The Department of Music is thrilled to announce a $15 million project to renovate Hill Hall auditorium and rotunda. Thanks to our very good friends at the Kenan Trust and the Provost's Office (as well as donors to be named later), the auditorium will be completely redone to create a more acoustically pleasing, climate controlled space with a better backstage, and the rotunda and surrounding classrooms will be beautiful once again.

Prof. Evan Feldman has been selected to participate in the University's pilot program for MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), offered for the first time this fall through the online educational platform Coursera. A growing trend in distance learning, MOOCs are offered for free worldwide to anyone with an internet connection.  Prof. Feldman's course, "Fundamentals of Rehearsing Music Ensembles," was one of only four courses from across the University selected for this new initiative.

We mourn the passing of Professor Richard Luby, who died peacefully in his sleep on January 29. A professor of violin and chamber music at UNC since 1979, Prof. Luby had taught hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students and touched countless others through his music. Gifts in his memory may be directed to the newly established Richard Luby Memorial Fund, which will perpetuate its namesake's good work by providing financial support to music students. For information on how to give, select the "Make a Gift" link at the top of this page. You may also view the Feb. 1 memorial for Prof. Luby here.

The Steve Anderson Trio just released their third album, "Believe" (Summit Records), featuring renowned saxophone player Joel Frahm and a collection of original compositions by Anderson. Prof. Anderson (photo, right) recently talked with UNC's Endeavors magazine about the compositional process behind the new album, and you can check out that article via the link below.

Yole!Africa U.S. is an educational non-profit organization created by UNC students and Prof. Chérie Ndaliko that brings awareness to the conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo through artistic exchange. In celebration of the launch of Yole!Africa US on 2 December 2012, students created this song and music video (http://yoleafrica.us/music/) dedicated to the people of Congo and to artists around the world who stand against injustice!

Alongside his interests in acoustic and electronic music composition, UNC composer Lee Weisert is developing sound installations that explore the manifold sounds created by water. Weisert's 2008 installation "The Argus Project" (in collaboration with Jonathan Kirk) examined the sound sources beneath the surface of a natural pond.

In Groove Music, UNC musicologist Mark Katz delves into the fascinating world of the DJ, tracing the art of the turntable from its humble beginnings in the Bronx during the 1970s through a meteoric rise into a global phenomenon today. Based on extensive interviews with practicing DJs, historical research, and his own personal experience, Katz presents a history of hip-hop from the point of view of the people who invented the genre.

Written by UNC music theorist Jocelyn Neal, Country Music: A Cultural and Stylistic History is the first undergraduate textbook that focuses solely on country music.  The path-breaking text offers a coherent narrative that explains country music, its origins, its development, and its meaning from the first commercial recordings of the 1920s up to the present. It highlights significant performers, songs, and institutions in country music. It also considers key social, political, and musical issues that span many decades of evolution within the genre.

In 1936, Kurt Weill and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green ('21) collaborated on the anti-war musical Johnny Johnson. Seventy-five years later, the Kurt Weill Edition is releasing a critical edition of the work, edited by UNC-Chapel Hill musicologist Tim Carter.

Students from Prof. David Garcia's "Musical Movements: Migration, Exile, & Diaspora" have produced ¡Viva Cackalacky! Latin Music in the New South, a CD that pays homage to the growing Latino community in North Carolina.

On September 15, 2012, UNC musicologist Annegret Fauser received the 50th Edward J. Dent Medal of the Royal Musical Association during a well-attended study day in her honor. In her Dent Lecture, Fauser spoke about the man behind the medal, Edward J. Dent, and his place in international twentieth-century music and musicology.