Description
<p>An Atlanta native, Dr. Sherr received his doctorate in 1988 from the University of Illinois. After freelancing and part-time teaching for several years, he joined the music faculty at Kennesaw State in 1996 as Composer-in-Residence. After a year and a half as an adjunct professor, he received a full-time, tenure-track position in the fall of 1997.</p>
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Dr. Sherr’s formal training was as a composer of modern, avant-garde music. On the side, he organized a Klezmer band that played the folksy music of an eastern European Yiddish culture. The latter type of music gradually influenced his compositions. By the early 21st century, he had also begun composing Holocaust memorial works and had developed a course for KSU on Music and the Holocaust. His Music of Resistance and Survival Project includes his Sonata for Cello and Piano—Mir zaynen do! The sonata combines new creations with the music of the ghettos and camps. Music of Resistance and Survival performances occur throughout the world, often in conjunction with lectures by Dr. Sherr on topics such as “Suppressed Music and Art of the Nazi Era.” Performances in recent years have occurred in a number of European countries, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand, and in a number of cities in Canada and the United States.</p>
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Dr. Sherr is the recipient of KSU’s Distinguished Research and Creative Activity Award (2012), Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement (2015), and Distinguished Professor Award (2018).</p>
