On March 22, 2018, the graduate composition seminar Music for Large Ensemble (Music 690) hosted a discussion with Ben Gernon (Principal Guest Conductor, BBC Philharmonic and Guest Conductor, North Carolina Symphony), and Martin Sher, (Vice President and General Manager of the North Carolina Symphony) for an insightful discussion about the orchestra and its future. Music for Large Ensemble is taught by Stephen Jaffe, Mary D. B. T. and James H. Semans… read more about NC Symphony leaders visit Music 690: Music for Large Ensemble »
The award was presented at the Southeast Chapter of the American Musicological Society meeting at the University of South Carolina on March 2-3, 2018, in conjunction with the spring meeting of Music Theory Southeast and the Public Music Discourse symposium in honor of the Leonard Bernstein centenary. At the meeting, Imani was also elected as the new student representative for the Southeast Chapter of AMS, to serve a two-year term from 2018-2020. read more about Musicology graduate student Imani Mosley wins 2017-18 AMS-SE Best Student Presentation award »
In addition to performing reference work helping researchers, scholars, and members of the public, Paul will collaborate on exhibitions and create instruction sessions with materials from the Music Division’s extensive collections. Paul has also had a seminar proposal accepted for the Society for American Music conference next year. Co-sponsored with Kendra Leonard, Director of the Silent Film Sound and Music Archive, the seminar is entitled "Music & Sound in Horror Media." It will… read more about Paul Sommerfeld (Ph.D. musicology, 2017) to work in the Music Division of the Library of Congress »
The Duke University Saxophone Quartet (shown l to r with instructor Susan Fancher in the center: Glenn Huang, Larissa Cox, Bilva Sanaba, and Matthew Tedesco) will perform Revolution by Marc Mellits on a master class by the Kumoi Saxophone Quartet on March 9. Duke saxophone instructor Susan Fancher will perform Concerto for soprano saxophone by Mark Engebretson (version… read more about Duke saxophonists perform at the National Biennial Conference of the North American Saxophone Alliance »
Nathaniel Stookey received his PhD in Composition from Duke in 2003. Currently based in San Francisco, he has collaborated with many of the world’s great orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The National Symphony, The Toronto Symphony, The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and The Hallé Orchestra, where he was composer-in residence under Kent Nagano. His newest release, ZIPPERZ, is an album-length "he-… read more about Alumni Profile: Nathaniel Stookey »
During the intensive program, Meese conducted the London Classical Soloists in rehearsal and two concerts while receiving coaching from Achim Holub on conducting technique, musical interpretation, and creating a successful career as a conductor. With the orchestra, he worked on the second, third, and fifth movements of Schumman's 3rd Symphony, and the first movement of Mozart's 39th Symphony. He conducted the Mozart first movement and Schumann finale in two concerts. (See the videos of Robby… read more about Sophomore Robby Meese participated in a week-long conducting class in England »
The Duke University Musical Instrument Collections (DUMIC) are founded on the flagship collection, the G. Norman and Ruth G. Eddy Collection of Musical Instruments, which arrived at Duke in 2000. The Eddy Collection inspired further generous gifts and the acquisition of the Frans and Willemina de Hen-Bijl Collection of Musical Instruments (2003) and The Robert D. Miller Collection of replicas of early instruments and related materials, including a small library of printed music (2006). While the Eddy Collection… read more about Duke University Musical Instrument Collections set to open Thursdays, 1-4 PM »
In a video produced by Julie Schoonmaker (Duke University Office of News & Communication), Arts & Sciences Professor R. Larry Todd discusses the cultural and historical contexts of Beethoven's cello sonatas. Beethoven's Cello: Five Revolutionary Sonatas and Their World is the first English-language book to examine these works in depth. Earlier in 2017, Professor Todd produced a video with cellist Nancy Green in which he performs Beethoven's A Major Sonata, Op. 69 and discusses Beethoven… read more about R. Larry Todd: "Beethoven's Cello: Five Revolutionary Sonatas and Their World" »
The five undergraduates were students in Prof. Louise Meintjes' Fall 2017 Duke in New York class "Sound in Social Life." Jessica Wood (Ph.D. 2010), Assistant Curator, Music Division, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts helped the students put together the disco-themed exhibit, which is on display in the Rogers and Hammerstein Archives for Recorded Sound. View more photos! read more about Duke in New York students create exhibit for the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts »
The reading and archival recording session will take place on May 9, 2018, in Meymandi Hall (Raleigh, NC) with the North Carolina Symphony and Music Director Grant Llewellyn. This opportunity is the second in an ongoing collaboration between the Department of Music's graduate composition program and the North Carolina Symphony, supported by a grant from composer Penka Kouneva (Ph.D 1997). In March 2016, the North Carolina Symphony recorded "Invès" by Yahn Wagner de Mello Pinto and "Vicious Circles"… read more about Graduate composers Yuxin Ouyang and Maximiliano Amici to have works recorded by the North Carolina Symphony »
Scott Lee has been accepted as a Composition Fellow at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Festival, and Sid Richardson has accepted the invitation of the Aspen Music Festival to join its program as a Composition Fellow. Both of the programs are among the most known programs for the study of contemporary composition. read more about Composers Admitted to Summer Fellowship Programs »
Born in Swansea, South Wales, Jane Hawkins began her career in the United States after graduating with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied both cello and piano. Recognized as an inspired and significant collaborator in her work with instrumentalists, vocalists and artists of various disciplines, in recent years she appeared in the United States with the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Chicago Symphony Chamber Players, and the American Chamber Players at the Library of Congress, among others.… read more about Pianist Jane Hawkins (1950-2017), Professor of the Practice and former Chair of the Department of Music »
Excerpted from Duke Today. Read the complete feature. James “Jim” Donald Henry, the director of Duke Athletic Bands from 1960-1985 and on faculty until 1998, died on Friday, Oct. 20. He was 84 years old. Henry was hired in 1960 by Duke University to be the marching band director. The band continued to perform field shows at all home football games, and eventually began playing basketball games as well. In 1962 Henry started the first modern-day style basketball pep band east of the… read more about Professor Emeritus Jim Henry (1933-2017) »
Recorded live at the Carrack Art Museum in Durham, North Carolina, in October 2016, Scratch Slice Jag is the natural outgrowth of the collaboration between Bishop and Ruccia. The two were frequent collaborators when Bishop lived in Durham from 2012 to 2015, and they quickly developed a natural musical rapport over the course of numerous performances within the area’s free improvisation scene. Drawing on the tradition of European free improvisation, new music, and employing myriad extended techniques, Bishop and… read more about Dan Ruccia (PhD Composition, 2013) releases "Scratch Slice Jag" on Out & Gone Music »
In 2011, high school rapper Taylor Bell was suspended from school, accused of “threatening two named educators with gun-related violence." Prosecutors presented rap lyrics Bell had written as evidence of his intention to commit a violent crime. Despite support from scholars and many in the hip hop community, the Supreme Court refused to hear Bell's appeal on first-amendment grounds. Taylor Bell isn't the first-- or last-- rapper to find that his lyrics have followed him into the… read more about Lyric formulas or criminal musings? Nicholas Stoia examines the music theory behind rap lyrics in the courtroom »
All symposium events, including concerts, are free and open to the public. No registration is necessary. For inquiries, contact Philip Rupprecht: philipr@duke.edu Paper Abstracts Common Currencies (Philip Rupprecht) Friday, November 3 PANEL 1 2-5:15 pm Library Seminar Room, Biddle Music Building Charles McGuire: "Nostalgic Melancholy: Metanarratives of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in the Age of Brexit " Byron Adams: "French Fever: French Music in Britain, 1890-1950"… read more about BRITISH MUSIC & EUROPE in the age of Brexit »
FACULTY POSITION IN MUSIC CELLIST IN CIOMPI STRING QUARTET The Department of Music at Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina, invites applications for a full-time faculty position in cello and cellist with the Ciompi Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at Duke University, to begin August 1, 2018. Position: Assistant / Associate / Full Professor of the Practice of Music, non-tenure-track Cellist of the Ciompi Quartet of Duke University. Duties: Perform with the Ciompi Quartet in regular on-campus… read more about Faculty Position: Cello, Ciompi Quartet. The Department of Music announces an open rank search. »
Arten will defend her dissertation, "The Whole Booke of Psalmes, Protestant Ideology, and Musical Literacy in Elizabethan England," in spring 2018. Her PhD is supported this year by a Duke Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Dissertation Completion Fellowship. read more about PhD candidate Samantha Arten's article accepted by the journal Early Music »
Penka is generously supporting the graduate composition program at Duke through a recurring commission award that allows current students to compose works to be rehearsed and recorded by the North Carolina Symphony. Scott Lee, one of two graduate students to receive a commission in 2016, won the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award and Symphony In C's 2016-17 Young Composers' Competition for "Vicious Circles," commissioned through this project. Penka's gift also has funded new… read more about Penka Kouneva (Ph.D., Composition, 1997) inducted into Duke Graduate School's Few-Glasson Alumni Society »
Ethnomusicology graduate student Jonathan Henderson is a member of the band Kaira Ba (The Great Peace), based in central North Carolina. Griot Diali Cissokho (a member of a family of professional musicians from Senegal), is Kaira Ba's lead singer and kora player. In her documentary, Marina Poole follows the group from North Carolina, Cissokho's adopted home, to Mbour, Senegal, as the group creates its own, original… read more about Kaira Ba (The Great Peace): West African music featuring ethnomusicology graduate student Jonathan Henderson »
Dark Holler was recorded November 3-4, 2013 in Baldwin Auditorium on Duke's East Campus as a collaboration between the Department of Music and Duke Performances. The album, released from New Focus Recordings on July 28, features members of the yMusic ensemble, as well as many Duke alumni and faculty, including: Tim Hambourger, piano (Ph.D., Composition, 2012); Sarah Griffin, violin 2 (Public Services Coordinator, music library… read more about David Kirkland Garner (Ph.D., Composition, 2014) releases new CD, "Dark Holler" »
The one-hour exhibit experience tells the story of the early space exploration and the astronauts who took part in them through 3D films, installations, mini-documentaries, and Augmented Reality. Kouneva's music, recorded with a large orchestra, is modern (hybrid) cinematic scoring -- encompassing drama, action, space, and inspirational themes. ORIGINAL MUSIC from the NASA Exhibit: "Heroes and Legends" - Gemini 8 "Heroes and Legends" - John GlennTrailer for "Heroes and Legends" -… read more about Alumna Penka Kouneva (Ph.D. 1997) composes music for NASA's "Heroes and Legends" exhibit »
Music Graduation 2017 Undergraduate Degrees Conferred First Major Jonathan Aisenberg, Highest Distinction: Composition, Filamentary, for Orchestra & Original Chamber WorksEmily LevinstoneYing Ni Nicole Wong Second Major Xiating ChenJake Grusd, High Distinction: Composition, excerpts from his opera, A Hero's Fall Minor Christopher Bernt Charles Boddie Erina Fujino Ilhan… read more about 2017 Music Department Graduates »
Department of Music Awards The Ann-Marie Parsons Memorial Prize: Justin Bryant This award was established in 1991 in memory of Ann-Marie Parsons (Trinity '92) and recognizes excellence in the field of jazz studies.The William Klenz Prize in Music Composition: Jonathan Aisenberg for Filamentary, for Orchestra & Original Chamber WorksThe Julia Wilkinson Prize for Excellence in Music: Melody Lin This award is named in honor… read more about 2017 Music Department Award Winners »
Her presentation was entitled, “Folksong Against the National Grain: Inventing Pan-Scandinavian Identity,” and derives in part from research towards her Ph.D. dissertation in progress. The AMS committee described Kirsten's paper as "superb (and superbly delivered)." read more about Kirsten Santos Rutschman awarded Best Student Paper 2016-17 by the Southeast Chapter of the American Musicological Society »
David Geng is a rising Junior pursuing a Mathematics major, Computer Science minor, and on the Pre-Medical Track. He is originally from Princeton, NJ and has been playing piano for 13 years. At Duke, he studies piano with Professor Randall Love. Most recently, David has been accepted into the semi-final round of the Washington Int’l Piano Competition (Ages 18 – 30), to be held in June where he will compete against 14 other semifinalists from top conservatories and professionals.… read more about Pianist David Geng (Class of '19) will perform at Carnegie Hall in May »
Read more about Boston Lyric Opera's production of The Marriage of Figaro, running April 28-May 7, 2017. Sara Womble is a 2016-2017 Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera. She earned a MM in voice at Boston University, where she was a member of the Opera Theatre. At Duke, Sara studied voice with Elizabeth Linnartz and Susan Dunn and performed principal roles with the Duke Opera Workshop, soloed with the Duke Chorale, Chamber Players, New Music Ensemble, and the Choral Society of Durham. read more about Soprano Sara Womble (T '10) debuts this month with Boston Lyric Opera »
The public service for rock-n-roll legend Berry was held at the Pageant Concert Hall and Nightclub on April 9, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Berry died on March 18, 2017 at the age of 90. The details of the service were published in the New York Times.Watch the live recording of the memorial service. In addition to "Ave Maria," Hudson sang "Indian Love Call," "Trees," and "Night and Day." All were songs that had special meaning for Mr. Berry and his widow. Mrs. Berry had known Hudson's family for many years… read more about Soprano Marlissa Hudson (T '99) sings at memorial service for Chuck Berry »
Angel's Bone is a "bold, operatic work that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world." Read the full description at pulitzer.org.John Brown is Director of the Jazz Program and Associate Professor of the Practice of Music, Duke University. The other distinguished jurors on the committee for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Music were Carol J. Oja (William Powell Mason Professor of Music, Harvard University… read more about John Brown serves on jury for 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Music »
John Brown, Director of the Duke Jazz Program, was performing with students and colleagues at a Duke Alumni event at the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in late March. President and Mrs. Brodhead were also in attendance. read more about John Brown & students perform at Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture »