Michael Puri

Michael Puri is an Associate Professor in the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia, specializing in critical and comparative studies. His office is located in Randall Hall, and he maintains regular consultation hours. With a career blending academic rigor and performance expertise, Puri focuses on the intersection of music theory, cultural criticism, and historical analysis.

Education: He holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil in Music Theory from Yale University, a Lehr- und Konzertdiplom in piano performance from the Music Academy of Basel (Switzerland), and a B.A. in Music and Germanic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University.

Research Focus: Puri’s scholarship bridges technical music analysis with humanistic inquiry, exploring themes like memory, decadence, and cosmopolitanism in 19th-20th century classical music. His monograph Ravel the Decadent: Memory, Sublimation, and Desire (Oxford, 2011) traces Maurice Ravel’s aesthetic roots in French Decadence, while his current project Sympathetic Resonances challenges dichotomies between German Romanticism and French Modernism. His work frequently engages Wagner, Adorno, and Jankélévitch.

Publication Trends: Puri’s articles and reviews consistently examine musical form through interdisciplinary lenses—combining philosophy, cultural theory, and memory studies. Recent works critique rotational structures (2024), analyze Ravel’s models (2017), and explore Wagnerian legacies (2013), reflecting sustained interest in hermeneutics and cross-cultural dialogues.

Awards and Fellowships:

• Alfred Einstein Award (American Musicological Society, 2008)
• Delta Delta Delta Fellowship (National Humanities Center, 2013-2014)
• Grants from the Mellon, Ford, Whiting, and Javits Foundations; DAAD; American Philosophical Society

Academic Leadership: As Director of Graduate Studies (Music Department) and former Review Editor for the Journal of the American Musicological Society (2017-2019), Puri mentors emerging scholars and shapes disciplinary discourse. He maintains performance activities through UVa’s Center for German Studies, presenting lecture-recitals on Brahms, Schumann, and Liszt.