Biography

Jeffrey Swinkin holds a bachelor’s with high distinction in piano performance from The Eastman School, a master’s in piano from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in music theory also from Michigan. As a pianist, he has performed solo recitals, concerti, and chamber music across North America. As a theorist, Dr. Swinkin has published on topics ranging from Adorno, Beethoven, and performance practice to form theory, chromaticism, performance and analysis, and musical emotion—in such journals as Music Analysis, The Journal of Musicology, and the Journal of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music. He is the author and editor of five books, including the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Musical Variation and Thematic Techniques. Dr. Swinkin has given talks at numerous universities, including Stanford, Rice, Florida State, and Mannes, where he was a finalist for the Edward Aldwell chair. Dr. Swinkin is Associate Professor of Music (Theory) at the University of Oklahoma, where he teaches counterpoint and form at the undergraduate level and over a dozen different seminar topics at the graduate level. His current book-length project is a theory of musical interpretation.