By Tammie Toler Presley
For Concord University
Athens — J. Kenneth Moore ‘70, curator emeritus for The Metropolitan Museum of Arts Department of Musical Instruments, will speak at Concord University on Thursday, April 7, at 7 p.m. in the Wilkes Family Chapel at University Point, as part of the Carl Azzara Music Colloquium. Admission to the event is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.
Moore graduated from Concord with a bachelor’s degree in music, before heading to New York City to pursue a graduate degree in ethnomusicology. There, he began his career at The Met as a night watchman while studying at Hunter College. Working on the security team was ideal for the enthusiastic graduate student, as it afforded him plenty of time to study, read, and research, as well as to revel in the museum’s extensive instrument collection and to meet the people who loved the museum and its artifacts.
All the while, he was working on his master’s thesis focusing on West Virginia snake-handling churches and the way music affected worship there.
In 1975, Moore transitioned from The Met’s security team to serving in the slide library, overseeing slide orders for the museum, and his career path continued upward.
Over the next decades, Moore progressed through the curatorial ranks, and at each step, Moore said he was in the “right place at the right time, with
the right academic credentials” to make the most of his momentum.
In 1999, he was named the curator in charge of the non-Western pieces in the Department of Musical Instruments, holding that esteemed post until his retirement in 2016, when the Board of Trustees conferred the title of Curator Emeritus upon him. Since that time, Moore has remained a trusted and valued consultant through the reinstallation of the André Mertens Galleries for Musical Instruments.
Moore said his presentation for the Carl S. Azzara Colloquium will encompass his journey from Concord to The Met, as well as elements of what it takes to be a curator of a museum, and information on organology, which is the study of musical instruments relating to their history, design, and cultural importance.
The Carl S. Azzara Music Colloquium Endowment is dedicated to the memory of Carl Azzara, a 1954 graduate of Concord, for his lifelong passion and dedication to being a pianist, musician and teacher. Dr. Christopher Azzara and his brother, Dr. Daniel Azzara, along with other family members and friends, established the fund in honor of their father, Carl Azzara, and to acknowledge his devotion to Concord and the role it played in his life.
The intention of the fund is to provide educational opportunities in music for Concord students, faculty, staff, and the community through professional presentations. Dr. Christopher Azzara, who is a pianist, arranger, author, and educator, offered the first program for the Colloquium in 2018.
For additional information about the upcoming presentation, please contact Dr. Jacob Womack at [email protected] or 304-384-5306.
