We will hold our third annual alumni reception during the NYSSMA Winter Conference on Friday, December 6, at 8:30 PM. The reception will be in the Riverside Lounge at the Radisson Rochester Riverside Hotel. All Setnor alumni, from all class years and majors, are invited to join us in order to catch up with what is happening at Setnor, reconnect with friends, and network with our impressive group of alumni. You won't want to miss it, so please mark your calendar now and join us on December 6!

We launched a $2.5 million drive on November 6 to replace all 67 pianos in the school and make Setnor an All-Steinway School. It will take gifts of all sizes from many donors in order for us to accomplish this goal. Please read about the initiative at http://vpa.syr.edu/setnorsteinway. If you prefer to give online, please visit givetovpa.syr.edu and write that your gift is for the All-Steinway Initiative in the "if other please specify" box.

Chris Cresswell BM '11 (Composition) recently returned to Setnor for an alumni recital that included the world premiere of his piece Stone Seeking Warmth - a 25-minute work for tenor and chamber orchestra. Commissioned by the American Composers Forum though a Jerome Foundation Grant, the piece was performed by assistant professor Jonathan English in collaboration with James Tapia and members of the SU Symphony Orchestra. The concert also featured Cresswell's On the Verge - an electronics-only version of Fabric of a World Unfolding, Letters to You, The Kiss, and The Ruby Stone. While in Syracuse, he spoke with SU composition students at a public lecture and with students at Cazenovia High School. On the horizon is a month-long Cresswell's residency as a 2014 artist-in-residence at Willapa Bay AiR in Oysterville, WA. On the Verge is newly available for purchase at grizwaldmusic.bandcamp.com.