Áine Heneghan

Associate Professor of Music

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Bio

Áine Heneghan is a music theorist and historian, specializing in the music and writings of the Second Viennese School, sketch and source study, history of theory (especially theories of form), and the analysis of traditional or folk music. She has undertaken extensive archival research on topics relating to early twentieth-century musical thought and, more recently, on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Irish music manuscript collections. Current projects include a philological study on the language of music theory as expressed in the writings of Arnold Schoenberg, and a series of analytical case studies on collections of Irish traditional music from the mid-1800s.

In spring 2019 she was Visiting Professor at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna), while in winter 2021 she held a fellowship in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Her research has also been supported by fellowships from the American Association of University Women, the Österreichischer Austauschdienst (Austrian Academic Exchange Service), the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service), and the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences.

Heneghan has served the Society for Music Theory in various capacities, most recently as Vice President (2021–2023). She was Reviews Editor for Music Theory Spectrum and member of the editorial boards for Music Theory Spectrum, Music & Politics, and Analytical Approaches to World Music. She is now on the editorial board for Perspectives of New Music, for which she also serves as Corporate Secretary.

Born in Mayo in the west of Ireland, she devoted many years to playing the Irish harp. She toured extensively with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, taught at numerous summer schools, and received prizes at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Pan-Celtic International, and other major harp competitions.

Áine Heneghan completed her Ph.D. at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, and is now Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Michigan.