In a recent surge of innovation within the University of Cincinnati's academic circles, Erin Alcorn, a doctoral student at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), has made headlines. Her groundbreaking work in merging the artistry of vocal performance with cutting-edge virtual reality (VR) technology has earned her top honors at UC's GradNEXT Competition. Alcorn's dissertation project, the UC ARIA Initiative, aims to revolutionize how audiences experience the classical singing genre known as art song by incorporating VR into performances. Here, she clinched in first place and walked away with the Audience Choice Prize.
Alcorn's success story in the academic arena began earlier in the year when she clinched a third-place finish at UC's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Notably, she was the first CCM student to be honored with an award at the 3MT competition since it commenced nine years ago. She uniquely distinguished herself as the only humanities scholar participating in both contests this year. Her research, which delves into an untouched territory within classical performance, casts a new light on the possibilities for art song expression.
The inspiration for her dissertation, "Reimagining Art Song: A New Era of Audience Engagement Through Virtual Reality," was kindled during her experience with a VR Opera project during the pandemic. Seizing the untapped potential she recognized, Alcorn told the University of Cincinnati News, "Despite the growing presence of VR in opera, no one has yet explored art song in this medium—my favorite art form." Her vision seeks to forge new vistas in consuming and interacting with this traditional music genre.
