Dr. Karen Cook Joins Hartt School as New Assistant Professor of Music History

The Hartt School has announced the appointment of Dr. Karen Cook as Assistant Professor of Music History. Cook, who earned her Ph.D. in Musicology and a certificate in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Duke University, begins her new position at Hartt this September. Cook received Master of Music degrees in Musicology and Theory Pedagogy from Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore, MD) and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance and Religion from Gettysburg College (PA).

Dr. Cook served in various capacities during her time at Duke, including as Director of Duke Collegium Musicum, Director of Duke Early Instrument Consorts, and as a visiting instructor, and also taught at Peabody.

Her broad range of teaching experience includes several areas of music theory, from Renaissance-style counterpoint to common-practice tonal theory and twentieth-century techniques, and her music history teaching experience includes music appreciation, jazz and popular music, early notation, music and context in seventeenth-century Rome, and the history of music in the Christian tradition through the present day.

While at Hartt, she plans to extend her current research on the development of small note values, and also on the history of the Sistine Chapel Choir. Additional research interests include in jazz, cultural, and popular music studies, specifically in the use of music in media such as television, film, and video games.

Cook, who has published and lectured on a variety of topics, also is a practicing singer, conductor, and instrumental performer of medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary repertory.

Search Committee Chair Professor Dee Hansen, Chair of Graduate Studies in Music Education and Director of Hartt Summerterm, said of Cook's appointment, "Karen Cook will bring outstanding expertise in music history and teaching experience to The Hartt School. We are very excited for her to join the music community at Hartt and look forward to her arrival."

The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford that offers innovative degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920, Hartt has been an integral part of the University of Hartford since its charter merged the then Hartt School of Music, the Hartford Art School, and Hillyer College to create the University in 1957. 2010 markEd Hartt's 90th year of providing world class performing arts education to students in Greater-Hartford and around the world. With more than 400 concerts, recitals, plays, master classes, dance performances, and musical theatre productions a year, performance is central to Hartt's curriculum. For more information about The Hartt School, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

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