Faculty Activities

Meredith Brammeier

Meredith Brammeier was awarded the Richard K. Simon Award for Outstanding Career Achievement in Teaching. She was presented with the award at the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Faculty and Staff Awards presentation on May 31 in the Performing Arts Center Lobby. At the end of June, she traveled to Eugene, Oregon, where she spent three weeks as a vocal fellow for the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. She sang the premiere of “Be Careful What You Ask For” by Stacey Phillips and was a pianist for the premieres of works by Luis Fernando Ruiz-Pacheco and Daniel Romberger. In addition, she conducted the premiere of her new piece, “Of Many, One,” for soprano saxophone, clarinet, bassoon and piano. Brammeier wrote a second new piece, “Turning,” over the summer for SATB (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) chorus and piano, to a text by local poet Sylvia Alcon. Commissioned by the Cuesta Concord Chorus and funded by a CLA summer stipend, this piece will be taken on tour to the U.K. and France next summer, culminating in a performance at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer on July 4 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy.

Dave Becker

Left to right: Darrell Voss, Dave Becker, Dylan Johnson,
Inga Swearingen, Bob Bennett and Marshall Otwell

Dave Becker performed as part of the Dave Becker Central Coast All-Stars on Sept. 21 on the Education Stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Members of the sextet include Music Department alumni Darrell Voss (Music, ’94) drums; and Inga Swearingen (Music, ’02), vocals. The other members of the group include Bob Bennet, trumpet; Dylan Johnson, bass; and Marshall Otwell, piano. They played an aggressive and exciting set of standards and originals to an appreciative crowd. Becker teaches jazz saxophone at Cal Poly, is the acting director of the University Jazz Bands, while Paul Rinzler is on sabbatical fall quarter.

Scott Glysson

Scott Glysson working with high school students in Kenya

Scott Glysson traveled to Kenya Sept. 7-17 to work with various choirs and choral directors across the country. He was selected to represent the U.S. in the American Choral Directors Association International Conductors Exchange Program Fellowship. Highlights included running a conducting workshop for 120 Kenyan choral directors and conducting the first ever all-Kenyan choral/orchestral performance — Vivaldi's "Gloria" — in Nairobi. Glysson was asked to return to run a weeklong intensive choral conducting workshop for select conductors.

Alyson McLamore

Alyson McLamore wrote program notes during the 2017-18 academic year for both the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale and Festival Mozaic’s Wintermezzo series. She traveled to Orlando, Florida, in March to deliver a paper titled, “Mozart in the Middle: London’s ‘Musical Children,’” at the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. After assisting with a commencement presentation, “The Young and the Rest-Less,” for the 2018 graduating music majors in June, she supported the 2018 summer Festival Mozaic with program notes and pre-concert talks. McLamore was elected treasurer of the Mozart Society of America, and her term will run 2018-20.

New Faculty

Amy Goymerac

Amy Goymerac is a new applied voice instructor. She earned a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Cal Poly, where she was also a member of the Cal Poly Choirs! In April she’ll premiere the role of Charlotte in Kirk Mechem’s new opera, “Pride and Prejudice,” with Redwood Symphony in Redwood City, California.

Sam Shalhoub

Sam Shalhoub is acting director of the Arab Music Enesmble for 2018-19 while Ken Habib is on sabbatical. Shalhoub holds a Master of Arts degree in performance practice from UC Santa Cruz. He guest conducted the university’s Wind Ensemble and Guitar Ensemble, composed for solo guitar and taught musicianship to undergraduates.