Title: Visiting Associate Professor (in musicology) in the Mead Witter School of Music
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Educational background: BA at State University of New York at Binghamton; MA and PhD at Ohio State University.
How did you get into your field of research?
I was a voice major and was planning to become an opera singer. I had a fantastic music history teacher who turned me on to musicology, and things went from there. My research areas are European opera and American musical theater.
What attracted you to UW-Madison?
The diversity of the faculty and students, the outstanding achievements of the faculty, the collegiality of my department and the chance to teach in multiple areas — music, the Department of French and Italian and the Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies Program. The commitment to an interdisciplinary focus in the institution’s programs is an attractive feature of its profile.
What was your first visit to campus like?
I was warmly welcomed by my colleagues and impressed with the energy and enthusiasm I felt as I walked around campus.
What’s one thing you hope students who take a class with you will come away with?
I hope they’ll leave with a deeper appreciation of art and music and its importance in the world around them.
Do you feel your work relates in any way to the Wisconsin Idea? If so, please describe how.
I was the first member of my family to earn a PhD and I believe strongly in access to high-quality education for all, as well as in programs that help bring the institution and its community together in tangible ways. Music brings people together in all kinds of ways, and is meant to be shared.
What’s something interesting about your area of expertise you can share that will make us sound smarter at parties?
Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the Spanish lyrics for the most recent revival of West Side Story(in which some of the songs are in Spanish). He met Stephen Sondheim when he worked on that project, who asked him what he was going to do next (after his hit musical In the Heights). Miranda said he was thinking about a musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, and Miranda said Sondheim threw back his head and said, “That’s a fantastic idea.” That’s what kept Miranda going during the writing of Hamilton when he’d have trouble with something. He knew he was on the right track if Sondheim liked the idea!
Hobbies/other interests: Biking, hiking, canoeing and cats!