Department News

Professor Alejandro L. Madrid Receives the 2026 Bruno Nettl Prize

November 12, 2026

The Society for Ethnomusicology awarded its 2026 Bruno Nettl Prize to Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Music and Department Chair Alejandro L. Madrid for The Archive and the Aural City: Sound, Knowledge, and the Politics of Listening, published in 2025 by...

Recent Awards for Harvard/NEC Student and Alum

November 10, 2026

Noah Lee (Harvard '24, NEC '25) won first prize at the Belgium Cello Society's Buchet International Cello Competition in October. Read more about the competition on the Strad website. Baritone Isaac Ahn (Harvard '30, NEC '31) was recently named a 2026...

Harvard Gazette: Sophia Zervas profile

October 22, 2026

PhD candidate in ethnomusicology Sophia Zervas was recently profiled in The Harvard Gazette as part of their "Life-Work" series. Zervas is a scholar of music and politics in 21st-century Türkiye whose dissertation explores state cultural policy under...

FAS Current: New piano, a "unicorn that can do everything," arrives at Sanders Theatre

September 22, 2026

The FAS Current recently featured the new Steinway Model D in Sanders Theatre, with insights from Professor Vijay Iyer and the Piano Technical Services team. “This is probably the finest sounding piano I’ve ever been personally involved with in my long...

Student Spotlight: Ethan Chaves

June 25, 2026

Ethan Chaves ’26 is a Senior in Winthrop House, who completed his Music concentration this past May, studying composition with Professor Chaya Czernowin. Chaves plays violin and piano, and has interests in composing, improvising, and electroacoustic work...

Jordan R. Brown and Zehra Jabeen Shah 'Another Music Studies Is Possible: Centering Experiences of Graduate Labor from Members of Project Spectrum'

May 26, 2026

Department of Music Graduate Students Jordan R. Brown and Zehra Jabeen Shah have recently published 'Another Music Studies Is Possible: Centering Experiences of Graduate Labor from Members of Project Spectrum ' in American Music Volume 43, Issue 1-2. For...

FAS Current: 'Raghav Mehrotra: Finding his rhythm between classroom and stage'

May 21, 2026

Department of Music concentrator and Harvard-Berklee Joint Studies Program student Raghav Mehrotra '26 was recently profiled by Eileen O'Grady for the FAS Current . Excerpt: At the start of his first semester, Raghav Mehrotra wasn’t sitting in class. He...

The New Yorker: 'Chaya Czernowin Gives Voice to a Wounded World'

May 20, 2026

Professor Chaya Czernowin was recently featured in an article by The New Yorker about her participation and works featured at the Witten Days for New Chamber Music festival.

Professor Alejandro L. Madrid named a Walter Channing Cabot Fellow

May 13, 2026

Alejandro L. Madrid, the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Music, has been awarded the Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship. The fellowship is an annual prize honoring Harvard scholars for their contributions to the advancement of scholarship in the fields of...

Jordan R. Brown Publishes Chapter in 'The Oxford Handbook of Pop Music'

May 08, 2026

Ethnomusicology graduate student Jordan R. Brown's chapter 'Queen Bey: The Sampling Historiographies behind the Icon' was recently published in The Oxford Handbook of Pop Music (2026, Oxford University Press). Abstract: The Oxford Handbook of Pop Music is...

Harvard Office for the Arts Announces 2026 Arts Prize Winners

April 23, 2026

The Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Council on the Arts at Harvard, a standing committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announce the recipients of the annual undergraduate arts prizes for 2026. The awards, presented to more than 230...

Harvard Office for the Arts Announces 2026 Artist Development Fellowship Recipients

April 23, 2026

The Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Office of the Dean for the Arts and Humanities announce the 2026 recipients of the annual Artist Development Fellowships. The program supports the artistic development of students demonstrating unusual...