Yale Institute of Sacred Music

In this episode of the ISM Fellows Podcast, Dr. Peter Boudreau sheds light on time in Byzantium through his work on Byzantine calendar icons. Dr. Boudreau also discusses the complexity of Byzantine time, the relationship between images and text, and the future of studying Byzantium.

In this episode, Dr. Cory Hunter speaks with Sindy Yang (MAR ‘25) about his research on gospel music. They also discuss how his background training in music performance, religion, and theology brings innovation to his methodologies as a scholar. What results is a freshness brought to the discipline of musicology at large, and new ways … Read More Read More

In this episode of the ISM Fellows Podcast, Dr. Samantha Slaubaugh offers insights into her work on Douceline of Digne as a rare paradigm of liturgical practice among the Beguines of Marseilles. Dr. Slaubaugh also discusses the way in which Douceline of Digne, through her unique practice of liturgy, is situated in her medieval community … Read More Read More

As an ethnographer of art, Dr. Katie Dimmery’s work focuses on the ways in which communities and identities are shaped by artistic ritual in the southwest region of China. Her research attends to the practices of indigenous ritualists and how these practices are situated in regional ethnic and social politics. This conversation traces the history … Read More Read More

Dr. Ephrem Aboud Ishac discusses his work with ancient Syriac manuscripts, the ways the church and scholarly communities can benefit each other, and the challenges facing the preservation of these ancient texts.

Jon Bullock, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music, joins Ariana Hones (M.Div ’25) for a conversation on how radio is used as a tool for shaping Kurdish identity. Using the lens of ethnomusicology and the sacred, Jon discusses the impacts of colonialism and technologies of sound, such recording and broadcasting on Kurdish … Read More Read More

Dr. Jeremiah Lockwood joins the Fellows Podcast to chat about the sounds and stars of the cantorial golden age. He also talks about keeping busy — and keeping up— with a rich and varied life as both academic and professional musician.

Grounded in themes of tribulation, redemption, and hope, ISM Fellow and theater professor Dr. Ron Jenkins joins Ariana Hones (M.Div. ’23) in conversation on the transformational power of Dante’s Divine Comedies inside prisons. In this episode, Dr. Jenkins discusses his course, Gospel, Rap, and Social Justice, and his use of Dante’s poetry to create theater … Read More Read More

In his interview with ISM M.A.R. student Madeleine Hutchins ’23, ISM Fellow and religious ethicist Ryan Darr pulls no punches in talking global climate crisis: “…we’re entering a mass extinction event, which would be, from what scientists have found about life on Earth, the sixth in Earth’s history — and the first caused by one … Read More Read More

ISM fellow and composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen explores his latest composition fusing gospel text, pan-African sound, and the passion tradition. He also chats about his earlier operatic work that engages the sounds and figures of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle.