College of Liberal Arts

University of Minnesota,

Twin Cities Campus

Michael Cherlin

Professor: Theory / Composition

• 124 Ferguson Hall
• 612/624-9049
• E-mail: cherl001@umn.edu

Michael Cherlin received his Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University in 1983. His dissertation, advised by David Lewin, was a study of Arnold Schoenberg’s opera Moses und Aron. Cherlin’s interest in Schoenberg has continued over the years and is reflected in scholarly publications that have appeared in Music Theory Spectrum, The Journal of the American Musicological Society, Perspectives of New Music and The Journal of Musicology and most recently in his book Schoenberg’s Musical Imagination.

Cherlin teaches courses on the theory and analysis of music from the 18th century until the present. His seminar topics are often literature based; recent topics have included Mozart’s operas, Beethoven’s String Quartets, Brahms Chamber Music, the music and thought of Arnold Schoenberg, the string quartet in the 20th century, and readings in post-tonal theory. Cherlin’s course on Music and Text is offered on a yearly basis. Cherlin’s secondary interests include poetry, philosophy, and literary criticism, and he often integrates ideas from those disciplines into his musical research and teaching. He is an editor and contributor to The Great Tradition and Its Legacy: The Evolution of Dramatic and Musical Theater in Austria and Central Europe, Berghahn Press, 2003. His book-length study of Schoenberg’s music and thought, Schoenberg’s Musical Imagination, is published by Cambridge University Press (2007).

Cherlin is past president of Music Theory Midwest and has held numerous offices in the Society for Music Theory, including two terms on the editorial board for Music Theory Spectrum. He is currently on the editorial boards for Intégral and Theory and Practice. Cherlin has been the recipient of a stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities (2005) and a McKnight Research Award (2006-2009). He was appointed to the faculty of the Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory for summer 2007 and was Endowed Chair in Music at the University of Alabama for the 2007 spring semester.  Cherlin was appointed Founding Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Collaborative Arts in November 2006.