Welcome from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Music and congratulations on the wisdom of your decision to study with us, which, to appropriate the words of Berthold Auerbach, is to study what “washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”   In adding shine and luster, music adds immeasurably to the quality of life.

To those hesitating at the doorway, I invite you inside. Introduce yourself, and let us convince you to wash off some of that dust accumulating on your soul.  We can help you find and develop your musical self, whether it leans toward an instrument or to the study of the great composers, those giants on whose shoulders we stand collectively.

The department offers an array of courses in theory, musicology and performance.  You may want to study the art song with Susan Youens, perhaps the world’s leading expert on Schubert; or violin with Carolyn Plummer who has held prestigious positions with symphony orchestras; cello with Karen Buranskas, winner of many distinguished awards. You may study Brahms with Peter Smith, 20th Century Russian composers with Ethan Haimo, himself a celebrated composer.

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