Two Nebraska Wesleyan University music alumni will be honored Friday, September 20 for their accomplishments.
Tye Hanke of Bennington and Robert Willoughby Jones will be recognized at the Music Alumni Award Reception, which will be celebrated during homecoming. The reception will be held in the Guildersleeve Lounge, located on the lower level of Rogers Center for Fine Arts.
Hanke will receive the Outstanding Young Music Alumnus Award. Hanke earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Nebraska Wesleyan in 2007, and has spent the past six years at Bennington High School where he teaches vocal music. He directs nearly 100 students in the seventh and eighth grade choral and extracurricular choirs, concert choir, women’s choir, the vocal jazz ensemble Blue Rendezvous, and the annual musical. He and his wife Erika, who teaches fourth grade in the Millard Public School District, have one daughter, Talia.
Robert Willoughby Jones will receive the Outstanding Music Alumnus Award. Jones earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Nebraska Wesleyan in 1968 and his master’s degree from the University of Michigan School of Music in 1970. After graduating he has worked in several cities across the nation founding and conducting several musical workshops, operas, and symphonies. He has also been the director of Pinewood Bowl, the Metropolitan Lansing Fine Arts Council, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Today, he is the assistant music librarian for the Metropolitan Opera, where he enjoys preparing orchestral material for operas.
The Music Alumni Award Reception begins at 11 a.m.