Contemporary classical music often employs extended techniques, pushing young musicians into uncharted territory. While challenging, these approaches offer fresh opportunities for musical exploration.

“We encourage our students to approach this experience as an exploration,” Clayville said. “Each composition is a distinctive sonic landscape, offering both challenges and incredible opportunities for discovery. The chance to interpret these varied worlds is something truly special.”

Albright added: “To bring new music to life requires dialogue, creativity, and flexibility, and it encourages performers to stretch their concepts of what is possible. That’s perfect because these are the same qualities we seek to bring out in our students every day.”

Nearly three dozen students are included: 19 flutists and 15 trombonists, including Lesser, Clayville, and Albright, who will rotate as conductors. Joining them on flute is Lawrence’s own sight-singing instructor Bianca C. Pratte ’20.

“For us as artists,” Lesser said, “this concert is a powerful reminder that music is a living, evolving art form. Engaging with composers who are crafting music that resonates with today’s societal reflections and challenges makes this experience all the more meaningful.”

To prepare, both ensembles attended a retreat at Lawrence’s Björklunden in Door County, where they performed the set for the first time. Such social bonding is central to the collaboration’s goals.

“Students often find themselves confined within their own instrumental circles—trombone players with other trombones, percussionists with percussion,” Clayville explained. “This collaboration is a fantastic opportunity to break down those barriers and build connections across different musical worlds.”

The project originated within the Lawrence ecosystem. Isaac Mayhew ’17 approached Albright on behalf of the Millennium Composers Initiative (MCI), a group that “strives to push the limits of what defines music and art through experimental, conventional, and interdisciplinary means.” Initially, MCI sought to collaborate with the Trombone Ensemble, which Albright and Clayville co-direct. Given that Clayville also directs the Flute Ensemble alongside Lesser, a combined project felt natural.

“We’ve done collaborations in the past,” said Clayville, “so the Flute Ensemble and Trombone Ensemble have done pieces together.”

The MCI collaboration is a distinctive opportunity for both ensembles. While ample repertoire exists for flute and trombone ensembles separately, compositions specifically for their combined forces are scarce. In the past, the ensembles have relied on arrangements, but they are not always particularly idiomatic for the flute-trombone timbres.

Clayville noted that while he appreciates arrangements, which allow musicians to reinterpret existing music, he sees a different kind of value in creating something genuinely innovative and original. From his perspective, new music serves as a cultural direction, reflecting the diversity of expression that exists in our modern world.

The ensembles have turned toward composers to fill this repertoire niche. Dominic Ellis ’17 and current senior Aayush Raheja have been featured in the past. Alongside Mayhew, the program includes nine composers from around the world: David Acevedo, Ali Balighi, Ty Bloomfield, Michael Kahle, Chelsea Majkut, Treya Nash, Helder Oliveira, Sofia Jen Ouyang and Ben Zucker. The featured composers offer an impressive variety in their approaches to new music.

“What I hope,” said Lesser, “is that this concert has something for everyone—both players and audience. There is a more traditional flute piece called Fireflies, and that’s fun to play. [Other times] we’re speaking into our flutes and playing quarter tones.”

One composer took inspiration from animal sounds, creating movements that evoke birds and frogs. To bring the frog sounds to life, she sent the ensembles a box of marbles along with a tutorial on how they can use them to mimic the sounds of frogs.

“I think allowing students to spend time with this music will give them some insights into what is possible out there and maybe open up a new space for them,” Clayville said.

Albright earned Bachelor of Music degrees in applied music (trombone) and jazz studies and commercial media from the Eastman School of Music.

We caught up with him to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroom

Inside info:ÌęWhat’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

I want my incoming students to know that I have a huge amount of admiration for them and for their journey, and I am traveling right alongside them. I am on my own life-long path of learning as a teacher, musician, and human, and I think there is a beauty in knowing that there is never an endpoint to that path.ÌęJust about every day, I come to look at teaching and learning in a slightly new way.ÌęAnd as I evolve as a teacher, the one thing that remains constant is the care that I put into being the best that I can be for each student.

Getting energized:ÌęWhat work have you done or will you be doing at Lawrence that gets you the most excited?

It might sound clichĂ©, but I am energized by my students every day. To see them progress toward their goals and to hear the amazing things they do with their music is a huge inspiration. In addition, being part of the inaugural How to Practice class spearheaded by EstelĂ­ Gomez and Catherine Walby this fall was fantastic.ÌęIt was fun and exciting to share my own approach toward practice, and perhaps even more rewarding to learn from the other practitioners and students in the class.

Going places:ÌęIs there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional, or spiritual) that took you by surprise?Ìę

Oh wow, I am fortunate that my musical career has taken me to so many intriguing and wonderful places around the world; it’s hard to pick just one. I have hiked to the top of Mount Fuji in Japan, admired Byzantine mosaics in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and crept among skeletons in the Paris catacombs.ÌęBut, really, the most significant place my career has taken me is to a state of gratitude.ÌęI am eternally grateful for my family, friends, and mentors, too many to name here, who have helped me and continue to help me along my musical and life journey.Ìę

Out of the classroom

This or that:ÌęIf you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?

I’m not sure if it’s possible to make a living at this, but during the early days of the pandemic, I discovered a love for knitting! I first learned to knit as a way of passing the time on long train commutes in NYC.ÌęAfter taking several years off, I started knitting again as a way to relieve stress during COVID lockdown, and I have been working on one project or another ever since. I love the soothing, tactile sensation of the wool between my fingers, and the repetitive click of the needles brings a mindful moment to my day.

Right at home:ÌęWhether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

Hands down, it’s got to be the Warch Campus Center.ÌęFor one, the space itself is beautiful with its vaulted ceilings and picturesque views of the Fox River.ÌęBut, beyond that, the Campus Center has so much to offer.ÌęI stop by weekly for rehearsals with Kinka Viwo (LU’s African drumming and dancing ensemble) and dinner at Andrew Commons. What’s not to love about a sundae bar? Also, my family and I have discovered that when students are away for summer and winter break, it’s the perfect time to snag the ping pong table for an epic match.

One book, one recording, one film:ÌęName one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

BrenĂ© Brown’s Atlas of the Heart, Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, and Pixar’s ł§ŽÇłÜ±ô.Ìę

When I grew up, expressing emotion was often looked down upon, especially among men.ÌęI love how Atlas normalizes vulnerability and introduces a vocabulary for feelings that I can share with my sons.

Brahms’ first symphony was the first piece I ever played with the San Francisco Youth Symphony.ÌęDuring the first rehearsal, I was half laughing with glee, half crying with joy at the beauty of the sounds around me. It has been one of my favorite pieces ever since.

It’s always a bit frustrating to watch a movie about music where the actors’ movements are all wrong.Ì곧ŽÇłÜ±ô’s animators were so spot on with capturing musicians’ gestures, it really feels like you’re right there in the jazz club with them.

Ellsworth also is a published author. Her memoir about adopting five foster kids is distributed by Simon and Schuster. The book arrives in paperback Nov. 1 with a new title, Whelmed—adopting 5 high-risk foster kids all at once.

A renowned soloist, recording artist, and chamber musician, Ellsworth attended the Eastman and Juilliard schools, with further study in Oslo and St. Petersburg, Russia. We caught up with her to talk about interests in and out of the classroom.

In the classroomÌę

Inside info: What’s one thing you want every student coming into your classes to know about you?

My teaching is very much inspired by the Hindu Deity Ganesh, “the Remover of Obstacles.” A life in music is very rich but not always linear. Your voice and journey as an artist is unique to you. Our paths as musicians share a common terrain, and that is where I can do my work as a teacher to help you navigate the ups and downs, encourage your exploration, listen to you, challenge, coach, and clear the path in front of you. And you may wonder how you will know which is your path. Lawrence is a safe and rigorous place to mature as a musician, and as you study and grow, your voice will become stronger and it will lead you to your path and also guide you on your journey.Ìę

Getting energized: What work have you done or will you be doing at Lawrence that gets you the most excited?

I am very engaged with the idea of “art for social change,”—how music and art can affect and inspire our culture on campus, which in turn can guide and pressure the policy and systemic changes that are holding us back.Ìę

Going places: Is there an example of somewhere your career has taken you (either a physical space or something more intellectual, emotional or spiritual) that took you by surprise?Ìę

I came to a point well into my career where I felt like I wanted to be closer or feel more connection to music. I had a lot of breadth as an instrumentalist but was lacking depth as a musician.ÌęI was 43 and my partner and I decided to adopt five kids aged 5-10, all at once. I kept teaching but cut my performances by 90% and gave myself completely to my children. My colleagues were like, “What are you doing? You love music, you can’t leave!” Turns out, I was lacking depth as a human—loving and caring for my children was the most musical thing I have ever done. It deepened my understanding of the human condition and connected me to my own humanity. I returned to music to help me process and celebrate my new range of emotions, joys, and sorrows and could see that I missed a lot of life experience while focusing on my career, using the stage to compete and distance myself from others. Music is so much more than a career: it can lift people up, heal us, change us, and bring us together. That was something I could not learn in a practice room.

Out of the classroom

This or that: If you weren’t teaching for a living, what would you be doing?ÌęÌę

I would be performing more and trying to write more. I’ve written a few things, and a reader called to tell me they had laughed and cried. And I think wow, that’s amazing! I have played so many concerts, but as a horn player, to actually make someone laugh or cry?—it would probably be for the wrong reasons! [that’s a little horn humor there – let’s just say it’s easy for us to soundÌęreallyÌębad!]

Right at home: Whether for work, relaxation or reflection, what’s your favorite spot on campus?

Easy. The pool in the Wellness Center. It’s a beautiful space and when I am in the water, I am in another world, off the grid, weightless but resisted, sound is traveling differently and I am totally alone—and yet—I still feel connected to the community of lifeguards, other swimmers, and even the Lawrence swim teams that let us layfolk jump in and enjoy their realm when they are not practicing or competing.Ìę

One book, one recording, one film: Name one of each that speaks to your soul? Or you would recommend to a friend? Or both?

Movie: Anything by Hayao Miyazaki. His movies are so visually fantastic, they make me feel like I am dreaming while I am awake. And Miyazaki is so respectful of the child’s view when telling stories, he reminds me that while as an adult I am inclined to look back at childhood as a simpler time, it was actually incredibly complex trying to navigate an adult world in a small body, with no frontal lobe or life experience to help regulate very intense emotions.ÌęÌę

Recording: This is so hard. It’s like imagining a menu listing every food in the whole world and having to choose one meal. I’m going to go a la carte and say I have been listening to Montgomery’s string quartets, piano reduction extracts from Mahler symphonies (I am trying to focus on the structure without being overcome by the orchestration), and the new-to-me breathtaking recordings of contralto Marian Anderson. Wow, and our own Loren Kiyoshi Dempster’s new album, Circle, is the perfect cool down when everything around us is invading, surging and spiking.

Book: Salt, a book of poems by Nayyirah Waheed. This collection of poems turned me upside down. The poems are true, succinct, and move me like mantras.Ìę

Albright, a trombone instructor in the Conservatory, joined the faculty in 2016. He directs the Trombone Ensemble, performs with the Faculty Brass Quintet and the Faculty Jazz Ensemble, and coaches chamber music and jazz small group ensembles.

In 2019, he wasÌę, which earned three Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. He was part of recording sessions in Justin Vernon’s home studio in Eau Claire, with a horn section dubbed the Worm Crew.

Prior to coming to Lawrence, Albright worked as a professional musician in New York City while also teaching at Purchase College and in the pre-college division of The Julliard School. A member of the Atlantic Brass Quintet, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, New York Chamber Brass, the Dafnis Prieto Big Band, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Miguel ZenĂłn Identities Jazz Orchestra, the Alan Ferber Big Band, and the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. In addition to Bon Iver, he has recorded with Sufjan Stevens and The National.

Albright earned bachelor of music degrees in applied music (trombone) and jazz studies and commercial media from the Eastman School of Music.

Albright’s message to students coming into his classroom or studio:Ìę“I am here to help students become better trombonists and musicians.ÌęUltimately, though, my wish is in some small way to help students become better humans—better versions of themselves who begin to see their own potential and inner strength.ÌęThe bonds created between studio teacher and student are strong and often last long after graduation.ÌęI cherish those connections.”

Mark Dupere

Dupere, director of orchestral studies,Ìę, among other directorial and teaching work at Lawrence. His work with the orchestraÌę.

He also recently formed the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra, a smaller, predominantly string ensemble, and has conducted numerous student orchestra clinics in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas.

Dupere received his doctor of musical arts in orchestra conducting at Michigan State University in 2016. He joined the Lawrence Conservatory faculty that same year.Ìę

A cellist specializing in Baroque period performance, he received a master’s degree at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and was a member of the Anima Eterna Orchestra in Brugge.

Dupere spent many years performing as a professional cellist before pursuing conducting and directing.ÌęAs a founding member of the chamber music ensemble Haagsche Hofmuzieck, he performed and gave master classes throughout Europe and the United States. The group made several recordings and was a finalist in the International Telemann Competition in Magdeburg, Germany. He has performed on BBC Radio and Arte TV.Ìę

Dupere’s message to students coming into the LSO:Ìę“Even though we have upwards of 80 musicians in the orchestra, ideally, we would all function like a chamber music group, where everyone is integral to the product as a whole. This requires great personal dedication from each person and contributes to a wonderfully collegial atmosphere.”

Constance Kassor

Trained in both classical and modern Tibetan, with reading fluency in Sanskrit, Kassor is a scholar of Buddhist thought and Himalayan religious traditions, with a particular focus on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy.

In 2020, she wasÌę, allowing her to spend a year collaborating with a Tibetan monk in the translation of an important 15th-century Tibetan Buddhist text. It’s a project Kassor and Ven. Dr. Ngawang Jorden, principal of the International Buddhist Academy in Kathmandu, Nepal, had been working on off and on for six years.

Her forthcoming book,ÌęAccounting for Awakened Awareness: The Madhyamaka Philosophy of Gorampa Sonam Senge, is under contract with Wisdom Publications. In 2020, she wrote and recorded an audiobook for The Great Courses and Audible calledÌęReligious Lessons from Asia to the World.

Kassor joined the Lawrence faculty in 2016. She received her Ph.D. in religious studies, with a specialization in West and South Asian religions, in 2014 from Emory University.

In 2020, she received Lawrence’s Mortar Board Award, presented annually to a faculty member who best advances the spirit of scholarship, recognizes and encourages leadership, and provides service.

Kassor teaches courses in Buddhism and gender, Buddhism in India and Tibet, the theory and practice of yoga, Hinduism, religion in South Asia, and the seminar in Buddhist Philosophy. She also teaches regularly inÌęFirst-Year Studies.

Kassor’s message to students coming into her classroom:Ìę“I’m here to help. The main reason why we all come together in a classroom is to learn from each other. Learning happens when we have conversations, struggle to understand new ideas, and ask and answer questions. We’re so fortunate at Lawrence to have small class sizes, and I love that I can really get to know my students here. If you come to my office, I’m happy to work with you on anything that you’re struggling with in class, or we can just drink some tea and chat.”

When Grammy nominations were rolled out Wednesday, Bon Iver’sÌęi,iÌęsnagged three of them, including in the headline-grabbing Album of the Year and Record of the Year categories. The album, released in summer, also is starting to show up on critics’ best-of-the-year lists.

That’s all of particular note to a ÌÇĐÄvlog music professor who lent his considerable trombone talents to the album.

Tim Albright, a professor in the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, spent four days in recording sessions in Justin Vernon’s home studio in Eau Claire, part of a horn section dubbed the Worm Crew.

“The horn section was made up of the unusual combination of trumpet, French horn, two trombones, saxophone and bass harmonica,” Albright said. “It was an unconventional assortment of instruments, but the sound was gorgeous.”

Vernon, the creative mastermind behind Bon Iver, has carved a deeply respected reputation for collaboration and musical experimentation. His annual Eaux Claires music festival — it took a hiatus for 2019 with an expectation to return in 2020 — and other musical outreach has raised Eau Claire’s arts profile considerably. His home studio, 180 miles west of Appleton, has become known as a gathering place for talented musicians.

“We rehearsed and recorded for four days and nights,” Albright said of the recording sessions.Ìę“When we weren’t making music, we shared meals, slept in bunk beds, and listened to music in Vernon’s state-of-the art control room.ÌęI was struck by his warmth and hospitality.ÌęHe made us all feel completely at home, which helped the music come alive.Ìę

“I think the album sounds amazing.”

Indeed, it does.

The album, Bon Iver’s fourth, was one of eight nominated for album of the year. The track “Hey, Ma” (it features Albright’s trombone) got a nod for Record of the Year, and the album also was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album. The Grammys will be held Jan. 26.

EsquireÌęmagazine included the album on its list ofÌęÌęposted on Nov. 11.

“Twelve years after the seminal albumÌęFor Emma, Forever Ago, Wisconsin singer Justin Vernon and his extended band find new ways to break your heart with their unusual indie-folk music,” Olivia Ovenden writes. “As onÌę22, A Million,Ìęfollow-upÌęi,iÌęis filled with noodling jazz riffs, auto-tuned vocals and glitchy electronic samples.”Ìę

EsquireÌępoints in particular to the song “Salem,” which features Albright. “A patter of soft bleeping notes layer over each other and lift into a euphoric chorus which cries,Ìę‘So I won’t lead no lie / With our hearts the only matter why.’”

Craig Jenkins ofÌęVultureÌęcalls the albumÌę.

“The lyrics are heavy on close inspection, but the music makes them buoyant,” he writes.

Making a connection

Albright’s connection to Vernon and Bon Iver comes via a trumpet player friend who had hooked him up in the mid-2000s for a recording session with The National, a then-unknown band that was preparing for the release of the albumÌęBoxer.

“I’ve known CJ for about 15 years from my time working in New York City,” Albright said. “When the band The National was just getting started, he said, ‘I wonder if you could come out to my friend Bryce’s house and record for a group called The National. I think they’re going to become big.’ Not thinking much of it, I took the train out to a tree-lined street in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, to record a one-minute fanfare in a stranger’s living room.”

Bryce turned out to be Bryce Dessner, one of the founding members of The National. And the trumpet player friend would prove prophetic.ÌęBoxerÌęwould indeed put the band on the map.

It was a couple of months later when Albright and his wife were walking through the Atlantic Terminal Shopping Mall in Brooklyn when he heard a new song playing overhead. It caught his ear.

“I nudged her and said, ‘Hey, listen, there’s trombone on that record,’” Albright said. “A moment later I realized the trombone player was me from the track I had recorded in Ditmas.”

That same trumpet player friend reached out to Albright again in 2018 when Vernon was looking for collaborators on his coming album. They needed a trombone.

In a media statement he released just prior to the release ofÌęi,i, Vernon noted contributions from a bevy of musicians, some with widely recognized names like Bryce Dessner and Bruce Hornsby, others more under the radar.

“This project began with a single person, but throughout the last 11 years, the identity of Bon Iver has bloomed and can only be defined by the faces in the ever-growing family we are,” Vernon said.

Albright, on the Lawrence faculty since 2016 and a member of the Atlantic Brass Quintet, is now part of that extended Bon Iver family. He doesn’t know if he’ll get to record with the band again, but he knows having that connection with Vernon could build other important bridges, perhaps involving his Lawrence students.Ìę

“Justin took me aside to say he wants to share his studio with students, Lawrence students included,” Albright said.Ìę“He wants his studio to be a place where budding musicians can experiment with recording and creating music.ÌęHe cares deeply about giving back to the Wisconsin community that helped shape his musical voice.”

In the meantime, Albright will cherish his contributions to an album that will almost certainly be showing up on additional best-of lists between now and the end of the year. His name is all over the credits, which isn’t a bad place to be.Ìę

“It’s fun to be in that world, to touch a little bit of stardom,” Albright said.