Musicology

SashiAyyangar2025@u.northwestern.edu

Sashi's research focuses on the 18th century, with an emphasis on the music of Bach, Handel, and their contemporaries. He previously studied piano performance at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and music at Princeton.

AndrewBarrett2025@u.northwestern.edu

I am a musicologist specializing in Spanish music of the twentieth century. My current work investigates how friendships and affective bonds between musicians facilitated informal cultural diplomacy between Spain and the United States during the Cold War. In my dissertation, I do so through a microhistorical study of the creation and first performances of Joaquín Rodrigo’s 1958 guitar concerto Fantasía para un gentilhombre. I focus on Rodrigo’s collaboration with his wife Victoria Kamhi and the guitarist Andrés Segovia, and I demonstrate how these relationships instigated a transatlantic musical exchange involving public and private institutions in the United States and Spain.

A secondary area of interest is music and memory studies, which I have explored through research on musical memorials to Martin Luther King, Jr. and operatic commemorations of the Holocaust. An article on the latter subject is forthcoming in the journal Holocaust Studies.

I am currently a PhD candidate in musicology at Northwestern University, and I previously earned a BM in guitar from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a MM in guitar/MA in musicology from Indiana University. My research has been supported by the Northwestern Dissertation Proposal Development Program and the Northwestern Graduate Research Grant, and I have shared my work at meetings of the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and various other conferences in the United States and Spain.

ValeriaChavezRoncal2027@u.northwestern.edu

Valeria Chávez Roncal is a PhD student in Musicology at Northwestern University. She earned her BM in Music Performance and BA in Spanish from Millikin University in 2021. Her research currently focuses on American composer John Cage and his involvement in the modern dance spheres throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. She maintains a cognate area in the Spanish and Portuguese department, where she studies sonic representations of indigeneity in Peruvian cumbia music. She has presented her work at the Midwest Chapter Meeting of the American Musicological Society, appeared as a panelist at the Middlebury College Summer Language Program, and has contributed writings to NYU’s Latinx Project. Outside of her musicological endeavors, Valeria enjoys practicing yoga and playing violin.

PaulFellerGumucio2024@u.northwestern.edu

Paul Feller holds a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in musicology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and a master's degree in musicology from Northwestern University. In addition to being a musicology PhD candidate, Paul is a member of Northwestern's Medieval and Jewish Studies clusters. Primarily an early modernist, his research interests include Jewish-Christian musical exchanges in Northwestern Europe, music in the colonies of the Spanish Empire, and musical othering. Paul has published on eighteenth century opera contrafacts at the Amsterdam Grand Synagogue. Additionally, his research on musical representations of Jewish masculinity was awarded the Irene Alm Memorial Prize of the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music. His work on colonial villancicos in Chile was recognized with an honorable mention for the 2023 Otto Mayer-Serra Award. In 2022, he obtained the American Musicological Society Noah Greenberg Award with Cesar Favila for their contribution to the performance of music from nunneries in New Spain. Paul has presented at conferences throughout the Americas and Europe, including the MUSAM International Conference, the Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, the Medieval and Renaissance International Music Conference, and the Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. At Northwestern, Paul met his wife, who is also a musicologist, with whom he spends his spare time hiking and playing with their cat.

BridgetFoley2027@u.northwestern.edu

Bridget Foley (they/them) is a PhD student in musicology at Northwestern University. They earned a Bachelor of Music Education with a Choral/General emphasis and a Master of Arts in Musicology from Indiana University. Their research interests lie primarily in ludomusicology, specifically in Japanese video game scores that utilize popular music genres, tying narrative and interactivity to modern musical culture. They have also done research into the broader scope of ludomusicology, exploring how play and music intertwine in the form of canonic composition in the Renaissance. In their free time they enjoy singing in virtual musicals, cuddling with their cat, and moderating several Discord servers.

DevinKaveler2028@u.northwestern.edu

Devin Kaveler (he/him) earned undergraduate degrees in music (clarinet) and international studies from the University of Missouri in 2018 and an MA degree in musicology from the University of Minnesota in 2023. His research concerns the interrelationships between sonic experimentalism, politics, and place in post-war Central Europe, primarily Poland. Other research interests include the role of music in labor movements, with previous projects focusing on the United Farm Workers group El Teatro Campesino and the 2022 Minneapolis Federation of Teachers strike. He is affiliated with Northwestern’s Global Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies cluster. When not studying, Devin enjoys free improvisation, grilling, and exploring Chicago’s trails and greenways by bicycle.

tanyalandau2030@u.northwestern.edu

Tanya Landau (she/her) is a PhD student in musicology at Northwestern University. Coming from a performance background, she received her Bachelor of Music in performance (voice) from Arizona State University in 2021. She went on to receive her Master of Music in performance (voice) from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts in 2023. Her research primarily explores implied meanings and subtexts that define aspects of individual expression and resistance for displaced peoples. Drawing on post-colonial theories, her research highlights the songs being sung, and those left unsung, by diasporic populations, asking how song is critical in the development of cultural and political independence. Outside of her musicological endeavors, Tanya enjoys cooking, swing dancing, and taking care of her many houseplants. 
 

BingLim2026@u.northwestern.edu

Lim Bing Nan, Mick is a PhD candidate in musicology. He studied at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and Peabody Institute from 2014-2018, earning a joint B.Mus. (Hons.) in composition with a second major in European Studies and minor in Musicology. From 2018-2020, he studied at Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, where he is expected to earn a M.A. in Music Research and Music Education with minors in Philosophy of Science and Music and Gender. His core research interests revolve around the German-speaking lands in the 18th century. His master’s thesis examined the reception of French classical tragedy in the court opera of Frederick II. He remains interested in music of the 20th and 21st century from his undergraduate training as a composer.

EmilyMasincup2022@u.northwestern.edu

Emily Masincup received her BM in Music Performance from Messiah College, PA (2014), and her MA in Music from Cardiff University, Wales (2016). Her master’s thesis, entitled “Rings and Other Gendered Spaces: Musical Representations of Gender in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Films,” seeks to establish unique connections between Howard Shore’s score and different types of space present within the films—literal and/or metaphorical—in order to illuminate subversive readings of gender. She maintains a strong interest in film music, and is especially thrilled when her explorations of film sound lead her into the territory of media studies. Emily also researches historical and contemporary conceptualizations of the human voice/vocality and hopes to combine this research with her film interests by examining representations of musical vocality within film. When she is not studying, she enjoys working on Kakuro puzzles, snuggling with cats, and singing with Northwestern’s University Chorale.

cartermiller2028@u.northwestern.edu

Carter Miller (they/he) earned a BM in music history from McGill University in 2021 and was awarded the Bernard Shapiro Prize upon graduation. They have published their writing on Ann Southam (Canada), Julius Eastman (United States), and Elizabeth Maconchy (United Kingdom) and their research more broadly focuses on the intersection of social activism with classical music from the twentieth/twenty-first centuries, particularly works from the minimalist and post-minimalist traditions. They are also a vocalist, violinist, violist, and pianist and have worked with School of Music Montreal, a non-profit organization which provides free music education for local students, and the New Muses Project, which advocates for the performance, education, and scholarship of composers from historically underrepresented identity groups. 

SimonNugent2022@u.northwestern.edu

Simon Nugent earned a Bachelor of Music and Master of Musicology degrees from University College Dublin (UCD). Simon’s research interests include music and audiovisual media, medieval music, and Celtic music. In 2016, he co-organised a meeting of the International Musicological Society’s medieval music study group, Cantus Planus, co-sponsored by UCD and the University of Notre Dame. In the same year, he was co-editor of Issue 9 of The Musicology Review, a peer-reviewed postgraduate publication based at UCD. His transcription of the divine office of Saint Malachy will be published in 2019, and his research on Celtic music as medieval music in Hollywood cinema was published as part of an edited volume entitled Recomposing the Past: Early Music on Stage and Screen, by Routledge press in early 2018. Simon has presented at conferences throughout Ireland and the UK, including the Royal Musical Association Research Students’ Conference and Society for Musicology in Ireland’s postgraduate and annual plenary conferences.

KristianRodriguez2025@u.northwestern.edu

Kristian Rodriguez (they/them) is a PhD student in musicology in the Bienen School of Music, as well as a Mellon Cluster Fellow in the Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Northwestern. They hold a BA in Music from Texas State University (2016), as well as an MM in Composition from Arizona State University (2019), where they completed and staged a performance of their thesis work, Sueño-Vibrant: A Secular Cantata for SATB Chorus and Soloists with Electric Guitars. Kristian’s research focuses primarily on three major areas: alternative and indie rock since 1970; vocal music and staged works since 1950; and Mexican and Mexican-American music since the Mexican Revolution. Because of their own background as a queer, mestize scholar from a working-class background, Kristian has a personal interest in the scholarship of musical traditions as they relate to race, class, gender, sexuality, and the formation of individual and communal identities. They also explore how musical traditions interact with other artistic traditions and fields of study. In addition to their research, Kristian is an active composer, songwriter, vocalist, and performer.

piarodriguez2027@u.northwestern.edu

Pia Rodriguez is a PhD student in musicology at Northwestern University. She holds a BM in Music Education with a minor in religion from Trinity University. Her research primarily explores sacred music through interdisciplinary approaches, with special attunement to grief, temporality, and the relationships individuals and institutions create with the divine. Her undergraduate senior honors thesis utilized phenomenology and hermeneutics to discuss Dvorak’s amplification of his paternal grief through alignment with the divine in his Stabat Mater, Op. 58. Beyond her musicological endeavors, Pia remains an active vocalist in church choirs.

milena.schaller@northwestern.edu

Milan Schaller is a PhD candidate in Musicology with a certificate in the Slavic Languages and Literature department. They got their academic start as a Cello and French major at UC Davis in California, and hold a Masters in Musicology from Washington University in St. Louis. Their dissertation, heavily based on reception and the idea of connected networks, focuses on the Ballet Russe in London of the 1920s and its connections to puppetry, homophobic press, and the folk revival in England. Previous research explored the influence of the Franco-Russian alliance on the early set design and choreographic choices of the Ballet Russe. They have presented on this topic at the Annual Conference of the Francophone Music Criticism Network in Paris, and at the conference on Artistic Migration and Identity in Paris in Montréal; their chapter on this subject was recently published in the book Migration artistique et identité: Paris, 1870-1950.

They also study ideas of heritage, culture, and the mythic past in Folk Metal bands of the 2000s; they have presented on folk metal at the Midwest Graduate Music Consortium, the International Conference on Music Since 1900 held in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Analytical Approaches to World Music conference. Their chapter on literary references and rhetorical devices in Turisas's album The Varangian Way was recently accepted as a chapter in a future book project entitled Progressive Rock, Metal, and the Literary Imagination. They live in Lyon, France, where they can be found walking their dog in the nearby forest or desperately looking for actually spicy peppers to cook some real Californian Mexican food

anishasrinivasan2029@u.northwestern.edu

Anisha Srinivasan earned an undergraduate degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, and her Master’s at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Over the course of her academic career, Anisha has developed a profound interest in vocal works of the late 18th century – with particular focus on the diaspora of opera composers in the late 18th century who migrated to Vienna from around Europe, and unraveling how their relocation influenced their compositions. Additionally, Anisha’s research explores Western vocal music's influence in India, particularly southern India, during the late 18th century, a period inextricably linked to British colonial presence. Anisha aims to blend her South Indian heritage with her study of this era's vocal works to promote a deeper understanding of the tradition and culture connected to this music. She has also presented her work at the Midwest Chapter Meeting of the American Musicological Society (AMS.)

An international citizen at heart, Anisha has spent time in Ndola (Zambia,) Bangalore, Mumbai, London, Vienna, Bloomington, Boston, and Washington D.C, giving her a deep appreciation for the cultural context and influence of music in society and spurring her to pursue a PhD in Musicology at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.

Anisha maintains an active performance life as a mezzo-soprano, having recently performed at the Mozarthaus in Vienna. A transplant-Chicagoan, Anisha spends her spare time traveling, watching operas, enjoying stand-up comedy, and spending time with her husband and their labradoodle, eponymously, Carmen (of “Habanera” fame).

NevenaStanicKovacevic2027@u.northwestern.edu

Nevena Stanić Kovačević (Belgrade, Serbia) is a PhD student in musicology and a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Global Avant-Garde and Modernist Studies at Northwestern University. Nevena’s research interests span significant temporal, physical, and cultural distances—from neume notation to postminimalism and experimental music. Her work lies at the intersection of gender and politics with a focus on style, performance, aesthetics, and reception. Nevena has presented her research in Europe and the U.S and published articles in Serbian, English, and Georgian. She holds bachelor’s degrees in musicology (University of Arts in Belgrade) and double bass (University of Kragujevac), and two master’s degrees in musicology (University of Arts in Belgrade, University of Miami). Beyond scholarly work, Nevena wears multiple hats as critic, educator, performer, music-art curator, and a non-profit supporter.

VivianTompkins2027@u.northwestern.edu

Vivian Teresa Tompkins is a PhD student in musicology at the Bienen School of Music and a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Northwestern’s Gender and Sexuality Studies program. She holds a BA in Music from Furman University (2017), an MSt in Music (Musicology) from the University of Oxford (2018), and a MS in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University (2021). Her research focuses on women’s music-making in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England, particularly their performance of devotional music in domestic contexts. She is also interested in pursuing work at the intersection of musicology, library science, and the digital humanities in order to build more inclusive and accessible resources for music research. Outside of her studies, she enjoys singing, journaling, and spending time outdoors.