Musicology/Composition/Theory Faculty
Hover your mouse over any faculty member to read a short biography.
Dr. Burton Beerman
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Professor (composition)
Dr. Burton Beerman Composer, clarinetist, director of the BGSU Analog and Digital Music and Recording Studios; presented over 100 concerts and master classes over the last four years across the United States and Canada with dancer Celesta Haraszti; performances include the International Summer Meeting of Electroacoustic Music in Hungary, LOGOS in Belgium, Piccolo Spoleto, ClariNet InterNational, Inc., Electronic Music Plus, the American Cultural Centre in Paris, the University of Japan, Town Hall in Brussels and Chopin Hall in Mexico City; presented his virtual video opera Jesus’ Daughter at the 1998 Society of Composers, Inc. national conference at Indiana University; residencies at the International Festival of Experimental Intermedia Art in Minneapolis and the STEIM Foundation in Amsterdam; graduate of Florida State University and the University of Michigan; studied composition with Leslie Bassett, Ross Lee Finney and Harold Schiffman and clarinet with William Stubbins; founder of the New Music Festival at BGSU; awards include first prize from the International Society of Bassists for Voices for soprano voice and contra-bass; the Martha K. Cooper Orchestra Prize for Moments, a D. Lipscomb Prize for Romance for piano and tape; has recordings for Advance, Access, Orion and Capstone labels; recipient of the 1999 Olscamp Research Award at BGSU and a 2008 Governer’s Award for the Arts in Ohio.
Dr. Per F. Broman
Ph.D., University of Gothenberg (Sweden)
Assistant Professor (theory)
Dr. Per F. Broman Holds degrees from Ingesund College of Music and the Royal College of Music in Sweden, McGill University in Montreal and a doctorate from the University of Gothenburg; has presented papers at national and regional conferences of the American Society for Aesthetics, Canadian University Music Society, College Music Society, International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US, International Musicological Society, Royal Musical Association, Society for Music Theory and the Swedish Musicological Society; is the author of Back to the Future: Towards an Aesthetic Theory of Bengt Hambraeus (Gothenburg University Press, 1999) and the chapter “New Music of Sweden” for New Music of the Nordic Countries (Pendragon Press, 2002); has contributed articles to a number of Swedish periodicals, journals and newspapers, as well as College Music Symposium, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Journal of Popular Music Studies, New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Perspectives of New Music, Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungarica, Woody Allen and Philosophy (Open Court, 2004) and South Park and Philosophy (Blackwell, 2007); has written numerous liner notes for the BIS and Deutsche Grammophon labels; is editor of the internet journal STM-Online; and has served on the faculties of the Swedish Conservatory (Jakobstad, Finland), the University College of Music Education (Stockholm), Örebro University, Luleå University of Technology and Butler University.
Dr. Steven Cornelius
Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles
Professor (ethnomusicology)
Dr. Steven Cornelius Research specialization in music of the Caribbean, West Africa and the music industry; earned degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Manhattan School of Music and University of California at Los Angeles; formerly taught percussion at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; has served on the faculty of the Summer Intercultural Institute at the New England Conservatory and as an adjunct teacher at the Bruckner-Konservatorium in Linz, Austria; serves as music critic for the daily newspaper, The Blade in Toledo; published Music of the Civil War Era (2004) and co-authored with John Amira The Music of Santería: Traditional Rhythms of the Batá Drums (1991); articles in Latin American Music Review, College Music Symposium, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music and Percussive Notes, as well as various book chapters; performances with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Radio City Music Hall and others; has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CRI, Catalyst and GM labels; artist/clinician for Yamaha Corporation, Latin Percussion Music Group and Sabian Ltd.
Dr. Vincent Corrigan
Ph.D., Indiana University
Professor (musicology)
Dr. Vincent Corrigan Has received degrees in music education, piano, harpsichord and musicology from Carnegie-Mellon University and Indiana University; primary interests lie in Medieval music (polyphony of the 12th and 13th centuries; early liturgies) and harpsichord performance; received a NEH Summer Stipend in 1987 for work on the Medieval Lyric; studied harpsichord with the late Fernando Valenti and Marie Zorn, and musicology with John Reeves White, Edward Roessner and Hans Tischler; publications include a facsimile edition of the manuscript Paris, Biblothèque nationale f. lat. 1143, articles on modal transmutation, the rhythm of trouvère song, hemiola, the Codex Calixtinus and musical transcriptions for The Medieval Lyric: A Project Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities; released the CD, The Young Scarlatti on the AMP label.
Dr. Nora Engebretsen-Broman
Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo
Assistant Professor (theory)
Dr. Nora Engebretsen-Broman Ph.D. in music theory from the University at Buffalo (SUNY); research interests include chromatic harmony, transformational theory and the history of theory; articles have appeared in Music Theory Spectrum and Theoria and are forthcoming in the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy and in collections to be published by Oxford University Press, University of Rochester Press and Stockholm University Press; has presented papers at meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the College Music Society, the American Mathematical Society, Music Theory Midwest, the Music Theory Society of New York, the International Musicological Society and the European Society for the Cognition of Music and at colloquia at Indiana University and the University of Iowa; 2003 fellow at The Mannes Institute on Transformational Theory; has served as a member of the Society for Music Theory’s Networking Committee and as a member of the program committees for the 2006 meeting of the Society of Music Theory and the 2007 meeting of Music Theory Midwest; currently serves as a member of the editorial board for Music Theory Online.
Dr. Robert Fallon
Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
Assistant Professor (musicology)
Dr. Robert Fallon Assistant professor of musicology; specializes in the study of French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) and the relationship between music and nature; holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and two bachelor’s degrees from Northwestern University; has published book chapters in Messiaen Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Olivier Messiaen in Music, Art, and Literature (Ashgate Press, 2007) and Jacques Maritain and the Many Ways of Knowing (Catholic University of America Press, 1999); articles in Modern Fiction Studies, Tempo, and Notes and program notes for the San Francisco Opera and Cal Performances Concert Series; has read papers at local and national meetings of the American Musicological Society (AMS), the Society for New Music, the Toni Morrison Society, New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, Montreal’s Observatoire International de la Création Musicale and Messiaen conferences in Berkeley and Sheffield; recipient of the 2004 Paul A. Pisk Prize from AMS and the CMA McEwen Award; has won grants from UC Berkeley’s Institute of European Studies and Graduate Division; former editor of repercussions and current editor of the Boston University Messiaen Project; has taught in the departments of music and comparative literature at UC Berkeley and the University of San Francisco.
Dr. David Harnish
Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles
Professor (ethnomusicology)
Dr. David Harnish Professor; Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Hawai’i and University of California Los Angeles; former faculty member of Semester at Sea, Colorado College and Skidmore College; recipient of grants from Fulbright-Hayes Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Ohio Humanities Council, Ohio Arts Council, National Foundation, Partnerships for Community Action, Toledo Arts Council and United States–Indonesia Society; former consultant for the British Broadcasting Company, National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institute; review editor for Asian Music and former editor for Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology; author of Bridges to the Ancestors: Music, Myth, and Cultural Politics at an Indonesian Festival (University of Hawai’i Press, 2006); author of three monographs and four chapters in edited collections; author of more than twenty-five articles in such publications as Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Ethnomusicology, Yearbook for Traditional Music, Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, Asian Music, Journal of Musicological Research, College Music Symposium, The World of Music, Ethnomusicology Forum, Ethnologies, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Pacific Review of Ethnomusicology, Asian Art, International Journal of Music Education, Orff Echo, Balungan, The Encyclopedia of Religion and Forum Ethnomusicologicum; over twenty book, recording, and video reviews in multiple journals; CD and monograph titled Balinese Music of Lombok published by UNESCO (1997); recordings as jazz, Indo-rock, and conjunto/tropical guitarist with Columbia, Shanachie, Sofia, and Batish labels; director of the BGSU Balinese gamelan, Kusuma Sari.
Dr. Mikel Kuehn
Ph.D., Eastman School of Music
Associate Professor (composition) and Director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music
Dr. Mikel Kuehn Degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of North Texas; studied with Samuel Adler, Cindy McTee, Robert Morris, Joseph Schwantner and Phil Winsor; former co-administrator of the Eastman Computer Music Center; has served on the adjunct faculties of Indiana University, South Bend and Saint Mary’s College; has received awards and grants from ASCAP, BMI, Eastman, Indiana University, the League of Composers/ISCM, the MacDowell Colony, Meet the Composer, University of Illinois Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Contest and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (First Hearing Contests); has been selected twice to represent the United States abroad, by ISCM and SEAMUS, in both the acoustic and electroacoustic mediums; has been programmed on concerts and conferences by the Bonk Festival, the BGSU New Music & Art Festival, pianist David Burge, Ensemble 21, the June in Buffalo Festival, Harvey Sollberger and the New York New Music Ensemble, the Society of Composers, Inc., Florida Electro-acoustic Music Festival, Festival Elektrokomplex, the International Computer Music Association, Kesatuan, the League of Composers/ISCM, members of the New Millennium Ensemble, Texas Computer Musician’s Network, Western Illinois New Music Festival and Kansas City Festival of Electronic Music; has lectured on contemporary music theory at conferences of the Society of Composers, Inc. and the Society for Music Theory; author and New York Times critic Paul Griffiths has described Kuehn’s Between the Lynes as having “sensuous phrases produc[ing] an effect of high abstraction turning into decadence.”
Dr. William E. Lake
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Associate Professor (theory)
Dr. William Lake Master’s degree from Indiana University and doctorate from University of Michigan; previous faculty appointments at the University of California at Davis, the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University; main areas of research are 20th-century music analysis, music cognition and music theory pedagogy; articles have been published in Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, In Theory Only and Perspectives of New Music; editor of Contemporary Music Forum for the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music; editor of In Theory Only; wrote book chapters on technology for teaching and George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children; has presented research at national meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the College Music Society and the Association for Technology in Music Instruction.
Dr. Elainie Lillios
D.M.A., University of North Texas
Associate Professor (composition)
Dr. Elainie Lillios D.M.A. in composition with emphasis in computer music media from the University of North Texas; bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from Northern Illinois University and an M.Phil. from The University of Birmingham in England; works have been performed internationally, including guest performances at June in Buffalo and Mountain Computer Music Festival and also at Rien à voir XII in Montreal and the fesitval l’espace du son in Brussels, where she diffused electroacousric concerts on multi-channel systems; other frequent perfromances at ICMC and SEAMUS conferences plus other national festivals and events; awards include the 2006 ATMI Best Conference Presentation Award, 2003 ICMA Commission, 2002 La Muse en Circuit Competition, mention in the 26th Concours International de Bourges, 2000 ASCAP/SEAMUS commission, finalist/honorable mention in CIMESP 1999 and finalist selection in the 1998 and 1999 Concorsos Russolo; grants from the Ohio Arts Council, National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, Meet the Composer, BGSU Technology Enhancement, BGSU Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, and CMA McEwen Fund; works have been released on the SEAMUS, Empreintes DIGITALes, Radio France/West German Radio and Studio PANaroma labels; research interests include ambisonics, sound diffusion, electroacoustic aesthetics and deep listening.
Dr. David McDonald
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
Instructor (ethnomusicology)
Dr. David McDonald Research specialization in the anthropology and ethnomusicology of Israel/Palestine; music and violence; and the music of the Palestinian resistance movement; current research interests include performative embodiment and the capacities of music to ameliorate the effects of violence and other socio-cultural trauma; earned degrees from the University of Illinois and Colorado State University; formally taught anthropology at the University of Illinois; has served as project coordinator of the Ethnography of the University Initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne; has conducted field research across the Middle East performing in various local and international music concerts and festivals in Jordan, Israel, Turkey and the occupied territories; additional field research conducted in Zimbabwe and Indonesia; performs regularly on the Arab nai and oud and the Zimbabwean mbira.
Dr. Mary Natvig
Ph.D., Eastman School of Music
Professor (musicology)
Dr. Mary Natvig Doctorate in musicology with a minor in theory from the Eastman School of Music; research areas include the music and culture of the 15th-century, composer Antoine Busnoys, music and liturgy in convents in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and women in music; research presented at numerous national and international conferences; chapters published by Oxford University Press and the University of California Press; author of Teaching Music History; published by Ashgate Publishers; performs on modern and Baroque violin and directs the BGSU Early Music Ensemble.
Dr. Eftychia Papanikolaou
Ph.D., Boston University
Assistant Professor (musicology)
Dr. Eftychia Papanikolaou Holds a bachelor’s degree in English philology and literature from the University of Athens and music theory degrees from the National Conservatory of Athens in Greece, and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in historical musicology from Boston University; principal research focuses on the interconnections of music, religion and politics in the 19th century, with emphasis on the “sacred” as a musical topos; other research interests include music and/in film, fin-de-siècle Vienna and interdisciplinary studies; reviews and articles have appeared in Prism(s): Essays in Romanticism, Naturlaut, Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography, the Journal of Political and Military Sociology (Music and Politics issue), MLA Notes and the German Studies Review; essay “Identity and Ethnicity in Peter Gabriel’s Sound Track for The Last Temptation of Christ” appeared in Scandalizing Jesus: Kazantzakis’s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years On; upcoming publications include an essay that considers the music in the award-winning sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica and its engagement with contemporary American culture, which will appear in Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica; writing a monograph on the genre of the Romantic symphonic mass; frequent lecturer on music and aesthetics, has presented papers in England, Greece, The Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S.; received a Technology Innovations Course Redevelopment Grant in 2005 from the Ohio Learning Network and a 2004 NEH Summer seminar fellowship for work on opera; previous teaching appointments include Wellesley College and Miami University.
Dr. Marilyn Shrude
D.M., Northwestern University
Distinguished Artist Professor, Chair of Musicology/Composition/Theory (composition)
Dr. Marilyn Shrude Distinguished Artist Professor; composer/pianist; degrees from Alverno College and Northwestern University; recipient of the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for Orchestral Music (1984), the 1985 Phi Kappa Phi Award for Creative Achievement, the Cleveland Arts Prize (1998) and Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1993–95) and the Ohio Arts Council (1985–86 and 1990–91); Distinguished Teaching Award (1987); Alverno College Outstanding Alumna Award (1988); Woman of Achievement Award from the Toledo Chapter of Women in Communications, Inc. (1989); Dean’s Award for Promotion of Contemporary Music at BGSU (1994); Ohioana Award (1997); American Academy of Arts, Letters Award in Music (1997) and Hofstra Arts Award (2003); recordings for New World, Albany, Orion, Ohio Brassworks, Centaur, Neuma, Capstone, Azica, Liscio, ATMA, MMC and Access; chair of theory and composition for Interlochen Arts Camp (1990–97); recipient of 1992 and 1998 Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming at BGSU; MTNA Ohio Composer of the Year 2001; teaches composition and chairs department; visiting professor of composition at Indiana University in 1998, Heidelberg College in 2001 and Oberlin College in 2004.
Dr. Gene Trantham
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison
Associate Professor (theory)
Dr. Gene Tranthem Coordinator of music theory; master’s from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison; recipient of the 1997 Distinguished Teaching Award from Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia; formerly on the faculty at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey; serves as a music theory consultant for the College Board and is active in the AP Music Theory program; directed the Ohio Ambassador Chorus, an ensemble of high school singers, on their biannual tour of Europe; presented papers at the International Technological Directions in Music Learning conference and at the national meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the Association for Technology in Music Instruction and the College Music Society including recent presentations on harmonic patterns in Frescobaldi’s toccatas and the relationship between analysis and performance; publications appear in College Music Symposium, Sixteenth Century Journal, TDML ejournal and Musical Insights; currently, writing Instructor’s Resources to accompany The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis for WW Norton; serves on the board of the Macro Analysis Creative Research Organization at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and as president of the College Music Society’s Great Lakes chapter.
Dr. Paul Yoon
Ph.D., Columbia University (New York)
Instructor (ethnomusicology)
Dr. Paul Yoon Research specialization in the music, politics and expressive cultures of the Asian diaspora with a focus on issues of race, ethnicity and gendered identity formation and negotiation; research has also focused on music making, prayer practices and phenomenological embodiment of senses of belief and difference among 1.5 and second generation Korean-American christians in New York City; hold degrees in philosophy and music from the University of Michigan and ethnomusicology from Columbia University; currentlly serves as director of Hayabusa Taiko, the first taiko group at the University; has worked with taiko groups across the United States and, in 2004, participated in the Artistic Production and Cultural Identity in U.S. Immigrant Communities project for the Asia Society and Ford Foundation; has conducted field research in the United States and Korea; presented papers at national conferences.