Collington Residency 2018

UMD Announces Second Year of Collington Program

In partnership with the Collington Life Plan Community (Collington) and the University of Maryland School of Music , Collington Life Plan Community (Collington) is hosting two new interns to participate in the 2018-2019 student artists in residence program. Melissa Morales and Ria Yang will be living with residents of the retirement community and are currently scheduling student and faculty groups to perform and speak at Collington. In exchange for room and board, the two students perform regularly scheduled concerts, teach educational programs and collaborate with residents. A committee of Collingtonians coordinate with Melissa and Ria opportunities for the community choir, jazz ensemble, The Kollington Kats and Sunday afternoon concert series.

As Collington bids fond adieu to the first year SOM interns, Samantha Flores and Matthew Rynes, Melissa and Ria are poised and eager to become immersed in the community. Their first scheduled concert will be in the auditorium on Monday, September 24th from 11:00am-12:00pm.

Melissa Morales is an accomplished clarinetist who has been playing her instrument for over 18 years. Her origins of music started with the choir in her hometown near New Orleans. She earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State in Music Education followed by a graduate degree from DePaul University in Chicago. She is most looking forward to becoming a part of the community and finding the right “rhythm” with the residents. Melissa’s favorite music genre to perform is big American composers including Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and William Thomas McKinley. When Melissa is not deep into her music, she enjoys exploring the city and finding new coffee shops.

Ria Yang hails from Quanzhou, located in southeast China and has been in the United States since 2011. Her native tongue is Mandarin but finds the slight barrier of English something she continues to work on. The skilled pianist has been playing for 17 years and is thrilled to be living in a studio apartment at Collington. Ria holds a masters from Northern Illinois University with a specialty in piano performance and is currently working towards a masters in collaborative piano at SOM. She plans to eventually return to China to perform and teach but in the meantime, will enjoy the challenge of fine tuning her classical musical along with jazz artistry. Ria finds that music like Bach and Mozart relaxes her. “Music is pure to me and cures whatever is ailing me,” she explains.

Both interns are eager to host concerts and create programs to enrich not only the seasoned adults at Collington, but themselves as well.

Ria Yang, left Melissa Morales, right