For over 35 years, the Benenson Awards in the Arts has provided Duke undergraduates with funding to pursue summer arts training, research, or projects. But what happens after the grant? How does that experience shape an individual’s creative journey years down the line? We reached out to four Duke alums who received Benenson Awards to hear where they are today. From launching professional opportunities to shaping new creative directions, their stories reveal the lasting impact of this grant on their professional and… read more about From Grant to Growth: Duke Music Alum Reflects on Benenson Award »
Last year, Maya Kronfeld had the satisfaction of seeing Nicole Zuraitis’ How Love Begins, on which she played keyboards, win a GRAMMY Award for Best Vocal Jazz Album.Fast forward to Sunday night and the 2025 GRAMMY Awards. Once again, an album featuring Kronfeld as keyboardist – Taylor Eigsti’s Plot Armor – won for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. The recording also features jazz icons Terence Blanchard, Lisa Fischer and many others. Participating in two GRAMMY-winning albums in as many years is… read more about Literature Professor Has the Grammy Magic for Second Year in a Row »
In early December with the fall semester coming to an end, two students — Ryan Henderson, and Margo O’Meara — showed up for Bradley Simmons’ djembe class at the Mary Duke Biddle Music Building on East Campus.O’Meara, a senior psychology major from St. Louis, is playing the goblet-shaped djembe drum, and Henderson, a senior physics major from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is playing accompaniment on the dundun and sangban drums.For a little more than three decades, Simmons has taught classes in West African and Afro-Cuban music… read more about The Meaningful Sounds of the Djembe Drum »
For the first time ever, the Duke Wind Symphony and the Duke Opera Theater join forces and present “Shining Night, O Night of Love,” an innovative multi-sensory collaboration featuring many of the greatest and most popular operas ever written.Conducted by Wind Symphony Conductor Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, the ensemble will perform selections from “Carmen”, “The Magic Flute”, “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Tales of Hoffman”, “La Traviata” and others. This semi-staged event, which will be sung entirely in English, will… read more about Shining Night, O Night of Love: Duke Wind Symphony & Duke Opera Theater »
“People who take chances are usually more successful than those who play it safe.”“Do you want to hear how I crashed in front of an 80-piece orchestra and 120-voice choir?”So began Allan Friedman’s story of failure.The lecturing fellow of Music got his undergraduate degree at Duke, and while he was working on his doctorate in conducting, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant choir conductor. The choir’s director offered Friedman the opportunity to lead a 250-person orchestra in Duke Chapel… read more about Freedom to Fail: Turning Public Humiliation Into a Teaching Moment »
We are pleased to announce that Jimmy Gilmore and Elizabeth Beilman have been awarded the Raleigh Medal of Arts for Creative Leadership for 2024. This honor, the highest given by the city of Raleigh, recognizes their significant contributions to the arts.Jimmy Gilmore, a Clarinet Professor at Duke University and retired Principal Clarinet of the North Carolina Symphony, and Elizabeth Beilman, a cellist and long-time member of the North Carolina Symphony, co-founded the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute (NCCMI) in 2014… read more about Gilmore and Beilman Awarded the Raleigh Medal of Arts for Creative Leadership for 2024 »
The Duke Community is still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene across our state. In this heartfelt tribute, Duke University Chorale performs "The Road Home" by Stephen Paulus in honor of the colleges and universities of western North Carolina.After watching the ongoing disaster unfold, the Duke Chorale sends this song to all of those impacted by tragic events across the region, including the sibling singers in the schools of Western North Carolina. Directed by… read more about A Duke Chorale Tribute to Western North Carolina Colleges »
Four faculty in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences were recently recognized by the Arts & Sciences Council for outstanding achievements in undergraduate teaching.Each year, the Council’s Committee on Undergraduate Teaching selects outstanding faculty members for their commitment to their students, for engaging them deeply in research and scholarship, for their continued development as innovative teachers and mentors, and more.Members of the council — in collaboration with the dean's office — … read more about Four Trinity Faculty Receive 2024 Undergraduate Teaching Awards »
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has named 20 new Career Enhancement Fellows for the 2024–25 academic year, including Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies Anna Storti and Assistant Professor of Music Sophia Enriquez.The Career Enhancement Fellowship, funded by the Mellon Foundation and administered by Citizens & Scholars, seeks to increase the presence of outstanding junior faculty committed to campus diversity and innovative research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.… read more about Two Trinity Faculty Named 2024 Career Enhancement Fellows »
The Department of Music welcomes Colin Fullerton as the newest guitar instructor. Fullerton is an award-winning guitarist from Winston-Salem, NC whose work as a classical soloist has taken him across the US and Europe. Over the past eight years since completing his master’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin, he has established himself as one of the leading young guitarists in NYC, collaborating extensively across a variety of genres. Highlights have included solo recitals on the “Plucked Horizons,” “Odeon,” and… read more about Award-Winning Guitarist Joins Duke Music »
The summer of 2024 will be a summer of chamber music not to be forgotten when Ciompi Presents once again fills the chamber music niche with vibrant artistry. This three-concert series never fails to delight audiences when the musicians share the inspirational creativity of master composers. Nationally and internationally recognized guest artists join Ciompi musicians in these celebratory evenings filled with creativity, conviviality and superb artistry. Join us for Evocations… read more about Ciompi Presents 2024 Summer Chamber Music Series »
In the summer of 1974, a walk down the length of East Campus’ central quad and a left turn between Pegram and Alspaugh residence halls would lead you to the most astonishing building at Duke University.Or so it might have seemed, that summer 50 years ago. Gleaming in the sun, its light-colored walls incongruous amid the red brick Georgian architecture of East Campus, the Mary Duke Biddle Music Building was nearing completion. Twenty-one arches ran the length of its long, low front. If you passed under their shadow and… read more about A Living Space for Music: The Mary Duke Biddle Music Building Turns 50 »
Elizabeth Byrum Linnartz has taught in the Duke University Department of Music for 20 years. She is also a Duke alumna who, as a first-year student in 1974, participated in the opening ceremonies for the Mary Duke Biddle Music Building. Her unique vantage point spans the 50 years of the Biddle Music Building’s existence. In 1974 as I was leaving high school, Duke seemed the obvious choice: my father, brother, and uncles were alumni, and Duke Gardens was so beautiful! I did not realize I was entering Duke just as… read more about Elizabeth Byrum Linnartz: Reminiscences of Duke Music »
Stephen Jaffe, Mary D. B. T. and James H. Semans Distinguished Professor of Music Composition, joined the Duke Music faculty in 1981. He has served as the Chair of the department on numerous occasions and has been instrumental in the growth of the Composition program for both undergraduate and graduate students. I flew to Duke for an interview in May 1981 from Rome, where I had spent the year on a Rome Prize Fellowship and where I had just performed the solo piano part in my composition called ARCH.… read more about Stephen Jaffe: Reminiscences of Duke Music »
The Department of Music is proud to announce the following awards for 2024. Congratulations to the winners! The Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music This award is in honor of a former chair of the Department of Music and member of the Ciompi Quartet. It goes to a graduating senior for achievement in musical performance. Julia Leeman Aram Lindroth The William Klenz Prize in Music Composition Awarded to a graduate student for excellence in… read more about Music Department Awards for 2024 »
On April 20, 2024, a group of students with the Duke University Saxophone Quartet (DUSQ) performed together with Susan Fancher on the Mallarmé Family Concert Series at the Durham County Library Main Branch. Fancher is a lecturing fellow in Music and serves at the coach for the quartet, which is part of the chamber music program directed by Associate Professor of the Practice of Music Caroline Stinson. The interactive program featured performances of saxophone music, as well as narration about the history of… read more about Saxophone Quartet Students Perform at Durham County Library »
The Duke Department of Music would like to congratulate the seven Ph.D. candidates who have successfully defended their dissertations. Read more about the students and their dissertations below. Minato Sakamoto Minato completed the defense for the Ph.D. in composition with the dissertation Studies of Algorithmic Music Generation – a three-movement string quartet and three piano pieces – and an essay titled “Folksong Enthusiasm in Post-… read more about Seven Music Ph.D. Students Successfully Defend Dissertations »