Institute for Popular Music

In an opinion article for CNN, rock historian John Covach writes that behind Eddie Van Halen’s “blistering guitar solos” was an “exceptional musical gift and keen pop intelligence.”

The University’s Institute for Popular Music and the Eastman School of Music host “Come Together: Fifty Years of Abbey Road,” a three-day symposium to commemorate the Beatles’ landmark work.

The “study of pop music is just as serious-minded as studying Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms,” says John Covach, director of Rochester’s Institute for Popular Music in (585) magazine.

Rochester Fringe Festival is one of the fastest growing in the United States, with performances from many University students, faculty, and staff. Six of those performers share what makes Fringe special.

A new initiative of the Institute for Performing Arts, supported in part by a fund established by alumni Dan ’82 and Marcia Mantell ’83, makes it possible for more students to experience a professional performance in the city of Rochester.

John Covach, director of the University's Institute for Popular Music, remembers the pop and rock values of Tom Petty. “Petty was not a new waver after all, but rather someone moving forward by looking back.”

In an op-ed for Newsweek, Professor John Covach marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic album, noting that only the Beatles could have released such a musically adventurous and experimental work.

"Ironically, an album that might not strictly speaking have been a concept album ended up being the most influential concept album in the history of rock music," says John Covach, professor of music and director of the University's Institute for Popular Music.

Friday's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will welcome one of the most musically diverse class ever. John Covach, director of the University's Institute of Popular Music, walks us through this year's inductees and—with the help of his guitar—the Yes hit Roundabout.

Rock 'n roll legend Chuck Berry died on March 18 at the age of 90. In this essasy in Macleans, rock historian John Covach remembers what made Berry iconic in a era of song stylists, covers, and lyric sanitization.