Faculty
John K. Cox
Director of Performance and Lecturer in Choral and Orchestral Music
Conductor, musicologist, and tenor John K. Cox left his home state of Kentucky during high school to attend Interlochen Arts Academy. At the age of eighteen, he had the opportunity to sing both Mahler's Symphony no. 8 under Robert Shaw and the Monteverdi Vespers, a musical annus mirabilis that inspired him to pursue choral music. He holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and masters' degrees in choral conducting and music history from the University of Oregon. While in Oregon, John held the conducting posts of Apprentice Conductor for both the Eugene Symphony and Opera, Assistant conductor for the Eugene Symphony Chorus, and Music Director of the Eugene Chamber Singers. He has participated in conducting workshops in Italy, Romania, France, Czech Republic, and the U.S., where he participated in the Oregon Bach Festival’s conducting master-class with Helmut Rilling. He is currently completing a D.M.A. in Conducting and Literature from the University of Illinois.
Phone: (518)388-8326
E-Mail:
coxj@union.edu
Jennifer Milioto Matsue
Associate Professor of Music
Phone: (518)388-8075
E-Mail: matsuej@union.edu
Website: idol.union.edu/~matsuej
Prof. Matsue recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in ethnomusicology with the dissertation titled "Performing Underground Sounds: An Ethnography of Music-Making in Tokyo's Hardcore Clubs." She is researching women in traditional Japanese performing arts as well as further aspects of Japanese popular music. Before coming to Union, she taught at Dartmouth College, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Chicago, and Sophia University in Japan. At Union, she teaches courses in Japanese and East Asian music and culture, ethnomusicology, music theory, and anthropology.
Dianne M. McMullen
Professor of Music, Department Chair, College Organist
Phone: (518)388-6202
E-Mail: mcmulled@union.edu
Prof. McMullen is a musicologist and concert organist. After receiving an A.B. in music from Smith College, she attended the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, where she earned two master of music degrees (musicology and organ performance) and a Ph.D. in musicology. As a Fulbright Scholar and the recipient of two D.A.A.D. grants, a Max Planck grant, and several other grants, she has conducted research on the German Lutheran chorale at the time of Johann Sebastian Bach and Renaissance dance music, working in archives throughout Germany. As a concert organist, she has performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe. As director of the Union College Chamber Singers, she toured England with the ensemble, appearing at several prestigious cathedrals. Before joining the Union faculty, she taught at the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses of the University of Michigan, UCLA, and Adelphi University, where she also served as chair of the department and director of the concert series.
Timothy Olsen
Associate Professor of Music
Phone: (518)388-6563
E-Mail: olsent@union.edu
Website: vfmusic.bizland.com
Prof. Olsen holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Minnesota, and Yale University (D.M.A., 1995). His compositions have been performed throughout North America and Europe. A 1990 Fulbright grant enabled him to study at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Olsen has also received awards from ASCAP, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, Connecticut, and the Latin American Music Center at Indiana University. Active as a conductor, trumpet-player and keyboardist, Olsen frequently performs in the Capital District and is director of music at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Schenectady. His choral music is published by Lawson-Gould Music Publishers, Inc., New York. He directs the Jazz Ensemble and teaches courses in theory with a specialization in American and Latin American music history and practice.
Hilary Tann
John Howard Payne Professor of Music
Phone: (518)388-6566
E-Mail: tannh@union.edu
Website: www.hilarytann.com
Prof. Tann holds degrees in composition from the University of Wales at Cardiff and Princeton University (Ph.D., 1981). She has been a member of the faculty at Union since 1980, serving as Chair of the Performing Arts Department for 11 years. Her compositions are widely performed and broadcast. Since 1989, she has been exclusively published by Oxford University Press. A member of ASCAP, she has received support from numerous organizations, including Meet the Composer, the Ford Foundation, the Pew Memorial Trust, the Welsh Arts Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Reader's Digest/Meet the Composer Consortium Commissioning Program, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She teaches courses in music theory and composition and founded the Union College Orchestra.