News | School of Music

Wed, 07/10/2024

Kansans help expand trombone repertoire with new recording

A new recording by KU School of Music faculty members Michael Davidson and Ellen Sommer also features contributions from musicians and music educators from across the state.

Mon, 07/01/2024

KU opera professor named finalist for the 2024 American Prize

Stella Markou, soprano, opera director and KU Voice area coordinator for the School of Music, has been selected as a finalist for The American Prize in Directing- The Charles Nelson Reilly Prize (college/university opera division).

Tue, 06/25/2024

Globe-trotting trumpet professor featured in Spanish Olympics fanfare

Musical talent, hard work and networking take Stephen Leisring around the world — recently to Madrid, where he played first trumpet on a piece for Radio Television Española's upcoming coverage of the Paris Olympics.

Fri, 06/14/2024

KU music therapy, speech-language-hearing scholars provide interdisciplinary services in rural Bulgaria

A unique partnership between University of Kansas faculty members in speech-language pathology and music therapy provided KU students with a hybrid clinical and experiential study abroad program in Bulgaria and Greece during the intercession between the spring and summer semesters.

Thu, 05/30/2024

Professor applies theoretical work to his metal music

Brad Osborn, KU professor of music theory, channels his inner black-metal musician into one-man band D’Archipelago, which has now released its fifth recording. “EVILSIZOR” continues the trend of pop music that ignores the old verse-chorus structure.

Thu, 05/09/2024

KU Jazz students win multiple DownBeat Student Music Awards

Wed, 05/08/2024

KU expert to speak in French-British film series

Colin Roust, associate professor of musicology, is heading to London to introduce the screening of a film scored by the 20th century French composer about whom Roust wrote the first, definitive biography, “Georges Auric: A Life in Music and Politics.”

Tue, 05/07/2024

Spencer Museum announces 2024 Brosseau Creativity Award recipients

The awards honor innovative and risk-taking creative work in the categories of writing and diverse media from KU undergraduate students in any area of study. The winners are Laryn Anne Elliott-Langford and Matthew Kurniawan. Alice Lubin-Meyer received an honorable mention.

Tue, 04/16/2024

KU School of Music Student Named Winner of Prestigious Bob Dylan Center Songwriter Fellowship

Fri, 04/12/2024

KU to host first inaugural Steel Pan Festival

Thu, 03/28/2024

Pianist Eddie Moore pursues a pure vision

A Kansas City musician and lecturer in the School of Music, Eddie Moore has released a new solo live recording, "Aperture."

Thu, 02/29/2024

KU School of Music to expand Gerren Hall of Achievement with induction ceremony

Tue, 02/13/2024

A box of Barnes: Group records all professor’s symphonies

James Barnes, professor emeritus of music, has a boxed set of all nine of his symphonies, released this year by the Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra. The 70-piece group was rehearsed and performed for a month under the baton of the dean of the KU School of Music, Paul Popiel.

Mon, 02/12/2024

KU School of Music Presents "Signed, Sealed, Delivered—The Music of Stevie Wonder" Concert

Mon, 02/05/2024

KU to stage ‘Sweeney Todd,’ opening Feb. 16

Before the Broadway national tour begins, a local production of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a Musical Thriller” will explore the psyche of the villain and bring Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant melodies to the community with the help of KU’s Opera and Symphony Orchestra.

Wed, 01/31/2024

Brandon Draper's recording dam to burst in 2024

Percussionist Brandon Draper, faculty member in the School of Music, will make the Draper Family Band’s debut blues-rock recording the first of 10 he will release in 2024 under a new deal with Symphonic Distribution LLC.

Mon, 12/18/2023

KU School of Music Presents Prairie Winds Festival with The Westerlies

of Kansas School of Music is thrilled to announce the Prairie Winds Festival, featuring multiple wind ensembles and the genre-defying brass quartet, The Westerlies. The event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at the Lied Center in Lawrence, Kansas. ...

Tue, 12/12/2023

Paul Popiel named dean of KU School of Music

The University of Kansas has selected Paul Popiel as the next dean of the KU School of Music. Popiel has served as the interim dean since January. He has been a professor of music at KU since 2010. ...

Tue, 12/05/2023

15 KU students named 2024 Global Scholars

From around the world and across diverse academic units, 15 University of Kansas second-year students have been selected as the 2024 cohort of Global Scholars. ...

Mon, 12/04/2023

Research, new recordings bring works of 20th century Ecuadorian composer to light

Ecuadorian composer Luis Humberto Salgado was so far ahead of his time that neither he nor the public in Quito, where he lived, heard most of his orchestral and chamber music works performed during his life (1903-1977). ...

Tue, 11/21/2023

Opera singer, director aims to embody music’s epic storytelling

For Stella Markou, opera is a ticket to a magical world where she can embody not only life’s ecstasy and agony but even inhabit the skin of the greatest singer of all time. ...

Tue, 11/14/2023

The KU Wind Ensemble Receives the 2023 American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance

Fri, 11/10/2023

KU School of Music announces 99th Vespers concert

Thu, 11/02/2023

Music theorist shows how EDM broke pop music's chorus

Your ears are not fooling you. Electronic dance music DJs-turned-producers have affected the very form of popular music in the past decade, essentially breaking the chorus in half, a University of Kansas music theory professor says. ...

Mon, 10/30/2023

Author details how Czechs overlaid politics onto Mozart

Even though Mozart lived mostly in Vienna and only visited Prague four times, German- and Czech-speaking residents of Prague have fought over his legacy ever since, trying to make it support their nationalistic beliefs. ...

Wed, 10/11/2023

KU School of Music Unveils State-of-the-Art Electronic Music Studio

Fri, 09/15/2023

World-Renowned Organist Olivier Latry to Grace Lawrence with Historic Concert

Fri, 08/25/2023

Unique drum classes offer KU students new ways to feel the rhythm

Mon, 08/14/2023

Researchers uncover unconscious biases in the music of Carmen Sandiego

According to contributing authors in a new book on music for animation, some versions of the popular educational franchise Carmen Sandiego serve to “corroborate the power structures connoted in exoticist and imperialist narratives.”...

Tue, 08/08/2023