Chris Froh, continuing lecturer, received the 2024 Undergraduate
Teaching Award from the Academic Federation. Froh is known for
teaching courses that include Theory, Rock Music, History of the
Beatles, percussion ensemble and individual percussion students.
Professor Kurt E. Rohde’s composition seeking all that’s
still unsung will receive its world premiere at Brandeis
University performed by the Lydian String Quartet on
April 6.
Professor Carol A. Hess has recently received the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Society for American Music, which
promotes music of the Americas. The presentation was made on
March 23 during the society’s annual conference.
Robert S. Bloch, UC Davis professor emeritus of music, died on
November 4 at age 89. He was a member of the faculty from 1974 to
2000, primarily teaching violin and music theory in addition to
giving concerts. The UC Davis Music Department remains
grateful for the musicianship Bloch shared on stage and in the
classroom. Theodore Karp, a prior faculty member (1963–73) who
went on to teach at Northwestern University, previously described
Bloch as “A quiet man with a ready, genial wit.” He was also
self-admittedly restless, which showed in the breadth of his
endeavors.
Colin Minigan, a graduate student in music composition, was
invited by Professor Margaret Laurena Kemp, chair of the
Department of Theatre and Dance, to set music to the Bard’s words
and write underscoring for William Shakespeare’s As You Like
It. The production is a contemporary staging of the classic
comedy and is directed by alum Josy Miller (Ph.D., performance
studies, ‘15), and with Minigan’s added music it has a “folksy
indie pop” feel to it.
Miguel Petris (B.A. music, ’21) was recently selected for a
prestigious internship with Silkroad—the arts, education, and
social-impact nonprofit organization founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 1998.
Professor Carol A. Hess was named an honorary
member by the American
Musicological Society on Sept. 15. The society recognizes
recipients for their extraordinary contributions to the study and
teaching of music.
Tito Talamantes, who directs the UC Davis Mariachi Ensemble, was
featured by Fox 40 News. Talamantes now directs the Advanced
Mariachi Ensemble at Cesar Chavez High School in Stockton, where
he began as a student.
Matilda Hofman, a lecturer in music at UC Davis, has been named
the new Artistic Director of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
beginning with their 2023–24 season. Left Coast is based in the
Bay Area and has gained a reputation for bringing to light
treasured works alongside new creations by living composers.
Graduate student composer Max Gibson along with collaborator
Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambaksh (Librettist) will see the premiere of
their short opera Leonard as part of Jewellery
Quarter Festival in late July. The work was commissioned by
the Birmingham
Opera Company in the United Kingdom.
Professor Laurie San Martin (B.A., music, ‘91) was guest
faculty at the 14th Cortona Sessions for New
Music in Italy. In addition, three compositions by San Martin
were performed in concert during her residency June 12-25.
Professor Mika Pelo has been selected for a composer residency by
the Peterson-Berger Foundation at Sommarhagen, the home of
the late Swedish composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. Pelo will be
in residence July 28 – Aug. 18.
Three members of the UC Davis Department of Music faculty gave
presentations at the recent Music Teachers’ Association of
California’s annual conference. Susan Lamb Cook, artist
affiliate in cello, Heidi Moss Erickson, voice, and Natsuki
Fukasawa, piano, participated in the 2023 convention held in
Santa Clara.
Professor Pierpaolo Polzonetti has
received the 2023
Library Travel Grant conferred by the Cuban Research
Institute (CRI) and the Kimberly Green Latin American and
Caribbean Center (LACC) to conduct research in the Díaz-Ayala
Cuban and Latin
American Popular Music Collection at the Florida
International University, Miami. His project is titled
“Cuban Sound Recipes: Songs About Food from Son to Salsa.”
Doctoral student musicologist Sarah Miller has been awarded a UC
Davis Russel J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational
Foundation Dissertation Writing Fellowship. This
fellowship supports students as they begin the advanced stage of
doctoral study by offering funding during the quarter immediately
following advancement to candidacy, providing summer research and
writing support, and providing for a full academic year
fellowship for dissertation writing.
Graduate student musicologist Anushka Kulkarni was awarded a UC
Davis Critical Language Scholarship which enables her to take a
summer intensive language program overseas for U.S. academic
credit.
Graduate student composer Trey Makler has
received a 2023 Creator
Fund Award from New Music USA, an organization that has for
more than ten years supported composers, musicians, and
organizations with grants so they can create new works and
build community.
Vocal performance major Crisia Regalado has won the
2023 Lucy Becker Scholarship from Music in the Mountains (in
Grass Valley, California). Crisia competed with Gioachino
Rossini’s “Una voce poco fa” from The Barber of Seville.
She studies with Zoila Muñoz at UC Davis, with whom she says she
chose to go to UC Davis to study voice. 
Professor Kurt Rohde’s new micro
opera 4:30
Movie will premiere April 29 and 30, 2023, at the
Bayview Opera House in San Francisco as part of a program
presented by the Left
Coast Chamber Ensemble. Soprano Nikki Einfeld, stars
in 4:30 Movie, complemented by percussion and
electronics.