Two students in Carla Copeland-Burns' flute studio placed in the Raleigh Area Flute Association's 2019 Artist Competition earlier this month. Jessica Chen won the Undergraduate Division 7, and Sarah Tan as runner-up won Honorable Mention of Undergraduate Division 7. read more about Duke flutists win honors at RAFA competition »
Three chamber music groups in the Chamber Music program, directed by Caroline Stinson, participated in a chamber music masterclass on November 7: Onomenos Quartet (Megan Rabe and Riya Shankar, violins; Charles Zhang, viola; Bryan Tong, cello)Stretto Quartet (Neha Vangipurapu and Joie Jamison, violins; Gabrielle Lee, viola; Lauren Simmons, cello)Quarlitté (Haoyang Yu and Ann Chang, violins; Celina Zhou, viola; Prateek Khandelwal, cello) Cello students… read more about Joel Krosnick (Cellist, Juilliard Quartet 1974-2016) engages with undergraduate musicians »
Four undergraduate groups in the Chamber Music program in the Duke University Department of Music performed at the home of Michael and Elizabeth Schoenfeld on October 20. The afternoon concert included the Sanren Trio (Sanna Symer violin; Wallace Peaslee, cello; Courtney Danzler, piano), Devil's Chamber (Miryam Rudolph, oboe; Albert Sun, clarinet; Rebecca Eneyni, flute; Yajur Sriraman, French horn; Caroline Tan, bassoon) and Liscio Trio (… read more about An afternoon of chamber music brings undergraduates out of the concert hall »
FACULTY POSITION IN MUSIC ASSISTANT / ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PIANO The Department of Music at Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina, invites applications for a full-time faculty position in piano to begin August 1, 2020. Position: Assistant or Associate Professor of the Practice of Music, non-tenure-track Duties: Teach undergraduate piano and chamber music; perform and participate actively in the profession; engage in the activities and responsibilities of regular rank faculty in the … read more about Faculty Position opening: Assistant or Associate Professor of Piano »
After filling a Biddle Music Building classroom with around 20 minutes of beautiful sound, the members of the Ciompi Quartet, who were guests in Professor Tom Brothers’ “Meet the Beatles and the 1960s” course, took questions from the class. One student, after watching the musicians’ bodies sway with the music, asked how they developed the confidence to play with such expressive movements. Viola player Jonathan Bagg explained that, while it may look as though the movement is merely a result of being swept up into the… read more about Sharing the Joy of Music »
Brooklyn-based musician and artist Alex Sopp will be on campus three times this year (September 2019, February 2020, March 2020), engaging with students and the community in numerous ways, including class visits, masterclasses, informal talks, and collaborative work. As the flutist of yMusic, Alex previously worked with Duke graduate composition fellows during yMusic's residency in 2013-2014. Her current residency provides the opportunity to deepen the engagement begun at that time, as well as new… read more about Flutist Alex Sopp artist residency 2019-2020 »
Cellist Caroline Stinson will perform at the Rudersdal Summer Concert Series in Copenhagen on August 29. She and pianist Sarah Ho will present works by Joan Tower, Andrew Waggoner, Hans Abrahamsen, Beethoven and Fauré. Also in late August, Bridge Records released The Lark Quartet's A Farewell Celebration. This CD brings the group's 30 year career to a close. On this recording, Lark Quartet (Deborah Buck, Basia Danilow, Kathryn… read more about Caroline Stinson performs in Copenhagen & Lark Quartet releases its "Farewell Celebration" CD »
Georgiary Bledsoe will participate in a panel on September 14 led by Mark Lomax which explores new modes of youth music education using scholarly perspectives. Anthony Kelley, Associate Professor of the Practice of Music in the Duke University Department of Music, and Karen Walwyn, who will be piano soloist for the Duke Symphony Orchestra's concert on Oct. 2, will also participate in the 2019 Videmus conference. Bledsoe is the Founder & Principal of BaobaoTree LLC, a… read more about Georgiary Bledsoe (Ph.D. musicology, 2002) participates in Videmus conference at the University of Michigan »
Tanglewood premiered two movements of Richardson's dissertation piece Red Wind, which was recorded with Duke Performances in April 2017, and features professor Nathaniel Mackey's poetry. The premiere took place on July 21 at 10am in the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. Other works on the program included pieces by George Crumb, Lukas Foss, and Krzysztof Penderecki.Sid Richardson has also participated in artist residencies at Crosstown Arts, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, and the Virginia Center… read more about Sid Richardson (Ph.D Composition, 2018) at Tanglewood Music Center »
Kinney is headed to Thailand to attend the festival at the College of Music, Mahidol University, where her string quartet, “Hand Carved Names and Railroad Tracks,” will be premiered. This is a busy summer of premieres for Kinney. On July 12, her “Obsessive Snapshots” premiered at MATCH - Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston, as part of the Space City New Music Festival. read more about Graduate composer Dayton Kinney is a finalist for the 2019 Rapee Sagarik Composition Prize »
Described by Chicago Classical Review as “cinematic in the best sense” and “searing,” Brittany J. Green’s music is centered around facilitating collaborative, intimate musical spaces that ignite visceral responses. The intersection between sound, movement, and text serves as the focal point of these musical spaces, often questioning and redefining the relationships between these elements. Green’s music has been featured at New York City Electronic Music Festival, SPLICE Institute, Chicago Impromptu Fest, and West Fork New… read more about Incoming composition fellow Brittany Green receives JACK Quartet Studio Commission »
The US premiere of Gümrükçüoğlu's "Lattice Scattering" (2018) for flute, piano, and electronics (performers: Rachel Beetz - flute & Richard Valitutto - piano) took place on Saturday, June 22, 2019 in the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. Other works on the program included pieces by Steve Reich and Michael Finnissy, the Composer-in-Residence for SICPP 2019.More about SICPP 2019Photo: composer Gümrükçüoğlu (center), with Beetz (l) and Valitutto (r) read more about Graduate composer Eren Gümrükçüoğlu's work premiered at SICPP (Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice) »
James writes, "The last two years I've been working on a new string quartet, Lines, Breaks, and White Spaces, with the JACK Quartet -- they've been amazing collaborators, it's been such a pleasure seeing them bring my piece to life. The recording's up now on Soundcloud, thanks to the quartet (Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman, John Pickford Richards, and Jay Chop-Cheese Campbell) and also to the Duke University Department of Music and Duke Performances for this… read more about JACK Quartet recording of James Budinich's "Lines, Breaks, and White Spaces" »
A cello virtuoso, there is relatively little known about the Parisian-born Cristiani today. Felix Mendelssohn dedicated his famous Song Without Words for cello and piano to her, and it is this piece that Kennedy and Professor Todd discuss. Professor Todd also introduces Kennedy to another piece, still unpublished, which was dedicated to Cristiani, and is heard for the first time in this radio feature. Listen to "Cristiani and Her Cello" R. Larry Todd is Arts & Sciences… read more about R. Larry Todd is featured in BBC Radio 3's "Cristiani and Her Cello" with Kate Kennedy »
Commissioned and recorded with the support of New Music USA, "Each flows into the other" is available digitally or as a 2 CD album.From the album's liner notes by ethnomusicologist Rebecca Lentjes: "Dual sound worlds flowing into and out of each other, converging and then diverging, and allowing expressivity to rise to the surface. Not quite a sound environment or installation, yet more immersive than a musical composition relying on conventional notions of teleology, such that the listener might be… read more about Bryan Christian's (Ph.D. composition, 2015) new CD, "Each flows into the other," released by Irritable Hedgehog Music »
Presented by the Department of Music and The Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music, June in Buffalo, a festival and conference dedicated to composers, took place June 3-9 2019 at the University at Buffalo. An invited composer, Eren's Bozkir was performed by Mivos Quartet on June 7. Of Bozkir (2016), Eren writes "This piece is inspired by the endless steppes that span Eurasia—from Eastern Turkey until Western China. The title Bozkır literally means ‘steppes’ in… read more about Graduate composer Eren Gümrükçüoğlu participates in June in Buffalo conference »
Undergraduate Degrees Conferred First Major Lily ChawDistinction for her recital and thesis: “Connecting the American Jazz and 19th Century Virtuosic Piano Traditions” Second Major Joshua Azza Connor Scott Pfeiffer Interdepartmental (with Neuroscience) Dalton Akeim George Minor Roy AuhDaniel Matthew Bass-Blue, IIChristopher Clay CampJack Kenzo ClaarAaron… read more about 2019 Graduates and Award Winners »
The group's first stop was the Chimei Museum in Tainan, a two hour train ride from Taipei. The Chimei Museum houses one of the world's finest collection of string instruments, including instruments by the Stradivari and Guarneri families. The next day (April 26) the Ciompi led a chamber music master class at the Taipei National University of the Arts. On April 27, they performed a concert at the Eslite Performance Hall in Taipei which included works by Dvorak and Debussy with remarks… read more about Ciompi Quartet in Taiwan, April 2019 »
In addition to Reid's p r i s m, the other two finalists were Still, by James Romig and Sustain, by Andrew Norman. Read the full description at pulitzer.org. John Brown is Director of the Jazz Program and Professor of the Practice of Music at Duke University. The other distinguished jurors on the committee for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music were Scott Cantrell (Classical music critic, Dallas, TX), David Harrington (Artistic Director/Violinist, Kronos Quartet), and… read more about John Brown serves on jury for 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music »
Featured Seniors available on Soundcloud audio playlist for your enjoyment: 1. Variations on a Theme by Glinka Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Senior: *Andrew Eurdolian, Oboe [with the Duke Wind Symphony, Verena Moesenbichler-Bryant, cond.] ________________________________________________________________2. A Lincolnshire Posy [3. Rufford Park Poachers] Composer: Percy Grainger Senior: *Andrew Eurdolian, Oboe Senior: *Samantha Woog, Bassoon [… read more about 2019 Seniors in Performance »
Kinney's piece "Hand Carved Names and Railroad Tracks" will be premiered by the Grey Matter Ensemble on August 9, 2019 at MACM hall. One winner will be awarded an honorarium of $1,500 at the conclusion of the festival and competition. The Thailand International Composition Festival (TICF) was established with the goal of improving the standard of Composition Education in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Founded in 2005 by the award-winning Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen, TICF has been the growing focus for… read more about Graduate composer Dayton Kinney is an invited finalist for the 15th Thailand International Composers Competition “Rapee Sagarik Composition Prize” »
Candace Bailey is Professor of Music at North Carolina Central University. Her NHC project is Women, Music, and the Performance of Gentility in the Mid-Nineteenth Century South (Mellon-HBCU Fellowship), under contract with the University of Illinois Press. Professor Bailey was a 2016-17 Fellow in the Franklin Humanities Institute's Digital Humanities Lab at Duke.Giuseppe Gerbino is Professor of Music at Columbia University. His NHC project is … read more about Two musicology alumni named 2019-2020 National Humanities Center Fellows »
Dr. Parkins’s eighth solo recording features late German Romantic music (Max Reger and Richard Strauss) and works by American composers (Florence Price, Kent Kennan, Robert Ward, Adophus Hailstork, and Dan Locklair). Among them are world premiere recordings of three pieces as well as first recordings of three additional works in organ solo versions. The title track is an organ transcription by Dr. Parkins of the “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Strauss’s opera Salome. Available as a CD or as a download at www.gothic… read more about Robert Parkins's new CD, "Salome's Dance," released by Loft Recordings »
This performance of Light Dances by the Da Capo Chamber Players (Bridge Records) gives equal measure to the composition's poetry and electrifying energy. Jaffe writes: "I love to work on chamber music intensively, I love to rethink ensembles, and I love to seek new musical ground, something resembling a poetry--where listeners may discover new flights of lyrical expression and an arc of narrative: the poetry of sound and form, fused!"Light Dances is available for download from BridgeRecords.… read more about New digital release of Stephen Jaffe's Light Dances: Chamber Concerto No. 2 »
Known for her elegant and playful choreography, Gabrielle Lamb is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award for Choreography and recently participated in ABT’s inaugural Choreographic Incubator. In this world premiere collaboration with composer James Budinich, Lamb adapts the tensile intricacy of her movement to respond to Budinich's musical explorations of simplicity. The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an innovative residency program for New York City choreographers, celebrates its fifth anniversary with a series of… read more about Graduate composer James Budinich collaborates with Pigeonwing Dance for CUNY Dance Initiative »
Zeller will deliver his presentation at the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music annual conference on April 6 and at the Syntagma Musicum 1619-2019 International Musicological Conference on April 8, 2019.Abstract: The four-hundredth anniversary of Praetorius’s De Organographia offers a unique opportunity to reevaluate our knowledge of the violin family in the first decades of the seventeenth century. Praetorius’s oft quoted statement that he need not deal further with the violin family… read more about Musicology Ph.D. candidate Matthew Zeller to deliver presentations at the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music annual conference (Durham, NC) and Syntagma Musicum 1619-2019 (Ljubljana, Slovenia) »
Listen to Martin Bandyke's in-depth interview with Thomas Brothers.Help! The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration was released by W.W. Norton in October 2018. It argues compellingly that a cooperative dynamic was the primary reason for the success and longevity of both the Beatles and Duke Ellington. “A historically masterly and musically literate unraveling of some of the most-admired credits in 20th-century popular music....This is musicology… read more about New radio interview with Professor Thomas Brothers about his book, "Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration" »
In addition to preparing for his new faculty position, Lee is currently working on a commission from the Tanglewood Music Festival for brass ensemble, to be premiered this summer at the Festival. He has also been commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra (ASYO) for an orchestral piece to be premiered in May 2020. Lee will also serve as the Composer in Residence for ASYO for the 2019-2020 season. read more about Scott Lee (Ph.D. composition, 2018) appointed Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Florida (UF) »
R. Larry Todd co-authored Beethoven’s Cello: Five Revolutionary Sonatas and Their World with Marc Moskovitz. The book, published by Boydell & Brewer, discusses the cultural and historical contexts of Beethoven's cello sonatas. It is the first English-language book to examine these works in depth. Every year, Choice publishes a list of Outstanding Academic Titles that were reviewed during the previous calendar year. The list is selective, containing … read more about R. Larry Todd's "Beethoven’s Cello" awarded the 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award »
R. Larry Todd is Arts & Sciences Professor and a leading Mendelssohn scholar. His books include Mendelssohn: A Life in Music, described as “likely to be the standard biography for a long time to come” (New York Review of Books), and Fanny Hensel: The Other Mendelssohn, which received the ASCAP Slonimsky Prize. A fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation and National Humanities Center, he edits the Master Musician Series (Oxford University Press). He studied piano at the Yale School of Music and… read more about New video: R. Larry Todd performs Mendelssohn's Fantasy in F-sharp minor, Op. 28 »