Laura Kennedy

Laura Kennedy

Charles Ezra Daniel Associate Professor of Music

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Laura Kennedy is the Charles Ezra Daniel Associate Professor of Music at Furman University, where she teaches courses in music and dance history and coordinates the music history curriculum. In addition to the rhythms of the music history sequence, she has contributed to a number of curricular initiatives at Furman and enjoys teaching seminars in musicology, mentoring undergraduate research, and co-leading study away programs in the performing arts. Dr. Kennedy’s research examines the music of Dmitri Shostakovich. Her publications have appeared in Notes, Fontes artis musicae, the Journal of Music History Pedagogy, and Opera musicologica; and her work has been supported by numerous awards, including a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant to Russia for her research on Shostakovich’s ballets. Dr. Kennedy received the Ph.D. in historical musicology from the University of Michigan and the B.M. (piano performance) from Wheaton College Conservatory of Music.

Honors

  • Charles Ezra Daniel Professorship (appointed 2020)
  • J. William Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Russia (2019-20)
  • Research & Professional Growth Awards, Furman University (2015, 2016, 2018)
  • Francis Bonner “American Scholar” Lecture, Furman University (2015)
  • Orpheus Award for outstanding teaching, Furman University (2013)
  • Rackham Humanities Research Dissertation Fellowship (2008)
  • J. William Fulbright Fellowship to Russia (2006-7)
  • Summer FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) Fellowship (Russian) (2005)
  • Glenn McGeoch Memorial Scholarship for outstanding teaching (2005)
  • Center for Russian & East European Studies Research, Internship and Fellowship (CRIF) award (2004)
  • Regents Fellowship (2002)
  • Presser Scholar (2001)

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Michigan
  • B.M., Wheaton College (summa cum laude)

Training Under:

  • Louis Nagel, University of Michigan
  • Daniel Paul Horn, Wheaton College
  • Neil Immelman, Royal College of Music, London

Philosophy

The study of music history cultivates artistic sensitivity and scholarly rigor. In my classes, students examine repertoire and the history of its ideas in an effort to develop knowledge, critical thinking, research skills, and the ability to communicate compellingly about music and dance. These experiences foster aesthetic and intellectual encounters that encourage students to aim for insight. As musical scholars and scholarly musicians, my students engage the subject matter of music and dance history and at the same time begin to interact with it through their own original ideas.

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