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A native of the state of Massachusetts, Angela Mariani is Assistant
Professor of Musicology at the Texas Tech University School of Music
and the director of Texas Tech's early music ensemble, the Collegium
Musicum. Prof. Mariani's main research and performance area is in
the field of medieval music, which was the primary focus of her
graduate studies at Indiana University's prestigious School of
Music. While completing her Master's Degree at IU's Early Music
Institute, she studied medieval performance practice with the
groundbreaking early music scholar and performer Thomas Binkley,
and undertook additional voice and performance practice studies
with Paul Elliott, Wendy Gillespie, and Elisabeth Wright. She has
also studied medieval music with Benjamin Bagby and Barbara Thornton
of Sequentia, and early music vocal techniques with Boston-based soprano
Nancy Armstrong. Prof. Mariani also has a Certificate in Medieval
Studies from Indiana University, and she is currently in the process
of completing a Doctor of Music degree in Ensemble Direction, also
from IU's Early Music Institute.
Prof. Mariani began her professional music career in the world of rock
and folk as a vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. After graduating
with a Bachelor's degree in Music Theory and Composition from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she taught and performed for
a decade in the Boston area, where she also taught a popular acoustic
fingerstyle guitar course at Boston's Guitar Workshop, and co-founded
the folk-rock band Reynardine in the 1980s. When asked what drew her
to medieval and Renaissance music, she may cite her experience in the
University of Massachusetts' Collegium and the influence of the Studio
der Frühen Musik recordings from the 1970s, but she is just as likely
to blame Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Fairport Convention.
Since the early 1990's, Prof. Mariani has also written, produced, and
hosted the nationally-syndicated public radio program Harmonia. She
has published on the topics of early music performance practice,
public radio, and rock and roll, and has appeared on National Public
Radio, Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands, and the CBC. She records and
tours internationally with Altramar medieval music ensemble (7 CDs to
date on the Dorian Group label), has taught early music at workshops
internationally, has served as recording session producer for groups
such as Ensemble Alcatraz, The Newberry Consort, and SAVAE, and is a
member of the Board of Directors of Early Music America. She also
performs and records traditional Irish music with the group Johnny Faa,
founded by colleague and partner Dr. Chris Smith (also on the TTU
faculty and a fellow member of Altramar).
Here at Texas Tech, Prof. Mariani teaches seminars on medieval music
and early performance practice, graduate and undergraduate music history
courses, and directs the Collegium. She also designed and inaugurated
Tech's very popular, large-enrollment History of Rock and Roll course.
In 2007 she was inducted into the Texas Tech Teaching Academy.
To contact Professor Mariani, email her at
angelamariani.smith@ttu.edu.
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