CCM Announces Shelina Brown as New Assistant Professor of American Music

CCM Dean Stanley E. Romanstein has announced the addition of musicologist Shelina Brown to the college’s roster of distinguished faculty members. Brown’s appointment as Assistant Professor of American Music begins on Aug. 15, 2020.

Brown holds an MA and PhD from UCLA’s Department of Musicology. Her primary research project centers on experimental vocal practices and cultural resistance within underground music scenes. Brown’s dissertation project, “Yoko Ono’s Experimental Vocality as Matrixial Borderspace: Theorizing Yoko Ono’s Extended Vocal Technique and her Contributions to the Development of Underground and Popular Vocal Repertoires, 1968-Present,” focused on Yoko Ono’s extended vocal techniques of the late 1960s and early 1970s that came to influence a range of counter-hegemonic vocalists throughout the late 20th century.

Brown’s methodological approach draws upon contemporary feminist psychoanalytical theories, adapting these for the purpose of musical analysis of vocality and gendered subjectivization. In this vein, her theoretical approach to music studies aims to bring feminist psychoanalysis into dialogue with posthuman thought, queer studies and critical race theory.

A Canadian national raised in Kyoto, Japan, Brown also holds a Master’s in Comparative Literature specializing in modern Japanese literature. Prior to commencing studies in musicology, Shelina was employed as a sessional lecturer of modern Japanese literature at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Brown’s article “Scream from the Heart: Yoko Ono’s Rock ’n’ Roll Revolution” has been published in Sheila Whiteley’s compilation, Countercultures and Popular Music (Ashgate, 2014). She is currently preparing an article, “Of Insects and Interstices: Yoko Ono’s Experimental Short Film, Fly (1970) and the Synaesthetic Un-Mapping of the Abstract Female Nude,” which will be forthcoming in 2021. Brown has presented papers at annual meetings including SEM (Society for Ethnomusicology), IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music), AAS (American Association for Asian Studies) and EMP (Experience Music Project).

A long-term participant in underground and independent music scenes, Brown has been active as a vocalist and instrumentalist in several new wave and garage rock bands over the past 10 years. She still maintains close ties to the Los Angeles underground, and looks forward to exploring music scenes across Ohio.

“I send my gratitude to our search committee comprised of Jonathan Kregor (chair), Stefan Fiol, Jeongwon Joe, Matthew Peattie and Shauna Steele for their work in finding CCM’s next great professor of American music,” said Romanstein. “We look forward to welcoming Shelina Brown this fall.”

About CCM

Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. The school’s educational roots date back to 1867, and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time.

CCM offers nine degree types (BA, BM, BFA, MFA, MM, MA, AD, DMA, PhD) in nearly 120 possible majors. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.

CCM’s world-class facilities provide a highly creative and multidisciplinary artistic environment. In 2017, the college completed a $15-million renovation of its major performance spaces, ensuring that CCM’s facilities remain state-of-the-art.

The school’s roster of eminent faculty regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts. Learn more at ccm.uc.edu

CCM Welcomes Scott Linford as Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology

CCM Interim Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of Scott Linford to the position of Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at CCM. Linford’s appointment will officially begin on Aug. 15, 2018.

A scholar, filmmaker and performing musician, Linford has conducted fieldwork in West Africa, Central America and the United States around themes of participation and musical experience, ethnicity, gender and politics. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds an MA and PhD in Ethnomusicology from UCLA and most recently served as Assistant Professor of Liberal Arts (Music History) at the Berklee College of Music.

In addition to his dissertation, “Interweaving Worlds: Jola Music and Relational Identity in Senegambia and Beyond,” Linford’s work has appeared in Ethnomusicology Review and the Yearbook for Traditional Music. He has presented papers at annual meetings of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the African Studies Association, and has presented invited lectures at UCLA, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, and Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City.

A guitarist, bassist, fiddler and award-winning banjoist, he directed the UCLA Bluegrass and Old Time String Band, which won numerous awards at regional music festivals. Linford has also directed three documentary films focusing on musical communities.

On the announcement of Linford’s appointment, mcclung commented:

“CCM students will benefit from Linford’s expertise as an ethnographic researcher, documentarian and performer. He makes an excellent addition to our Composition, Musicology and Theory Division. I am grateful to Search Committee Chair Jonathan Kregor and committee members Jenny Doctor, Stefan Fiol, Jeongwon Joe, Stephen Meyer, Matthew Peattie and Stephanie Schlagel for their collaborative effort on this successful search.”

Please join us in welcoming Scott Linford to the CCM family!

CCM Presents Cincinnati Premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Opera ‘Owen Wingrave,’ Nov. 21-24

From left to right: Edward Nelson as Owen Wingrave and Jason Weisinger as General Sir Phillip Wingrave in ‘Owen Wingrave.’ Photography by Mark Lyons.

CCM’s celebration of Benjamin Britten at 100 continues with the Cincinnati premiere of the composer’s penultimate opera Owen Wingrave, running Nov. 21-24 in Patricia Corbett Theater. CCM welcomes guest artist and alumnus Johannes Müller-Stosch to the podium for this Mainstage Series production, which features stage direction by CCM Professor of Voice Kenneth Shaw. The opera will be sung in English with supertitles.

Based on the 1893 Henry James short story of the same name and commissioned by the BBC in 1966, Owen Wingrave was completed for television in 1970. With music by Britten and a libretto by his frequent collaborator Myfanwy Piper, Shaw suggests that the opera offers “both drama and a touch of lightness, horror and hope, mystery and atmosphere, grandeur and intimacy.”

Owen Wingrave is often regarded as one of Britten’s most powerful scores. According to Shaw, the music of Owen Wingrave is exceptionally challenging, making it ideal for training students. The opera story is equally compelling and is centered on the titular Owen Wingrave, a pacifist born into a long line of military heroes who struggles to prove his inner strength to his disapproving family, even if it leads to his own mysterious end. “A secret is something that has resonance for all of us,” Shaw explains. “We keep secrets, and secrets are kept from us. For the Wingrave family, their secret doesn’t really have a full answer – it is a mystery.”

CCM Fall 2013 Calendar of Major Events – October and November Updates

Please note the following corrections and updates to CCM’s schedule of major events for the fall:

• The free screening of the Benjamin Britten bio film A Time There Was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, has been rescheduled. In its place, CCM will present a free public screening of the Tony Palmer directed Leonard Cohen documentary film Bird on a Wire.

• The film A Time There Was will now be screened at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, in the MainStreet Cinema of UC’s Tangeman University Center.

• Due to the above rescheduling, the free screening of the cinematic adaptation of Benjamin Britten’s opera Death in Venice originally scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, has been cancelled. This screening will not be rescheduled.

View a complete schedule of CCM’s Benjamin Britten Centenary Celebration here. You can always find the most up-to-date information on CCM’s calendar of events at ccm.uc.edu. Define your inspiration at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music.

CCM Celebrates Benjamin Britten at 100 With Special Events

Composer Benjamin Britten, circa 1949. Photography by Roland Haupt; courtesy of http://www.britten100.org.

CCM celebrates the 100th anniversary of composer, conductor and pianist Benjamin Britten with a pair of free film screenings, a Mainstage Opera production, a concert performance and a special guest lecture by acclaimed film director Tony Palmer.

Beginning on Thursday, Oct. 24, and running through what would be Benjamin Britten’s 100th birthday on Friday, Nov. 22, CCM’s Britten Centenary Celebration includes a guest lecture by filmmaker Tony Palmer, free public screenings of the films Nocturne and A Time There Was, plus a Mainstage Series production of Britten’s two-act opera Owen Wingrave.

The celebration culminates with a birthday concert on Nov. 22 by the CCM Philharmonia featuring the orchestral showpiece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, narrated by special guest Santa J. Ono, PhD, President of the University of Cincinnati.

Please see individual listings below for additional information on the festival’s public events.

CCM Celebrates German Composer Richard Wagner at 200 With Special Event Series

Film actor Richard Burton as composer Richard Wagner, from the 1983 Tony Palmer film ‘Wagner.’

CCM celebrates the 200th anniversary of composer Richard Wagner’s birth (May 22, 1813) with an unprecedented series of events this month. Beginning on Friday, Oct. 11, and running through Thursday, Oct. 24, CCM explores Wagner’s iconic work and enduring legacy with a series of guest lectures, film screenings and a concert performance by the CCM Philharmonia. Aside from the Oct. 12 Philharmonia performance, these events are free and open to the general public.

Richard Wagner was a 19th century German composer, theatre director, polemicist and conductor. He revolutionized opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”), in which he combined the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts. His Gesamtkunstwerkalso greatly influenced many filmmakers, as detailed in the book Wagner and Cinema, co-edited by Jeongwon Joe, Associate Professor of Musicology at CCM, and Sander L. Gilman, Distinguished Professor of Germanic Studies at Emory University. According to Wagner and Cinema, early 20th century film critic W. Stephen Bush once declared, “Every man or woman in charge of the music of a moving picture theatre is, consciously or unconsciously, a disciple or follower of Richard Wagner.”

CCM’s bicentenary celebration opens at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, with a guest lecture by Anthony Tommasini, Chief Classical Music Critic for the New York Times. Other highlights include the CCM Philharmonia’s Oct. 12 concert, “Wagner – Redemption Through Love,” which features selections from Wagner’s operas to be performed with the cinematic images from Tony Palmer’s biographical film about Wagner, starring Richard Burton. CCM will also welcome film director Tony Palmer to campus for a discussion on his films on Thursday, Oct. 24.

To celebrate this towering figure of German Romanticism and the indelible impression he made on the cinematic arts, CCM will also present a series of free film screenings exploring Wagner’s life and legacy.

Please see individual listings below for additional information on the festival’s public events.

CCM Announces Fall 2013 Calendar of Major Events

Download a copy of CCM’s Fall 2013 Calendar Booklet today!

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is delighted to announce its fall schedule of major events. The largest single source of performing arts events in the state of Ohio, CCM presents more than 120 major public performances from Sept. 4 through Dec. 14, ranging from faculty and guest artist concerts to fully supported opera, musical theatre, drama and dance productions.

View a digital copy of CCM’s Fall 2013 Calendar Booklet today by visiting on.uc.edu/CCMFall2013. Refer to the listings below for more details.

Event Information
All events listed here will take place in CCM Village on the University of Cincinnati campus unless otherwise indicated. Admission is free to many CCM performances, although some events do require purchased tickets or reservations. Please see individual event information for details and ordering information.

All event dates and programs are subject to change. Visit ccm.uc.edu  or contact the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183 for the most current event information.

E-Media Hosts ‘Music in Film and Television’ Panel Presentation on Dec. 7

CCM’s Division of Electronic Media (E-Media) presents a special panel discussion on the use of music in film and television this Friday, in collaboration with UC Forward.

Moderated by CCM Associate Professor of E-Media Kevin Burke, “Music in Film and Television: The Interplay of Image, Sound and Story” begins at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 7 in Room 3250 of CCM’s Mary Emery Hall. The panel is free and open to the public!

The discussion’s expert panelists include:

• Rochelle Holguin, Head of Creative Music Integration for MTV.
• Jeongwon Joe, PhD, Associate Professor of Musicology at CCM.
• Brian J. Leitten, documentary filmmaker, Supervising Producer of original content at VEVO.com and an alumnus of CCM E-Media.

CCM’s ‘Thinking About Music’ Public Lecture Series Resumes Feb. 17

Guest Lecturer Steven Rings. Photo: Valerie Booth O.

CCM’s “Thinking About Music” Lecture Series will present Steven Rings, University of Chicago, who will speak at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17 on the topic: “On Tonal Hearing: Quale and Chroma Revisited.” The lecture will be held in CCM’s Baur Room and is free and open to the general public.

CCM Hosts Conference of Two Music Societies

For the first time in the nearly fifty-year history of CCM’s musicology program, the department is hosting a national academic conference of the Society for American Music and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-U.S. Branch. The conference takes place March 9 – 13, Wednesday through Sunday, at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. Scholars and students will be traveling from 41 of the 50 states, as well as such countries as Brazil, Canada, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Sweden, St. Thomas, Turkey and the West Indies.