Department of Music
Alumni
Alumni, we need your help!
We are currently compiling all of our Alumni information into one database. If you are an alum of the SOU Department of Music, please email us current information: your complete name and name at the time of graduation, year of graduation, degree, awards received at SOU, occupation, email, and current address.
As we approach the 75th anniversary of SOU, we want to contact as many alums as possible for the anniversary celebration.
We have an impressive group of Alumni and we don't want to loose track of anyone!
Click Here to Email Your Information
Alumni "In Action"
University Teaching
Jim O’Dell is currently Dean of the Boston Conservatory of Music, having previously served nine years as Director of the BC Conservatory of Music. A distinguished and versatile educator, conductor, and musician, Mr. O'Dell is currently the Music Director and Conductor of both the Middlesex Concert Band and the Southeastern Massachusetts Community Concert Band, and is the Associate Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony.
Ramon Montes de Oca was director of the School of Music of the University of Guanajuato. He lectures annually in Spain at the Conservatory of the Autonomous Community of Madrid and has given seminars and master classes in the principal music schools of Mexico. A well known composer, his music has been performed at international festivals in Mèxico and elsewhere, including the Festival Internacional Cervantino, the Sounds of Latin America Festival in New York, the International Forum of New Music in Mexico City; as well as in Argentina, Poland, Spain, and the United States. He has received the “Intellectual Creators” award from FONCA (National Foundation for Culture and the Arts) and, since 1993, is a member of the National System of Creators of Art. Montes de Oca is the Director of the newly reinitiated Contemporary Music Series of the Festival Internacional Cervantino and currently serves as Associate Professor in the School of Music of the University of Guanajuato.
Michael Grossman received Masters in Accompanying from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was later named a coach and Music Director of the Musical Theatre Workshop at the Conservatory. Besides his full time work at SFCM, he is vocal coach for BASOTI (Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute,) the International Vocal Institute, Bravo! The Musical Showcase, and Summer Music West. He has worked and performed with most of the bay areas opera training programs. He can also be seen performing at Bay area Jazz and Cabaret venues.
Matt Harden is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of South Dakota. He earned a double BA from SOU in Music Education and Music Performance. He later earned a doctorate in interdisciplinary studies from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Secondary and Elementary Teaching
T Lund, co-winner of the first Mr. Holland’s Opus national teaching award. Recently retired as Band and Choral Director of Illinois Valley High School in Cave Junction, OR.
Scott Mckee served as Director of Bands at Scapoose High School and Springfiield High School. His bands at both institutions qualified for the state championship each year they participated. He is currently the managing Director of the American Band College and Organizing Chairman of the Western international Band Clinics. ABC offers a Master of Arts in Conducting through Southern Oregon University.
Roger Nickson recieved masters degrees from Lewis and Clark College and San Diego State University and a doctorate from Columbia Pacific University in keyboard instruction for elementary general music classes. For many years he has worked in Oregon City as an elementary and secondary music teacher and as Music Supervisor for the district.
Music Performance
Brent Watkins recently graduated with a Masters in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Brent has been a top prize-winner in several national and international piano competitions including the Pacific Piano Competition, the Russian-American Music Association Competition, the Missoula Symphony Competition, and the University of Texas Concerto Competition. In May of 2001 he made his Carnegie Hall debut and since then has given solo performances throughout the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the Netherlands.
Sherril Kannasto received a Masters degree in flute performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. She played professionally for the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles-based early music ensemble “Musica Angelica”, and is currently the founding director of the Amadeus Music Academy in Los Angeles, CA.
Doremus Scudder, after graduating from SOU, baritone Doremus Scudder studied with Carol Blaikner-Mayo in Vienna and with La Scala baritone, Gino Bechi in Florence, Italy. He has appeared with the Vienna Symphony, the Austrian Radio and Television Orchestra, the Residenz Orchestra, the Vienna Johann Strauss Ensemble, the Vienna Operntheater, and the Neue Oper Wien, and has worked with renowned conductors such as Ernst Theiss, Adreas Mitisek and Jeffery Tate.
Paul Shikany was a frequent soloist in the Los Angeles area while pursuing a Maters degree in Opera at the University of Southern California. Upon graduating, he was named the Outstanding Graduate at the Masters level from USC, and is currently singing professionally in
New York.
Renee Merrigan performed with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, one of two professional choirs in Canada, and toured extensively in Canada and in Japan. She is a frequent soloist in the Rogue Valley and is a member of the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers.
Composition
Mark Knippel studied composition at Southern Oregon University, primarily under Todd Barton and Wayne Slawson. He graduated in 2006 with a BA in music composition and education. He has written for saxophone quartet, woodwind quintet, and various other chamber groups, and for concert band, theater projects and film. His saxophone quartet, "At the Loss of Love and Folly", has been published by Dorn Publications. Current projects include works for guitar quartet, saxophone orchestra, string orchestra, string quartet, and a graphic score for mobile phones. Mark completed an assistantship for the world-premiere musical, Tracy's Tiger, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon in 2006. He has received the ASCAPlus Award, and received the Schneider Award, given to the outstanding music student at Southern Oregon University, in 2006.
Jason Hoopes graduated in 2005 with a BS in Music with emphasis in Composition. In 2006 he was one of four composers accepted to the MA program at Mills College in Oakland, CA where he currently studies Composition and Improvisaiton with Fred Frith, Daniel Schmidt, Hilda Parades, John Bischoff, David Bernstein and William Wynant among others. He has participated in workshops and/or performed with Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, Maggie Nicols, Mark Applebaum and many other prominent Bay Area musicians.
Ramon Montes de Oca was director of the School of Music of the University of Guanajuato. He lectures annually in Spain at the Conservatory of the Autonomous Community of Madrid and has given seminars and master classes in the principal music schools of Mexico. A well known composer, his music has been performed at international festivals in Mèxico and elsewhere, including the Festival Internacional Cervantino, the Sounds of Latin America Festival in New York, the International Forum of New Music in Mexico City; as well as in Argentina, Poland, Spain, and the United States. He has received the “Intellectual Creators” award from FONCA (National Foundation for Culture and the Arts) and, since 1993, is a member of the National System of Creators of Art. Montes de Oca is the Director of the newly reinitiated Contemporary Music Series of the Festival Internacional Cervantino and currently serves as Associate Professor in the School of Music of the University of Guanajuato.
Karl Mansfield has served as Composer in Residence for Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is working as a conductor and composer in New York. Currently he is conducting “Dracula, the Musical” on Broadway and preparing two more Broadway-bound project this spring.
Brent Hakanson received a Masters in Composition from the University of Oregon and has many compositions in print. Currently teaching high School orchestra in Klamath Falls.
Music Business
After finishing his Music-Business degree, Shawn Moore completed his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science while managing the Digital Music Lab. He was recently appointed at SOU as Information Technology Consultant/Mac Lab Support Technician.
Gayle Neuman is a specialist in the performance and building of Renaissance and Baroque instruments.
Phil Neuman is a specialist in the performance and building of Renaissance and Baroque instruments. He plays professionally in the Portland area and has performed locally at the Britt Festival.
Andrea Matthews interned with the American Symphony League for orchestras in San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Canton, Ohio. She worked many years arranging musical tours for Associate Consultants for Education Abroad, based in Edmonds, Washington. She is currently freelancing as a professional flutist specializing in the flute music of native Americans.
Rick Cave graduated from SOU with a degree in Music Business and worked many years as the stage manager for the Salt Lake City Symphony.
Gary Keeney graduated in 2004 with a degree in Music Business. He is currently Studio Manager for Sullivan Recording, in Phoenix, OR.
Conducting
Jim O’Dell is currently Dean of the Boston Conservatory of Music, having previously served nine years as Director of the BC Conservatory of Music. A distinguished and versatile educator, conductor, and musician, Mr. O'Dell is currently the Music Director and Conductor of both the Middlesex Concert Band and the Southeastern Massachusetts Community Concert Band, and is the Associate Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony.
Karl Mansfield has served as Composer in Residence for Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is working as a conductor and composer in New York. Currently he is conducting “Dracula, the Musical” on Broadway and preparing two more Broadway-bound project this spring.
Liberal Arts
Colleen Graves graduated in 2006 and was named AAUW Best Woman Graduate in Music Performance. She received a Rogue Opera scholarship, and now works at SOU as the Department of Music office manager. She is a member of Southern Oregon Repertory Singers and paid section leader for Trinity Church of Ashland's choir.
Church Positions
Lee Ann Scherman received a Masters in Organ Performance from Indiana University. She is Director of Music at the largest Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Olympia, Washington.
