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Giving Harvard a little more groove
Harvard’s newest assistant professor of music brings years of experience as a composer, pianist, choir director, and minister.
In the comings and goings of shopping week, first impressions matter
The first week of each semester is known as “shopping week” at Harvard, during which students are encouraged to try out classes before formally registering.
Harvard jazz leader, amid his Cuban roots
Harvard jazz leader and instructor Yosvany Terry returns to his musical roots in Cuba, where his destiny was formed.
Esperanza Spalding, Claire Chase join music faculty
Grammy-winning jazz star Esperanza Spalding and flutist Claire Chase will be Harvard professors starting in the 2017-2018 academic year.
A concentration’s first growth spurt
As Harvard’s Theater, Dance & Media specialty turns 2 this spring, it graduates its first concentrators.
Moving the needle
Will Butler of the indie rock band Arcade Fire will graduate from Harvard Kennedy School’s midcareer master’s program with a goal of helping others.
Arts First at 25
Since 1992, Arts First has had a profound effect on more than just the students who go on to become professional artists.
His music pierces the darkness
Childhood cancer survivor Taylor Carol found hope through music and turned it into his thesis.
Sounding off for noises on
In Carpenter Center discussion, musicians Amanda Palmer and Damon Krukowski talk about what's been lost in the transition from analog to digital recording.
New degree of difficulty challenges performers
Aislinn Brophy was one of the first to study Theater, Dance & Media when the concentration launched two years ago, and believes her pioneering experience bodes well for the future.
Trumpeting women in jazz
Some inroads finally may be happening for women in jazz, which traditionally has been a man’s musical world.
Why sing to baby? If you don’t, you’ll starve
A new study suggests that infant-directed song evolved as a way for parents to signal to children that their needs were being met, while leaving time for other tasks, like food foraging or caring for other offspring.
Unveiling Lowell House renewal
Central to Lowell House renewal is Otto Hall, named in recognition of a gift from Alexander Otto ’90, M.B.A. ’94.
Prescribing art in medicine
A Wintersession course studied compassion and suffering through the lenses of dance, music, and science.
The sweep of jazz history
Pianist and composer Randy Weston visits campus on the eve of Harvard acquiring his personal archive.
A sound all his own
Harry Yeff, better known as beatboxer Reeps One, speaks to the Gazette about finding his voice, bringing it to the classroom, and leaving it on the stage.
Don’t think twice, it’s all right
Harvard scholars weigh in on Bob Dylan’s Nobel for literature
Harvard and Berklee to offer dual degree
Harvard University and Berklee College of Music announced a dual degree program that will let students earn a bachelor of arts degree at Harvard and a master’s degree at Berklee in five years.
Creative differences
A Harvard Business School economist discusses the heated dispute between the music business and the tech industry over the federal law that governs the use of copyright-protected music on the Internet.
Researching roots, aiming to teach
Soon to become a Fulbright scholar, Kapena Baptista ’16 finds histories in his heritage, and plans to teach.
Creative, cultured, and diverse
The annual Arts First festival showcased many forms of imaginative expression and creativity across Harvard.
Sharing his creative gifts
South Carolina native Joshuah Campbell, who is graduating with joint degrees in music and French, has discovered the serious side of performing.
Singer sensation
Legendary tenor and opera director Plácido Domingo was masterful in a charming conversation called “Giving Voice” at Sanders Theatre.
Plácido Domingo shares his secrets
Legendary tenor and opera director Plácido Domingo will be celebrated in a conversation called “Giving Voice” on April 14 at Sanders Theatre.
Free concerts: “Creative Music Convergences”
On Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8, the Fromm Concerts at Harvard assemble some of the finest musicians in creative music for a series of free ...
Field notes gathered by ear
Grammy-nominated saxophonist Yosvany Terry is bringing the music of his native Cuba to campus as a senior lecturer and leader of the Harvard Jazz Ensembles.
Striving for imperfection
Radcliffe fellow, composer, and sound artist Reiko Yamada’s interactive sound installation “Reflective” invites visitors to interact with piano music composed by Harvard Professor Vijay Iyer. The music changes depending on the direction of the visitor’s steps.
Finding HARMONY
HARMONY — one of Phillips Brooks House Association’s more than 70 volunteer programs — provides instrumental and vocal instruction for children in the Cambridge Public Schools.
A movie as a mirror
Three young Harvard alumni explain the genesis and the process of their making the hit film “Whiplash.”
Arts First, and at center
Arts First, Harvard’s spring weekend festival, embraces creativity, audience participation.
Voces de America Latina offers window on new music in the Americas
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), writes The New York Times, is “one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music.” On Friday ...
The introspective Laurie Anderson
Performance artist Laurie Anderson delved into her inspirations and motivations as she gave the Music Department’s Louis C. Elson Lecture.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner begins Harvard residency
Conductor John Eliot Gardiner has been appointed the Harvard Music Department’s inaugural Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the Music ...
The unsinkable Alex Calabrese
A staff profile of Alex Calabrese, who splits time between working as a lifeguard at Harvard and performing with his band, Neversink.
A sweet-sounding moment
Max Tan ’15 will be the featured violin soloist during a March concert by the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
Harvard loves LL Cool J
LL Cool J, recording artist, actor, author, and philanthropist, has been named the 2014 Harvard University Artist of the Year.
Fromm Players at Harvard with Ensemble Dal Niente
The Fromm Players at Harvard presents its annual two-concert series of new music works February 28 and March 1 at 8 p.m. in John Knowles Paine Concert ...
Trumpet and coffee in hand
Capping his lauded Harvard lectureship, “Hidden in Plain View: Meanings in American Music,” musician Wynton Marsalis visited the Phillips Brooks House for an intimate conversation about his hometown of New Orleans.
Marsalis to conclude lecture-performance series
Wynton Marsalis will conclude his six-lecture series at Sanders Theatre on Jan. 30. Tickets, which are free, will be available for the Harvard community on Jan. 28 and the public on Jan. 29.
Inside the annual ‘Messiah’ sing
A different noise filled the Dunster House dining hall on Dec. 5. The clinking of silverware, scraping of chairs, and chatter of students was replaced by singing and orchestra music from the 42nd Dunster House “Messiah” Sing.
Muting the Mozart effect
Though it has been embraced by everyone from advocates for arts education to parents hoping to encourage their kids to stick with piano lessons, two new studies conducted by Harvard researchers show no effect of music training on the cognitive abilities of young children.
Pian, scholar of Chinese music, at 91
Rulan Chao Pian, an eminent scholar of Chinese music, an influential Chinese language teacher, and a mentor to students and younger colleagues in China, ...
Abbate named University Professor
Carolyn Abbate, one of the world’s most accomplished and admired music historians, has been named a University Professor. Her appointment as the Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor will take effect on Jan. 1, 2014.
Parker Quartet named Blodgett Quartet-in-Residence at Harvard University Music Department
The Harvard University Department of Music is delighted to announce that the Parker Quartet will become part of the Music Department teaching faculty at ...
A professorship and a MacArthur
Jazz musician and composer Vijay Iyer, who won a MacArthur Foundation grant, in January will become the first Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts in Harvard’s Department of Music.
Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown appointed Blodgett Artist-in-Residence at Harvard
The Harvard Department of Music and the Office for the Arts at Harvard are pleased to announce the appointment of Jason Robert Brown as Blodgett ...
Future looks bright for recent Music Dept. alums
According to a recent Strategic National Arts Alumni Project survey of more than 33,000 arts alumni, skills developed as arts majors are “applicable for ...
Songs from the stars
Gerhard Sonnert, a research associate at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has created a new website that allows listeners to literally hear the music of the stars.
Music as fine medicine
For the first time, students at Harvard Medical School in the Longwood area are participating in the annual Arts First festival, the University’s four-day celebration of the visual, literary, and performing arts.
Jazz as conversation
Artist and composer Wynton Marsalis returned to Sanders Theatre for his fourth lecture-performance at Harvard, an exploration of the strange alchemy of instinct, expertise, and empathy that jazz musicians need to “play and stay together.”
