Assistant Professor of Music Theory Mitchell Ohriner has been recognized as the 2013 Society for Music Theory’s Emerging Scholar for his article, “Grouping Hierarchy and Trajectories of Pacing in Performances of Chopin Mazurkas,” published in Music Theory Online (MTO) in April 2012.
“I was really surprised to receive the award, knowing who the winners over the past few decades have been,” said Ohriner. “There’s been a big push in music theory in the past several years to revisit the impact listening and performance has on the meaning of musical works, and it’s gratifying to see work in that area recognized by the Society.”
“This year’s Emerging Scholar Award recognizes an important contribution to studies of performance and analysis,” said Society for Music Theory Publication Awards Committee Chair Ric Ashley. “Exploring what the author identifies as ‘group-final lengthening’ in contrasting performances of several of Chopin’s mazurkas, the article uses contour theory to examine various examples of performed durations. Arguing for the ‘creative power of performance,’ it convincingly suggests that performers create rather than merely interpret grouping structures, thereby contributing to current debates about the status of interpretation in relation to the written score.”
The Society for Music Theory’s Emerging Scholar Award is given each year to a scholar who is within seven years of completing his or her Ph.D. This year marks the first time an article in MTO has received the Emerging Scholar Award, validating the online journal as a venue of the highest standards of scholarship.
