Active as a performer, scholar, educator, and consultant, Awet Andemicael works primarily in areas of music and theology. As a concert and operatic soprano, she has sung at festivals and performance venues in North America, Europe, Africa, and Japan. She has received music awards from numerous organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council and the Oratorio Society of New York. Recent projects include the world premiere performance and recording of Robert Kyr’s environmental oratorio Earth Vigil with Conspirare, under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson.
As a theologian, Dr. Andemicael focuses on two areas: music and theology, and engagement with early Christian resources for contemporary constructive theology. In addition to completing degrees in music at Harvard and UC Irvine, and degrees in theology at Yale and the University of Notre Dame, she has been a visiting researcher at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and the University of the South (Sewanee) in Tennessee. Her research has been supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the FIIT-Global Network of Research Scholars for Theology, Religious and Christian Studies, and the Forum for Theological Exploration.
Her current book project is a monograph on the political thought of Irenaeus of Lyon, based on her doctoral research. It will be the first book-length treatment of this topic. Other publications include a co-edited volume of Studia Patristica on Irenaeus; articles in Anglican Theological Review, Pneuma, Worship, The Christian Century; and Forced Migration Review (Oxford Refugee Studies Center); and chapters in several edited volumes. Her research study, Positive Energy: A Review of the Role of Artistic Activities in Refugee Camps, was published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2011 and is frequently cited in scholarly and humanitarian studies on refugees and the arts. She has also written and served as a consultant on refugee studies and interfaith engagement, including involvement in scholarly working groups, membership in the Jerusalem-based Elijah Interfaith Institute Academy, and an interview featured on Swedish public television.
Committed to education and mentoring, Dr. Andemicael teaches theology at Yale Divinity School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music; and has led short courses, master classes, and workshops at the Université Chrétienne Bilingue du Congo (Beni, DR Congo), the Festival Lyrique en Mer (Brittany, France), the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana), and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (Grand Rapids, Michigan). Most recently, she has given public lectures in theology and music at Duke Divinity School, United Lutheran Seminary, and Baylor University.
A.B. cum laude, Harvard University; M.F.A. University of California, Irvine; M.A.R., summa cum laude, Yale University; Certificate, Yale Institute of Sacred Music; Ph.D., Yale University.