We are saddened to share the news that adjunct faculty member and alumna Dr. Sara Gibbs Casey passed away on May 8, 2018.  Sara earned her PhD in 2003, with dissertation on Songs for the Peregrini: Propers for Irish Saints as found in Continental Manuscripts from the Middle Ages, advised by the late professor Mary S. Lewis.

In a Dark Wood, a film about Mathew Rosenblum's Lament/Witches Sabbath by Pittsburgh filmmaker David Bernabo will premiere at the Pittsburgh JFilm Festival on Monday, April 30th! In a Dark Wood charts the path of the composer's Lament/Witches’ Sabbath, a highly personal concerto written for world famous clarinetist/composer David Krakauer.

The Department of Music is pleased to announce three upcoming doctoral dissertation defenses. Graduate Faculty of the University may attend and participate in the examination. All Music graduate students are invited. All defenses will take place in 114 Music Building.

Composer Barbara White (PhD ’97) was recently featured on NewMusicBox in an article by Frank J. Oteri.

Race and Empire in Global Music History, 1500-1800 is a research conferenced organized by Professors Olivia Bloechl (Music) and Molly Warsh (History). The conference will take place on March 30-31 at Pitt’s Humanities Center.

The Society for American Music honored Department of Music Chair Deane Root with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his scholarship in American music and overall academic leadership. During its most recent national meeting, SAM issued a citation outlining the scope of Root's impressive career.

Bryan S. Wright (PhD 2016), a pianist and instructor in the University of Pittsburgh's Music Department, has been nominated for a Grammy Award by the Recording Academy for his liner notes accompanying the 3-CD set The Complete Piano Works of Scott Joplin played by pianist Richard Dowling (Rivermont Records, 2017). Scott Joplin (b. 1867/8–d. 1917) was an American composer, notable for his many piano rags, waltzes, marches, and for his two operas. Wright and Dowling co-produced the new recording in celebration of this year's 150th anniversary of Scott Joplin's birth.