Joanna Smolko earned a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Pittsburgh (2009), where she studied with Deane Root and worked in the Center for American Music. She currently teaches various music courses at the University of Georgia and the University System of Georgia, as well as working as a private music teacher and academic editor/coach. Her areas of research include popular music, musical borrowing, American sacred music (especially shape-note hymn traditions), American folk music, and the intersections between American history and music.

Naomi Graber (associate professor) joined the faculty of UGA in 2013. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that same year with the dissertation “Found in Translation: Kurt Weill on Broadway and in Hollywood, 1935–1939,” which earned her the Glen Haydon Award for an Outstanding Dissertation in Musicology. She is the recipient of the Rhonda A. and Robert Hillel Silver Award from the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, as well as fellowships to study at the Library of Congress, the Arnold Schönberg-Centre in Vienna, and the Kurt Weill Foundation.

Johanna Royo received her BM and MM in Vocal Performance from New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM and PhD in Music Education with a minor in Musicology from the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. Secondary teaching experiences included private and choral instruction at Allegro School of Music, the Arizona School for the Blind, and directing the University of Arizona High School Outreach Choir in Tucson, Arizona.

Damon Denton was born in Charleston, South Carolina and grew up in Severna Park, Maryland. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School where he received a Master of Music degree studying under Russian pianist, Oxana Yablonskaya. He has been a faculty accompanist at the University of Georgia since 2010.

David D'Angelo is a jazz performer, music educator, woodwind doubler, Broadway musician, movie soundtrack musician, film actor, orchestral clarinetist, and published author. He holds a bachelor's degree in Music Education (clarinet) and a Master's degree in woodwinds from Youngstown State University, where he studied with Joe Edwards. Other teachers include Louie Paul of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Peter Seminaur of the New York Philharmonic. 

Dr. Roy Legette is Professor of Music Education in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia where he teaches courses in diversity in music education, trends and issues in music education, critical issues in education/music education, and elementary general music methods. He received the BS from Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville NC, the MA from the University of Iowa, and the PhD from Florida State University. Prior to joining the University of Georgia faculty, Dr.

Mark Cedel brings a wealth of professional experience to his position as Director of Orchestral Activities. The 2018-19 academic year marks his 25th year at UGA. Prior to his appointment at UGA, he was Associate Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. In his four seasons with that orchestra, he conducted over 200 performances; appearing on every series offered by the orchestra. Before joining the Charlotte Symphony, Cedel was Principal Viola and Assistant Conductor of the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra for nine years.

David Haas, Professor, obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1989 and joined the University of Georgia the same year. He teaches courses in late Romantic and early twentieth-century topics. His research focuses on Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Russian opera, Russian music criticism, and music and literature. He is the author of Leningrad's Modernists (1998) and the translator of Boris Asafyev's Symphonic Etudes (2007).

Jean Ngoya Kidula, Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology), holds a Ph.D. from the University of California (1998), an M.M. from East Carolina University, and a B.Ed. (Music/French) from the University of Nairobi. She joined the University of Georgia in 1998 after having taught at Kenyatta University and Pomona College. She teaches African Music, African-American Music, Survey of Music Cultures of the World, Topics in World Music Cultures, History, theory and methods in ethnomusicology, Seminars in Ethnomusicology.

Acclaimed for "a remarkable technique, tone and lyricism", D. Ray McClellan is Professor of Clarinet at the University of Georgia, and a member of the Georgia Woodwind Quintet. Prior to his appointment at University of Georgia he held professorships at James Madison University and Henderson State University.  Mr. McClellan is a former clarinetist and soloist with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, he has appeared internationally in recitals and as concerto soloist in Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania and the Czech Republic.