The H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music

04/21/2026

Join us this Friday, April 24th at 3pm in the Graduate Center’s Elebash Recital Hall for the GC Music Department’s Distinguished Alumna Colloquium, featuring Dr. Carol Oja (Harvard University)!

04/01/2026

Wednesday, April 15, 6:30 p.m.
Deep Dive: Listening to D’Angelo
Elebash Recital Hall

Free, reserve now at:
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/events/deep-dive-listening-dangelo

The next event in the series Deep Dive, which invites audiences to listen — really listen — to artists who have shaped our musical imagination, focuses on D’Angelo, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who died in 2025 at the age of 51. Known for synthesizing a wide variety of Black American musical styles, including R&B, soul, gospel, funk, jazz, and hip-hop, D’Angelo released three albums that altered the musical landscape and remain widely influential: Brown Sugar (1995), Voodoo (2000), and Black Messiah (2014). To help understand his contributions, we welcome scholar Daphne A. Brooks and musician Keyon Harrold to guide the audience through selected tracks, taking a deep dive into the artist’s sound, style, and significance. Brooks is a professor of Black studies, American studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality Studies, and music at Yale University; she is the author of, most recently, Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound. Harrold is a Grammy-nominated trumpeter, vocalist, and composer whose genre-defying sound fuses jazz, hip-hop, soul, and cinematic storytelling. With wide-ranging credits including D’Angelo, Jay-Z, Nas, YEBBA, and Robert Glasper, his work spans stage, studio, and screen.

Presented with H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music. Made possible with support from the Elebash Global Voices Fund.

01/06/2026

We are thrilled to announce the launch of American Music Review Issue LIV of the annual publication by the Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music (HISAM).

Edited by Agustina Checa, Kelsey Milian, and Maurice Restrepo, this year’s issue marks an exciting milestone: we are publishing on CUNY's own Manifold, an intuitive, collaborative, open-source platform for digital publishing. Manifold will allow us to share the exciting scholarship we produce freely and expansively while inviting readers into active engagement through social annotation and providing more accesibility features. Serving the entire CUNY community and beyond, AMR on Manifold will be a productive space to create and share open-access journals, OERs, classroom texts, and more. We could not have done this switch without the patience and guidance of Robin Miller at the CUNY Graduate Center.

About the Issue

The writings that make up this year’s American Music Review are as insightful as they are timely. Each article is an expanded version of a paper delivered at our Resonant Ecologies: Music, Nature, and Community Activism symposium. Spanning distinct geopolitical and historical subregions of the Americas, this robust issue explores the dynamic intersections of music, sound, nature, sustainability, and grassroots activism, examining how sonic practices can open new pathways for environmental awareness, care, and mobilization.

Check out the issue and read more news about HISAM through the link below or on our bio: https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/projects/american-music-review-no-liv

11/19/2025

Deep Dive: Listening to Bad Bunny: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo and Miguel Zenón in Conversation
Wednesday, December 10, 6:30 p.m.
The Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave.
Elebash Recital Hall

Join us for our first event in the new series Deep Dive, which invites audiences to listen — really listen — to artists who have shaped our musical imagination, focuses on Bad Bunny. The Puerto Rican reguetonero, in his latest album (DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS), encapsulates powerful messages of cultural resistance, joy, and resilience. To better understand the historical and political resonances in Bad Bunny’s music, we welcome scholar Jorell Meléndez-Badillo and musician Miguel Zenón, who will guide the audience through selected tracks, offering a deep dive into the artist’s sound, style, and significance. Meléndez-Badillo, who collaborated with Bad Bunny on his recent album and tour, is associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of the award-winning book, Puerto Rico: A National History. Zenón, a masterful saxophonist and composer, and a former MacArthur Fellow, has released 17 albums, including the Grammy-winning El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 2.

Presented with H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music. Made possible with support from the Elebash Global Voices Fund.

Our events are livestreamed on Zoom and available for viewing afterward on The CUNY Graduate Center's YouTube channel. Zoom link availible in bio!

Free; individual reservations required at: https://www.gc.cuny.edu/public-programs or email
[email protected]

11/17/2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us for an inspiring online symposium exploring how music can bear witness to environmental change, empower community resilience, and fuel movements for environmental justice, while thinking critically on the relationships we have to sounds, noise, silence, and resistance.🌱🎶

Yesterday’s event brought together scholars, artists, and activists who shared powerful insights into how sound shapes our ecological and social worlds.

A special thank-you to our keynote speaker Tyler Yamin (Bucknell University), whose talk on sonic NIMBYism revealed how ideas of “noise” are often used to reinforce racial, social, and ecological hierarchies. Their work reminds us that listening is political and transformative.

🎼 Program Highlights
3:00 – Agustina Checa (Opening Remarks)
3:05 – Carlos Cuestas
3:35 – Mercedes Payán
4:05 – Rubens De La Corte
4:50 – Elizabeth Frickey
5:20 – Charles Colwell
5:50 – Keynote: Tyler Yamin

Thank you to all presenters, collaborators, and supporters who made this gathering possible. Your work continues to expand how we understand American music, environmental justice, and community storytelling. Stay tuned for our American Music Review publication where you can read the articles of these brillant scholars !

11/13/2025

Resonant Ecologies: Music, Nature & Community Activism
🎧 Join us Friday, November 14 from 3:00 – 6:30 PM EST for a transformative online experience.

This symposium, brought to you by the Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music (HISAM), brings together artists, scholars, and activists exploring how sound, music, and community can respond to ecological crisis and foster environmental justice.

We’ll discuss how music amplifies voices, engages with climate change, and builds resilience through creative practice. Expect keynote presentations, interdisciplinary dialogue, and inspired listening.

🔗 Tap the link in our bio (or scan the QR code) to register & reserve your spot!

10/29/2025

Resonant Ecologies: Music, Nature & Community Activism
🎧 Join us Friday, November 14 from 3:00 – 6:30 PM EST for a transformative online experience.

This symposium, brought to you by the Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music (HISAM), brings together artists, scholars, and activists exploring how sound, music, and community can respond to ecological crisis and foster environmental justice.

We’ll discuss how music amplifies voices, engages with climate change, and builds resilience through creative practice. Expect keynote presentations, interdisciplinary dialogue, and inspired listening.

🔗 Tap the link in our bio (or scan the QR code) to register & reserve your spot!

04/30/2024

A page out of the 21st chapter of Judith Tick's biography of Ella Fitzgerald titled "It's Quite a Problem Trying to Please Everyone." Who here has heard of ***Barbara Gardner***? Come to the Grad Center this Thursday to ask Prof. Tick all your burning questions about feminist archival research in jazz. All are invited. Registration link in the comments.

04/29/2024

We all know Jim Crow but have you heard of Jane Crow? Come to The Graduate Center Music Program, CUNY this Thursday to hear Judith Tick on her biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Registration link is below.

A celebration of the publication of "Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song" with author Judith Tick.

04/26/2024

Join us as we celebrate the publication of Judith Tick’s “Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Singer Who Transformed American Song.” A listening party with playlist curated by Tick will be followed by a presentation and Q&A with the author.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/becoming-ella-fitzgerald-listening-party-conversation-with-judith-tick-tickets-883446832257