Department of Music

Welcome to the Department of Music at the University at Albany! We are a growing department that provides students with a variety of specialized B.A. programs which include Music, Performance, Vocal Performance, Composition, Conducting, Musicology, and Theory. Our programs offer not only a high level of instruction, but a unique degree of faculty attention and guidance. We also offer a music minor.

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News & Announcements

NEW MARCHING BAND

The University at Albany is starting a marching band for the fall 2013 semester. The band will be open to all UAlbany students, even if you have never played an instrument before. The Marching Great Danes will perform at all football home games. We are hoping to grow the Marching Great Danes into the true spirit of Albany and we need you! Click here to fill out a interest form so we can begin preparing. You can also contact Band Director Kevin Champagne at kchampagne@albany.edu.

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PEP BAND AT NCAA TOURNAMENT

Prof. Kevin Champagne and the UAlbany Pep Band were part of the excitement as they played for basketball fans at both the men's and women's tournament games against Duke and North Carolina recently. Prof. Champagne has been leading the Pep Band as well as our University-Community Symphonic Band for ten years now. Currently, the Pep Band is forty members strong with 20-35 members participating per game. Recently, Prof. Champagne was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to share some thoughts about the Pep Band's participation in March Madness: (Read more...)

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BELOVED UALBANY MUSIC PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF CHORAL MUSIC DAVID JANOWER SUFFERS STROKE

"It is with great sadness that the Board of Directors of Albany Pro Musica and I announce that our founding director, Dr. David Griggs-Janower, suffered a stroke Friday during surgery," said Jennifer Amstutz, President of the Albany Pro Musica Board of the Directors. "We ask that our friends and patrons hold David and his family in their thoughts and prayers through this difficult time." (Read more...)

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BORICUA RHYTHMS: PUERTO RICO AND ITS MUSIC

The University at Albany's Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and US Latino Studies in collaboration with the Music Department and the Performing Arts Center will be hosting a two-day conference celebrating and examining the rich musical heritage of Puerto Rico. (Read more...)

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UALBANY MUSIC PROFESSOR BOB GLUCK RELEASES BOOK ABOUT HERBIE HANCOCK AND THE MWANDISHI BAND

University at Albany associate professor of music Bob Gluck will be signing his new book, You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band, at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 at the Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, N.Y. Published by University of Chicago Press, Gluck’s book has drawn praise from musicians including jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny and bassist Christian McBride. (Read more...)

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RECOGNITION CEREMONY

On Saturday, May 19, 2012, at 5:30 p.m., the Departments of Art, Music, and Theatre hosted a Recognition Ceremony for their majors where each graduate was individually recognized for his/her achievement. (Read more...)

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PROFESSOR MAX LIFCHITZ'S NORTH/SOUTH CONSONANCE IN CONCERT

"What Film Forum is to cinema, North/South Consonance is to modern classical music—an independent nonprofit bringing New York City deserving works overlooked by big-ticket distributors and mainstream media. North/South continued its 32 season of free concerts Feb. 19 with “Midwinter Sounds,” music for chamber orchestra by composers from Cuba, Italy, and the U.S., at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church." (Read more...)

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SUCCESS STORIES FOR PROFESSOR DAVID JANOWER'S ALBANY PRO MUSICA

Albany Pro Musica applied to perform at the biennial Conference of the Eastern Division of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). They were notified that they were invited to perform at the conference, to be held in February in Providence, RI. They are one of only two community choruses accepted, and one of 18 choruses in total, consisting of all levels of choirs (elementary, middle, high school, college, church, community, jazz, gospel…). The Eastern Division covers Maine to D.C. (To learn more...)

Albany Pro Musica entered The American Prize competition, and in the category of Choral Performance, Community Chorus, they were a finalist, in the final top ten. Their competition was choruses from all across the United States. (To learn more...)

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AMS/ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM LECTURE SERIES

"The American Musicological Society and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (RRHOFM) in Cleveland, Ohio, are collaborating on a new lecture series that brings scholarly work to a broader audience and showcases the musicological work of the top scholars in the field. The first lecture, by Albin Zak, Professor of Music at the State University of New York, Albany, was presented in October 2011: 'A Thoroughly Bad Record': Elvis Presley’s 'Hound Dog' as Rock and Roll Manifesto. See here for full details and the video webcast."

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NEW RECORDINGS BY MAX LIFCHITZ

"North/South Consonance is a concert series, chamber orchestra, record label and music publisher. The founder is reigning impresario and administrator Max Lifchitz, who's also a composer, conductor and pianist and a longtime faculty member of the University at Albany. Last season, the enterprise celebrated its 30th season with a series of concerts in New York City. Most of the music from those events was recorded and has just been issued on three new CDs." (Read more...)

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MUSIC DEPARTMENT PRESENCE IN 9/11 EVENT

Music Department performances played a part in the recent "UAlbany After 9/11" event. Professor David Griggs-Janower conducted the University Chamber Singers in a rendition of "I Dream a World" (poem by Langston Hughes, music by Andre Thomas). Music major Joshua Tanis was the piano accompanist. Professor Max Lifchitz presented his composition "Still Life." (To learn more...)

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REVIEW OF DUNCAN CUMMING'S CD

"Duncan Cumming, widely respected American concert pianist, scholar, and teacher, presents a well-loaded program ranging from Chopin to Satie. It’s hard to remember when I’ve heard a more engaging piano recital, beginning with an account of Brahms’ Piano Sonata in C Major, Opus 1, that is suffused with more pure lyricism than I’d been used to hearing." (Read more...)

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