Moss Performing Arts Center.
The art department in the Fine Arts Building has fewer noticeable changes but will have new faces in its hallways, said Suzie Garner, who heads up that department.
For at least the next year, students and faculty must brace for construction noise and rearranged office and classroom spaces. The results will be worth it, though, with another theater, another dance studio and more rehearsal space.
“We are so happy and thankful to get this,” Hofer said.
NEW SPACES
Perhaps the most noticeable changes, at least for members of the greater western Colorado community who enjoy attending CMU shows, recitals or exhibits, are the physical renovations at Moss.
Construction began in the spring in the Moss Performing Arts Center and will continue in phases for at least another year, Pinnow said.
The first and second phases include the enclosure of Lucy’s Garden, an outdoor courtyard that was in the center of the building, to make way for a faculty workroom and a meeting room that can be opened to the Moss lobby during shows or recitals. Several more rehearsal spaces will be constructed as well as a 5,000-square-foot instrumental room.
Completion is expected in January.
“We needed practice space,” Hofer said.
With addition of the marching band program, space was needed for rehearsals and storage for instruments and uniforms, Hofer said.
The theater program also will gain some needed space with a new dance studio on the ground floor of Moss by the second semester with eyes toward the summer 2013 construction of a new, small-scale theater.
The new dance studio will allow the university to “begin to seek accreditation” for its dance program, which is under the theater umbrella, Pinnow said.
Ground-breaking for the new theater, dressing rooms and acting studio space is scheduled for after the 2012–13 school year and will be on the south side of Moss.
NEW FACES
A number of new faculty members have joined the university’s art, music and theater departments for the coming year.
Within the music department, Jonathan Hinkle joined CMU in mid-May after teaching high school band in Florida. He marched with Florida State University as a student for four years, giving him exposure to a first-class marching band program.
The Florida State Marching Chiefs had more than 400 members.
At CMU, Hinkle is building a marching band program from the ground up.
“I like a challenge,” he said. “With the growth happening on campus, this is the right place to be growing a program.”
Also joining the expanding music department are Stephen Page, an assistant woodwinds professor, and Kristen Yeon-Ji Yun, who will teach cello and bass.
Yeon-Ji Yun’s position is one “we’ve been working (to get) for years,” Hofer said.
Over in the university’s art department, new faculty are: Eli Marco Hall, assistant professor of graphic design; Alison Harris, assistant professor of art with an emphasis on drawing; and Araan Schmidt, an assistant professor of art with an emphasis on sculpture.
And in the theater department there are two staff additions.
Tracey Bonner will teach studio, jazz and tap, after getting her master’s degree in dance and choreography from the University of California, Irvine, and spending nearly a decade traveling the country as a performer and member of Actors Equity Association.
Bonner wanted to “be more of the creator of work instead of the creation.”
CMU was a good fit for her because she specializes in jazz and tap, and that was specifically what CMU wanted, she said.
Maurice LaMee was hired in April for his acting and directing chops. LaMee has limited higher educational academic experience, but his real-world experience as artistic director of Creede Repertory Theatre for more than 10 years grabbed Pinnow’s attention.
“These are two people who will instantly up our game,” Pinnow said. “In five years, I want this to be the best theater department in Colorado.”
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