Soren Nyhus is a first-year Musicology PhD student at UC Berkeley. He received a Bachelor’s in Music from Harvard University in 2022 and an MPhil in Music from Cambridge University in 2023. His master’s thesis, “The Italian Renaissance in Viennese Opera of the First World War”, investigates the ways in which portrayals of the Renaissance in operas performed at the Vienna Hofoper during World War I navigated questions of ethnic, religious, and political identities. He is broadly interested in questions of modernism and nationalism in the early twentieth century, especially in the German-speaking world, and is looking forward to continuing to expand his research interests while at Berkeley. Outside of his studies, Soren has performed as a pianist, cellist, and conductor.