Latest News
View all News & Updates
2025 Class Day remarks by key note speaker, Nick DiBerardino ’11
Jun 4, 2025
By: Nick DiBerardino ’11, Provost and Dean of Curtis Institute of Music; Chair of Composition Studies; Director of Curtis New Music Ensemble Hello class of 2025! I’m Nick DiBerardino, class …
Resonant Revival: How a Norwegian Folk Fiddle Found a New Voice at Princeton
May 19, 2025
Dan Trueman, Chair of the Music Department, introduces Norwegian folk instruments to a new generation of composers and performers.
Elizabeth Margulis on the Frontiers of Music Cognition
Jan 22, 2025
The Department of Music is thrilled to congratulate musicology professor and Director of Graduate Studies Elizabeth Margulis, who has received the Ruth A. Solie Award for her editorial contributions to The Science-Music Borderlands: Reckoning with the Past and Imagining the Future.
Upcoming Events
View All Events
Music opportunities abound.
The Music Department provides all Princeton University students—whether they major or gain a certificate in music—with the opportunity to learn from a world-renowned faculty of composers, historians and theorists; and take instrumental or voice lessons in the private studios of eminent professional performers and performance courses in chamber music, opera, vocal ensembles.
Steeped in tradition and charting new pathways.
The graduate program invites students to earn a Ph.D. in composition or musicology, advancing their craft and research within the inspiring interdisciplinary, immersive spirit of the Princeton University campus. With an average of 24 students in each area of study at a time, the Music Department’s graduate program allows for fully funded, focused study with a stellar faculty, and within an intimate community that celebrates the intersection between the creation, study, and performance of music.
Experience community through a campus full of music. Princeton is steeped in performance opportunities from dozens of ensembles — both departmental and student-led — including Symphony orchestras, multi-genre choruses, jazz, contemporary music, African music, steel band, laptop orchestra, and many more! In addition to student performances, world-renowned artists appear on the Princeton University Concerts series; leading performers of contemporary music showcase compositions by faculty and graduate composers through the Princeton Sound Kitchen; Sō Percussion, the Edward T. Cone Artists-in-Residence, perform and engage with the community.
Meet our Faculty
The world-renowned faculty of Princeton’s Department of Music are leaders in composition, musicology, and performance.
Learn More About Our Faculty
“I switched to being a Music Major at the beginning of junior year because I was really excited to write a musical as my independent work and knew that the Major would allow me a lot of flexibility to bring this project to life.”