News

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Ken Shifrin, Class of 1974

Dr Ken Shifrin (Class of 1974) was President of the Wind Symphony while a student at Duke. A native of Washington, DC, he earned a Ph.D. in Musicology from Oxford University and is Principal Trombone (former) of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (England). From 2000-2004, he was a Research Scholar at the Czech Academy of Science. In 1982, Ken Shifrin was appointed Principal Trombonist of Great Britain's City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra by Chief Conductor Sir Simon Rattle who declared him "not… read more »

Graduate Student News: January 2014

Bryan Christian's article, and part of his dissertation, “Combination Tone Class Sets and Redefining the Role of les couleurs in Claude Vivier’s Bouchara” passed peer review and has been accepted for publication in Music Theory Online Volume 20, no. 2, forthcoming in June 2014. David Kirkland Garner's dissertation piece, Dark Holler, was recorded by yMusic and guests in early November 2013. LISTEN to the recordings and VIEW… read more »

Thank you!

Thank you to those of you who came out last Friday afternoon for our first Rare Music concert of 2014! Randy, Eric, and William Conable played beautifully, and it was a treat to hear William's beautiful instrument, as well as DUMIC's piano and new violin. It was a pleasure to see so many excited faces at the concert and afterwards in the museum. We hope that you enjoyed it and will join us next month for our next Rare Music concert! To read a short write-up about the concert and see more photos, click here. To learn more… read more »

Faculty News: January 2014

Thomas Brothers' new book, Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism, will be released on February 3 from W.W. Norton & Company.  Kirkus trumpets Master of Modernism as “A masterful performance that displays the author’s vast archival research, musical knowledge, familiarity with cultural history and profound sensitivity to America’s vile racial history,” and a starred review in Booklist raves, “A bravura accomplishment..." The John… read more »

Alumni News: January 2014

After graduating in May 2013 with her PhD in Musicology, Angela Mace Christian took up her post as Assistant Professor of Music History at Colorado State University. In October 2013, she presented her paper "Negotiating Private and Public Personas in the Sonntagsmusiken of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel" at the Annual Conference of the German Studies Association in Denver, Colorado, which she co-organized. The first chapter of Mace Christian's dissertation, on Fanny Mendelssohn's contributions to Felix… read more »

Ciompi in China, Dec. 2013

The Ciompi Quartet visited China in December, playing a number of concerts and conducting master classes.  Here are some photo highlights of the tour.  (Click the image to view additional photos.) The Quartet visited the building site of DKU, Duke Kunshan University, and performed a Duke-sponsored concert.     The Quartet visited Wuhan University, Duke's partner for DKU, and worked with arts students.  They also coached the Wuhan University student orchestra and… read more »

Master Classes, Spring 2014

All master classes are free and open to the public. Thursday, January 16 @ 5 pm Nelson Music Room, East Duke BuildingAlexander Technique Master Class with William Conable 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 special interest to musicians and other performing artists. He is Emeritus Professor of Music at the Ohio State University, and has appeared as… read more »

Musicology Lecture Series: Spring 2014

Thursday, January 23 @ 5:30 pm Smith Warehouse, Bay 4, 1st floor*Reception precedes lecture at 5 pm*Lydia Goehr (Columbia University) “Music and Painting: Reviewing the Mediums of Voice, Ear, & Instrument” Lydia Goehr is Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. She is a recipient of Mellon, Getty, and Guggenheim Fellowships, and in 1997 was the Visiting Ernest Bloch Professor in the Music Department at U. California, Berkeley, where she gave a series of lectures on… read more »

VIDEO: Duke Chorale Christmas Concert

Every December the Duke Chorale, directed by Rodney Wynkoop, presents a Christmas concert in Duke Chapel to benefit the hungry in Durham, NC. Each audience member is asked to bring one non-perishable food item as an admission fee. The Duke Chorale collects over a ton of food at the concert, which features seasonal selections by the Duke Chorale as well as traditional carols for the entire audience to sing.   This year's concert is Tuesday, December 3 at 7:00 pm in Duke Chapel. … read more »

Graduate Student News: November 2013

Bryan Christian's composition, Chain Shift, written for the Wet Ink Ensemble's residency at Duke in 2012, was selected as the co-winner of the League of Composers/ISCM 2013 Composers Competition.  Bryan will present a pre-concert lecture at ensemble mini's December 7, 2013 performance of Claude Vivier's Bouchara and Prologue pour un Marco Polo in Berlin, Germany.  Musicology graduate student Harrison Russin's op-ed, "A… read more »

Faculty News: November 2013

Bryan Gilliam, Frances Hill Fox Professor in Humanities, will deliver the paper, "Rounding Wagner's Mountain: Richard Strauss and Modern German Opera" on November 24 at the Wagner Society of New York's 34th Annual Seminar: Wagner and Strauss. ************* Composer John Supko, Hunt Family Assistant Professor of Music, will have his new work, ALL SOULS, premiered by New Music Raleigh and Canadian vocalist Ashleigh Semkiw… read more »

Encounters partners with Duke Performances for 2013-14 yMusic Residency

Encounters: with the music of our time is joining with Duke Performances and the Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts, Duke University, to present a yearlong residency with New York sextet yMusic. yMusic will work with graduate composition students in the Department of Music, presenting their new works at a concert on March 25, 2014. On Nov. 5, yMusic will perform a concert of pieces from their upcoming second album.   … read more »

Spring 2014 Class Videos

Making Music Today (Stephen Jaffe) "Making Music Today with Duke Performances" (Music 089.2S) is a seminar for first-year students only. Taught by Stephen Jaffe, Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition, the course emphasizes becoming an informed listener. Students will learn about musical styles from around the world, then attend concerts featuring stellar artists brought to campus by Duke Performances, including Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, the Ariel String Quartet, and Brazilian… read more »

Fall 2013

Music 561 Analysis of Early Music Professor Thomas Brothers   This course explores five different areas of analysis for polyphonic music ca. 1450-1525: 1) paraphrase of plainchant; 2) word-music relations; 3) modality; 4) texture; 5) pace, variety and design. Our focus throughout the semester will be Josquin’s legendary Missa Pange Lingua. Each student will be assigned two other composers to work with. (For example Compere, Ockeghem, Busnois… read more »

Faculty News: October 2013

John Brown, Associate Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Duke Jazz Program, produced and performed on a CD that has made the initial cut, and is among those in preliminary consideration for, the 56th GRAMMY Awards.  Christmas, by Nnenna Freelon and the John Brown Big Band, is one of 89 recordings that will be narrowed down to a list of 5 official nominees on October 30. The November/December issue of Fanfare Magazine includes… read more »

Revealing Respighi

Duke University faculty members Sandra Cotton and David Heid discuss their upcoming concert of works by Ottorino Respighi. Respighi's music was popular during his life (1879-1936), but is less well-known today. He wrote operas, ballets, and orchestral pieces, as well as songs and chamber works. This concert will focus on these pieces for smaller ensemble, including the song "Il Tramonto" (The Sunset) on a text by the poet Shelley. For the recital, Cotton and Heid will be joined by Gregorio Midero,… read more »

Baldwin Auditorium: Gala Opening Concert

On September 14, 2013, Baldwin Auditorium reopened after a two-year, $15 million renovation with a gala concert featuring a chamber orchestra of faculty and students from the Duke University Department of Music, including the Ciompi Quartet, John Brown, Randall Love, Rebecca Troxler, and others. The all-American program featured Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and Samuel Barber's "Knoxville, Summer of 1915" with Duke alumnus Jason McStoots, tenor.  Photographs by Megan Morr, Duke University Photography.… read more »

Faculty News: September 2013

John Brown's Big Band took the stage with legendary trumpeter Terence Blanchard on September 21 at the Carolina Theater in Durham as part of a weekend celebration of the 50th anniversary of the integration of Duke University.  John Brown is Associate Professor of the Practice of Music and Director of the Jazz Program at Duke.  [Read more] Stephen Jaffe, Mary and James H. Semans Professor of Music Composition at Duke, was interviewed by Robert Zimmerman about… read more »

Graduate Student News: September 2013

Composer D. Edward Davis is participating in SoundWalk 2013, an international sound-art event in Long Beach, California on October 5th. His piece, valdez to long beach, was selected from an open call for works. Sarah Denes delivered the paper, "Night Between Notes: The Intervallic Continuum in Sofia Gubaidulina's Early Music," at the American Musicological Society's Southeast Chapter meeting on Sept. 21 at East Carolina University. David… read more »