Recent student and alumni achievements include:

  • Micky Wrobleski is Principal Tuba of the Beijing Symphony.
  • Alicia Eisenstadt (Professional Diploma Orchestral Studies 2015) recently won the trumpet audition with "Pershing's Own" Army Band.
  • Levon Margaryan (Performance Diploma Violin 2011) performed with the Jacksonville (FL) Symphony for one year, and joined the Alabama Symphony in 2012.
  • Elina Lev (MM Violin Performance 2008) performed with the New World Symphony in Miami, the Charlotte (NC) Symphony, and has now moved to Salt Lake City to join the Utah Symphony.
  • John Chest (MM Voice Performance 2009), baritone, was awarded the prestigious Arleen Auger Prize for the best all-round participant in the final of the famous s-Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition. The prize, named after the much-loved and versatile American soprano, was inaugurated in 1996 and awards €5,000 prize money. It is awarded to the finalist who displays the best all-round professional skills in opera, Lieder, art song and oratorio.
  • Marcy Stonikas (MM Voice Performance 2007) recently performed the title role in Turandot and as Leonore in Fidelio with the Seattle Opera.
  • Jonathan Beyer (MM Voice Performance 2005) recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Gounod in Faust.
  • Weijing Wang joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in July 2012, previously serving as acting associate principal viola with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble she has been a member of since 2009. Wang was previously principal viola of the Phoenix Symphony. She has numerous awards and solo appearances to her credit, including, most recently, the 2008 Robertson Award of the Primrose International Viola Competition.
  • Hannah Ford (BM Jazz & Contemporary Studies) has joined Prince's touring band, New Power Generation (The NPG), as a guest drummer. They recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
  • Jazz & Contemporary Music Studies majors Jon GouldJarad KleinsteinKyle Madsen, and recent alumnus Max Benson won the $25,000 First Prize in the Land the Big Gig contest, beating out 119 other entrants in the competition and two bans in the live finals. They received the award at Milwaukee's Summerfest in July.
  • Takahiro Kim (BM Tuba 2013) took First Place in the 2012 Jeju International Brass Competition.
  • Matthew Newlin (MM Voice Performance 2010, Professional Diploma in Opera 2012) was the winner of the 2012 St. Louis District Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition.
  • Andrea Mumm (Performance Diploma in Harp 2012) is now the Principal Harp of the Charlotte Symphony (NC).
  • Scott Crawford (MM Percussion 2011) is playing with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra (AL).
  • Shuwen Ye (MM Violin 2009) is playing with the Shanghai Symphony.
  • Alex Aducci (BM Percussion 2012) is playing with the Southwest Michigan Symphony.
  • Amy Beth Kirsten (MM Music Composition 2004) was awarded the 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship
  • Jonathan Schang (BM Jazz Studies 2005) was one of the top five winners in the "Up & Coming" category in Modern Drummer magazine's 2012 Readers' Poll. Jonathan's band, District 97, just released a new CD entitled Trouble with Machines.
  • John McGuire (MM Orchestral Studies 2003) has just been appointed Special Assistant Professor of Horn at Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO.
  • Gregory Peebles (MM Voice Performance 2008) and Michael Bresnahan (BM Voice Performance 2008) are members of Chanticleer, the world's top all-male a capella chorus. 
  • Joseph London (BM Voice Performance 2002) just celebrated his 2000th performance as Mary Sunshine in Chicago on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.

CCPA students and alumni performing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago:

  • Greta Asgeirsson, harp (MM Orchestral Studies '15)
  • Titilayo Ayangade, cello (MM Performance '16)
  • Catherine Canale, harp (MM Orchestral Studies '14)
  • Robert Curl, bassoon (MM Orchestral Studies '14)
  • Ignacio del Rey Tomas-Biosca, trombone (MM Orchestral Studies '16)
  • Diana Flores, cello (MM Performance '16)
  • Michael Grittani, cello (MM Performance '14)
  • Paula Johannesen, violin (MM Performance '14)
  • Soo Young Kim, piano (MM Performance '12)
  • Istvan Loga, viola (Performance Diploma '13)
  • Elizabeth Newkirk, piano (MM Performance '16)
  • Alizabeth Nowland, harp (MM Orchestral Studies '14)
  • Zachary Peterson, violin (Performance Diploma '14)
  • Johann Schuster, double bass (MM Performance '16)
  • Eriko Shibata, trumpet (Professional Diploma Orchestral Studies '15)
  • Allison Tutton, horn (Professional Diploma Orchestral Studies '14)
  • Katherine Ventura, harp (MM Orchestral Studies '10)
  • Cindy Wei Xin, double bass (BM Performance '17)

CCPA Alumni performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

  • Kozue Funakoshi, Violin
  • Yukiko Ogura, Viola
  • Weijing Wang, Viola
  • Gary Stucka, Cello
  • Daniel Gingrich, Horn
  • Jay Friedman, Trombone
  • Mary Sauer, Piano

CCPA Alumni performing with the Lyric Opera Orchestra:

  • Yin Shen, Principal 2nd Violin
  • William Cernota, Cello
  • Matthew Comerford, Trumpet
  • Marguerite Lynn Williams, Principal Harp

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Assistant Dean of Enrollment Management, Chicago College of Performing Arts