News and Announcements

On Sunday, March 16, faculty, donors, staff, and colleagues from campus gathered to celebrate the official opening of Wu Performance Hall. The San Francisco...Read more about San Francisco Chronicle covers Inaugural Celebration for Wu Performance Hall

The Department of Music is proud to celebrate the opening of our first new performance space in decades: The Helen and Thomas Wu Performance Hall. Wu Performance Hall serves a vital need for the Department of Music, offering a professional recital space for music, arts, and talks...Read more about Wu Performance Hall Offers New Opportunities to Show Your Support for Berkeley Music

For 50 years, he’s written about the Japanese American internment. Now, he’s turning to opera.

UC Berkeley professor and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda tells the story of a young...Read more about Berkeley News Highlights Upcoming Chorus and Eco Ensemble Performance

This spring, the Department of Music will welcome a new ensemble to the fold: the Latin American and Caribbean Music Ensemble, which will introduce students to a number of Latin American and Caribbean musics, including Cumbia, Merengue, Salsa, Mambo, Danzón, and more....Read more about Department of Music forms New Ensemble to Study Musics of Latin America & Caribbean

To welcome and honor visiting Bloch Professor Ana María Ochoa, the Department of Music is putting the finishing touches in place for the inaugural lecture of Professor Ochoa’s series of five Bloch Lectures on February 7th. Titled “Sonic Extractivisms: Historiographies of Music...Read more about Ana María Ochoa to give Inaugural Bloch Lecture on Feb. 7

Peter S. Shin, PhD (Composition, 2024) has been awarded the 2025-26 Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts, along with artists from other disciplines including sculpture, visual art, and literature.

With the Hodder...Read more about Music Department PhD Awarded Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University

Professor Ken Ueno has co-edited a book to platform East Asian Voices of Resistance Against Racism in Music with thoughtful and brave contributions by: Kunio Hara, Grace Wang, Daniel York Loh, Risa Kaneko, Frederick Lau, Sharon Yang, Sarah Miyamoto, Beata M. Kowalczyk, and...Read more about Professor Ken Ueno's New Book Addresses Anti-East Asian Racism in Music

The Department of Music is pleased to announce two new Assistant Professors of Composition joining the Music Faculty in 2025: Matthew Evan Taylor and Mu-Xuan Lin. These hires are the result of a rigorous, global search to build upon the Music department's already world-renowned...Read more about Department of Music Welcomes Two New Composition Faculty

The Department of Music is pleased to announce that Associate Professor Emily Zazulia’s latest book–Where Sight Meets Sound–is the recipient of two recent awards: the Early Music Award from the American Musicological Society and the Emerging Scholar Book...Read more about Associate Professor Emily Zazulia’s Book Receives Multiple Awards

Clara Olivares, who received her PhD in Music Composition from UC Berkeley in May 2021, will debut her second opera, Les Sentinelles, at the Opéra National de Bordeaux in November 2024, followed by performances at the Opéra de Limoges in January...Read more about Berkeley Music PhD to Premiere New Opera in France

Saagar Asnani was recently interviewed by Berkeley's Division of Arts & Humanities to talk about the impact of graduate studies at Berkeley. Saagar is a graduate student in Musicology and Medieval Studies. He focuses particularly on the regions of France, Italy, Occitania, and Catalonia. He...Read more about Music Graduate Student Interviewed for Arts & Humanities Newsletter

During the spring semester of 2025, the Department of Music will host a series of five public lectures by eminent professor Ana María Ochoa of Tulane University’s Newcomb Department of Music, who will be visiting as the Ernest Bloch Professor of Music in residency at UC Berkeley...Read more about Department of Music Honored to Welcome Ana María Ochoa for 2025 Bloch Lectures

The Department of Music mourns the ten year anniversary of David Wessel's passing. Below is an article celebrating David from our colleagues at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies.

CNMAT extends its heartfelt thoughts...Read more about Remembering David Wessel (ten years later)

UC Berkeley’s Department of Music unveiled the new Helen and Thomas Wu Performance Hall this month, following an extensive renovation that was years in the making. The reopened space includes a larger stage, new seats, and state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and digital technology...Read more about Department of Music opens new performance hall on campus

For over a century, the modern Olympics have brought athletes from around the world together to compete and celebrate. Victors, whether they’re gymnasts flying across the balance beam or casually cool pistol shooters, are awarded coveted bronze, silver and gold medals. But one of the top...Read more about Music Professor Nicholas Mathew Breaks Down the Origins and Stories behind National Anthems

This past May, the Department of Music celebrated the retirement of two cherished faculty, each of whom have been with the University for more than two decades: Jocelyne Guilbault, Professor of Ethnomusicology; and Cindy Cox, Professor of Composition. ...Read more about Department of Music Celebrates Jocelyne Guilbault in Retirement

This past May, the Department of Music celebrated the retirement of two cherished faculty, each of whom have been with the University for more than two decades: Jocelyne Guilbault, Professor of Ethnomusicology; and Cindy Cox, Professor of Composition. A post on Jocelyne’s...Read more about Department of Music Recognizes Cindy Cox Upon Retirement

On Sunday, May 12th, the Department of Music celebrated the Class of 2024 with a commencement ceremony in Hertz Concert Hall. Family and friends filed into the concert hall to recognize loved ones in a warm, uplifting ceremony that highlighted the bright future awaiting these students...Read more about Department of Music Celebrates Graduates at 2024 Commencement Ceremony

The Department of Music announces the retirement of University Carillonist Jeff Davis. Davis has served as University Carillonist since 2000 and has built the Berkeley carillon program into one of the most prominent in the world. Davis’ students regularly perform...Read more about Department of Music Celebrates the Career of Carillonist Jeff Davis