Andrew Albin
Professor; Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)
BA, Johns Hopkins University; MA, PhD, Brandeis University; LMS, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
Research and Teaching Interests: Late medieval English literature, drama, and culture; early modern drama; aurality and sound studies; music and literature; history of the senses and the body; history of the book and reading practices; performance and cultural theory
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Andrew Albin’s scholarship in the field of historical sound studies examines embodied listening practices, sound’s meaningful contexts, and the lived aural experiences of historical hearers – in short, the sonorous past – as an object of critical and creative inquiry. His work has been recognized with grants and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation, Medieval Academy of America, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, and Yale Institute of Sacred Music. In partnership with the Met Cloisters, he facilitates the Fordham Medieval Dramatists, New York City’s only dedicated medieval play-making ensemble. He is the author of Richard Rolle’s Melody of Love: A Study and Translation, with Manuscript and Musical Contexts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2018). His second monograph project-in-development, The Manuscript Is an Instrument and We Must Play, develops a fresh ear-forward methodology for the study of medieval manuscripts by reconceiving the codex as a sound-soaked, playfully crafted object built from material sonic pasts and seeking vital sonic futures. Albin is also a regular collaborator with Washington, D.C.-based InSeries Opera, most recently as dramaturg and librettist for the 2027 production of The Triumph of F.A.U.V.E.L., An Ass.