Stanley Pelkey

Stan Pelkey is a Professor of Musicology at the University of Kentucky. Trained as a musicologist (MA and PhD) and cultural historian (MA) at the University of Rochester, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on music in the 19th and 20th centuries, film and television music, British music, opera history and literature, and research methods.

Pelkey’s primary research focuses on film and television music in the United Stated and Britain. His secondary research areas include the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Handel reception history, the poetry and hymnody of Charles Wesley, and the music of Samuel Wesley. He was the 2009 recipient of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Fellowship and has received support from the American Handel Society and London Handel Institute. Pelkey has co-edited two books, Anxiety Muted: American Film Music in a Suburban Age (Oxford 2014) and Music and History: Bridging the Disciplines (University Press of Mississippi 2005), and has contributed articles on film music, Elmer Bernstein, and music in Doctor Who, Firefly, Dexter, and Little House on the Prairie to Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO 2011); Buffy, Ballads, and Bad Guys Who Sing: Music in the Worlds of Joss Whedon (Scarecrow Press 2010); Relocating the Sound of the Western (Routledge 2018); Pop Culture Matters: Proceedings of the 39th Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture Association (2019); Oxford Bibliographies in Cinema and Media Studies (Oxford 2022); and the journal, American Music (2023). He is currently working on projects that explore intersections of music, theology, and philosophy since 1700.

Prior to returning full-time to the classroom in 2025, Pelkey served for twelve years in administrative roles, including as founding dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, NY), as Associate Dean of Engagement and Entrepreneurship in Florida State University’s College of Music, and as the Director of the UK School of Music.

Pelkey remains active as a composer, conductor, organist, and pianist and recently completed the Masters of Arts in Theological Studies (2026) at Asbury Theological Seminary.