The husband-wife team of Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot, both composers and faculty members at the New England Conservatory, Boston, MA, will be the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellows at Rider University, Monday-Friday, March 26-30.

Their visit, held in conjunction with International Week activities, will take them to the University’s Princeton and Lawrenceville campuses for a series of classroom visits and meetings with faculty, staff and student leaders.

They will deliver the International Week keynote address, “Across Mountains and Oceans: Science and Art and Us,” on Wednesday, March 28 at 7 p.m. in Bristol Chapel. A book signing and reception will follow in the chapel. The week’s complete schedule follows their biographical sketches, below.

Robert Cogan

Robert Cogan has successfully achieved a triple career as composer, music theorist and teacher. For over thirty years, he has served as chair of graduate theoretical studies and professor of composition at the New England Conservatory. His book, “New Images of Musical Sound,” won the Society for Music Theory’s Distinguished Publication Award in 1987. More recently, he published “Music Seen, Music Heard” and “The Sounds of Song,” and has written articles for various scholarly music journals.

His compositions have been featured in performances by the Cleveland Orchestra, the North and West German Radios, and the Berline RIAS Orchestra, as well as at festivals including Avignon and Tanglewood.

Pozzi Escot

Pozzi Escot is professor of composition and music theory at the New England Conservatory and holds a professorship at Wheaton College. She is editor-in-chief of the internationally acclaimed journal “Sonus,” president of the International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies, and director of Tufts University’s Tallories International Composers’ Conference in France. She is widely regarded as a pioneer in the study of the relationship between music and mathematics, and has published articles exploring this area of inquiry. In 1975, Escot was chosen as one of the five most remarkable women composers of the 20th century, and during the same year, the New York Philharmonic premiered her “Fifth Symphony to critical acclaim.”

With Cogan, Escot co-wrote “Sonic Design: The Nature of Sound and Music” and “Sonic Design: Practice and Problems.” She has recently completed two books, “The Poetics of Simple Mathematics in Music” and “Oh How Wondrous? Hildegard von Bingen, Ten Essays.”

Woodrow Wilson Fellows’ Schedule

Monday, March 26
Lawrenceville and Princeton Campuses
10:20-11:20 a.m., Classroom visit, Lawrenceville Campus, Memorial Hall, Room 210 (MATH-410, Complex Analysis – Math & Music)
Noon-1:15 p.m., Lunch with the Science Learning Community Program Students, Lawrenceville Campus, Teaching & Learning Center (Topic – “The Art & Science of Music”)
2-3:30 p.m., Classroom visit – Princeton Campus, Talbot Library, Room #1 (MH-248: Music Historiography II)
6:45-8:45 p.m., Classroom visit, Lawrenceville Campus, Memorial Hall, room 217 (Calculus III – Mathematics of Music)

Tuesday, March 27
Princeton Campus/Westminster Choir College)
9:45-11:15 a.m., Classroom visit, Cottage Room #7 (Composers Instruction)
1-2 p.m., Classroom visit, Cottage Room #7 (Keyboard Harmony)
5-6:15 p.m., Dinner with Princeton campus staff
6:30-8 p.m., Meeting with Princeton campus SGA Senate, Martin Room, Student Center (Topic – “Careers in Music”)

Wednesday, March 28
Lawrenceville and Princeton Campuses
11:30 am-12:30 p.m., Classroom visit, Lawrenceville Campus, Fine Arts, Room 377 (Introduction to German Literature - Culture, Language, and Music)
12:45-2 p.m., Lunch with Rider University International Student Club (Topic – “Learning Language Through Music”)
7 p.m.-8 p.m., International Week Keynote Address (Topic – “Across Mountains and Oceans: Science and Art and Us”), Bristol Chapel – Princeton Campus, Introduction by Dr. Marshall Onofrio
8-9 p.m., Book signing, Bristol Chapel – Princeton Campus
8-9 pm, Reception, Thayer Lounge – Princeton Campus

Thursday, March 29
Princeton Campus/Westminster Choir College
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Open Forum (Topic – “Careers in Music”), Cottage Room #8.
12:30-1 p.m., Lunch with Princeton Campus SGA Executive Board, Student Center.

Friday, March 30
Lawrenceville Campus
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Lunch with the Baccalaureate Honors Program Students (Topic – “The Art & Science of Music”), Lawrenceville Campus, Teaching & Learning Center.

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