The Society for Music Theory congratulates this year's recipients of the SMT-40 Dissertation Fellowship Awards!

Miriam Piilonen is a music theorist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Chicago. Her research and teaching engage a broad range of topics in Western music history and theory, from proverbial “classical” repertoires to contemporary Chicago music scenes. She is currently completing her PhD in Music Theory & Cognition at Northwestern University.

Derek Remeš is a PhD candidate and Lehrbeauftragter (Adjunct Professor) at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, where he teaches music theory, ear training, and thoroughbass. His dissertation attempts to reconstruct the compositional pedagogy of J. S. Bach using historical sources. Derek holds Masters degrees in Organ and Music Theory Pedagogy from the Eastman School of Music, and bachelors degrees in Composition and Film Scoring from the Berklee College of Music. For more information, please visit www.derekremes.com.

The Society for Music Theory is committed to the ideals of justice, dignity, and equality for all peoples, and to open dialogue in a climate of inclusivity. For more on these values, see the Policy on SMT Response.

Recent events in Charlottesville have served as a reminder that institutions of higher education can become the very stage upon which forces of hatred and violence play out. The Executive Board of the Society for Music Theory reaffirms the Society’s values of open and respectful dialogue and our commitment to ideals of justice, dignity, and equality for all peoples. The hatred that we witnessed directed against those who acted in defense of these values contradicts and threatens our core principles. We stand together for inclusivity, diversity, and the free exchange of ideas.

—SMT Executive Board