Alumni Grand Awards

Endea Owens graduated from the College of Music in 2015 with a degree in Jazz Studies. She went on to earn a master’s degree from the Juilliard School and began her remarkable career as a jazz musician. She has performed internationally as a collaborative artist with jazz greats such as Jennifer Holliday, Rhonda and Diana Ross, Jazzmeia Horn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Steve Turre, and Lea Delaria.

Owens is the bassist with the house band on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. She has won an Emmy, a Grammy Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award. Her work has appeared on Jon Batiste’s Grammy Award-winning album “We Are,” the Oscar-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah, and H.E.R’s widely acclaimed Super Bowl LV performance. In addition, she was named among the 2019 class of Emerging Artists by Lincoln Center for Performing Arts. In 2020, Owens founded the Community Cookout, an organization that makes New York City and beyond a better place through music, activism, and meals.

Bonnie Larson is a philanthropist and cultural leader who is an advocate for the arts in Southeastern Michigan and at Michigan State. She established the Bonnie A. Larson Aspiring Musicians Endowment for the Community Music School in Detroit, and the Bonnie A. Larson Music Scholarship Endowment at the College of Music. Additionally, she facilitated valuable partnerships between the College of Music and the DSO. In 2021, she was invited to join the College of Music National Leadership Council.

Larson graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Social Science. She has held leadership positions in iconic arts institutions, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Cranbrook Academy and Museum. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum and past chair of its International Advisory Board.  She is also an enthusiastic supporter of MSU Athletics.