Graduate Students

Allison Jerzak

Musicology

Allison Jerzak studies the history of digital music and music recommendation. Influenced by her previous work experience in the technology sector, Allison’s research program is committed to offering a humanistic interpretation of computational research.

Her dissertation project traces music’s migration onto Web 1.0. It explores the vexed set of problems — and, at times, questionable solutions — that computational researchers tackled as they recast music, a phenomenon many considered ineffable, into something quantifiable and amenable to the computational...

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Eda Er

Composition

Eda Er is a composer, multimedia artist, and vocalist whose work integrates storytelling, sound, and
visual media to explore themes of identity, belonging, trauma, and cultural heritage. She combines
electronic music, classical composition, traditional Turkish visual arts, and installation with emerging
technologies to challenge artistic boundaries.

Her compositions have been performed internationally by ensembles such as the Antwerp Symphony
Orchestra, Ensemble Multilatérale, Kugoni Trio, Hermes Ensemble, Hezarfen Ensemble, Atlas
Ensemble, MusikFabrik, and Ninth...

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E. Ceyda Çekmeci

Musicology

Ceyda Çekmeci (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Musicology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research examines the aesthetic and affective dimensions of political power in contemporary Turkey, focusing on how music mediates the experience of authoritarianism and populism. Her dissertation, Sounding Authoritarian Populism: The Aesthetic Life of Power in Contemporary Turkey, brings political theory and cultural analysis into conversation with music studies, drawing on concepts of hegemony, articulation, and affect. Her work has been supported by the Berkeley Fellowship...

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Flannery McIntyre

Musicology

Flannery McIntyre is a PhD candidate in Musicology and Medieval Studies. Her dissertation,“Music and the Materiality of Knowledge in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages,” offers an alternative narrative for the role of music in Late Antique and Early Medieval culture. Whereas music in this period has traditionally been understood as a precursor to the liturgical standardization and the development of music notation in the ninth century, such a teleological focus obscures other facets of musical activity. Her approach, by contrast, centers material culture, allowing for a larger, more...