Curriculum Vitae
Education
University of Kansas: PhD, Musicology 2024
PhD Dissertation: Orchestral Programming and American Identity
in the Great Depression and World War II.
Link coming soon! (My dissertation is currently available on ProQuest)
University of Kansas: Graduate Certificate in Music Enterprise 2022
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Master of Music, Music History 2020
Master’s Thesis: Thematic Development in John Powell’s Score for
How to Train Your Dragon (2010), 2020.
Read here: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicstudent/138/
Grand Valley State University: Bachelor of Music, Clarinet Performance and 2017
minor in General Business
Work Experience
Classical Music Indy: Streaming and Radio Host 2025-present
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra: Event Staff 2023-2024
Carmel Symphony Orchestra (Carmel, IN): Events Assistant 2023
Lied Center of Kansas (Lawrence, KS): General Intern and Ticket Office Employee 2021-2022
University of Kansas: Recital Monitor 2020-2022
University of Kansas: Graduate Teaching Assistant in Musicology 2020-2023
Arts Incorporated (Lincoln, NE): Music Librarian 2019-2020
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Graduate Teaching Assistant in Music History 2018-2020
Meyer Music (Grand Rapids, MI): Clarinet Teacher 2016-2018
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (Twin Lake, MI): Camp Counselor and Staff Band Clarinetist 2015
Publications and Presentations
“Orchestral Programming and American Identity in the Great Depression and World War II,” AMS Annual Meeting (Minneapolis, MN), Nov. 2025.
“Strategies for Drawing New Audiences for Classical Music Concerts Through Public Musicology,” Colloquium on Public Musicology (Montréal, QC), Feb. 2025.
Finnegan-Hill, Denise. “Friendship and Flight: Thematic Development in E.T. (1982) and How to Train Your Dragon(2010).” Journal of Film Music 11, no. 1 (December 19, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1558/jfm.22029.
Finnegan-Hill, Denise E. Review of How to Train Your Dragon, by John Powell. Notes 78, no. 3 (2022): 466-469. doi:10.1353/not.2022.0031.
“Understanding Thematic Development in How to Train Your Dragon (2010),” Music and the Moving Image (New York, NY), May 2019.
Software Proficiencies
Video Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro (LinkedIn Learning course certified), Final Cut Pro (LinkedIn Learning course certified)
Audio Editing Software: Garage Band, ProTools, Adobe Audition
Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, Powerpoint
Performance and Recordings
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Symphonic Band, principal clarinet
Grand Valley State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, B-flat and E-flat clarinets
GVSU New Music Ensemble, B-flat and bass clarinets
GVSU Symphony Orchestra, co-principal clarinet
GVSU Opera Orchestra, B-flat clarinet
GVSU Chamber Ensemble, B-flat clarinet
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp 2015 Staff Band, B-flat clarinet
Grand Valley State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble with soloists Richard Stoelzel and Rex Richardson, Under Western Skies (2016), B-flat clarinet
Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, Dawn Chorus (2020), B-flat and Bass clarinets