Music Department

In the Department of Music at St. Francis Xavier University, we take pride in our role as a vibrant music program within the university. We teach, create, and impart through performance and study a rich range of musical performance, creation, and scholarship. 

We are a community of students, faculty, and staff, and are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment. 

Our program builds on these core commitments: to developing critical thinking and listening around music and its role in society, to understanding music’s details and structures, and to shaping through practice, performance, and creation the skills necessary for communicating music’s nuance, power, and variety. 

With these goals in mind, we offer a wide range of ensembles, classes, lessons, workshops, and concerts that serve students, the campus, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and Canada.  

We offer two degree programs, the B.Mus, and the B.A, and a minor in music. Our program blends individual instruction with academic study that includes a spectrum of offerings in jazz, celtic, classical, world music, and pop music. We welcome and encourage non-majors to audition and perform in our department ensembles. 

Our department resides in the historic Gilmora Hall with major concerts taking place in the Schwartz Auditorium. We present many public concerts each year covering a wide range of musical genres in performances by faculty, visiting artists, and students. Our visiting artists program is a true gem where our students and faculty interact with world renowned artists. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions about our courses, degrees or concert series.

Jake Hanlon (He/Him)
Associate Professor, and Chair – StFX Department of Music