Welcome New 2015-16 Conservatory Faculty

The Conservatory of Music is proud to welcome 13 new faculty for the 2015-16 academic year. Read on to learn about several of these faculty members’ professional accomplishments, research, and personal interests!

Julius Carlson, Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology

Julius Reder Carlson comes to Oberlin from UCLA, where he received a PhD in musicology and a PhD in ethnomusicology. In addition to his academic work, Julius is the co-founder of the Santa Monica Youth Orchestra, a 501(c)(3) music organization geared toward low-income and underrepresented youth. While at Oberlin, he will be teaching courses on North American and South American music history, romantic music, and music and technological mediation.

Tony Cho, Opera Coach

Pianist Tony Cho has served as a principal coach at the University of Southern California Thornton Opera Program and as a vocal coach at Chapman University (2007-2015) and a vocal arts coach at the Juilliard School (2005-2007). His professional engagements as an assistant conductor and coach/pianist include Central City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Juilliard Opera Center, Long Beach Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Sarasota Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Virginia Opera. A native of Korea, he holds a DMA in piano performance from University of Washington in Seattle.

Rebecca Fülöp, Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology

Rebecca Fülöp ’04 is returning to Oberlin, having previously taught here on a post-doctoral fellowship. Fülöp, who earned her PhD with a dissertation on film music and gender at the University of Michigan, is teaching survey courses on the classical era and music since 1914 as well as seminars on the composer Gustav Mahler and film music. Fülöp is looking forward to singing with the Musical Union this year and is also an avid tango dancer and power ballad aficionado.

Sarah Gerk, Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology

Sarah Gerk holds a PhD in historical musicology from the University of Michigan. She spent the last academic year as writer-in-residence at the River Wind House in South Haven, Michigan. Her research focuses on connections between music, diasporic movements, and social change, particularly in the 19th-century United States. She also loves yoga, biking, Irish traditional music, and volunteering with at-risk youth.

Aurie Hsu, Visiting Assistant Professor of TIMARA

Aurie Hsu ’97 is a composer, pianist, and belly dancer. She teaches TIMARA courses in music and gesture, electroacoustic performance practice, and studio techniques. Aurie performs with the Remote electroAcoustic Kinesthetic Sensing (RAKS) system, a wireless sensor interface for belly dance developed with composer Steven Kemper. She has presented at ICMC, SEAMUS, NIME, Pixelerations, Third Practice Festival, and the Logos Foundation. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia (PhD, composition and computer technologies), Mills College (MFA, electronic music/recording media), and Oberlin Conservatory (BM, piano performance). Aurie is visiting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Martin Hundley, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Martin Hundley comes to Oberlin from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, where he was director of academic affairs and taught music pedagogy. Martin is a saxophonist and composer whose work focuses on teaching and learning in the arts, previously producing programs for Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Kaufman Center’s Special Music School (P.S. 859). Originally from North Carolina, Martin graduated from Oberlin as a jazz studies major and earned a master’s in arts education from Harvard University.

Gregory Ristow, Director of Vocal Ensembles and Assistant Professor of Conducting

Gregory Ristow ’01 comes to Oberlin having most recently served as director of choral activities at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. In the summers, he is on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. An Oberlin alum, he also holds a DMA from the Eastman School of Music. He is delighted to now be conducting the ensembles he sang with as a student: the Oberlin College Choir and Musical Union.

Sean Schulze, Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano Literature

In addition to his new role at Oberlin, Sean Schulze is a member of the piano faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he teaches piano literature and piano pedagogy and serves as chair of the institution's renowned pre-college piano department. A native of South Africa, Schulze received his undergraduate degree from the University of KwaZulu Natal before being awarded a full scholarship to pursue a DMA at the University of Arizona.

Louise Zeitlin, Director of the Community Music School and Associate Professor of Community Engagement

Louise Zeitlin is excited to expand opportunities in community engagement for students in both the conservatory and the college. She has served as director of the Oberlin Community Music School since 2007. From 1994-2015, Zeitlin served as lecturer in viola at Baldwin Wallace University. She is thrilled to be working full time at Oberlin, where she has resided with her family since 1993.

The Conservatory of Music also welcomes the following new faculty.

• Bretton Brown, Assistant Professor of Collaborative Pianist
• Stephen Hartke, Professor of Composition
• Jennifer Howell, Instructor of Class Piano
• Elizabeth Ogonek, Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition