It is with great honor and admiration that the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music celebrates the remarkable tenure of Dr. Ken Kreitner, Professor of Musicology. After 33 years of dedicated service to the University of Memphis, Dr. Kreitner has been granted emeritus professor status in recognition of his outstanding contributions to our academic community.
Throughout his illustrious career, Kreitner has been a source of inspiration and knowledge for students and colleagues. His passion for musicology, academic excellence, and unwavering dedication to the School of Music have left an indelible mark on our institution.
Kreitner’s contributions extend far beyond the classroom. His research has enriched the field of musicology, and his mentorship has shaped countless students’ intellectual and personal journeys.
As the conductor of Collegium Musicum, he shared his enthusiasm for historical instruments. He challenged them to learn to play their own instrument differently, encounter one of its early analogues, or try something completely new. This ensemble comprises a Baroque orchestra and a small Renaissance Wind Band, helping students connect with historical music, and instruments to change how they approach early music.
Kreitner, a Benjamin W. Rawlins Professor of Musicology, received his Ph.D. in musicology from Duke University in 1990 and joined the faculty at Memphis State University that fall.
A scholar of Spanish Renaissance music, historical performance, and nineteenth-century American amateur bands, he is the author of Robert Ward: A Bio-Bibliography (1989), Discoursing Sweet Music: Town Bands and Community Life in Turn-of-the-Century Pennsylvania (1990), The Church Music of Fifteenth-Century Spain (2004), and, with Tess Knighton, The Music of Juan de Anchieta (2019). He has also published articles in Early Music, Early Music History, Musica Disciplina, the Revista de Musicología, and the Journal of the Royal Musical Association.
Dr. Kreitner is an active performer on early brass and woodwind instruments and directs the UofM’s Collegium Musicum ensemble.
He was the 2020 recipient of Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship by the director of a university or college early music ensemble. He also received the University of Memphis Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award in 2000, the Robert M. Stevenson Award for outstanding scholarship in Iberian music from the American Musicological Society in 2007, and the Christopher Monk Award for life-long contributions to study and/or performance in the field of brass history, from the Historic Brass Society, in 2012.