From Iowa outreach to international adventures, the Department of Music and Theatre has been busy sharing research, scholarship, service, and performances this past year. Learn about a few of our exciting highlights below.
Faculty honors and creative activities
Brad Dell
Department chair
Dell directed “A Comedy of Errors” at Salisbury House and Gardens in summer 2025 and “Our Town” at Hope Repertory Theatre in Holland, Michigan, in summer 2026. He continued leadership of Iowa State’s Emerging Leaders Academy and as national chair of the American College Theatre Festival. He was also appointed a Dean’s Fellow with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Andrew Bishop
Assistant teaching professor
Bishop traveled to Washington D.C., in September 2025 to take part in the Doughboy Foundation’s “WWI Living History” conference. He had the honor of sounding “Taps” at the WWI Memorial for three days, including on 9/11, while wearing a re-creation of a WWI Army uniform. He also performed with the American Expeditionary Forces Headquarters Band, featuring musicians from premier military bands and the National and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras.
Janci Bronson
Teaching professor
Bronson performed in the Iowa All-Stars Concert at the Iowa Music Teachers State Conference at St. Ambrose University in June 2025. She performed a piano duo with current piano performance major Laurel Mizerak on the rare and historic Pleyel double grand piano. The piano is one of seven Pleyel double grand pianos known to remain in the world and the only playable Pleyel double grand in the Western Hemisphere.
Nathan Dishman
Associate professor
Dishman performed with his trombone and horn duo, Entropy, for the world premiere of David Wilborn’s “Heartland.” Entropy commissioned “Heartland,” which was premiered with the Butler University Wind Ensemble. Dishman also performed with the Blue Ridge Trombone Quartet at the American Trombone Workshop, hosted annually by the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Fort Meyer, Virginia.
Sonja Giles
Morrill Professor
Giles was awarded Iowa State’s prestigious Morrill Professorship for outstanding teaching and research. At the 2025 National Flute Association (NFA) convention, Giles coordinated recognition events for her undergraduate flute professor Sheryl Cohen’s NFA Lifetime Achievement Award; premiered a work with select Miyazawa Artists; and performed on the Friday Gala Concert with Billboard Artist Kim Scott.
Jodi Goble
Teaching professor
Goble premiered her fourth opera, “Du, Meine Welt!” with Iowa State voice faculty and guest artists; had her operas “Meow and Forever,” “The Miller’s Daughter,” and “The Eleanors” produced around the United States and in Spain; was named a finalist for the American Prize in multiple categories; and was commissioned for a new song cycle by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Michael Golemo
University Professor
Golemo received the National Outstanding Music Educator Award from the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS). He is one of 13 national leaders to receive an NFHS citation this year and the lone recipient in music education. Golemo presented clinic sessions and conducted the university bands at the Eastern New Mexico University Band Clinic in Portales, New Mexico, and adjudicated band events for the Carowinds Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Worldstrides Heritage Festival in Chicago, Illinois.
Christopher Hopkins
Professor
Hopkins gave a lecture on his music at the Ithaca College Conservatory of Music, and was artist in residence at the Lake Macquarie Artist Residency in Australia, working with faculty of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Mei-Hsuan Huang
Professor
Huang was invited by National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) in Taiwan to lead a master class and performed a concert with the NSYSU Wind Band, with Michael Golemo serving as guest conductor.
Charissa Menefee
Professor
Menefee is the artistic director of The EcoTheatre Lab, based in Ames. In May 2026, The EcoTheatre Lab produced “In Our Backyard: A New Eco-Play Festival,” featuring Menefee’s new play, “Jonah and the Flood.” The festival was a follow-up to the lab’s Iowa tour of Taylor Sklenar’s “Resistance,” in which Menefee also acted. She also developed a new course, 3170X: Writing for Games, for Iowa State’s game design major.
Cason Murphy
Associate professor
Murphy presented research at the 2026 conferences of the Midwest Popular and American Culture Association and Mid-America Theatre Conference, and was published in the international journal Contemporary Theatre Review. Murphy is also conducting research on the Austin-based experimental theatre collective Rude Mechs, supported by a grant from Iowa State’s Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities (CEAH).
Jennifer Rodgers
Associate teaching professor
Rodgers led the Cantamus treble ensemble on their first international tour. While in Finland and Sweden, the group engaged in over 14 performances and cultural exchanges and were awarded the highest honor of three gold stamps at the Tampere International Vocal Festival. In March 2026, Rodgers received the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award for education, and in May 2026, she conducted a concert at Carnegie Hall.
Kelly Marie Schaefer
Teaching professor
Schaefer designed the costumes for “A Christmas Carol” performed with Iowa Stage Theatre Company at the Stoner Theatre in Des Moines. Along with Brad Dell, she co-designed and installed a themed room in the Salisbury House and Gardens’ Holly and Ivy event. Schaefer also served as co-coordinator of hospitality for the 2026 American College Theatre Festival.
Jonathan Sharp
Associate professor
Sharp completed his forthcoming snare drum method book, “Bounce!: A Complete Method for Developing Rebound Strokes and Sustain on Snare Drum.” He presented at the College Music Society National Conference and the National Association for College Wind and Percussion Instructors Conference. Sharp also performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, presented at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, and led the ISU Percussion Ensemble at the Iowa Day of Percussion.
Chad Sonka
Associate teaching professor
Sonka sang the lead role of Dr. Falke in Cedar Rapids Opera’s production of “Die Fledermaus” in January 2026. In March 2026, he premiered the role of Robert Schumann in Jodi Goble’s reading of “Du, Meine Welt!,” an opera written in collaboration with soprano Victoria Erickson. Sonka was also a featured baritone soloist with the nationally known Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.
Natalie Steele Royston
Associate professor
Royston presented research at the 2025 Symposium on Music Teacher Education at Butler University in Indianapolis. She also co-authored articles in the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Psychology of Music, and International Journal of Education and the Arts. She also presented research at the 2026 International Society for Music Education World Conference in Montreal, Canada.
Tin-Shi Tam
University Professor
Tam presented at the World Carillon Federation Congress in Portugal and the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America Congress at the University of Kansas. She also presented at the International Conference on Learning in Hong Kong and the College Music Society Regional Conference at Samford University. Tam performed carillon recitals in Belgium, the Netherlands, Alabama, and Nebraska and helped dedicate a new Casavant organ at the Saint Pius X Music Academy in Macau.
Shelby VanNordstrand
Assistant teaching professor
VanNordstrand appeared on the newly released album “Songs of the Regency Era: Let us the fleeting hours enjoy!” VanNordstrand was elected president-elect of the National Opera Association (NOA). She also performed and led a masterclass at Chapman University in California and presented at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Toronto, Canada, and the Central Region National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Conference in Columbia, Missouri.
George Work
Professor
Work appeared as a guest soloist with his friend and colleague John Gilbert, professor of violin at Texas Tech University, in a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto with the West Texas Symphony in February 2026. The orchestra was led by Maestro Gary Lewis. Gilbert and Work had previously performed the work with the Recife (Brazil) Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 2024 under the direction of Maestro Lanfranco Marceletti.