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Donald Byrd is a professional jazz trumpeter and returned to his home town in April to perform in the 70th anniversary concert of Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in northwest Detroit .
Audrey Ekdahl Davidson ’61 ‘64, a Western Michigan University professor emerita, was honored at a special Collegium Musicum concert at WSU last November. The concert was a tribute to her scholarship and musicianship.
Norah Duncan IV ’86 is director of the Archdiocesan Chorus in Detroit. Duncan presented a performance of Handel’s Messiah last November. Duncan also is an associate professor of vocal music at WSU and serves as acting associate chair of the Department of Music.
Brandy Nicole Ellis ‘04 held a benefit concert in May in support of her residency at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz. The concert featured Wayne State vocal music students Elizabeth Gray, ‘04, and Allyson Hansen, ‘04.
William Foster ‘51 was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in August, 2003. Foster was director of the Florida A&M University Marching Band for 52 years.
Pamela Glasser ‘76 is a music teacher in the public school system in Dubois, WY . Glasser also is principal French horn player with the Wyoming Symphony. Previously, she performed with the Orchestra of the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Israel Sinfonietta and the Mantovani Orchestra of London .
Yan Jin ’03 won a position with the Ann Arbor Symphony and was a finalist for the assistant principal cello post with the San Antonio Symphony.
Zeljko Milicevic ’90 was appointed music director of the St. Clair Shores (MI) Symphony and was hired as orchestra director at Utica (MI) High School.
Alberto Rosal is a professional drummer in the SE Michigan region and performed with the band Jazzhead.
Paul Schreiber ’03 is assistant professor of music composition and theory at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, MS .
John Stewart is a Michigan State Representative based in Plymouth, MI . Stewart visited WSU in November to serve as guest conductor of the WSU orchestra and chorus in the Department of Music’s annual Salute Concert to Downtown Detroit at Old St. Mary’s cathedral in Greektown.
Brian Yessian ’00 is a producer for Yessian Music, Inc. He was listed among Crain’s Detroit Business magazine’s “40 Under 40,” a list of business high-achievers under the age of 40.
Morton Zieve ’48, chairman of Simons Michelson Zieve Advertising, composed a score for a yet untitled new musical based on the life of Civil War hero Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. In the advertising business, Zieve composed jingles performed by Louis Armstrong, Ethel Merman and Rosemary Clooney.