Dr. Brad Fugate (he/him/his)

Dr. Brad Fugate (he/him/his)

Pianist in Johnson City

Dr. Brad Fugate has navigated the areas of music, theater, and academia for over 30 years. After receiving a Masters in Music (Choral Conducting) at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he worked toward a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2006) and also a PhD with a double concentration in historical musicology and ethnomusicology at Boston University (2016). His main focus of academic study was to chronicle the use of the countertenor—that is, falsetto singing—from Ancient Greece to the present, showing its connection to the swinging pendulum of gender and sexuality norms in Western culture. The result of his work at Boston University is a treatise explaining the theoretical underpinnings of listeners’ reception of the singing voice (particularly that of the countertenor) and its relationship to cultural norms of gender and sexuality in three countries with distinctly different cultures—Britain, USA, and Japan.

During these years of academic training, Brad was also very involved in music directing and performing. While living in New England, Brad taught singing and music theory at Brown University (Providence, R.I.), also serving as music director for over 5 years at Riverside Theatre Works in Boston and music directing for the Brown University MainStage production of Passing Strange—receiving commendation for his additional vocal arrangements to the score from the Tony Award winning composer of the show, Stew. In 2016, Brad moved to Charlotte, NC, where he taught at three different institutions (Davidson College, UNC-Charlotte, and UNC-Greensboro) while also music directing musicals at many local professional and community theaters. In March 2019, Brad’s arrangement of the musical My Princess Diana premiered off-Broadway at the Alvin Alley Theatre in NYC. In October 2021, Brad completed his 3-year training course to become a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Very pleased to be a part of ETSU’s Department of Theatre and Dance as Assistant Professor starting in Fall 2019, Brad music directs musicals for the department, teaches lecture courses on musical theater, teaches private singing lessons, accompanies on the piano for lessons, classes, showcases, and recitals, and coaches acting.

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