David Heinsen joins the faculty as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Theory this autumn. His research lies at the intersection of musical analysis and historical inquiry. His work examines how historically-situated listeners might have understood musical compositions from their time, grounding his analytical interpretations in archival research and contextual understanding. His current project focuses on Spanish concert music of the early 20^th century, specifically addressing how composers strategically used vernacular genres like the fandango and pasodoble in their art music compositions, and how these strategies were understood relative to their contemporary social, political and racial discourses. This work draws on topic theory, cultural studies, historiographies of flamenco, and the construction of national identities. His other active project studies common schemata in 21^st-century flamenco fusion music and how the transformation of these schemata construct meaning for listeners familiar with them.

Heinsen has presented papers at several meetings of the Society for Music Theory; regional conferences in Georgia, Texas, Colorado and Kansas; and international conferences in Barcelona and Valladolid, Spain. He has also published articles in Bibliotheca Dantesca on narrative theory and literary hermeneutics, and Engaging Students on the integration of popular music into the aural skills classroom.