Graduate Students
Aaron Brooks
Compostion and Theory
aab66@pitt.edu
Aaron Brooks is a composer, pianist, and electric guitarist, originally hailing from Greenville, North Carolina, where he received a bachelor's degree in music composition from East Carolina University in 2009. His compositions have been performed by student, faculty, and professional performers in the Eastern North Carolina area, and have been read by a number of professional ensembles. He is currently in his first year of graduate studies in composition at the University of Pittsburgh. Aaron's compositional interests originated in rock guitar lessons and 4-track home recordings of pieces for electric guitar, keyboards, and programmed drums. He maintains an interest in adventurous rock music and experimental improvisation, in addition to modern classical composition. He continues to intermittently perform with North Carolina instrumental rock trio Blue Destroy, and is pursuing various improvisational and experimental rock performance opportunities with other Pittsburgh area musicians.
Yuko Eguchi
Ethnomusicology
yue1@pitt.edu
Yuko Eguchi completed her M.A. degree in Ethnomusicology in 2008. Her thesis Re-Creating "India" Through Musical and Ritual Performances: Music and Religion of Diasporic Indians in Pittsburgh investigates Hindu ritual music and diaspora in Pittsburgh based on the fieldwork at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills. She was awarded a Japan Iron and Steel Federation Mitsubishi Foundation Fellowship in 2009 and is currently working on her dissertation The Art of Geisha: Constructing Feminine Identity, Aesthetics, and Social Class. She has lectured on Japanese music (shamisen) and culture at various sites. She also received a title as master of tea ceremony (in Urasenke school) in 2009. She graduated from Bates College with a B.S. in 2003 majoring in Music Composition and minoring in Economics.
Mark Fromm
Composition and Theory
mark.fromm@gmail.com
A native of Pittsburgh, Mark Fromm is a bassoonist, saxophonist, and composer. As an active performer, he strives to write music that is exciting and fun to perform as well as to hear. He was recently honored with a commission by the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society to write a saxophone quartet celebrating the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the city, and the resulting piece, Steel, Slag and Silicon, was premiered in April of 2009.
Matthew Gillespie
Composition and Theory
mdg27@pitt.edu
From Asheville, North Carolina, Matthew Gillespie has studied at University of North Carolina at Greensboro and East Carolina University and currently is a teaching fellow at Pitt. He has composed primarily solo, chamber, and vocal music, which has been heard throughout the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Recent scholarly interests include the music of Franz Liszt and Charles Ives. As a composer, he is currently engaged in trying to lighten up, just a little.
Ben Harris
Composition and Theory
bgh7@pitt.edu
From Tulsa Oklahoma, Ben Harris is a violinist, violist and composer. He received an MA in Composition from SUNY Buffalo in 2006, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Pittsburgh. He is drawn to improvised music and is active as a performer and composer of open form and graphic scores. His dissertation project consists of an analysis of Giacinto Scelsi's String Quartet No. 2 and the composition of a new work for string quartet and computer.
Matthew Heap
Composition and Theory
matt.heap@gmail.com
Matthew Heap is an internationally performed composer. His work has been featured at the Royal College of Music in London, in various American cities, and on WQED radio. His style tends to link the musical education he has had with his experiences in the theatrical world, creating a dramatic amalgam. He has studied with Leonardo Balada, Nancy Galbraith, Eric Moe, Timothy Salter, Mathew Rosenblum, and Amy Williams, and is currently working on his PhD in Composition and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh. His dissertation includes an oratorio based on the life of John Dillinger, and Narrative Through-flow in Berio's Sinfonia.
Elizabeth Hoover
Musicology
hooverea@gmail.com
Elizabeth is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh working on a dissertation that investigates multimedia performances by the American avant-garde in the 1960s, and the role of these performances as forms of social action. Other research interests include cultural theoretical approaches to music, music aesthetics, film music, studies in popular music, and the intersection of sound and image throughout the twentieth century in Europe and the United States. She has lectured at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and presented papers at various graduate symposiums and conferences. Elizabeth received her MA in musicology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008, and her BA in music from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) in 2006.
Jonghee Kang
Composition and Theory
yourice@gmail.com
Born in Seoul, Korea (South), Jonghee Kang began to study concert music composition after early piano studies. After graduating from Yonsei University (South Korea), she went to New York City, and studied concert music composition and film scoring at New York University, where she got her master’s degree in 2004. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D in composition and theory at the University of Pittsburgh as she works as a teaching fellow at the music department.
Jonghee has actively participated in music festivals and master classes in the past few years. Most recently, she studied at the Susan and Ford Schumann Center for Composition Studies at Aspen Music Festival and School, and her works were performed in Aspen, Los Angeles, and Seoul by different ensembles.
Jonghee has written across a wide spectrum of musical genres, ranging from new concert music to film scoring to ethnic new age. Her works have been premiered internationally by professional musicians. As a solo pianist/accompanist, she has performed works by classical music composers as well as her colleagues.
Jungwon Kim
Ethnomusicology
juk33@pitt.edu
Jungwon Kim, a native of South Korea, is a first year graduate student in ethnomusicology. She majored in violin performance and musicology for her undergraduate degree and received her master’s degree in gender studies from Seoul National University in South Korea. While she focuses on gender issues in ethnomusicology, her interests are wide-ranging: from Western classical music and popular music to traditional Korean music. In particular, she is trying to extend her research topic, the discourse on Korean female musicians in the field of Western classical music, dealt with in her master’s thesis, to the discourses on/of women in traditional Korean music and popular culture. As a member of the Carpathian Music Ensemble, she enjoys learning and experiencing various East European music cultures such as Ukrainian, Macedonian, and Armenian music.
Young-Soo Kim
Jazz Studies
jzcafe@hotmail.com
Young-Soo Kim, a native of South Korea, is a PhD student in Jazz Studies. He is a jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. After graduating from Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea), he went to Europe, and studied jazz guitar in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Afterward, he went to the US to study and received his master’s degree in studio/jazz guitar from the University of Southern California in 1996.
He returned to Korea and worked as an associate professor at the Dong-ah Institute of Media & Arts for 8 years. He also operated his own music school and jazz live club in Korea.
In 2009, he came back to US and studied in a doctorate program in Music Education/Jazz Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. He then transferred to the PhD program in Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh where he works as a teaching fellow in the Department of Music.
Kerrith Livengood
Composition and Theory
kerrith22@hotmail.com
Kerrith Livengood is in her third year of the composition program, having completed her MA in April 2007, with her work "enchanted days" written for the IonSound Project. Originally from Springfield, Missouri, Kerrith got her start writing music at Truman State University when Dr. Warren Gooch told her that she had an "interesting mind" and let her take composition lessons. Currently, her interests run along the lines of electroacoustic music and chamber music of increasingly large scope, particularly settings of the poetry of Stephen Crane. She is an active member of Alia Musica, an organization that promotes the performance of new works by young Pittsburgh composers; she is also the president of the Pitt chapter of the Society of Composers Inc. Kerrith and her husband Jonathan are devoted St. Louis Cardinals fans, and so is their cat Eric (or he would be, if he were smart enough to understand baseball).
Da Lin
Ethnomusicology
dal63@pitt.edu
Da Lin graduated from the Xi’an Conservatory of Music in China with a BA in musicology. She grew up with the strong influence of Western music, and discovered her great interest in Chinese traditional music after becoming an undergraduate. She plays piano and qin (seven-stringed zither). Da is currently focusing on several kinds of traditional operas which are popular among Han Chinese in central China.
Charles Lwanga
Composition and Theory
chl124@pitt.edu
Charles Lwanga is a Ugandan composer, pianist, master drummer, and clinician in African music, and dance. He is a Fulbright/PhD student in Composition/Theory, and the current director of the University of Pittsburgh’s African Music and Dance Ensemble. He has studied composition with Justinian Tamusuza, Mathew Rosenblum, Amy Williams, Trevor Bjorklund, and Eric Moe. Having experienced and interacted with both African and Western/European musical idioms in theory and as a performer, Charles believes in an intercultural approach to composition as inspired by Bartók, Reich, Tamusuza, and Akin Euba among others. His compositions have been read and performed by acclaimed ensembles such as the GIMBA (Bahia, Brazil), CIKADA (Norway), IonSound Project (USA), Counter Induction (USA) and Dave Eggar, a renowned cellist. His most recent composition Repetitive Insults (2011) for Flute, Clarinet in B flat, Trumpet in B flat, Violin and Cello was premiered by the GIMBA chamber ensemble, and was well received during a live webcam broadcast on March, 22, 2011. He holds undergraduate degrees in Law, Music, African Dance and Drama, as well as postgraduate degrees in Music Composition, and Music Education.
Brandon Masterman
Musicology
brandon.masterman@gmail.com
Brandon is a saxophonist and vocalist, currently working toward a graduate degree in musicology. His research interests are primarily focused on the more extreme forms of hardcore and metal musics, particularly examining queer representation in these musical scenes, as well as intersections of popular music performativity and contemporary-classical composition techniques. Most recently, Brandon's work investigates the idea of transgendered vocalities, as an extension of Judith Butler's gender performativity theory, in female-fronted extreme metal and metalcore bands. Other research interests include cultural and queer theory, the use of improvisation in music, music of the avant-garde, and jazz. Brandon holds a Bachelor of Music in saxophone performance from Youngstown State University and an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh. He remains an active performer in numerous groups, of various styles, around Pittsburgh. Brandon is also an avid cyclist and barista.
Benjamin McBrayer
Musicology
Benjamin M. McBrayer is a third-year PhD student in musicology at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include the reception history of English music, the history of music psychology, conceptions of American opera, and modernism in twentieth-century French music. He most recently presented a paper on Francis Poulenc's opera Les Mamelles de Tirésias at the the University of Nebraska-Omaha's 2011 European Studies Conference. Benjamin received his MM from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where he wrote a thesis entitled "The Specter of Peter Grimes: Aesthetics and Reception in the Renascence of English Opera, 1945-53." He also holds a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Dayton.
Mary Ober
Musicology
msb_ober@netscape.com
Ayo Oluranti
Composition and Theory
sao10@pitt.edu
Ayo Oluranti received a BA in music (composition and performance) from Southampton University, United Kingdom, in 2004, and is currently a Composition and Theory graduate student. He believes in both the traditional and the contemporary "experimental" approaches to Western classical music. In his compositions, he experiments with the fusion of elements that define this musical culture with those that define African music. Ayo is a strong advocate of the aesthetics of postmodernism in composition. He plays the organ as a soloist and an accompanist.
Benjamin Pachter
Ethnomusicology
bjpachter@gmail.com
Benjamin Pachter is an Ethnomusicology PhD student in the Department of Music at the University of Pittsburgh. For his dissertation he will be exploring changing conceptions of tradition and innovation amongst performers of Japanese kumidaiko in Japan and the United States. In 2009 he completed his Master’s thesis, “Drumming for the Mouse: Kumidaiko and the Exhibition of ‘Japan’ at Walt Disney World,” in which he explores issues of commoditization, authenticity, and representation as they relate to the performance of kumidaiko at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, FL. He is a past recipient of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation/ Mitsubishi Graduate Fellowship in Japanese Studies and a Foreign Languages and Areas Studies Fellowship. Beyond his academic activities, he is a founding member of Pittsburgh Taiko, a Pittsburgh-based Japanese drumming group. Benjamin has received a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from Duquesne University, a Masters of Music in Percussion Performance from Southern Methodist University, and a Masters of Arts in Ethnomusicology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Meng Ren
Ethnomusicology
mer78@pitt.edu
Meng Ren graduated with a BA (Double Honors) degree in German and Music and MA degree in Musicology from National University of Ireland at Maynooth, where he also received the Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (Tutors and Demonstrators). He was a formal recipient of the John and Pat Hume Scholarship from National University of Ireland. Meng’s MA thesis concentrated on the “orientalism” in Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and his principle research interests lie in the Western concept of Chinese arts and culture, East Asian and Western vocal music traditions (folk songs, art songs, and operas etc.). He has presented papers at various conferences on Chinese Studies, Drama Studies and Music in Ireland and United Kingdom. Meng is currently engaged in research on a major traditional opera form in Henan province of China, supported by a Chancellor’s Fellowship in Chinese Studies.
Indra Ridwan
Ethnomusicology
inr5@pitt.edu
Indra Ridwan was born in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. He is a lecturer at the Indonesian College of Arts (STSI Bandung) and at Pasundan University in Bandung. He received his bachelor's degree from Padjadjaran University in Bandung and went to the Yogyakarta Institute of Art (ISI Yogyakarta) for his master's degree in Creative Arts and Studies. As a professional composer and arranger, Indra has composed and/or arranged over 300 songs for radio, television, and recordings. He is currently completing an MA Thesis on Sundanese children's songs, and plans to write his dissertation on the history of pop Sunda (Sundanese popular music).
Christopher Ruth
Historical Musicology
ctr2@pitt.edu
Second-year historical musicologist Christopher Ruth received a BFA with honors in music composition from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004. Though still active in composition, Chris’s current research deals with many different subjects, taking advantage of the wide range of expertise found among the faculty of Pitt's music department. Currently writing his MA thesis on compositional heritage and imitation in Renaissance motets, his other research interests include the evolution of banjo pedagogy and methods in 19th-century America, the body as virtuoso instrument in the films of Fred Astaire, and, chiefly, the large-scale dramatic works of Robert Schumann. The diverse, yet interconnected research environment is what Chris enjoys most about the graduate music program at Pitt. “Where else," he asks, "can you research long-forgotten motet composers one day, hear a performance of your latest composition the next, and top it all off by dancing the role of the magical monkey in an expertly directed Indonesian Gamelan concert?” Beyond this, however, he finds his main inspiration as a scholar in his fellow students, where strong friendships abound between all disciplines and levels of study, in and out of class. “The weekly music department soccer match is great way to keep your sanity," he says. Originally from Baltimore, Chris loves Pittsburgh but remains wary of showing his Ravens pride so deep in Steeler country.
Jeremy Woodruff
Composition and Theory
jeremy@neue-musikschule-berlin.de
Jeremy Woodruff, BM Boston University, MFA Brandeis, Mmus RAM London, studied composition with Michael Finnissy at the Royal Academy of Music, London from 1999 – 2001, Ethnomusicology at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam 2002–04, with field research in Chennai, Bangalore and Mysore, India. In 2004 he moved to Berlin, Germany where he co-founded and directs the Neue Musikschule Berlin and guest lectured at the University of the Arts Berlin and Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler.” Current research includes sound art and the music and sound of American protest movements, with a focus on Pittsburgh. His music uses generative computer models and audio to organically compliment and dialogue with the performer’s experience.
Bryan Wright
Historical Musicology
bryan@claxtonola.com
Bryan Wright earned his BA at the College of William and Mary in 2005 with a double major in music and religion. His undergraduate senior thesis, about a once-famous singer from his hometown, titled “Cile Turner’s Contribution to the Preservation and Development of African-American traditional Music,” won the Lowens Award for Student Research from the Capital Chapter of the AMS. Bryan is most interested in studying American popular music from before 1945, and in particular he enjoys studying ragtime and early jazz styles. He is also interested in Medieval and Renaissance motets, Middle Eastern music, and Appalachian traditional music. A ragtime pianist himself, Bryan has released a CD titled Syncopated Musings and has performed at ragtime festivals across the country. In the summer of 2006, he was a featured performer at the JVC Jazz Festival in New York City. Bryan is owner of Rivermont Records, an independent label reissuing historic recordings. He also hosts a radio program of early 20th-century popular music from ragtime to big band, called Soundstage. He is a member of the AMS.
Shuo Zhang
Ethnomusicology
shz16@pitt.edu
Having grown up in a family of musicians in Beijing, China, Shuo Zhang has delved into both Western and Chinese music since childhood. Although he earned a BS in environmental science from Peking University, Shuo's life-long goal is to know as much as possible about human music and language. His research interests include the history and theory of Chinese music, musical communication in Asia, and the relationship between music and language. As a performer of the Chinese Huqin, Shuo has traveled to Thailand and Singapore to perform and study.
