The H. Wiley Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music (HISAM) supports American music scholarship, pedagogy, and performances. We recognize and seek to connect diverse local, national, and global musical practices across a broad spectrum of oral, popular, and art music traditions. We represent scholars, performers, and creators that reflect the racial, economic, and gender diversity of our students, faculty, community, and the world.
Through our biannual publication, American Music Review, the Polycultural America Speaker Series, monographs, collection of oral histories, and forums for public musicology, the faculty and staff of HISAM seek to resist systems of oppression, acknowledge the privileges of whiteness, strive for social justice, and publicly promote antiracism.
H. Wiley Hitchcock Centennial Birthday Party and Concert benefitting the H. Wiley Hitchcock Fund for Studies in American Music
Come to a birthday concert honoring H. Wiley Hitchcock’s 100th! This centennial concert, thrown by Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music, est. 1971, highlights and benefits collaborations between students, faculty, and the New York City arts community through Hitchcock’s rich scholarly legacy in American music scholarship and praxis.
After brief opening remarks by former HISAM directors Carol J. Oja and Allan Lott, the first half of the program will feature a program of American choral works historical and modern curated by Malcolm J. Merriweather to align with Hitchcock’s personal interests, acquaintances, and scholarly affinities. Works will include compositions and arrangements by William Billings, Charles Ives, Margaret Bonds, Valerie Capers, Leonard Bernstein, and Gregg Smith.
A brief intermission will include a silent auction of HISAM publications and swag including a robust offering of prints from both the monograph series and back issues of the ISAM Newsletter and American Music Review.
The concert’s second half will transport the audience into the world of avant-garde jazz and experimental theater, featuring selections from Cecil Taylor’s musical adaptation of Adrienne Kennedy’s play A Rat’s Mass in 1976. A project conceived and facilitated by Michelle Yom, this segment highlights the bold artistic endeavors that emerged at the intersection of music, drama, and social commentary during a time of creative upheaval. Just as H. Wiley Hitchcock championed the amalgamation of disciplines, this performance resonates with his enduring legacy, inviting attendees to engage with the fusion of art forms and delve into the complexity of American music and culture.
Reserve your spot here!
