KU School of Music welcomes new faculty
Lawrence, KS – The KU School of Music is pleased to announce eight faculty appointments for the 2024-2025 academic year. This strategic expansion highlight’s the School of Music’s commitment to excellence in music and education. This latest batch of faculty bring a wide variety of expertise across various disciplines with them, including Bassoon, Musicology, Percussion, and more. The new appointments are as follows:
Dr. Garrett Arney is an active chamber musician, soloist, and educator among some of the most innovative of the time. He cofounded and performs with Arx Music Association, or “arx duo”, a nonprofit focused on the creation of new music and engagement with the public. As a chamber musician, Garrett is passionate about bringing his collaborative energy to the concert stage. In addition, he has performed with a variety of groups and performers including Ensemble ACJW, American Modern Opera Company, members of eighth blackbird. He has also worked with the leading composers of today to bring new works to life.
He performed the Carnegie Hall premiere of Steven Mackey’s “Micro Concerto”, as well as in venues such as Royal Albert Concert Hall, Walton Arts Center, and more. In recent seasons he has been fortunate enough to perform premieres of new concerti as a soloist with the Boise Philharmonic, Symphony Tacoma, Missoula Symphony, Auburn Symphony, Winchester Orchestra, Mission Hills Chamber Orchestra, and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra. Arney has held adjunct/faculty positions at Peabody Conservatory, Michigan State University, Cleveland State University, University of Central Missouri (sabbatical replacement), and Curtis Young Artist Summer Program. He is also on the Artistic committee and performing faculty for the Lake George Music Festival.
Kristopher Bendrick – Music Composition
Kristopher Bendrick’s compositions explore a balance between the seriousness of interpersonal vulnerability and the levity of absurdism. His use of absurdism creates darkly whimsical and nonsensical narratives that bring light-heartedness to an otherwise dismal aesthetic.
He holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (where he was a Benjamin Franklin fellow), as well as Western Michigan University and Columbia College Chicago. He has studied under Tyshawn Sorey, Natacha Diels, Christopher Biggs, and Lisa Coons. He is the SEAMUS 2022 1st Prize recipient, a winner of the MTNA National Composition Competition, the recipient of the Turner Award, a Hokin Award nominee, and the recipient of the 2019 & 2020 College of Fine Arts Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Award.
He has worked with numerous performers and ensembles including the PRISM Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Tak Ensemble, Varo Quartet, and members of Ensemble Dal Niente.
The KU School of Music welcomes Dr. David Earll, our new Assistant Professor of Tuba/Euphonium. Dr. Earll has been on the music faculty at Ithaca College and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
He has received awards for his teaching, musical artistry, and research, including the 2024 Ithaca College Faculty Excellence Award and the 2016 International Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research. Dr. Earll holds degrees from Arizona State University (DMA, MM) and The University of South Dakota (BM) and is an International Willson Tuba Performing Artist.
Grace Edgar is a musicologist who specializes in US film music. Her current book project analyzes depictions of gender and sexuality in Cold War–era Hollywood action scores from swashbucklers in the 1950s to fantasy films of the 1980s.
Her publications include a chapter in the edited collection Music in Action Film: Sounds Like Action! and an article in the Journal of the Society for American Music. Originally from Wisconsin, she earned an MA at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and a PhD from Harvard University. She has also taught at Connecticut College and Denison University.
Gabe Lewis-O’Connor, Associate Director of Choral Studies
Gabe Lewis-O'Connor balances a busy schedule as conductor, professional soloist and choral performer, daily meditator, avid bread baker, slow long-distance runner, father, and husband. Striving to bring humor, authenticity, and emotion to all these passions is a lifelong pursuit.
Gabe holds a degree in vocal performance from Lawrence University, and advanced degrees in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. "Dr. Gabe" is honored to be the Artistic Director of the Lawrence Children's Choir, and Interim Associate Director of Choral Studies at the University of Kansas School of Music.
Priscila Navarro – Assistant Professor of Piano
Described as a “phenomenal talent” by the Atlanta Audio Club, Peruvian pianist Priscila Navarro is the first prize winner of multiple international competitions, including the Liszt-Garritson International Competition in Baltimore, Maryland, Chopin International Competition of Texas, Imola City Awards, Italy. Her performances have been streamed on BBC public radio and the Medici TV channel. She has been on the jury at several international competitions, including the Chopin International Competition for Latin American pianists, the Heida Hermanns International Competition, and the Parnassus International Competition. Last season she gave recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Priscila is on the roster of Astral Artists. She holds a DMA in piano pedagogy and performance from the University of Miami, where she also received a Masters and Artist Diploma degrees.
Dr. Midori Samson (she/her) サムソンみどりis a bassoonist, educator, and social work researcher. In addition to her appointment at KU, she is a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and spends summers teaching at the Bay View Music Festival. Her proudest recent activities include working with community members on the Turkey/Syria border to lead circus performances for refugee families; co-writing a play with artists in Kigali to commemorate the anniversary of the Rwandan genocide; commissioning twenty solo bassoon works by composers from across Africa; composing an autoethnographic piece for bassoon and electronics about the WWII incarceration of her Japanese American family; and leading virtual arts therapy sessions for internally displaced high schoolers in Ukraine. She holds degrees in bassoon performance from The Juilliard School and University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Samson also studied social work while completing her DMA in bassoon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Melissa Sawyer – Assistant Director of Bands
Dr. Melissa Sawyer is a native of Edmond, Oklahoma and has taught middle school, high school, and collegiate band programs in Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and Kansas. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Arts in Wind Conducting from New Mexico State University. Sawyer served as the Assistant Director of Bands at New Mexico State University where she was Assistant Director of the Pride of New Mexico Marching Band and Symphonic Band. Dr. Sawyer completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting at the University of Kansas.