About Jeffrey Noonan

Jeff Noonan’s research and editing activities range from the 17th to the 20th centuries and from art music to the popular. His book, The Guitar in America: Victorian Era to Jazz Age, continues to receive overwhelmingly positive reviews in scholarly and popular periodicals. Jeff has presented papers on the subject of the guitar in America at conferences across the country, including meetings of the Society of American Music, the American Musical Instrument Society, and Music in Gotham (CUNY Graduate School). Based on his research, he has been invited to contribute two articles to the new edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music. His current project, a performance edition of trio sonatas by 18^th-century composer Giovanni Bononcini, will appear as part of A-R Editions Recent Research in Music of the Baroque series. Jeff serves on the Editorial Board for the new Classical Guitar Monograph Series for the Guitar Foundation of America.

Jeff began playing in theater pit bands while in college and he has continued his theatrical activities, serving as director and music director for a wide range of works. He has collaborated with directors and actors in Washington University's Performing Arts Department since the early 1980s, creating and performing music for plays ranging from Arisotophones' Lysistrata to David Hare's Teeth 'n' Smiles. Jeff has served as music director for numerous Shakespeare productions at Washington University as well as plays by Moliere and Machievelli for university and professional companies. His recent theatrical activities include directing Benjamin Britten's opera Noye's Fludde for the Southeast Music Academy and composing music for Washington University productions of Brecht and Sor Juana de la Cruz. Jeff served as Music Director for nearly ten years with the radio theater ensemble Holy Roman Repertoire Company and his work with that ensemble was heard on various NPR stations from Florida to Alaska.

In addition to his work at Washington University, Jeff is Associate Professor of Music at Southeast Missouri State University where he teaches upper-level music history and directs the classical guitar program.

Publications

The Guitar in America: Victorian Parlor to Jazz Age (University Press of Mississippi, 2008) [reviews in Journal of Society of American Music, American Studies, American Lutherie, Galpin Society Journal, Soundboard, Classical Mandolin Journal]

The Guitar in Late Nineteenth-Century Periodicals, 1882-1933, Index and Bibliography Series #35 (Music Library Association, 2009)

XII Sonatas for the Chamber (London, 1732) by Giovanni Bononcini, (“Recent Research in Music of the Baroque Series,” A-R Music, forthcoming)

“Guitar” and “Banjo, Mandolin & Guitar Movement” (article entries), The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Second Edition and Grove On-Line [forthcoming]

“Highbrow, Lowbrow and Middlebrow: An Introduction to America’s Progressive Era Mandolin Orchestra,” Musique, Images, Instruments (Paris, Laboratoire d'organologie et d'iconographie of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique [CNRS]) (Fall 2010)

"The Guitar in America's BMG Movement: Culture, Commerce, and Aesthetics in Late 19^th-century America," Soundboard 31/1(2005).

 Book Review: Deep Listeners by Judith Becker in Big Muddy (Spring 2005).

 "A Desirable and Fashionable Instrument," NYlon Review, 2/1 (Fall 2004) [on-line journal of New York City Classical Guitar Society].

Reviews for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, High Performance, Lute Society of America Newsletter, Soundboard (Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America), and Guitar Notes Newsletter of the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society.

Awards

College of Liberal Arts Honors Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Creative Activity, Southeast Missouri State University (2003, 2008).

Co-recipient of Research Grant ($6000) to support   ethnomusicological research trip to Costa Rica to investigate   calypso in Puerto Limón and Cahuita. Grants and Research Funding Committee, Southeast Missouri State University (2008)

Recipient of Research Grant ($3000)  to support research for and  editing of The Guitar in Late Nineteenth-Century Periodicals,    1882-1933. Grants and Research Funding Committee, Southeast  Missouri State University (2006)

Courses

Applied Renaissance Lute

Chamber Ensemble Coaching (Early Music Performance)

Performance Activities

Trained as a classical guitarist, Jeff remains active as a performer on early plucked instruments in solo, chamber and orchestral settings throughout the region. In addition to performances with St. Louis-based ensembles like St. Louis Baroque, Shakespear’s Bande and the Kingsbury Ensemble, Jeff regularly appears throughout the region with various early music ensembles including Ars Antiqua (Chicago), Bourbon Baroque (Louisville) and the Kansas City Baroque Consortium. He has recorded podcasts for Ars Antingua of Chicago (arsantiguapresents.com) and performed on a recently-released CD for the Dorian Sonos label with the ensemble Ekklesia. In 2010 – 2011, performance activities included guest artist performances at the Jewell Early Music Festival and a Handel opera with Bourbon Baroque in Louisville as well as performances of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That same season, Jeff accompanied countertenors Jay Carter and Terry Barber in solo recitals, premiering a new work by Chet Alwes for lute and voice with Jay Carter. In addition, he  played several concerts with Ars Antigua Chicago and the McKinney Kammergild (Texas) and presented a solo recital on Renaissance, Baroque and Classical guitars at the Locust Grove Historical Site in Louisville, KY.