Through multiple modes of inquiry and experience, the department advances new ways of understanding music as both creative expression and cultural practice throughout the world. The department promotes musical education, research, and engagement at the highest standards of excellence on an open and inclusive basis.
Department of Music
Department of Music
The Department of Music is a community of scholars, creators, and performers dedicated to exploring music’s past, present, and future.
Department of Music
The Department of Music is a community of scholars, creators, and performers dedicated to exploring music’s past, present, and future.
Spring 2025 Ensembles and 1-on-1 Lessons
Information about this semesters groups and Applied Music Program. Students who are required to audition should follow instructions to make audition appointments where prompted. In the case of Applied Music Program lessons, the Department of Music will assist with registration. Click through to learn more.
Academics
Undergraduate
Our diverse curriculum combines creative courses in composition, technology, and performance with speculative studies in history, theory, ethnomusicology, philosophy, and musical aesthetics.
Graduate
At Brown, your degree is what you make it: the more adventurous you are, the more exciting your program is likely to be.
Music Making
The Department of Music at Brown offers a huge array of performing opportunities, all available for academic credit.
Students seeking to improve their playing or singing ability have the option of taking individual private lessons with about thirty professional musicians from the greater Boston-Providence area.
Recent News
News from the Department of Music
Kamari Carter's Solo Installation, Vexillary, Featured at Microscope Gallery
In this new body of work, Carter continues his investigation of systems of power in the US by utilizing the flag — across several mediums — as a conceptual lever to spur reflections on how the history and promise contained within its imagery corresponds to the realities of American culture and society.
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Fromm Music Foundation
Inga Chinilina Awarded 2024 Fromm Music Foundation Commission
Composer and Brown University Music & Multimedia Composition PhD candidate Inga Chinilina was awarded a 2024 Fromm Music Foundation Commission.
The Fromm Music Foundation was created by the late Paul Fromm in 1952. Since 1972, it has been located at Harvard University, where it has operated in partnership with the Harvard University Music Department. Over the course of its existence, the Fromm Foundation has commissioned over 400 new compositions and their performances. Congratulations, Inga!
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The Fromm Music Foundation was created by the late Paul Fromm in 1952. Since 1972, it has been located at Harvard University, where it has operated in partnership with the Harvard University Music Department. Over the course of its existence, the Fromm Foundation has commissioned over 400 new compositions and their performances. Congratulations, Inga!
Brown Daily Herald
A years-long restoration for Brown’s century-old organ is almost complete
Over the past three years, Brown’s Sayles Organ has undergone major restoration in an effort to maintain the musicality and integrity of the century-old instrument. The 1903 Hutchings-Votey pipe organ was gifted to Brown University by Lucian Sharpe, a member of the Class of 1893. Today, the 121-year-old instrument stars in 10 annual concert series, including the Halloween recital, Reunion Weekend and the E.J. Lownes Memorial Recital, according to Mark Steinbach, a distinguished senior lecturer in music and the University’s organist.
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