Miami University Department of Music

10/02/2025

Meet your future mentor: Patrick Schleker

Why Miami? Because here you’ll be learning timpani and percussion from a musician who balances high-profile performance and devoted teaching.

Patrick Schleker has served as Principal Timpanist of the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops since 2006. He holds a B.M. in Percussion from Northern Illinois University and an M.M. from Cleveland State University. Beyond orchestral work, he has composed and arranged for percussion ensembles, marching band, and chamber ensembles. He has also performed numerous concerts with chamber groups like concert:nova, and most recently appeared at the Lakes Area Music Festival.

At Miami, as a percussion faculty member, he shares his orchestral rigor and expressive detail with students. Under his mentorship, you’ll gain more than technique—you will
learn what it means to perform at the highest level, to shape sound with precision, and you will grow as a musician, an artist, and a person.

This is Why Miami.

09/30/2025

Why Miami? Meet Dr. Reina Dickey. At Miami, you will be guided by someone who sees music education, performance, and representation as inseparable. Dr. Reina Dickey, Assistant Professor of Music, directs the Chamber Singers, co-directs the Miami Choral Collective, teaches choral courses, and mentors the student teachers at Miami University.

Her academic journey includes a DMA in Conducting from the University of Cincinnati’s CCM, an MM from Temple University, and a BM in Music Education from Miami University. She's passionate about building community through music, with MUSE, Cincinnati's Women's Choir, one of the oldest social justice choirs in the country, founded in 1984.

She also performs with professional ensembles nationwide, including the Spoleto Festival USA, Vocal Arts Ensemble (Cincinnati), and the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir.

At Miami, under Dr. Dickey’s mentorship, you’ll grow not only as a conductor and choral artist but also as a musician who understands inclusion, repertoire, and the power of music to shape history and community.

This is Why Miami.

09/28/2025

Meet your future mentor: Dr. Ryan Yahl

Why Miami? Because here you learn from a leader who lives and breathes band—concert, marching, and athletic—and will work to draw out your best performance.

Dr. Yahl is Visiting Associate Director of Bands & Director of Athletic Bands at Miami University, where he directs the MUMB, Pep-Band for Men’s and Women’s Basketball and Ice Hockey, and conducts the Symphony Band. In addition he teaches courses in music education. He taught middle and high school band in Ohio for nine years, later served as Assistant Director of Bands at East Texas A&M University (formerly Texas A&M University-Commerce).

Known for his strong leadership and community-driven approach, Dr. Yahl connects discipline with expression, maintaining tradition while staying on top of current trends and innovations in the wind band and marching arts.

At Miami, under Dr. Yahl, you’ll gain not just skill—you’ll gain the chance to perform in a highly visible ensemble and experience the kind of leadership that turns practice into artistry.

This is Why Miami.

09/27/2025

From Miami to the New York Philharmonic: Sonya Headlam

Soprano Sonya Headlam brings expressive artistry to concert halls, classrooms, and sacred spaces, performing music from the Baroque to the 21st century. She is praised for interpretations that connect history with today’s audiences.

She has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada), and North Carolina Symphony, with ongoing collaborations with Apollo’s Fire and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street. This season includes Mozart’s Requiem at Cleveland’s Severance Hall and Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Wall Street.

A performer-scholar, Headlam earned her DMA at Rutgers University, with research on 20th- and 21st-century Goethe settings and the music of Ignatius Sancho, an 18th-century Black British composer. Her recordings include In the Salon of Madame Brillon (Acis, 2023), with upcoming releases featuring Sancho’s music and Trevor Weston’s Reflections.

We are so proud of your success!

09/26/2025

09/26/2025

Why Miami? Meet your future mentor: Harvey Thurmer Because here you learn from a violinist whose artistry is global in reach and deeply invested in making every student’s sound matter.

Dr. Thurmer is Professor of Violin and Strings Area Coordinator at Miami University. He studied with legendary teachers including Dorothy DeLay and Louis Krasner at New England Conservatory, and Sandor Végh at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

As a soloist, concertmaster, and chamber musician, he has performed across Europe in major festivals and halls such as Salzburg, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. His teaching also has international scope, with appointments at Graz Musikhochschule, the Royal College of Music in Manchester, and summer academies in Sweden and Austria. He is a teacher of the Alexander Technique, which is offered at major conservatories worldwide.

At Miami, under Prof. Thurmer, you’ll not only grow technically—you’ll develop interpretive depth, international perspective, and the confidence to take your violin, and your artistry, anywhere.

This is Why Miami.

09/25/2025

From Miami to the Met: Meet Megan Moore

“My time at Miami allowed me a solid foundation in vocal technique, musicianship skills, and language proficiency, all while allowing formative performance opportunities I couldn’t have gotten elsewhere! Miami has shaped me into the singer and person I am today.” – Megan Moore

Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore has graced stages around the world, from the Metropolitan Opera to Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Symphony, and beyond. Known for her brilliant interpretations of Rossini, Mozart, and Handel, she brings artistry to everything from opera to recital to newly commissioned works.

Here Megan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY2YbLeV4uk

Megan will be making her Cincinnati debut in a recital at Memorial Hall on October 12th @ 3pm. For tickets visit MemorialHallOTR@ORG or call 513-977-3383.

09/25/2025

"Inspirations" - Wednesday, October 8, 7:30 pm, Hall Auditorium

Music has a remarkable power to connect people. It can carry us back through memory, uplift us with rhythm and energy, or pause our busy lives to let us breathe more deeply. The works on this program reveal how composers translate their own inspirations into sound, and how those sounds can, in turn, inspire us. We are excited to share this lineup of music that has reached across time to inspire and move our audiences.

Program
Sailing with Whales - Galante
Sanctuary - Ticheli
Symphony No. 2, Mvmt. III - Apollo Unleashed - Ticheli
Fairest of the Fair - Sousa
Fantasy on a Theme by Sousa - Boysen

09/24/2025

Meet your future mentor: Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle

Why Miami? Because here you’ll learn from a scholar-performer whose work shapes how we understand music, history, and culture.

Dr. Kernodle is a University Distinguished Professor in Musicology, specializing in African American music, concert and popular, and gender studies. Her scholarship gives voice to the artists who’ve too often been overlooked — her biography Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams is one example among many.

She has shaped national understanding of music through editing roles (Encyclopedia of African American Music, New Grove revised edition), consulting with NPR, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Smithsonian, BBC, and curating programs like I Dream a World that elevate Black composers and women in jazz.

At Miami, Dr. Kernodle doesn’t just teach music history—she teaches musical citizenship: how your voice, your identity, and your story matter in the creation and interpretation of art.

This is Why Miami.

09/24/2025

From Miami to the Metropolitan Opera
“My time at Miami allowed me a solid foundation in vocal technique, musicianship skills, and language proficiency, all while allowing formative performance opportunities I couldn’t have gotten elsewhere! Miami has shaped me into the singer and person I am today.” – Megan Moore

Mezzo-soprano Megan Moore has graced stages around the world, from the Metropolitan Opera to Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Symphony, and beyond. Known for her brilliant interpretations of Rossini, Mozart, and Handel, she brings artistry to everything from opera to recital to newly commissioned works.

Hear Megan: https://youtu.be/aY2YbLeV4uk?si=ckJefUTRoa2BzKU9

Megan will return to make her Cincinnati Debut at Memorial Hall on October 13, 2025. For tickets visit MemorialHallOTR.org or call 513-977-8838.

We couldn’t be prouder of Megan’s journey from Miami University to international acclaim.

09/23/2025

Why Miami? Meet your future mentor: Jaime Morales-Matos

Why Miami? Because here, you’re guided by a trombonist and conductor whose artistry spans orchestras, continents, and community—and who brings every performance into the studio. Jaime Morales-Matos, Associate Professor of Trombone and Brass Area Coordinator, combines global artistry with dedicated mentorship at Miami University.

His performance résumé includes solo and orchestral appearances with the Cincinnati Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and internationally with Spain’s Asturias, Granada, and Galicia Orchestras. As a conductor, he leads ensembles such as the Central Ohio Symphony and Clermont Philharmonic, with engagements across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and his native Puerto Rico.

Equally devoted to teaching, Prof. Morales-Matos mentors both undergraduate and graduate students, leads masterclasses throughout the Americas, and premieres new works—helping his students not only perform music but actively shape its future.

At Miami, under his mentorship, you won’t just learn technique—you’ll learn what it means to be a maker: a performer, a collaborator, and a conductor of your own artistic path.

This is Why Miami.

09/23/2025

Join us for a night of music this Friday, September 26th at Hall Auditorium.