{"id":77356,"date":"2013-05-03T08:26:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T12:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=77356"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:12:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:12:59","slug":"class-of-2013-spencer-reese-future-opera-stage-director-and-tyler-reese-future-businessman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/05\/class-of-2013-spencer-reese-future-opera-stage-director-and-tyler-reese-future-businessman\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2013: Spencer Reese, Future Opera Stage Director, and Tyler Reese, Future Businessman"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a series featuring some of this year\u2019s outstanding graduating students, nominated by their academic school or college or another University program in which they participated. Check for additional profiles of students in the Class of 2013<\/a> on UConn Today from now through Commencement.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a>
Tyler Reese ’13 (CLAS), left, and Spencer Reese ’13 (SFA). (Max Sinton ’15 (CANR)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it came time for identical twin brothers Spencer \u201913 (SFA) and Tyler Reese \u201913 (CLAS) to decide where they would attend college, they each discussed their choices individually with their parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually both chose UConn separately,\u201d says Spencer. \u201cWe felt strongly that we not play into each other\u2019s decision when we were seniors in high school. It just happened that we both felt UConn had the most to offer us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brothers followed their own way to different interests in Storrs \u2013 Spencer as a music major and Tyler as a mathematics major\u00a0\u2013 each compiling outstanding records of academic achievement as members of the Honors Program, as well as with activities they pursued outside the classroom, with Spencer becoming a nationally ranked ballroom dancer and Tyler playing the trumpet in the UConn Marching, Jazz, and Pep Bands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that would be different if we did go to different schools is that I wouldn\u2019t have Spencer\u2019s teachers saying \u2018Hi\u2019 to me, because I rehearse in the music building a lot,\u201d says Tyler. \u201cThey don\u2019t always realize he has a twin brother. Many times I\u2019ve had his teachers come up and have conversations with me not realizing I was not Spencer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brothers say they wanted to have independent experiences at the University, so they did not live together as roommates. While they would plan time together, they rarely crossed paths by happenstance. However, says Spencer, \u201cIt was great to have someone here from the first minute, someone that you could see if you needed advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

They played soccer together as youngsters, with their paths diverging when choosing their musical interests, as Tyler studied the trumpet and Spencer played the piano and sang. They also had different inclinations in the visual arts, with Spencer preferring to paint and Tyler enjoying drawing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could do things together, but we never had to outpace the other one,\u201d says Tyler, noting that while both were good in math, it was his brother, the future music major, who won a middle school mathematics award over the future math major.<\/p>\n

After starting his studies in biology, Tyler moved to mathematics, pursuing his bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematical sciences, a field in which he can pursue a doctoral degree that will allow him to work in business. His University Scholar project combines math and music \u2013 using fractal string representations of pitch and rhythmic information to mathematically compare musical pieces.<\/p>\n

Tyler says that as a member of the UConn Marching Band, he enjoyed the change in focus from his high school experience: his high school band played largely for the judges in competitions, whereas the Marching Band performed before tens of thousands attending a Huskies football game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go to Rentschler Field, there are 40,000 people all around you,\u201d he says. \u201cThe focus is no longer on the judge at the 50-yard line. You have to entertain 360 degrees, which makes it a lot more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a member of the Pep Band supporting the women\u2019s basketball team, he also had the chance to go to the Final Four in Indianapolis and to play in New Orleans and be a part of the team\u2019s eighth NCAA Championship. With several other members of the brass section, Tyler was a part of the Funky Dawgz group that performed for the University\u2019s 2012 holiday card video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe the things he\u2019s accomplished in his time here,\u201d Spencer says of his brother. \u201cThe research he\u2019s done for the University Scholar\u2019s project is so cool to me. It\u2019s so intriguing and on the cutting edge of where his field is going. It\u2019s not quite what we study in music classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spencer\u2019s honors project was completed last December, when his original opera was performed as part of the Husky Headliners series at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. \u201cAlways Hope\u201d is a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust that highlights themes of perseverance and bravery within the setting of a love story. He wrote and directed the opera and designed all of the period costumes and the set.<\/p>\n

Spencer also joined the campus ballroom dancing team as a freshman, and last year with his partner took third place in the USA National Championships. He serves as president of the group this year and is again heading toward national competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I don\u2019t even believe that Spencer is my brother,\u201d says Tyler. \u201cHe\u2019s doing things so beyond the realm of my wildest imagination. After closing night of his opera, I went over to him and said, \u2018How am I supposed to write a thesis after this?\u2019 He worked on it for two years; he made the costumes, made the sets, wrote the music. I do math homework.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next fall, the brothers will move on in new directions on different campuses. Tyler will begin a doctoral program in applied and interdisciplinary mathematics at the University of Michigan. Spencer will head to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. to begin a master\u2019s program in opera stage directing, before eventually pursuing a doctoral degree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twins Spencer Reese ’13 (SFA) and Tyler Reese ’13 (CLAS) followed separate paths to academic achievement, one as a music major, the other in math.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":77013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-77356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-29 01:02:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77356"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78158,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77356\/revisions\/78158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/77013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77356"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=77356"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=77356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}