The Department of Music and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis present the Taproot New Music Festival, November 6–9, 2025.

Overview

The Taproot New Music Festival will take place on the campus of UC Davis during the week of November 3, 2025, and will culminate in performances at the end of that week (November 6–9, 2025). Between 6 to 8 selected visiting composers will travel to Davis for the festival: they’ll have new pieces performed, and will participate in seminars and workshops facilitated by the visiting artists and UC Davis composition faculty. The festival will feature Ensemble Dal Niente as visiting ensemble. UC Davis’s own Empyrean Ensemble will also join the festival line-up.

Featured Ensembles

Dal Niente
Michael Lewanski, conductor
Ensemble Dal Niente performs, develops, and sustains new and experimental music for small to large chamber ensemble. Dal Niente is dedicated to growing relationships with artists, composers, and listeners; advancing distinct and challenging musical voices; and sharing that work with their Chicago, United States, and international communities.

Empyrean Ensemble
Sam Nichols, director
Prof. of Teaching, UC Davis Music Department

Matilda Hofman, conductor-in-residence
Continuing Lecturer, UC Davis Music Department

Ensemble-in-residence at UC Davis, the Empyrean Ensemble presents engaging and eclectic programs, inviting audiences to experience new musical sensations delivered with high artistry by its extraordinary players—among the finest new music performers in California.

Mission

The Taproot New Music Festival brings together a diverse group of composers and performers, both local and visiting, and gives them the chance to hear new work, and to make lasting connections. A biennial festival at UC Davis, it features concerts and other events, and also creates the opportunity for our students to work alongside exceptional artists. Actively inclusive and participatory, Taproot broadcasts a unique vision of how to sustain a musical community.