The Florida State University College of Music is excited to welcome nine new faculty members this academic year!
Christiaan Crans, Visiting Associate Professor and Director of Opera, joins us from Colorado State University where he served as Opera Music Director. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music and BYU before earning a doctorate in conducting at Indiana University. For six seasons he served as conductor, coach, and assistant to the General Music Director at the Nationaltheater Mannheim (NTM) in Mannheim, Germany. He has also worked at Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Opera, Sarasota Opera, among many others.
Julianne Grasso joins the FSU College of Music Faculty from the University of Texas at Austin, where she served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Theory. She earned her PhD in Music Theory from the University of Chicago and undergraduate degrees from Princeton in both music and neuroscience. Dr. Grasso’s research interests include critical and analytical methods in music theory, media studies, and cognition, with particular interest in video game music.
Eren Gümrükçüoğlu recently completed his PhD in composition at Duke University in May 2020 and then spent time last year as Lecturer in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has experience in commercial music in both Hollywood and Turkey and toured Europe extensively as a jazz guitarist. His music specializes in the interaction between live performance, electronics, generative systems, Turkish folk music, and jazz improvisation.
Ann Harrington, prior to her appointment at FSU, served as the elementary general music specialist for the University of Southern Mississippi. She has a PhD from the University of Kentucky and previously taught at Ball State University and the University of Louisiana Monroe. Dr. Harrington’s research interests include community music, music perception and cognition, and music-making across the lifespan.
Flor del Cielo Hernandez recently completed her PhD in Music Therapy here at FSU, and we are so excited to have her join the College of Music faculty as we continue to expand our Music Therapy program.
Arianne Johnson Quinn, formerly a “Visiting” faculty member, is now the full time Music Special Collections Librarian and Assistant University Librarian for the Warren D. Allen Music Library. She holds the M.A. and Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Princeton University; M.A. in Music/Women’s and Gender Studies from Brandeis University; B.A. in Music (Honors) from the University of New Mexico, and is completing the M.S. in Information at Florida State University. Her research focuses on the cultural, political, and musical intersections between the American and British musical in London’s West End from 1920-1960, particularly the work of Noël Coward, Kurt Weill, Lerner and Loewe, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. Arianne was recently named the inaugural Noël Coward fellow (2022-2023).
Adrienne Tedjamulia Read is a current Doctoral Student and Teaching assistant with Florida State University. The College of Music is pleased to have Professor Read expand her role with the flute studio.
Natalie Sherer joins us as Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching and Collaborative Artist from University of Michigan, where she recently finished her DMA in Collaborative Piano with Martin Katz. Professor Sherer has also studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and Manhattan School of Music. She recently participated in the NATS Collaborative Pianist Intern Program and was a Vocal Chamber Music Fellow at the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago. She is a champion of under-performed composers in recital music.
Noël Wan joins us from Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music, where she served as Assistant Professor of Harp. She studies at University of Illinois and Yale School of Music. She is an advocate and active promoter of creative new works, and she recently won the 12th annual USA International Harp Competition.
The College of Music would like to extend a warm welcome to all the returning staff and students as we begin the Fall semester. We look forward to an excellent year of learning and music-making!
Written by Tyler Hast
Graphics by Megan Mowery
