UC Berkeley Department of Music

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UC Berkeley Department of Music

UC Berkeley Department of Music Department of Music at UC Berkeley The Department of Music at U.C.

Berkeley has consistently ranked among the top three music departments in the United States for several decades, changing with the times while maintaining its distinction thanks to an innovative faculty, top-notch students, dedicated staff, and supportive alumni. Our music majors and graduate students supplement their studies with courses from the many other excellent programs on campus. Students

from other departments enrich our ensembles and classrooms, while broadening their own intellectual and artistic development. Our professors engage with colleagues from other fields across the campus, not only in the arts and humanities but also in the social sciences, area studies, computer sciences, and beyond. Students and faculty alike enjoy and contribute to the vibrant arts scene of the East Bay, San Francisco, and the greater Bay Area.

02/12/2025

Thank you to everyone who came to Ana María Ochoa‘s inaugural Bloch Lecture this past Friday. For those looking to hear more from Professor Ochoa, she’ll be doing the Loft Hour tomorrow, February 13th, at Noon.

For the remaining dates of Professor Ochoa’s Bloch Lectures, check the Department of Music website!

01/27/2025

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 and Sound in Times of Climate Change,” the five-part lecture series will explore an anthropogenic history of sound during the first half of the twentieth century (up to the 1960s), a period of intense imperial expansion of the United States in Latin America and the Caribbean.

For more information on this important event, visit the department website at music.Berkeley.edu

01/23/2025

We’re excited to share a special opportunity to experience the Eco Ensemble, UC Berkeley’s professional new music group, in their upcoming concert on Thursday, February 1 at 8:00 PM in Hertz Hall. This unique performance, in collaboration with Cal Performances and conducted by David Milnes, features an inspiring program of contemporary works exploring innovative soundscapes with electronics, chamber ensemble, and exceptional guest soloists.

As a supporter of UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, you’re eligible for exclusive ticket discounts:

Students: $10 with code ECOHALL

Non-Students: $25 with code ECOCOMMUNITY

Reserve your seats today and join us for an unforgettable evening celebrating the forefront of contemporary music!

12/06/2024

Our jam-packed December performances kick off tomorrow in Hertz Hall with performances by the UC Berkeley Wind Ensemble and University Chorus.

Be sure to get your tickets early for one of the THREE UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra performances—UCBSO will perform a selection of music from Studio Ghibli, and these incredible performances are certain to sell out.

Tickets available at tickets.berkeley.edu

12/04/2024

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 faculty in composition. Professors Taylor and Lin are accomplished professionals in the field, each with a celebrated career that has seen their work performed at festivals and venues around the world.

Reflecting on the hires, Professor David Milnes, Department Chair, emphasized the outstanding body of work each professor brings to the department. “We are beyond fortunate to welcome two new members to our faculty who are truly at the cutting edge of compositional studies. Professors Taylor and Lin will bring their own touch of creativity to our rigorous curriculum, ensuring that we will continue to challenge and inspire our students for decades to come.”

Short bios for each professor are available in the article linked in our bio. We look forward to welcoming Matthew Evan Taylor for the Spring 2025 semester, and Mu-Xuan Lin in Fall 2025.

12/02/2024

We’re back to campus and back at it after Thanksgiving break. Tomorrow night we’ll host the incredible Berkeley Nu Jazz Collective in Morrison Hall’s NEW Wu Performance Hall. This is a great opportunity to check out the redesigned space and hear some incredible music. The event is free and open to the public. See you there!

11/14/2024

We were so pleased to host the University Gospel Chorus for our weekly Noon Concert. Allowing students to perform gospel classics with the help of professional musicians makes for a moving experience that is always a crowd favorite. If you missed this Noon Concert performance, don’t worry! The University Gospel Chorus will perform at Hertz Hall again on Sunday, November 24 at 2pm. Tickets available at music.berkeley.edu

06/10/2024

The Department of Music is honored to celebrate the career of University Carillonist Jeff Davis. Serving as the University Carillonist since the year 2000, Jeff has built the Berkeley carillon program into one of the most prominent in the world. To learn more about Jeff and his accomplishments for the University, click the link in our bio.

05/29/2024

Have you always wanted to learn about singing, timing, and other areas of music, but didn’t know where to start? Our Introduction to Musicianship course lets students learn about the fundamentals of music while also fulfilling a breadth requirement. This accelerated, six-week course starts July 1 and runs through August 9.

Help us spread the word about this course! If you know someone looking for summer classes, let them know about Music 20.

05/15/2024

Congratulations to the Class of 2024! We had a wonderful commencement and reception this past Sunday, celebrating students, their families, and the bright future that awaits them all. A hearty thanks to everyone who attended and helped make the afternoon such a memorable experience.

Graduates and families: expect a link in the coming days to photos from the event, as there are a lot more than what we’ve posted here.

Once again, congrats to the Class of 2024!

05/09/2024

Tomorrow night! It’s our final show of the semester 😭 but it’s a good one. Berkeley’s infamous Eco Ensemble will take the stage to perform graduate student compositions. Show starts at 8 and is FREE. Details on our events calendar at music.berkeley.edu

05/03/2024

We’ve got a series of exceptional performances this weekend to close out the semester. Tonight and tomorrow we’ll have on the stage, performing Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Strauss’ Alpine Symphony.

On Sunday afternoon we’ll host the University Baroque Ensemble for a collection of tunes exploring early influences on Bach, as well as the world premiere of Koharu Sakiyama’s Toy Express.

For tickets to both of these shows, click the link in our bio! We can’t wait to see you there.

05/02/2024

We’re in the news! Thanks so much to for highlighting the recent middle school field trip to our department. Professor Nicholas Mathew treated Berkeley public school students to a Noon Concert and then invited the students to the Hargrove Music Library, where they got to see some of the most treasured items from our collection.

For more details, click the link in our bio!

05/01/2024

This Thursday at 8pm, we’re honored to host the Galan Trio at CNMAT. This free concert will feature a survey of contemporary American composers and is not to be missed. More details below!

Galan Trio’s “Kinesis,” a survey on the music of contemporary American composers in an original, multifaceted concert program. The project draws from a collaboration between Galan Trio and professors of composition from selected US Universities, and from the notion of “Kinesis.” Kinesis is an undirected movement of a cell, organism, or part, in response to an external stimulus. In Greek, Kinesis means movement, motion. Motion is a fundamental characteristic of all living beings; motion is what all musicians worldwide have desired during the last couple of years; motion alludes to continuity and it’s a promise for
the future of “Kinesis” itself.

The first edition of the project featured the work of five composers who contributed one original work for piano trio reflecting on the period of the pandemic. Galan Trio counts four editions by now in East Coast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South Central regions and works by Yiorgos Vassilandonakis, Martin Gendelman, Matthew Greenbaum, David Martynuik, Ken Steen, Alex Lubet, Navid Bargrizan, Larry Alan Smith and Richard Lavenda among others. The April 2024 edition in California features the work of Robert Denham, David Carter, Christopher Dobrian, Kevin Zhang, Pamela Madsen, Joao Pedro Oliveira, Deborah Kavasch, Ines Thibaut, Cindy Cox and Patricia Allessandrini.

04/26/2024

Earlier this week The University Baroque Ensemble performed at our penultimate Noon Concert for the semester. Did you miss it, or just need more Baroque Ensemble in your life? They take the stage again on Sunday, May 5 at 2pm, for a performance celebrating a cadre of composers who influenced Bach. Tickets available on the department website!

04/17/2024

Still looking to fulfill breadth requirements? The Department of Music has a slew of Summer Session offerings to suit anyone’s interests. Here we’re highlighting two: Blood, Sweat, and Tears, which studies love songs from the Middle Ages through K-pop; and Sounds of Soviet Collapse, which delves into the music that stemmed from the fall of the Soviet Union. More information on each course is below, and we’ve got EVEN MORE courses offered on the summer sessions website. Take advantage of these accelerated six-week courses!
Music 128: Blood, Sweat, and Tears: The Ingredients for a Love Song
Summer Session A
Interested in learning how to serenade your loved one with a song of your own composition? In this course, we will explore the stylistic, linguistic, and musical structures of love songs from the Middle Ages to the present day. This course will cover a diverse range of genres and musical groups, ranging from popular artists like Laufey, Taylor Swift, BTS, Shreya Ghoshal, and IU to twelfth-century troubadours and trouvères. A significant portion of the course will be devoted to critical interaction with the sonic and lyric components of the songs, and all readings not in English will be provided in translation. No prior musical or linguistic knowledge is required or assumed.

Music 139/128: Sounds of Soviet Collapse
Summer Sessions A and D
In the late 1980s, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began to fracture into fifteen independent nation states. In this course, we will explore the musical styles and genres that emerged amidst this social upheaval. From Ukrainian punk rock to post-Soviet memes, we will examine the social and political changes that influenced a wide variety of genres. By the end of the course, students will better understand many of the aesthetic trends, political movements, and key musical artists that accompanied the final decade of Soviet rule.

04/11/2024

Congratulations to , who put on a stunning production this past Sunday. Written and Directed by Music undergraduate Tom Pan, The Little Prince was made possible thanks to our Musical Theater Prize, an annual award supporting original, student-written, produced and performed pieces of musical theater.

The generosity of our donors allows our students to put on vibrant, original productions like The Little Prince. Thank you to all who attended, and to each of the students who participated for all of their hard work. Most especially, congratulations to Tom Pan, whose work all year on this production clearly paid off. Bravo, Tom!

04/05/2024

We’ve got a jam-packed April at the Music Department, with performances you won’t want to miss! Scroll through and check out our upcoming music events this month. Join us for some unforgettable performances at Hertz Concert Hall. To purchase tickets, click the link in our bio.

Address

104 Morrison Hall
Berkeley, CA
94720

Telephone

+15106422678

Website

http://music.berkeley.edu/

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Videos

Coming up this Sunday, the UC Berkeley Javanese Gamelan will host their annual Gamelan Sari Raras concert. If you’ve never had the opportunity to hear this incredible ensemble, now is your chance! Tickets available on the Music Department website

Have you seen our new website? 👀 Last week we launched a complete redesign from the ground up on the OpenBerkeley platform. The new website is designed to offer a better visual experience (especially on mobile!) while helping you find the information you need more quickly. Go and check it out! Just visit music.berkeley.edu