Year in Review

Read about the highlights from 2019-2020.

A new monthly concert series was established this year, titled First Fridays! Co-sponsored by Arts Everywhere, this casual Friday concert in the rotunda saw performances by student ensembles on the first Friday of each month!

UNC Opera participated in NASA Day during University Research week with a special preview performance of their fall opera, Mozart’s Il Sogno di Scipione. Set on the moon and with a retro-futuristic aesthetic this opera was Mozart as never seen before!

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Severine Neff was awarded Lifetime Membership by the Society for Music Theory in November 2019. This is the highest honor bestowed by the organization on a music theorist, given not only for their exceptional scholarly contributions but also their work as teachers and mentors, and their outstanding service to the field of music theory.

The 2020 Spectrum Concert saw the completion of our Centennial Challenge, seeking to raise $100K for 100 years of music. Gifts from friends like you helped us exceed our goal by almost 50 percent! Our final total for the challenge was $147,534.09.

Finishing the year apart was tough, but the department came together to create one final piece of music for the year: Carolina Stomp! This arrangement by Lee Weisert of the alma mater, Hark the Sound, saw almost 100 students, faculty, and staff participate in our first-ever department-wide virtual recording project! Read more about the project and watch the video here.

This summer the department was thrilled to welcome jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Barber to the faculty. Assistant Professor Barber has been a guest artist with the jazz program multiple times before joining the faculty this summer. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Rahsaan enjoys a career that encompasses performing and recording in an ever-expanding range of musical styles, including jazz, blues, funk, classical, fusion, soul, Latin, and world music.