Today's Student Spotlight Interview features Alyssa Prichard, a recent graduate of Ironwood Ridge High School in Tucson, AZl.  Alyssa first joined my studio in 2016 and is currently a participant at the renowned Brevard Summer Music Festival in North Carolina.  It has been remarkable to see Alyssa's musical growth over these past two years.  Her numerous successes and accomplishments have proven that hard work and dedication will always prevail!  It's been an absolute privilege working with Alyssa and I'm wishing her the absolute best as she begins her musical journey at The U of A on a merit scholarship this Fall!

In March of 2018, I auditioned for The National Collegiate Solo Competition hosted by The United States Army Band "Pershing's Own."  With a few hundred applicants every year, I was honored to be chosen as the NCSC winner and was given the special opportunity to perform as a featured soloist with the Pershing's Own. The Army flew me out to Washington D.C. last week to rehearse with the band and perform Emmanuel Sejourne's Concerto for Marimba at their outdoor concert in front of the United States Capitol Building.  It was an absolute privilege and honor to share the stage with such remarkable musicians and it's an experience I won't soon forget.

It's winter break now and I've successfully completed my first semester of grad school!  As I reflect on these past five months and prepare for the New Year, I figured it was long overdue to finally post about my experiences in grad school thus far.  So, that being said, here is my attempt to summarize everything that has happened since my last website update back in June...

I'm back home in the United States after spending the past two weeks in Powell River, British Columbia for the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy.  This was my second year attending PRISMA and I had such a fabulous time reconnecting with friends from last summer, as well as meeting many new incredible musicians from around the world.  The members of our percussion section came from Texas, Washington, Canada, and South Africa!  Continue reading as I describe my unique experiences and share some photos from PRISMA 2017!

I am happy to announce that I have officially completed my Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance and have graduated from The University of Arizona! I will be moving to Athens, Georgia on August 1st to begin my studies, on a full graduate assistantship, at the University of Georgia.  I will be pursuing a Master of Music in Percussion Performance with Timothy K. Adams, Jr. (former timpanist of the Pittsburgh Symphony) and Kimberly Toscano-Adams (former timpanist of the Tucson Symphony).

This summer has been relaxing as I've taken some time to recover from the craziness of graduation season. But, with some exciting performances on the immediate horizon, I decided it was time to jump back on my website and provide some updates for all of you! 

A sincere thank you to all of you that have been following along with my weekly blog posts outlining my progress in planning my benefit concert, ...in loving memory. Now that the performance is over and the funds have been collected, I decided it would be important to provided one final, conclusive post about the concert. Read below to watch a short video summary of the event, explore my detailed "timeline" for planning the event, read my final reflections on the event, and, on an unrelated note, discover where I'll be attending graduate school next year!!