Joseph Sargent joined the musicology faculty at the University of Alabama in 2018. Prior to arriving at UA he taught at the University of California-Davis, University of San Francisco, California State University-East Bay, and for six years at the University of Montevallo, where he received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the College of Fine Arts.

Dr. Sargent’s research focuses on sacred music in Renaissance England and Spain, as well as modern English and American music. He has completed monographs in both these areas, including a critical edition of service music by English composer Nathaniel Giles (Early English Church Music/Stainer & Bell) as well as the first published biography of American composer Leo Sowerby (University of Illinois Press). He is particularly interested in recovering and re-assessing works by previously neglected composers, as well as extending the modern reception of better-known figures to new areas of focus. Articles and reviews on these and other topics appear in Early Music History, American Music, The Musical Times, Revista de Musicología, American Choral Review, National Early Music Association UK Newsletter, Sacred Music, NOTES: Journal of the Music Library Association, Fontes Artis Musicae, and Oxford Music Online. Recent essays also appear or are forthcoming in the edited collections Byrd Studies in the Twenty-First Century (Clemson University Press) and Wegzeichen Neue Musik/New Music Directions (Hollitzer Academic Press). Book chapters on the subject of Renaissance Magnificats appear in several volumes, including Treasures of the Golden Age (Pendragon), Senfl-Studien 2 (Hans Schneider), and Maria “inter confessiones”: The Magnificat in the Early Modern Age (Brepols). Dr. Sargent was a Fulbright Scholar in Spain, and his research has been further supported by grants from the University of Alabama, the University of Montevallo, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the American Musicological Society, and the A.A. Heckman Fund.

Also active in performance, Dr. Sargent has directed several early music ensembles and has performed and recorded with premier choral groups in wide-ranging repertory. He currently sings with Highland Consort, a Birmingham-based professional ensemble specializing in English Renaissance repertory, and also serves as president of its board of directors. He additionally performs regularly as a bassoonist and clarinetist.

Dr. Sargent received a B.A. in music and psychology from the University of Rochester and an M.A. and Ph.D. in musicology and humanities from Stanford University. He holds memberships in numerous professional organizations and recently concluded a two-year term as president of the Southern Chapter of the American Musicological Society.