ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
University of Mississippi, Department of Music
Assistant Professor of Music (Musicology), 2025-
Visiting Assistant Professor of Music (Musicology), 2024-2025
Brandeis University, Department of Music
Lecturer, 2023
EDUCATION
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Ph.D. Historical Musicology, 2024
Dissertation: “Music and Bodily Health in 17th-Century England”
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
M.A. Musicology, 2017
B.Mus. Music History and Theory (Honours), 2015
Queen’s University,Kingston, ON
B.A. English Language and Literature (Honours), 2011
PUBLICATIONS
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
“Soundscapes of Wellness: Music in an Early Modern English Recipe Book.” Early Modern Women 17, 1 (2022), 97–107.
“Can Opera Listen? Canada’s (Sesqui)Centennial Opera, Louis Riel” University of Toronto Quarterly 87, 4 (Fall 2018): 59–72, with Taryn Dubois.
Manuscripts In Preparation
“Hearing Fires in Boston Before and After the Implementation of the Telegraph Fire Alarm System, 1851–1852” (in preparation)
Other Media
Guest author, “A Recipe for Music: Notating Domestic Singing in Seventeenth-Century England,” blog post on The Recipes Project, edited by Amanda E. Herbert and Annette Herbert, Feb. 18, 2021 https://recipes.hypotheses.org/17770
Co-Creator, C150-funded scholarly podcast series on the 2017 Canadian Opera Company production of Louis Riel for Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations, Jan.–Apr. 2017
SELECTED AWARDS AND HONOURS
Scholarship
Folger Shakespeare Library Long-term Fellowship, 9 months, 2025-26
Albi Rosenthal Visiting Fellowship in Music, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, two months, 2025-26
Barbara Natterson and Zachary Horowitz Dissertation Fellowship, 2023
Harry and Marjorie Ann Slim Memorial Fellowship, summer funding, July–Aug., 2023
Jens Aubrey Westengard Scholarship (for research in Europe), July 2022
Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, full funding for 10 months (London, UK), Sept.–June 2021
Harry and Marjorie Ann Slim Memorial Fellowship, summer funding, July 2021
Villa I Tatti, The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies Graduate Fellowship, full funding for 6 months, Jan.–June, residential fellowship in Florence, Italy (taken remotely due to covid-19), 2021
Harry and Marjorie Ann Slim Memorial Fellowship, Harvard University, full funding for semester, Sept.–Dec. 2020
William Mitch Fund Fellowship, Harvard University, partial funding for academic year, 2018
Harry and Marjorie Ann Slim Memorial Fellowship, Harvard University, summer funding, July–Aug. 2018
Helen L. and Benjamin J. Buttenwieser Scholarship, Harvard University, partial funding for academic year, 2017
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, full funding for 48 months, 2017-2020
Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship—Master’s, full funding for academic year, 2016
Teaching
Inclusive Teaching Learning Community Grant, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of Mississippi, 2024
Special Commendation: Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times (student-nominated), Harvard College, 2020
CONFERENCES
Invited Papers
“Musical Economies: Managing Households and Bodies in Early Modern England,” Bien chanter/Vivre bien: Music, Poetry, and Moral Philosophy in Early Modern Europe, Tufts University, Apr. 29–30, 2023
Papers Presented
“Medicinal Music in Print and Manuscript Collections: Comparing Claims for Music’s Medical Properties in Public and Domestic Contexts in Early Modern England,” Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Apr. 4–5, 2025
“Hearing Fires in Boston Before and After the Implementation of the Telegraph Fire Alarm System, 1851–1852,” AMS Southern Chapter, University of Southern Mississippi, Feb. 7–8, 2025
“Music’s Uses at the Advent of the Pharmaceutical Trade in Early Modern England,” American Musicological Society Annual Conference, Denver, Nov. 9–12, 2023
“Music Notation in Recipe Books: Household Music Cultures in 17th-century England,” Marks of Music: Sound and Notation in the Early Modern Period, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History, May 17–19, 2023
“Music Notation as Recipe in Seventeenth-Century English Recipe Books,” Medieval and Renaissance International Music Conference (MedRen), Uppsala, July 4–7, 2022
“‘A Prescription for Taking Action’: Notating Domestic Music in Seventeenth-Century English Recipe Books,” American Musicological Society Annual Conference, Chicago (online), Nov. 21; 2021 Annual Conference of the Association for the Social History of Medicine – (Hi)stories of Health and Disease, University of Innsbruck, Nov. 4–6, 2021
“Death Masques: Morbid Soundmarks in Matthew Locke and James Shirley’s Cupid and Death,” Society for Seventeenth-Century Music Annual Conference, online due to covid-19, June 26, 2020
“Fostering Dialogue on the Changing Narrative of Canada’s (Sesqui)Centennial Opera, Louis Riel,” with Taryn Jackson, Canadian University Music Society Annual Conference, May 25–27, 2017
“‘Pills to Purge Melancholy’: The Restorative Power of Songs in Restoration England,” American Musicology Society Annual Conference, Vancouver, Nov. 4, 2015; University of Toronto Graduate Paper Competition Colloquium, Mar. 31, 2016; McGill Graduate Music Symposium, Mar. 19, 2016
Panel Participation
“Notation and Inscription: Considering the Tactile” with Virginia Georgallas in “What do We Mean by Musical Notation, Inscription, or Visualization?” American Musicological Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, Nov. 10, 2022
“Music and Bodily Health in Late 17th-century England,” Tudor Music Forum, Mar. 4, 2022
Invited Panelist, Hearing Louis Riel Symposium, University of Toronto, Apr. 21, 2017
“Energizing Learning Communities in the Music History Classroom,” Canadian University Music Society Annual Conference 2016, June 1–3, 2016
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Mississippi, Department of Music
History of Western Music II, 1750–present, undergraduate survey, Spring 2025
Introduction to Music Literature, introductory undergraduate, Spring 2025
History of Western Music I, Medieval–1750, undergraduate survey, Fall 2024
Introduction to Music Research, graduate seminar, Fall 2024
Brandeis University, Department of Music
“Western Music Survey, 17th and 18th centuries,” undergraduate survey, Spring 2023
Harvard University, Department of Music
“Music: Sound and Materials,” undergraduate seminar, Fall 2022
SERVICE TO THE FIELD
Conferences
Organizing Committee,Sound, Space, and the Home: A Virtual Symposium, Sept 5–6, 2025
American Musicological Society
Co-chair, Notation, Inscription, and Visualization Study Group, 2025-
Social Media and Website, Notation, Inscription, and Visualization Study Group, 2022-2025
DEPARTMENTAL AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE
University of Mississippi
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2024-26)
Adjudicator, Concerto Competition (2024)
Harvard University
Fellow, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Student Center (2022-23)
Member, Diversity, Equity, Belonging, and Inclusion Committee, Harvard GSAS Student Center (2020-21)
Coordinator, Harvard Music Lunch Talk Series (2019-2020)
Chair, Harvard Graduate Music Forum Annual Conference, Feb. 8–9 (2019)
Vice President and Co-Founder (with Giulia Accornero), Harvard GSAS Early Music Lab 2018-2020
Graduate Liaison, Harvard Music Library (2018-2021)
Student Representative, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Commission of Inquiry (2018-2019)
Harvard Graduate Student Council Representative, Graduate Music Forum (2017-2018)
ADDITIONAL TRAINING
Rare Book School, University of Virginia
Participant, “Handwriting and Culture of Early Modern English Manuscripts,” with Heather Wolfe, 2021
Participant, “Provenance: Tracing Owners and Collections,” with David Pearson, 2021
Transcription contributor, Folger Library, transcribe.folger.edu, 2021
Yale University
Historical Musical Notation Bootcamp with A. Zayaruznaya and Andrew Hicks, Aug. 9–12, 2016
PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE
Performance Positions
Bassoon, Harvard Graduate Student Center Orchestra (2022-24)
Director, Harvard Dudley House Choir (now GSAS Student Center Choir), GSAS Student Center Fellow (2018-20)
Principal Bassoon, University of Toronto Wind Ensemble (2014-15)
Principal Bassoon, University of Toronto Wind Symphony (2012-14)
Select Musical Performances: Bassoon unless otherwise specified
Twice annual concerts with music including Arcadelt, Oliveros, and popular music (director/conductor, GSAS Student Center Choir), 2018-20
Prokofiev: Classical Symphony; Debussy: L’après midi d’une faune; (UTSO), Nov. 12, 2016
Brahms: Symphony No. 3; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; UTSO, Apr. 9, 2016
Copland: El Salon Mexico; Higden: Percussion Concerto; UTSO, Feb. 4, 2016
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra, UTSO, Dec. 5, 2015
Ravel: La Valse, UTSO, Nov. 21, 2015
Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op. 36, UTSO, Apr. 2, 2015
Ustvolskaya: Composition No. 3, University of Toronto New Music Ensemble (GamUT), Mar. 18, 2015
Premier: Footsteps in Campbell House (librettist: Michael Albano; composers: Denenberg, Lin, Tse, and Versluis), University of Toronto Opera, Campbell House Museum, Jan. 30, 2015
LANGUAGES
French (reading, writing, conversational speaking)
Italian (reading and writing)
Latin (with dictionary)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
American Musicological Society
American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies
North American British Music Studies Association
Renaissance Society of America
Society of Seventeenth-Century Music
Soundscapes in the Early Modern World
Sarah Koval, Ph.D. 