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.
Rita Sahai, Lecturer in Music and Director of the UC
Davis Hindustani Vocal Ensemble, has been selected as a recipient
of a Hind Rattan (Jewel of India) Award, which is given annually
by the Welfare Society of India to accomplished Indians living
abroad.
UC Davis Department of Music Professor Juan Diego Díaz has been
awarded the Helen Roberts Prize by the Society of Ethnomusicology
for the most significant article in the field
of ethnomusicology published in the previous year. Diaz
received his prize for his article “From Claves Ethnotheory to
Clave Theories: A Path Toward Decolonizing Music Analysis,” which
was published in the journal Ethnomusicology, the
flagship journal in Ethnomusicology.
UC Davis Department of Music undergraduate student Zoe
Plateau and music alumni Annamarie Bosco,
Andrew Hudson, Larry Lozares, Avery Snyder, Ben
Saetern, Natalie Laurie, Katie Gorden, Asa Stern, Laura
Zhang and Oscar Santamaria were participants in this year’s
CALCAP Chamber Music
Workshop held at California State University,
Sacramento.
Please join us for a community event and celebration of the
Davis Humanities Institute’s (DHI) relaunch after a multiyear
visioning process in the College of Letters and Science at UC
Davis. Professor of Cinema and Digital Media Julie Forrest
Wyman, will present her feature-length documentary “The Tallest
Dwarf,” which charts her quest to find her place within the
little people (LP) community at a moment when dwarf identity is
poised to radically change. This campus premiere of the film
will feature a discussion with the filmmaker and a reception
following.
The Tallest Dwarf premiered at the
South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) in 2025, and, beginning
April 6th, will be broadcast nationally and streamed on the PBS
series “Independent Lens.” The film was made possible in part
with funding from campus entities including the Davis Humanities
Institute, the College of Letters and Science, Office of Public
Engagement, and the Academic Senate.
The Davis Humanities Institute is proud to host a screening of
the Tallest Dwarf as the inaugural event of its new
public programming. The event embodies the DHI’s renewed mission:
to support and showcase humanities research and artistic practice
in dialogue across disciplinary boundaries, and in service of
publicly engaged scholarship. Please join us for an evening of
celebration, and to learn what’s next for the DHI!
Schedule
4:00 p.m. – Doors Open
4:30 p.m. – Film (1 hour and 32 minutes) in the Recital Hall
6:00 p.m. (est.) – Q & A following the film with the film’s
director Professor Julie Forrest Wyman joined by Mark Povinelli,
an actor, lead participant in the film and also the former
president of Little People of America,
Moderator Natalia Duong, assistant professor of Asian American
Studies and Science and Technology Studies.
6:20 p.m. (est.) – Reception in the Grace and Grant Noda Lobby
with a live music interlude from the Department of Music.
This program focuses on modern works for solo harpsichord
or harpsichord and violin, including world premieres by
Peter Machajdik and Sunny Knable.
Program
Peter Machajdik: Sustainable Mindfulness (2024)
PREMIERE Sustainable Mindfulness was created with
support
from public sources in the form of a
scholarship
from the Slovak Arts Council.
This Brazilian guitar workshop explores the rich rhythmic and
harmonic language and essential accompaniment patterns behind
styles like choro and samba. We’ll break down classic chord
voicings, bass line movement, and right-hand techniques that
give Brazilian guitar its distinctive flow. The class
emphasizes feel, groove, and listening skills as much as
technique, helping guitarists develop a deep sense of rhythmic
pocket. Students will play through traditional repertoire as
well as modern interpretations to understand how the style
continues to evolve. Guidance will be tailored to different
experience levels, with options for both rhythm and lead
players. By the end of the workshop, participants will have
practical tools to bring authentic Brazilian sounds into their
own playing.
Born in Piracicaba (SP), Alessandro Penezzi is
one of the great virtuosos of the Brazilian guitar. His concerts
have been seen in various countries including the USA, Russia,
Japan, Gabon, Angola, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Kosovo, Macedonia,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Morocco,
and Portugal. Graduated in Popular Music from Unicamp with a
specialization in Creative Processes from Faculdade Souza Lima,
he has been teaching courses, workshops, and seminars at various
music festivals in Brazil and abroad. A multi-instrumentalist
— he plays 7-string guitar, tenor guitar, cavaquinho,
mandolin and flute — and is a prolific composer. He has
received honors and nominations for his performances as an
instrumentalist and composer, and has been highlighted in the
Visa MPB Instrumental (2001), Tim de Música Brasileira (2006),
Shell de Teatro and Prêmio da Música Brasileira (2006) awards.
Listen, imagine, and create in the Sound Lab at UC Davis. Learn
about electronic music and sound synthesis through hands-on
exploration of analogue and digital instruments both old and
new.
