NEWS & UPDATES
September 25, 2026
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| | The Beat: News from Our Music Community | | Fall Happy Hour Recap with Princeton HUP! | | |
Thank you to everyone who came out to the Graduate Students Fall Happy Hour with Music Department Chair Dan Trueman. Special thanks to Princeton HUP!, our local Traditional Irish Music Session featuring many department members, for the wonderful music.
Visit Princeton HUP! website here for upcoming session dates and catch them again soon.
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Reminder: Lunch with the Chair
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
WHEN: 12:00-1:15 PM
WHERE: Prospect House
WHAT: Music students are invited to join Dan Trueman, Department Chair, and Jacqueline Appleby, Director for Administration and Operations, for lunch at Prospect House! You won’t want to miss this chance to meet with the Chair and a small group of both graduate and undergraduate students from the Music Department, share your thoughts and ideas about the music student experience, and ask any question that’s on your mind. It’s also a great way for undergraduate and graduate students to meet each other in a friendly and casual setting. Space is limited to eight students for each Lunch with the Chair date.
Please fill out this Lunch with the Chair form if you are interested in joining or to let us know that you’re interested in a future opportunity. We will do a lottery to fill the eight spots available, and then we will email you later on to confirm participation.
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Princeton Student Job Opening: Artistic Assistant
(Music Department, Communications)
Undergraduates and Graduates are invited to apply for this paid, ~5 hours/week position for 2026–2027. You'll distribute concert posters around campus, write student, faculty, and alumni stories, run social media campaigns, and capture photos and video at events. Strong writing skills required.
Learn more about the Artistic Assistant position.
| | Olivier Tarpaga's "Bush Taxi" Featured in Serena Williams Commercial | Music by Senior Lecturer in Music and Director of African Music Ensembles, Olivier Tarpaga, is reaching new audiences: his composition "Bush Taxi," written for and performed by SŌ Percussion, was featured in Serena Williams' GOAT commercial. The piece was originally co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and SŌ Percussion. | Graduate Student Hannah Ishizaki World Premiere of "Change Thy Course" for the Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center | |
Graduate Composition student Hannah Ishizaki receives glowing review from NYT's of her piece "Change Thy Course" for the Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center!
Full review here, and excerpt below. Congrats Hannah!
"After intermission, the program snapped back into focus with the world premiere of Hannah Ishizaki’s insightful “Change Thy Course,” which reimagines elements from Robert Schumann’s First Symphony (sometimes referred to as simply “Spring”) for the era of climate change. The brass fanfare that open’s Schumann’s symphony reappears in Ishizaki’s piece, but amid sliding microtonal figures and while seeming to melt after being stripped of a triumphant cadence."
"Elsewhere, Ishizaki breaks apart a chord progression from the Schumann and transforms it into glacial soundscape. Ambient strings are subsumed by wobbling vibrations from single musical glass, giving the impression that the sound is clipping out. Schumann’s spirited woodwinds appear throughout as ghostly breaths and wheezes through the same instruments. “Change Thy Course” is as much a fascinating reflection on the past as it is an elegy for the present."
| Juri Seo Discusses Her Compositional Voice on Latest "Other Minds" Episode | |
Juri Seo, Professor of Music and Director of Graduate Studies in Composition, is featured on the latest episode of the Other Minds Podcast, discussing her work with classical forms, just intonation, and humor in music. The episode includes selections from several of her compositions, performed by Latitude 49, Friction Quartet, and violinist Jinjoo Cho.
Listen here.
| Professor Margulis Talks Musical Daydreams with Alan Alda | |
Professor Lisa Margulis joins Alan Alda on Clear+Vivid to discuss how music invites us into daydreams and why our musical daydreams may be more universally shared than we would expect.
Listen here.
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Brentano String Quartet (Princeton University Concerts)
WHEN: Oct. 1, 2026, 7:30 PM
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
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Glee Club Presents: Christ Church (Oxford) Cathedral Choir
WHEN: Oct. 1, 2026, 7:30 PM
WHERE: Princeton University Chapel
Learn about Glee Club Concert
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Princeton University Orchestra: Ginastera, Korngold & Dvořák
WHEN: Oct. 9 and Oct. 10, 2026, 7:30 PM
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall
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Musicology Colloquium with Benjamin Barson
WHEN: Oct. 13, 2026, 4:30 PM
WHERE: Woolworth Center, Mendel Music Library
Learn about Musicology Colloquium
| | Music Department Announcements | Concur & Travel Info (for Princeton Faculty & Staff) | |
Reminder to submit reports no later than 30 days after transaction date. However, submitting sooner than 30 days allows the expenses to be posted to the financials faster.
All travel should be booked on a University credit card. The University is discouraging the use of personal credit cards and effective by January 1, 2027, they will not accept any travel on personal credit cards.
The Business Office thanks you!
| Mendel Music Library News | |
AtMLA Fall 2026 Meeting
Mendel Library is excited to announce that the Fall 2026 meeting of the AtMLA (Atlantic Chapter of the Music Library Association) will take place October 23-24 at Princeton University!! If you are interested, please register by October 5th. Registration fees are $10 for students and $20 for everyone else. You do not need to be an AtMLA member to attend. This is a great opportunity to learn about music research and about music librarianship as a career!
The AtMLA chapter is open to anyone in the mid-Atlantic states with an interest in music and libraries, including librarians, support staff, performers, scholars, students, and music lovers who use and work in libraries. Reach out to Lisa Read if you have any questions about the association or the meeting.
| | | Around the Corner: Campus Collaborations | | |
Princeton Porchfest 2026
Arts Council of Princeton
New Date! Saturday, September 26, 12-6pm
Starting at noon, sixteen locations around town – generously lent by neighbors – will host live music on their front porches, driveways, or garages. All you have to do? Show up and have fun.
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After Noon Concert Series
Princeton University Chapel
The After Noon Concert Series is a weekly opportunity for the Princeton Community to enjoy performances at the Princeton University Chapel by various local, national, and international organists. These half-hour concerts showcase the flexibility of the magnificent Skinner/Mander Chapel organ. Each visiting organist rehearses and performs, bringing forth a different voice and character from the organ.
Thursday, October 1, 12:30-1:00pm
October 1 – Anna Gugliotta
Parish of St. Thomas More
Manalapan, NJ
| | 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. | | |
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