Music

An excerpt called “Gaia|Gyre|Siren” from Newtown Odyssey, the site-specific opera composed by Professor Kurt Rohde, was recently performed. In conjunction with the performance, Rohde and his collaborators were interviewed for Urban Omnibus, a publication of the Architectural League of New York.

Ryan Suleiman (PhD, composition, ‘20) has joined the faculty at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. As part-time assistant professor in the composition department, he will be teaching classes on harmony and counterpoint.

Sarah Justina Eyerly (PhD, musicology and criticism, ‘04) has received the Music in American Culture Award from the American Musicological Society for her book Moravian Soundscapes: A Sonic History of the Moravian Missions in Early Pennsylvania (Indiana University Press, 2020).

UC Davis music faculty, lecturers, and graduate composer alumni will participate in this year’s virtual Festival of New American Music, taking place at Sacramento State University’s School of Music, Nov. 7–14.

Their concerts include a solo harpsichord recital by UC Davis lecturer in music Faythe Vollrath, on Nov. 13, at 3:00 p.m.

Laura Rose Schwartz (B.A., music, ‘13) will have a new work, Figment, performed by the Camellia Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Sacramento. Conducted by Christian Baldini, UC Davis professor of music and music director and conductor of the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, Schwartz’s composition was commissioned by the orchestra.

Baldini interviewed Schwartz about her new work for his blog. 

Anna Maria Busse Berger, Distinguished Professor of Music, emeritus, has been awarded the 2021 Bruno Nettl Prize, given by the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM), for her book The Search for Medieval Music in Africa and Germany, 1891-1961: Scholars, Singers, Missionaries. It is the second time Busse Berger has won the award from SEM.

Pierpaolo Polzonetti, the Jan and Beta Popper Professor of Music at UC Davis, has published a new book, Feasting and Fasting in Opera: From Renaissance Banquets to the Callas Diet, with the University of Chicago Press. Feasting and Fasting in Opera moves chronologically from around 1480 to the middle of the nineteenth century, when [Richard] Wagner’s operatic reforms banished refreshments during th

Juan Diego Díaz, assistant professor of music, will discuss his book Africanness in Action: Essentialism and Musical Imaginations of Africa in Brazil as part of the series Conversations with Latin American Authors. The event will be livestreamed on Nov. 11 at 3:30 p.m.

Professor Laurie San Martin’s Zepplin will have its New York premiere on October 27 at the National Opera Center in Manhattan. The performance will be performed live as well as livestreamed beginning at 7:30 p.m. (EST)/4:30 p.m (PST). For live stream access, visit the National Opera Center YouTube Channel.

Professor Christian Baldini, music director and conductor of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, conducts the Camellia Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 25. The program is titled “Endless Melodies” and features Se fue Mendoza, a new work by Juan Diego Díaz, assistant professor of music.  

Díaz’s composition is based on Gaita music from the North of Colombia, music that precedes cumbia. 

Baldini is the Camellia Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor.