Lawrence University - Conservatory of Music

09/06/2026

🌍🪘 Recent graduate Brianna Castillo ’26 is a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a prestigious fellowship that awards graduating seniors a $40,000 stipend for a year of independent, purposeful exploration outside the United States.

Brianna’s yearlong global journey through Ireland, Indonesia, Senegal, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico allows her to explore how gender influences access, experience, and self-expression in percussion communities around the world.

09/05/2026

Congratulations to our new piano faculty Eunice Kim, whose recently released album was chosen as WPR Music’s album of the week. “Once Heard, Long Forgotten” illuminates the dark corners of time and shine a long-overdue spotlight on German Romantic composers Emilie Mayer and Luise Adolpha Le Beau.

https://www.wpr.org/music/wpr-music-new-album-of-the-week-once-heard-long-forgotten

Lawrence University

09/04/2026

Margaret Kuwata ’28 – This summer, I participated in a liturgical music workshop with the Dominican Liturgical Center in Kraków, Poland. The best part was learning Byzantine chant with Andriy Shkrabyuk and watching him conduct the Akathist to God the Father, the Creator of the universe. Orthodox and Eastern Rite liturgies have intrigued me for years and I’m so grateful to have explored them in Kraków. After that I participated in the choral workshop at the Amherst Early Music Festival at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. We sang Josquin, Handel, and the Charpentier requiem, which has become my favorite requiem that I want sung at my funeral. (Until it’s supplanted by another favorite requiem.)

Thank you for sharing your summer adventures with us! We’ve enjoyed learning about the wonderful experiences that Lawrence students and alumni have had this summer, and we hope you did too!

09/03/2026

Meghan Peot ’28 – I spent my summer all over the place. Two of the main highlights have definitely been counseling & assisting with classes at UW–Madison’s Summer Music Clinic and teaching music at the Kalamazoo Civic Theater in my hometown. As a music education major, it has been an absolute blast getting hands-on experience working with kids ranging from pre-K to 12th grade. I’ve learned so much from these experiences AND had so much fun.

Thank you for sharing your summer adventures with us! We received an overwhelming number of submissions and will post the remaining student/alum summer adventures through the end of this week, but we are no longer accepting new submissions.

09/02/2026

Jack Thompson ’26 – I’ve been working as the Field Organizer for a political campaign, knocking doors and working with volunteers to get out the vote in Illinois State District 66. It’s been a great experience to meet people and hear their stories in a battleground district, and I have made valuable connections with the Representative and her team. I have also been keeping up with music where I can – I just had a gig with Grammy-nominated musician Ralph Covert and our string ensemble last month!

Thank you for sharing your summer adventures with us! We received an overwhelming number of submissions and will post the remaining student/alum summer adventures through the end of this week, but we are no longer accepting new submissions.

09/01/2026

Yaleni Sotelo ’30 – This summer, I spent five weeks in Los Angeles as a summer intern with the Center for Innovation and Community Impact (CICI) at the Colburn School, where I had the opportunity to experience arts administration from behind the scenes while working directly with one of the country’s leading arts institutions. Throughout the program, I supported the CICI team with day-to-day operations and programming, helping prepare for and run activities for students and counselors. I assembled camper and counselor welcome materials, organized student photos and program materials, created a program slideshow, and helped ensure everything was ready for the students’ experience.

Thank you for sharing your summer adventures with us! We received an overwhelming number of submissions and will post the remaining student/alum summer adventures through the end of this week, but we are no longer accepting new submissions.

09/01/2026

🎻 Congratulations to Ben Frueh ’27, one of three recipients of the prestigious Fritz Ge**er Award 2026 👏

Lawrence University

08/31/2026

L-R (Row 1, standing): Yvie Pacatang ’27, Anna Milton ’27, Adam Korber ’18 (Curator), Morgen Moraine ’16 (Director or Operations and Co-curator), Sarah Phelps ’07, Daniel Quiroga ’18; (Row 2, standing): Shan Rowe ’23, Jacob Hanekamp ’25, Cooper Luedtke ’26, Kenni Ther ’16, John Henderson ’26, Finn Sullivan ’29, Eli Grover ’11, Lauren Thompson Ringeisen ’13; (Seated): Jelani Jones ’22, Iris Hakes ’24; (Not pictured): Casey Frenz ’14 – The Mile of Music Music Education Team (MET) wrapped up some incredible work four weeks ago. We facilitated over 40 workshops across 4 days during Mile of Music, reminding nearly 6000 people that music is their birthright. Our team got participants in the festival to become part of the amazing music making that happens in Appleton every summer!

Thank you for sharing your summer adventures with us! We received an overwhelming number of submissions and will post the remaining student/alum summer adventures through the end of this week, but we are no longer accepting new submissions.

Lawrence University
Lawrence University Alumni

08/29/2026

Tomás Avilés ’27 – This summer I got to work in the lab of Dr. Mriganka Sur under the mentorship of Dr. Kyle Jenks as part of MIT’s Summer Research Program in biology and neuroscience! We investigated the mechanisms that allow the visual cortex to react to changes in internal and behavioral state. We used a lot of calcium imaging which allowed us to see neuronal activity in real time. I had a great time exploring Boston, watching the World Cup, and enjoying the summer with some incredible scientist friends!

Thank you for sharing your summer adventures with us! We received an overwhelming number of submissions and will continue to post student/alum summer adventures through the end of the summer, but we are no longer accepting new submissions.

08/28/2026

Congratulations to Lawrence alumni Theresa Gruber-Miller ’23 and Sam Johnson ’24, who will be leading the Hartford City Band as co-conductors.

Lawrence University
Lawrence University Alumni

The Hartford City Band Inc., now in its 145th year of providing our community with instrumental music for numerous occasions, scholarships to middle school, high school, and college students, and musical mentoring to area youth, is delighted to announce the addition of two new co-conductors to our family of musicians.

Theresa Gruber-Miller and Samuel Johnson will be conducting our band for the remainder of 2026 and beyond.

Theresa is a graduate of Lawrence University, where she majored in Music Education, Trumpet Performance, and Spanish. She studied abroad in Spain and Argentina. Theresa is the Band Director at Central Middle School, District of Hartford Joint #1. She teaches 145 students in grades 6-8 through small-group lessons, full-band ensembles, and concerts. Theresa leads and directs the color guard, marching band, jazz band, and pep band ensembles. Her duties include professional engagement with parents, school administrators, and the Hartford community.

Samuel (Sam) is a graduate of Lawrence University with a Bachelor of Music, Music Education. He studied and lived abroad in Austria, traveling to Germany, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. He has done coursework in Spain and the U.S. Virgin Islands for Experienced Centered Seminars. Sam is the Instrumental Music Director at Harford Union High School. He directs Jazz Band, Symphonic Band, Marching Band, Pep Band, and Orchestra. Sam is a lesson teacher for the concert band, an adaptive music class, and a recording and production class. He has previously worked as a substitute teacher, band camp instructor, and string repair technician

Please join us in welcoming these two most qualified and enthusiastic people to our community band.