Department of Music Spring 2021 Newsletter
2 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Contents Welcome from the Chair.........................................................................................................4 Richard North promoted to Continuing Lecturer.................................................................5 UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre presents virtual Don Giovanni.......................................6 Dorothy and Sherrill C. Corwin Awards.................................................................................9
Ethnomusicology Forum: UCSB ABD Graduate Student Series.......................................12 Corwin Chair Series Lectures: Bayle, Pope, and Dhomont................................................14 Virtual Winter 2021 Concert Series......................................................................................15 Faculty News and Accomplishments...................................................................................18 Current Student Successes...................................................................................................19 Alumni News..........................................................................................................................20 Remembering Alumnus Wallace Umber..............................................................................21
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View upcoming events on our website, subscribe to our weekly events newsletter, or follow the Department of Music on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Pictured on cover: Cellist Lauren Chen and violist Bridget Boland from the UC Santa Barbara Chamber Music Program Copyright © 2021 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter | 3
Welcome from the Chair With the official arrival of spring and the start of spring quarter at UCSB, I see a noticeable new energy, excitement, and optimism from all of our faculty, staff, and students in the Department of Music. More and more people are being vaccinated from Covid-19 throughout the nation and it finally feels like all of our hard work and persistence during this difficult year is paying off as we look to a return to our beautiful campus for Fall Quarter 2021. I continue to be amazed by the incredible work that is being presented by our students and am humbled and grateful to be the Chair of our department as we look to the future with hope and determination.
Robert Koenig, Chair and Professor of Keyboard
4 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Richard North promoted to Continuing Lecturer After joining the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music in Spring 2015 as Lecturer and Director of the UC Santa Barbara Gamelan Ensemble, Richard North was appointed to the position of Continuing Lecturer in Winter 2021. North was hired as an instructor of Indonesian and Malaysian Gamelan music at the department, within the World Music Performance series (A70J / A170J / A270J). He has been teaching and performing Gamelan music since 1972, having taught Gamelan at UC Santa Cruz, Hawaii Loa College (Kaneohe, Hawaii), North Seattle Community College, and San Jose State University. North is recognized as an authority of the musical traditions of the ancient kingdom of Cirebon, Indonesia. He has made 12 trips to Cirebon since 1976, and has taught and lectured widely there about traditional Gamelan, including holding regular classes at the Kacirebonan Palace. He has received awards from the royal palace in Cirebon, as well as from the Indonesian government in recognition of his contributions to the preservation and growth of Gamelan music in Cirebon, and for his service to the people of Indonesia. In August 2019, North made his twelfth trip to Indonesia, where he taught and performed gamelan in Cirebon. He continued the work of helping to revive lost gamelan pieces and musical forms and was honored, along with students from Santa Barbara, as a special guest performer at the 1st annual West Java Gong Renteng Festival. In the Fall of 2020, North and his wife, Felicia Danon North, served as keynote speakers for “The Gamelan of Cirebon,” part of the Gamelan Masters Lecture Series sponsored by the Nusantara Arts Foundation of New York. In addition to leading the UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara community Gamelan ensembles, and teaching traditional music in Indonesia and Continuing Lecturer Richard North performing with the UC Santa California, a major focus of North’s has Barbara Gamelan Ensemble during the UCSB World Music Series been recording albums of rare and ancient Gamelan pieces and distributing them to artists and teachers for free in Indonesia. They have been very well received, and are used as teaching material there. His fifth and sixth albums are being edited now, and will hopefully be released by summer of 2021. At the request of the Sultan (king) of Kacirebonan Palace, North is involved in an ongoing project where he is creating notation and videos of now rare classical Gamelan pieces, materials that will be used in regular rehearsal at the Kacirebonan Palace. Read more about North here. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter | 5
UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre presents virtual Don Giovanni
Photo: Zach Mendez
Associate Professor Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian leads cast of undergraduate and graduate students in virtual feat With an in-person opera in UC Santa Barbara’s historic Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall out of the question due to continued restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, UC Santa Barbara Associate Professor Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian led the UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre students in the department’s first-ever virtual opera for their Winter 2021 production. Keeping in mind the many benefits of learning Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music, Bayrakdarian chose to present an abridged version of the composer’s two-act opera Don Giovanni, which was streamed on February 26 as a YouTube Premiere from the Department of Music’s YouTube channel. In an interview with Josef Woodard for the Santa Barbara Independent, Bayrakdarian noted that “In an ideal world, we would’ve come together, rehearsed in person with an accompanist, and then staged it for a live performance with an orchestra. However, as Carl Sagan says, ‘We live in an extraordinary age.’ No one could’ve ever imagined this worldwide scenario where established opera companies have been closed for more than a year, professional opera singers are without jobs or singing opportunities, with no end in sight. I wanted to give our UCSB voice students a glimmer of hope as well as an enviable opportunity to prepare a role vocally and dramatically, collaborate with other musicians—even if it’s remotely— and continue to hone their vocal technique, and of course have the chance to perform it for a wide audience, via a YouTube broadcast” (Woodard, 2021). Students in the UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre Program began preparing for the virtual production in Fall 2020, rehearsing and later recording scenes in their own homes, in locations all over the country, with some students as far away as Italy and South Korea. The remote format of the project challenged the students both musically and technologically, requiring them to learn recording techniques and become familiar with new equipment. Dr. Bayrakdarian, who quickly adapted her own performances to a virtual format at the start of the pandemic, directed the project and provided valuable advice and feedback during the rehearsals and recording process. “Directing this opera during the pandemic—and presenting it virtually—posed many challenges, but it also offered the rare chance to assign the dual roles of Don Giovanni and Leporello to the same singer, thus alluding to the notion that the servant and his master are alter-egos, opposite sides of the same person,” said Dr. Bayrakdarian. “This opera has a timeless quality, and it’s a great psychological thriller. Having sung the role of Zerlina in countless productions around the world, from the Salzburg Festival to the Metropolitan Opera, it’s an incredible honor for me to be able to pass on the experience and knowledge that I learned from the greatest conductors and stage directors, back to the new generation of singers and to our talented UCSB voice students.” 6 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
[Top row from left] Valdis Jansons (Leporello), April Amante (Donna Anna), Gianni Becker (Don Ottavio), [bottom row from left] Naomi Merer (Donna Elvira), Marta Hovhannisyan (Zerlina), and Steven Browning Thomson (Masetto) sing the Finale, “Ah, dov’è il perfido” from Don Giovanni
The opera Don Giovanni features music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, whom Mozart also collaborated with for Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) and Così fan tutte (1790). Classified by Mozart as an opera buffa, Don Giovanni received its premiere on October 29, 1787 by the Prague Italian Opera at the National Theater, now called the Estates Theatre, in Prague, Czech Republic. Based on the legend of the notorious libertine Don Juan originally brought to life by the Spanish writer Tirso de Molina, the opera is set in Seville, Spain in the mid-18th century, and follows the demise of the shameless seducer Don Giovanni over the course of a mere 24 hours. The UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre virtual production included performances by both graduate and undergraduate Voice Program students, with piano accompaniment by UC Santa Barbara Continuing Lecturer Dr. John Ballerino and doctoral student Erik Lawrence. See the next page for a full cast list. View the full UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre production here. This production was generously supported by the Carl Zytowski Fund for Opera. Woodard, J. (2021, February 24). UCSB Opera Theatre Presents ‘Don Giovanni’: Isabel Bayrakdarian Directs Mozart for the Web. Santa Barbara Independent. https://www.independent.com/2021/02/24/ucsb-opera-theatre-presents-dongiovanni/
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Don Giovanni Cast and Musicians Dr. John Ballerino Continuing Lecturer Keyboard Pianist
Gianni Becker Master of Music Voice First-year Don Ottavio Marta Hovhannisyan Master of Music Voice First-year Zerlina
Erik Lawrence Doctor of Musical Arts Collaborative Piano Third-year
Naomi Merer Doctor of Musical Arts Voice Candidate
Pianist
Donna Elvira
Valdis Jansons Doctor of Musical Arts Voice Second-year
Steven Browning Thomson Master of Music Choral Conducting First-year
Don Giovanni/Leporello
Masetto
April Amante Doctor of Musical Arts Voice First-year
Keith Romero Bachelor of Music Voice First-year
Donna Anna
Chorus
Megan Ashley Bachelor of Music Voice Fourth-year
Soohyun Ryu Bachelor of Music Voice Third-year
Chorus
Chorus
Tyler Fulgham Bachelor of Music Voice First-year
Kartik Sundaram Bachelor of Arts Music Studies Second-year
Chorus
Chorus
Violet Joy Hansen Bachelor of Arts Music Studies Third-year
Matthew Thayer Bachelor of Music Voice First-year
Chorus
Chorus
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Dorothy and Sherrill C. Corwin Awards Winners announced for Large Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble, Electronic Music, and a special category for new music duo Transient Canvas Hosted annually by the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music and generously supported by the Corwin Family Foundation, the Dorothy and Sherrill C. Corwin Awards recognize excellence in music composition, and are open to all UC Santa Barbara undergraduate and graduate student music majors in the Department of Music, the College of Creative Studies, and the Media Arts and Technology Program. The 2021 Awards included four categories: Work for Large Ensemble, Work for Chamber Ensemble, Electronic/Audio-visual Work, plus a special category for Works for Marimba and Bass Clarinet, to be premiered by the duo Transient Canvas. Every year, three external judges are nominated by the Corwin Chair to evaluate student scores and recordings and award prizes linked to monetary rewards, concert performances, and studio recordings. Nominated by Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira, this year’s jury included Elainie Lilios from Bowling Green State University, Ken Ueno from UC Berkeley, Rodrigo Sigal from Centro Mexicano para la Musica y Artes Sonoras, and Amy Advocat and Matt Sharrock of Transient Canvas. Read on to learn more about each of the 2021 Awardees and their works. Artist biographies are available here.
Rodney DuPlessis, Doctor of Philosophy First Prize, Work for Chamber Ensemble Coacervate for violin and electronics
“Certain mixtures of polyelectrolytes can spontaneously form dense liquid droplets (called coacervates) suspended in water (dilute phase). These liquid droplets are often filled with complex molecules, proteins, polymers, and nucleic acids. Coacervate formation has been suggested as a possible mechanism through which the first simple cells formed on earth (Abiogenesis). In composing Coacervate, I worked closely with violinist and chemical engineer Chelsea Edwards to create a sonic narrative from this chemistry. Distinct musical motives are inserted into dilute textures where they compartmentalize, chain together like charged polymers, and erupt into the beginnings of life.” Listen here.
Dariush Derakhshani, Doctor of Philosophy First Prize, Electronic Music Pārsa
“Pārsa can be categorized as a programmatic piece. The inspiration of its form and direction came from the history of Persepolis and its demolition by Alexander the Great. The initial section is meant to represent a grand sound which is slowly ravaged as the piece continues. What remains by the end are broken parts and pieces representing the slow destruction of Persepolis by fire. The final section (A’) is a distorted memory of the grand sound heard in the beginning which quickly crumbles into a minuscule sound with a high amount of tension in its core.” Listen here. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter | 9
Alexandra Jones, Master of Arts
First Prize, Special Category for 2021 (Works for Transient Canvas) In All My Born Days... “In All My Born Days... is originally from a collection of five pieces that vary in the way that they allow either the composer or the performer musical freedom and power. In this piece in particular, there is an equal balance between performer and composer; with a large use of improvisation and open scoring the performers have as much say in the music as the composer. Contrasting sections are the very essence of the piece. Musical characters are pinned against each other: angularity and placidness; agitation and equilibrium; competition and harmony. However, the lines between these differences become muddled and the listener is left with an amalgamation. The fight between living and dying is the underlying theme; however, one cannot exist without the other. The combination of the two is life itself. The title comes from a common southern quote that expresses shock at something never before seen; there is nothing more shocking than life.”
Stewart Engart, Doctor of Philosophy
First Prize, Special Category for 2021 (Works for Transient Canvas) A More Sound Outlook ® for bass clarinet and marimba “A More Sound Outlook ® was composed during the 2020-2021 COVID global pandemic. Unlike other pieces that I composed during this period, which served as a means of escape, I used this piece to document what my life has been for the last year. I began by creating a list of the most common sounds heard around my apartment, then asked my partner to order my list along a spectrum of anxiety that each sound causes. The original list: The first note of the American The Office theme music My dog barking Computer mouse click Boiling water Toilet flush Dishwasher Toaster Snoring Fire Alarm Santa Ana Winds Kitchen cabinets slamming The Microsoft Outlook® email notification I analyzed each sound through standard Music Information Retrieval (MIR) techniques, such as, f0 estimation, harmonic spread, noisiness, and power, intending to use all of the sound samples as musical material. Through the composition process, I realized that I had enough material in one, single sound: the sound that caused my partner the most stress, her work email notification. This piece is both composed by data extracted from this stressful sound and serves as a way to recontextualize and remove the anxiety associated with it. The title is a nod to the source material and a hopeful look to the future as the vaccine rollout continues.” 10 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Eric Huang, Bachelor of Music (College of Creative Studies) First Prize, Work for Large Ensemble The Odyssey Suite
“The Odyssey Suite was inspired by the brilliant and evocative orchestration of Holst’s The Planets and by the colorful imagery in Greek mythology. Each movement portrays different events that happen on Odysseus’s journey homeward. While each of the five (ultimately fourteen) movements can stand as separate works, taken together, the suite aims to bring the listener along to experience the journey with Odysseus.” Listen here and find the complete program notes here.
Kailee Lencioni, Bachelor of Music (College of Creative Studies)
First Prize, Work for Chamber Ensemble Flickering Innocence for piano quartet “In writing this piece I sought fluidity––the transmutation of tension into light, and pulses of dysphoria into a kind of bittersweet beauty. As I composed the shifting, blending melancholy of this piece, I envisioned many veiled menaces, dancing on the periphery of childhood memories. These are perils unseen, shadowed by a sense of disquiet which swells, ebbing and flowing softly, then growing swiftly to bursting point. Floating down in a gentle confetti-debris, there is a calmness. There is an echo.”
Winter Student Recital Series Photo: JShoots
Kelly Guerra, Mezzo-soprano Doctoral Voice candidate Kelly Guerra (mezzo-soprano) presented a virtual lecture recital, titled “Sagrados son los que vienen a ver a sus muertos (Blessed are those who come to see their dead): An exploration of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem,” on January 23 as a YouTube Premiere via the Department of Music’s YouTube channel. The program included performances of “Carnaval de Tambobamba” from Frank’s Cuatro Canciones Andinas, as well as “Introit: Cuicatl de Malinche” and “Rex Tremendae: Aullido de Malinche” from Frank’s Conquest Requiem, all performed by Guerra and pianist Eric Sedgwick. Guerra is a student of UC Santa Barbara Associate Professor Dr. Isabel Bayrakdarian. Watch the video here.
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Ethnomusicology Forum: UCSB ABD Graduate Student Series New series highlights work and research of PhD candidates To promote a sense of community during remote instruction, and to give graduate students a chance to present their work in a public forum, the UC Santa Barbara Ethnomusicology Program created a new lecture series, the UCSB ABD Graduate Student Series. As part of the UC Santa Barbara Ethnomusicology Forum, the series aims to highlight the work and research of UC Santa Barbara Ethnomusicology students who are nearing the end of their Doctor of Philosophy degree program, and have completed all requirements with the exception of the dissertation (ABD, or “All But Dissertation”). With in-person events prohibited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lectures in Winter Quarter were presented via Zoom. PhD candidate Jason Busniewski kicked-off the series on January 27 with a lecture titled “Bagpiping in the Garhwal Himalayas: Music Theory and Analytical Approaches to a South Asian Tradition.” Busniewski wrote of his talk: “Since the instrument was first introduced to Britain’s Gurkha Regiments in the late nineteenth century, the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe has been adopted, adapted, and indigenized to become a key part of the soundscape of India’s Garhwal Himalayas. While South Asia’s Hindustani and Karnatak classical musics have been subject to large amounts of close musical analysis and music theoretical study, the region’s popular and ‘folk’ musics, including those of rural Garhwal, have been largely ignored in these respects, in part due to a shift in disciplinary priorities within the field of ethnomusicology. “Following the work of Michael Tenzer and Gabriel Solis, this talk explores the possibilities of music analytical, computational, and music theoretical approaches to understanding the processes through which Garhwali musicians have indigenized Scottish bagpipes in the context of preexisting musical practices and what such approaches can contribute to the broader ethnomusicology of South Asia’s music traditions.” PhD Candidate Jason Busniewski
Jason Busniewski is a PhD candidate at UC Santa Barbara, where his dissertation research investigates the indigenization of the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe in India’s Garhwal Himalayas. He is also an avid fiddler, performing and teaching traditional music from Ireland and the American Upper Midwest. Read more here. 12 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Garhwali bagpiper
On February 17, PhD candidate Alexander Karvelas presented a lecture titled “Eth(n)ographic Gardening: Preliminary Research Design in a Study of Permaculture Acoustemologies.” Karvelas said of his talk: “This presentation introduces the preliminary stages of a research project on permaculture listening practices. Permaculture is a globalized ecological/agricultural and social design framework that emerged in the late-twentieth century as a synthesis of diverse Indigenous Ecological Knowledges and Euro-Western horticultural techniques. It is described by practitioners as both a scientific and artistic method for maintaining healthy eco-social relationships rooted in principles of reciprocity and sustainability. “Exploring the implications of permaculture as an artistic method, focus is directed toward the creative acoustic practices (listening and sounding) that permaculturists participate PhD Candidate Alexander Karvelas in through the tending of gardens. Synthesizing Steven Feld’s framework of acoustemology (1996, 2017) with environmental humanities discourses on the morethan-human (Rose and Van Dooren 2016, Haraway 2017), this presentation sets the theoretical and methodological groundwork for a study of permaculture acoustemologies—permacultural modes of knowing, relating, and tending through sound—in the context of gardening/ land-tending as a more-than-human encounter.” Alexander Karvelas is a PhD candidate in the Department of Music with an interdisciplinary emphasis in Environment and Society. His research focuses on issues of climate (in) justice and the sounds of ecological disaster and regeneration. He is also a member of the Environmental Justice/Climate Justice Research Hub at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies and an ally member of the American Indian and Indigenous Collective at UC Santa Barbara. Read more here.
A site used for the study of permaculture acoustemologies UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter | 13
Pictured from left: composers François Bayle, Stephen Travis Pope, and Francis Dhomont
Corwin Chair Series Lectures: Bayle, Pope, and Dhomont Professor and Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira continued to make select Corwin Chair Series events available to the public as virtual events during Winter Quarter. These events included three lectures via Zoom with composers François Bayle, Stephen Travis Pope, and Francis Dhomont. On January 22, Bayle spoke on his music and influences in a lecture titled “…J’écoute donc je suis…” (...I listen, therefore I am…). The composer was born in 1932 in Tamatave, Madagascar where he lived for 14 years. He studied in Bordeaux from 1946-54, and from 1958-60, he joined Pierre Schaeffer’s Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris. Between 1959-62, he worked with Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1966, Pierre Schaeffer put him in charge of the GRM which, in 1975, became an integral department of the French National Audiovisual Institute (INA). Bayle also invented the Acousmonium in 1974 and launched the record series Collection Ina-Grm. Read more here. Stephen Travis Pope gave a lecture on February 19 titled “Secrets, Dreams, Faith and Wonder: A Mass for the New Millennium,” that focused on his film, Secrets, Dreams, Faith and Wonder, a feature-length abstract music/video ritual of thanksgiving in five parts. The film follows the structure of rituals of gratitude celebrated throughout the ages and across cultures and religions. The five pieces of music incorporate voices in Latin, English, and Arabic as well as bird and whale songs. Read more here. On March 12, Francis Dhomont spoke about his music and influences in a lecture titled “Abstraction and Figuration in My Music.” Dhomont studied under Ginette Waldmeier, Charles Koechlin, and Nadia Boulanger. In the late 40s, in Paris (France), he intuitively discovered with magnetic wire what Pierre Schaeffer would later call “musique concrète” and consequently conducted solitary experiments with the musical possibilities of sound recording. Later, leaving behind instrumental writing, he dedicated himself exclusively to electroacoustic composition. Read more here. 14 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Cellist Ivan Law performing the Allegro con brio from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2 during the Beethoven CellObration! presented by Professor Jennifer Kloetzel and the UCSB Cello Squad
Virtual Winter 2021 Concert Series Virtual concerts by UCSB Chamber Players, Lumina Choir, Cello Squad, Gospel Choir, Ensemble for Contemporary Music, and a special Corwin Chair Series concert After a preliminary venture into virtual concerts in Fall 2020, the Department of Music presented a Virtual Winter Concert Series in March 2021. The series included performances by the UCSB Chamber Players, UCSB Lumina Choir, UCSB Cello Squad, UCSB Gospel Choir, UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music, and a special Corwin Chair Series concert featuring works by Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira and Emeritus Corwin Chair of Composition Clarence Barlow. All performances were free and open to the public and were released as YouTube Premieres via the Department of Music’s YouTube channel from Thursday, March 11 to Thursday, March 18. Directed by Jonathan Moerschel, the UCSB Chamber Players kicked off the Virtual Winter 2021 Concert Series. In celebration of Women’s History Month, the concert featured three works by living female composers: violist Bridget Boland and cellist Lauren Chen performed Elena Ruehr’s Prelude Variations; cellist Britta Thomas and pianist Anjela Tokadjian performed Jennifer Higdon’s Nocturne; and the Young Artists String Quartet (violinists Gulia Gurevich and Anthony Navarro, violist Shirley Shang, and cellist Naomi Stoodley) performed Jessie Montgomery’s Strum. The program also included works by Claude Debussy, Johann Joseph Fux, Scott Joplin, Roger Chapman, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Paul Hindemith. Performers included undergraduate and graduate students from the UC Santa Barbara Chamber Music Program. Watch the video here. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter | 15
The program for the virtual Corwin Chair Series Concert, “Synchresis - the Alchemy of Visual Music,” investigated the various potential fusions between sound and the moving image. Listeners were guided through the merger of diverse visual and musical universes and engaged their imaginations through the works of Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira and Emeritus Corwin Chair of Composition Clarence Barlow, as well as Elsa Justel, Chikashi Miyama, Francis Dhomont, Jorge Sad Levi, Dennis H. Miller, and Alejandro Casales. Watch the video here.
Digital artwork from the piece “Birdie” by Alejandro Casales
Directed by Graduate Teaching Assistant David Lozano Torres and accompanied by graduate pianist Pinshu Yu, UCSB Lumina Choir (formerly the UCSB Women’s Chorus) presented “A Life of Peace,” a virtual mini-concert. “Nothing can bring peace to the heart, mind, and soul like music can,” noted Torres of the program. “This new year has brought about many trials and opposition in all aspects of life. Finding a moment of stillness in a world that is constantly moving, busy, and noisy, can be crucial. Experience the ability to find peace and purpose through harsh winter climate and troubles in the world in Winter’s Cold by Michael John Trotta. Afterwards, escape into the soothing, ponderous tune painted by the peaceful sonorities of Dan Forrest’s Shalom. Accompanying the music is an array of stunning video and artwork that will take you on a journey of awe-inspiring moments in nature.” Watch the video here. Directed by Professor Jennifer Kloetzel, members of the UCSB Cello Squad presented a “Beethoven CellObration!” This special event celebrated Beethoven’s 250th birthday and showcased movements from his piano and cello works, performed by members of Professor Jennifer Kloetzel’s cello studio. For this project, five UC Santa Barbara cellists studied one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works and were asked to describe the overall feeling or emotion of their chosen work. For this virtual performance, the UCSB Cello Squad commissioned artist Tyler Scrivner to create background images related to their descriptions and the cellists recorded their pieces with these designs as backdrops. “Since we are doing virtual performances these days, I decided that creating an interdisciplinary experience would be a fun and educational way to push everyone to explore music a little deeper,” said Professor Kloetzel of the virtual collaboration. When asked about his involvement in the project, Scrivner noted: “I was initially approached to create digital landscape paintings to serve as backdrops for this concert, but the music is so emotionally charged, it made sense for these backdrops to reflect the intensity of the cellists. We chose a forest waterfall as the main setting, since the color of the leaves, the position of the sun, and the light that filters through the water could all be adapted to the mood of every piece. Through many conversations, we arrived at a series of paintings that visualizes the overall emotional arc of each piece.” Watch the video here. Directed by Victor Bell, the UCSB Gospel Choir presented “The Virtual Gospel. An infusion of gospel music, gospel music history, and gospel testimonies.” The program included performances of John P. Kee’s “I Made It” featuring UC Santa Barbara alumnus Daniel Ozan as soloist, Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise,” Brent Jones’ “He Rose” featuring alumna Rhiann Joshua as soloist, and closed with Brent Jones’ “Say Something.” Interspersed between the performances were testimonies from 16 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Clockwise from left: Jaze Matteo Wharton, Matthew Owensby, Kailee Lencioni, and Maria Calderon of the UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music performing “Story” from John Cage’s Living Room Music (1940)
current UCSB Gospel Choir students about what they love most about the choir and their first experiences in the class. The program also included highlights of gospel music history presented by the students, such as the genre’s origins in spirituals and prayers, the establishment of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and the lasting legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watch the video here. Directed by Dr. Sarah Gibson, the UCSB Ensemble for Contemporary Music closed out the Virtual Winter 2021 Concert Series with “A Journey Through the Impossible.” The premiere of six new student works written to accompany Georges Méliès’ seminal silent film, Le Voyage à travers l’impossible, served as the centerpiece of the program. “At this current moment in our world, I think an artist’s proactive and creative impulse is being challenged,” noted Dr. Gibson. “What can we do now with the materials we have? How can we continue to create when there are so many limitations to consider? Does creativity truly thrive under constraints? It’s going to be a long haul, but I believe a lot of unique viewpoints, projects, and inspired experimentation will come out of it. This year has been quite a long journey, so Méliès’ iconic film, A Journey Through the Impossible (Le Voyage à travers l’impossible), seemed suddenly apropos for our Ensemble for Contemporary Music.” The program also included Julius Eastman’s Joy Boy (1974), John Cage’s Living Room Music (1940), and Dai Fujikura’s Longing from afar (2020), works that allowed the ensemble members to make music together in real-time over Zoom. Watch the video here. View upcoming events on our website, by subscribing to our weekly events newsletter, or by following the Department of Music on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter | 17
Faculty News and Accomplishments Associate Professor Dr. Derek Katz gives lecture on life of Jazz Pianist, Composer, and Arranger Mary Lou Williams for Goleta Valley Library
Associate Professor of Musicology Dr. Derek Katz gave a talk, titled “Mary Lou Williams: From The Lady Who Swung the Band to The Zodiac Suite,” for the Goleta Valley Library on January 24. The prerecorded talk was streamed as a YouTube Premiere via the Friends of the Goleta Valley Library YouTube channel. “In the 1930s and 1940s, a time when instrumental jazz and dance music was almost exclusively the preserve of male musicians, Mary Lou Williams had a major career as a pianist, composer and arranger,” noted Katz. “A superb and creative pianist, Williams was the primary arranger and soloist for Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy. She also arranged for Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.” Read more here.
Professor João Pedro Oliveira receives grant from Portuguese Ministry of Culture to compose Electroacoustic/Visual Music Opera
Corwin Chair of Composition João Pedro Oliveira received a €40,000 grant from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture to compose and produce an electroacoustic/visual-music opera based on the Book of Daniel in the Bible. The Book of Daniel chronicles Daniel’s struggles to maintain hope in the land of his conquerors, and to remain faithful to the Torah and loyal to his Jewish identity. The production of Oliveira’s opera will be a prerecorded version adapted to COVID times, with no live singers or instruments. All action will be projected visually on the screen and multichannel audio. Oliveira will also be collaborating with the UC Santa Barbara Voice Area to present a live-staged performance of the opera. Read more here.
Continuing Lecturer Dr. Jon Nathan recognized during 2020 BroadwayWorld Theatre Awards of the Decade
Continuing Lecturer Dr. Jon Nathan received recognition during the 2020 BroadwayWorld Theatre Awards of the Decade Santa Barbara Regional Awards for his work with the Santa Barbara High School Theatre Program. Dr. Nathan was recognized for Sound Design of the Decade for his work on Santa Barbara High School’s 2018 production, In The Heights. From 2013 to 2020, Dr. Nathan worked with the Santa Barbara High School Theatre Program on nearly every one of their productions. The program was named the Theatre Company of the Decade, receiving 10 out of the 20 awards given in the Santa Barbara Regional Awards. Dr. Nathan received his Doctor of Musical Arts from UC Santa Barbara in 1998. Read more here.
Professor of Horn Dr. Steven Gross awarded contract with Naxos Records
Professor of Horn Dr. Steven Gross has been awarded a contract by Naxos Records to release the premiere recording of William Bolcom’s Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano. Professor Gross partnered with American Double—violinist Phil Ficsor, based in Denver, and pianist Constantine Finehouse, from Boston—for the recording, which will be released in November 2021. The Trio was commissioned by Professor Gross in 2017, with the intent of creating a chamber work similar in stature to the Trio Op. 40 of Johannes Brahms. An emeritus professor at the University of Michigan, Bolcom is recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize, and a Grammy Award. Read more here.
Professor of Cello Jennifer Kloetzel named Guest Adjudicator for Napolinova 2nd World Cello E-Competition
Professor of Cello Jennifer Kloetzel has been invited to serve as the American adjudicator for the 2nd World Cello E-Competition, organized by the Napolinova music association. Established to provide young artists with an opportunity to showcase their talents on a worldstage during this quarantine time, the competition is open to musicians from across the globe. For the second year in a row, Kloetzel will serve as one of three international judges, including Catalin Ilea (University of the Arts; Berlin, Germany) and Kyungok Park (Hanyang University; Seoul, South Korea). Fifteen scholarship prizes will be awarded and the winners will be promoted via radio and social media. Read more here. 18 | UC Santa Barbara Department of Music | Spring 2021 Newsletter
Current Student Successes Doctoral Candidate Cloe Gentile Reyes featured as Panelist for Indiana University’s Innovation in Art Song Virtual Summit
Cloe Gentile Reyes, a PhD candidate in Musicology, was featured as a panelist for the Innovation in Art Song Virtual Summit, which was hosted by Indiana University on March 26 and 27. Gentile Reyes was a guest speaker on a panel discussion titled “Gender and Art Song,” which also featured tenor Matthew Valverde, as well as composers Ricky Ian Gordon and Mari Esabel Valverde. Moderated by Indiana University doctoral voice student Cathy Compton, the panel explored what role gender has played in Art Song and how that is rapidly shifting. The group also examined new pieces being created which aim to break the normative bonds between text and music. Read more here.
Doctoral Violinist Gulia Gurevich leads Classical Concerts on the Hill into New Virtual Format as Artistic Director
Doctor of Musical Arts student Gulia Gurevich led the Classical Concerts on the Hill Concert Series into a new virtual format in 2021. Gurevich—who serves as Artistic Director—helped pivot the series, which normally presents in-person chamber concerts at the Hillcrest Center for the Arts in Thousand Oaks, to a completely virtual experience using the organization’s YouTube channel. The first concert of 2021 featured pianist Xiao Chen performing works by Frédéric Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Robert Schumann and the second featured pianist Svetlana Smolina performing works by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Scriabin, with Gurevich joining Smolina for a violin and piano sonata by Johannes Brahms. Read more here.
Doctoral Voice Student Valdis Jansons featured in Opera Oviedo’s production of Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers
Latvian baritone Valdis Jansons, a Doctor of Musical Arts student, was featured in Opera Oviedo’s production of Georges Bizet’s three-act opera Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) in Oviedo, Spain. The production premiered on January 25 and ran through February 6, and featured Jansons in the role of Zurga. Spanish newspaper El Comercio wrote of Jansons’ performance: “...Impeccable recreation of Zurga, the chief of the pearl fishermen. Forceful sound projection...adequate stage presence, fundamental in the most dramatic role of the work, and expressiveness in singing. The third act, the most demanding for the role of Zurga, was the impeccable cover letter of a baritone with a future.” Read more here.
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Alumni News Alumna Sio Tepper ‘14 receives recognition during 2020 BroadwayWorld Theatre Awards of the Decade Santa Barbara Regional Awards
Alumna Sio Tepper ‘14 received recognition during the 2020 BroadwayWorld Theatre Awards of the Decade Santa Barbara Regional Awards for her work with the Santa Barbara High School Theatre Program. Nominations for the awards were submitted by members of the BroadwayWorld community and winners were selected by popular vote. Tepper was recognized for Sound Design of the Decade for her work on Santa Barbara High School’s 2018 production In The Heights. From 2013 to 2020, Tepper has worked with the Santa Barbara High School Theatre Program on nearly every one of their productions. Tepper received a Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis in Ethnomusicology from UC Santa Barbara. Read more here.
Composition Alumnus Dr. Brandon J. Rolle ‘19 to release debut album on Arpaviva Recordings
Alumnus Dr. Brandon J. Rolle’s debut album, Glitch Portraiture, will be released by Arpaviva Recordings in November 2021. The production of the album will be supported by the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University and the Arpaviva Foundation. Glitch Portraiture will feature five recent electroacoustic chamber works that exhibit Rolle’s distinct approach to integrating technology with acoustic performance. The record includes several works composed during Rolle’s time as a PhD student at UC Santa Barbara, along with new works including an electroacoustic chamber concerto written for violinist/composer Mari Kimura and featuring her recently-released MUGIC™ performance sensor. Read more here.
Music Theory Alumna Dr. Elizabeth Hambleton ‘20 appointed Visiting Assistant Professor at Colby College
Alumna Dr. Elizabeth Hambleton ‘20 was recently appointed as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. For the semester-long appointment, Hambleton is teaching post-tonal theory, which is the capstone class to the four-semester theory sequence for the music majors, as well as an introduction to sound art and soundwalking, which is a more hands-on / “ears-open” class designed for non-majors of all musical and artistic background. In the post-tonal class, Hambleton is adding units on electroacoustic music, graphic notation, and new notation, plus video game music theory and analysis. Hambleton holds a Master of Arts and PhD in Music Theory from UC Santa Barbara. Read more here.
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Remembering a Dedicated Performer and Music Educator Wallace Umber (1924-2021) Wallace Umber, an accomplished UC Santa Barbara graduate, passed away on January 28, 2021. He was an important participant during the beginning of the Music Department at UC Santa Barbara, which was formerly part of Santa Barbara State College. Wallace was a leading trumpet student, and often toured California with brass ensembles under conductor Professor Maurice Faulkner. In his later years at the Samarkand retirement community in Santa Barbara, he often spoke about his experiences during presentations by UCSB brass musicians. Wallace was an important part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, developing music programs at Venice High School and Emerson Junior High School. He founded the Santa Monica Emeritus band, and directed it for 40 years. He also brought a band to Venice High Community Adult School. Wallace was noted for teaching and performing trumpet, playing until shortly before his death. He also served as a sharpshooter for the U.S. Army in the European Theatre of World War II. He is survived by wife Carol, six children, seven grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
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Support the Department of Music Our alumni, parents, and friends provide essential support for teaching, research, and program needs. The department benefits from annual unrestricted support and major gifts designated for special purposes. Your generosity plays a critical role in our ability to fulfill our mission and is truly appreciated. Every gift counts. Listed below are some of our highest priorities: Funding for undergraduate scholarships and graduate student fellowships Chamber Music Program Community Outreach Support Cross-campus Interdisciplinary Projects Contact Leslie Gray, Senior Director of Development, at (805) 893-4193 or leslie.gray@ucsb.edu to make a donation. Gifts can also be made online at giving.ucsb.edu. It is the policy of the University of California, Santa Barbara that a modest portion of gifts and/or income from gifts may be used to defray the costs of raising and administering funds. music.ucsb.edu
Department of Music
University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6070
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