Mary Pappert School of Music

Finding Your Future in the Power of Music For William Garcia, music isn’t just a passion—it’s a calling, a lifeline and a way to serve others.

Along with students in his Music Maker's Class, Dr. Paul Miller developed a network of five temperature and humidity sensors that collect data on the environmental conditions inside the Mary Pappet School of Music. These sensors use low-cost hardware and open-source software to record data every 15 minutes, so that our piano technician James Tickle can better maintain our stock of pianos and other instruments. Ava Sciulli designed the enclosures, which were modeled in CAD software and printed in our Maker's Lab. Caio da Silva sonified a week's worth of data using the software Max/MSP and Ableton Live, creating a musical soundtrack that allowed changes in temperature and humidity to be heard. These sensors will help us better understand the environmental conditions that our faculty, staff and students experience, increasing well-being and helping us to better understand trends within the building.

This Summer, Music Maker's Workshop will run a session from July 14–18, open to rising 9th–12th graders. Led by Professors Dr. Paul Miller and Dr. Michael McMaster, this program is for anyone who has ever wanted to design a guitar pedal, synthesizer, or custom hand-held electronic instrument. Learn more and register here: https://duq.edu/academics/colleges-and-schools/music/calendar-of-events/index.php -details/a5ea5975-2cb2-4d29-bb3f-4a8530968d8e

Student Spotlight

Ryan Hastings (BM in Music Tech: Sound Recording '28) performed with Matrix Performing Arts during their most recent indoor season. Utilizing the indoor marching percussion activity as a canvas for self-exploration and growth, young adults audition each October for a cast position with Matrix. Once members are selected, they commit to a rehearsal and performance schedule that entails them traveling to Eastern Ohio every weekend from mid-November through mid-April, culminating at the annual Winter Guard International World Championships, in Dayton, Ohio. This year, the group placed ninth in the finals. Congratulations!

Summer Music Series deadline approaching!

Tomorrow, Thursday May 15, is the last day to register for overnight accommodations for the Music Technology Summer Intensive and the Summer Jazz Experience. These two programs run from June 23–27 and are open to rising 9th–12th graders. The overnight "Resident" option includes meals as well as an early move-in option on Sunday prior to the first day of camp!

Non-resident "commuter" registration for both camps will remain open until Sunday, June 15.

Register here for

Music Technology Summer Intensive: https://apply.duq.edu/register/?id=edf6669c-1793-4644-bb3a-ad3fdeeb5fd3

Summer Jazz Experience: https://apply.duq.edu/register/?id=1f43d924-1894-4586-976a-4548517a8231

Class of 2025 Graduates, Alumnus Receives Award

On Friday, May 9, the Mary Pappert School of Music celebrated the graduation of 64 students, representing all music degree programs. Provost David Dausey presided over the ceremony, which was held in the Student Union Ballroom.

During the ceremony, Dr. Rachel Whitcomb presented the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award to Dr. Ryan Joseph Ogrodny, who graduated from Duquesne in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and later received a master’s degree from Belmont University and a doctorate from Liberty University. Known professionally as Ryan Joseph, he is currently in his thirteenth year of touring with country music legend Alan Jackson, playing fiddle. He has also performed, toured, or recorded with an impressive list of artists including Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimmy Buffett, Laura Bell Bundy, Jimmy Fortune, Craig Morgan, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Bonnie Raitt, Lee Ann Womack, Martina McBride, Zac Brown, Dierks Bentley, Kacey Musgraves, Brad Paisley, Jeannie Seely, Marty Stuart, Chris Stapleton, and Carrie Underwood. In addition to his performing and recording credits, Ryan serves as Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Strings at the Belmont University School of Music and regularly returns to Duquesne to present master classes to our students and perform alongside Whitcomb in her annual faculty recital.

Congratulations to Dr. Joseph and the class of 2025!

This Friday, at 7:30 p.m., Third Presbyterian Church presents soprano Sydney Kaczorowski (M.M. Performance, 2021; B.M. Performance, 2018) and pianist Fabio Gentili (Adjunct Professor of Voice) and in "Slavic Art Songs," a recital in Polish, Slovak, and Hungarian.

Ms. Kaczorowski’s ethnomusicological research and command of Slavic languages has enabled her to enchant audiences with repertoire little-heard outside of their home countries. Her 2024–2025 recital program includes works by Zoltán Kodály, Bohuslav Martinů, and Feliks Nowowiejski.

More information here: https://www.thirdchurch.org/music-at-third-presents-slavic-folk-songs-feat-sydney-kaczorowski-fabio-gentili/

It's commencement day! We hope you'll join us in celebrating our class of 64 graduating music students at 4:00 p.m. today in the Student Union Ballroom. Ryan Joseph will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award and a reception will follow.

Tune in to the live stream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/4zZjPiNd3Ho

Be sure to experience the Sound Art Exhibit "Far and Near," created by the students of Sound Design II, in the Les Idees Gallery on the third floor of the Student Union. The perfect thing to check out before or after tomorrow's graduation ceremony which also takes place in the Union.

The work of three MPSoM students is represented; Ava Sciulli (senior, BM Music Technology), Elise Schumacher (sophomore, BM Music Technology), and Dan Engel (senior, BA in Music).

The exhibit represents the experience of interiority and exteriority using sounds cultivated by NASA covering more than 13.8 billion years and the far distances of the galaxy. Students use advanced digital audio processing to convolve the spectra of sounds from the distance of space and time with sounds from their proximate environment.

A smart phone and headphones will allow you to hear each project in full immersive audio. The Sound Art exhibit will run through May 15 and is available during operating hours of the Union.

Finding Your Future in the Power of Music

For William Garcia who is graduating this week with his Master of Music in Performance, music isn’t just a passion—it’s a calling, a lifeline and a way to serve others. At 36, the Venezuelan-born cellist has followed a remarkable path that led him from a hospital lab to the stage of the Mary Pappert School of Music.

Read more about William's story of inspiration here: https://www.duq.edu/news-and-stories/bluff-stories/williamgarciamusicbluffstory.php

Alumni Accomplishments

Pianists Javier Camacho ('10 MM Piano Performance, Wehr) and Raul Mesa ('09 MM Piano Performance, Snitkovsky) were recently invited to perform Rachmaninoff's two Suites for Two Pianos at the Conservatorio del Tolima's Tenth International Piano Festival, taking place in Ibagué, Colombia in May 2025.

One of the country's most prestigious music festivals, this year it will dedicated entirely to the works of Sergei Rachmaninoff. In addition to the Duo's performance, Camacho will present a lecture on the composer's two piano sonatas. Both Camacho and Mesa are professors at Universidad Nacional de Colombia and have performed as the "Rachmaninoff Piano Duo" since 2015.



Photo credit: Caterine Alvarado

This Week at the Mary Pappert School of Music

Friday, 4:00 p.m. – Mary Pappert School of Music 2025 Spring Commencement | Student Union Ballroom

Livestream available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/4zZjPiNd3Ho

Dr. Ann Labounsky, our retiring longtime Professor of Organ and Sacred Music, was honored at the American Guild of Organists' 2025 Endowment Fund Distinguished Artist Recital and Gala Benefit Reception last Friday. Dr. Labounsky opened the festive evening with a performance in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, followed by a reception. Proceeds from the event benefitting the AGO Endowment Fund totaled over $50,000. 💐