UK Students 'Explore Brass in Greece'

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 23, 2015) — Jason Dovel and 10 University of Kentucky students traveled to Greece over winter break to attend the Exploring Brass in Greece international musical festival. During the visit, the UK students performed in Thessaloniki and Leptokarya, Greece.

As part of the trip, which ran Jan. 2-10, UK students performed as the university's Brass Ensemble, and joined trumpet ensembles, horn choirs, low brass ensembles and large brass ensembles made up of participants from around the world.

Jason Dovel, assistant professor of trumpet in the UK School of Music, led a warm-up clinic, coached chamber ensembles and taught the seminar “Perspectives of Science in Modern Brass Pedagogy” while in Greece. Other educators on the trip included George Babarakos (artistic director), Vincent DiMartino (former UK and Centre College faculty member and international soloist), Jason Crafton (Virginia Tech), Mike Davison (University of Richmond), Alex Van Duuren (University of Tennessee), Rich Illman (Michigan State University), Gerassimos Ioannidis (Orpheon Conservatory of Athens), Judith Saxton (North Carolina School of the Arts) and Daniel Zehringer (Wright State University).

UK students stayed at the Poseidon Palace Hotel in Leptokarya but also visited Thessaloniki, Meteora, Dion, Vergina and other areas in northern Greece. The students in particular enjoyed their visit to Meteora, which is one of the largest and most important complexes of Greek Orthodox monasteries in Greece.

UK students who participated in the festival included: trombone player and music education sophomore James Alford, of Lexington; trumpet player and music performance freshman Morgan Bay, of Butler, Kentucky; trombone player and music performance junior Denver Coprade Pascua, of Frankfort, Kentucky; trumpet player and music performance sophomore Caden Holmes, of Hanson, Kentucky; trumpet player and music performance freshman William Lovan, of Lexington; French horn player and music education senior John Andrew Osborne, of Georgetown, Kentucky; trumpet player and music education junior Zachary Robinson, of Lexington; trumpet player and Spanish and music education senior Kathryn Safa, of Zionsville, Indiana; French horn player and music freshman Mya Scheib, of Lexington; and French horn junior and music performance senior Emily Wilson, of Lexington.

This trip to Greece was organized as a study abroad experience through UK Education Abroad, with help from Education Abroad staff Ben Vockery and Tony Ogden.

UK Education Abroad is the university's comprehensive resource for study abroad, research abroad, intern abroad, and other educational experiences worldwide. The office's goal is to provide academically sound international experiences that promote intercultural competence, disciplinary scholarship and foreign language acquisition for all students. 

The UK School of Music at UK College of Fine Arts has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu