San Francisco Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik about Angélique Kidjo’s concert at the Nourse Theater: : “(The concert) was as expected, a leap-from-your -seat and shake your booty op, and by the time she sang her last song, the audience had swarmed the stage and the aisles. Near the end of the show, she sang while walking through … Continue Reading »
5 Questions: Music Alumni Alexander Kahn ’08
Alexander Kahn graduated from UC Berkeley Music with his Ph.D. in 2008. After a stint at Gettysburg College, Kahn now serves as Director of Orchestral Activities at Sonoma State University. 1- You note your father Eugene was a big influence on your passion for music. How did he and your family nurture your interest? I come from … Continue Reading »
14th-century Ferrell-Vogüé Machaut Manuscript authors win AMS award
The American Musicological Society has awarded Carla Shapreau, and co-authors Lawrence M. Earp of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Domenic Leo of Duquesne University, the 2015 Claude V. Palisca Award for their work on The Ferrell-Vogüé Machaut Manuscript, published by the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music, University of Oxford. This award “honors each year … Continue Reading »
Bonnie Remembers Berkeley
My first acquaintance with Berkeley was the summer of 1967. I was a graduate student in ethnomusicology at UCLA and came up to spend part of the summer working on my Master’s thesis and also attending performances at the World Music Center funded by the Scripps family. I made a tour of the Department of Music. I also, with typical … Continue Reading »
Marika Kuzma Retires
Marika Kuzma (Professor, Choral Director) On Dec 9th in Hertz Hall on the University of California, Berkeley campus, Marika Kuzma led two concerts that marked her retirement from the university choirs. It was one of many crowning moments in her twenty-five years of teaching in our Department of Music. The 2014–15 year marked several milestones … Continue Reading »
John Roberts identifies new music by Handel
Professor Emeritus John Roberts recently tripped over an important discovery that others had missed, an early version of Handel’s cantata Tu fedel? tu costante?, HWV 171, when examining a manuscript from a collection belonging to Dutch keyboard player, conductor, and collector of music scores Ton Koopman. Three of the four arias in the cantata were completely … Continue Reading »
Remembering Helen Farnsworth (1914–2014)
Between 1939 and 2005, the Music Department had just two managers, Helen Farnsworth and myself. We saw the Department through decades of change in the University, the workplace, and the world. The music was the constant, and the challenges of maintaining ambitious and increasingly complex and diverse programs were easily eclipsed by the rewards. A … Continue Reading »
HookTheory, what makes pop, pop?
As UC Berkeley’s iconic music venue, Hertz Hall was selected as a photo backdrop for a musically related article pun-tastically titled, “What makes pop, pop?.” The piece features the research of three Engineering graduate students, bridging the world of technology research and application with music. In a recent article in NewsCenter, Nate Seltenrich described how … Continue Reading »
Morrison Hall: Watch this space
“It looks so different! It’s great!” “I love the new office!” These are some of the comments we have been hearing as we near completion of a remodeling project that has completely altered the shape and feel of half of Morrison Hall’s top floor. Planning to renovate the space began even before the library moved … Continue Reading »
Welcome new teaching faculty Professor Matthew Hough
Matthew Hough Assistant Teaching Professor Matthew Hough is excited to join the Music Department as an Assistant Teaching Professor after spending the last sixteen years in New York City. In addition to his work as a composer and guitarist, Hough enjoys writing about a diverse range of music subjects including musicianship, music theory and composition … Continue Reading »
Carla Shapreau, curator of the Salz Collection
Carla Shapreau is the new curator of the Salz Collection of Stringed Instruments. She brings to this position a background of violin making, restoration, and service as a Board member and advisor to the non-profit American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers and the Violin Society of America. Co-author of Violin Fraud — Deception, Forgery, … Continue Reading »
Stefano Flavoni, BA 2015, Music
Stefano Flavoni (BA, 2015), conducting student of David Milnes and Marika Kuzma and 2015 recipient of the Eisner Prize, has recently begun tenure as conductor of the China National Welfare Institute Children’s Choir, centered in Shanghai. Though he began his work there in early September, his appointment came this past June after conducting the South Carolina … Continue Reading »