Distinguished Professor, Music
Gwynne Kuhner Brown, Distinguished Professor, is also a proud graduate of the Puget Sound School of Music. As a student, she eagerly pursued her pianistic ambition while also feeding her intellectual curiosity about topics including history, international political economy, and art. After graduating with a BM in piano performance, she went on to receive the MM in music theory from Indiana University, and the PhD in music history from the University of Washington.
A Puget Sound faculty member since 2005, Brown delights in creating inclusive and inspiring music courses for all Puget Sound students, regardless of major or background. Her teaching seeks to foster creativity, curiosity, compassion, alertness to inequity, and meaningful human connections. She has won several University of Puget Sound teaching awards, including the 2013 President's Excellence in Teaching Award.
As a scholar, she specializes in art music by 20th- and 21st-century African American composers. In 2023 she edited G. Schirmer's new edition of William L. Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony. Her groundbreaking biography of Dawson was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2024. In addition to articles about Dawson, she has published on George Gershwin’s opera, Porgy and Bess, and collaborated with Joe Williams on a chapter about the solo keyboard works of Florence B. Price. She has presented her scholarship at conferences of the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, the African American Art Song Alliance, and Feminist Theory & Music.