Music Faculty

Joseph Alpar's research focuses on the anthropology of music in Turkey and the Middle East, and the relationships between music, spirituality, modernity, marginalization, social expression, and identity.

Nicholas Brooke creates music across disciplines, from collages of recordings with live theater, to home-built instrumentariums inspired by gamelan. He has received Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and New Music USA fellowships and premieres at the Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto, and MASS MOCA.

Virginia Warnken Kelsey, mezzo-soprano, is internationally celebrated for her heartfelt and dynamic interpretations of Baroque opera, oratorio, and contemporary chamber music. She maintains an active career in an adventurous assortment of musical and artistic settings.

John Kirk teaches classes in the history of American and Celtic traditional music in addition to mandolin, fiddle, banjo, ukulele, mountain and hammered dulcimers, and traditional music ensemble.

Kerry Ryer-Parke '90 performs in a range of musical styles, from oratorio, opera, and early music to folk, jazz, and rock, in addition to directing the Bennington Children’s Chorus and Bennington Voice Workshop.

Allen Shawn’s work as a composer and pianist comprises a large catalogue of orchestral and chamber music, chamber operas, songs, piano music, and music for ballet, theatre, and film; he is also celebrated for his writings on Arnold Schoenberg and Leonard Bernstein, as well as his compelling memoirs.

A drummer and percussionist, Michael Wimberly is also a composer of note and has written for prestigious New York dance companies. 

Jen Allen is a pianist, composer and author. She frequently performs in New York, the Northeast US and in venues throughout the world, as the leader of her own groups or as a member of other creative music ensembles.

Kevin Barnes (they/them) is a songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and performer. They have written and produced over twenty albums and have toured the world extensively with their band "of Montreal."

Kyoko Kitamura uses her unique career trajectory – musician, former journalist, former executive director of an arts organization – to study musical creativity and how it connects to the world at large.

The work of Zeena Parkins is driven by a spirit of immaculate rigor and boundless creativity, making her one of the most sought-after artists in a stunning variety of disciplines: artistic and academic alike. 

Benjamin April is an accompanist, choir director, composer, and music educator.

Michael Bisio returned to New York in 2006 after spending 30 years on the West Coast and quickly became an integral part of the New York City creative music community. Since 2009, he has been bass instructor at Bennington College and a member of the Matthew Shipp Trio.

7-string guitar player, NEA grant recipient and Grammy-nominated producer who has produced and performed with some of the biggest acts in the business.

Violinist Joana Genova is active as a chamber musician, teacher, orchestral player and a soloist. She is Co-Artistic Director of Taconic Music in Manchester, VT and the second violinist of The Indianapolis Quartet. 

Christopher Lewis is a pianist who has taught and performed through the United States and Italy, and prizewinner of the American National Chopin Competition and the New York Leschetizky Society.

Nathaniel Parke is a regional freelance cellist and is also on the faculty of Williams College.

Chris Rose is a teaching artist exploring embodiment in music education. A passionate improviser, Rose plays trumpet, piano, and organ, bending and blending genres whenever possible.

Ariel Rudiakov, violist and conductor, is co-founder and Artistic Director of Taconic Music in Manchester (VT) and Music Director and conductor of Danbury Symphony Orchestra (CT) and Yonkers Philharmonic.

Omeed Goodarzi '14 is a musician and composer whose practice spans the realms of philosophy, improvisation, home recording, songwriting, microtonality, and instrument building. His work focuses on microtonal music practices from the ancient world to the 20th century, acoustic ecology, and the philosophy of musical tuning. 

Curtis Wells turned a degree in engineering into an expertise for fixing electronics and optimizing audio gear—skills he puts to good use in his support of faculty and student work in music.

Thomas Bogdan’s vocal performance, in genres ranging from old music to new, avant-garde multimedia performance and cabaret, has received wonderful reviews from critics around the world.

Digital-chamber-punk bands, nine-piece rockestras, 21st century medieval quartets: Kitty Brazelton’s ability to create new genres as a composer, performer, singer, and instrumentalist is rooted in a study of even the most traditional forms of music.

Bruce Williamson is a jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist/recording artist who has collaborated and performed with such luminaries as Bobby McFerron, Fred Hersch, Julie Taymor, and Mark Rylance in a variety of genres, and whose work has been featured in Academy Award-winning film scores.