In the News

Bringing you the latest news from the UC San Diego Department of Music's faculty, student and alumni networks.

April 2025

The NY Times - "Detroit Opera Steps Into Trump's Cross Hairs With Central Park Five"

Anthony Davis was recognized in The New York Times as the composer for The Central Park Five, which tells the story of the wrongly accused Black and Latino men who were wrongly convicted for assaulting a Central Park jogger, with Donald Trump at the helm of the political chaos.  READ MORE

Shlomo Dubnov Releases Two Research Papers on AI-generated Audio

Two research papers by graduate students Tornike Kharkchadze and Keten Shao with Prof. Dubnov will be presented in ICASSP conference in April... READ MORE

March 2025

Union Tribune - Spring Arts Preview 2025: Cellist Peter Ko is thriving at UCSD and beyond

Now a candidate for a doctorate in music, the former computer-engineering major performs a San Diego New Music concert Monday... READ MORE

February 2025

GenAI Summit: The Future of AI in Music

The 2025 GenAI Summit at UC San Diego showcased groundbreaking advancements in generative AI, particularly in music, with key discussions led by experts like Anna Huang and Zachary Novack highlighting AI's potential as both a creative tool and a challenge to artistic expression... READ MORE

Lei Liang's A Book of Time I Premiered by Han Chen on NYC's Piano on Park Series

Pianist Han Chen premiered Lei Liang's A Book of Time I—a composition transforming geological data into musical harmonies— at Scandinavia House in NYC, as part of the Piano on Park Series. READ MORE

"Sounding Graduate Student Work" by Graduate Student Rosie Dwyer

"How do tensions between refuge and its refusals shape the nature of university labor, especially in light of recent upheavals? From the protest encampments on UC campuses to memory landscapes of Iran and trans activists in South America, UC PhD students in UCHRI’s 2023-24 professionalization program map the search for refuge from local to global."  READ MORE

January 2025

The Reed Family Concert Was Featured in The New Yorker: "L.A.'s New-Music Bastion"

Music critic, Alex Ross, reviews Chaya Czernowin's work, performed by red fish blue fish at the Reed Family Concert. READ MORE

Nancy Guy Named Inaugural Chiu-Shan and Rufina Chen Chancellor's Endowed Chair in Taiwan Studies

"Professor Nancy Guy's ultimate career goal is to inspire more people to learn about Taiwan and the many facets of its culture and history." READ MORE

10th Annual Reed Family Concert Showcases the Best in New Music

The 10th anniversary of the Reed Family Concert brings Chaya Czernowin, Delong Wang, Sarah Hennies, and the red fish blue fish ensemble to the Conrad Prebys Music Center. READ MORE

Edwin Harkins, UC San Diego Department of Music Faculty Emeritus, invites you to experience (and teach with) RHY

The goal of these exercises is to become proficient at "translating" complicated notation into simple, basic notation by paying attention to the beats, attack points and durations within the measures. The need is to find... READ MORE

December 2024

Interpreting Graphic Notation with MusicLDM: An
AI Improvisation of Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise

Professor Shlomo Dubnov, Tornike Karchkhadze, and Karen Shao win award for their paper and music composition from BigData Conference. READ MORE

 September 2024

Farfy Foundation Gift Spurs Student-Led Music Festival

New Department of Music course will strengthen student skills in concert production. READ MORE

TEACHING TECHNO

King Britt’s “Blacktronika,” Waajeed’s Underground Music Academy, and the future of Black electronic music pedagogy. READ MORE

 July 2024

Welcome to UC San Diego Music: 

CHARMAINE YANG, Student Affairs Manager / Graduate Advisor. READ MORE

Welcome to UC San Diego Music: 

CORY SMYTHE, Assistant Professor, Piano Performance. READ MORE

Welcome to UC San Diego Music: 

TIMOTHY (Ti) McCORMACK, Assistant Professor, Composition. READ MORE

Jann Pasler et les musiques marocaines sous le protectorat (July 11, 2024).

Quels genres musicaux étaient diffusés sur les radios françaises en Afrique pendant la période coloniale et dans quels buts ? Comment ont-ils évolué ? Musicologue et professeure à l’Université de Californie à San Diego, Jann Pasler propose une analyse des archives marocaines de l’époque. READ MORE

 April 2024

ListN Up Playlist: Natalia Merlano Gómez (April 4, 2024).

ListN Up is a series of artist-curated playlists that offer an intimate sonic portrait of contemporary artists by showcasing the diverse and stylistically varied music that influences their creative practice. READ MORE

 March 2024

With his Blacktronika university course, the veteran DJ is tracing the connection between Afrofuturism and the club.

You hear dance music everywhere: in the clubs, at runway shows, on the radio and in adverts. But as the popularity of club genres has surged over the decades, it’s often been white DJs who have risen to the top of festival and clubnight line-ups, while Black DJs have become minorities in the genres they invented. To this day, a lot of people on the dancefloor don’t even know that the music they’re hearing is of Black origin. READ MORE

 February 2024

Capturing Creativity with Computation for Music AI

We know it when we see it, but what is creativity and can it be quantified? In a paper that could help guide future artificial intelligence (AI) development, a team from UC San Diego’s Jacob School of Engineering, Department of Music and Qualcomm Institute (QI) has discovered answers in the context of musical collaboration. READ MORE

Meyer Sound Collaborates with Researchers at the University of California San Diego on Cutting-Edge Spatial Sound Experiences

Meyer Sound collaborated with staff and researchers at the University of California San Diego’s Department of Music to beta test NADIA, the next generation processor of Meyer Sound’s Constellation acoustic system. Cutting-edge spatial sound and variable-acoustics technology upgrades were installed in the department’s Experimental Theater, which enabled real-time development with faculty and students while offering the opportunity to gain skills, learn in interactive ways, and accelerate experimental music research. READ MORE

Take 10 with a Triton: UC Alum Olivia Rochelle on Mental Health Days and Making Music

A graduate of UC Riverside with a bachelor’s degree in business economics, Rochelle manages financials and funds at the Department of Music. READ MORE

 January 2024

A Standing Ovation for Opera Icon Anthony Davis

UC San Diego’s pioneering composer is inducted into the Opera Hall of Fame. READ MORE

Sitar virtuoso, Pandit Kartik Seshadri heads for his India tour

Sitar virtuoso, Pandit Kartik Seshadri heads for his India tour to perform in some of the most prestigious music festivals which are a part of the “Music Season” there. The 15-day tour from December 30 - January 16 will cover nearly 11 concerts in 15 days, including a return to the SAPTAK in Ahmedabad, where he performs on January 8th. SAPTAK is a 13-day festival presenting some of the greatest and senior most musicians of the tradition. READ MORE

 November 2023

Welcome all to a new academic year!  It is exciting to see folks back on campus and participating in events, activities, and courses.  Campus is almost back to normal, as we all adapt to the new post-COVID normal.  READ MORE

Karola Obermüller composes in search of the unknown, with layers upon layers of obscured material buried deep beneath a surface that is sometimes sumptuous, sometimes bristling with rhythmic energy. Her unique voice began forming in collages of sound made with tape recorders as a child and evolved later with composition degrees from the Meistersinger-Konservatorium Nürnberg, the Hochschule für Musik Saar, and the University Mozarteum Salzburg. Her sense of rhythm and form was forever changed by studying Carnatic and Hindustani classical music in Chennai and Delhi, India. READ MORE

This past summer Karola enjoyed time in Germany in residence with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, living in the apartment that Hanns Eisler was born in and composing an octet for the Gewandhaus Ensemble. READ MORE

Gris Arellano received her BS in Business and Information Systems from the University of Phoenix.  She has been part of the UC San Diego staff since April 1990. Beginning her career as a Financial Assistant in Biology, she then went on to work as a Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Cognitive Science. READ MORE

The authors’ succinct … summary belies the generous expansiveness of this book. … it gives a remarkable insight into the development of a project, in parallel with – and intimately linked to – the lives of those involved. … a question immediately arises: why did a composer, living in Paris, offer to design a house for his friends in the Anza- Borrego desert of southern California? READ MORE

In June, Neuma records released a boxed set of CDs and Booklet entitled For A Reason. Including four of Reynolds’ works (Here and There, Shifting/Drifting, Sketchbook for “The unbearable lightness of being” and Dream Mirror), it has received broad critical acclaim. READ MORE

The presentation was a collaborative exploration between Reynolds and McGill University Professors, Stephen McAdams and Robert Hasegawa. READ MORE

Anthony Davis is an internationally recognized composer of operatic, symphonic, choral, and chamber works who has been on the cutting edge of improvised music and jazz for over four decades. Davis was written eight operas, including X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X (1986), Under the Double Moon (1989), Amistad (1997), and Wakonda’s Dream (2007). READ MORE

This Island, (released on AVIE) was reviewed and named a Critic's Choice in Opera News Magazine. READ MORE

The exhibit was on view from August 11 through September 22, 2023, and featured the work of five visual arts whose works resonated with Kurtag's iconic vocal chamber music work, Kafka Fragments. READ MORE

David Borgo released a new album of original music titled "Pathika"

David Borgo released a new album of original music titled "Pathika" inspired by his recent travels in India, Kenya, Jordan, Cyprus, Croatia, Morocco, and Portugal. READ MORE

Professor King Britt has partnered with the famous Big Ears Festival in Knoxville to bring Blacktronika programming in 2024. In addition to a week long stellar line up, he will be doing daily workshops focusing the Blacktronika : Afrofuturism in Electronic Music pedagogy. READ MORE

"Professor King Britt created a class at the University of California San Diego, "Blacktronika: Afrofuturism in Electronic Music", with the explicit aim of honoring all innovators of color in Dance & Electronic. READ MORE

Professor King Britt has written a special entry for Moog Music's exclusive Mini Moog Factory dedication website. He writes about his love and first experiences with the legendary synthesizer, including a special playlist. READ MORE

JULY 2023

Music Welcomes Gris Arellano as New Chief Administrative Officer

Gris Arellano received her BS in Business and Information Systems from the University of Phoenix.  She has been part of the UC San Diego staff since April 1990. READ MORE

UC San Diego Named 5-Star College by Money, Ken Anderson Recognized

The University of California San Diego has earned 5 stars–the highest rating available–in Money’s Best Colleges in America 2023 list. The outlet, which annually recognizes colleges that combine quality and affordability, named UC San Diego one of only 13 public universities in the nation to receive a 5-star rating. READ MORE

Gift Launches Lei Lab at the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute

With the goal of breaking barriers among music, visual arts, theater, engineering and oceanography, Boston-based philanthropist (Snow) Dan Qin has made a donation to create a residency for UC San Diego composer Lei Liang at the Qualcomm Institute (QI) at UC San Diego. The gift establishes the Lei Lab at QI. READ MORE