Welcome to the Music Department

The Music Department offers courses of study leading to the degrees of Master of Arts, Doctor of Musical Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy.

All programs are designed with an emphasis upon music within its interdisciplinary, cultural, and intellectual context. Our programs combine the comprehensive study of music literature, historical styles, and performance practices with the most recent analytical methodologies.

In addition to more conventional degree programs (Musicology, Performance, Composition), the Department of Music offers a degree in Historical Performance Practices, supported by a large collection of period instruments—harpsichords, a fortepiano, chamber organ, and various string/wind instruments—and the longstanding, internationally recognized departmental journal, Performance Practice Review.

The department also sponsors a public concert series that includes weekly faculty, guest artist, and student recitals.

Chair: Robert Zappulla
251 E. 10th Street • Claremont, CA 91711 • 909-607-3289 • Fax 909-607-3694

Robert Zappulla profile image

Robert Zappulla

Professor of Music
Fred W. Smith and Grace Hobson Smith Chair in Music
Chair, Department of Music

 

Programs

 

Music Department Faculty

Peter Boyer profile image

Peter Boyer

Professor of Music
Helen M. Smith Chair in Music

Research Interests

Composition, Conducting, American film music, 20th- and 21st-Century music, American composers

Robert Zappulla profile image

Robert Zappulla

Professor of Music
Fred W. Smith and Grace Hobson Smith Chair in Music
Chair, Department of Music

Research Interests

Harpsichord, Historical performance practices, Baroque music

Jenny Soonjin Kim profile image

Jenny Soonjin Kim

Assistant Professor of Practice

Research Interests

Piano, Fortepiano, 18th & 19th-century performance practices, 20th century atonal piano compositions, digital keyboard laboratory, the board of directors of Los Angeles Master Chorale: Education Committee and Gala Host Committee

Mark Howard profile image

Mark Howard

Visiting Assistant Professor

Research Interests

Jean-Philippe Rameau, French Baroque Music, the History of Music Theory, Piano Music, and Opera

Extended Faculty


William Alves

Harvey Mudd College

Research Interests

Traditional music around the world, Indonesian gamelan, computer music, abstract animation and visual music, and alternate tuning systems


Myriam Chancy

Scripps College

Research Interests

African diaspora with specialization in its literature


Holly Gardinier

The Claremont Colleges Library

Research Interests

Information literacy, Research strategies


C. Joti Rockwell

Pomona College

Research Interests

Music theory and analysis, 20th-century American popular music, Mathematical models of music

 

Studio Faculty


Gayle Blankenburg

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Piano, Modern music and chamber music of all eras


Helene Quintana

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Vocal performance, Opera


David Rentz

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Conducting, Composition, Contemporary Music, World-Premiere Chamber Operas, Choral and orchestral performance practices


Carey Robertson

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Organ


Keren Schweitzer

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Flute, Music theory


Nadia Shpachenko

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Piano, Toy piano, Harpsichord, PercussionPiano, Contemporary music, Piano performance practices


Lindsey Strand-Polyak

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Violin, Baroque Violin,Intersections between the worlds of performance and scholarship


Marek Szpakiewicz

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Violoncello, Chamber music, Film orchestration


Jaap ter Linden

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Baroque cello, Conducting, Gamba, Historical performance practices


Margaret Thornhill

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Clarinet, Chamber Music


Camelia Voin

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Vocal performance, Opera, Studio instruction (applied voice), Voice class, Song literature and diction, Music theory, and Music history


Edward Zeliff

Adjunct Professor of Music

Research Interests

Composition, Conducting, Piano

Current Graduate Students

Dissertations in Progress


Kenneth Cotich
PhD Candidate

Dissertation Title

MicroFest and the Guitar: A Legacy of Microtonal Guitar Works Premiered at MicroFest 1997-2018

Dissertation Committee

Nancy van Deusen (chair), Bill Alves, Robert Zappulla

 

Graduate Students


Ying Han
DMA Student

Research Interests

Piano Performance, Historical Instrument Performance, Chamber Music


Yuzhou Huang
DMA Student

Research Interests

Piano Performance of Classical and Jazz, Collaborative Piano, Piano Pedagogy


David Isaacs
DMA Student

Research Interests

Historical Performance Practices, vihuela da mano, Baroque guitar, J.S. Bach, historically informed arranging


Anderson Isiagu
PhD Student, Musicology

Research Interests

African Music Composition – Aspects of Incompatibility with Western Music Harmonic Principles


Yamille Jaievsky
PhD Student

Research Interests

Musicology, Historical Performance Practices, Topology


Beth Mays
PhD Student

Research Interests

21st Century Music, Renaissance and Early Music, Handbell Music


Robert Normandie
PhD Student, Musicology

Research Interests

Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries, Film Music


Steven Ottományi
PhD Student, Musicology

Research Interests

Performance practice, chant performance practice, modal theory, music of the California missions, Mexican Renaissance and Classical era choral music


Syrina Robinson
MA Student

Research Interests

Baroque Flute, Historical Performance Practices, J.S. Bach, Romanticism


Michael Stanley
DMA Student

Research Interests

Music of Underrepresented Composers, Historical Performance Practice, History of the Orchestra, History of Conducting


Pin Fei Tang
PhD Student

Research Interests

Music


Rebecca Holman Williams
PhD Student, Musicology

Research Interests

Pedagogy, music pedagogy, transdisciplinary studies

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