06/12/2026
Welcome, Dr. Fenton!
Dr. Kathryn M. Fenton holds a BMus, Hons from McGill University, an MA from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in musicology from The University of Western Ontario. Prior to coming to UL Lafayette , Professor Fenton taught at several universities in the U.S. and Canada, including Texas A&M Kingsville, Stephen F. Austin University, Eastern Illinois University, Middle Tennessee State University, The University of Western Ontario, and Wilfrid Laurier University. She sees music history and theory courses as opportunities to not only give students a sense of how individual works fit into a network of historical and cultural contexts and to expand their musical literacy, but also as a chance to encourage students to develop their critical thinking and writing skills.
Fenton’s own research focuses on the music of the long nineteenth century, particularly French and Italian opera. She also studies musical life and institutions in the United States during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and the development of an American musical identity. These two interests came together in her 2019 book, Puccini and the American Musical Identity(Routlege) explored the intersection of nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and nativism in the early New York City reception of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La fanciulla del West (1910). Her current book project examines American musical patronage in a transnational context. She has presented her research at local, national, and international conferences in the fields of Musicology, Literature, and American History, and has contributed several articles on opera singers to the 2013 Cambridge Verdi Encyclopedia and a chapter in Chamber Music in Europe (1850-1918): Composition, Mediation and ReceptionBrepols, 2024.
