Stetson University celebrated an extraordinary showing at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society (AMS) and the Society for Music Theory (SMT) in Minneapolis. With five current and former students and five faculty members in attendance, Stetson proudly stood out as the most represented undergraduate-only music program in the nation at this prestigious academic gathering. Stetson attendees included:

Stetson students: Victoria Camposano Reyes, Katarina Nieminen, Rayah Yehnert (all class of ’26)
Stetson graduates: Andrew Moenning ’13 (Duke musicology PhD), Brittney Pflanz ’23 (FSU theory PhD)
Stetson faculty:  Shannon Groskreutz, Alexander Martin, Noel Painter, Peter Smucker, Daniil Zavlunov

Stetson’s faculty and alumni contributed significantly through paper presentations and chair duties:

Brittney Pflanz (’23) gave a paper on topical cues in social media, particularly TikTok, titled “Social Media’s Role in the Emergence of Musical Topics”.

Andrew Moenning (’13) gave a paper that examined segregation, Protestant religion, and composer Ulysses Kay titled “‘Together We Sing’: Ulysses Kay’s Cantatas and the Interracial Music Council”.

Daniil Zavlunov (Associate Professor of Music) spoke twice, first in the Russian and Soviet Music Interest Group session, and later looking into cultural politics surrounding Russian, Italian, and German opera performances in his paper “Opera Audiences in St. Petersburg, Russia (1825-1840)”.

Alexander Martin (Associate Professor of Music) chaired the SMT session “Analysis of Vocal Music,” which included talks on Boulanger, French Art Song, and Machaut.

Peter Smucker (Associate Professor of Music) chaired the SMT session “Music and Games” that highlighted various aspects of meaning and orchestration through Ludomusicological study.

Students saw advanced research on their individual areas of interest, enhanced their ability to tutor music students with disabilities, participated in academic buddy programs, were part of special sessions geared toward grad students, and witnessed a professional academic music conference for the first time. The Stetson School of Music has long enjoyed a firm commitment to academic music education, built on the expert teaching of academics like Paul Langston, Bob Fort and Jan Kindred.  Our commitment continues with our current faculty, creative in the classroom and passionate about the success of every student that they teach.

Congratulations to the university for its long history of academic excellence in the School of Music and its continued commitment to advancing the understanding of music.