UNC Department of Music

08/12/2026

🎶Coming to a venue near you this year!🎶 The Martha Flowers Ensemble Series, William S. Newman Artists Series, Conversations in Modern Music Series, and UNC Music Research Forum all return this year with more fantastic performances and lectures.

In addition to these wonderful series, the department is pleased to offer many more events throughout the year, most of which are free. Some highlights include the Gut Instinct Chamber Music Project by professors Nicholas DiEugenio and Mimi Solomon, returning with a five-part series titled “To BEethoven Rather Than To Seem,” LaToya Lain’s Narrative of a Slave Woman lecture recital in October, The Dominican Jazz Project’s La Isla Hispaniola album release concert in February, and the 50th Anniversary of the Carolina Jazz Festival in February. We’re also thrilled to announce the return of the Spectrum Concert this March!

Swipe to get an overview of this year’s series events and see the full lineup of dates and details at https://music.unc.edu/2026/08/12/2026-2027-series-loading/.

08/10/2026

Calling all musical Tar Heels! Are you hoping to get involved in music this year? Do you want to learn more about the musical opportunities on campus? Swipe to check out some upcoming informational events and head to our website for ensemble audition details and more at https://music.unc.edu/2026/08/10/get-involved.

08/06/2026

We’re thrilled to welcome the new cohort of music graduate students: Zuma Black, Danielle Dameron, Liam Gibbs, and Zechary Phouthavong! The four scholars and musicians have varied research interests in music and place, musical identity, ontology and musical expectation, music theory, musical theater, transnational music and performance, and more. They also have interests and talents in numerous interdisciplinary and performance areas, including composition, culture studies, drama, film, flute, and opera.

We're thrilled to welcome the new cohort of music graduate students to the department in just a few shorts days!

08/03/2026

“Stay open to the possibilities of what you might study. If you follow where your interests lead you, even if it’s to unexpected places, you can’t go wrong.”

We’re thrilled to welcome alumna Molly Barnes, Ph.D. 2016, back to the department as Director of the Consort of Viols! Dr. Barnes maintains a multifaceted career as a music scholar, teacher, and performer. She is a passionate educator and previously taught in the department in 2018, when she taught music history courses here and at UNC-Greensboro. Dr. Barnes performs modern and baroque violin professionally with ensembles and organizations in North Carolina after first discovering a passion for early music during graduate school as a violinist in UNC’s Baroque Ensemble. She learned to play the viola da gamba in UNC’s Consort of Viols. “I’m thrilled to be returning to my grad school alma mater to do two of my favorite things — teach and play music!” she noted. “For me, the most gratifying elements of teaching are simply getting to know students and being able to share my passions with them.”
UNC College of Arts and Sciences

The department is proud to welcome alumna Molly Barnes, Ph.D. 2016, back to the department as Director of the Consort of Viols!

07/30/2026

“I’m grateful for every one of these compositions and for the collaborators who wrote them. Each track opens a different window onto the same question, and that range is exactly what I wanted the album to have.”

Pianist Clara Yang released her latest album, xmachina, on May 1 via the acclaimed label Bright Shiny Things! The album was recorded in Moeser Auditorium between 2023 and 2025 and is the latest evolution of Yang’s Ex Machina project. Ex Machina first began as a multimedia project exploring the evolving relationship between humanity and technology through immersive visual art and music, and premiered at UNC as the 2024 Festival on the Hill. “I wanted to push the boundaries of the traditional classical piano recital — to expand the repertoire with fresh perspectives and to give audiences something they could experience, not just listen to,” noted Dr. Yang. Since its premiere, it’s been performed a second time at UNC, in Los Angeles, and most recently at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NYC as part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 205 Festival.
UNC College of Arts and Sciences Piano Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill

Dr. Clara Yang released her latest album, xmachina, on May 1, 2026 via the Bright Shiny Things music label.

07/27/2026

“My favorite part of teaching is helping students translate musical wishes into physical action. Physical actions have their own metabolism, their own timing, and part of the work is syncing that timing to what’s happening in the music.”

We’re thrilled to welcome cellist Dr. Grace Anderson to the department faculty! Dr. Anderson will teach cello lessons and coach chamber music groups. She's an avid performer and educator, at home on the stage and in the studio. Most recently, she spent time this summer in Peru as a concerto soloist and recitalist. “If there’s one thing I hope students take from working with me, it’s what it feels like to play without a filter, when the body is at ease with the instrument, and playing feels like your guts talking. I want to be the one who helps them experience that,” she noted. “From there, students start to trust their own musical instincts, and everything becomes more authentic.”

Read the full interview with Dr. Anderson: https://music.unc.edu/2026/07/27/welcome-dr-grace-anderson/.

07/22/2026

“Everything in this world is interesting and exciting if you sit with it for long enough to find out how.”

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Lauren Berlin as a Teaching Assistant Professor! Dr. Berlin’s research explores the intersections of television music, broadcasting culture, and identity crafting in the postwar United States. In the classroom, she emphasizes how musical media shape our understanding of cultural values and trends, and encourages students to reflect critically on their everyday interactions with media. “My favorite part of teaching is discovery in the classroom!” she told us. “I love when students ask a question that I don’t know, and we can figure it out together.”

Read our full interview with Dr. Berlin: https://music.unc.edu/2026/07/22/welcome-dr-lauren-berlin/.

07/17/2026

Calling all incoming music students! Tag along with Cyani Jacobs on one of her days as a first-year music student last fall. Only one month until this is you! 🤩🩵🐏

07/15/2026

“If you sign up for one of my courses, prepare to step outside of your comfort zone in the best possible way!” -Dr. Tomal Hossain

We’re so proud to welcome musicologist and vocalist Dr. Tomal Hossain as an Assistant Professor to the Department of Music! Equally at home on the stage and in the classroom, Dr. Hossain specializes in solo vocal performance of Hindustani rāga and Bengali musics, and centers music, song, and sound’s entanglements with religion and nationalism in South Asia in his research. Starting this fall, he’ll teach courses on music and sound, the sacred and secular, borders and borderlands, citizenship and statelessness, migration and diaspora, race and Indigeneity, and nationalism. He also hopes to start an ensemble dedicated to South Asian musical traditions at UNC in the near future.

Read more about Dr. Hossain at https://music.unc.edu/2026/07/15/welcome-hossain/.

07/10/2026

“Since arriving at UNC 12 years ago, I have been by far the luckiest junior colleague in the world. Not only have I had the most caring mentor and the kindest colleague—I have had a front-row seat to witness the embodiment of selfless teaching and human compassion.” -Dr. Nicholas DiEugenio

On June 30, Professor Brent Wissick, cellist, officially retired from the music department. Since the fall of 1982, Professor Wissick’s enthusiasm and talent have influenced every part of the department, from his teaching and mentorship to his ensemble direction and personal performances. Over his 44 years in the department, he taught students in private cello and viola da gamba instruction, directed the UNC Baroque Ensemble and Consort of Viols, coached chamber music ensembles, collaborated with UNC Opera on baroque productions, team-taught a first-year seminar in physics and music with Emerita Professor Laurie McNeil from the physics department, led orchestra sectionals for the cellists, held various leadership roles, and attended and performed in countless department concerts.

Perhaps the biggest part of his legacy is his humanity. As his friend and colleague Raymond Erickson said during his retirement celebration concert in March, “There are really only two things to be said about Brent Wissick: he is a fabulous musician, and he is a fabulous human being.” He is known throughout the department and broader musical community for his kindness, his empathy, and his generosity. Professor Wissick will be greatly missed, but we hope to still see him at concerts and events throughout the years.

Read more: https://music.unc.edu/2026/07/10/brent-wissick-a-legacy-in-music-and-humanity/.