We’re excited to welcome Dr. Anna Gatdula as a new assistant professor of musicology to the department! Dr. Gatdula’s scholarly interests lie at the intersection of aesthetic theory and cultural history, and her research centers on 20th-century US and Cold War history, opera studies, critical theory, and sound studies.
Dr. Gatdula has a B.M. in vocal performance (with a minor in English literature) from DePauw University, an M.A. in musicology with an outside area focus in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, and a Ph.D. in music history and theory from the University of Chicago.
We caught up with Dr. Gatdula to learn a little bit more about her and her hopes as a new professor at Carolina.
UNC Music: What is your position on faculty and what courses are you teaching this year?
Dr. Anna Gatdula: I will be starting as a nominated assistant professor in the fall until the spring when I start teaching as an assistant professor. In the spring, I intend to teach a graduate seminar on theories of the spectacle and a first-year seminar on music on stage and screen.
UNC Music: What are you looking forward to most about coming to UNC?
Dr. Gatdula: I look forward to being a part of the intellectual and musical community in the department. It is a great privilege to be faculty in an institution at which I was a prospective graduate student many years ago!
UNC Music: What is the project that you’re most excited about currently?
Dr. Gatdula: I will be expanding my dissertation research “Spectacles of a Nuclear Empire: Opera and Film in the American Atomic Age, 1945–2018” to a monograph manuscript.
UNC Music: What are some of your non-musical hobbies?
Dr. Gatdula: I have, perhaps, too many hobbies! Top of the list include triathlon (I finished my first half ironman 70.3 in October 2022), baking, knitting, and crocheting. I’ve picked up photography, watercolor painting, and poetry during the lockdown years of the pandemic. I love trying out new and especially creative-focused hobbies!
UNC Music: If your students could learn one thing from you, what do you hope it will be?
Dr. Gatdula: Good listening—an act that amplifies, energizes, and clarifies sonic and musical meaning.
UNC Music: What music are you currently listening to?
Dr. Gatdula: Looking through my recents on my Apple Music, I’ve been listening to the DJ playlists from Trixie Mattel and Honey Dijon, the albums Blonde by Frank Ocean, Be the Cowboy by Mitski, Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast, the Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monáe, and SOS by SZA. I had a burst of interest in piano quintets, so I listened to recordings of the Brahms, Mozart, and Beethoven quintets. My listening interests are eclectic and driven by changing moods and contexts.
UNC Music: Anything else you’d like students to know about you or your teaching?
Dr. Gatdula: I look forward to not only teaching but also learning with and from students. Stop by my office and send me album recommendations!