New Faculty Join the School of Music
The School of Music is pleased to welcome three new tenure track faculty members this year. Each distinguished in their own right; they offer a wealth of knowledge and experience in each respective area here at The University of Utah.
Jane Hatter, Assistant Professor, School of Music
Jane Hatter is a cultural musicologist who received her PhD from McGill University. She has published on depictions of musical time in sixteenth-century paintings and also on intersections between popular devotions and ecclesiastical liturgy in collections of motets. She is currently working on a book on music about music in the late fifteenth century, showing that this repertoire is evidence for the agency of musicians in the development of the composer as a professional category c. 1500.
Kris Johnson, Assistant Professor, School of Music
Kris received his Master’s (2007) and Bachelor’s (2005) degrees in Jazz Studies from
Michigan State University. He is an award-winning jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator.
Kris has appeared on an impressive list of albums including two Grammy-nominated releases.
Currently, Kris Johnson is the Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Utah,
the director of Detroit Symphony's Civic Jazz Orchestra, and a trumpeter and arranger
with the Count Basie Orchestra. Drawing from jazz, classical, hip-hop, and neo-soul,
Kris's writing creates diverse textures that represent his unique musical identity.
He has composed several large-scale works for jazz and orchestral ensembles. Kris
is an award-winning film score composer and writer/co-creator of The Learning Express,
a series of workshops that use hip-hop and jazz to teach elementary students about
science, reading, and math. 
Seth Keeton, Assistant Professor, School of Music
Seth Keeton received his Bachelor of Music from Illinois Wesleyan University, his Master of Music from Indiana University, and his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota. A Bass-baritone, Seth Keeton’s performances have been described by The New York Times as “driven” and “emotionally pointed.” He has performed roles on the stages of The Minnesota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Central City Opera, Arizona Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Austin Lyric Opera and Opera Omaha, Chautauqua Opera, Mill City Summer Opera, and Theater Bremen in Bremen, Germany. In 2006, he was a national finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has received awards from the Sullivan Foundation and the Eleanor McCollum Competition.
ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC
The University of Utah School of Music offers a comprehensive program of music study on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The School of Music educates professionally-oriented students across the musical spectrum through rigorous musical and academic experiences; serves the art of music through performance, composition, research and publication; and functions as the state’s center for intellectual, educational, and cultural musical activities. It has been an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music since 1952.
ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS
With its vision of advancing the practice and appreciation of the arts through leadership in teaching and research, the mission of College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah is to provide students with a dynamic, contemporary learning environment that inspires intellectual, creative and professional excellence and innovation in the arts while honoring tradition. The College is home to the School of Music, the Departments of Art & Art History, Ballet, Film & Media Arts, Modern Dance and Theatre.