Makenna York
Graduate Employee
Music
Email: makennay@uoregon.edu
Phone: N/A
Office: 198C Esslinger
Research Interests: Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Stage Manager for the University of Oregon Opera, Feminism, Popular Music, Radical Care
Makenna York (Yorkie) received her Bachelor’s of Arts in Music (Cum Laude) from the University of Nevada Honors College, where she was a cellist, pianist, and composer. Her classical compositions have been recognized by the SHE Festival of Women in Music at the University of Arkansas, and the Seattle Youth Symphony’s Dear Humanity Festival.
Currently, Yorkie is pursuing her Master of Musicology degree at the University of Oregon with a certificate in Ethnomusicology, where she is a graduate teaching employee and stage manager for the University of Oregon Opera. Yorkie serves as Vice President for the Dean’s Student Advisory Council and founded a site for community gathering through the Women in Music group at the University. Her research is centered on Feminist Theory and Popular Music reception in works such as Vocal Organology and the Female Body as Cultural Interface: The Siren, Maria Callas, and Miss Chile 2025 and Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend Contested Feminist Performance Art, and Third Space Feminism.
Off campus, Yorkie serves as the current Miss Lane County titleholder for the Miss Oregon/Miss America Opportunity, illustrating her passion for community service. Yorkie sits on the board of directors at the Lane County Diaper Bank Non-Profit, and her effort through her passion project “One Orchestra: Music Accessibility for All” (which provides instruments to children in need) has been awarded by the Associated Students of Nevada and the Miss Oregon Scholarship Association for outstanding community work.
If you want to know more about a day in the life, watch this reel of life at the SOMD.