EDUCATION

 

Ph.D.       University of California, Berkeley, Musicology, 2005

 

M.A.        UC Berkeley, Musicology, 1997

 

B.A.         Northwestern University, English (Departmental Honors), 1991

 

B.M.        Northwestern University, Music Theory and Composition, 1991

 

                       

TEACHING POSITIONS

 

Carnegie Mellon University, School of Music                                  Assistant Professor of Musicology, 2009–2016

​

Bowling Green State University, College of Musical Arts               Assistant Professor of Musicology, 2006–2009

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

Books and Book Projects

 

Messiaen Perspectives 1: Sources and Influences, co-edited with Christopher Dingle (Ashgate, 2013).

 

Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence, and Reception, co-edited with Christopher Dingle (Ashgate, 2013).

 

Low Mountains, High Culture: Appalachia and Classical Music from the Great Depression to the Great Recession [provisional title, several chapters completed]

 

Messiaen’s Gothic Spirituality [provisional title, several chapters completed]

 

 

Juried Studies

 

General introduction and five introductions to book subdivisions, co-written with Christopher Dingle, to Messiaen Perspectives 1 and 2, two volumes co-edited with Christopher Dingle (Ashgate, 2013).

 

“A Catalogue of Messiaen’s Birds,” in Messiaen Perspectives 2, edited by Christopher Dingle and Robert Fallon (Ashgate, 2013), 113–146.

 

“The Tombeaux of Messiaen: At the Intersection of Influence and Reception,” in Messiaen Perspectives 2, edited by Christopher Dingle and Robert Fallon (Ashgate, 2013), 243–73.

 

“Placing Mount Messiaen,” in Messiaen Perspectives 2, edited by Christopher Dingle and Robert Fallon (Ashgate, 2013), 323–39.

 

“A Critical Catalogue of Messiaen’s Music,” in Messiaen Perspectives 2, edited by Christopher Dingle and Robert Fallon (Ashgate, 2013), 363–406.

 

“MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music,” subject entry for the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed., ed. Charles Hiroshi Garrett (Oxford University Press, 2013).

 

 “Messiaen,” subject entry for the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd ed., ed. Charles Hiroshi Garrett (Oxford University Press, 2013).

 

“Dante as Guide to Messiaen’s Gothic Spirituality,” in Messiaen the Theologian, ed. Andrew Shenton (Ashgate, 2010), 127–43.

 

Editor, Ars Lyrica: Journal of the Lyrica Society for Word-Music Relations, vol. 19 (2010); Associate Editor, vols. 17 (2008) and 18 (2009)

 

“Messiaen’s Gothic Spirituality and the Renouveau Catholique,” translated into French by Martine Rhéaume, in Musique, arts et religion dans l’entre-deux-guerres, ed. Sylvain Caron and Michel Duchesneau (Symétrie, 2009), 387–403.

                       

“Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen’s Cold War Mass,” Journal of Musicology, vol. 26, no. 2 (spring 2009): 175–204.

 

 “Two Paths to Paradise: Reform in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise,” in Messiaen Studies, ed. Robert Sholl (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 206–31.

 

“The Record of Realism in Messiaen’s Bird Style,” in Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature, ed. Christopher Dingle and Nigel Simeone (Ashgate Publishing, 2007), 115–36.

           

 “Music and the Allegory of Memory in Margaret Garner,” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 52, no. 2 (summer 2006): 524–541.

 

 “Composing Subjectivity: Maritain’s Poetic Knowledge in Stravinsky and Messiaen,” in Jacques Maritain and the Many Ways of Knowing, ed. Douglas A. Ollivant (Catholic University of America Press, 2002), 284–302.

 

 

Reviews

 

Review of Derek Bermel, Canzonas Americanas, CD performed by Alarm Will Sound (Cantaloupe Music, 2012) in Journal of the Society for American Music, vol. 9, no. 1 (February 2015): 156–58.

 

Review of Jon Gillock, Performing Messiaen’s Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses (Indiana University Press, 2010) in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, vol. 67, no. 3 (March 2011): 551–53.

 

Review essay of five books on Messiaen, Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 62, no. 2 (summer 2010): 378–92.

           

Review of three Messiaen books, Tempo: A Quarterly Review of Modern Music, vol. 62, no. 246 (October 2008): 67–70.

 

Review of eight Messiaen scores, Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, vol. 60, no. 3 (March 2004): 795–801; reprinted online at www.oliviermessiaen.net (2007).

           

Review of four Messiaen recordings, Tempo: A Quarterly Review of Modern Music, vol. 57, no. 226 (October 2003): 44–45.

 

           

Non-juried Studies

 

“Four Score and Some Odd Years Ago: A Recognition of Friends,” a prehistory of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, in the program book of the PCMS 50th Anniversary Gala, edited by RF, April 2012, 10–11.

 

Program note for Playbill of the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic at the Kennedy Center, including the American premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Silhouette and the world premiere of Noel Zahler’s Symphony, April 2011.

 

“‘The Sounds and Ideas of Romantic Nature,” display board for the lobby of Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, February 2011.

 

“Tchaikovsky and Musical Autobiography,” essay invited by Joseph Horowitz for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Tchaikovsky Festival program book, February 2011, 28–29.

 

“‘Astonish Me’: Serge Diaghilev and the Music for the Ballets Russes,” display board for the lobby of Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, October 2010.

 

 “The Carnegie Connection and the Art of Quotation,” Playbill, essay for the program book of the concert at Carnegie Hall by the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, April 2010, 21–25.

 

 “Messiaen’s Messages for the Age of Anxiety,” commissioned essay for the program book of the University of Chicago Messiaen Festival, October 2008, 2–5.

 

 “The Competing Voices of Samson et Dalila,” Performing Arts Magazine / San Francisco Opera Magazine [San Francisco Opera program book], vol. 79, no. 3 (October 2001), 12, 15–18.

 

 

PAPERS AND LECTURES

 

Academic Papers

 

 “The Sounds of Steel and Emeralds: Musical Representations of Pittsburgh’s Industrial and Green Identities,” Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Pittsburgh, November 2013.

 

“Messiaen’s Nightingales,” invited presentation for the Ecocriticism Study Group panel at the Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Pittsburgh, November 2013.

 

 “Messiaen’s Gothic Polyphony,” Royal Musical Association Annual Conference, University of London, September 2013.

 

 “The Canonization of Messiaen,” Eighth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900, Liverpool Hope University, September 2013.

 

“The Setting of Appalachian Spring: Martha Graham and Aaron Copland in Pennsylvania,” Earth Matters on Stage 2012 Ecodrama Playwrights Festival & Symposium on Performance & Ecology, Carnegie Mellon University, June 2012.

 

“Self-Portraits of Boulez: Reflexivity in the Incises and Anthèmes Works,” Exquisite Labyrinth: The Music of Pierre Boulez, Royal Academy of Music and the Southbank Centre, London, October 2011.

 

Member of roundtable discussion at Exquisite Labyrinth: The Music of Pierre Boulez, Royal Academy of Music and the Southbank Centre, London, October 2011. Other panelists included Arnold Whittall, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Edward Campbell, and Jonathan Goldman.

 

“The Place of Steel: Shifting Sounds of Pittsburgh in Orchestral Music,” part of the Music and American Cities Seminar, Society for American Music Annual Conference, Cincinnati, March 2011.

 

“Messiaen’s Cosmology and the Quartet for the End of Time,” keynote address to the Southeast Chapter of the American Musicological Society, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, March 2010.

           

 “Naming Mount Messiaen: A Study in Ecomusicology,” University of Pittsburgh Department of Music Colloquium Series, October 2009. A shorter version was given at the Allegheny Chapter of the American Musicological Society, October 2009.

           

 “‘Irruption of the Eternal’: Rhythmic Symbolism in Messiaen, 1960–74,” American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Nashville, November 2008.           

 

 “Restaging Messiaen’s Four Dramas on the Platform of Faith,” keynote address, University of             Chicago, Messiaen Festival, October 2008.           

 

Member of roundtable discussion, “Messiaen as Musician and Teacher,” with Gerald Levinson, Marta Ptaszynska, and Andrew Shenton, University of Chicago, Messiaen Festival, October 2008.

           

 “Messiaen’s Theology of Creation and Light, 1960–74,” Birmingham Conservatoire, England, Messiaen 2008 International Centenary Conference, June 2008.

 

 “Nature and Supernature: Messiaen’s Theology of Birdsong,” The Ohio State University School of Music, Lectures in Musicology, November 2007.

 

 “Naming Mount Messiaen,” American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Quebec City, presentation to the AMS Ecocriticism Study Group, November 2007.

 

 “Dante as Guide to Messiaen’s Gothic Spirituality,” Boston University, Messiaen the Theologian, October 2007.

 

 “The Rhetoric and Aesthetic of Messiaen’s Style Oiseaux, 1960–1992,” Bowling Green State University, College of Musical Arts Faculty Scholars Series, April 2007.

 

 “Birds, Beasts, and Bombs: Messiaen’s Reluctant Engagement with the Cold War,” Syracuse University and Society for New Music, Music and Nature Symposium, September 2006.

           

 “Messiaen’s Gothic Spirituality and the Renouveau Catholique,” University of Montreal, Music, Art and Religion between the Wars, March 2006.

 

 “Classical Music as Pastoral Music in the American Imagination,” American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., panelist presentation, October 2005.

 

 “Music and the Allegory of Memory in Margaret Garner,” Toni Morrison Society Fourth Biennial Conference, Cincinnati, plenary session with Bernice Johnson Reagon, Robert O’Meally, and Lenore Kitts, July 2005.

 

 “The Record of Realism in Messiaen’s Bird Style” (revised), American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, November 2004.

 

 “The Record of Realism in Messiaen’s Bird Style,” American Musicological Society Joint Chapter Meeting, University of San Francisco, finalist for the Ingolf Dahl Award, May 2004.

 

 “Two Paths to Paradise: Perfect Joy and Transcendent Beauty in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise,” UC Berkeley Music Department and San Francisco Opera, Messiaen Symposium, September 2002.

 

 “The Record of Realism in Messiaen’s Oiseaux exotiques,” University of Sheffield, England, Messiaen 2002 International Conference, June 2002.

 

 “L’oiseau est un amour rebelle: Tradition and Symbolism in Messiaen’s Early Bird Style,” American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 2001.

 

 “L’oiseau est un amour rebelle: Tradition and Symbolism in Messiaen’s Early Bird Style,” UC Berkeley Music Department, October 2001.

           

 “The Two Speeds of Joy in Messiaen’s First Birds,” American Musicological Society Joint Chapter Meeting, California State University, Los Angeles, finalist for the Ingolf Dahl Award, April 2001.

           

 “Tristan’s Garden and the Language of Messiaen’s Birds,” American Musicological Society Northern California Chapter Meeting, University of San Francisco, February 2001.

 

           

General Audience Presentations

 

Pre-concert talks to University of Pittsburgh PittArts students on the programs of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music, periodically spring 2012–present

 

Radio interview about music, nature, and love, WESA Pittsburgh, February 2012, archived at www.alleghenyfront.org/archives.html.

 

Radio interview about musical representations of forests, WESA Pittsburgh, Decmeber 2011, archived at www.alleghenyfront.org/archives.html.

 

Radio interview about musical representations of summer, WDUQ Pittsburgh, July 2011, archived at www.alleghenyfront.org/archives.html.

 

Radio interview about musical representations of spring, WYEP Pittsburgh, March 2011, archived at www.alleghenyfront.org/archives.html.

 

Pre-concert talks for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, cond. Yan Pascal Tortelier, music of Tower, Chausson, Ravel, and Stravinsky, Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, March 2011.

 

Panelist for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Tchaikovsky Festival post-concert wrap-up, with fellow panelists Joseph Horowitz, Manfred Honeck, and Serge Zimmerman, Heinz Hall stage, Pittsburgh, February 2011.

 

Pre-concert talk on Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, performed by Thomas Rosenkranz, Park Avenue Christian Church, New York City, December 2010.

 

Live radio interview on WFMT Chicago, October 2008.

 

Pre-concert talk for recital by Dame Gillian Weir, Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago, October 2008.           

 

“Music and the Allegory of Memory in Margaret Garner” (revised), New York City Opera, Matinee Lecture Series at Lincoln Center, paper session with Bernice Johnson Reagon, Robert O’Meally, and Lenore Kitts, September 2007.

 

Lecture on Messiaen, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra League, Berkeley, October 2002. Preview lectures for Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise, San Francisco Opera Guild, various Bay Area locations, September 2002.                       

 

Pre-concert talks on Messiaen, Cal Performances Concert Series, UC Berkeley, September 2002.

                                               

 

HONORS, AWARDS, GRANTS

                       

Keynote Address, Southeast Chapter of the American Musicological Society, March 2010

 

Keynote Address, University of Chicago, Messiaen Festival, October 2008                       

 

Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine, October 2007, awarded to Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature, which includes my chapter “The Record of Realism in Messiaen’s Bird Style”

 

Paul A. Pisk Prize for most outstanding paper read by a graduate student at the Annual Meeting of the AMS, 2004

 

                       

LANGUAGES

 

Proficient in French and German