Performance

Performance is a fundamental part of Cornell’s cultural life. The Department of Music encourages music-making through a wide array of chamber and large ensembles, as well as its offerings in private lessons and directed coaching by members of the music faculty. Master classes, degree and non-degree recitals, contemporary music concerts, and an annual concerto competition supplement the music department’s concert offerings.

Performance Links

Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards Choral Ensembles Instrumental Ensembles Individual Instruction & Lessons Performance Spaces Practice Rooms/Instrument Lockers Instruments & Facilities Student Organizations Jazz

Featured Ensemble Performance: Cornell Chorus, Glee Club, and Symphony Orchestra April 26, 2025

The program includes Bach’s uplifting Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, Dvořák’s triumphant Te Deum—featuring soloists Rachel Schutz, soprano, and Jean Bernard Cerin, baritone—Brahms’ lyrical Schicksalslied. Performed by the Cornell Glee Club and Chorus, and the Cornell Symphony Orchestra, led by Joe Lerangis and Gabriela Gomez Estevez.

Music events

Sep 01

Monday 07:30 PM

Cornell Jazz Faculty Group (CU Music)

Regent Lounge at the Statler

Sep 02

Tuesday 07:30 PM

Stil Moderno: Echoes of the Past (CU Music)

Sage Chapel

Sep 11

Thursday 04:30 PM

Music and Sound Studies Colloquium: Agustina Checa "Analog Futures: Cassette Tapes and the Politics of Music Preservation in Argentina"

Lincoln Hall 124

Sep 11

Thursday 07:30 PM

Amanda Mole Organ Recital (CU Music)

Anabel Taylor Chapel

Sep 12

Friday 05:15 PM

Piano Series – Nature and Landscape in the Salon Room (CU Music)

Johnson Museum of Art

Sep 17

Wednesday 12:30 PM

Midday Music for Organ: Jennifer Shin and Jasmine Ngai (CU Music)

Anabel Taylor Chapel

See all events

Music news

Gabriela Gómez Estévez to Guest Conduct National Symphony of the Dominican Republic

Gabriela Gómez Estévez to Guest Conduct National Symphony of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo

Modern theory of music perception posited by 1700s potter

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.

Festival celebrates pianos in history, history in pianos

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.