Music

Pablo Ortiz, Distinguished Professor of Music, will have an opera, Kassandra, premiered at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 23, with performances until September 1. The opera features text by the Uruguayan playwright Sergio Blanco.

Lecturer in voice Jonathan Nadel will sing in the chorus for Beethoven’s Ninth—sung in Ukrainian—at the Kennedy Center on Aug. 4 with the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.

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 to 1950.

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.

This honor is given by the society’s Board of Trustees in recognition of the recipient’s significant and substantial lifetime achievement in scholarship, performance, teaching, and/or support of American Music.

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.

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. The Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble is only one of the initiatives of the organization. Silkroad’s mission is also to create new music, and foster educational and social initiatives. Silkroad “brings music, hope and healing to underserved, culturally rich, urban, rural, indigenous, and refugee communities.”

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.

A trio of alumni from the UC Davis Department of Music have recently gained recognition for their performances and achievements. 

Angelo Moreno (BA, music, ‘98; MA, orchestral conducting, ‘02) led the acclaimed Davis High School Baroque Ensemble on a successful European concert tour. The tour included performances in the United Kingdom (London, Greenwich), Belgium (Bruges, Mechelen), and Paris. 

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. Hofman, who chose the repertoire for Left Coast’s upcoming season, has been their conductor as well as the resident conductor for UC Davis’s contemporary music ensemble, Empyrean.

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.