BYU School of Music Welcomes New Faculty
SHEA OWENS
Assistant Professor, Classical Voice
Director of Opera
Education:
MM, Rice University
BM, Brigham Young University
Baritone Shea Owens, in his final season with the Theater Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra in St. Gallen, Switzerland, was a featured soloist in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Cimarosa’s Il maestro di cappella, and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. He will round off the season performing as Alvaro in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and the Officer in Franz Schmidt’s Notre Dame.
In the 2019-2020 season, Mr. Owens performed the roles of Valentin in Gounod’s Faust, Agamemnon in Offenbach’s comedy La belle Hélène, and the Baron in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon. Roles that were postponed because of the pandemic include Gaveston in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence, Prince Ottokar in Der Freischütz, and the baritone soloist in Carmina burana. In the previous season, Mr. Owens performed as Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Prince Iwan and The Chamberlain in a double bill of Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky’s Kaschey the Immortal and The Nightingale, and the baritone soloist in staged performances of Haydn’s The Seasons.
Other past roles include Marcello in La bohème, Charlie in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, Seneca in Jonathan Dawe’s Nero and the Fall of Lehman Brothers, Edward Kynaston in Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players, Colonel Ricci in Stephen Sondheim’s Passion, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, the title role in John Musto’s Bastianello, and Pacuvio in Rossini’s The Touchstone.
In addition to operatic and concert work, Mr. Owens has sung in community outreach performances, including hundreds of shows for school children as a young artist with Utah Opera, and an especially memorable collaboration with Wolf Trap Opera and Taffety Punk Theater Company to raise awareness about violence against women.
Mr. Owens is thrilled to be returning to BYU as an Assistant Professor of Voice and the Director of Opera, and very much looks forward to working with the wonderful faculty and students.
SHAWN SMITH
Associate Professor of Conducting
Director of Bands
Education:
DMA, Arizona State University
MM, Louisiana State University
BM, Boise State University
Shawn Smith has served as Director of Bands at the university level for fifteen years and will now fill that position here at the BYU School of Music. He was formerly Associate Professor of Conducting and Director of Bands at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and also served the same role at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. In high demand as a band and orchestra conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Smith has been invited to conduct professional and educational ensembles throughout the United States and internationally. His performances have been heard numerous times on American Public Media’s Performance Today, the most popular classical music radio program in the United States.
Equally at home with opera and musical theater productions, Smith has conducted pit orchestras for the Marriage of Figaro and a six-week run of Les Misérables. Smith conducts regularly in Brazil including professional and community bands from the large cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to small towns and villages in Northern Brazil. Smith has presented numerous educational clinics and speeches, most notably at the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and at state music conventions in Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. He has also presented research at national and international conferences in the United States, Europe, and South America. As a public school teacher, Smith served as Director of Bands and Orchestra at one of the largest high schools in Idaho where he successfully led a comprehensive instrumental music program.
ERIN BAILEY
Assistant Professor, Music Education (General)
Education:
PhD, University of Utah
MM, Brigham Young University
BM, Brigham Young University
Erin Bailey is very excited to return to Brigham Young University. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Choral Music Education from Brigham Young University and has fond memories of working with amazing mentors. She recently received her Ph.D. in Music Education from The University of Utah, where she was honored to be the Leroy J. Robertson Foundation Endowment Award Recipient.
She was fortunate to attend the Summer Voice Institute and is an NCVS-trained vocologist. Her research interests include music and mental health, music teacher education, vocology, general music education, and choral conducting. Erin taught for over a decade in middle and high schools in Utah and California. In addition, she served as director and co-founder of Cantemus Youth Chorus and Encore Community Choir in California. Erin was a member of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square but tells everyone her favorite performing experiences were right here in the BYU Choirs!
Upcoming School of Music Events
Awards and Achievements
Piano Faculty Jihea Hong-Park recently adjudicated the 2020-2021 MTNA Eastern Division Piano Competition in both the Senior Piano Performance and Senior Piano Duet divisions.
Recently, piano faculty Jihea Hong-Park’s proposal entitled “A Year of Experimentation: Piano Studio as a Place of Belonging, Engagement, and Ownership” has been accepted at the 2021 National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP). Her workshop will be presented during the Main Conference, July 28-31, 2021 as well as on the Independent Music Teachers Preconference on July 13, 2021.
Dr. Brittany Nixon May has been nominated and chosen to receive the award for Superior Accomplishment in Music Education for the 2019-2020 school year at the Utah Music Educators Association (UMEA) Professional Development Conference on February 6, 2021. This award is awarded for one, specifically outstanding accomplishment. This award could be granted for accomplishments such as: special scholarship; grants; recognition from other professional organizations; national or regional convention performances; prestigious conducting invitations; workshop presentations. Based on Dr. May’s work in compiling music educator licensing requirements for NAfME, we feel that she truly exemplifies these standards. We hope you will join us in congratulating Dr. May in this accomplishment!
Angela Whiting, Voice Student of Janilyn Anderson, was awarded as a regional finalist and ultimately the 3rd place winner in the Cal-Western Regional NATS Vocal Competition. She competed in the Lower College, Musical Theatre Division. She is now eligible to compete in the National NATS Competition (July 2021).
BYU alum and trombonist Master Sgt. Karl Johnson performed in the inauguration yesterday in “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. The band provided music for the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol while seated directly beneath the inaugural platform. The band performed “Hail to the Chief” to honor President Biden, in addition to accompanying Lady Gaga on the national anthem.
Tangents Percussion Quartet: Peyton Gleave, Tanner Johnson, Robert Oldroyd, Nathan Winters - “Montañesa music video”
Montañesa is a beautiful work written for piano by one of Spain’s most important composers, Manuel de Falla. It is the third in the collection of “Cuatro Piezas Españolas.” Montañesa evokes a mountainous landscape in Northern Spain. This arrangement was done by Dr. Darren Bastian, Assistant Professor of Music at Brigham Young University. Tangents Percussion Quartet is a premier performance group from BYU that focuses on outreach and connection.
Congratulations to Ariel Wong, BYU sophomore and piano performance major. She was the winner of MTNA’s 2021 Southwest regional division competition for the high school division. Previously, she was the 1st prize winner for the state of Utah. (Ariel skipped a grade, and being 18, still qualified to compete in this division.) She competed against the state winners from the Southwest region of the US including California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico. She now moves onto the national finals, for the competition in March. Her repertoire included Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, Op.54, Dutilleux’s Chorale and Variations, and Wagner-Liszt’s Liebestod. Ariel is from Hong Kong. This is the 2nd year in a row that a BYU student has made it to the national finals. Here is a video of her playing Rachmaninov, while competing in the 2020 Emory Young Artist competition, in Atlanta, where she was prize winner:
Dr. Andrew Crane was invited to be a choral adjudicator for a virtual choral festival sponsored by McKendree University (Lebanon, Illinois). This involved three days of critiquing pre-recorded choir performances over Zoom. (February 2021)
Watch the China Spectacular livestream at the link below!
May 10, 2019 7:30 p.m.
May 11, 2019 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
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The mission of the School is revealed in the daily activities of the faculty, administration, staff and students.
Featured Division This Week: String Performance
Thousands applauded last semester in the de Jong Concert Hall, while more than twelve thousand others cheered at the same time in fifty other countries. Thanks to BYU School of Music’s new streaming system, anyone around the world with Internet can join the audience for many of our events.
The new experience provides three high-definition cameras, each equipped with the ability to zoom in, pan out and switch angles. These effects are hand-operated to provide a personalized tour of each performance while highlighting individual performers. Read more.
Celebrate Musical Artistry
Collaboration and artistic cooperation
The School of Music celebrates musical artistry and understanding as core elements of the human experience, crucial components of a liberal education, and central aspects of a spiritual life.
In the School of Music, students learn self-expression and self-discipline through rigorous practice and passionate performance. They develop an acute sensitivity for collaboration and artistic cooperation through intensive ensemble work. In the study of music theory and history, students learn to hear and appreciate various musical languages, distinguish nuances of style, and discern the connections between musical developments and their cultural contexts.
Students learn in a variety of situations: private lessons, small seminars, multimedia labs, ensembles, recitals, and lectures. They are encouraged to participate actively in the vibrant musical environment of the School of Music by attending concerts, lectures, and workshops, and by contributing to a student culture of independently motivated artistic engagement. These experiences foster a holistic approach that embraces academic rigor, artistic intuition, creative ambition, physical grace, and expressive eloquence.
In pursuit of the University’s spiritual aims, students learn the divinity inherent in creativity and the devotion expressed by the nurturing of one’s craft.
Take a look at our 
calendar.
calendar.Purchase tickets for the many events featured throughout the year in the college.
The Music Dance Theatre, a nationally accredited course of study leading to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at BYU, is an interdisciplinary, limited enrollment program designed to train young performers for a career in musical theatre and related performance disciplines.
Performing Arts Management is the managing agency for BYU’s performing companies and functions in professional as well as educational circles. The touring program typically has 400 performances each year, reaches 140 cities in 20 countries annually, and appear before millions on foreign and domestic television.
Group for New Music features student and faculty performers and conductors presenting the prominent works of our time. The concerts frequently include World and US premieres of BYU faculty compositions, and provide students with an excellent opportunity to experience music at the cutting edge.
BYU Opera Theatre is the longest continuing opera training program west of the Mississippi. Fall semester features a full opera production, with opera scenes in the winter, and a chamber opera each spring. The Opera Workshop class provides additional training in skills for performance and interpretation.
BYU School of Music On-Air at Classical 89
BYU School of Music On-Air features the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Singers, Concert Choir, Men’s and Women’s Choruses, and other select faculty and student performers.
SCHEDULE
Weekdays at 1 and 8:30 pm (MDT)
on 89.1 FM or online at www.classical89.org/streaming
