Dr. Andrew Raffo Dewar, a professor of interdisciplinary arts in the School of Music and New College, is the recipient of the 2023 Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award.
Dewar will give a special lecture titled “Music Experiments Between the Lines” and be presented with his award during a ceremony April 25 at 4 p.m. in the Student Center Theater with a reception to follow in room 2408 in the Student Center.
His lecture will consist of a 20-minute overview of his work followed by a 20-minute electronic music performance in 13-channel surround sound.
Both the lecture and reception are open to the public.
Dewar is a composer, soprano saxophonist, electronic musician, ethnomusicologist and educator.
He has performed internationally over the past 25+ years, with well over 200 performances and installations on five continents at national- and international-level venues and festivals. Recordings of Dewar as a composer and performer are available on over two dozen albums published by record labels throughout the United States and Europe.
Recent publications include ethnographic research on 1970s intermedia art in Argentina during a military dictatorship; 1960s handmade electronic music collective, the Sonic Arts Union; philosophical issues of ontology in performance and music technologies; original music for his performing ensembles in San Francisco, New York City, and Hamburg; music for film and theatre; compositions incorporating ethnographic interviews, biofeedback and interdisciplinary electronic music installations and performances utilizing 3D spatial audio.
In 2019, he was awarded the Robert M. Stevenson Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology, the premier award given by the society to composers who are also ethnomusicologists.
In May 2020, Dewar was awarded The University of Alabama President’s Faculty Research Award. In Spring 2022, he served as Fulbright Canada Research Chair at York University in Toronto. In March 2023, he was awarded an SEC Faculty Achievement Award.
The Burnum Award was established by Dr. and Mrs. John F. Burnum of Tuscaloosa to recognize and promote excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching during a distinguished UA career. The Burnum Award Committee, comprised of former winners, screens nominees and forwards two nominees to the president, who selects the winner.
Contact
Jennifer Brady, UA Strategic Communications, jennifer.brady@ua.edu