Orkun Akyol (b. 1992) is a PhD student in composition
and theory at UC Davis. Currently he studies with Laurie San
Martin. He holds a master’s degree in composition from Istanbul
Technical University, Center for Advanced Studies in Music
(MIAM), during which he studied with Jeremy Woodruff, Pieter
Snapper and Reuben de Lautour. Orkun’s latest interests are jazz
music and computational creativity. His music writing is
nourished from his diverse experiences as a jazz pianist and as
an industrial engineer with a bachelor’s degree from Bogazici
University.
Alejandro Arreola is a composer and guitarist
born and raised in the Bay Area. He has studied composition with
A.J. McCaffrey, Liviu Marinescu, Sean Friar, and is currently
studying with Laurie San Martin. His music explores evocation
through various subjects including poetry, sociopolitical
movements, and personal accounts. Alejandro is now pursuing a PhD
in theory and composition at UC Davis.
Dean Kervin Boursiquot, born in 1986, is a
first-generation Haitian-American, and New York native. The
guitar, film music, and music from the twentieth century sparked
his interest in music composition. While in New York, he received
his bachelor’s degree in composition at Mannes College the New
School for Music. Notable awards include: Vox Novus
Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: Parhelion Trio 2012, Peter Gross grant
2010, Mannes Orchestra Competition 2009, CRICE
(composer-in-residence Chamber-Ensemble) commission and second
place Jean Schneider Goberman Prize 2009.
Peter Chatterjee is a Bay Area-based composer,
arranger, and conductor. He began studying composition at Berklee
College of Music, where his primary mentors were Dr. Marti
Epstein, Dr. Panagiotis Liaropoulos, Bob Pilkington, Ayn Inserto,
and Greg Hopkins. At Berklee, he focused on jazz composition,
film scoring, and conducting. He holds a bachelor of music
in jazz composition and film scoring, and graduated summa cum
laude. Peter earned his master’s degree in composition with
distinction at California State University, Northridge, where he
studied with Dr.
Paul Engle has been struggling to tune a guitar to satiety since
the age of 13. He has completed music programs at Los Angeles
City College and CalArts (BFA Composition and Experimental Sound
Practices). He currently attends UC Davis as a graduate student,
studies shakuhachi with Kakizakai Kaoru, and writes his own bios
in third person.
Max Gibson is a British-Irish composer, sound
artist, improvisor, writer, and educator, whose work spans
concert music, multimedia, electronic music, and theatre. At UC
Davis, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition and theory,
with emphases in science and technology studies, studies in
performance and practice, and environmental humanities. With a
penchant for variety, and a voracious ear, his curiosity drives
his experiments and explorations of sound.
Jacob Lane is a composer, pianist, and educator
who lives in Davis, California. He is the pianist for the chamber
group Sl(e)ight
Ensemble and has been a member of The Music Teachers’
Association of California since 2015. In addition to his private
studio, Jacob teaches piano performance and music theory at New
World Music Academy in Pleasanton, California. Jacob holds
degrees in music performance from Mills College (Oakland,
California), and Northern Vermont State University (Johnson,
Vermont).
James R. Larkins (b. 1999) is a composer and
cellist from North Carolina, who uses music to explore
multiplicity, tradition in dialogue with collective memory, and
the human impact of continuum and rupture. James is a graduate
student at UC Davis, currently studying composition under Kurt
Rohde.
Joseph Martin is a British composer, performer and teacher based
in Davis, California, currently studying in the PhD program in
composition at UC Davis. He holds degrees from Cardiff University
and the University of Cambridge, and his teachers and mentors
include Jeremy Thurlow, Richard Causton, Robert Fokkens, Pedro
Faria Gomes and Daniel Bickerton. He has also studied piano
performance with Hilary Osmond and Christopher Williams.
B.A. Music: Skidmore College M.M. Music Composition: Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Colin Minigan (b. 1994) is a Massachusetts-born composer whose
recent music is concerned with natural phenomena, and the
relationship between static and fluid elements of musical
composition and performance. In addition to composition Colin
spent time studying ethnomusicology and uses this perspective to
inform his compositions. Colin has frequently collaborated on
dance projects with performances throughout the United States and
is an administrator and curator of the Xsection Film Festival, a
festival aimed at promoting interdisciplinary collaboration
between dance, science, and film.
Bryndan Moondy is a composer and guitarist
rooted in Northern California. Bryndan’s creative practice
seeks to engage the substance and materiality of sound and is
driven by a fascination with the meanings we construct for
ourselves through listening and engagement with[in] sound spaces.
His work frequently draws influence from the natural world and
other mediums within the visual and literary arts. Bryndan
has received degrees from San Francisco State University and UC
Santa Cruz. He is currently pursuing a PhD in composition
and theory at UC Davis.
Joseph Donald Peterson is a violist, composer,
and woodworker based in Northern California. He received his
bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied
viola with Samuel Rhodes and composition with Justin Dello Joio;
additional mentors include music theorist Steven Laitz and
violist Roger Tapping.
Zoë A. Wallace (b. 1994) is a composer and guitarist currently
based in Northern California. She has performed in concerts
throughout the country and has had pieces performed and/or
recorded by such performers as PinkNoise Ensemble, Wendy Richman,
KAIA String Quartet, Confluss Duo, Splinter Reeds, Nick May,
Nicholas Tolle, and the Alena Walentin and Niklas Johansen duo.
In 2024 and 2022, Zoë was a recipient of the ASCAP Plus Award.
Evan Wright is a composer and jazz saxophonist based in
Sacramento. Before beginning the PhD program in Composition at UC
Davis, Evan earned his bachelor’s degree in music from
California State University, Sacramento, in both composition and
jazz performance. Evan’s compositions explore the intersection of
tradition and innovation, using contemporary techniques to
reshape familiar forms and create emotionally complex musical
narratives.
Peter Chatterjee is a Bay Area-based composer,
arranger, and conductor. He began studying composition at Berklee
College of Music, where his primary mentors were Dr. Marti
Epstein, Dr. Panagiotis Liaropoulos, Bob Pilkington, Ayn Inserto,
and Greg Hopkins. At Berklee, he focused on jazz composition,
film scoring, and conducting. He holds a bachelor of music
in jazz composition and film scoring, and graduated summa cum
laude. Peter earned his master’s degree in composition with
distinction at California State University, Northridge, where he
studied with Dr.
B.A. Music, Musicology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Ana María Díaz-Pinto is a PhD student in
ethnomusicology. She is originally from Rancagua, Chile, and
received her bachelor’s degree in music, with a major in
musicology, from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in
2020. During her undergraduate experience, she developed a
particular interest in dance and movement, performance and
ethnography theory, and Latin American youth culture.
Mark Feng is a Ph.D. candidate in
ethnomusicology. He holds two MAs in ethnomusicology and
musicology from the University of California, Davis and the
Taipei National University of Arts. Mark is a trans-Pacific,
activist ethnomusicologist, and his study at UC Davis was
sponsored by the Taiwan Ministry of Education. Mark’s
dissertation examines the intertwinement of whiteness and Han
Taiwanese ethnic hegemony through the music and embodiment of
Taiwanese heavy metal. He conducts musical ethnographic fieldwork
in three major Taiwanese cities, Taipei, Taichung, and Takao.
Ko-Hua Hung is a PhD student in Ethnomusicology at the University
of California, Davis. She earned an MA in Musicology from
National Taiwan University (2018) with Professor Yamauchi
Fumitaka. Her research examines how technologically mediated
sound shapes identity and structures the relationship between
musicians and audiences in popular music.
M.F.A. Music Performance and Literature, emphasis in Improvisation, Mills CollegeB.M. Music Performance and Literature, Cal State Long BeachA.A. Music, Rio Hondo College
Robert Lopez is a PhD student in ethnomusicology whose work is
greatly informed by his background as a percussionist and
educator. Since 2011, he has been an active member of the Bay
Area new music community working with groups SO AR, the Red Room
Orchestra, Grex and Jordan Glenn’s BEAK among others. Since 2014,
he has maintained a close relationship with Brazilian master
drummer Jorge Alabê. This partnership has led to presentations at
the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, awards from the Fulbright US
Student Program and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts
Apprenticeship Program.
Julius “Vodzi” Torgboh is a PhD student in
Ethnomusicology. He was raised in an exceptionally rich culture
of music in the community of Dzogadze, Volta Region, Ghana, where
he plays a key role as an indigenous knowledge keeper, music
director, performer, ordained talking drum player
(Atsrima) in Avenor traditional chiefdom, and
Hunua (traditional spiritual leader).
B.M. Music Education, Arizona State UniversityM.A. Ethnomusicology, Arizona State University
Alex Rossi is a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology
at UC Davis. His interdisciplinary research focuses on the
intersection of music cognition and ethnomusicology, while also
drawing from his background as a certified music educator. Alex’s
prior and current work include research on music-motor
synchronization in Afro-Brazilian capoeira and Indonesian
gamelan, and song-mode matching in historical recordings of
capoeira mestres.
Jennifer Sherrill has been a musician and
teacher in the Chicago region for the past twenty years. She
holds a bachelor’s and a master’s in vocal performance and vocal
pedagogy from Northern Illinois University and North Park
University. She has served as cantor and youth choir director for
Saint Gregory the Great on the north side of Chicago and has
introduced countless young students to the joys of piano,
ukulele, and singing.
M.A., Music, University of California, Davis (2020)B.A., Music Education, The College of St. Scholastica (2018)
Sun Ny Vang (first name pronounced “Sunny”) is
Moob Leeg / Hmoob Lees [Blue Mong / Hmong]. He was born and
raised on Dakota homelands (currently occupied by St. Paul and
Minneapolis, Minnesota) to refugee immigrants from Sainyabuli
Province, Laos.
BMus with Honours, MSt: Musicology (Master’s in Studies)(she/her)
Mariana Da Silva Gabriel (She/Her) is a
musicology PhD student at the University of California, Davis.
Originally from Portugal, Mariana moved to the United Kingdom at
the age of six. She received her bachelor’s degree from Cardiff
University and her master’s from the University of Oxford. Her
research interests are in the interplay between music and
politics under authoritarian regimes, and music-making as a
societal response to those regimes.
Virginia Jansen is a PhD student
in Historical Musicology at the University
of California, Davis. She graduated from Boston University
with a Bachelor of Arts in Music concentrating in Historical
Musicology, with a minor in African American Studies, in 2024.
While there, she completed a research project on the influence of
enslaved African Spirituals on Florence Price’s chamber
music and earned the Alice M. Brennan Humanities Award and the
Provost Scholars award.
Anushka Kulkarni is a Ph.D. candidate in
musicology at the University of California, Davis. Her research
examines British-Indian colonial encounter as mediated through
the musical-dramatic stage and explores topics spanning from
eighteenth-century opera seria to Bengali gitinatya. Anushka has
presented her research at various conferences, including the
American Musicological Society, the North American British Music
Studies Association, and the American Handel Society.
Sarah Miller is a Ph.D. Candidate at the
University of California, Davis. She holds an M.A. in Musicology
and an M.M. in Vocal Performance from Butler University in
Indianapolis, Indiana. Her research interests in
eighteenth-century opera buffa, commedia
dell’arte, and Disability Studies culminated in her
dissertation “Disability in Flux: Performing Disability in Carlo
Goldoni’s Comic Operas,” which investigates the imprint of
commedia dell’arte that remains in Carlo Goldoni’s
libretti.
Tracy Monaghan (she/her) is a PhD student in
musicology whose work focuses on issues of race, gender, and
musical appropriation in 20th- and 21st-century opera. She is a
soprano and an avid performer of new music, favoring extended
vocal techniques. Tracy also works to dismantle food insecurity
in her communities. She is currently based in the Bay Area of
California.
Emilia Claire Pierce (She/Her) is a Musicology PhD student at the
University of California, Davis. She holds a Master of Music in
Composition and a Master of Arts in Musicology from the
University of Nevada, Reno.
Her research explores the intersections of gender and sexuality
in performance, as well as the cultural and social meanings
embedded in Italian popular music. Building on both her scholarly
and creative practice, Emilia examines how music reflects and
shapes discourses of identity, intimacy, and power in
contemporary contexts.
