Music

Inspired by her years of ballet training, Whitney Laemmli, Member (2021–22) in the School of Historical Studies, spent her time at IAS investigating the strange legacy of transcribing human motion. The resulting book, Making Movement Modern, reveals how a 1920s dance notation system fundamentally reshaped our view of the body from a vessel of expression into a technology to be analyzed, optimized, and controlled.

Anna Stirr, Elizabeth and J. Richardson Dilworth Member in the School of Historical Studies (2024–25), explores the rich world of Nepali musicology. She also reflects on Institute for Advanced Study’s own unique soundscape, from the distinctive birdsong to the lively atmosphere that fosters deep scholarly exchange.

E. Tendayi Achiume, Ashvin B. Chhabra and Daniela Bonafede-Chhabra Member in the School of Social Science (2024–25), describes how cross-disciplinary exchanges at the Institute for Advanced Study, including a flute performance by Shabaka Hutchings, inspired new perspectives on her research.

In a recent book with Princeton University Press titled Broadcasting Fidelity, Myles W. Jackson, Albers-Schönberg Professor in the History of Science in the School of Historical Studies, delves into the origin, invention, and impact of a unique electronic instrument: the trautonium.

Priyamvada Gopal, George F. Kennan Member in the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Historical Studies (2023–24), explores how a talk on Austrian composer Franz Schubert’s relationship to translation and writing inspired her to think about similar themes related to her own research on decolonization. 

Derek Bermel, composer, clarinetist, and IAS Artist-in-Residence (2009–13), chronicles how his conversations with Institute for Advanced Study Faculty member Helmut Hofer, Hermann Weyl Professor in the School of Mathematics, inspired him to write a symphony about symplectic geometry.

Clara Latham, Martin L. and Sarah F. Leibowitz Member and Edward T. Cone Member in Music Studies in the School of Historical Studies, describes the contradictions that inspire her work, which surround the perceptions of musical labor with particular reference to music technology.

On April 25, 2019, architect Frank Gehry and conductor Gustavo Dudamel met at the Institute for Advanced Study to have a public conversation on "the intersection of music, architecture, and design."

My work in the history of science probes the porous boundaries between science and culture over the past two centuries. Much of it gestures toward the role of history in public policy. I am interested in having the historian at the table while a...

In this public lecture, Artist-in-Residence David Lang gives an overview of the concerts he has curated for the 2017–18 Edward T. Cone Concert Series season. Lang continues the programming concept introduced last season, which emphasizes the use of...