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Furman Professor of Music chosen to direct Texas 6A All-State Percussion Ensemble
Director of Percussion Studies and Daniel Professor of Music Omar Carmenates directed the Texas 6A All-State Percussion Ensemble at the 2025 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic and Convention.
Attended by nearly 30,000 people, the TMEA clinic and convention is one of the largest music gatherings in the country. Its 18 All-State Ensembles feature the most talented students in the state of Texas.
What Is Noise performance at Lincoln Center
Dr. Anastasia Christofakis, Associate Professor of Music, clarinet, will be performing with her new music ensemble What Is Noise at Lincoln Center on May 23. The ensemble held a spotlight composer competition and young artist competition this year – two of the winners were composer Willie Cornish, Jr. ’22 and Juliet Swain ’27, violin. It was a very competitive applicant pool with students and professional composers of all levels. The group commissioned a piece by Jensen Thomassie ’23, to be performed at Lincoln Center. They are also releasing their second album Temporal Echoes in the upcoming concert season, which was recorded at Furman University. This is all sponsored in part by the Furman Standard Grant.
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Franklin Research Grant
Benjamin Dobbs, Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Theory/Composition area coordinator, won a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society in the amount of $6,500 to support his research into the creation of an edition of the complete works of Heinrich Grimm (1592/3-1637).
Survey says! Faculty Square Off in Furman Family Feud
Furman Music Department faculty Craig Price, Megan Lyons, Sue Samuels, Randall Umstead, and Benjamin Dobbs formed Team BM (bachelor of music) and brought home the win at the FUSAB (Furman University Student Activities Board) Family Feud in February. Over 200 students were surveyed.
“No one could stop laughing, including me!” … “It was so much fun. I’m very thankful that we can have events like this at Furman. There’s something to be said about the relationships professors have with their students here. That truly is the Furman Advantage, in my opinion.”
– Frances O’Shea ’25, English literature-French double major from Charleston, event organizer
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