School of Fine Arts

Retired KU art professor honored as distinguished alumnus

Roger Shimomura, KU distinguished professor emeritus of art, will be honored May 18 at the University of Washington, Seattle, as one of this year's four recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, (“Alumna Summa Laude Dignatus").

This award, first bestowed in 1938, is the highest honor the University of Washington bestows upon any graduate; it honors a former student in the College of Arts and Sciences whose achievements have earned him or her national or international prominence.

Shimomura retired from teaching at KU in the spring of 2004. He continues to lecture at art schools and museums, and exhibit his work internationally.

For more information, contact the department of art in the School of Fine Arts at 785-864-4401.

Music student wins national award and trip to New York

Daniel E. Forrest Jr., a KU doctoral student in musical arts, is headed to the Big Apple after winning the prestigious Morton Gould Young Composers Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

He'll be recognized Thursday, May 25, at the seventh annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards at Lincoln Center in New York City. Along with a trip to the city that never sleeps, Forrest will share $40,000 in prizes, including the Leo Kaplan Award, the Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship for a composer 18 or younger and grants from the DeVries, Norworth and Morton Gould funds. Award sponsor Sibelius, a music notation software company, will also supply each winner with free software.

To be considered for the award, Forrest submitted a biography, a works list and an abridged, three-movement composition titled “Words From Paradise."

“The majority of winners are students from New York City and California schools, and I think their works are often esoteric and really cutting-edge," said Forrest. “My choral pieces, on the other hand, are completely tonal, even though I do some creative things within that tonality. I couldn't believe it when I saw an e-mail arrive entitled ‘Morton Gould Winner.' I was pleasantly surprised that pieces like this have garnered attention from New York City."

The ASCAP Foundation Young Composer Awards program provides cash prizes to concert music composers 30 years old and younger whose works are selected through a national juried competition. Morton Gould, a Pultizer Prize-winning American composer, was president of ASCAP and the ASCAP Foundation for eight years. The ASCAP Foundation Young Composer program was created in 1979 and dedicated in Gould's memory following his death in 1996.

Forrest and his wife, Addy, live in Ottawa. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. While studying at KU, he is on leave as a faculty member at Bob Jones. Forrest has published church music for choir, piano, vocal solos, various instrumental solos, string and brass ensembles. In addition to this award, Forrest won first place in the 2005 ACDA Raymond Brock Contest.

Trumpet professor blows his horn in Beijing

Steve Leisring, KU assistant professor of trumpet, was a guest artist this spring at International Trumpet Week, held at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. Leisring gave master classes and was one of four international performers at an evening solo recital. An elite collection of more than 200 trumpet students and professors from every music conservatory in China attended the recital. In addition to Leisring, the conference featured one other U.S. artist, Jeffrey Piper, International Trumpet Guild president. Performers and clinicians from Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Thailand and China were also represented.

Following the week-long conference, Leisring traveled to Chengdu, China. While there, he was a guest at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, considered the world's largest arts conservatory with more than 10,000 students. During his three days at the conservatory,  Leisring gave five master classes and performed a solo recital attended by faculty, students and directors.

"China is at a fascinating crossroads in terms of its instrumental music education," said Leisring. "The musical impact of its pianists, singers and string players is well known and there is currently a great interest in bringing the level of brass and wind playing in China to the level found in the U.S. and Europe."  Leisring added, “I hope to take advantage of that interest by following up on invitations to return to various music conservatories in China and bring some of the talented Chinese students to KU to study."

For more information, contact the KU Department of Music and Dance in the School of Fine Arts at 785-864-3436.