The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music has appointed Dr. Nicole Lamartine as Teaching Professor and Sorensen Director of Choral Music, beginning Fall 2020. As the Sorensen Director of Choral Music, Dr. Lamartine will conduct the flagship choir, the UCSB Chamber Choir, integrate relevancy into graduate choral studies for 21st century conductors, and teach studio conducting and voice. Dr. Lamartine will also oversee the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program in Choral Conducting, an emphasis that has not been available to incoming students for several years.

 

 

 

 

Jill Felber, UC Santa Barbara Professor of Flute, will present a chamber music concert, titled “Fantasy,” with oboist Thomas Gallant and pianist Dianne Frazer on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 2 pm in Karl Geiringer Hall on the UC Santa Barbara campus. The trio will perform works by Madeleine Dring, Benjamin Britten, Gaetano Donizetti, Jacques Ibert, and more.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music has appointed Dr. João Pedro Oliveira as Corwin Chair of Composition beginning January 2020. A native of Portugal, Oliveira brings a varied and dynamic background in composition, music theory, organ performance, and architecture, with a 30-year teaching career that includes positions at Aveiro University and the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In his new role at UC Santa Barbara, Oliveira will serve as the Head of the Composition Program and will teach courses in composition, electroacoustic music, visual music, and contemporary techniques.

 

 

 

 

UCSB Music faculty members will present works by composer Elena Ruehr, including two world premieres, on Friday, January 24, 2020 at 7:30 pm in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Featured artists include violinist Ertan Torgul, violist Jonathan Moerschel, cellist Jennifer Kloetzel, and pianists Paul Berkowitz, Natasha Kislenko, and Robert Koenig. The program will include Lift (solo cello), Errinerung (solo piano/world premiere), and Red (solo violin), as well as Ruehr's Viola Sonata and Piano Quartet (world premiere). Ruehr will be in residence at UC Santa Barbara from January 23-24, and will also work with UC Santa Barbara College of Creative Studies Composition students. 

 

 

 

 

UCSB Associate Professor Isabel Bayrakdarian will direct students from the UCSB’s Opera Outreach Program in four performances of Evan Mack’s 2016 children’s opera Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena for students from Hollister, La Patera, and Isla Vista Elementary schools, as well as an additional free community performance that will be open to the public. The 45-minute one-act opera is based on the Mexican folk tale of the same name that tells the story of how the poinsettia became a meaningful symbol of the holiday season. Students will attend the free performances from December 3-6 in Karl Geiringer Hall on the UC Santa Barbara campus, with the final free community performance taking place on Sunday, December 8th at 6 pm, in Karl Geiringer Hall.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music will present “Montage” on Saturday, November 23, 2019 at 4 pm at the Marjorie Luke Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara. Curated by UCSB Professor of Flute Jill Felber, the department’s sixth annual showcase concert will feature back-to-back performances by outstanding faculty, students, and alumni from the UCSB Department of Music. Faculty artists include soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, cellist Jennifer Kloetzel, violist Jonathan Moerschel, violinist Ertan Torgul, and pianists Sarah Gibson, Natasha Kislenko, and Robert Koenig. The UCSB Percussion Ensemble, Cello Squad, Clarinet Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, Young Artists String Quartet, and members of the UCSB Jazz Combos will perform, as well as UCSB graduate pianist Buyun Li. UCSB alumnus Azeem War⁠d—remembered by many at UCSB for his viral senior flute recital and appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2015—will present an original work of his for beatbox flute. Admission is free and the event is sponsored by Community Arts Music Association (CAMA). 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Steven Gross (Professor of Horn, UC Santa Barbara) will celebrate 25 years at UC Santa Barbara with a special recital featuring the West Coast premiere of William Bolcom’s Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano (2017) on Saturday, November 9, 2019 at 7:30 pm at Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West. Professor Gross will be joined by American Double members violinist Philip Ficsor and pianist Constantine Finehouse for Bolcom’s West Coast premiere. The program will also include Václav Nelhýbel’s Scherzo Concertante, a movement from Jiří Havlík’s Concerto for Horn, and Bolcom’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano. Dr. Derek Katz (Associate Professor of Musicology, UC Santa Barbara) will give a talk on Bolcom and his works.

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music will present pianist and Professor Paul Berkowitz in recital on Friday, October 25, 2019 at 7:30 pm in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the UC Santa Barbara campus. In this recital, Mr. Berkowitz will return to the repertoire for which he is best known and acclaimed, Schubert and Brahms, in works he has not performed in Santa Barbara for over 20 years, Brahms’ Klavierstücke, Op. 119 and Schubert’s Sonata in A minor, D845 (Op. 42). These milestone works of Schubert and Brahms will be accompanied by J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 5 in G Major, as well as an assortment of works by Francis Poulenc.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music and College of Creative Studies have appointed Dr. Sarah Gibson as Teaching Professor in Composition beginning Fall of 2019. An accomplished composer and pianist, Dr. Gibson comes to UC Santa Barbara with extensive teaching experience as a Lecturer in Composition, Theory and Analysis at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, through a partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship Program (2014-present), and at the Colburn School (2018-19), where she taught classes in music theory. As a composer and pianist, she has collaborated with organizations and ensembles such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and has been recognized by the Atlanta Journal Constitution as “a serious talent to watch.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music will present the fourth annual UCSB Summer Music Festival on Saturday, August 10 and Sunday, August 11, 2019 on the UCSB campus. Sponsored by the UCSB Office of Summer Sessions, the festival will feature performances by the Los Angeles-based Isaura String Quartet, violist and UCSB Music alumnus Jonathan Morgan, Adelfos Ensemble, Sahlala Band, UCSB University Carillonist Wesley Arai, dancers from the Santa Barbara community, and UCSB Music graduate students and alumni. Additional festival highlights include an Interactive Multimedia Exhibition presented by graduate students from the Media Arts and Technology program and the Department of Music, a Children’s Concert featuring the folk music ensemble Kalinka, a concert highlighting plucked string instruments from around the world, a concert and discussion focusing on the challenges facing women artists, and world premiere performances of works by UCSB composers. All events will be presented free of charge at several venues across the UCSB campus including the MultiCultural Center Theater, Storke Tower, the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts’ Digital Arts and Humanities Commons, the Art, Design & Architecture Museum, and the Music Department’s Karl Geiringer Hall, Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, and Music Bowl.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music will present its Spring Concert Series from Wednesday, May 29th to Friday, June 7th. Highlights include Dr. Jeremy Haladyna’s final concert as Director of the UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music (ECM); the UCSB Chamber Choir and Women's Chorus program, "BANG, SCRAPE, and SHOUT!," featuring special guests from the UCSB Percussion Ensemble, UCSB Young Artists String Quartet, and the San Marcos High School Choral Program; and the UCSB Gamelan Ensemble's joint concert with the community gamelan ensemble, Gamelan Sinar Surya.

 

 

 

UC Santa Barbara will present the second annual UCSB Arts Walk on Wednesday, April 17, 2019 from 4:30-8 p.m. at various locations across the UCSB campus. Sponsored by UCSB’s Division of Humanities and Fine Arts with presentations from the UCSB Library, Department of Music, MultiCultural Center, Department of Theater and Dance, Department of Art, College of Creative Studies, and Art, Design, & Architecture Museum, the event will give students, faculty, staff, and community members the opportunity to visit galleries and studios, watch preview performances and behind the scenes rehearsals, and participate in programming designed to highlight the artistic creativity and talent of the UCSB community, all free of charge.

 

 

 

 

The Chinese-American Horn Quartet, comprised of students of Dr. Steven Gross, will be in residence in China’s capital city, Beijing, from March 23-29, 2019. The quartet’s itinerary will include concerts, clinics, and masterclasses at the Beijing Central Conservatory, one of the world’s leading music schools; the RDFD School, an elite high school affiliated with Renmin University; and prominent horn maker Briz Musical Instruments. Quartet members Daoji Yang and Kangcheng Li are Beijing natives and attended the RDFD School before enrolling at UC Santa Barbara. Anthony Sinicrope is from Minnesota and Olivia Langer grew up in Arkansas. The Quartet will be joined by accompanist Dr. Pascal Salomon, an alumnus of the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music.

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music’s Corwin Chair of Composition and the College of Creative Studies will present the Villiers Quartet as part of the Corwin Chair Series on Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 4 p.m. in Karl Geiringer Hall. The program will include UCSB Professor Emeritus Peter Racine Fricker’s String Quartet No. 2 (1953) and String Quartet No. 3 (1976), as well as Thea Musgrave’s String Quartet (1958). The concert, which honors two composers with ties to UCSB’s Music Composition programs, is co-sponsored by the UCSB College of Creative Studies and the Corwin Chair of Composition in the Department of Music. Admission is free.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music will present its Winter Concert Series from Wednesday, March 6th to Friday, March 15th, with performances by the Ensemble for Contemporary Music (ECM), Wind Ensemble, Chamber Choir and Women’s Chorus, Middle East Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Music of India Ensemble, and Gospel Choir, along with a special Faculty Chamber Music Showcase concert on Monday, March 11th. Highlights include the Chamber Choir and Women’s Chorus’ “Tribute to Teachers” program; the Middle East Ensemble’s program featuring Persian music and dance in celebration of the Ensemble’s 30th year; and a Faculty Chamber Music Showcase featuring works by Ernst von Dohnányi, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Maurice Ravel, with performances by soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, violinist Ertan Torgul, violist Jonathan Moerschel, cellist Jennifer Kloetzel, and pianists Natasha Kislenko and Robert Koenig.

 

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music and Department of Theater and Dance will present a unique collaborative concert featuring chamber music and dance on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the UC Santa Barbara campus. The program will feature original choreography by UCSB Department of Theater and Dance faculty and students set to music by contemporary luminaries such as David Lang and Andy Akiho, with performances by UCSB Department of Music faculty and students. The program is being sponsored by the Music and Theatre and Dance departments, with matching funding from the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

 

 

 

 

In an unprecedented collaboration, UC Santa Barbara Library and Opera Theatre will present the North American premiere of Franz Lehár’s 1904 women’s suffrage operetta, The Mock Marriage (Die Juxheirat), on Saturday, February 16 and Sunday, February 17, 2019 at the historic Lobero Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara. Both performances of the operetta—which was selected from UC Santa Barbara Library’s Michael and Nan Miller Operetta Archive—will be performed in English by graduate and undergraduate students from the award-winning UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre program.

 

 

 

The UC Santa Barbara Department of Music will present Professor of Piano Paul Berkowitz in recital on Friday, February 1, 2019 at 8 pm in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall on the UCSB campus. Mr. Berkowitz—best known for his performances and recordings of Franz Schubert and the other Viennese masters Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms—will take something of a departure into the works of J.S. Bach, Bartók, and Chopin.

 

 

 

 

Professor Emeritus Carl Zytowski, a longtime member of the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music faculty, passed away on Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11, 2018 at the age of 97. Professor Zytowski was a veteran, having served in the United States Air Force from 1942-1945.