Stony Brook University Music Department

Stony Brook University Music Department Music Scholarship and Performance in an Interdisciplinary University Setting

The character of Stony Brook's music department is largely due to the nature of our faculty. Faculty are chosen not only for their stature as performers, scholars, and composers, but also for their rapport with students, their ability to work cooperatively with their colleagues, and their commitment to the values of the department. The rapid growth and success of the Stony Brook music department i

s due to the vision of some of our founding faculty: Billy Jim Layton, our first chairman (now retired) and the late David Lewin, our first director of graduate studies and principal architect of our graduate program. The character and spirit of the faculty owes a great debt to some gifted teachers who are no longer with us, most notably Bülent Arel, who built our first Electronic Music Studio, and Samuel Baron, whose combination of gentleness and musical vision inspired his flute students and his fellow faculty alike.

09/08/2026

Dieter Hennings-Yeomans and Paul Vaillancourt Guitar and Percussion Duo soundchecking for Tonight (9/8) at 7:30PM, Staller Center Recital Hall! Don’t miss an exciting program of fresh, new works by Cherney, Sammoutis, Zohn-Muldoon, and Trigos! Free admission!

Join us TODAY!! For the Hennings/Vaillancourt Guitar and Percussion Duo, performing at 7:30PM Staller Center Recital Hal...
09/08/2026

Join us TODAY!! For the Hennings/Vaillancourt Guitar and Percussion Duo, performing at 7:30PM Staller Center Recital Hall, free admission

Enjoy eclectic program of original works by master contemporary composers, featuring the music of Cherney, Sammoutis, Zohn-Muldoon and Trigos.

What an incredible start to the season! Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne performed a superb Baroque Sundays at Three ki...
09/08/2026

What an incredible start to the season! Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne performed a superb Baroque Sundays at Three kickoff!

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Next concert is tonight (9/8) at 7:30pm featuring Dieter Hennings, SBU’s amazing interim guitar faculty, and special guest alum Paul Vaillancourt as the Hennings/Vaillancourt Guitar and Percussion duo!

Join us TOMORROW 3pm at Recital Hall—intimate duo harpsichord and soprano perform by Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne
09/05/2026

Join us TOMORROW 3pm at Recital Hall—intimate duo harpsichord and soprano perform by Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne

Coming up on Wednesday, September 9 at 4:15pm in the music library seminar room—Critical Music Studies colloquium with b...
09/04/2026

Coming up on Wednesday, September 9 at 4:15pm in the music library seminar room—Critical Music Studies colloquium with be featuring Dr. Ruth Opara, assistant professor of Music at Columbia University.

Next Tuesday, don’t miss the Hennings/Vaillancourt Guitar and Percussion Duo, performing at 7:30PM Staller Center Recita...
09/04/2026

Next Tuesday, don’t miss the Hennings/Vaillancourt Guitar and Percussion Duo, performing at 7:30PM Staller Center Recital Hall, free admission
Enjoy eclectic program of original works by master contemporary composers, featuring the music of Cherney, Sammoutis, Zohn-Muldoon and Trigos.

We are excited to welcome back two awesome alums, Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne, back to campus at our next Baroque ...
09/02/2026

We are excited to welcome back two awesome alums, Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne, back to campus at our next Baroque Sundays at Three on 9/6. This special program titled The Innermost Heart: Songs and Keyboard works of the German Baroque will showcase these two powerhouse performers. Since graduating, these two have both made their own varied careers that have impacted our field. Read a little bit more about what they have been up to.

Bios:
Dylan Sauerwald is a distinctive historical keyboardist and conductor. At the keyboard, he has been praised for his “fleet fingers” and “sophisticated playing,” (Capriccio), and as a conductor, his productions have been called “heart-wrenching and self-reflecting” (OperaWire). Dylan has performed in venues from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to Taipei‘s National Recital Hall, and his playing is featured in the BBC historical drama Poldark.
A champion of early opera, he has led productions of rarely-performed works acclaimed as “refined and flexible,” (Boston Globe) “fearless,” (Voce di Meche) and “a remarkable musical experience” (OperaWire). Dylan also directs Polyphemus, an early music collective, and is Director of Music Ministry at Green’s Farms Church in Westport, CT.

Grammy® nominated soprano Corrine Byrne has made solo appearances with the Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, the American Classical Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players, and the New York Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Byrne sings regularly with Emmanuel Music and Lorelei Ensemble, including on their recently GRAMMY® nominated album: Beaufort Scales (Chris Cerrone).  Byrne has sung extensively with ground-breaking vocal ensemble Cut Circle (runner-up for 2024 Gramophone award), and is the co-founder of both Ensemble Musica Humana and The Byrne:Kozar:Duo, recently featured on NPR, American Public Media‘s Performance Today, and New Yorker Magazine’s 2017 Notable Recordings. She is currently serving as Artistic Director of Midday Melodies: a Dana-Farber Concert Series, and is faculty at Harvard University‘s Holden Voice Program and Longy School of Music at Bard College.

Congratulations to David Acevedo David Acevedo (MA, Composition), a recent alum, who recently has accepted a tenure-trac...
09/01/2026

Congratulations to David Acevedo David Acevedo (MA, Composition), a recent alum, who recently has accepted a tenure-track faculty position at the Horton School of Music and Performing Arts at Charleston Southern University.

He will be teaching theory/aural skills, coordinating the entire musicianship sequence, and helping the university launch a new degree program in music production. Join us to congratulate him on this exciting opportunity and achievement! 👏🏻🎉

We are excited to kick off our Fall season in a little over a week with Baroque Sundays at Three – Awesome AlumsDylan Sa...
08/27/2026

We are excited to kick off our Fall season in a little over a week with Baroque Sundays at Three – Awesome Alums

Dylan Sauerwald and Corinne Byrne, harpsichord and soprano, presenting an intimate duo recital of German baroque lieder and keyboard music. The nearly-unknown baroque lied repertoire is full of exquisite delicacy, sparkling wit, and deeply felt emotion, and cast an intriguing light on the celebrated keyboard masterpieces of the same era. What a way to get your musical Autumn started!🎼🍁

Date and Time: Sunday, September 6, 2026, 3:00 pm
Location: Staller Center Recital Hall
Tickets: Free, suggested donation of $10 per person

Baroque Sundays at Three is Long Island’s leading early-music series dedicated to historically informed performance.

Congratulations to Megan Wojtyła (DMA candidate, Oboe) from James Austin Smith’s oboe studio on her appointment as the n...
08/17/2026

Congratulations to Megan Wojtyła (DMA candidate, Oboe) from James Austin Smith’s oboe studio on her appointment as the new Assistant Professor of Oboe at Ithaca College. As a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook, Megan has been actively creating new musical ventures including her role as co-Director of Voyager Reed Quintet which recently won a Chamber Music America Grant. While at Stony Brook, she taught the undergraduate oboe studio as well as teaching at Molloy University.

Address

3304 Staller Center
Stony Brook, NY
11794

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+16316327330

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