Hofstra University

Welcome to the Department of Music

Hofstra University's Department of Music prepares students with the knowledge, skills and performance experience required to succeed in today's competitive musical environment. When your campus is just an easy train ride from New York City, the opportunities for exciting internships, networking, and experiential learning programs are endless. Students have or are currently interning at places such as Atlantic Records, Def Jam Records, Madison Square Garden, MTV, Saturday Night Live, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.

The Department offers a general B.A. in Music, as well as a B.S. with concentrations in Music Education, Music Business (one of only a few on the East Coast), Performance, Jazz and Commercial Music, and Theory and/or Composition. There are also graduate programs available leading to a Teaching Certificate, an M.A. or an M.S. in Music Education.

With more than 20 large and small music ensembles on campus, there are numerous performance opportunities, no matter if you are a freshman or a graduating senior. Almost every ensemble performs a fall and spring concert, and student talent is also showcased in small recitals scheduled throughout the academic year. Concerts are regularly presented in the 1,100-seat John Cranford Adams Playhouse and the 377-seat Helene Fortunoff Theater. The Music Department is housed in the Joseph G. Shapiro Family Hall on Hofstra’s South Campus, a modern facility that features ample rehearsal space.

Hofstra University alumni are found in all facets of the music industry: education, publishing, recording, sales, management, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and many other fields.

Your professors include Emmy and Academy Award winners who have performed or had their music performed at some of the nation's top venues, including the American Symphony Orchestra, Birdland, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Blue Note Cafe, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Frankfurt Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Opera, Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome, Stuttgart Opera, Sydney Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and in countless Broadway musicals. Members of our music history and theory faculty are published in numerous books and international journals and serve as officers of major professional societies.