School of Music

Bio

Kunio Hara received his Ph.D. in musicology from Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music; the title of his dissertation is "Staging Nostalgia in Puccini's Operas." He also holds a BM degree and a MM degree in both music history and clarinet performance from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. His primary areas of research include operas of Puccini, 19th- and 20th-century music, and exoticism in music. He is also interested in the development of Western music in Japan since the 19th century. His article, “Rudolf Dittrich’s Nippon Gakufu and Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly,” has appeared in “Music Research Forum.” An article titled, “The Structure of Nostalgia in Puccini’s Operas,” is scheduled to appear in “Between Nostalgia, Utopia, and Realities: The Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium of the Department of Musicology of the University of Arts in Belgrade, 14–17 April 2010.” He has presented papers at various national and international musicological and interdisciplinary conferences including the meetings of American Musicological Society and American Comparative Literature Association. Apart from survey courses on 19th- and 20th-century music, he has taught courses on Puccini’s operas.

Education

2012 PhD Indiana University (Musicology)
2003 MM University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Music History/Clarinet Performance)

Areas of Specialization

• 19th-20th Century Music
• Opera / Puccini
• Music in Post-war Japan

Recent Courses Taught

• MUSC 354 History of Western Music II—1700-1850
• MUSC 455 History of Western Music III—1850-present
• MUSC 564 Music in the 19th Century
• MUSC 744 Puccini: Critical and Analytical Methods
• MUSC 756 Music in the Baroque

Select Publications

• “The Structure of Nostalgia in Puccini’s Operas.” Between Nostalgia, Utopia, and Realities: The Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium of the Department of Musicology of the University of Arts in Belgrade, 14–17 April 2010 (forthcoming).

• “Rudolf Dittrich’s Nippon Gakufu and Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.” Music Research Forum 19 (2004): 1–25.