UNLV Opera Theatre and director Linda Lister (both Music) have been selected as a finalist in the Musical Theatre Division of the National Opera Association collegiate opera scenes competition and will be traveling to Santa Barbara, California, for the final competition in January.

UNLV Jazz Ensemble recently received an outstanding review from the internationally respected publication JazzTimes for its latest CD, Extra Credit/Latin Journey II. This is the ensemble's seventh consecutive review. More than 400 CDs were submitted from distinguished programs worldwide, and only four were selected for review.

Richard Miller (Music) and Katrina Liu (Teaching & Learning) are co-directors of a team from the School of Music and the College of Education that has received a $78,000 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant. The grant is for the project "Learning about China through Music," which is a collaboration with the Clark County School District…

Timothy Jones (Music) had the second edition of his book, Rock 'n' Roll Origins & Innovators, released in August 2016. The book is by Jones (lead author) and Jim McIntosh (co-author) and published by Kendall Hunt. Artwork for the cover was donated by Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. This is a full-color edition with many…

Linda Lister (Music) is co-author of the newly published book Voice Secrets: 100 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Singer (Rowman & Littlefield). 

Janis McKay (Music) has just published a book with the University of Nevada Press,  Played Out on the Strip: The Rise and Fall of Las Vegas Casino Bands. From 1940 to 1989, nearly every hotel on the Las Vegas Strip employed a full-time band or orchestra. After the late 1980s, when control of the casinos changed hands from independent…

Paul Bordenkircher (Music) recently contributed an article to Music Connection, a leading monthly national publication related to music industry. Titled "Top 12 Mobile Apps for Music Businesses," the article was published in the magazine's monthly Tip Jar column in the July issue. A 30-year veteran of the music industry, focusing the last 18 years…

The UNLV Jazz Program took home several awards at the 2015 Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival in March. UNLV Jazz Ensemble I, conducted by Dave Loeb and Nathan Tanouye, received second place in the College Big Band Division, competing among some of the finest university jazz ensembles in the nation. The UNLV Latin Jazz Ensemble, directed by…

Nicole Thomas (Music) has been accepted to the Houston Grand Opera Young Artist Academy for summer 2015. A mezzo-soprano, she was accepted from a highly completive field of more than 1,000 singers. Singers are chosen by videotaped audition and recommendation only. The first UNLV student to be accepted into this program, she also was Nevada's first…

UNLV Jazz Studies (Music) saw its performing groups invited to compete at the 58th annual Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival -- the sixth consecutive year that UNLV groups have received an invitation. The festival, which draws top student musicians from around the world, will take place this month in Monterey, Calif. UNLV's students will…

Linda Lister, Stephanie Weiss, Lillian Roberts, Xavier Brown, and Cheyna Alexander (all Music) of UNLV Opera won in two categories at the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition, which took place at the national convention in Greensboro, N.C. in January. UNLV Opera won in both the graduate and musical theatre divisions.

Anthony LaBounty (Music) made his compositional debut at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 25 with the world premiere of "Psalm 92," an original work for wind symphony commissioned by Travis Pardee, director of the Foothill Wind Symphony.