Skip to Main Content Skip to Footer Toggle Navigation Menu
Photo of students singing in a studio classroom.

Music

Challenge your mind, fuel your passion.

Music is one of the seven original liberal arts—and it’s just as indispensable for modern students as it was for the ancient Greeks.

Whether you dream of life as a composer, or you simply want to keep playing your instrument, Macalester’s Music Department has something to offer you. Music serves a fundamental human need, allowing us to explore, express, and communicate, both as individuals and as entire cultures. As a discipline, music offers an irreplaceable perspective and critical lens, both of which help fulfill the broader mission of Macalester.

Our curriculum includes courses in the craft of music, including performance, theory, and composition, as well as opportunities to learn conducting and recording. We also invite you to examine music through a critical studies lens. For example, you might:

  • Perform works from the Western canon and other repertories, while critically examining the process of canonization itself
  • Conduct fieldwork on world musical traditions
  • Explore the connections between music and gender, ethnicity, race, nationalism, and more
  • Study how music and literature intersect and influence one another

Why Music at Macalester?

Cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary

Many of our professors team up with other departments on campus—such as English or the Asian Languages and Cultures Department—to lend additional insight and expertise to music courses.

Performance space

Our Mairs Concert Hall houses two Steinway D concert grand pianos, an Allen Q370 organ, as well as state-of-the-art recording and broadcast equipment. The exceptional acoustics of the hall can be custom-tuned to the perfect setting for every performance.

Hi-fi recording

Many practice and performance spaces in our gorgeous facility are wired and set up for audio recording, at a studio-level quality.

Life after Macalester

  • Recent Employers

      • 3M Company

      • Allen Brill

      • Americorps – Rebuilding Together Twin Cities

      • Asylum Access Ecuador

      • Blue Tree Music Education

      • Branson School

      • Denver Schools of Science and Technology

      • Ecole Phillipe Gaulier

      • Fulbright

      • Learn Now Music

      • Minnesota Council of Churches

      • Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

      • School of Rock Oak Park

      • Solate Band

      • TAPIF

      • the Hive Hong Kong

      • Twin Cities German Immersion School

      • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

      • Volt at Apple

      • Waterbury Music + Sound
  • Recent Graduate Schools

      • Indiana University

      • North Carolina School of the Arts

      • UCLA

      • University of Iowa

      • University of Minnesota

      • University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

      • University of South Florida

      • University of Wisconsin–Madison

      • Yale University

Music in the cities

7

Number of nights per week that students have opportunities to see local, national, or international concerts, thanks to the Twin Cities renowned music scene.

1

Number of times the community gathers each week to celebrate students’ achievements at recitals.

11

Number of department-sponsored ensembles, for which any student may audition.

Mac Music In the News!

Department Happenings

Ross Hutchens ’15 recently received a 2025 McKnight Fellowship in Composition. Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists and culture bearers thrive, the McKnight Foundation’s arts and culture program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. The award is part of the McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowships which provide annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 15 different creative disciplines. Congratulations Ross!
Coming in February! With support from the Eugene C. Pulliam and Dierenfield Endowed Funds for Music, the Music Department will be hosting countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and pianist John Churchwell for a residency on campus February 7-9. Don’t miss their stunning recital program on Sunday, February 9 at 4:00pm in Mairs Concert Hall. Admission is free, and the concert will be livestreamed.
In December, the Macalester Symphony Orchestra, the Macalester Pipe Band, and Mac Jazz presented a collaborative rendition of traditional Scottish tunes, commissioned for the College’s 150th Anniversary celebration! Watch the recording here.
Professor Mark Mazullo, Music, spent the week of Fall Break in residence at Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia at the invitation of Luis Gabriel Mesa Martinez, class of 2007, where he delivered a lecture on opera, taught a music theory class on Beethoven's late piano sonatas, and performed a solo piano recital. Submitted by Mark Mazullo.
Professor Mark Mazullo, Music, spent the week of Fall Break in residence at Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia at the invitation of Luis Gabriel Mesa Martinez, class of 2007, where he delivered a lecture on opera, taught a music theory class on Beethoven’s late piano sonatas, and performed a solo piano recital. Submitted by Mark Mazullo.
Pictured here are Timotei Chas '27, Maia Tazewell '27 (member of the African Music Ensemble), María Isa, Hareth '27, Chantal Pangula '26, Alex Santos (María Isa's band – Latin percussion), and Iris Fokam Signe '26 (member of the African Music Ensemble).
With support from the Eugene C. Pulliam Endowed Fund, the Music Department brought Boricua recording artist, activist, and Minnesota State Representative María Isa and her band to Mairs Concert Hall in October! It was an amazing night of Latin jazz/hip-hop and community. Pictured here are Timotei Chas ’27, Maia Tazewell ’27 (member of the African Music Ensemble), María Isa, Hareth ’27, Chantal Pangula ’26, Alex Santos (María Isa’s band – Latin percussion), and Iris Fokam Signe ’26 (member of the African Music Ensemble).

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024 Music Department awards!

  • Lila Bell Acheson Wallace Endowed Prize

    Awarded to an outstanding student majoring in music

    Zoe Grigsby
  • Walter A. Lienke Endowed Prize

    Recognizing outstanding students majoring in music

    Alex Saros
  • Tobin Smith Endowed Prize

    Awarded to an outstanding student receiving instruction in bagpipes

    Rhys O’Higgins
  • Zenas Taylor Endowed Prize in Music

    Awarded to a student majoring or minoring in voice

    Catherine Terres
  • Friends of Music Award

    Recognizing outstanding students for performance, academic work, and service

    Ryan Chu

    Grace Killackey

    Chloé Nance

    Tadhg Ferris Wayne

Links for Current Students