WSU Honors Alum’s New Album Transforms Poetry to Music

By: Phyllis Shier, WSU Honors College, peshier@wsu.edu

Honors College alumnus Eric McElroy’s (‘13 Music) debut album, Tongues of Fire, released by Somm Recordings this March, includes songs that he says draw connections to his student days at WSU. Financial support from the Honors College allowed him to study abroad in Vienna before he graduated in 2013.“That incredible experience was only meant to be a six-month adventure, but I’m still in Europe ten years later,” McElroy said.

The album features McElroy on piano for four connected song-cycles and a single song. Each of the song cycles explores distinct introspective themes inspired by modern day poets, including former US Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin, transforming their ideas and meanings from the written word to music. Performing with McElroy is the celebrated English tenor, James Gilchrist.

The album takes its title from the third song cycle, which is based on the works of poet Grevel Lindop. McElroy credits his Honors English professor Robert Eddy with introducing him to Lindop’s work. That introduction and the education and encouragement he received from WSU music professor Gerald Berthiaume continue to influence his work as a performer, teacher, and researcher today.“Simply put, none of my subsequent achievements would have been possible without the support of WSU,” McElroy said.

In 2014, McElroy completed a master’s degree at The Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. He earned an Advanced Diploma in Professional Performance with distinction at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2017 and is currently a doctoral candidate at Oxford University. He has written for solo piano, voice, choir, orchestra, and various chamber ensembles and his works have been performed across Europe and the United States.

Read more about his debut recording and sample the new album in Opera Today here. An interview with McElroy will appear in an upcoming issue of BBC Music Magazine.

WSU student Ella Kisor named UCORE Ambassador Award recipient

May 5, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT: Clif Stratton, UCORE Director, clif.stratton@wsu.edu

Beverly Makhani, DAESA Communications and Marketing Director, makhani@wsu.edu

PULLMAN, Wash.— Washington State University’s University Common Requirements (UCORE) Ambassador Award for 2022 was presented to student Ella Kisor, international business and Spanish major and member of the Honors College.

The award is given each year to one who has carried the spirit of general education to the WSU community.

Kisor is a member of the ASWSU student body executive staff and sits on the UCORE Committee and the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee.

Regarding the award, Kisor was praised for “being extremely attentive to, an involved in, the proposal to create an equity and justice requirement in UCORE, among other UCORE matters,” said Clif Stratton, UCORE director. She “asked pointed questions, raised concerns on behalf of students, and generally took part in the democratic process that is meant to produce these kinds of curricular changes.”

Said Stratton, “I have not in my brief time as UCORE director and slightly longer time as a UCORE Committee member encountered such an engaged ASWSU representative.”