Welcome. I am a historical musicologist—or, if you prefer, a musical historian—who investigates how composers develop their musical styles in relation to the social and economic circumstances in which they work. I hold a Ph.D. from Brandeis University, where I was a Mildred and Herbert Lee fellow. I am now an associate teaching professor at the University at Buffalo, which is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. My latest research project is a scholarly biography of Arthur P. Schmidt, forthcoming from SUNY Press in 2027!
Research. Here are some of the projects I’ve tackled during the past few years:
- I am presently investigating the life and work of groundbreaking music publisher Arthur P. Schmidt (1846–1921), who printed the first substantial repertory of large-scale American art music music in the history of the United States.
- The above project relates to a broader study of nineteenth-century music publishers, and their artistic influence on the style of composers from the period, in a series of recent journal articles.
- I also enjoy subjecting corpora of sixteenth-century polyphony to formal empirical analysis, taking a quantitative approach to questions of text setting in the Italian madrigal.
The rest of my work is listed here. You can also find me at ORCID, Google Scholar, GitHub, and Humanities Commons.
Teaching. During my time in Buffalo, I have led a wide variety of seminars and lecture courses not only for the Department of Music but also for the UB Honors College and the Department of AI & Society. You can read the course descriptions here. The COVID-19 pandemic also gave me a chance to acquire some proficiency in digital pedagogy.
Singing. When not engaged in the above activities, you can sometimes find me performing as a bass chorister—most recently with the Evensong Choir of Christ Church Cambridge. I am also a past member of the Chapel Choir of Hertford College (Oxford), the St Catherine’s College Choir (Oxford), Calliope, the Irving Fine Society, the Brandeis University Chorus, the Brandeis University Chamber Choir, and the Phillips Academy Cantata Choir.
I’ve also had the privilege of performing at a number of culturally significant—i.e., rather intimidating—venues, including the Royal Wawel Cathedral in Poland, the King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, the Cathedral Basilica of San Juan in Puerto Rico, the Mirabell Palace in Salzburg, and, closer to home, the Hatch Memorial Shell in Boston.
