A Message from the Dean

One of the most important factors in a student’s choice of music school is the institution’s faculty. Instruction through weekly lessons, classes, advising sessions, and performances extends across multiple years, with connections built and often maintained for years after graduation.

My own journey has been shaped by many teachers who shared their expertise and encouragement. As an undergraduate, I was fortunate to study composition with Bienen alumnus Ned Rorem ’44 at the Curtis Institute of Music. Rorem was as much a personality as he was a composer, and the four years I spent working with him were about not only learning to compose but discovering what it meant to be an artist. Before he enrolled at Northwestern, Rorem took piano lessons with alumna and Chicago musical luminary Margaret Bonds ’33, ’34 MMus.

Coming full circle, the Bienen School recently celebrated Bonds by hosting a special concert of the Chicago Sinfonietta in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The event dedicated a long-overdue headstone on Bonds’s grave, and we were honored to partner with the Sinfonietta to recognize the installation of this neglected final monument. One week later, the school held an investiture ceremony to recognize three faculty members who hold endowed chairs— including my own chair, which is named after Evanston native Kay Davis ’42, ’43 MMus. Following her graduation from the School of Music, she began performing with Duke Ellington, and in 1948 she sang the premiere of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” at Carnegie Hall.

These recent celebratory events provided unique opportunities to commemorate members of the school community who have left a positive impact on the University and beyond through their music, research, service, and teaching. And the events were important reminders that the work we do to prepare our students for success reaches well past the present moment.

As we reflect on the past, we also look to the future, committed to sustaining the excellence of those who came before us. In the spirit of new beginnings, we hope you enjoy the updated design of Fanfare, which offers a refreshed look while continuing to celebrate the achievements of our alumni, students, and faculty.

Jonathan Bailey HollandJonathan Bailey Holland
Dean
Kay Davis Professor of Music

Grammy Gold

Gavin Chuck (left) and Alan Pierson won their first Grammy, the 2026 award for best chamber music/small ensemble performance for Alarm Will Sound’s recording of Donnacha Dennehy’s "Land of Winter."

See all Bienen Grammy winners

Smart Device for the Voice

Research led by Bienen senior lecturer Theresa Brancaccio is opening new possibilities for clinical voice care.

Tracking Vocal Health

In Tune

Among the busiest people at the Bienen School of Music are the keyboard maintenance staff, who use their specialized skills to oversee an impressive fleet of pianos.

Learn about their essential work

50 Years of a Campus Icon

Since 1975, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall has functioned as both a classroom and a performance facility for the school’s ensembles, faculty, festivals, and guest artists.

Explore the history

Passing the Baton

Horn students and alumni celebrated the monumental career of professor emerita and alumna Gail Williams ’76 MMus, who retired last June. The former associate principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra served on Bienen’s faculty from 1989 to 2025, creating a legacy of profound music-making that was on full display in the farewell concert. Students, faculty, and more than 50 alumni joined to close the evening with a performance of Norman Schweikert’s arrangement of Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. The concert was a fitting finale for Williams’s tenure and a poignant passing of the baton to new horn professor Adam Unsworth ’91.

Hear the performance

Noteworthy

Vital Currents

The Symphonic Wind Ensemble, led by Robert Taylor, performed and recorded music by Viet Cuong alongside guest ensembles Third Coast Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, and ~Nois Quartet.

Opera

Missy Mazzoli’s evocative "Proving Up" had its Chicago-area premiere at Northwestern. The composer participated in postshow talkbacks with direct of opera Joachim Schamberger and conductor Alan Pierson, who led the Contemporary Music Ensemble in four sold-out performances.

Jean Gimbel Lane Prize

The Bienen School awarded Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes the 2025 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance. He presented a sold-out recital of works by Chopin and Janáček as part of the Skyline Piano Artist Series and coached Bienen students in several master classes during his first residency.

War Requiem

The Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and all five Bienen voice ensembles presented Britten’s "War Requiem" under the direction of Andrew Megill. The featured soloists—soprano master’s student Cynthia Hu and guest artists David Newman and Sumner Thompson—joined more than 260 students in two performances of the monumental work.

Music and Health

Associate professor of music education Sarah Bartalome (right) led the inaugural Symposium for Music and Health at Northwestern. The conference brought together a global network of scholars, clinicians, and musicians who are committed to leveraging the power of music to support human health and well-being.

Pianos United

Pianist and former John Evans Distinguished Professor of Music Ursula Oppens (right) returned to Northwestern for a performance of Frederic Rzewski’s "The People United Will Never Be Defeated!" Fifty years prior, she premiered the work, which was dedicated to her by the composer. Jerome Lowenthal (left) and more than 30 piano students joined the performance.

Ode to Dowland and Gibbons

Lutenist Paul O’Dette (right) and tenor Aaron Sheehan (left) presented a public master class for students and a concert of John Dowland’s music as part of the Evelyn Dunbar Memorial Early Music Festival. The four-day festival celebrated Dowland and Orlando Gibbons.

Super Performance

Giancarlo Guerrero ’92 MMus (left) conducted a group of young string players during the performance of Monaco by Bad Bunny (right, with Guerrero in background) at the Super Bowl LX halftime show. Guerrero is music director of the Sarasota  Orchestra, artistic director and principal conductor of Chicago’s Grant Park Music  Festival, and music director laureate of the Nashville Symphony.

The Sounds of Havana

Marco Paguia ’99, music director of Broadway’s Buena Vista Social Club, won a Grammy Award for best musical theater album and a Tony Award for best orchestrations. He was also honored with a special Tony Award presented to the musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club band.

Raising Their Voices

Several Bienen alumni and director of choral organizations Andrew Megill (far right) presented four performances of Handel’s Messiah with Music of the Baroque and the New York Philharmonic in December under the baton of Jane Glover. The events marked Megill’s New York Philharmonic debut.

Videos

Elgar - Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra

Britten - War Requiem

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and Choirs

2025 Convocation Address by Deborah Rutter

Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis

Northwestern Horn Studio and Alumni