Mission Statement

We in the Department of Music at Hunter College are committed to providing the highest quality musical instruction to our students in the areas of performance, composition, education, musicology, ethnomusicology, and theory. Through our varied courses and numerous performances, the department seeks to enrich the musical lives of not only Hunter students, but all members of the Hunter community. Through our world-class faculty—who teach in one-on-one or small-class settings and who often bring in distinguished artists to Hunter to teach, lecture, or perform—we offer an outstanding musical education at a reasonable price. By drawing on our central in location in Manhattan, we strive to engage students in the musical vibrancy of our great city. In our performance ensembles and classes we teach students listening and analytical skills, historical context, performance practice and technique, and critical thinking. We also provide vital services to Hunter College via our many introductory music courses and our large performing ensembles.

Welcome

Suzanne Farrin

Welcome to the Music Department at Hunter College! It is my pleasure to invite you to explore our outstanding faculty and program offerings. We have something for all Hunter students, from the music-loving aficionado to those who want to pursue music professionally. With our historically strong academic areas in music theory and history, ethnomusicology, and composition, our topnotch graduate program in music education, as well as our newly invigorated programs in classical or jazz performance, you will find endless opportunities in our department.

Hunter was founded as a women’s college in the nineteenth century and I feel this history in our halls. As I get on the crowded elevators on my way to the music department, I am reminded of our past. We are the only college in the country with two female Nobel laureates in medicine, we have attracted revolutionary thinkers such as Audre Lourde, who studied at Hunter in the 1950s, and Hunter was one of the first colleges to establish a center for Puerto Rican Studies, all of which attest to Hunter’s commitment to progressive thought. Becoming a music major at Hunter means serious music study in one of the great musical centers of the world within an intellectual center that is both open and rigorous. This special combination is why I love teaching here—I invite you to join us!

— Dr. Suzanne Farrin, The Frayda B. Lindemann Professor of Music