Press Inquiries - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Press

Inquiries

Russell Kelban
Director, Strategic Communications and Marketing
(310) 486-8953
rkelban@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu

 If you have general questions regarding public relations, image requests, or would like to be added to our mailing list, please email us at communications@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu.

Most of our faculty are available for news media interviews by arrangement. Please contact Russell Kelban, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing, for assistance. Our faculty are leaders in their fields and include a boundary-pushing medievalist, a leading scholar of the American musical, jazz legends, masters of traditional world music instruments, a punk scholar, in-demand composers and others who are fostering transformative critical thinking about music and musical practices. Other areas of expertise include:

  • African diaspora, critical race studies, social movements, nationalism, national anthem
  • Rap, hip-hop, jazz, blues, funk, R&B, soul; pop music, rock n roll, Motown
  • East Asia, Korean music
  • Film and TV music
  • Jewish music, Klezmer, Jewish liturgical music
  • Music business, streaming media, technology and entertainment, copyright
  • Music and politics; music, gender, and sexuality
  • Opera studies
  • And more…
Inna Faliks Premieres Concerto for Minimoog Synthesizer
On November 15, 2025, Casa da Música in Porto hosted the world premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Minimoog Synthesizer and Orchestra, a groundbreaking work that bridges electronic and classical traditions. The
Hollywood Reporter Names The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music a Top Music School
Bob Fink, department chair of the school of music’s music industry program, says UCLA’s rigid academics help breed students who are ready to work in the industry.
Opera UCLA's The Turn of the Screw Explores Themes of Puppetry, Control.
The opera, which revolves around a governess who encounters ghosts while acting as a caretaker for two children, experiments with themes of constantly being puppeted, said assistant director Katya Lynch. 
The Keys of Ol' Blue Eyes
Frank Sinatra’s Daughter gifts her dad’s Bösendorfer to The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. (From the UCLA Magazine)
Opera UCLA revives haunting classic to new ears with ‘The Turn of the Screw’
From the Daily Bruin: Based on Henry James’ 1898 novella of the same name, the story follows a governess sent to a remote estate to care for two children whom
Britten’s The Turn of the Screw Launches Daring New Season for Opera UCLA
What could AI do for an opera? This was a question on James Darrah’s mind as he planned his first full season of Opera UCLA. Darrah, professor of voice and

Press Releases

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Award-Winning Scholar and Musicologist Michael Beckerman Named New Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
Acclaimed higher education scholar and author Michael Beckerman has been named the new dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He will begin his role at UCLA on
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Receives Gift from Mike Curb Foundation for State-of-the-Art Student Recording Facility and More
Through a special pledge by Mike Curb, California’s former lieutenant and acting governor, and music industry veteran, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music will begin construction on a new
Take a walk with oboe performance major Cayden Bloomer as he hits the practice room, the reed-making studio, and Philharmonia rehearsal.  A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.  #ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives

Take a walk with oboe performance major Cayden Bloomer as he hits the practice room, the reed-making studio, and Philharmonia rehearsal.

A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

#ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives
...

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Need plans for tonight? The UCLA Chinese Music Ensemble, directed by Professor Chi Li, performs its annual Fall concert featuring traditional and contemporary music, including Chinese opera aria, zheng unison, qin unison, folk dance, and silk-and-bamboo music.  🗓️ Saturday, November 22‌
🕚 5:00 PM‌
📍‌Schoenberg Hall‌‌‌‌
‌‌
Concert is free and open to the public.
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.  #thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music

Need plans for tonight? The UCLA Chinese Music Ensemble, directed by Professor Chi Li, performs its annual Fall concert featuring traditional and contemporary music, including Chinese opera aria, zheng unison, qin unison, folk dance, and silk-and-bamboo music.

🗓️ Saturday, November 22‌
🕚 5:00 PM‌
📍‌Schoenberg Hall‌‌‌‌
‌‌
Concert is free and open to the public.
-
For more information, see the event page. Link in bio.

#thisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #music
...

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BACKSTAGE WITH: The Ginger Smock Jazz Ensemble, rehearsing Maceo’s Daydream by Nina Mei Zepnick 🎶  Catch it live during The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s three days of jazz concerts. Performances of everything from swing to contemporary. Featuring Hitomi Obi’s Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, Hitomi Obi’s Charles Mingus Ensemble, Charley Harrison’s Jazz Orchestra, combos led by Duane Benjamin, Clayton Cameron, Roberto Miranda, Duane Benjamin’s Commercial Music Ensemble, and the Herbie Hancock Jazz Ensemble.  🗓️ Sun, Nov 23 · 4 PM
🗓️ Mon, Nov 24 · 7 PM
🗓️ Tue, Nov 25 · 7 PM
📍 Schoenberg Hall  For more information and to RSVP, visit our link in bio.  #Jazz #ucla #thisisuclamusic

BACKSTAGE WITH: The Ginger Smock Jazz Ensemble, rehearsing Maceo’s Daydream by Nina Mei Zepnick 🎶

Catch it live during The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s three days of jazz concerts. Performances of everything from swing to contemporary. Featuring Hitomi Obi’s Contemporary Jazz Ensemble, Hitomi Obi’s Charles Mingus Ensemble, Charley Harrison’s Jazz Orchestra, combos led by Duane Benjamin, Clayton Cameron, Roberto Miranda, Duane Benjamin’s Commercial Music Ensemble, and the Herbie Hancock Jazz Ensemble.

🗓️ Sun, Nov 23 · 4 PM
🗓️ Mon, Nov 24 · 7 PM
🗓️ Tue, Nov 25 · 7 PM
📍 Schoenberg Hall

For more information and to RSVP, visit our link in bio.

#Jazz #ucla #thisisuclamusic
...

155 5
Come along with musicology major Angie Lee as she crosses campus for class, studies the original Henry Mancini Pink Panther score, and fuels up with her favorite matcha at the café.  A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.  #ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives

Come along with musicology major Angie Lee as she crosses campus for class, studies the original Henry Mancini Pink Panther score, and fuels up with her favorite matcha at the café.

A Day in the Life of a Student at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

#ThisisUCLAMusic #DayintheLife #studentperspectives
...

133 12
Alumna Dakota Dry (Ethnomusicology, 2024) announces the release of her debut album. Produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Eva Reistad (Dune, Naked Gun), The Edge of Our Never Ending Universe is an emotionally sweeping debut album set for release November 20, 2025. The album takes listeners into a cinematic yet intimate world centered around Dry’s poetry and emotional vocals. The first three singles are available to stream.

Alumna Dakota Dry (Ethnomusicology, 2024) announces the release of her debut album. Produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Eva Reistad (Dune, Naked Gun), The Edge of Our Never Ending Universe is an emotionally sweeping debut album set for release November 20, 2025. The album takes listeners into a cinematic yet intimate world centered around Dry’s poetry and emotional vocals. The first three singles are available to stream. ...

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