Academics

Students can earn 15 hours of UNC graded credit through the following six courses:

MUSC 355H (3 Credit Hours)
The History of Chamber Music from Mozart to Stravinsky

Instructor: Donald L. Oehler

Chamber music from the 18th to 20th centuries (Mozart to Stravinsky), including important composers and genres. We will study the traditional and diverse instrumentation of chamber ensembles, develop insights into compositional strategies, and discuss and illustrate aspects of performance practices. In addition to historically significant works, this course will make every effort to adapt repertoire selection to coincide with public concerts (fee and ticketed) in London and Florence.

HNRS 390.05S (3 Credit Hours)
Musical Theatre in London: Where the Arts Collide

Instructor: Clive Perrott
Approach: Visual and Performing Arts (VP)

We will trace the origins of Musical Theatre looking at the music hall, burlesque and vaudeville and on to the more sophisticated social and political themes and dramatic structure of the mid twentieth century and even further to its dominance of both Broadway and London’s West End… for better or worse. We will look at the trials and tribulations of mounting a West End Musical: the choice of theme, style, the venue, the director, the stage design, lighting, sound, the cast and marketing etc. Let us explore all the choices and decision making that goes into a musical theatre production. We will attend several musical theatre productions and perhaps a backstage tour of a current production.

MUSC 287H (3 Credit Hours)
Gender and Sexuality in Italian Opera

Instructor: Daniela Costa

The course gives a broad overview of Italian Operatic History, and through an interdisciplinary approach, which brings together Opera and Gender Studies, it explores the way in which Italian Opera, voices, and styles have changed over the times. The operas that will be analyzed during the course are between some of the most beautiful examples of birth, development and death of the tradition of Italian Opera. As traditional gender stereotypes across the cultural map are increasingly challenged, the topic also investigates, from the perspective of Gender Studies, the origins and variations of operatic/theatrical cross-dressing through the ages.

MUSC 286H   (3 Credit Hours)
What is a Work of Art? Listening to Music of the Past

Instructor: Donald L. Oehler

This course asks the question of how we deal with works of art of the past as heard (and seen) with 21st-century sensibilities. We will study a representative selection of pieces in the current repertory of the concert hall from the last 250 years of Western classical music. This course will have two guiding principles: the “past” begins yesterday, and the art of listening to music – live or in recorded form – is a skill of active participation in which the listener engages with the artistic process. In addition to historically significant works, this course will make every effort to adapt repertoire selection to coincide with public concerts (fee and ticketed) in London and Florence.

MUSC 214H (1 Credit Hour)
University Chamber Players

Instructor: Donald L. Oehler

University Chamber Players creates the opportunity for students to participate in mixed chamber music. The term concludes with a public performance, and additional performances may be given during our residences in the two cities. The ensembles offer music majors, minors and accomplished non-majors an opportunity to learn and perform standard chamber music repertoire as well as exposure to lesser known works. Each student will receive intensive coaching in appropriate repertoire on a weekly basis. For the purposes of the London/Florence program, guest artists may meet with the ensembles for coaching when available.

MUSC 2XXH (2 Credit Hours)
Individual Instrumental Instruction

(200 – Keyboard; 202 – voice; 203 – strings; 204 – woodwinds; 205 – brass; 206 – percussion)

Instructor: Donald L. Oehler

Private instruction will consist of a minimum of a one-hour meeting per week with a private tutor throughout the semester. Private instruction generally covers the study of instrumental techniques and styles, pedagogical repertoire, and concert repertoire with a predetermined performance goal in mind. For the purposes of the Burch study abroad program, each student will sign up for lessons with an appropriate mentor (arranged prior to traveling) with the assistance of the official course instructor. Additionally, all students taking private lessons will meet one hour each week in a master class setting, either led by the official course instructor or by a guest artist.