Research Interests

I am currently pursuing doctoral studies in ethnomusicology. From 2016-2018, I studied at Stanford University, and in the fall of 2018 moved with my advisor to University of Chicago. My current research focuses on the ways in which the music of Cultural Revolution-era China interacted with political ideologies, discursive practices, and the construction of contemporary notions of gender. Other research interests include the ways in which political structures of totalitarian regimes shape creative practices, as well as issues of vocality and vocalism in song and concert repertories of 19th-century Europe. 

Prior to leaving Stanford University, I was named a recipient of the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, a multi-year fellowship awarded "to outstanding doctoral students engaged in interdisciplinary research," and described as "one of the greatest honors Stanford gives to a doctoral student pursuing interdisciplinary research." My research has also been supported by the Federal Language and Area Studies (FLAS) program.

Previous work includes my Master's thesis, in which I investigated how the bureaucratic structure of Germany's National Socialist regime influenced Nazi construction of an aesthetic and artistic program. Other recent work includes topics such as:

• nationalist appropriations of Chinese folk music traditions in model works and film;
• musical appropriations by the Nazi regime during Germany's Third Reich; 
• an examination of Verdi's Aida in its context as a commission by Egyptian ruler Khedive Ismail, and what the Egyptian aristocracy stood to gain through Verdi's overtly orientalist, and extravagantly expensive production;
• and work on the role of music in contemporary American political campaigns.

Recent scholarly activities include:

• Chapter: "'Pub Fight' Politics: Of Trump, Music, and Anger Management," in You Shook Me All Campaign Long (Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, forthcoming 2018). (Peer Reviewed)
• Paper presentation at Northern California Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology (upcoming, February 2018)
• Performer and panelist for round table discussion: Music and Nationalism: Engaging with Orff's Carmina Burana (Stanford University, 2016)
• Program notes for New Camerata Opera's The Count of Luxembourg and Other Tales: A Viennese Pastiche