Announcements from the College of Fine Arts

TCU alumnus Jaime Castañeda has been appointed the new artistic director of Dallas Theater Center, one of the nation’s leading regional theaters. He will assume the role in July 2026, following the conclusion of the 2025–26 season.

Castañeda brings extensive national experience, having directed at major institutions including American Conservatory Theater, South Coast Repertory, Huntington Theatre Company and La Jolla Playhouse. His career also includes work in New York as an artistic associate with the Atlantic Theater Company, as well as a longstanding connection to North Texas, where he began his career and previously directed at Dallas Theater Center and other regional companies.

A graduate of Texas Christian University, where he earned his BFA, Castañeda returns to Texas in what he describes as a “homecoming.” He is widely recognized for his commitment to developing new work and supporting emerging artists, and his appointment marks an exciting new chapter for Dallas Theater Center and the broader arts community.

Dr. Quanzhou Yan has been awarded First Prize at the inaugural WPTA International Piano Competition in Australia. The honor includes a cash prize and solo recital engagements across Austria, Australia, Serbia and Spain.

Yan earned both his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Texas Christian University, where he studied with Dr. Tamás Ungár, and now serves as adjunct faculty at TCU. His achievement reflects both his artistry and the strength of the School of Music.

The School for Classical & Contemporary Dance (SCCDance) presents Epilogue, a concert of original works created by the graduating class of 2026 as their capstone project in fulfillment of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, running April 23–25. The program features a dynamic mix of classical and contemporary pieces that explore a wide range of ideas and choreographic approaches. Each performance showcases seven new works, highlighting diverse concepts and movement styles.

View event on the TCU Calendar.

Dr. Mikhail “Misha” Galaganov, Professor of Viola at the TCU School of Music, has released a new edition of Telemann’s "Da Gamba Fantasies," now available through Bärenreiter Verlag and distributors worldwide. The publication marks an important addition to the viola repertoire, offering a carefully developed and performance-informed edition of these Baroque works.

Arts Fort Worth has named its 2026 Heart of Gold Award recipients, recognizing community leaders whose work continues to shape and strengthen the local arts landscape.

Among this year’s honorees is Sydney Peel ’19 who earned her bachelor’s degree in art education from the TCU College of Fine Arts. Peel is the resident artist at Cook Children’s Medical Center, where she leads patient-centered visual arts programming and develops creative initiatives that support healing, expression and connection. A practicing artist and co-founder of Tiny Joys, her work focuses on expanding access to meaningful art experiences and highlighting the impact of creativity in everyday life.

The Heart of Gold Awards celebrate individuals who embody Arts Fort Worth’s values of authentic passion and intentional equity. Through their contributions, each recipient plays a vital role in fostering a more vibrant, inclusive and connected arts community.

Celebrating its 80th Anniversary, the Fort Worth Opera ends its season with an April performance of Giacomo Puccini’s "Madama Butterfly"—the same work featured in the company’s inaugural 1946-1947 season. The TCU College of Fine Arts’ tenor Corey Trahan, instructor and chair of music and director of TCU Opera Studio, appears as Goro, part of what Opera World called a “powerhouse” international cast.

TCU returns as lead community sponsor of the Fort Worth Art Fair, showcasing its College of Fine Arts MFA Candidate Gallery and highlighting emerging talent from one of the region’s leading studio arts programs. The partnership continues to strengthen connections between the university and Fort Worth’s vibrant arts community.

The Fort Worth Art Fair brings together more than 100 local and Texas-based artists, along with a dynamic lineup of musicians, orchestras and DJs, creating a multi-day celebration of the creatives shaping the city’s cultural landscape. The event’s expanded format includes opportunities for artists to participate through both curated gallery selections and an open call, broadening access for artists across the state.

Free and open to the public, the fair offers an accessible and engaging experience for visitors while supporting the growth of the local arts scene. More details can be found on the FWAF website.

With his Carnegie Hall debut this spring, Patrick Vu ’22 reached a major career milestone, presenting the world premiere of a newly commissioned choral work. Listed as composer-in-residence in the concert program, Vu joined a distinguished roster of artists to be featured on one of the world’s most prestigious stages.

An award-winning composer from Allen, Texas, Vu has quickly gained national recognition, with performances and commissions from leading organizations including VocalEssence, Dallas Chamber Choir, Chorus Austin, the Princeton Singers and Fort Worth Opera. His music has been featured at regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and in 2023 he received the association’s Raymond Brock Prize for Student Composers for his piece “On the Hillside.”

Vu earned a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Bachelor of Music Education in Vocal Music Education from Texas Christian University. He later completed a Master of Music in choral conducting at Texas Tech University, continuing to build a career that is rapidly establishing him as a leading emerging voice in contemporary choral music.

Learn more about Patrick Vu and his work

Rhonda Schaller, assistant professor of graphic design, collaborated with sophomore graphic design majors Jordan Elizalde and Gabe Franco for international recognition. The three earned a Silver Award in Graphics Advertising 2026 with their work selected for inclusion in both the online gallery and the forthcoming printed annual. Schaller completed all design and social media work for the 2025–2026 Theatre TCU season, intentionally integrating students into the professional design process. The students contributed poster designs that helped establish a strong, unified visual identity for the season through layered collages of photography, illustration and texture.

“Competing alongside submissions from seasoned professionals worldwide, the project exemplifies the strength of faculty-student collaboration at TCU and the professional caliber of its design education,” said David Elizalde ’03 (MBA ’07), professor and chair of the TCU Department of Design. “Because Theatre TCU productions are rooted in student participation, the design process itself mirrored that philosophy, students and faculty working side-by-side to produce work on a global stage.”

Professional development is a cornerstone of the Department of Design’s mission, and a graduating senior had the opportunity this fall to engage directly with the global design industry. Samuel Wumbee, BFA Graphic Design senior, attended Adobe MAX 2025 in Los Angeles — one of the world’s premier creative conferences — where over 10,000 designers, technologists, and industry leaders convened.

“Attending Adobe MAX 2025 was truly transformative as a graduating senior in the TCU Design Program,” Wumbee said. “Exploring Adobe’s newest creative tools and seeing how they’re integrating AI into design gave me a deeper understanding of where the industry is heading. I attended hands-on sessions led by top Adobe evangelists, received valuable portfolio feedback, and connected with creatives from around the world — including designers like Chris Do, Michaela Mucha, and Mohamed Abdulle. The experience strengthened my technical skills, expanded my professional network, and reaffirmed my excitement to enter the design field with confidence and curiosity for what’s next.”

This opportunity exemplifies how the department supports students in pursuing high-impact professional experiences that complement their academic training and prepare them for successful entry into the design profession.

The Department of Design continued a longstanding tradition that merges creative practice with cultural and civic engagement through the 14th Annual Banned Book Jacket Design Competition. Since 2011, Senior Instructor Jan Ballard, in partnership with the TCU Library, has led this annual competition, which invites graphic design students to reimagine book jackets for frequently challenged or banned texts.

The competition encourages students to engage critically with themes of censorship, intellectual freedom, and the power of visual communication. This year’s award recipients include:

1st Place: Olivia Potvin — Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
2nd Place: Avery Gilman — A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
3rd Place(tie): Sydney Snyder — The Stranger by Albert Camus and Claire Kyzar — Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

All submissions were exhibited in the Mary Couts Burnett Library during Banned Books Week, reinforcing the role of design as both a creative and communicative force within the university community. The competition remains a hallmark of the program, blending design excellence with advocacy and public scholarship.

The TCU Department of Design was represented on a national stage at ISAM 2025, hosted by the University of California, Berkeley, where Instructor Timothy Neill presented an innovative curriculum that integrates digital fabrication into first-year design foundations. His presentation highlighted the Flat-Packed Furniture Project, an assignment that challenges students to translate 2D vector-based designs into full-scale 3D prototypes while addressing ergonomics, material strategy, joinery and structural integrity within industry-relevant constraints.

The project exemplifies a scalable pedagogical model that can be adapted across institutions with varying levels of access to makerspaces and fabrication tools. Since the conference, the curriculum has been downloaded by peer institutions nationwide, contributing to a broader dialogue around the role of academic makerspaces in design education.

This initiative reflects strong cross-departmental collaboration with professors Jennifer Cadieux Kimbrel, Amy Roehl and Ellis Heitzke Kirkdorffer and showcases exemplary student work by Gabe Franco and Nolan McDonald. Together, the presentation underscores TCU's leadership in hands-on, process-driven design education that bridges conceptual thinking with real-world making.

Alex Wong plays on a grand piano during a recital Shiu Chung (Alex) Wong, a first-year doctoral student in the TCU School of Music, was recently awarded a Graduate Student Travel Grant funded by the Graduate Student Senate and Graduate Studies. This grant enabled him to travel to Prince George, British Columbia, for a solo piano recital sponsored by the Prince George Conservatory of Music.

Alex donated all proceeds from the recital to the Conservatory’s Bursary and Scholarship Fund. With the support of the local community, the concert raised $760 to benefit students. The January recital at Trinity United Church featured Debussy’s complete Préludes, Book II, and Brahms’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1.

A recipient of the STARS award, Alex is a full-scholarship doctoral student and a graduate assistant at TCU.

Cover of Trendsetter magazine, featuriung Irene Nacif Irene Nacif ’25 was recently featured in Trendsetter magazine, featuring her work with major New York brands at the age of 22. Nacif graduated with two degrees, one in design studies from the College of Fine Arts and the other in marketing from TCU Neeley.

To an international audience, Nacif said that completing two degrees simultaneously taught her discipline, organization and resilience, and that she was able to merge what’s behind her two degrees – strategy/communication and creative direction/design – to form her career.

See the full story from Trendsetter.

Headshot of Master of Music student Qiaotong Liu wearing a black dress. We are proud to share that Master of Music student Qiaotong Liu has earned first prize in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Young Artist Piano Competition for the state of Texas. This highly competitive event features top pianists from seven leading Texas university music programs, making her achievement especially distinguished.

Qiaotong will now advance to the MTNA Southwest Division round, submitting a recorded performance to compete against first-place winners from across the region. Winners from this round will move on to the National Finals in Chicago this March.

Group photo of PianoTexas participants standing on stage in The Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU.

We are thrilled to share exciting news from the PianoTexas International Festival & Academy, presented by the School of Music. At the 2025 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, one of the most prestigious events in the global music scene, four of the 11 finalists were PianoTexas alumni:

Eric Lu (2015) – First Prize
Zitong Wang (2016) – Third Prize
Piotr Alexewicz (2024) – Fifth Prize
William Yang (2019) – Sixth Prize

Congratulations to Professor Tamás Ungár, founder and artistic director of PianoTexas, and Melody Ouyang, festival manager, for their continued leadership in establishing PianoTexas as one of the premier summer piano festivals.

Event graphic for Fort Worth Opera's opening season concert. The graphic features the text "Jonathan Teteleman in concert" with a headshot of Tetelman to the right.

With performances at only two other iconic venues, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Carnegie Hall in New York City, Fort Worth is set to welcome internationally acclaimed tenor Jonathan Tetelman.

Tetelman will take the stage at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU for a one-night-only performance that marks the opening concert of Fort Worth Opera’s 80th anniversary season on Friday, Oct. 10.

A Deutsche Grammophon recording artist and one of opera’s most sought-after stars, Tetelman has captivated audiences with his powerful voice and magnetic stage presence, performing from Lisbon to Prague, and Istanbul to Taipei.

Joining him is acclaimed conductor and pianist Michael Recchiuti, who has shared the stage with opera legends like Renée Fleming and icons like Vanessa Williams. Together, they promise an evening of extraordinary artistry, right here on the TCU campus.

Purchase your tickets

Assistant Professor of Art History Wendy Sepponen, Ph.D. , has been awarded the prestigious I Tatti/Museo Nacional del Prado Joint Fellowship, a highly competitive award offered annually by the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies and the Museo Nacional del Prado.

During the next academic year, Sepponen will complete her book manuscript while conducting research at I Tatti in Florence and the Prado in Madrid. The fellowship supports advanced projects that explore connections between Italy and Spain during the Renaissance, including transnational dialogues with Latin America.

From left, James D. Rodriguez, Gwendolyn Alfred, Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao and Eric Laine.

Four School of Music faculty members will present at the International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT) in Toronto this August. Held every four years, ICVT is a premier global conference of voice teachers, featuring master classes and scholarly sessions selected through a highly competitive review process. This year, over 350 proposals were submitted from around the world.

Gwendolyn Alfred, D.M.A., assistant professor of voice, and Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao, D.M.A., associate professor of professional practice in piano, will present “Unspoken Voices: Living Black Women Composers and Their Settings of Black Women Poets,” one of only four evening recitals selected to be featured at the University of Toronto.

James D. Rodriguez, D.M.A., associate professor of voice and voice pedagogy, and Eric Laine, D.M.A., assistant professor of voice, will present a poster session titled “Diversifying Studio Repertoire Assignments,” aimed at expanding inclusive pedagogical practices in the voice studio.

Alfred and Rodriguez are recipients of the College of Fine Arts Dean’s Exceptional Travel Grant and the Dean’s Professional Development Grant, respectively.

Krista Scott

Photo: Taystan Photography

Professor Krista Scott, M.F.A. , will perform “ Wilde Women ,” a solo performance piece, in the Hays Theatre at the TCU Walsh Center for Performing Arts , June 20-22. Originally written during her 2016 sabbatical, Scott has spent the past semester preparing the piece for its upcoming run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. The TCU performances will serve as a preview, giving audiences an early look and a chance to provide feedback before the international debut. Directed by Department of Theatre Chair and Professor Jennifer Engler.

We’re excited to share two leadership updates in the College of Fine Arts!

Martin Blessinger

Martin Blessinger, D.M. , professor of theory and composition in the School of Music , has been appointed Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Graduate Programs. He will oversee faculty promotion and development, graduate curricula and community engagement initiatives.

Charles Freeman

Charles Freeman, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Fashion Merchandising , will take on the additional role of Director of Research and Creative Scholarship Initiatives. He will support faculty with internal and external grant efforts, collaborate with the Office of Research and work alongside Blessinger to support and track research and creative activity across current and new graduate programs.

Suki John , professor in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance , has won the prestigious Chita Rivera Award for Outstanding Choreography in a Feature Film for “ Sh’ma: A Story of Survival .”

Suki John leans against the wall of a dance studio Over the last 30 years, John has developed “ The Sh’ma Project: Move Against Hate ,” a multidisciplinary body of work centered on education, empathy and resilience. Central to the project is “ Sh’ma: A Story of Survival ,” a choreodrama documenting her family’s traumatic experience and survival of the Holocaust.

“I’m extremely honored and surprised to be nominated for this award alongside feature films like Emilia Perez and Wicked,” said John. “I’m very grateful to TCU for its support.”

Of all the nominations, John’s film is the only one told entirely through dance, conveying the full story without dialogue.

“Choreodrama is a genre I’ve worked with for some time, though it’s not very common in the United States,” explained John. “I see it as a way to communicate with a non-dance audience by creating dances where they can recognize the characters and themes, and where the music is transporting.”

Enrico Elisi, Mengyang Pan and Manuel Nawri bow for a standing ovation in the Guoyintang Concert Hall.

Enrico Elisi, D.M.A., Harold D. and Imogen Herndon Professor of Music, recently performed as a featured soloist in Francis Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra” at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Sharing the stage with Mengyang Pan, a professor at the Royal College of Music in London, the performance brought together distinguished artists from three continents in a celebration of musical dialogue across cultures.

Enrico Elisi stands by concert signage

Held in the renowned Guoyintang Concert Hall, the event featured the China Conservatory Symphony Orchestra under the direction of acclaimed German conductor Manuel Nawri of the Eisler Academy in Berlin. The performance served as a powerful example of international collaboration, highlighting music’s role as a bridge between traditions, perspectives and nations.

“This was an extraordinary professional opportunity and one of the most prestigious invitations I’ve received in recent years,” Elisi said.

Part of the conservatory’s annual concert series, the event is a highlight of the region’s cultural calendar, drawing large audiences and showcasing internationally acclaimed artists. During his visit, Elisi also led masterclasses for 80 students, fostering meaningful engagement with students and faculty alike.

The concert program, “Retrospect: The French Chapter of Turn of the Century Music,” included:

Darius Milhaud – Sérénade, Op. 62
Francis Poulenc – Concerto for Two Pianos, FP 61
Vincent d’Indy – Diptyque méditerranéen, Op. 87
Claude Debussy – Iberia, Images pour orchestre

Headshot of Dean Amy Hardison Tully with a purple backdrop. Dean Amy Hardison Tully will serve as the moderator for the “Education in Cultural Institutions” session at the Arts Foward Summit , the inaugural city-wide event happening this weekend. The summit will welcome over 200 guests, including local artists, community members, thought leaders and creatives, for an inspiring day of learning and connection.

The session will explore how to create programming and outreach efforts that educate our communities and make the arts accessible to all audiences.

Featured panelists include:

Alli Rogers Andreen, Manager of Family and Accessibility Programs, Amon Carter Museum of American Art
William Giron, Executive Director of Artes de la Rosa Cultural Center for the Arts at the Rose Marine Theater
Connie Hachette Bargainer, Head of Education, Kimbell Art Museum

A professional string quartet poses for a formal portrait against a black background. The group consists of two violinists, a violist and a cellist, dressed in elegant attire. The two men on the left and right wear black suits and ties, while the woman in the center wears a colorful sleeveless dress. Each musician holds their instrument, looking directly at the camera.

Photo credit: Parker Quartet

Fresh off their acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall, the Parker Quartet will bring the same world-class program to The Van Cliburn Concert Hall at TCU on Monday, March 24.

In addition to the concert, the quartet will lead a masterclass for School of Music students, providing a rare opportunity to learn from some of the finest musicians in the industry.

“It is a privilege and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our students to receive guidance from the Parker Quartet,” said Liz Lee, assistant professor of violin. “They will witness firsthand how world-class musicians interpret and express music, and then experience their artistry live in our own hall. This is a truly special opportunity for our TCU students and community.”

Tickets are not required for this event. Free general admission.

Does Saturday Night Live (SNL) still matter to young comedians?

Department of Theatre alumna Jess Elgene ’17 recently answered this in an Esquire interview, reflecting on SNL’s 50th anniversary. Spoiler: It still means a lot to her!

For Elgene, her SNL screen test wasn’t just an audition—it was the realization of a lifelong dream. “SNL is shrouded in so much excitement and energy that even the audition itself is iconic,” she says. Standing before the show’s producers felt like joining a legacy of talent that launched the careers of her comedy heroes.