OU School of Music

08/20/2026

Congratulations OU School of Music DMA student, Libby Ryan, for joining the SWOSU Music department as their Oboe and Bassoon Instructor!

🎶 Please join us in welcoming Libby Ryan to the SWOSU Department of Music! 🎶

We are thrilled to welcome Libby as our new Oboe and Bassoon Instructor! 🎵

A native of East Haddam, Connecticut, Libby is an active performer and teacher across central Oklahoma. She regularly performs with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Norman Philharmonic Orchestra, Lawton Philharmonic, and Oklahoma Baroque Orchestra, and has served as Guest Principal Oboe with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared with the Onyx Lane Chamber Orchestra on the Grammy-nominated album *The Impossible Dream*.

Currently completing the Doctor of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance at the University of Oklahoma, Libby has served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant to the oboe studio and continues as a Research Assistant in the Fine Arts Library. She holds degrees from Michigan State University and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Dr. Shawn Welk, Jan Eberle, Roger Roe, and Linda Strommen, with additional studies in baroque oboe with Margaret Owens.

Libby’s performance interests span traditional orchestral literature, contemporary music, and historically informed performance. Her summer experiences include fellowships at the National Music Festival and Scotia Festival of Music, as well as participation in the Miami Classical Music Festival and Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. She is also a **2025 recipient of Early Music America’s workshop scholarship**.

In addition to her performing career, Libby maintains an active teaching studio with experience in university and private instruction. Her research interests include reed making for oboe d’amore and historical oboes.

And when she’s not playing oboe, Libby enjoys sailing and is a certified US Sailing instructor! ⛵🎵

**Welcome to SWOSU, Libby! We are excited to have you as part of the Department of Music family!** 💙🎶

08/18/2026

Welcome to OU School of Music, Elissa Cassini!

Franco-American violinist Elissa Cassini is known for her compelling interpretations, hailed as “truly communicative” by The New York Times and “an impeccable and powerful soloist” by Neue Musikzeitung, with Strad Magazine calling one of her recitals “imaginatively conceived.”
Her recent premieres include “On the Brink,” a climate-themed concerto by Theodore Wiprud with visuals by Camilla Tassi, performed with the South Dakota Symphony in January 2025. She also gave the New York, Paris, and Montreal premieres of Jérôme Combier’s spectralist concerto « Conditions de lumière ». Other concerto appearances span Beethoven, Schumann, Glass, Leroux, Eliasson, and Bacri.
This appetite for new music took root at Juilliard, where Pierre Boulez invited her as concertmaster of his Lucerne Festival orchestra after hearing her play his Anthèmes. She has since worked closely with composers such as Saariaho, whose music inspired her to create “Résonances,” a solo work weaving together Bach, Saariaho, and Mazzoli with original soundscapes and visuals, premiered in 2023 in Angers and Nantes, France.
An active chamber musician, she founded New York’s Duplexity Chamber Concerts and brings the same spirit to her orchestral work: appointed concertmaster of Rio’s Orquestra Petrobras Sinfônica, she has since guest-led orchestras in Lyon, Helsinki, and Munich.

08/17/2026

We cannot WAIT for this season! Go The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band, BOOMER!

08/13/2026

🎭 The 2026-2027 OU University Theatre season is upon us! Explore our 9 productions spanning musical theater, opera, dance and drama as you prepare to join us for a dazzling season.

Shows include:
◈ The Pajama Game (Sept. 25-27, Elsie C. Brackett Theatre)
◈ Arcadia (Oct. 9-18, Weitzenhoffer Theatre)
◈ Oklahoma Festival Ballet (Nov. 6-8, Elsie C. Brackett Theatre)
◈ Die Fledermaus (Dec. 3-6, Reynolds Performing Arts Center)
◈ Young Choreographers’ Showcase (Jan. 29-31, Reynolds Performing Arts Center)
◈ Urinetown (Feb. 12-21, Weitzenhoffer Theatre)
◈ Il re pastore (March 4-7, Reynolds Performing Arts Center)
◈ Contemporary Dance Oklahoma (April 2-4, Elsie C. Brackett Theatre)
◈ The Tempest (April 23-May 2, Weitzenhoffer Theatre)

💡Learn more: link.ou.edu/4bHnXH5
🎟️ Secure your ticket today: link.ou.edu/4z7CMN9

07/28/2026

OU School of Music's organ professor, Dr. Damin Spritzer, will play a solo organ recital this Sunday in Paris, France, at the renowned Cathedral of Notre Dame! Originally scheduled to give a performance there in 2022, she was unable to perform due to the catastrophic fire that beset the cathedral that year. The church and organ have been rebuilt and restored, and she is honored to be performing works of French, English, and American composers, including the work she commissioned from Dallas-based composer Dr. George Baker, who studied extensively with Notre Dame organists. The photo shows Dr. Spritzer in Paris, privately visiting the then-new Notre Dame organ console, in 2014, while the organ was undergoing a restoration at the time. She is pictured with dear friend, organ builder Bertrand Cattiaux, who was responsible for that restoration.

https://musique-sacree-notredamedeparis.fr/categorie/auditions-dorgue-2025-2026/?mm=8

07/27/2026

Oklahoma Bass Bash 2026!

07/27/2026

07/27/2026

A milestone worth celebrating! 🎉 This year, 20 doctoral students in the OU School of Music successfully defended their documents and dissertations. We are proud of their hard work, perseverance, and the wide-ranging research they contributed to the field. Congratulations on this tremendous accomplishment! 🎓🎶

07/27/2026

Congrats to OU School of Music alum, Dr. Ben Jorge, on his new position leading the jazz area at Oklahoma City University! Ben graduated from OU with a Bachelor of Music Education '17 and a Master in Music Education '21.

Announcing the appointment of Dr. Bernabe Jorge III to the newly created position of Assistant Professor of Jazz Arts, leading the Oklahoma City University jazz program and the OCU trombone studio!

Jorge earned his DMA from the Eastman School of Music, studying Trombone Performance and Literature with Mark Kellogg, and BME and MME degrees from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied with Dr. Irvin Wagner and was a three-time winner of the Outstanding Undergraduate Trombone Award. At Eastman, he won the Steve Witser Memorial Award for Excellence, was a finalist in the concerto competition, earned the Performer’s Certificate, and won a Downbeat Award as a member of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble.

Teaching positions include the University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, Hochstein School, and Eastman Community Music School. During his time in Norman, he received his Kodály certification while completing his master’s degree and teaching general music at Jackson Elementary School.

Dr. Jake Johnson, Associate Dean, notes: "One thing you will notice right away about Dr. Jorge is his infectious positivity. We are blessed to have in our community his passion, his advocacy for music education, his heart for jazz, and his example as a versatile, multi-hyphenate musician." Welcome!