TWU student receives Bass Fellowship

Texas Woman’s University student Rachel Holt has received the 2009-10 Perry R. Bass Fellowship.

Holt, a Suzuki strings teacher at Lakewood Elementary in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district, is pursuing a master’s degree in music.

The Bass Fellowship includes a $5,000 stipend and is given annually to graduate students pursuing degrees in music with aspirations of teaching. The fellowship began in 2007 in memory of Perry R. Bass, who donated millions to local museums and toward the creation of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth. 

The fellowship is available to students who have completed at least one semester toward a master’s degree or doctorate at Texas Christian University, Texas Woman’s University, the University of North Texas or the University of Texas at Arlington.

Holt is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the National Association of Music Education. She presented “No Squeaks: A New Model for Beginning String Players” at the 2009 TMEA convention.

Holt received her bachelor’s degree in music education from Baylor University in 2002 and has taught at Lakewood since 2003.

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UNT group headed to Colorado music festival

University of North Texas students, faculty and alumni from the College of Music will perform at the Crested Butte Music Festival July 4-26.

The festival in Crested Butte, Colo., with the theme “Follow the Generations Through Paradise,” will feature about 100 artists and include a variety of symphony, chamber, opera, big-band, jazz, bluegrass, country and dance music.

UNT students will perform Bernstein on Broadway, featuring musical selections from theater composer Leonard Bernstein, at 7:30 p.m. July 14. It will include performances from Bernstein’s Broadway hits Our Town, Wonderful Town, Candide and West Side Story. Linda Di Fiore, professor of vocal performance at UNT, is overseeing the production, and UNT students James McQuillen and Jay Gardner will serve as musical and stage directors.

UNT’s Jazz Septet will perform Grooves of Generations under the direction of John Murphy, professor and chairman of jazz studies, at 7:30 p.m. July 21.

It will feature original music by members of the group and guest soloist Daniel Schnyder, composer in residence for the festival.

Other UNT faculty members, students and alumni who will perform at the festival include: students Dobroslawa Rybinska, Samuel Park and Rebecca Weidman-Winter; alumni Michael Galvin and Porter Wyatt-Henderson; and professor Terri Sundberg.

For more information, call Anna Iskina, festival manager of operations, at 970-349-0619, e-mail info@crestedbuttemusicfestival.com or visit www.crestedbuttemusicfestival.com.