Composer, MacArthur Fellow, and Pulitzer Prize winner honored for her pathbreaking work as a practicing artist conducting powerful historical research.
Julia Wolfe, renowned composer and artistic director of music composition in NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, has been awarded the NYU University Professorship for 2026. Her appointment began January 12.
University Professorships are an NYU-wide award that honors truly outstanding faculty scholars whose work reflects exceptional breadth and significance and broad impact. As part of this recognition, University Professors may teach one course per year outside their school on a special topic in their field of expertise, as well as deliver a University Professorship Lecture in their first year or two of appointment.
“It gives me great pleasure to congratulate Julia on being named a University Professor,” says Georgina Dopico, Provost of NYU. “This singular honor recognizes not only her extraordinary accomplishments in music composition, but also her deeply influential research-based public scholarship. Through this pathbreaking integration of composition, archival discovery, and public engagement, she has illuminated histories, expanded the possibilities of musical scholarship, and enriched the intellectual life of NYU and far beyond. It is precisely this distinctive combination that sets her apart and makes this recognition so richly deserved.”
With this recognition, Wolfe joins an elite list of impactful faculty throughout NYU who have also been named University Professors, including several from NYU Steinhardt: Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at Steinhardt, Applied Psychology (appointed 2013); J. Lawrence Aber, Paulette Goddard Professor of Psychology and Public Policy (appointed 2012); and Carol Gilligan, University Professor and professor of humanities and applied psychology (appointed 2002).
This singular honor recognizes not only her extraordinary accomplishments in music composition, but also her deeply influential research-based public scholarship.
“I am honored to receive the University Professor title and join the diverse and rich community of previously recognized faculty,” says Wolfe. “In much of my work, I have been inspired by the belief that music can illuminate overlooked histories, foster dialogue, and connect humanity through shared acts of listening and reflection. I am proud to be part of a university community that values interdisciplinary inquiry and public engagement, and I look forward to continuing to create and collaborate with colleagues and students across NYU and beyond whose curiosity and creativity make teaching so meaningful.”
In addition to her roles at NYU and NYU Steinhardt, Wolfe is a MacArthur Fellow and a 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner for her work titled Anthracite Fields, as well as founder and co-artistic director of the New York-based music collective Bang on a Can. She is currently completing two international residencies for the 2025–2026 season: one as the inaugural Composer in Residence for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and one with the music venue Bozar in Brussels, Belgium. Her most recent work for orchestra, Liberty Bell, premiered at the Houston Symphony in September 2025 and will receive its New York premiere in Carnegie Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra in October 2026.
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