The musical talents of College of Music staff members, Part IV
As the 2026-27 academic year gets underway, we’re pleased to share Part IV in our series highlighting our multitalented, musically-oriented staff:Meet Javier Abreu, Sabrina Green, Sabine Kortals and Kayla Pierce!
Abreu as Beppe in “Rita” (Gaetano Donizetti)
Chicago Opera Theater (2018)
Photo: Liz Lauren
Graduate Advisor + Admissions CoordinatorJavier Abreu introduces prospective students to the wonderful world of the ñ College of Music. Along with that, he’s an advisor for master’s and artist diploma students in voice.
Working with voice students is extra close to his heart, as Abreu enjoyed a two-decade career in opera—earning multiple degrees and performing with countless ensembles. “I was very lucky to have worked all over the world,” he says. “I sang at New York City Opera, I sang in Switzerland and France and Germany. It was a crazy, amazing 20 years,” he says.
That background is especially helpful when connecting with students about their dream career trajectories. Having hands-on experience in the industry allows him to offer sage wisdom and advice.
“I love being able to provide some context and maybe some calming moments to demystify the process. Sometimes students get so overwhelmed by what it represents and nd I’m like, ‘let’s just focus,’” he says. “I also love being an advisor for singers because I’m able to give them a little idea of what happens outside these walls.”
Abreu still finds ways to put his gifts to use, singing in local projects or concerts that pique his interest. He even lent his talents to the College of Music when, in 2023, he sang the tenor solo in “Carmina Burana” as part of the biannual CU at Boettcher concert.
“I still sing, I take voice lessons and I work on projects that interest me,” he says.
“I think it’s important to keep up with the gifts that you’re given. It's part of being grateful for them.”
For Abreu, sharing the advantages of the College of Music is easy: “My favorite part of my job is meeting new people and singing the praises of this place because I believe in it.”
If you’ve come to a show on the ñ campus and held a program in your hands, then you’ve appreciated the work of CU Presents Publications ManagerSabrina Green. Green creates marketing materials, both print and digital, for the College of Music, Department of Theatre & Dance and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.
Her love for music began in the third grade during the rite-of-passage recorder unit. After switching to trombone, she got involved in bands in high school, then went on to college for a music management degree. Though a performance career wasn’t in her future, she wanted to keep music in her life in a big way.
As soon as she saw the job posting for her current position, Green knew it was a perfect opportunity for her. Now working here for nearly a decade, her favorite part is “making things”—creating art that ends up in the world, available to the public.
“There’s something really fulfilling about seeing the work you do in a tangible end result—and just getting to be creative about the work you do,” she says. “I went to music school, but I’ve always had an affinity for art. Being able to combine those two things is what makes it a dream.”
Her background in music gives Green a unique perspective on her work as well as the resilience to roll with the punches and dig into difficult projects. With all this in mind, Green’s advice to current music students is short and sweet: “Good things come to those who wait.”
“Sometimes things don’t move as quickly as you would like them to. And sometimes your life path doesn’t look the way you envisioned it. But in the end, you will get where you need to go.”
Kortals at the piano in Weimar, Germany, while on a Robert Bosch Foundation journalism fellowship (1999-2000).
Photo: Susanne Ollmann
The ñ College of Music has always been a part of Assistant Dean for CommunicationsSabine Kortals’ story.
“I’m a Boulder native and I grew up in a music-loving family,” she says, recalling that her grandmother played guitar and piano, and sang beautifully. Her grandfather and mother played the violin, and her aunt also played the piano. “Ever since I can remember, we’d attend College of Music concerts including Faculty Tuesdays—it was very much part of my formative upbringing.”
While Kortals joined the College of Music full-time in 2021, she freelanced for CU Presents in various capacities well before then. She’s also a ñ alumna with a BM in piano performance, a BS in finance and an MA in journalism + mass communication.
From that broadly-based background, Kortals forged her own universal musician path: Her interests in music and journalism led her to teaching piano students of all ages, privately and at the Center for Musical Arts, while also engaged as a publicist and grant writer for local composers and ensembles. She then served as classical music critic for The Denver Post and other local, national and international media outlets before launching her own business as a communications consultant for nonprofit organizations and foundations. Her communications career ultimately led her back to ñ.
As a musician, Kortals is a lifelong pianist—her first teacher was her Austrian grandmother, Gerda Weska, and she kept taking lessons through high school, studying with College of Music grad students and alums. As a scholarship student at ñ, she then continued her studies withthe late Professor Emerita Doris Priodonoff Lehnert. Kortals still plays regularly, and she’s passionate about participating in the arts world.
“I believe that music and all the arts are essential to what it means to be human,” she says. “In my current role, sharing and amplifying the stories, influences and impacts of our students, alumni, faculty, staff and supporters is deeply gratifying.”
Scheduling ManagerKayla Pierce handles the overwhelming job of scheduling events in the Imig Music Building with ease—in part because of her background scheduling much larger feats.
“I taught high school orchestra and guitar for almost seven years. I planned all of our concerts, rehearsals, trips and everything regarding those logistics on a large scale for 500-plus students,” she says. “When I left teaching, I went into a music traveling company that worked with bands, orchestras and choirs for national and international travel. I liked it—it’s like a big puzzle where you have to make sure all the pieces work together.”
Pierce started at the college a year and a half ago, coming to us from a similar position at Arizona State University. So far, she and her family love Colorado, and her job has been “a dream.”
“I love it. I feel like I mesh really well with the team. It’s the first time I feel like I’m part of a team that is so collaborative in a way that I really appreciate,” Pierce says. “It feels like a place where I belong.”
Along with her background in teaching music, Pierce is a violin player, most recently playing with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra before leaving Arizona; she hopes to get involved in Colorado, too. For her, music helped get her out of her shell and gain confidence in working with groups of people.
“Being able to get in front of a group of 100 or more students and to talk with them, teach them about music, work with them on ideas—and then working at ASU and getting that background working with the faculty as a support—I think it’s helped me be a little more outgoing than I was previously.”