Music Department

On May 8, members of the Wesleyan community gathered in the CFA Courtyard for an invigorating performance filled with the rhythms of West Africa. Performing were choreographer Iddi Saaka, artist in residence in the dance department, and master drummer Abraham Adzenyah, adjunct professor of music, together with their students in three levels of West African dance courses, plus guest artists. After almost five decades at Wesleyan, Adzenyah will retire in May 2016. To honor his cultural contributions and to recognize his rich professorial and performing legacy, alumni, students, colleagues, and friends are hoping to “drum up” enough support to raise $300,000 for an…

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#THISISWHY In this Q&A, we speak with Peter Blasser, a music graduate student. Q: What was your first experiences with music? When did you decide that music would be your life work? A: I was in elementary school in the 1980s when music programs were still part of the public school curriculum. I remember that those music classes were not very noteworthy at the time. In middle school I took a wood shop class and liked working with the tools. After taking classical civilization classes, I started to triangulate all three — I wanted to work with wood to make ancient Greek…

Jean Redpath, a Scottish-born singer who delighted audiences worldwide and was described by The Boston Globe as “something very close to Scotland’s folk singer laureate,” died Aug. 21 at age 77. She brought her musical talent and extensive knowledge of Scottish history to Wesleyan and the Middletown community as an artist-in-residence in the 1970s. According to her official website, Redpath arrived in the United States in 1961 with $11 in her pocket. (more…)

Assistant professor of music Paula Matthusen has won a prestigious Rome Prize from the American Academy, which will allow her to spend the next year in the Eternal City working on the compelling compositions that distinguish her career. Matthusen is a composer of acoustic and electronic music who, among other things, teaches Laptop Ensemble at Wesleyan, and records sound in historic structures and architecture. The resulting work reflects the character of these spaces, which include the Old Croton Aqueduct in New York. As an American Academy fellow, she will visit the paths of the Roman aqueducts. “I’m elated,” Matthusen said.…

For more information on the Wesleyan Orchestra, visit the organization's website.

Music Department doctoral student Maho Ishiguro received a $2,300 grant from the Society for Asian Music in October 2013. Ishiguro will use the grant for her research on the booming popularity of Achenese dance traditions among high school girls in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ishiguro, of Tokyo, Japan, moved to the U.S. when she was a junior in high school. This is her second year studying ethnomusicology at Wesleyan. Grant Applicants must be full-time graduate students enrolled in U.S. institutions and may use these funds to supplement other grants. Grants are to be used for research, including fieldwork, pre-dissertation research, travel, language study, and other…

The Center for the Arts presented the 37th annual Navaratri Festival, celebrating the traditional culture of India with performances by some of the country's leading artists on Oct. 10-13. One of India's major festival celebrations, Navaratri is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. "For us Indian musicians traveling all over the world and especially in the U.S., this campus has been a place of great respect and wonder because of its ability to sustain this program for over 30 years," said tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, who also performed during…

Private lessons instructor and music Ph.D. candidate Bill Carbone MA '07 will cap off a busy summer of music festival performances with a trip to perform at the 24th annual Zappanale Music Festival in Bad Doberan, Germany. The festival invited his trio, The Z3, which performs the music of Frank Zappa rearranged for a trio of Hammond Organ, guitar, and drums (Carbone's instrument), with all three members singing, to headline the second day of the festival and host the jam session on the third day. The festival also features more than a dozen alumni of the bands Zappa led between…

Anthony Braxton, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, has been honored with the 2013 Doris Duke Artist Award, one of the country’s most prestigious awards for individual artists. It comes with a $225,000 honorarium. Braxton is a composer, saxophonist, teacher and philosopher with a career spanning half a century. He is also the founder of The Tri-Centric Foundation, a nonprofit that cultivates and inspires the next generation of creative artists to pursue their own visions with the kind of idealism and integrity Braxton has demonstrated throughout his long and distinguished career. The foundation also documents, archives, preserves and disseminates…

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Join students enrolled in West African Drumming and West African Dance courses for an invigorating performance filled with the rhythms of West Africa. Choreographer Iddi Saaka and Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah will perform with their students in a West African Drumming and Dance performance at 3 p.m. May 10 in the Center for the Arts courtyard. The rain site is Crowell Concert Hall. Free! Pictured below are photos of their practice on April 17: #THISISWHY

West African Rhythms Fill CFA Courtyard

Wesleyan Orchestra Performs for Local Children

Graduate Student Blasser Hand Crafts Analog Instruments

Former Artist-in-Residence Redpath Remembered for Teaching Folklore

Matthusen Honored with Fellowship from American Academy in Rome

Wesleyan Orchestra Performs Fall Concert

Ishiguro Receives Grant from Society for Asian Music

Culture of India Celebrated at Annual Navaratri Festival

Carbone MA ’07 to Perform at Zappanale Music Festival

Braxton Honored with Prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award

Puppetry, Gamelan at Indonesian Performing Arts and Public Life Symposium

West African Dance, Drumming Classes Prepare for CFA Performance