📅 Date: Friday, October 9, 2026
🕒 Start Time: 4:00 PM
📍 Location: Harkness Chapel, Classroom
👥 Who: Free | Open to the public
About The Series
Our weekly Friday colloquia showcase current research by distinguished visiting scholars alongside our own faculty and graduate students in musicology, historical performance practice, and music education. A brief reception follows each talk to keep the conversation going. All are welcome!
About The Talk
“The Possibilities of Public Musicology”
Public musicology encompasses activities that connect music scholars with audiences outside the academy: blog posts, liner notes and program notes, opinion pieces, preconcert lectures, and podcasts are just a few possibilities. In this talk I will explore multiple approaches to public musicology by drawing on my work on and in cultural diplomacy, music technology, and prison music. In this exploration of the joys and challenges of public musicology, I offer what are perhaps unconventional perspectives. In particular, I recommend leaning into advocacy and activism rather than shying away from them and I encourage a process in which scholarship emerges out of public-facing work rather than the other way around.
About The Speaker
Mark Katz holds degrees from the College of William and Mary (B.A. in philosophy) and the University of Michigan (M.A., Ph.D. in musicology). Before joining the faculty at UNC, he taught at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University (1999–2006). His scholarship focuses on music and incarceration, music and technology, hip hop, cultural diplomacy, and the violin. He is former editor of Journal of the Society for American Music and served for many years on the National Recording Preservation Board. Katz has served on the Boards of Directors of the American Musicological Society and the Society for American Music. He is a former chair of the Department of Music and former Director of UNC’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities.
Professor Katz teaches courses on music and technology, music and incarceration, popular music, and cultural diplomacy. In 2011 he received an Innovation Grant from UNC’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities to expand the scope and reach of university-level music pedagogy. One result of this grant was the creation of several new courses, including The Art and Culture of the DJ, Beat Making Lab, Rap Lab, and Rock Lab. Aimed at students without formal musical training, these courses introduce students to composition, performance, music history, entrepreneurship, and community engagement. In 2014, Katz created UNC’s Beat Lab, a community space where musicians can use a variety of electronic music tools and digital resources to create and collaborate. In 2019, he launched the Carolina Hip Hop Institute, an intensive summer course.
Professor Katz speaks frequently to academic and non-academic audiences. He has presented his work in more than 25 countries, including invited talks and keynote lectures at the British Library, Cambridge University, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Harvard University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Leiden University, NOVA University Lisbon, Oxford University, Stanford University, University of Jordan, University of Oslo, University of Turku, University of Zagreb, University of Zurich, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of State. He enjoys engaging with general audiences and has spoken at elementary schools, museums, music festivals, public libraries, retirement communities, and on podcasts and radio and television programs.
Venue Information
Harkness Classroom, located inside Harkness Chapel, serves as both a lecture hall for large classes and a backstage area during events. It is also the meeting location for the CWRU Music Colloquium Series.
Health + Safety
The health and well-being of our community is important to us as we gather for campus events. University Health and Counseling Services provides up-to-date guidance and resources to help support a safe campus experience. For life-threatening emergencies, please call CWRU Public Safety immediately at 216.368.3333.