​DR. LISA URKEVICH​

has lived, taught, and conducted field research in the Arabian Peninsula for over 30 years, making her one of the region’s most deeply rooted scholars and practitioners

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She serves as an advisor to governments and corporations on Arabian initiatives in performing arts, education, and intangible–heritage preservation. As a 2025 Georgetown University Visiting Scholar under the Walsh School of Foreign Affairs, a Harvard University Fellow, a two-time U.S. Senior Fulbright Scholar, and University of Maryland Alumna of the Year, she brings both academic distinction and real-world experience to her endeavors.

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Dr. Urkevich was a professor and administrator at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) for many years, where she developed and taught unique courses on Saudi and Gulf music and traditions. At AUK she was the Founding Head of the Arts and Humanities, helping to establish the college, its facilities, programs, and recruiting large teams of faculty. She was also the originating Chair of the Department of Music and Drama and helped build the most comprehensive music program at a liberal arts college in the region during the time.

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She is a world leading authority on the music and traditions of Saudi Arabia and Gulf States, and the only scholar globally to have conducted extensive, long-term academic research and field work in this area. Over decades, she has documented, preserved, and revived aspects of cultural heritage that would otherwise be lost, establishing a unique legacy in the region’s intangible heritage preservation.

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She served as the Founding Director of the Tariq Abdulhakim Center for Music & Research (with Museum, in Saudi Arabia)--the first government museum/center to launch under Vision 2030. Here, she developed and applied innovative strategies to support authentic heritage and national identity [watch video, Heritage-in-Action]). In conceiving this enterprise, she built upon her earlier experience as director of the Arabian Heritage Project in Kuwait, a center that partnered with embassies, institutions, and corporations to preserve and celebrate regional research, customs, and performances, including the annual Al-Kout Festival.

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Before moving to the Arabian Peninsula, she was as a professor at Boston University (BU) where she held a joint position in the College of Fine Arts, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. At BU Urkevich introduced the first World Music classes in the School of Music, but primarily taught courses in western music. 

 

Along with Arabian music, she is a recognized scholar in Historical Musicology and proved in two separate studies that precious surviving Renaissance music books—previously thought to belong to royal men—were in fact the books of women: Anne Boleyn; and Anne of France. Her findings have an impact on a myriad of historical perspectives, including the dating and source stemmas of major compositions, the histories of the lives of leading figures, and the cultural and historical agency of women and girls.

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Whether in the Arab or Western world, Urkevich connects her scholarship to public engagement. In Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, she has spirited many festivals, performances, lectures, presentations, workshops, and master classes. In Boston, for four years she was the Director of the BU Early Music Renaissance Ensemble, guiding both singers and instrumentalists: here, she taught the group her transcriptions of the Anne Boleyn Music Book, which they performed to much acclaim, bringing these pieces to life for the first time in 500 years [listen here, Boleyn music]. 

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Dr. Urkevich stays involved with the latest innovations in music and education, and since 2017 has served as General Editor of the College Music Symposium: Journal of the College Music Society, the largest world-wide consortium of college, conservatory, university, and independent musicians and scholars: she oversees seven Components, each with its own editor and Editorial Board.

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She holds the rank of full professor and four USA degrees:

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• Ph.D. University of Maryland

• M.M. Florida State University

• B.S. Towson University

• B.A. University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

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