NEWS & UPDATES
October 23, 2026
For archived newsletters, click here.
| | The Beat: News from Our Music Community | | Musicology Graduate Student Karen Christianson Honored for Research on Music and Imagined Movement | |
Have you ever listened to music and suddenly imagined yourself dancing?
A sixth-year graduate student in musicology, Karen Christianson has since turned that experience into award-winning research on imagined movement during music listening. This year, she won the Student Research Award at the Society for Music Perception and Cognition conference and the Dorothy Payne Award from the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, received honorable mention for the Arthur J. Komar Award at Music Theory Midwest, and was named a Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Fellow.
| |
Undergraduate Spring 2027 Course Sneak Peek
On behalf of our Department Chair, Dan Trueman, we're delighted to invite Princeton Undergrads to the Spring 2027 Music Department Course Sneak Peek, an evening to explore next semester's offerings before they go live.
Come browse new and returning courses, ask questions, and get a head start on planning your semester. Then stay to connect with fellow musicians and music lovers across the department.
When: Tuesday, October 27 · 5:30 PM
Where: Woolworth 102
What: Course previews, conversation, and pizza
Please RSVP here so we can make sure there's a seat for everyone.
We hope to see you there!
| | Princeton Alumni Weekly: What Happens to Your Brain When You Daydream to Music? | |
Elizabeth Margulis, Professor of Music, has spent much of her life at the piano, steeped in the disciplined world of conservatory training. But it was only later — through years of teaching and listening closely to her students — that she began to question the rigid assumptions she'd absorbed about what it means to actually listen to music. “There was a little bit of a reeducation I experienced across the course of my adult life,” she says, “that really revealed to me how important inattention can actually be to musical experience, and how rich the experiences are that people can have when they think they’re not listening to the music at all.”
Read PAW Article Here.
|
Sō Percussion on PBS: One on One with Steve Adubato
| |
Sō Percussion, Princeton's Performers-in-Residence, was recently featured on PBS's One-on-One with Steve Adubato.
In this segment, Emmy Award-winning anchor Steve Adubato sits down with ensemble members Adam Sliwinski and Jason Treuting as part of the program's Arts Connection miniseries.
Watch Youtube video here.
|
"Barbara Strozzi in Context" Edited by Wendy Heller and Beth Glixon
Reviewed by Gramophone
| |
Gramophone has reviewed Barbara Strozzi in Context, edited by Scheide Professor of Music History, Wendy Heller and Beth Glixon. Critic David Vickers describes it as “This first expert book in English on Barbara Strozzi’s extraordinary genius … offers a wealth of interdisciplinary perspectives on the artistic, intellectual, social, economic, political and sexualised cultures of music in 17th-century Italy.”
Read Gramophone's Review.
| Alumnus Anthony Roth Costanzo '04 "Countertenor"on WSJ Book Review | |
The Wall Street Journal has praised Countertenor, new book by Alumnus Anthony Roth Costanzo '04, as “bright, funny, thoughtful and informative.” The review also describes Costanzo as one of the best-known and most musical countertenors alive.
Read Wall Street Journal Book Review here.
|
Alumnus Edward Leung '16 Wins First Prize and the Prix Albert Roussel at the 18th Albert Roussel International Piano Competition
| |
Edward Leung '16 recently won First Prize and the Prix Albert Roussel at the 18th Albert Roussel International Piano Competition, held at the Salle Cortot in Paris. The award includes concerto and solo engagements in the coming season.
At Princeton, Edward was the cofounder of Opus, a member of the Glee Club and Chamber Choir, and studied piano with Francine Kay.
He subsequently pursued postgraduate studies in England with Pascal Nemirovski and is now a member of the faculty at the Yehudi Menuhin School.
| | Music Department Announcements |
Royal College of Music Study Abroad Info Session
Princeton Undergraduate Students: Interested in attending Royal College of Music's Study Abroad?
The Royal College of Music in London gives students the opportunity for professional-level performance training, plus the experience of living in one of the world’s most vibrant music capitals for a fall semester. Students who are considering the professional classical performance world at the graduate level or beyond will find this program particularly useful.
Rising juniors from any major interested in classical music performance training may apply for this program. This program is offered in fall semesters only.
WHEN: November 3, 2026 at 12:15pm
WHERE: Woolworth 106
Sign up for the RCM Info Session
| Mendel Music Library News |
Musical Artwork Exhibit
Come see Mendel Music Library’s new exhibit featuring lithographic illustrations from our nineteenth-century sheet music collection. There will be a different set of materials on display October–January, February–April, and May–July. Learn more about the exhibit.
|
Musicology Colloquium Pop-up Display
To coincide with each musicology colloquium throughout the year, Mendel staff puts together a pop-up display of materials to showcase works by the guest speakers and topics related to their research. The newest display, for Lydia Goehr’s colloquium on 10/29, can be found on the bookshelves in the Mendel first-floor reading room, which is also where the event will take place. Among the materials featured are books and articles published by the lecturer (physical copies and e-resource links), books on relevant research topics, and a brief summary of the subject matter of the presentation. Please stop by to check out this selection of resources as a way to supplement the upcoming musicology colloquium!
| | | Around the Corner: Campus Collaborations | |
Fund for Irish Studies: Conversation with Yiyun Li — Music Against the Night
Yiyun Li, Pulitzer Prize winner and Princeton Professor of Creative Writing, launches her new novel, Music Against the Night, a historical saga tracing the life of Irish composer and pianist John Field (1782–1837). Known as the inventor of the nocturne, Field is portrayed from his musical upbringing in Dublin to his success in Russia. The story follows his artistic development, personal struggles, and legacy. Li will read briefly from the novel and be in conversation with Princeton Professor of Music Donnacha M. Dennehy, and pianist Cristina Altamura will play a John Field nocturne and an early Chopin nocturne, composed when Chopin was seventeen and heavily influenced by Field.
October 30, 2026, 4:30 p.m.
Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall
Free, Open to the Public
Learn more.
| |
Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity by Olivier Messiaen
Friday, October 30, 7:30 pm
Princeton University Chapel
Free - no ticket required
Dr. Gail Archer, recording artist and concert organist, teaches at Barnard College of Columbia University, and is College Organist at Vassar College. Her performance will consist entirely of Olivier Messiaen’s Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. Complete performances of the work are rare, so I hope you will seize the opportunity to hear this monumental work.
Learn more.
| | Please submit any event or news you would like to share with the Department of Music students, faculty, and staff in future iterations of the Synthesizer. | | |
Our Company | Contact Us | FAQs | Privacy Policy |
| | | |
