MUSICOLOGY & ETHNOMUSICOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENTS
Learn more about our musicology and ethnomusicology graduate students and their research.
Erica Agnew
M.A. program, musicology
eagnew@umd.edu
Research Interests: baroque opera, medieval European music and history, Italian literature
Erica Agnew is a master’s student in musicology at the University of Maryland. Their research focuses on the eastern influences in European music stemming from the cross-cultural exchanges between medieval Europe and the Islamic empire. Erica received a Bachelor of Arts in music with a concentration in medieval studies at Bard College. Their undergraduate thesis focused on the western depiction of the east as magical, in particular on the character of Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando. In their free time, they enjoy art, sewing and spending time with their cat, Hildegard.
Gabriel Andruzzi
M.A. program, ethnomusicology
gdruzzi@umd.edu
Research Interests: Contemporary sound healing and sound mediation practices, Ecomusicology, popular music.
Gabriel Andruzzi is a first-year M.A. student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Andruzzi received his B.A. in “Psychospiritual Dimensions of Sound” from the City University of New York’s Baccalaureate Program for Unique and Independent Studies program in 2022. Prior to his studies, Andruzzi spent nearly two decades working as a touring musician, DJ, producer and songwriter based out of NYC.
Kirk Bickel
M.A. program, musicology
bickel51@umd.edu
Research interests: early music, music theory, guitar, lute
Kirk Bickel is a retired elementary school librarian from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). He has a prior graduate degree from the University of Maryland College Park, having earned a Master of Library Science twenty years ago. Upon his retirement from MCPS, he enrolled in the music program at Hood College and graduated in January 2021 with a Bachelor's in Music History and Literature. For the last year, he has been a volunteer music librarian for the Frederick Symphony Orchestra. At UMD, Mr. Bickel is pursuing an MA in musicology with a focus on early music and a concentration on the lute and guitar.
Elizabeth Busch
M.A. program, musicology
ecbusch@umd.edu
Research interests: gender studies, nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, archives, canonicity
Elizabeth (Betsy) Busch is a master’s student in musicology at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on gender and music, especially female composers at the turn of the twentieth century. She is also a bassoonist and pianist. Betsy received a Bachelor’s degree in music, English and French from Mount St. Mary’s University, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis on gender representation in undergraduate music and literature courses.
Gabby Cameron
M.A. program, ethnomusicology
gab@umd.edu
Research interests: bluegrass, Jewish studies, music and migration, labor politics, ethnicity and identity studies, Appalachian studies
Gabby Cameron is a Master’s student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the intersection of leftist politics and the secular Ashkenazic Jewish involvement in Appalachian folk revival musics. Her research interests also include bluegrass historiography and Yiddishkeit. In 2022, Gabby received the IBMA Foundation's Neil Rosenberg Bluegrass Scholar Award for her paper titled “The Jewgrass Situation: Examining Nefesh Mountain’s Political Message,” as well as the School of Music Dean’s Fellowship Prize for her contributions to the field. Gabby has presented her work at the international conference for the Society for Ethnomusicology and at the String Band Summit. Prior to her graduate studies, Gabby received B.A.’s in music and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she graduated with distinction as a research scholar for her undergraduate journal-published work deconstructing antisemitism in musical theater. In addition to her scholarly life, Gabby is also a professional banjoist, composer and songwriter, and collaborates with D.C.-based progressive acoustic sextet, Cherry Blossom Special. She resides in Brentwood, MD with her partner, Nick, and their two cats, Chickpea and Tahini. For more information on Gabby’s creative bluegrass work, visit gabbycameron.com.
Meghan Creek
Ph.D. program, musicology
mwalsh14@umd.edu
Research interests: extreme metal, cultural politics, race, sound studies, semiotics, music history pedagogy
Meghan Creek is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She also holds a master’s degree in musicology from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Her dissertation, “Shredding for Justice, Screaming for Change: The Politics of Race in the United States Metal Scene,” examines systemic racism and white supremacy in the US metal scene, focusing on how participants reinforce or contest the scene’s white racial frame. Creek’s dissertation research has been supported by a UMD Summer Research Fellowship in 2021 and the Ann G. Wiley Semester Dissertation Fellowship in 2022. She has presented her work at the annual meetings of the Society for Ethnomusicology, the American Musicological Society, the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the American Musicological Society Capital Chapter meeting. Creek is also passionate about music history pedagogy. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Graduate School at UMD and is completing UMD’s Inclusive Pedagogy and Practice Certificate Program.
Miriam Friedman
M.A. program, musicology
miriam88@umd.edu
Research Interests: contemporary music, Jewish studies & music, identity and performance
Miriam Friedman has worked in the University of Maryland System for over ten years helping students and alumni from both University of Maryland College Park and University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is excited to return as a student to UMD where she graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance. Miriam earned her Masters of Music and a post-graduate certificate in Oboe Performance at Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently a faculty member at Washington Adventist University. When she isn’t working or teaching, Miriam enjoys performing new compositions with StageFree, a new music collective based in Washington DC.
Edgar I. Gómez Álvarez
Ph.D. program, musicology
eigomez@umd.edu
Research interests: nineteenth century, piano, Mexican music, popular music, gender, reception, identity, transatlantic encounters, Latin America and the Caribbean
Edgar Gómez is a Ph.D. student in musicology at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the piano music of Mexico in the nineteenth century. Edgar’s research interests also include popular music in Latin America and the intersection of literature, music and performance studies. He holds a B.A. in music from the Universidad De Las Américas Puebla, in Mexico, and an M.M. in piano performance/pedagogy and music history from Ohio University. His Master’s thesis, “Historiography, Cosmopolitanism, and Reception: The Piano Music of Ernesto Elorduy (1853-1913),” focused on Elorduy’s cosmopolitan attitude, piano music (character pieces and dance music) and its reception. Edgar is the recipient of the 2023 Graduate School’s Flagship Fellowship. He enjoys teaching piano, trying new taco restaurants, visiting libraries and playing video games with his partner.
Nathaniel Harrell
Ph.D. program, musicology
n8jh@umd.edu
Research interests: 21st-century Western art music, ecomusicology, environmental humanities, aesthetics, reception
Nathaniel Harrell is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on 21st-century Western art music by American composers that relates directly to aspects, notions and conceptions of nature, natural environments or contemporary environmental concerns. In his dissertation, he thinks about this music through the lens of object-oriented ontology. Nathaniel is also an accomplished pianist, chamber musician and harpsichordist. Prior to his musicological studies, he earned a Bachelor's degree in music as well as a Master’s degree in piano performance.
Víctor Hernández-Sang
Ph.D. program, ethnomusicology
vmhers@umd.edu
Research interests: Haitian Dominican music and religion, racial discrimination, immigration
Víctor Hernández-Sang is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology. He completed his master’s degree at UMD with a thesis focused on the performance of Palos music in fiestas de misterios in the Dominican Republic and holds a B.A. in music from Luther College. His doctoral project examines discourses surrounding gagá (Haitian Dominican processional music and dance), racial discrimination and political organizing in the Dominican Republic through ethnographic, archival and online sources. In the summer of 2018, he received the Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship to start conducting field research for his dissertation. He was recently a fellow of the Latino Center at the Smithsonian Institution of the Latino Museum Studies Program. Hernández-Sang is the graduate assistant for the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center in 2020-2023. Prior to UMD, he taught flute, ear training and English in his hometown of Santiago, Dominican Republic. Outside his doctoral research, he enjoys film and digital photography.
Julia Kuhlman
Ph.D. program, musicology
julkuhl@umd.edu
Research interests: musical economies, prestige, authorship and ownership, performers, contemporary music
As a scholar and performer, Julia Kuhlman studies the systems and philosophies underpinning contemporary music. Kuhlman is a graduate of West Virginia University, earning master's degrees in musicology and saxophone performance. Her master’s thesis, "Winning, Prizes, and Identity: Narrative Vocal Music of the Pulitzer Prize, 2008-2018," examines the Pulitzer’s leveraging of prestige and relevance amidst the fluctuating priorities of critics and audiences in the last ten years. She is currently a Ph.D. student in musicology at the University of Maryland.
Jacob LaBarge
M.A. program, musicology
jlabarg5@umd.edu
research interests: experimental music, 20th- and 21st-century music, intersection of music and literature, adaptation studies
Jacob LaBarge is a master’s student in musicology at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the intersection of music and literature along with experimental music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has presented research on Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Susanis Echo at the Sonic Immersion Creativity Intensive. LaBarge received his B.M. in Flute Performance from West Virginia University and has studied new and experimental flute music with Camilla Hoitenga, Nina Assimakopoulos and Shanna Pranaitis.
Thi Lettner
Ph.D. program, ethnomusicology
tlettner@umd.edu
Research interests: critical ethnography, occupational folklife, musical repatriation, information literacy, and music library instruction and outreach
Thi Lettner is a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology interested in participatory action research. She holds a B.M. in Double Bass Performance from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music and a M.L.S. in Music Librarianship from Indiana University. In 2022, Lettner was awarded the E. Lingle Craig Fellowship and Julieann V. Nilson Scholarship for her work in reference librarianship and library outreach. Her current research explores the D.C. punk scene, after-school music programs and the information seeking behavior of music students. As an active member of the Music Library Association (MLA), Thi serves on the MLA Diversity Scholarship Award Committee and the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Committee.
Jackson Albert Mann
Ph.D. program, ethnomusicology
jamann@umd.edu
Research interests: music and labor movements, music and leftism, political economy, cultural production
Jackson Albert Mann is a Ph.D student in ethnomusicology. His research focuses on music and politics, specifically music in labor and left-wing movements around the world, as well as the political economy of musical and cultural production. His work has been published in Jacobin Magazine and Cosmonaut Magazine among other publications and he has written for the websites of the Hampton Institute and the Center for Communist Studies. He has also presented his research at the annual conference of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Mann received his B.M. in professional music and M.M. in music performance from Berklee College of Music and holds an M.A. in music composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Alexandria (Allie) Pecoraro
Ph.D. program, ethnomusicology
apeco@umd.edu
Research interests: social movements, choral ensembles, protest, voice studies
Alexandria (Allie) Pecoraro is a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. Pecoraro’s research focuses on the intersection of choral music and social justice initiatives in the DC metro area. As a master’s student at UMD, Pecoraro completed a thesis that explored her experiences as an intern at Smithsonian Folkways where she assisted in creating educational materials from an ethnomusicological perspective. Prior to her graduate studies, Pecoraro earned a bachelor’s degree in music education with a choral focus from the University of North Florida. In her spare time she enjoys baking, watching animated musicals, and playing Magic the Gathering with her partner.
Benjamin Rhine
Ph.D. program, musicology
brhine0@umd.edu
Research interests: early music, history of music theory, sacred music, historical performance practice
Benjamin Rhine is a Ph.D. student in musicology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests are late Renaissance sacred music, creating musical editions and historical performance practice. He is primarily interested in Carlo Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories and what led to their striking style. Prior to UMD, Ben completed a master’s thesis at Pennsylvania State University, drawing stylistic connections between Gesualdo and his contemporary, Pomponio Nenna. Ben holds a dual M.A. in Music Theory and History from Penn State and a B.A. in Music from Gettysburg College. Outside of research, Ben enjoys video games and a good cup of coffee.
Nicole Steinberg
Ph.D. program, musicology
nstein3@umd.edu
Research interests: opera, Jewish music, Holocaust studies, Cold War, nationalism, trauma studies, gender studies, race and ethnicity
Nicole Steinberg is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and former Director of Operations and Media of Opera Baltimore. Her current research examines Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s 1968 Holocaust opera The Passenger within trauma studies, moral responsibility and memorialization frameworks. Steinberg has published a Holocaust awareness lesson plan with Towson University’s Albert S. Cook Library in conjunction with the Jewish Museum of Maryland and has given lectures at various Maryland organizations surrounding opera and Holocaust commemoration. She has presented at meetings for the Capital Chapter of the American Musicological Society and the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Prior to her studies at Maryland, she received a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Towson University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Miami.
Greg Szwarcman
M.A. program, musicology
gszwarcm@umd.edu
Research interests: historical performance practice, early sound recordings, 19th-century music, Tchaikovsky, violin performance
Greg Szwarcman is a master's student at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on 19th-century performance practice with a special emphasis on early sound recordings. As a violinist, the practical aspects of this research interest him greatly, and he hopes to achieve fluency in the performance style found on historical recordings. He graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2019 with a B.A. in music performance. He has additionally performed in Baroque and jazz ensembles.
Sara West
M.A. program, musicology
swest12@umd.edu
Research interests: Music and mental health, mind-body connection, music and trauma, music and disability, piano repertoire, non-canonical works, piano pedagogy
Sara West is a Master's student in Musicology at the University of Maryland. Her current research focuses on the mental health of musicians, both past and present, and the correlation between music, psychology, trauma and the body. Sara has secondary interests in lesser-known composers and expanding the piano repertoire. Sara received a Master's degree in Piano Performance from the University of Wyoming and a Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance from James Madison University. She served as a lecturer at the University of Wyoming in the music history division, and has taught piano independently for several years. Sara won the prestigious John P. Ellbogen Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, a testament to her passion for teaching. Currently, she acts as a student assistant in the International Piano Archives at Maryland.
Alexandra Yaralian
M.A. program, ethnomusicology
alexyar@umd.edu
Research interests: Armenian music, genocide, conflict, political movements, nationalism, diaspora studies, ethnography
Alexandra Yaralian is a master’s student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. Her research interests focus on music and genocide, conflict and political movements in Armenia and the diasporic Armenian communities in the United States. Her previous research involves music and identity and cultural retention in the Jewish Armenian community in Yerevan, Armenia. She plays the Armenian kanon (qanun), is a vocalist and enjoys performing Armenian folk songs with her sister. Alexandra received a B.A. in Ethnomusicology from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music with a minor in Music Industry.
Lilia Yaralian
M.A. program, ethnomusicology
liliayar@umd.edu
Research interests: Armenian music, diaspora studies, memory and trauma, genocide, commemoration, ethnography, performance practice
Lilia Yaralian is a master's student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. Currently, her research explores Armenian music with particular attention to music’s role in identity retention of the Armenian diaspora and collective memory and trauma as a result of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Lilia received a bachelor’s degree in Ethnomusicology with a minor in Music Industry from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. While at UCLA, she conducted research on Armenia’s Jewish community and Yerevan-based Jewish composer, Willy Weiner. Lilia plays the kanon (qanun) and sings, and enjoys performing traditional Armenian music.
Xiăoshān (Ilsa) Yǐn
Ph.D. program, ethnomusicology
ilsayin@umd.edu
Research interests: Chinese traditional music, the gǔqín, intangible cultural heritage, (re)construction of tradition, identity construction through music, the popularization of traditional music, notation, pedagogy
Xiǎoshān (Ilsa) Yǐn is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on the contemporary (re)construction of the tradition and culture of the gǔqín, a Chinese instrument that is listed by UNESCO as Representative of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. She completed her field research in 2021–2022 and is writing her dissertation. Yǐn has presented her research at the 2018 British Forum for Ethnomusicology/Royal Music Association Research Students Conference in the UK, the 2019 International Council for Traditional Music World Conference in Thailand, the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting and the 2019 and 2021 Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meetings in the US. She gave a talk on the gǔqín at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in 2019. Yǐn received her Master of Music (with distinction) in ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Yǐn is an active player of Chinese instruments, the gǔqín and the èrhú.
Kajwan Ziaoddini
Ph.D. program, ethnomusicology
kajwan@umd.edu
Research interests: Iranian classical music, community and identity construction through music, analytical notation, performance
Kajwan Ziaoddini is a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on the role of music in shaping ethnic identities among Iranian Kurds. Kajwan’s research interests also include Iranian classical music, analytical notation and performance studies. In addition to receiving Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Iranian classical music, he studied Radif repertoire under the supervision of M.R. Lotfi, Majid Kiani and Dariush Talai at the University of Tehran. Kajwan is also an accomplished player of the santur and the tombak. Prior to his arrival at UMD, he taught Iranian ensembles, santur performances and analysis of Iranian classical music at the University of Kurdistan. He has published two collections of Kurdish songs.