Ethnomusicologist to Speak at University of Richmond

January 21, 2005

Harvard music professor Kay Kaufman Shelemay will deliver the annual Neumann Lectures on Music at the University of Richmond Jan. 25-26.

Shelemay is G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music at Harvard, where she also is professor of African and African-American studies and graduate advisor in ethnomusicology (the comparative study of the musics of the world as an aspect of culture and society).

Shelemay will speak on “Ethno’s Top Hits” at 4 p.m., Jan. 25, in the “Modlin Center for the Arts.” On the same day, she will speak on “Music and Memory in the Syrian Jewish Tradition” at 7 p.m. at the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Jewish Community Center.

On Jan. 26, she will lecture on “Boundary Crossings in Ethnomusicology” at 12:30 p.m. in the Heilman Dining Center. All lectures are free and open to the public.

Shelemay’s primary research areas include Ethiopian music and musical diversity in North America.

The Neumann Lectures are named in honor of longtime faculty member Frederick “Fritz” Neumann. Each year an internationally-recognized music scholar addresses the university and the Greater Richmond community and visits with students.

For information, call (804) 289-8279.