NEWS & UPDATES
September 4, 2026
| | The Beat: News from Our Music Community | | |
Our alumni’s careers are dazzling proof the humanities can take you anywhere | |
What can you do with an English major? A philosophy major? A Ph.D. in classics?
A better question: What can’t you do?
Recent Princeton alumni from the University’s 50-plus humanities departments and programs have gone on to a breathtaking array of careers: interventional cardiology, NFL global operations, and a scholarly niche in French fragrance, to name just a few. Others have gone directly to graduate school in their disciplines to become the next generation of curiosity-driven scholars and teachers.
Genevieve Allotey-Pappoe earned her Ph.D. in musicology in 2024. At Princeton, she joined the GradFUTURES entrepreneurship cohort — and was the only humanities graduate student among engineers and computer scientists.
| Senior thesis spotlight: A scholarly look at black holes and relativity by a student whose other universe is jazz | |
When Sophia Varughese came to Princeton, she expected to major in economics and minor in music performance so that she could have a successful business career and then, maybe, eventually, pursue her love of French horn performance.
But then she fell in love with the wonders of the universe, and then jazz singing, and she had to admit that path might not be right after all.
| | Welcome to a New Year with the Music Department! | |
Still shopping for the perfect fall schedule? Here's where to find both our MUS and MPP Courses:
Undergraduate Add/Drop for Fall Semester Courses — through 9/16
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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 University Concerts: Community Piano Jam
CALLING PIANO PLAYERS OF ALL AGES & LEVELS!
WHEN: Sunday, September 27, 2026, A Day-Long Extravaganza (10AM-7PM)
WHERE: Richardson Auditorium
Lottery Open through Monday, September 7, 2026. Learn more.
| | | Leland Ko '20 Takes Note: From Princeton to the Avery Fisher Stage | |
Cellist and Princeton alum Leland Ko '20 is featured in the season three premiere of PBS's Taking Note, following his selection as a 2026 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. In the episode, Ko reflects on his time as a student and the teachers who shaped his path to becoming the musician he is today, and performs two personally meaningful pieces on a Pietro Guarneri of Venice cello dating to the early 18th century.
Taking Note is a digital series highlighting rising instrumental artists honored through the Avery Fisher Artist Program's Career Grant, which awards up to five $25,000 grants annually to instrumentalists and chamber ensembles at pivotal moments in their emerging careers.
Congratulations, Leland! we're proud to see a fellow Tiger's artistry take the spotlight!
| Anthony Roth Costanzo's Nonesuch Debut, 'Countertenor,' Out on October 23 | |
Acclaimed singer and Alum Anthony Roth Costanzo's Nonesuch Records debut, Countertenor, is due October 23, 2026. It is a companion to a book of the same name written by Costanzo, out October 27, 2026, from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Both are available to pre-order here. On the album’s ten tracks, which feature an ensemble conducted by Dan Schlosberg, Costanzo delves into a wide-ranging survey of falsetto.
The record comprises a world premiere recording of a new song by Osvaldo Golijov; arias by Philip Glass, W.A. Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi, and Claudio Monteverdi; a traditional Hawaiian song; an early Baroque song by John Dowland; a Renaissance song by Thomas Morley; a Klaus Nomi-inspired interpretation of John Madara and David White’s “You Don’t Own Me;” and the classic Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tune “Walk Like a Man.”
Read Full Release Here.
| Professor Simon Morrison's Book Reviewed by Times Literary Supplement, The Economist, and WSJ | |
Read recent reviews about Professor Simon Morrison's book A Kingdom and a Village A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow
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Professor Elizabeth Margulis's Transported Named to WSJ's 12 Books to Read
| Professor Elizabeth Margulis's book Transported: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams was featured on WSJ's 12 Books to Read! Read full article. | Tyondai Braxton's new Album Splayed Werks out now! | |
Assistant Professor of Music Tyondai Braxton’s new album Splayed Werks, is his first full-length release since the recording of his 2022 symphonic work, Telekinesis.
Listen on Spotify
Learn More
| On Professor of the Practice Jeff Snyder's new Album with Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves Bury Deep My Heart
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Professor of the Practice Jeff Snyder, Director of Electronic Music, performs with the band Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves — and their new album, Bury Deep My Heart, is out now! This is the band's second full-length record and first collection of all-original songs, released July 24, 2026.
Listen on Spotify
Learn more
| Professor Donnacha Dennehy's 'Limina,' Performed by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland and Ryan McAdams, Out Now | |
Grammy Award–winning composer and Professor of Music, Donnacha Dennehy’s Limina is out now on Nonesuch Records. The album features premiere recordings of two pieces: the piano concerto Limina and Violin Concerto, performed by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, conductor Ryan McAdams, pianist Eliza McCarthy, and violinist Stephen Waarts; it was recorded at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
Listen on Spotify
Learn more
| Graduate Student Karen Christianson Earns Double Honors at MTMW and SMPC Conferences | |
Musicology Graduate student Karen Christianson earned double recognition this summer. At the Music Theory Midwest (MTMW) 2026 conference, she received an Honorable Mention for the Arthur J. Komar Award for Outstanding Student Presentation, for her paper "Music-Evoked Kinesthetic Imagery: A Novel Framework for Studying Imagined Self-Motion During Music Listening."
Karen also won a 2026 Student Presentation Award from the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), where ten members of the Music Cognition Lab presented their research at the SMPC conference at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, July 22–24.
Congratulations, Karen, and to all the lab members who presented at SMPC this year!
| Alumni News: Eddie Hong Publishes in Journal of Film Music | |
Graduate alum Eddie Hong has published an article "'So he's a ghost story': Scoring Identity, Memory, and Dissociation in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)" in the Journal of Film Music.
The article examines how the film's score musically portrays Bucky Barnes's shifting identity, exploring the tension between mechanical, agency-erasing motifs and the emotional material that surfaces when fragments of memory return.
Congratulations, Eddie!
Read More.
| | Mendel Music Library News | |
Fall 2026 Mendel Library Hours
Monday–Thursday: 9am–9pm
Friday: 9am–6pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 3pm–9pm
Please note that the library will be open one hour later on Fridays, closing at 6 instead of 5!
For a complete schedule of library hours, please visit https://library.princeton.edu/hours
New Staff
Mendel Music Library welcomes Paige Abramson to our staff as a Library Collections Specialist! She will contribute to public services, course reserves, student employee supervision, and collection maintenance. Paige received an M.A. in Musicology and an M.A. in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She previously worked at Mills Music Library where she completed graduate library work focusing on research instruction and reference services. Her musicology research centers on American Minimalism and the vocal music of Philip Glass. You can find Paige working behind the Mendel circulation desk, and she can be reached at: pa2131@princeton.edu
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Music Faculty Publications Display
Celebrate our distinguished music faculty and their recent publications! Visit the Mendel Reading Room to see a display of books, scores, articles, and recordings that have been recently published or released by music department faculty. Most items are available for check-out. For online publications and other resources, view the accompanying guide.
| | | Around the Corner: Campus Collaborations | | 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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