A Letter from the Chair
Dear Friends,
The Department of Music is bustling. I hope you will read our new Newsletter to view a full account of recent events and accomplishments. The online format is a major project and a work in progress and we apologize for any problems you may encounter in navigating it. I suggest you use the back button on your browser to move around the pages until we work out the structure more thoroughly.
Hertz Hall continues to be filled with music nearly every day of the academic year. Numerous great concerts were presented by department ensembles and individual faculty and students in Hertz Hall and the Elkus Room in Morrison. All of this activity has run smoothly thanks, in large part, to our superb staff and hard-working faculty.
This spring you will be able to sample much of our bounty at our Open House on Cal Day, Saturday, April 21. I hope you'll join us. You can read about our spring colloquia series by visiting the Future Events link in the right column menu. Of special note, music in Israel will be featured in a cluster of guests and events this Spring: Israeli composer-performer Emmanuel Witzthum, a Townsend Center fellow in residence for two months (see sidebar), and a two-day visit by former members of the band Bustan Abraham, renowned for their inventive music that synthesizes elements of Arab and Turkish music with Western vernacular and classical styles, and a course taught by Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, curator of the Magnes Collection (a new addition to UC, housed in a building on Allston Way in downtown Berkeley).
All of our activities have been enabled or enhanced due to the generosity of donors, particularly to the Chair's Discretionary Fund, which has been tapped for conferences, guest lecturers, performances, and many other purposes for which University funding does not suffice. We deeply appreciate the contributions we have received, both large and small, that support the hard work of our faculty, staff, and students.
To make a donation online, visit our Give to Music section of our website. Your tax deductible donations allow us to continue our series of free concerts and enrich our curriculum with special guests and performances.
Benjamin Brinner
Chair, Department of Music
December 22, 2011