Motifs: January 2026
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Joe Inman (IAC 62-64, IAC St 66) was inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame in December 2025. He served as an ISU (International Skating Union) Championships and U.S. figure skating judge, referee, and technical controller from 1986 to 2018, and gained a reputation for his careful evaluation of both technical skill and musical sensitivity. Inman is known for helping pioneer the International Judging System (IJS), the current standards used in all international competitions sanctioned by the ISU, including the Olympic Games since 2024. Inman also served 21 years with the United States Army Band as its lead percussionist and was a substitute pianist for multiple White House events. He currently teaches private piano lessons to adults in the Washington, D.C. area.
Adam Berenson (IAC 87) released his first major-label album, Everything that no one ever saw, as a double CD with Munich-based NEOS Music in March 2025. The first CD contains Everything that no one ever saw: a concerto for piano and electronics, a 50 minute piano concerto for acoustic piano and synthesizers which was entirely improvised. The second CD contains two of Berenson’s string quartets performed by the Philadelphia-based QRTT Quartet. The album is accompanied by a booklet introduced by Stanley Corngold—renowned Kafka scholar and emeritus professor of German and comparative literature at Princeton University—who relates Berenson’s musical aesthetic to that of Kafka. Berenson is a prolific composer who has recorded approximately 60 albums for his label, Dream Play. In early January, he released What is this place?, an album of improvised music/jazz.
Samuel T. Bauer, MD, MBA, FACHE, CPE, FACOG (IAA 91-94; IAC St 93-94, 96) has been named Chief Medical Officer of Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States. Dr. Bauer will also serve as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. In his role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Bauer will oversee physician engagement, clinical quality, patient safety, financial performance, and medical staff leadership across the hospital and play a central role in advancing integration and system-based performance throughout Corewell Health East. Dr. Bauer is a nationally recognized Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist and health-care quality leader.
Gary Gatzke (AS 92, 94; IAA 96-98; IAC 95; ICA St 06-13, 19-present) performed on double bass alongside Andrea Bocelli in the famed tenor’s December 7, 2025, concert at Little Caesar’s Arena. Gatzke currently serves as the Director of Continuing and Community Education at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He has also held the principal double bass position with the Traverse City Philharmonic since 2006 and serves as principal double bass of the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra.
Janée J. Baugher (IAC Fac 03-09, ICCA 07) has recently published her fourth book and third full-length poetry collection, The Andrew Wyeth Chronicles, with Tupelo Press. Chronicles is an ekphrastic experiment in imaginative biography and personal detachment, charting the musings of the character of American visual artist Andrew Wyeth. The book was named winner of the Dorset Prize. Baugher is also the author of The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction (McFarland, 2020), and has been a featured reader at the Library of Congress and on Seattle Channel TV. She is a longtime assistant editor at Boulevard magazine (St. Louis) and lives in Seattle, where the Office of Arts & Culture awarded her a 2024-2025 CityArtist grant for a memoir project.
Susan Miranda (IAA 03-04) was recently appointed Executive Director of the Bryan Symphony Orchestra. She has previously taught at Oklahoma State University, Hamline University, and Northwestern College. Most recently, she served as president of the Larkspur Reed Trio.
Emma Flynn (IAC 13-14) will make her Broadway debut with the role of “Glinda” in Wicked. Flynn has also starred in the West End production of Clueless, and additional stage credits include U.S. regional productions of Guys and Dolls, Beautiful, and Legally Blonde.
David Noreville (IAC 13, IAA 14-16) and Lauren Blair Smith (IO Fac 21) were named to the Eighth Cohort of Sphinx LEAD, a two-year leadership program designed to evolve the industry landscape by empowering the next generation of executive arts leaders dedicated to excellence and inclusion in the arts.