Dr. Joyce McCall

Postponed to Thursday, April 29 at 11:00 AM MST
Moderated by Dr. Carla Aguilar, Professor and Director of Music Education at MSU Denver 

Joyce McCall was appointed to the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2018. Her research centers on issues of race, class, and culture, and culturally relevant pedagogy. She has presented sessions and research at the American Educators Research Association, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the National Association for Music Education, and the Society for Music Teacher Education, and published articles in the Journal of Music Teacher Education and the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association News.

McCall has proudly served as a clarinetist and saxophonist in the United States Army Bands from 1999 to 2013. During her service, she was awarded the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. Previous assignments include the 151st Army Band in Montgomery, Alabama; the 41st Army Band in Jackson, Mississippi; the 36th Infantry Division Band in Austin, Texas; and the 108th Army Band in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women.

DJ Kuttin Kandi

Thursday, April 15 at 4:00 pm MST
Moderated by Dr. Michael Benitez, VP for Diversity and Inclusion at MSU Denver  
Video coming soon

Dr. (h.c.) DJ Kuttin Kandi is a "People's Hip Hop DJ Scholar" who was born and raised in Queens, NY and is widely regarded as one of the most legendary and accomplished womxn DJs in the world. Kandi is a disabled Filipinx-Pin[a/x]y-American Queer, Writer, Poet, Theater Performer, Educator, Hip Hop Feminist, and Community Organizer for over 25 years. In 2018, DJ Kuttin Kandi was titled a Global Hip Hop and Cultural Ambassador by Next Level's Meridian International Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She is a Site Manager for Next Level; Co-Founder of the People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation and the University for Justice and Liberation (UJL); Member of DJ team champions 5th Platoon; Co-Founder and DJ for the Hip Hop group Anomolies; Co-Founder of the NY monthly open mic “Guerrilla Words,” Co-Founder of the coalition R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop, Co-Founder and Board Member of the DJ Coalition- Freedom Sound DJ's, and Founder, Editor and Host of the podcast Hip Hop Bruha. DJ Kuttin Kandi received an Honorary Doctorate in Pinayism for her endless dedication to radical sisterhood, critical praxis, and transformative solidarity.

Xavier Jara, guitar

Sunday, April 11 at 6:00 PM MST
Music at MSU Denver Visiting Artist Series

American classical guitarist Xavier Jara (1993) is the 1st prize winner of the 2016 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition.  He received 1st place in a number of international competitions including the Viseu International Competition (2014), the Boston Guitarfest (2014), the Gargnano, Italy Competition (2015), the Ciudad de Coria Competition (2015), and the Tokyo International Competition (2016). During his 2017-2018 concert tour, he performed more than 50 concerts in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala & Panama, including a concert at Carnegie Hall (April 5, 2018). Mr. Jara earned his Master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He continues to perform around the world and maintains a vibrant studio as Adjunct Professor of Guitar at California State University Fullerton (Fullerton, CA).

Join us for a livestream concert featuring works from Sofia Gubaidulina, John Dowland, Toru Takemitsu, and Dusan Bogdanovic.

Resistance Revival Chorus

Livestreamed on Monday, March 29
Moderated by MB Krueger, Director of Choral Activities at MSU Denver

The Resistance Revival Chorus (RRC) is a collective of more than 60 womxn, and non-binary singers, who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center womxn’s voices. Chorus members are touring musicians, film and television actors, Broadway performers, solo recording artists, gospel singers, political activists, educators, filmmakers, artists, and more, representing a multitude of identities, professions, creative backgrounds, and activist causes. We center womxn in music, and address how historically marginalized womxn have been in the music industry. The great artist and activist Harry Belafonte once said, “when the movement is strong, the music is strong” and we attempt to live up to that call. The RRC calls for justice and equity for womxn across racial, ethnic, economic, sexual identity and religious lines. We aim to be intersectional in our feminism and reveal that all social justice issues overlap heavily with womxn’s issues; to harness the collective power of womxn to help change the world; to celebrate each other through song; to embrace Toi Dericotte’s idea of “joy as an act of resistance.” Resistance Revival Chorus Website

Contemporary Song Ensemble

Recorded March 18, 2021 in Kalamath Studio 101
Spring 2021 Midterm Performances
Directed by Dave Devine and Tania Katz

The Contemporary Song Ensemble presents a series of duets with performances by Unomi Koshari (guitar) and Helen Gonzales (vocals), Miguel Rodriguez (guitar) and Ayana Peoples (vocals), John Butler (guitar) and Gabe Cannon (vocals), Jakey Wherry (guitar/effects) and Shanya Martinez (vocals), and Chris Sparks (guitar) and Will Kuepper (vocals/bass).

"The Storm is Passing Over" by Charles A. Tindley, arranged by Barbara W. Baker
Performed by the MSU Denver Chorale
For the 40th Annual Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship honoring Phoebe A. Haddon

The Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship was initiated in 1981 to foster multiculturalism, diversity and academic excellence at Metropolitan State University of Denver. The MSU Denver Chorale is proud to participate in the 40th annual event honoring Mrs. Noel and welcoming Visiting Professor Phoebe A. Haddon. "The Storm is Passing Over" by Charles A. Tindley, arranged by Barbara W. Baker, gives voice to the hope we all feel for lives emerging from the pandemic as well as from the shadows of inequity.

Terence Blanchard

Livestreamed on Wednesday, February 17
With special guests Eman Alexander, Johnaye Kendrick, and Shane Endsley
Moderated by Dr. Elizabeth McLean Macy, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology

This conversation and roundtable discussion with Oscar nominee, six-time Grammy-winner and 2018 USA Fellow trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchard on February 17, 2021, was a collaboration with the 2021 MSU Denver Virtual Jazz Celebration (celebrating "Jazz, Art, and Education in the Heart of Downtown Denver") and the 38th Annual Black World Conference (sponsored by the MSU Denver Department of Africana Studies). This keynote conversation about music and activism was moderated by Dr. Elizabeth McLean Macy, with special guests Eman Alexander, Johnaye Kendrick, and Shane Endsley.

Olmeca

Moderated by Dr. Chalane E. Lechuga, Associate Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies and Faculty Fellow in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at MSU Denver
Livestreamed February 3, 2021

Olmeca is a Hip Hop artist, producer, activist, and scholar who has been featured on BBC London, Complex Magazine, Noisey, Huffington Post, NPR, Democracy Now, and CNN Latino. His music has been featured on various documentaries including PBS’ “Independent Lens”, and “Two Americans,” a documentary about the immigration issues in Arizona. He has written music for TV shows including “Sons of Anarchy”, “CHANCE” on HULU, and “The Mayans” on FX.

Olmeca grew up in the barrios of L.A. and Mexico, a reality that brewed his blending of music genres and cultural sensitivity. While everyday people respect his lyrical content, music connoisseurs value the production, and educators utilize Olmeca’s music in their classrooms. A 2019/2020 Kennedy Center Artist Fellow, Olmeca is currently faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the Interdisciplinary Gender and Ethnic Studies Department teaching Latin American History, Latinx in the U.S., and Hip Hop courses. 

MSU Denver Senior Recital: Veronica Kreeger, guitar
Recorded Friday, January 22, 2021 in the King Center Recital Hall

Veronica Kreeger is completing the Bachelor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance Degree at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where she studies with Professor Alex Komodore. View the full program and Veronica's bio: Veronica Kreeger Senior Recital Program (PDF)

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2021
Music at MSU Denver presents "We Shall Overcome"
Performed by the students and faculty of Music at MSU Denver