Teresa McCollough Named 2024-26 Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts
McCollough will bring collaborative music to the campus community through her time as Sinatra Chair.
Pianist Teresa McCollough has been named the 2024-26 Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts. A professor of Music at Santa Clara University, she will bring visiting artists to campus to write, workshop, and perform three new pieces throughout the year.
“Teresa McCollough has contributed so much to the Music Department and the College of Arts and Sciences in general,” says Daniel Press, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We are overjoyed to support her scholarship and creative expression in this way and are very much looking forward to experiencing the new pieces she develops.”
A professional pianist with a long and distinguished career commissioning, performing, and premiering new works by living composers, McCollough has developed an international reputation for her dynamic and expressive playing. This project will allow her to extend her scholarship and creative activity to her students and the greater community.
"The Sinatra Residency will allow me to create new music with three different composers, including award winning Music alumni,” says McCollough. “It is tremendously exciting for our students to collaborate with living artists in the creation of new works and I am honored to have this opportunity to facilitate these important connections between past and future composers. Making music with my students is a joyful experience for me. Together we are ensuring an audience for the future!"
Students will work closely with the composers to create new works for genres requiring new repertoire to evolve. Each of the visiting artists will also give composition seminars and masterclasses to music students. They will visit classes, meet with students and faculty, and become involved in department events while on campus.
"I'm so thrilled to see Teresa's project implemented,” says Scot Hanna-Weir, chair of the Music Department. “It's not only going to be a great opportunity to bring new, innovative art into the world – but it also gives our current students the opportunity to be inspired by our professional alumni and to imagine that they can one day have similar success for themselves!"
McCollough is the second faculty member to serve as the Sinatra Chair under the new format. Throughout the 2024-25 academic year, she will be planning and preparing with her chosen visiting artist-composers, and will create and perform the new works during the 2025-26 academic year, culminating in the spring of 2026.
“Music is a language that blurs boundaries and allows for connections without borders,” McCollough says. “This project, which I’ve named ‘Composer Connection,’ will do just that.”
Applications for the 2025-27 Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts will open November 2024. Learn more at scu.edu/sinatra.
About the Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts
The Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts was established in 1980 with initial funds from the proceeds of the 14th Annual Golden Circle Theatre Party, headlined by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra Chairs and Visiting Artists energize the arts at Santa Clara University, inspiring our students and bringing life to our mission in a way that is tangible: experiencing the reality and thinking critically about the world in order to emphasize and engage constructively.