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SUMMER DISPATCH | Hannah Cole (Voice Performance MM `28) writes: This shaped up to be a busy and exciting summer! I traveled to British Columbia, Canada, to serve as Alto Section Lead for the National Youth Choir of Canada. Choristers from across Canada met for a week long residency followed by a tour throughout BC. Then, I headed back to my home province, Ontario, to participate in the Scholars program at the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School. Five Canadian scholars and five UK scholars met for intensive study and performance of one-per-part Renaissance music, followed by acting as mentors to the participants of the main course. Next up, I performed two roles, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell, in the Canadian opera, “Earnest, The Importance of Being” in Toronto. These two very different roles each presented exciting challenges, and switching between the roles within rehearsals expanded my skills in endurance and adaptability. To wrap up the summer, I performed a concert of arias, art songs, and musical theatre selections at a restaurant/gallery/arts hub in my hometown, Windsor ON. I could not be more excited to join the music community at UCLA!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Hannah Cole (Voice Performance MM `28) writes: This shaped up to be a busy and exciting summer! I traveled to British Columbia, Canada, to serve as Alto Section Lead for the National Youth Choir of Canada. Choristers from across Canada met for a week long residency followed by a tour throughout BC. Then, I headed back to my home province, Ontario, to participate in the Scholars program at the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School. Five Canadian scholars and five UK scholars met for intensive study and performance of one-per-part Renaissance music, followed by acting as mentors to the participants of the main course. Next up, I performed two roles, Gwendolen and Lady Bracknell, in the Canadian opera, “Earnest, The Importance of Being” in Toronto. These two very different roles each presented exciting challenges, and switching between the roles within rehearsals expanded my skills in endurance and adaptability. To wrap up the summer, I performed a concert of arias, art songs, and musical theatre selections at a restaurant/gallery/arts hub in my hometown, Windsor ON. I could not be more excited to join the music community at UCLA!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Faith Smith (Global Jazz Studies BA ‘30) writes: This summer, I went to the Teagarden Jazz Camp for 2 weeks, where I played violin the 1st week and sang the 2nd week. It was an opportunity to play traditional jazz in the woods with many other amazing musicians from across California. I also got to learn from professionals about the roots and fundamentals of jazz from the 1920s and about how to book regular gigs. I even had the chance to borrow a banjo for the first time and learned/performed Bye Bye Blues on banjo for fun! I’m also a part of The New Traditionalists, which is a youth jazz combo put together by the same foundation that puts together the Teagarden Jazz Camp. We have been playing local gigs this summer, and my last performance with them is during Labor Day Weekend at the Hot Jazz Jubilee Festival. It’s been a fun summer, and I’m looking forward to starting at UCLA soon!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Faith Smith (Global Jazz Studies BA ‘30) writes: This summer, I went to the Teagarden Jazz Camp for 2 weeks, where I played violin the 1st week and sang the 2nd week. It was an opportunity to play traditional jazz in the woods with many other amazing musicians from across California. I also got to learn from professionals about the roots and fundamentals of jazz from the 1920s and about how to book regular gigs. I even had the chance to borrow a banjo for the first time and learned/performed Bye Bye Blues on banjo for fun! I’m also a part of The New Traditionalists, which is a youth jazz combo put together by the same foundation that puts together the Teagarden Jazz Camp. We have been playing local gigs this summer, and my last performance with them is during Labor Day Weekend at the Hot Jazz Jubilee Festival. It’s been a fun summer, and I’m looking forward to starting at UCLA soon!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Avery Douglas (Musicology BA `30) writes: These pictures come from my trip to Hawaii this year! I was on the island of Oahu and got to see so many beautiful sights. For example, the beaches and mountains. I even went on a long hike to the top of Diamond Head Mountain. It was super tiring but the ending view made it all worth it! Another highlight of my trip was seeing my first Luau Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip that I got to spend with friends!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Avery Douglas (Musicology BA `30) writes: These pictures come from my trip to Hawaii this year! I was on the island of Oahu and got to see so many beautiful sights. For example, the beaches and mountains. I even went on a long hike to the top of Diamond Head Mountain. It was super tiring but the ending view made it all worth it! Another highlight of my trip was seeing my first Luau Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip that I got to spend with friends!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Jillian Risigari-Gai, Michelle Yang, Maddie Berchtold, Raphael Angelo Yap, Julian Dohi�, along some alumni of the Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition were herded together for the Dream Orchestra of Los Angeles`s performance of Mahler`s Symphony No. 2 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall!
SUMMER DISPATCH | Jillian Risigari-Gai, Michelle Yang, Maddie Berchtold, Raphael Angelo Yap, Julian Dohi�, along some alumni of the Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition were herded together for the Dream Orchestra of Los Angeles`s performance of Mahler`s Symphony No. 2 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall!
SUMMER FACULTY DISPATCH | Michael Beckerman (Dean, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music) writes: Have you ever had someone tell you that you just don’t understand what a piece of music is about, or that your favorite song is “second-rate”?
Yeah, me too.
My new book, “The Doctrine of One” argues that the way we make meaning out of music depends more on the individual listener than we may think. There may be established interpretations and insightful experts, but ultimately, musical interpretation is deeply personal.
Through a philosophical lens, I explore extraordinary encounters with music and art, from Bach reimagined in the Congo to music composed in the Jewish Ghetto of Terezín, and even how the discovery of a beloved artist’s Nazi past changes how we think about music.
Thanks to the generosity of my press, you can read the book for free. Link is in the bio.
SUMMER FACULTY DISPATCH | Michael Beckerman (Dean, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music) writes: Have you ever had someone tell you that you just don’t understand what a piece of music is about, or that your favorite song is “second-rate”?
Yeah, me too.
My new book, “The Doctrine of One” argues that the way we make meaning out of music depends more on the individual listener than we may think. There may be established interpretations and insightful experts, but ultimately, musical interpretation is deeply personal.
Through a philosophical lens, I explore extraordinary encounters with music and art, from Bach reimagined in the Congo to music composed in the Jewish Ghetto of Terezín, and even how the discovery of a beloved artist’s Nazi past changes how we think about music.
Thanks to the generosity of my press, you can read the book for free. Link is in the bio.
SUMMER DISPATCH | Trent Williams (Percussion Performance BA ‘28) writes: I performed with Pacific Crest for the 2026 DCI season and had a blast! It was my first year participating in drumcorps and it was crazy practicing and performing everyday for 2 months straight while traveling around the country. We traveled through a total of 12 states! I played vibraphone for the season and am proud to say that I improved very much as a musician, player, and performer! We also achieved a record breaking score for Pacific Crest at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for Championships! Go PC! 🌊🌊🌊
SUMMER DISPATCH | Trent Williams (Percussion Performance BA ‘28) writes: I performed with Pacific Crest for the 2026 DCI season and had a blast! It was my first year participating in drumcorps and it was crazy practicing and performing everyday for 2 months straight while traveling around the country. We traveled through a total of 12 states! I played vibraphone for the season and am proud to say that I improved very much as a musician, player, and performer! We also achieved a record breaking score for Pacific Crest at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for Championships! Go PC! 🌊🌊🌊
SUMMER DISPATCH | Yaron Cherniak (Ethnomusicology PhD `29) writes: As part of my fieldwork for my UCLA dissertation on Masorti identity and Piyyutim in Israeli society, I had the honor to perform alongside @hind_ennaira and the @piyutensemble. Hind Ennaira, from Essaouira, is a profound Gnawa vocalist and master of the gimbri — the sacred bass instrument at the heart of Moroccan Gnawa music, an ecstatic tradition of spiritual trance and prayer rooted in the Muslim and Amazigh tribes of North Africa. At the Tatzrif Music Festival at Yad Ben-Zvi, no one could remain indifferent to the polyrhythms escalating across the songs, the colorful ceremonial djellabas and tasseled caps, the dancing, and the merging of Gnawa chants with Hebrew piyyutim of the Abeḥsera family from Tafilalt. Performing from the inside — not just observing — is exactly why this kind of fieldwork matters.
SUMMER DISPATCH | Yaron Cherniak (Ethnomusicology PhD `29) writes: As part of my fieldwork for my UCLA dissertation on Masorti identity and Piyyutim in Israeli society, I had the honor to perform alongside @hind_ennaira and the @piyutensemble. Hind Ennaira, from Essaouira, is a profound Gnawa vocalist and master of the gimbri — the sacred bass instrument at the heart of Moroccan Gnawa music, an ecstatic tradition of spiritual trance and prayer rooted in the Muslim and Amazigh tribes of North Africa. At the Tatzrif Music Festival at Yad Ben-Zvi, no one could remain indifferent to the polyrhythms escalating across the songs, the colorful ceremonial djellabas and tasseled caps, the dancing, and the merging of Gnawa chants with Hebrew piyyutim of the Abeḥsera family from Tafilalt. Performing from the inside — not just observing — is exactly why this kind of fieldwork matters.
SUMMER DISPATCH | Madison Bottenberg (Percussion Performance MM ‘26) writes: This summer, Julie Xiang, Demitrius Alleyne, and I joined la.fci for the studio intensive at Sony Picture Studios. I had the chance to work with and hear from industry professionals, like MB Gordy and Angel Velez, about the expectations of the studio world and what it takes to be a studio musician. We also acquired hands on experience on the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage where we recorded famous film scores like the Polar Express, Main Title of Star Wars, and Married Life from Up.
SUMMER DISPATCH | Madison Bottenberg (Percussion Performance MM ‘26) writes: This summer, Julie Xiang, Demitrius Alleyne, and I joined la.fci for the studio intensive at Sony Picture Studios. I had the chance to work with and hear from industry professionals, like MB Gordy and Angel Velez, about the expectations of the studio world and what it takes to be a studio musician. We also acquired hands on experience on the Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage where we recorded famous film scores like the Polar Express, Main Title of Star Wars, and Married Life from Up.
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