Mitchell Morris

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Mitchell Morris specializes in fin-de-siecle music, Russian and Soviet music, 20th century American music, opera, rock and soul, and LGBT studies. He has published essays on gay men and opera, disco and progressive rock, musical ethics, and contemporary music in journals such as Repercussions and American Music as well as in collections such as Musicology and Difference, En travesty and Audible Traces. He is currently preparing a book entitled The Persistence of Sentiment: Essays on Pop Music in the ’70s and working on a project entitled Echo and Wilderness: Music, Nature, and Nation in the United States, 1880-1945

Morris has taught a broader range of courses than anyone else on the music faculty. He has covered music from ancient Mesopotamia to Josquin to Wagner to rock, soul and disco. He takes any course and magically transforms it into a coherent and disciplined, yet dazzling and enticing series of lectures, assignments and class experiences for his students.

Reactions to his teaching are so enthusiastic that they seem exaggerated to those who have not experienced his pedagogical gifts in person. He is one of those rare teachers whose classes students take regardless of their interest in the subject matter; when Morris is teaching, the subject is always interesting. He is always eager to discuss music, literature, philosophy, and career paths with students. He also spends time with his teaching assistants, discussing how they can become teachers themselves.

Morris' inspired scholarship extends beyond the boundaries of the classroom. He has written highly successful program notes for the Los Angeles Opera, giving audience members the benefit of his knowledge. One set of his notes received special praise in the Los Angeles Times as “unusually interesting and original” – the first time program notes have been reviewed.