Shenandoah Conservatory welcomed approximately 200 alumni for its 2023 Conservatory Alumni Reunion held on the main campus of Shenandoah University from Friday, March 31, through Sunday, April 2.
The weekend kicked off with a Pit Party at Abrams Creek Amphitheatre where alumni enjoyed s’mores with current Shenandoah students around the fire. On Saturday, more than 100 alumni, faculty/staff and friends attended the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre (SSMT) & Friends Reunion, where participants reminisced about their time at the university and in the SSMT program. The class of 1973 celebrated its 50th reunion with a champagne toast on Saturday. Shenandoah also honored recently retired faculty members at the Conservatory Faculty Retirement Celebration on Sunday morning. Alumni had the opportunity to reconnect with their former professors and wish them well in their new adventures.
Performance highlights from the weekend included concerts by the Shenandoah Dance Ensemble featuring original works by faculty choreographers Adjunct Instructor of Dance Lindsay Browning, B.F.A.; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance Tiffanie Carson, M.F.A.; Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor of Dance Ting-Yu Chen ’19, Ed.D., and Assistant Professor of Modern Dance Daniel Padierna, M.F.A.; as well as a double bill of the Symphony Orchestra performing Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in a special concert celebrating the retirement of Conductor, Director of Orchestral Studies and Professor of Conducting Jan Wagner, Diploma and Korrepetitions Praxis, Academy of Music in Vienna (Austria). Guitar Foundation of America’s 2018 Rose Augustine Grand Prize Winner Raphaël Feuillâtre shared a free recital on Friday evening and internationally acclaimed concert pianist Ching-Yun Hu presented a program of works by Liszt as part of the World of the Piano series.
