Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music Anna Maria Busse Berger
was awarded the Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Award by the Emeriti
Association and Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, UC Davis. The
award will augment Busse Berger’s research project on music in
Moravian mission stations from 1732–1950.
We are now accepting applications from composers to participate
in the Taproot New Music Festival. Between 6–8 composers
will be selected and 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 a visiting ensemble as well as UC Davis’s own Empyrean
Ensemble. The deadline to submit is April 15,
2025.
There is important
information—particularly for first-year music students—to
read through regarding Music 6 (Theory) and Music 16
(Musicianship), including placement.
One of UC Davis’s highest priorities is the safety of its
students and all members of its community. UC Davis
prohibits all forms of sexual harassment and sexual violence,
including sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and
stalking. Such conduct violates University policy and may
violate California law.
Professor Kurt Rohde—a musician who plays viola, teaches, and
composes—received a 2024 commission from the Serge
Koussevitzky Foundation in memory of Andrew W. Imbrie
(1921–2007) to write a new work for Brightwork New Music.
In 2023 Professor Mika Pelo was selected for a composer residency
by the Peterson-Berger Foundation at Sommarhagen, the home of
the late Swedish composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. As part of the
residency, Pelo composed a new
work, Akvareller (“Watercolors”).
Tonia Ko introduces recent compositions which feature
creative transcriptions of field recordings and found sound.
She will discuss the various technologies involved,
orchestration tools and techniques, as well as the continued
influence of the long-standing bubble wrap practice “Breath,
Contained” on her creative work.
“The Song of Creation” (pictured) is a painting by San
Francisco-based artist Tino Rodriguez, and serves as the main
inspiration for the concerto featured on this program by Juan
Sebastián Cardona Ospina, titled “Eyes to Look Otherwise.” The
concerto is dedicated to the featured soloist, saxophonist
Michael Hernandez. Hernandez commissioned the work as part of
his “Latinx Storytellers” project.
Program
Campus Band
Mattea Williams: One Magnificent Light
Quincy Hilliard: Out of Darkness
Alex Shapiro: Lights Out
Joe Hisaishi / arr. Kazuhiro Morita: Selections from Princess
Mononoke
UC Davis Concert Band
Akito Matsuda: Crescent Moon Dance from Sound!
Euphonium
Kevin Charoensri: Rising Light
Jennifer Jolley: Lightway
Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina: Eyes to Look
Otherwise
with Michael Hernandez, soprano saxophone
Inspired by three paintings of Tino
Rodriguez
Commissioned by the Latinx
Storytellers Project
