In the past, the Benenson Awards have supported projects such as: the incorporation of technology and art with dance choreography; an interpretation of the Target icon into a multicolor landscape of circular shapes; a 10-15 minute film about the nation's interstate highway system completed with antiquated media; a journalism piece on French culture from the lens of a local bar during the June 2010 World Cup. Fast Facts Deadline: March 7, 2016, 11:59pm Purpose: cover expenses of fees, travel, etc. for arts-… read more about 2016 Benenson Awards in the Arts »
British Musical Modernism explores the works of eleven key composers to reveal the rapid shifts of expression and technique that transformed British art music in the post-war period. Responding to radical avant-garde developments in mainland Europe, the Manchester Group composers - Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, and Harrison Birtwistle - and their contemporaries assimilated the serial-structuralist preoccupations of mid-century internationalism to an art grounded in resurgent local traditions. In close… read more about Philip Rupprecht's "British Musical Modernism: the Manchester Group & their Contemporaries" »
On October 12, the Duke University Wind Symphony, directed by Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, will perform a joint concert in McLean High School Auditorium with the Langley High School Band, directed by Doug Martin. A highlight of the concert will be the performance of Duke composer Scott Lindroth’s “Eternity’s Sunrise,” commissioned by the Langley High School Band. “I had not written for a high school ensemble since I myself was in high school,” says Lindroth. “As I became more confident that I was writing within… read more about Duke Wind Symphony Tour to Washington, DC: October 2015 »
The Duke University Department of Music honored the life and music of Paul Jeffrey (1933-2015) by presenting a concert of his compositions and arrangements. Saxophonist and composer Paul Jeffrey earned a bachelor of science degree in music education at Ithaca College before moving to New York City, where he began a lifelong friendship with Sonny Rollins. An acclaimed tenor saxophonist, Jeffrey worked closely with Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and other jazz legends before coming to Duke in 1983, where… read more about Paul Jeffrey Memorial Jazz Concert »
Carl Schimmel's "Two Variations on Ascent into the Empyrean," was one of seven new pieces selected for the American Composers Orchestra's 24th Annual Underwood New Music Readings. The winning compositions were chosen from a pool of over 200 applicants and were presented on May 6 and 7, 2015 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York. Read more about Carl's work and listen to an excerpt. read more about Carl Schimmel's work selected for Underwood New Music Readings »
John Supko's piece, "divine the rest," is featured on NOW Ensemble's new CD Dreamfall (New Amsterdam Records). Dreamfall is "the fourth full-length release and third album of chamber repertoire from New York City new music mainstays NOW Ensemble. Sprawling in scope and ambition, the 76-minute album features seven composers - Scott Smallwood, Mark Dancigers, John Supko, Nathan Williamson, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Andrea Mazzariello and Judd Greenstein - and is by far the most expansive and ambitious record… read more about John Supko on NOW Ensemble's new CD "Dreamfall" »
Musicology graduate student Kirsten Santos Rutschman has received the Fulbright U.S. Student Award. She will spend the 2015-16 academic year in Sweden, mainly in Stockholm and Uppsala, fostering mutual understanding through cultural exchange and conducting archival research for her dissertation on "Concepts of Folk in Nineteenth-Century Swedish Art Music.” The American-Scandinavian Foundation has also awarded her a fellowship to support her research in Sweden, provided through the Thord-Gray… read more about Kirsten Santos Rutschman receives Fulbright Award for 2015-16 »
On Friday, January 16th, DUMIC presented a concert celebrating the arrival of our newest acquisitions. Duke faculty Eric Pritchard and Andrew Bonner played using our new baroque violins and bows, and were accompanied by William Conable on baroque cello and Elaine Funaro on harpsichord. They performed works for solo and duo violins, as well as pieces for violins and cello and all four instruments.What was most special about this event is that the men and women and their families who gave us… read more about Honoring our New Acquisitions »
Have you wandered past the museum recently and seen something that looks a little funny? No, I'm not talking about the serpents or our tiny portative organ; I'm talking about our Clementi grand piano. It's looking a little different than usual, right? Maybe missing some parts?That's because its pedals and action are currently being repaired at a conservator's laboratory.A piano action is the mechanism that includes the keys and sound producing parts of the instrument. When a key is pushed down, the hammers strike the… read more about The Clementi and Conservation »
Department of Music doctoral student Darren Mueller is one of the three editors of PROVOKE: Digital Sound Studies, a new web collection of digital projects mixing sound studies, digital humanities and audio arts. The collection includes the work of two other Music graduate students, Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden and Kenneth David Stewart. The collection is a result of a three-year collaboration, known as “Soundbox,” funded by… read more about PROVOKE: Digital Sound Studies »
All master classes are free and open to the public. CELLO MASTER CLASS WITH WILLIAM CONABLE Tuesday, January 13 @ 5 pm Nelson Music Room, East Duke Building ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE MASTER CLASS WITH WILLIAM CONABLE Thursday, January 15 @ 7:30 pm Room 101, Biddle Music Building William Conable enjoys worldwide renown as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, a method for improving freedom and ease of movement and physical coordination which is of… read more about Master Classes: Spring 2015 »
Friday, January 30 @ 4 pm Biddle Music Building, Library Seminar Room Naomi Waltham-Smith (University of Pennsylvania) "Beethoven's Blush" Naomi Waltham-Smith's research sits at the intersection of music theory and Continental philosophy. She is interested in how the critical resources of recent French and Italian thought might be deployed to interrogate the ethical significance of the processes and structures of music and listening. Her works engages with the… read more about Musicology Lecture Series: Spring 2015 »
Download the Spring 2015 Events Calendar Music calendar spring 2015 from MusicAtDuke read more about Spring 2015 Events Calendar »
Duke faculty composer John Supko’s s_traits, created in collaboration with media artist Bill Seaman, Professor in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, comes out Tuesday, November 4 on the Manchester-based Cotton Goods label. It is the second album devoted to Supko’s music, following drawn only once on New Amsterdam in 2011. s_traits is the product of three minds: two human, one artificial. With a discarded… read more about John Supko's & Bill Seaman's new CD, "s_traits" »
All master classes are free and open to the public. WIND INSTRUMENT MASTER CLASS WITH HELIAND CONSORT Thursday, October 16 @ 5 pm Bone Hall, Biddle Music Building Heliand Consort (Elisabeth LeBlanc, clarinet; Rachael Elliott, bassoon; and Cynthia Huard, piano) is a dynamic group of virtuoso musicians who perform engaging classical music, from the baroque era through 20th century and contemporary repertoire. Rachael Elliott, who teaches bassoon at Duke, is a founding member… read more about Master Classes, Fall 2014 »
Friday, August 29 @ 4 pm Biddle Music Building, Room 101 Jeremy Begbie (Duke Divinity School) "Disquieting Conversations: Bach, Modernity and God" Jeremy S. Begbie is Thomas A. Langford Research Professorship in Theology at Duke Divinity School. Educated largely in Scotland, before entering the theological world he read music and philosophy at Edinburgh University, studying composition with Kenneth Leighton. Holding piano performing and teaching qualifications, he was… read more about Musicology Lecture Series: Fall 2014 »
The Encounters 2014-2015 season features two residencies with outstanding new music groups. On November 9, the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players will perform in Baldwin Auditorium, presenting Steve Reich's "Double Sextet" and Duke composer Stephen Jaffe's "Light Dances" (Chamber Concerto No. 2). Da Capo's residency continues on November 10 with recordings of works by Duke graduate… read more about Encounters 2014-15 season: Da Capo Chamber Players and the return of yMUSIC »
Alexander Goehr, the eminent British composer, visited Duke’s Music Department on April 7, 2014. Following a lively lunch with Composition and Musicology students, Goehr spoke publicly about his music in a discussion moderated by Professor Philip Rupprecht. As well as sharing personal impressions of the 1950s Darmstadt Summer Courses in New Music--at which he gained early professional performances—Goehr spoke (among other topics) of his own rhythmic language as a composer, and his attitude to setting texts… read more about Composer Alexander Goehr at Duke »
USA Today's College Factual names Duke one of the top 10 music colleges in the United States. Joining the ranks of lauded music programs at Yale, Columbia, and Stanford, Duke's music program is praised for providing "a comprehensive education in performance, theory, history and ethnomusicology. The undergraduate program exposes students to a wide-range of musical knowledge to prepare them for potential graduate work… read more about Duke named one of top 10 music colleges in the U.S. »
The Ciompi Quartet visited France in May, where they appeared at the Festival Fougères musicales and performed concerts at L'église Saint-Sulpice (Fougeres, below) and the Franco-American Institute (Rennes). Ciompi cellist Fred Raimi writes: The Ciompi Quartet played two concerts at the Fougeres Music Festival in Brittany, France, in May of 2014. It was a lovely trip, made so by the two essential elements: good… read more about Ciompi Quartet in France: May 2014 »
Duke Engage in Zhuhai, China: Summer 2014 Each summer, Professor of the Practice of Music (violin) and Ciompi Quartet member Hsiao-mei Ku leads a Duke Engage trip to Zhuhai, China. The focus of the trip is to partner with a middle school to provide arts education. Click image to view additional photos. read more about Duke Engage in Zhuhai, China: Summer 2014 »
Did you join DUMIC for a class or a concert this semester? Check out our Facebook page for photos from the events and see if you can find yourself! read more about Check us out on Facebook! »
Joy Calico's (Ph.D. 1999) new book, Arnold Schoenberg's 'A Survivor from Warsaw' in Postwar Europe, was released this month from the University of California Press. Calico is Assoc. Prof. of Musicology at the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University. ****** Paul Leary (Ph.D. 2011) and pianist Thomas Rosenkranz were featured on WUNC 91.5 FM's "The State of Things" on March 6, discussing the premiere of Leary's piece, "Perfume," a tribute to the music of Kurt… read more about Alumni News: March 2014 »
While attending the Dublin New Music Festival to present a paper, Bryan Christian had the opportunity to interview English composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle. ****** David Kirkland Garner will receive a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters at the Academy's annual ceremony in May. The Ives Scholarships are given to "composition students of great promise… read more about Graduate Student News: March 2014 »
Thomas Brothers appeared on The Tavis Smiley Show discussing his new book, Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism. [LISTEN] [READ MORE] about Prof. Brothers' research and Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism in The New Yorkers' "Page-Turner" blog feature by Ben Schwartz. ******************** Bryan Gilliam will be giving a number of… read more about Faculty News: March 2014 »
Jazz Ensemble with Wessell "Warmdaddy" Anderson, Gabriel Richard and Eric Pritchard play baroque violins, Duke Chorale tours New England, new electronic music by Paul Leary, and more. Read it here. read more about Duke Notes 02/25/2014 »
Congratulations to drummer extraordinaire Jeremy Jones '02, who contributed to Macklemore & Lewis' 2014 Grammy award winning album The Heist. At Duke, Jeremy played with the Duke Jazz Ensemble and the Paul Jeffrey Quintet. read more about Alumni News: February 2014 »
Bryan Christian's composition Airs no Oceans keep was selected to be performed on the 8th Colorado Composers Concert by the Playground Ensemble on April 26, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. Christian also had the opportunity to have his music workshopped by the Hilliard Ensemble when the group visited in January as part of Duke Performances' season. ********************** Congratulations to David Kirkland Garner, who successfully defended his dissertation, … read more about Graduate Student News: February 2014 »
Thomas Brothers' new book, Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism, is garnering enthusiastic reviews from critics and scholars alike. A Washington Post review calls Master of Modernism "painstakingly researched, profoundly evocative and altogether admirable...". A review also appeared recently in the Wall Street Journal. [READ/LISTEN TO Dr. Brothers' interview on NPR's "Dinner Party… read more about Faculty News: February 2014 »