Erin Rettig and Soon Hee Newbold

Soon Hee Newbold (’96) and Erin Rettig (’96) met while studying music at JMU. Today they are making their mark on the worlds of music and sound. Soon Hee is a prolific and award-winning composer especially admired by student musicians of all ages, from elementary school to college. She is a frequent guest conductor and a clinician for festivals, schools and conferences. Her music has premiered as far away as Singapore and Jakarta where a “Newbold Musical Festival” was held in the composer’s honor. Everywhere she goes she inspires. “I have never heard music as adventurous as yours,” one young musician wrote on Soon Hee’s popular Facebook. Soon Hee is also an accomplished violinist and an actor. Her husband Erin is a successful sound engineer with well over 100 film credits including Shark Tale, Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy and The Ring Two. “I am very fortunate to work with some of the most talented and prolific people in the film business and film sound business,” Erin says. “I enjoyed working with Steven Spielberg and Ben Burtt’s crew on Munich.” Soon Hee and Erin have set the bar high in both their arenas, testifying to the Madison Experience as they deliver the sound and the music to a new generation of musicians.

“JMU gave me a great opportunity to study and grow, personally and intellectually.” — Erin Rettig