Department Homepage
The College of Arts & Sciences
The Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards announces historical keyboard festival and public concerts June 23–27. The Chamber Music Collective and Fortepiano Tech Academy highlight collaborative performance, rare repertoire, and hands-on training with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century instruments.
The Herbert Gussman Jazz Septet at Cornell has been recognized with a DownBeat 2026 Student Music Award in the category of Small Jazz Ensemble/Combo - College/Undergraduate Outstanding Performance.
Laurel Gilmer of Cornell University’s College of Arts & Sciences competed on Jeopardy! May 12, showcasing trivia expertise after a rigorous audition process. The music department events director highlighted preparation strategies and contestant experience on the iconic quiz show.
Cornell University honored 31 Merrill Presidential Scholars May 19, recognizing academic excellence and mentorship. College of Arts and Sciences senior Carolina Aguilera-Garza and peers celebrated influential teachers and Cornell mentors shaping leadership, scholarship, and public impact.
Several Cornell College of Arts and Sciences graduate students and one faculty member from the college were honored with 2026 Graduate Excellence and Impact Awards. Presented May 13, the awards honor leadership, service and mentorship.
Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences honors the winners of its 2026 teaching and advising awards. Faculty members Nicole Giannella, Karola Mészáros and Landon Schnabel stand out this year, earning major awards for excellence; many instructors and teaching assistants received recognition, as well.
Isaac Dorio is majoring in music and anthropology
After a two-year break, Cornell University music faculty are bringing back Mayfest from May 15-19 in Barnes Hall. The event will feature music from Bach to Kurtág, including works by Arensky, Dvořák, Puccini, Brahms and a new commission by Cornellian Joseph Phibbs, a tribute to his teacher, Steven Stucky.
Violinist Ariana Kim, faculty member in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences explores improvisation in pieces from classical to folk traditions in her new album, “(un)common thread,” which will drop from Saffron Soul Records May 26. A May 3 listening party will celebrate the release.
At Cornell University, Christopher J. Miller and Parkorn Wangpaiboonkit present Thai-inspired gamelan music in Klarman Hall’s Groos Family Atrium on April 26, marking Wangpaiboonkit’s arrival as assistant professor.
Student Ambassador Alexandra Hui, Class of 2029, describes finding mentorship and belonging in Cornell Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra.
The Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series at Cornell University closes its 2025-26 season with renowned company Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana at Bailey Hall during a performance on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. The event features QUINTO ELEMENTO (Fifth Element), a new work by dancer/choreographer Patricia Guerrero, featuring an original live score by Francis Gómez.
Cornell admits the Class of 2030 emphasizing real-world impact, enrolling 5,776 students from 102 countries. At Cornell University, the diverse cohort reflects the land-grant mission and applied learning goals across multiple colleges.
A new book by Judith Peraino, professor of music in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, explores the outsider spirit of punk music and culture. "We're Having Much More Fun: Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman and Beyond" draws upon Cornell University Library’s archive of punk-related material.
In the concert, Hough will play an imaginative program that includes works by Schubert, Brahms, Schoenberg, Beethoven and a suite from "Mary Poppins."
The Department of Music is honoring the late Steven Stucky, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and beloved Cornell professor, with a series of concerts.
Released on Feb. 6 via Naïve Records, Hamasyan's album "Manifeste" marks a new chapter for one of the most visionary artists working at the intersection of jazz, progressive rock, and global music.
Events include film screenings, panel discussions and a concert by the Barbara & Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony.
Four faculty from A&S have been awarded Cornell’s highest honors for graduate and undergraduate teaching.
Rooted in the Afro-AmerIndian heritage of communities along the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, Garifuna music blends West African rhythms, indigenous Carib influences and the Arawak language.
The next time you visit Ithaca, check out exhibits on Chimes history, astronomical instruments, historical keyboards and so much more
Built in an era when the University was under fire for being nonsectarian, it offers respite from a bustling campus.
Based on poems by A&S alumna Tsitsi Ella Jaji, M.A. ’06, Ph.D. ’08, the songs by Shawn Okpebholo bring to life individual stories preserved by the Cornell-based Freedom on the Move project.
Salvant, a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy Award winner, is an artist celebrated for bringing historical depth, dramatic flair, and exceptional musical insight to jazz standards and original works.
An interdisciplinary project is sparking collaborations among those interested in digital approaches to the study of history, languages and culture.
The two-day event features performances of Farrenc’s chamber music on historical instruments, a reimagining of the salon culture in collaboration with the Johnson Museum of Art, and scholarly presentations.
A new work by Cornell alum Zachary Wadsworth DMA ’12, will premiere this weekend in three concerts, including one at Cornell’s Bailey Hall.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with violin soloist James Ehnes will perform a program entitled “Postcards from Paris” in the next Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series (DMCCS) production of the 2025-26 season.
Cornell faculty and graduate students unleash a genre-bending program across seventeen keyboard instruments, from the delicate whisper of the clavichord to the analog punch of the Roland Juno-60.
Cornell orchestras, vocal ensembles and the Center for Historical Keyboards plan performances.
Martin F. Hatch Jr., Ph.D. ’80, professor of music emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, died Aug. 23 in Ithaca, New York. He was 83.
A leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement, Le Vent du Nord will perform in the first Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series (DMCCS) on Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Bailey Hall.
Parkorn Wangpaiboonkit, Music
Igor Santos, Music
Ten students who participated in this summer's Nexus Scholars Program share their stories..
A new book by Carmel Raz focuses on the work of John Holden, an 18th-century potter who also wrote an influential treatise on musical theory.
Musicians, scholars and instrument makers will gather at Cornell Aug. 5-10 for Forte | Piano 2025: Crafting Soundscapes, a conference and festival exploring dimensions of historical keyboard practice from performance and scholarship to instrument making and listening.
The season will include explorations of timeless classics, as well as concerts highlighting new frontiers in music.
The deaths of Brian Wilson, co-founder of The Beach Boys, and funk and soul pioneer Sly Stone, of Sly and the Family Stone, mark the end of a pivotal era in music, says professor Judith Peraino.
Projects spanned topics from Confederate cemeteries to Korean textiles.
A $2 million gift from the Dallas Morse Coors Foundation for the Performing Arts will rename the Cornell Concert Series and allow it to continue its efforts to bring world-class musicians to campus.
