Current Student Successes

Doctoral Candidate Ching-Yun Chen wins First Prize in Adult Instrumental Division of Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition

Doctoral Candidate Ching-Yun Chen

Ching-Yun Chen, a Doctoral Candidate in Piano Performance, was awarded First Prize in the Adult Instrumental Division of the annual Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation (PASF) Competition, held live with appropriate social distancing on April 25 in the Lotte Lehmann Recital Hall at the Music Academy of the West. For her prize-winning performance, Chen received a cash award of $6,000. Chen performed the fourth movement, “Fuga: Allegro con spirito,” of American composer Samuel Barber’s Sonata for Piano (1949). Chen is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at UC Santa Barbara, studying with Senior Lecturer Dr. Charles Asche.

Undergraduate Students Nina Lim and Adrian Cunningham release “Fever Dream” single as duo Lotte Lemon

Undergraduate students Nina Lim and Adrian Cunningham

Undergraduate students Nina Lim and Adrian Cunningham released their first single, Fever Dream, as the band Lotte Lemon on June 11. Cunningham, known to audiences as AdrianQMC, performed vocals, bass, guitar, and synthesizer on the track, and Lim performed vocals, drums, and keyboard. The song was written by both Cunningham and Lim, and was mixed and mastered by Cunningham. Lim, a third-year Communication and Percussion Performance double major, and Cunningham, a third-year Music Studies and English double major, both acknowledged the Department of Music’s impact on their musical development, and the eventual production of Fever Dream.