Last month, Bob Hanshaw (’06) received the Creative Achievement Award at the Honors Convocation in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona. His nominator for the award, which was given to one undergraduate and one graduate student, was Elizabeth Schauer, associate director of choral activities and an associate professor of music in the School of Music. Dr. Schauer agreed to share with me some of what she said about Bob:
The highlight of Bob’s creative life to date (and he’s only a junior!) was the performance of one of his compositions by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (TSO). As a senior, he submitted a work for their high school “Young Composers’ Project” in 2006, at which time the ensemble read the work (this was part of the award for the work being accepted). TSO asked Bob to revise the work for a larger orchestra, and performed it on their “Celebrate the Future” concert. It is a single-movement work, formally based on a haiku that was written by a friend of Bob’s. […]
Bob also is active in the community as a musician. He has performed as a jazz musician at the Westward Look Resort, served as paid baritone section leader and summer choir leader for the Chancel Choir at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. Finally, Bob also founded and leads an independent rock band called Boreas. With this group he performs frequently in Tucson, and has recorded an album that was just released in September. Not only does he provide musical leadership, but also his artistic efforts in the digital layouts for the album artwork.
As with so many of our Scholars, those ellipses leave out many accomplishments and activities. But Dr. Schauer’s words surely provide a glimpse of Bob’s exceptional artistic talent.
(In the video above, from April, Bob is performing on vocals for The Hermit Tree, a band that also includes Scholar Matt Rolland (’05) on mandolin and Scholar alum Daniel Sullivan (’04) on drums.)