Faculty

Our unparalleled faculty is the cornerstone of the educational experience in the School of Music. Our faculty consists of internationally recognized scholars, musicians, and teachers, who bring their real-world experience directly into the classroom, rehearsal hall, and studio. With some of the most prominent musical experts in the Twin Cities--many members of the Minnesota Orchestra or the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra--our collaborative and creative faculty guide students as they develop into scholars, teachers, composers, and performers.

Regular Faculty

photo of Akosua Addo

Akosua Addo

Associate Professor Music Education Music Therapy

Specialties

Elementary music methods; International music education; Play; World music; International teacher education; Arts Integration; African Music

Marissa Benedict, Assistant Professor of Trumpet, 24 Ferguson Hall, 2106 4th St. S, Minneapolis, MN 55455Marissa Benedict artwork_Final_72dpi.jpg

Marissa Benedict

Assistant Professor Trumpet

Specialties

Classical, Jazz and recording Instruction; Chamber Music Coaching and Leadership; Trumpet Performing (see website); Masterclasses and instruction; Collaborations with Faculty and colleagues (see website)

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Matt Bribitzer-Stull

he/him/his
Professor Theory

Specialties

Richard Strauss; music theory; German Romantic music traditions; french horn; Richard Wagner; theory pedagogy; nineteenth-century theory and analysis; musical form and tonal structure; musical associativity; chromatic harmony; queer theory and subjectivity

Sivan Cohen Elias during a performance on invented musical instrument

Sivan Cohen Elias

she/her/hers
Assistant Professor Composition and Music Technology

Specialties

Acoustical and Electroacoustic Music Composition; Improviser Performer with sound instruments and Electronics; Sound and multimedia Artist; Sound design software techniques including working with iZotope RX, and Ozone; Field and studio Recording techniques; Fixed media with any Digital Audio Workstation, including ProTools, Cubase, Reaper, Abelton Live, Logic Pro, Adobe Audition; Graphical programming with Max MSP and Jitter including MC and Gen; Classical and contemporary notation and orchestration techniques; Notation and graphical software include Finale, Sibelius, and Adobe Illustrator; Video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro, and Final Cut

Gabriela in Rome

Gabriela Currie

Professor Musicology, Historical Ethnomusicology

Specialties

Global perspectives: pre-modern music history; Medieval music theory; Music iconography; Early ethnographic accounts of musical traditions in Eurasia and Africa; Intersections between musical and scientific thought in the early- and pre-modern eras; Music and culture of the Balkan Penninsula, Western and Central Asia

Man taking photo of himself in round mirror with ornate frame

David Damschroder

Professor Theory

Specialties

Fortepiano performance and repertoire; Theories of harmony (18th – 21st centuries); Music of the nineteenth century; Analysis of tonal music (Schenkerian emphasis)

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Sumanth Gopinath

Associate Professor Theory

Specialties

Sound studies; Popular music; Musical hermeneutics; Music and politics; Avant-garde and experimental musics; Music after WWII; Music and globalization

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Keitha Lucas Hamann

Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies Music Education Music Therapy

Specialties

rural music education; arts assessment; history of music education; music teacher development; sight singing; middle level music education; choral music education

Kelley Harness, smiling

Kelley Harness

Associate Professor Associate Director Spring '24 sabbatical Musicology/Ethnomusicology

Specialties

Music and theater in Italian convents; 17th-century Italian opera; Musical intermedi in 16th-century spoken plays; Handel operas; African and Latin American music; 16th- and 17th-century musical patronage; Women and political legitimacy in early 17th-century Florence; Political imagery in Renaissance arts

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Alex Lubet

Professor Composition

Specialties

Music composition; Disability Studies, Bioethics, Jewish & American Studies; Performance; Popular culture; music, theatre, film

Jerry Luckhardt

Jerry Luckhardt

Associate Director of Bands, Associate Professor

Specialties

Conducting

Guerio Mazzola with painting by jakob Sollberger

Guerino Mazzola

Professor Creativity, Improvisation, and Mathematical Music Theory

Specialties

Classical symbolic thinking in music and performance theory; Transformational theory using category theory; Gestures in music; Software for musical analysis, composition, and performance; Free jazz

Betsy McCann

Betsy McCann

she/her/hers
Assistant Director of Bands, Director of Marching and Athletic Bands, Assistant Professor

Specialties

Contemporary Music, Concert Band, Leadership, Group Culture, Marching Band

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Fernando Meza

Director of Percussion Studies, Professor, Spring '24 sabbatical

Specialties

Percussion literature, techniques, and pedagogy; Percussion; Orchestral and contemporary music; North Indian tabla drums; The folkloric marimba traditions of Costa Rica; Music technology as applied to education

white male, with dark colored hair, wearing glasses, a pink shirt, pink tie, and a grey suit jacket

Edward Todd Schwartzberg

he, him, his
Senior Teaching Specialist & Clinic Coordinator Music Education Music Therapy

Specialties

Music therapy with Autism Spectrum Disorder and related intellectual disabilities; Music therapy in Early Childhood and Special Education

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Michael Silverman

he, him
Director of Music Therapy, Professor

Specialties

Illness management and recovery; Evidence-based music therapy; Music therapy in adult mental health; Music therapy in addiction

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Dean Sorenson

​Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Jazz Studies, Associate Professor

Specialties

Jazz; Music composition; Trombone

Emily Threinen

Emily Threinen

She/Her
Director of Bands, Associate Professor

Specialties

Conducting Pedagogy, Wind Band; Concert Art Music, Wind Band emphasis

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David Walsh

Associate Professor, Director of Opera Theatre

Specialties

Managerial abilities; Administration; Opera history; 20th-century contemporary operatic literature and design

Affiliate Faculty

Michael Gallope

Michael Gallope

he / him
Associate Professor, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature

Specialties

Music and Sound Studies; Philosophy and Intellectual History; Music of the African Diaspora; Cultural History and Ethnography; Global Modernisms

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Samantha Laumann

Voice

Specialties

Vocal Pedagogy and Health; Bel Canto/Classical/Musical Theatre/Mix and Belt Technique; Accompanist; Composition; Musical Theatre Repertoire; Music Directing; Orchestration; Conducting