Ross Duffin, the Fynette H. Kulas Professor of Music at Case Western Reserve University, presented “Music and the Stage in the Time of Shakespeare” Feb. 12 at Syracuse University, where he was serving as a visiting professor.
Duffin’s seminar was part of a yearlong celebration at Syracuse, through the university’s Department of Art & Music Histories (AMH) in its College of Arts and Sciences, of William Shakespeare’s legacy, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the bard’s death.
Duffin also presented the AMH’s Doris Lecture—“Reconstructing Shakespeare’s Songbook”—at Syracuse Feb. 4.
A scholar of 13th- to 18th-century music, Duffin has published numerous works, including Shakespeare’s Songbook—a study of the vocal music in Shakespeare’s plays—in 2004.
Duffin, who was also the host and producer of the public radio program “Micrologus: Exploring the World of Early Music” from 1981 to 1998, is the head of Historical Performance Practice program at Case Western Reserve.
At Syracuse, Duffin served as the William Fleming Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities.
On Feb. 2, he read a paper titled “Shakespeare’s World in Six Songs,” drawing parallels between his work and the bestselling book, The World in Six Songs by neuroscientist Daniel Levitin.
On April 23 at 3 p.m., Duffin will deliver his “Reconstructing Shakespeare’s Songbook” lecture at the Cleveland Public Library’s downtown location, coinciding with the arrival of a touring copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio, provided by the Folger Shakespeare Library’s celebration of this 400th anniversary year.