Graduate Students in Musicology at Eastman
Student News & Updates
Katherine Hutchings, will present at the upcoming AMS national meeting in New Orleans (2012): “What’s So New about Nova Musica? Johannes Ciconia and Early Quattrocento Theories of Imitation”
A number of PhD graduates will present papers and otherwise formally participate at the AMS national meeting in New Orleans (2012):Papers
- Alexander Stefaniak (Washington University in St. Louis), “Schumann, Virtuosity, and the Rhetoric of the Sublime”
- Sylvia Alajaji (Franklin and Marshall College), “‘We’ll Make Our History’: Performing the Past, Producing the Present in the West Bank”
- Su Yin Mak (Chinese University of Hong Kong), “Topical Uses of Opera in Television Commercials: A Cross-Cultural Comparison"
Discussion participants, respondents, and chairs
- Amy Wlodarski (Dickinson College)—respondent for Oral History and Cold War Studies: Methodological Perspectives and Notes from the Field
- Jennifer Ronyak (University of Texas at Arlington)—chair for The Lied in Performance: Text and Context
- Marjorie Roth (Nazareth College)—participant in The Music Course in General Education: Eliciting Student Enthusiasm and Investment (sponsored by the AMS and SEM Pedagogy Study Groups)
- Tamara Levitz (University of California, Los Angeles)—chair for and participant in Envisioning a “Relational Musicology”: A Dialogue with Georgina Born
Several recent graduates have accepted academic positions or have changed positions:
- Alexander Stefaniak, assistant professor (tenure-track), Washington University in St. Louis
- Jennifer Ronyak, assistant professor (tenure-track), University of Texas, Arlington
- Maria Cristina Fava, assistant professor (one year), Michigan State University
- Matthew Morrow, instructor (one year), Eastman School of Music
- Kimberly Hannon Teal, instructor (one year), Eastman School of Music
- Marie Sumner Lott moved from Pennsylvania State University to Georgia State University (assistant professor, tenure-track)
- Seth Brodsky moved from Yale University to the University of Chicago (assistant professor, tenure-track)
Ayden Adler became Senior Vice President of Musician Advancement and Dean at the New World Symphony
PhD Students, by Entrance Year
entered 2012
Jacek Blaszkiewicz enters with an MA in Music History/Theory from Stony Brook University, and a BMus summa cum laude in piano from Montclair State University. His current interests include nineteenth-century francophone opera and visual metaphor in music. Jacek has presented papers at the Greater New York Chapter of the AMS and at the Stony Brook Graduate Music Symposium. He is a recipient of the Sproull Fellowship. JacekB1214@gmail.com
Jack Hanlon arrives at Eastman after earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was recognized for his academic and performance achievements by the R. Dwight Drexler scholarship award. His current research interests include twentieth-century German and American opera. jhanlon4@u.rochester.edu
Lauron Kehrer completed her MA in Ethnomusicology at Eastman, as well as earning the Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Women and Gender Studies (University of Rochester). Lauron did her BM in Flute Performance at Michigan State University, with an undergraduate specialization in Women, Gender, and Social Justice. Her doctoral studies are supported by a Sproull Fellowship and the Ann Clark Fehn award. She has presented papers at national conferences including AMS, SAM, SEM, and Feminist Theory and Music. She is especially interested in popular music studies and queer theory. lkehrer@u.rochester.edu
Gail Lowther completed an MM in Music History and an MM in Music Education at Bowling Green State University. Her current research interests include twentieth-century French music and opera. glowther@u.rochester.edu
entered 2011
John Green completed a BM in Saxophone Performance from SUNY Fredonia and enters Eastman with the Fehn award to support his doctoral studies. His current research focus includes John Cage and twentith-century American music. jgreen29@u.rochester.edu
Aaron James completed an MM in organ performance at Eastman following a BMus at the University of Western Ontario, where he received the Faculty of Music Gold Medal. He is pursuing a PhD in musicology concurrently with a DMA in organ. His primary research interests involve the aesthetics and reception history of twentieth-century modernist music. cjames12@u.rochester.edu
entered 2010
Eric Lubarsky enters with an MM in historical musicology from the University of Florida. From the same school he also received a BM in clarinet and a BS in Journalism. He has received the prestigious Sproull Fellowship to support his doctoral studies. His current research interests focus on the music of the Renaissance. In June 2011 he presented a paper on Margaret of Austria at the Med-Ren conference in Barcelona. elubarsk@u.rochester.edu
Michael Oldaker completed an MA in musicology at the University of Western Ontario, where he also received a BM in organ performance. His MA work was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Graduate Award. He is especially interested in baroque music. moldaker@u.rochester.edu
Sarah Fuchs Sampson completed her MM with a double major in musicology and piano chamber music/accompanying at Ball State University. Her master's thesis, "Rehabilitating Robert Schumann's Late Chamber Works: Opp. 105 and 121 Reconsidered," won the 2011 Ball State University Alumni Association Distinguished Thesis Award. Sarah received her BM, magna cum laude, in piano performance from Taylor University. In 2013, Sarah was nominated for the Eastman Graduate Teaching Assistant Prize. Her current research focuses on the role of sound technology in the production and reception of opera in belle-époque France. sfuchs2@u.rochester.edu
Maggee Van Speybroeck earned a BM in vocal performance from the University of Kansas. She is particularly interested in researching lieder and other art song. mvanspey@u.rochester.edu
entered 2009
Regina Compton completed a BM in Clarinet Performance at Southern Methodist University and an MM in Music History at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include 19th-century music and aesthetics. In spring 2011 she received one of Eastman’s teaching assistant awards and also the Jerald C. Graue Fellowship for an outstanding paper in musicology. rcompton@u.rochester.edu
entered 2008
Rohan Krishnamurthy completed the BA at Kalamazoo College with a double-degree in music and chemistry. He is a Provost Fellow and a percussionist who specializes in South Indian music. He is organizing a South Indian percussion ensemble at Eastman. He is a contributing author to Psychology of Music, ed. S.-L. Tan. rohan.krishnamurthy@rochester.edu
Anne Marie Weaver completed a BA in English at Goshen College and an MM in piano at Bowling Green State University. She is interested in 19th- and 20th-century music. She presented a paper on 19th-century Russian music at a conference at Cornell University in spring 2011. annemarie.weaver@rochester.edu
entered 2007
Tyler Cassidy-Heacock completed a BA in music history and theory while pursuing vocal performance at Oberlin College. She continues to perform new music at Eastman, and is pursuing a dissertation on signification in late 20th-century non-linguistic vocal chamber music for women's voices.tyler.cassidyheacock@gmail.com
Alexander Stefaniak completed the BA at Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. He is a Sproull Fellow, and has an interest in 19th-century music. He received the Glenn Watkins Travelling Fellowship for research in Germany in fall 2011. astefan5@u.rochester.edu
entered 2006
Naomi Gregory completed the BA and MPhil at Cambridge University. She is a double-degree student, PhD in Musicology and DMA in organ, and she is a Sproull Fellow. In 2008 she received one of Eastman’s teaching assistant awards. ngregory@u.rochester.edu
Kimberly Hannon completed the BM in trumpet performance at the University of Oregon. She is pursuing research on jazz and canon formation. She has received the Glenn Watkins Travelling Fellowship in 2010, and the Elsa T. Johnson Dissertation Fellowship for 2011-12. khannon@u.rochester.edu
Amy Kintner completed the BA in English and German at the University of Portland in Oregon, while also studying music and performing on the clarinet. She spent a year on a Fulbright Fellowship in Vienna before coming to Eastman. Currently, Amy pursues research in the field of popular music studies, and her dissertation explores the depiction of utopia in music by female artists active from 1968 to the present. She has received an AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship for 2011-12. amy.schadenfroh@gmail.com
entered 2005
Caroline Ehman completed her BMus and MA from McGill University. She is a Sproull Fellow, and also the recipient of a Canadian fellowship from the SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council). Her dissertation topic is on treatments of the Faust legend in contemporary opera. cehman@u.rochester.edu
Katherine Hutchings earned the DMA in percussion at Eastman, and is now pursuing the PhD in Musicology. Her dissertation, "Mediating Ancients and Moderns, Humanists and Scholastics: Johannes Ciconia's Nova musica and Its Cultural Contexts," is in progress. In 2009 she won a Presser Foundation grant for dissertation research in Italy. For 2010-11 she won an American Association of University Women American Dissertation Fellowship. kh010j@u.rochester.edu
Tanya Sermer completed the BMus at McGill University. She has completed the MA in Ethnomusicology, and her dissertation topic is on “Soundscapes of the Old City of Jerusalem: Musical Practice, Communal Identity, and the Politics of Place.” Tanya received the International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council for ethnographic fieldwork in Jerusalem in 2010-11, and she is continuing her research in Jerusalem in 2011-12. tanya.sermer@rochester.edu
entered 2004
Maria Cristina Fava completed an MM in Music History and an MM in Ethnomusicology at Bowling Green State University, and she is a native of Italy. Her dissertation, "Marc Blitzstein and the Political Value of Music: New York City in the 1930s," is in progress. In 2009, she received the Dina Epstein Award from the Music Library Association, and both the Elsa T. Johnson Fellowship and the Glenn Watkins Travelling Fellowship from the Eastman School of Music. Cristina has presented her research at various musicological conferences and meetings, including those of the Society for American Music and American Musicological Society. She has twice received the award for best student presentation at the AMS Midwest Chapter conference. mfava@u.rochester.edu
Lara Housez completed her BMus and MA in Music History at the University of Western Ontario. She is a recipient of a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the MLA's Dena Epstein award for research in American music. Her dissertation, "Becoming Stephen Sondheim: From Forum to Company," is in progress. She has presented papers on Sondheim, Kurt Weill, and postwar musicals at the annual meetings of the American Musicological Society, Society for American Music, Canadian University Music Society, and the New York–St. Lawrence and Midwest Chapters of the AMS, where she received the Indiana University Press Award for the Best Student Paper. Lara presented a talk on Sondheim's Assassins at the national meeting of the SAM in 2011. laraevelyn@yahoo.com
MA Students in Ethnomusicology
entered 2012
Rachel Brashier completed a Bachelor of Music at Eastern Illinois University in 1999, with a voice and education emphasis, and taught music for twelve years in the Chicagoland area before completing a Masters in Music History at Southern Illinois University in 2012. Her thesis concerned the hymns of women in Byzantine chant of the Greek Orthodox Church, on which subject she presented at the Feminist Theory and Music Conference in 2011. She is now interested in chant and religious music in diaspora communities of Orthodox Christians in the United States. rbrashie@u.rochester.edu
Austin Richey completed his BM in Music Performance at Western Washington University with a focus on percussion. Austin intends to pursue fieldwork-based study in Zimbabwe and focus on the synthesis of traditional music with modern styles. He is currently the Eastman Concert Office Intern for the Barbara B. Smith World Music Concert Series. arichey2@u.rochester.edu
entered 2011
Nawa Lanzilotti completed a BA in Music at the University of Rochester with a focus on cello performance and ethnomusicology. In Fall 2010 she entered into the 3+2 MA Ethnomusicology program, a five-year program that joins the final year of undergraduate study with first year of graduate coursework. Nawa pursues research that explores sound perception and musical experience in the Deaf community. At the 2011 SEM annual meeting she will present a paper on recent field work that examines the process of mounting the musical theater standard Guys & Dolls at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT. llanzilo@u.rochester.edu
entered 2010
Kimberly Harrison came to Eastman from the State University of New York in Potsdam. kharri15@u.rochester.edu
Caroline Palser earned a BM in harp from Eastman before entering the MA program. caroline.palser@rochester.edu
Jennifer McKenzie came to Eastman from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. jmckenz3@u.rochester.edu
entered 2009
Emeric Viani earned a BM in piano from Eastman before entering the MA program. evani@gmail.com
entered 2008
Julie Beauregard completed BM and MA degrees in Music Education at Eastman, and is a double degree student for the PhD in Music Education and the MA in Ethnomusicology. The 2010 recipient of the Presser Music Award, Julie has conducted fieldwork in Ghana, West Africa, where she examined musical transmission processes. She has presented papers at ethnomusicology conferences on "Female Identity Construction in the Virtual Community of The L Word: Season 2" and "DJ and Dancers As Performers of Electronic Dance Music In A Night Club." Julie was a nominee for the University of Rochester Presidential Diversity Award in 2010. jbeaureg@u.rochester.edu