NYUAD Music Program

05/10/2026

How did music shape identity and belonging on Kenya’s Swahili coast?

This talk explores how musicians in twentieth-century Mombasa drew on Arab and Indian musical influences to navigate questions of identity, belonging, and community. Combining oral history, ethnography, and musical analysis, it examines how musical style became a space for expressing and negotiating what it meant to be Swahili in colonial and postcolonial Kenya.

🔗 RSVP:
https://nyuad.my.salesforce-sites.com/Events/NYUEventRegistration?event=aOVHR5SxMinw_2BvhjlvtYMg_3D_3D

Andrew Eisenberg, Program Head, Music; Associate Professor of Music, NYUAD; Global Network Associate Professor of Music, Faculty of Arts and Science, NYU

30/09/2026

Associate Professor and Program Head of Music Andrew Eisenberg will give a public talk on his book on Oct 7, hosted by the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

23/09/2026

https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/news/latest-news/arts-and-culture/2026/july/gazelien-records--amplifying-music-technology-talent.html

Gazelien Records is helping establish NYU Abu Dhabi as a regional hub for music technology, audio innovation, and creative entrepreneurship.

31/07/2026

21/05/2026

Faculty Spotlight: Warren Churchill

Rewriting the Score Professor Warren Churchill draws on his life as a hard-of-hearing musician to rethink music, disability, and who belongs in the classroom NYU Abu Dhabi Staff Writer May 19, 2026 Warren Churchill remembers the moment vividly. As a first grader in upstate New York, he sat transfixe...

23/02/2026

Last week the NYU Abu Dhabi Music Program hosted a Composers Masterclass with the Katarina String Quartet at the Arts Center 🎻✨

During the session, the quartet workshopped and performed original compositions by student composers Kate Ezubova and Daniel Lai, offering feedback and insight into the collaborative process between composer and performer. It was a unique opportunity to hear new music brought from score to live performance and to experience how a piece evolves through rehearsal and interpretation.

We extend our sincere thanks to the Katarina String Quartet for sharing their artistry and expertise, and to our composers and community members who joined us for this special evening. We also gratefully acknowledge Jennifer Laursen and the American University of Sharjah for collaborating with us to make this event possible! 🎶💜

06/02/2026

✨ This week at the NYUAD Music Program we got to dive into “Curating the World?” with Rolf Killius 🎶

He challenged traditional museum practices by centering intangible cultural heritage and the voices of source communities, weaving storytelling, musical traditions, decolonial approaches, and audiovisual media from projects across South Asia, East Africa, the Gulf, Europe, and the US 🌍. A powerful reminder that museums (and music!) are alive through people and relationships, not just objects.

Thank you, Rolf Killius, for sharing your insights and inspiring this meaningful conversation in our campus💜🎵

10/01/2026

In this episode of Culture Bites, Enas Refaei is joined by UAE-based musician Ghazi Al Mulaifi to talk about the traditions of Kuwaiti pearl-diving music that inspired his band, Boom.Diwan. Ghazi tells Enas about his own family history of pearl diving and the intrigue it sparked in him. The rich cul...

08/01/2026

Institute talk on Monday by Pianist, Mathematician and Researcher Laura Farré Rozada

Simplifying Complexity: Proposing a New Method for Enhancing Musical Memory

Some piano music resists memory, even for accomplished performers. For more than a century, post-tonal works have challenged musicians without offering clear strategies for learning and recall. This lecture-recital introduces Conceptual Simplification, a new approach developed through recent doctoral research that rethinks how complex music can be understood and memorised. Drawing on ideas from mathematics and computer science, the method offers fresh perspectives on musical structure and memory. Live piano performances accompany the talk, bringing these ideas vividly to life.

Speaker

Laura Farré Rozada, Pianist, Mathematician and Researcher. Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia Visiting Professor at the Catalonia College of Music

Simplifying Complexity: Proposing a New Method for Enhancing Musical Memory  Talk when January 12, 2026 6‐7:30pm where NYUAD Institute Building, Lecture Hall who NYU Abu Dhabi Institute Open to the Public

06/01/2026

Start off the new semester with a panel on traditional war dances, moderated by our Program Head Andrew Eisenberg

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/performance-in-dialogue-harbiyya-and-haka-etihad-museum-tickets-1977385768062?aff=speaker