Theory and Composition

Guy Capuzzo

Guy Capuzzo (Ph.D., Eastman) is Associate Professor of Music Theory. His research focuses on Elliott Carter, atonal theory, and rock music. Capuzzo’s numerous conference talks include five presentations to the Society for Music Theory and an invited lecture at an Elliott Carter festival at the University of Minnesota. His writings appear in Music Theory Spectrum (Vol. 26/2, 2004 and forthcoming), Journal of Music Theory (Vol. 48/1, 2004), Music Theory Online (Vols. 8/3, 2002 and 12/1, 2006), Integral (Vol. 13, 1999 and forthcoming), Theory and Practice (Vol. 27, 2002), and Guitar Review (No. 126, 2003). Active as a guitarist, Capuzzo has published two guitar instructional books with Alfred Publications. While he loves teaching at UNCG, Guy’s dream job is chief restaurant critic for the New York Times. Phone 336-334-5574 or email: guycapuzzo@uncg.edu

Gregory Carroll

Gregory Carroll (Associate Professor) holds a B.A. in music from St. John’s University (MN), and an M.M. and Ph.D. in Composition/Theory from the University of Iowa. Prior to coming to UNCG in 1981, he taught at The University of Iowa and Indiana State University. His compositions have been performed at national and international conferences. Other performance venues include Canada, Alaska, Europe, and Australia. He has frequently served as finalist judge for state, regional, and national composition contests. He has published theoretical articles in state and national journals, and is frequently sought after as a guest clinician and lecturer. Dr. Carroll currently serves as President of the Southeastern Composers League. 336- 334-5461 or email: gdcarrol@uncg.edu

Mark Engebretson - click for web site

Mark EngebretsonMark Engebretson, Assistant Professor of Composition and Electronic Music, has recently undertaken composing a series of high-powered solo works entitled “Energy Drink” and writing music for large ensembles. He was previously a freelance composer and performer in Stockholm and Vienna, earning numerous commissions from official funding organizations. His music has been presented at many festivals, such as Wien Modern (Vienna), Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Ny Musikk (Bergen, Norway), Indiana State University New Music Festival (Terre Haute, Indiana), the Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival and ISCM Festivals (Tirana, Albania and Baku, Azerbaijan). Recent performances include presentations by the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony. His work “She Sings, She Screams” for saxophone and digital media has been performed countless times worldwide and has been released on three compact disc recordings. As a performer, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician worldwide, and he is a former member of the Vienna Saxophone Quartet. Dr. Engebretson has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Florida and at the State University of New York, College at Fredonia. He holds the DMA degree from Northwestern University, and also studied at the University of Minnesota and the Conservatoire de Bordeaux. His teachers include Michel Fuste-Lambezat, Ruben Haugen, Frederick L. Hemke, Jean-Marie Londeix, M. William Karlins, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, Michael Pisaro, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim. 336-256-1478 or email: engebretson@uncg.edu

David Nelson

David L. Nelson, Professor of Music Theory, holds a BM in Music Education from the University of Michigan, and his graduate degrees, a MM in Conducting and a PhD in Music Theory are from Northwestern University. He has published articles and presented papers on the wind music of Mozart, Stravinsky, and Messiaen, has authored a chapter in the music education monograph "On the Nature of Musical Experience," and recently completed a book on the musical sites of Vienna. A strong believer of international education, Dr. Nelson has taught in Austria and the Czech Republic, and has led more than 100 students and adults on musical tours of Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague. He has also lectured at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the University of Innsbruck. For 16 years, Dr. Nelson was on the faculty of the University of New Orleans where he was Associate Chair, Graduate Coordinator, and Marshall Plan Anniversary Professor of Austrian Studies. He directed the UNO Wind Ensemble and the New Orleans Civic Symphony Orchestra, and conducted numerous operas and musicals including The Magic Flute, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Anglica, Kiss of the Spider Woman, La Cage Aux Folles, and Assassins. 336-256-1229 or email: david_nelson@uncg.edu

Irna Priore

Irna PrioreIrna Priore joined the UNCG School of Music in the Fall of 2005. Previously, she taught music theory and analysis at the North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Iowa, and the University of New Mexico. She holds a Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Iowa (2004), a doctoral degree in flute performance from C.U.N.Y. (1994), and a master’s degree in performance from Queens College, New York (1991). In the summer 2001, she was a fellow at the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory. Dr. Priore has presented papers in learned societies around the US and abroad and won the “best student paper award” for her presentation at the Music Theory Southeast meeting in 2002. Her research interests and publications are in Schenkerian Theory, the Darmstadt School, Luciano Berio, and Brazilian popular music. She was a research scholar at the Darmstadt Institute for New Music (IMD) in 2006 and 2007. For more information, please visit her website. 336-334-5491 or email i_priore@uncg.edu

Matthew Quayle

Matthew QuayleMatthew Quayle, pianist and composer (BMI), joined the School of Music as Lecturer in 2007. In recent years his music has been performed by Alarm Will Sound, the Arditti String Quartet, the Avalon String Quartet, eighth blackbird, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and the Southeastern Trio. He has also received commissions from the Almeida Theatre in London, the New London Children’s Choir, flutist Claire Chase, saxophonist Gail Levinsky, and cellist Ashley Sandor Sidon. In 2007 his string orchestra piece Gridley Paige Road was selected as one of three finalists in the Adagio Composition Contest of the Fauxharmonic Orchestra. He composed the introduction to the ‘Round Midnight Variations, a collection of variations by prominent contemporary composers on the Thelonius Monk theme; this work was premiered by pianist Emanuele Arciuli at New York’s Miller Theater in 2002. Quayle frequently performs as a piano soloist and chamber musician. Recent collaborations have included recitals with clarinetist Deborah Andrus, cellist Jameson Platte, and flutist Elizabeth Ransom, He was also featured as a composer and performer at the 2006 Glens Falls Symphony Musicbridge Festival. In 1998 he performed his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra with the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, as winner of the Oberlin Conservatory Concerto Competition. Quayle has served on the faculty at New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine since 2002. A doctoral candidate at New York University (GSAS), he holds a BM from Oberlin Conservatory and a MM from the University of Cincinnati. 336-334-5034 or email: mattquayle@yahoo.com

Adam Ricci

Adam Ricci joined the School of Music faculty in 2003. He holds a BA (Music and Psychology) from the University of Rochester, an MA (Music Theory) from the Eastman School of Music, and a PhD (Music Theory) from Eastman, where his studies were supported by a Jacob K. Javits fellowship. His research interests include late-19th-century chromatic music, jazz harmony, and diatonic theory. He has published articles in Theory and Practice and Indiana Theory Review, and has presented papers at meetings of the Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Society of New York State, the New England Conference of Music Theorists, Music Theory Southeast, and the Texas Society for Music Theory. In 2002, Ricci won the Emerging Scholar award of the Music Theory Society of New York State. He has taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, and Nazareth College of Rochester, where he also worked as a choir and opera accompanist. 336-256-0104 or email: a_ricci@uncg.edu

Alejandro Rutty - click for web site

Alejandro RuttyAlejandro Rutty, Assistant Professor of Composition, joined the School of Music faculty in 2007. Composer, conductor and music advocate, his output includes work in avant-garde, classical, and Argentine traditional repertoires, as well as innovative community-based projects. Rutty’s compositions have been played by the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, Kiev Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Cassatt String Quartet, New York New Music Ensemble, Quasar Sax Quartet, Phoenix Trio, and Amherst Saxophone Quartet among others. He has appeared as a conductor with groups such as the June in Buffalo Chamber orchestra, UNCUYO Symphony orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Catskill Choral Society and Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra. Recordings of Rutty’s music and arrangements have been released by Capstone records, ERM Media, and Arizona University Recordings. Until 2007, Rutty has been Assistant Professor of Music at Hartwick College, Artistic Director of the Hey, Mozart! Child Composer Project, and Co-Director of the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival. His education includes a PhD in Composition at State University of New York at Buffalo, and degrees from The University of New Mexico and Universidad Católica Argentina. 336-334-5421 or email: ahrutty@uncg.edu

J. Kent Williams - click for web site

J. Kent Williams holds BME, MM and PhD degrees from Indiana University-Bloomington. He has performed widely as a percussionist and published articles and reviews in the Annual Review of Jazz Studies, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Indiana Theory Review, In Theory Only, and the Journal of Computer-Based Instruction. His textbook Theories and Analyses of Twentieth-Century Music is published by Wadsworth-Thomson-Schirmer. He continues to develop his Form, Process, and Texture in Tonal Music, a textbook and web site. Williams is Editor of the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy. At UNCG, he serves as Chair of Composition/History/Theory Division and Director of the School of Music's Computer Lab. 336-334-5468 or email: jkwillia@uncg.edu

Virginia Williamson