Baird Lecture Series

Through the Baird Lecture Series, the UB Department of Music hosts regular lectures, talks, and master classes given by distinguished visiting scholars, performers, and composers throughout the academic year. 

All events take place in Baird Recital Hall at 3:30 p.m.  The Baird Lecture Series is free and open to the public.

Kyra Gaunt, Assistant Professor of Music at the University at Albany, will deliver a talk on the Baird Lecture Series September 21.

Kyra Gaunt, Assistant Professor of Music at the University at Albany, will deliver a talk on the Baird Lecture Series September 21.

2023-2024 Lecture Series

September 14 

  • Tiffany Skidmore – Birge-Cary Chair in Music Composition, University at Buffalo
  • The William Blake Cycle: Metaphysical Abstraction and Instrumental Embodiment

September 21

  • Kyra Gaunt, Assistant Professor of Music & Theatre; Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies,  University at Albany
  • PLAYED: How YouTube and the Musical Internet Exploited Violence Against Girls and Women from Nipplegate to Twerking

October 5

  • Sumanth Gopinath, Associate Professor of Music Theory, University of Minnesota

October 19

  • Lina Tabak, PhD Student, CUNY Graduate Center, and scholar in UB’s Visiting Future Faculty Program
  • The Effect of Stylistic Expertise on Metric Perception: Rhythmic Practices of the Colombian South Pacific

February 8

  • Stephanie Choi, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Korean Studies,  University at Buffalo 
  • Thank you, I Love You: The Rise of Feminism and Globalization of K-pop

February 29

  • Noriko Manabe, Professor of Music Theory, Indiana University
  • Intertextuality in Protest Music

March 7

  • Jim Davis, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Musicology, SUNY Fredonia
  • Reconstructing the 'War Song': Stephen Foster and the Evolution of American Musical Patriotism

April 4

  • Michael Cherlin, Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Composition, University of Minnesota
  • Music’s Making: The Music of Poetry, the Poetry of Music

April 18

  • Marianna Ritchey, Associate Professor of Music History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  •  ''Music Can Change the World!": Gentrification, Policing, and the City Symphony Orchestra

April 25

  • Colter Harper, Teaching Assistant Professor of Music, University at Buffalo
  • The Place of Jazz: Nightclubs, Urban Redevelopment, and Practices of Listening in Pittsburgh’s Hill District
Our seminars promote open and frank discussions that generate insights which have been extremely useful in shaping how I perceive my role and craft as a composer.

Igor Coelho A.S. Marques, PhD in Composition

Upcoming Lectures

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Previous Lecturers

Zachary Bernstein Assistant Professor Eastman School of Music
Mark Evan Bonds Professor UNC Chapel Hill
Andre Bregegere Lecturer CUNY Queens College
Seth Brodsky Associate Professor University of Chicago
Tim Carter Professor UNC
Theodore Cateforis Associate Professor Syracuse University
Richard Cohn Professor Yale University
John Covach Professor Eastman School of Music
Suzanne Cusick Professor NYU
Jim David Professor SUNY Fredonia
Mary Davis Professor Case Western University
Todd Decker Professor Wachington University in St. Louis
Jonathan Dunsby Professor Eastman School of Music
Kyle Gann Professor Bard College
Charles Garrett Professor University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Lydia Hamessley Professor Hamilton College
Berthold Hoeckner Professor University of Chicago
Mark Katz Professor University of North Carolina
Michael Klein Professor Temple University
Lawrence Kramer Professor Cornell University
Adam Krims Professor University of Nottingham
Richard Leppert Professor University of Minnesota
Tamara Levitz Professor UCLA
Judy Lockhead Professor SUNY Stony Brook
Roger Moseley Professor Cornell University
Andre Mount Associate Professor SUNY Potsdam
Tiffany Naiman Thinking Matters Fellow Stanford University
Catherine Nolan Professor and Dean
of Graduate Studies		 Western University, Ontario
Judith Peraino Professor Cornell University
Benjamin Piekut Professor Cornell University
Iann Quinn Professor Yale University
Steven Rings Associate Professor University of Chicago
Colin Roust Associate Professor University of Kansas
Anthony Shepherd Professor Williams College
Mary Simonson Associate Professor Colgate College
Elaine Sisman Professor Columbia University
Decatur Smith Stephen Associate Professor SUNY Stony Brook
Robynn Stilwell Professor Georgetown University
Robert Walser Professor Case Western University
Holly Watkins Professor Eastman School of Music