Biography

Lance Brunner brings an unusual perspective to his musical scholarship and teaching. A graduate of Brown University, he earned his MA and PhD degrees (1973; 1977) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also studied in Germany at the University of Erlangen with the renowned chant scholar Bruno Staeblein. Brunner's scholarly work has focused on medieval chant and music since 1900, publishing numerous articles and reviews on these subjects; his edition and study of early medieval chant from Northern Italy was published in 1999 by A-R Editions. He has won numerous awards and fellowships, including the Elliott Prize from the American Medieval Academy and the Notes Prize from the Music Library Association, as well as awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, American Philosophical Society, and the German Academic Exchange Service. His career path, however, has led him to pursuits outside of music history. He held a Kellogg National Fellowship from 1985-1988, a leadership program that allowed him to research the role of music in human health and healing, as well as to study leadership in a wide variety of social and political contexts. He helped the University of Kentucky win a $1.2 million grant to foster leadership in the Appalachian counties of Eastern Kentucky, and was the founding Director of the Commonwealth Fellowship Program from 1990-1996. He was also adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of Louisville (1990-93) and helped establish the Center for the Study of Music and Medicine. He is a founding member of the UK's Emerging Leader Institute (1989-) and has taught a seminar on creativity and business for MBAs at UK. He is also a certified meditation instructor who teachers in UK's Wellness Program. He conducts workshops in North America and Europe on vocal improvisation and creativity. This broad range of interests, combined with his training and experience as a musicologist, make him an unusual and popular teacher. He currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies at the School of Music.