College of Letters & Science
Layan Atieh is a Palestinian/Jordanian/American horn player, and is the Core Horn of Seraph Brass, the world renowned all-women brass quintet. As an active freelancer, Layan has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic, and as a concerto soloist with the Dallas Winds, the University of Texas-Austin Wind Ensemble, …
Suzanne Beia is second violinist of the Pro Arte Quartet, artist in residence, and chamber music coach for both the School of Music and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Beia is concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Madison Opera and associate concertmaster of the Madison Symphony. She performs regularly with the …
A native of Wisconsin, GRAMMY Award-winning soprano Dr. Sarah Brailey enjoys a versatile career that defies categorization. Praised by The New York Times for her “radiant, liquid tone,” and “exquisitely phrased” singing, and by Opera UK for “a sound of remarkable purity,” she is a prolific vocalist, cellist, recording artist, and educator. Among her many career highlights, Dr. Brailey has appeared …
Pianist Deirdre Brenner believes in the power of storytelling through concert curation. Over the past two decades she has grown a multifaceted career which combines performance, teaching and artistic leadership. Deirdre has performed chamber music and art song recitals throughout the USA, Europe and Asia in venues including the Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Konzerthaus, Wiener Volksoper (Vienna), The …
Margaret Butler’s research focuses on European opera in the eighteenth century and American musical theater. A professor of musicology, she is an affiliate of the Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies Program. Her most recent book, Musical Theater in Eighteenth-Century Parma: Entertainment, Sovereignty, Reform was published by the University of Rochester Press in the Eastman Studies in Music series (2019). …
When Javier Calderon played his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times called him “…a virtuoso with poetic sensibility.” Since then many composers, including the eminent American Alan Hovhaness and Lawrence Weiner, have been writing and dedicating guitar concertos and solo pieces to Calderon. At age 17 Javier Calderon thrilled the audience of his …
Dan Cavanagh is a composer and pianist who has garnered numerous awards in both areas. In 2023 he was awarded the Social Justice Prize in Wind Ensemble Composition as well as 2nd Prize in the American Prize for Composition in the Wind Symphony/Band Category. He received a 2009 gold medal prize from the International Music Prize …
A settler of South Asian descent, I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Treaty 6 territory. I also sang in choirs and everywhere else. These contexts directly shape my work, however invisibly. In general, I am interested in listening, voice, practice-based ways of knowing, ecological crisis, human-nonhuman relations, and settler colonialism. Music …
Sally Chisholm, violist of the Pro Arte Quartet, and Professor of Viola at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has had an extensive career in chamber music. She was a founding member of the Thouvenel String Quartet who won first prize at the Weiner International Chamber Music Competition, was a finalist of New York’s Naumburg Competition, performed …
I am a musicologist and historian of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union with a research focus on lived experience, listening cultures, and ideology. My research broadly considers the intersections between sound, technology, and geopolitics in the twentieth century. I am particularly motivated by a desire to move beyond a logocentric approach to history to …