Robert M. Stevenson Lecture Series - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
Robert M. Stevenson
Robert M. Stevenson

 

The Stevenson Lecture Series

Department of Musicology

 

The Robert M. Stevenson Lectureship is an annual event curated by the faculty in UCLA’s Department of Musicology, funded by a generous endowment from Professor Stevenson and given annually since academic year 2002-03. He attended each lecture until his death in 2012.

Each year, the faculty invites a leading scholar in musicology or a related field to give a public lecture and conduct a seminar for the department’s graduate students, on topics chosen by the guest. The lecture is followed by a reception hosted by the department, and a dinner for the faculty in honor of the esteemed guest. The scholars chosen for the Stevenson Lecturer have ranged widely in their fields of expertise, although many have been chosen, in part, to honor their contributions to fields pioneered by Professor Stevenson across his long and productive career.

Emily Wilbourne, 2025 Lecturer
Emily Wilbourne, 2025 Lecturer

Roster of Honored Lecturers

2025 Emily Wilbourne
2024 Naomi André
2023 Jaime E. Oliver La Rosa
2022 Nadine Hubbs
2021 David Garcia
2020 Luisa Vilar-Payá
2019 Sherrie Tucker
2018 Geoffrey Baker
2017 Richard Leppert
2016 Peter Manuel
2015 Daphne Brooks
2014 Philip Tagg
2013 V. Kofi Agawu
2012 Ana Maria Ochoa
2011 Tess Knighton
2010 George Lewis
2009 Martha Feldman
2008 Alejandro Planchart
2007 Richard Taruskin
2006 Ruth Solie
2005 Joseph Kerman
2004 Maynard Solomon
2003 Rose Rosengard Subotnik
2002 Gary Tomlinson
Dec 12 Fri
12:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Remembering Hormoz Farhat - Music, Scholarship, and Beyond
Hormoz Farhat—composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator—was a pioneering figure in the academic field of Iranian music. In 1959, he founded The Music of Persia Performance Group, the first university-based ensemble dedicated to
Lani Hall Learn More
Dec 14 Sun
12:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Tribute to Ahmad Pejman
Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music for an evening honoring legendary Iranian composer Ahmad Pejman.
Schoenberg Hall Learn More
Jan 14 Wed
7:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Assaf Shelleg: about Jews; New Affordances in Contemporary Music
New music written by or about Jews no longer abides by exoticisms, national paraphernalia, or the prestige of “art music.” Instead, growing disillusioned with (or disinterested in) ideological apparatuses and
Lani Hall Learn More
Jan 28 Wed
1:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Music Sustainability Alliance Panel
Join us for a dynamic conversation as part of the Berry Gordy Speaker Series, hosted by Dr. Tiffany Naiman in collaboration with the Music Sustainability Alliance. This thought-provoking panel will
Feb 6 Fri
5:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Motown on Screen: The Sound that Moved the World
Motown was more than music—it was an engine of culture, style, and possibility. Motown on Screen brings its story to life across 2 days of film, conversation, and performance at
Lani Hall Learn More
Feb 26 Thu
7:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
György Kurtág at 100: Last of a Great Generation of Composers
Join the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as we welcome professor Rachel Beckles Willson for an event celebrating György Kurtág. Still active at the age of 99, Kurtág will
Lani Hall Learn More
Conference on Trauma and Disability in the Arts Brings Artists and Scholars Together
Have you ever heard the color green? How about tasted Miles Davis’s “Birth of the Cool”?  The phenomenon of experiencing something through unrelated senses is called synesthesia. Jenny Olivia Johnson,
2025-26 Season Brings Exciting Programming to Los Angeles and Beyond
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s 2025–26 season offers something for everyone, with over 200 public concerts, recitals and panel discussions at UCLA and throughout the community. True to
Thomas Hodgson Launches Music and Data Journal with UC Press
University of California Press is launching Music and Data, an annual, thematic, online-only journal, in 2026 under the co-editorship of Thomas Hodgson, University of California, Los Angeles, and Rujing Stacy Huang,
Bard Music Festival Unearths Hidden Gems
(New York Times) Dean Michael Beckerman is the artistic advisor for the for the Bard Music Festival Martinů and His World. Martinu, a Czech composer who thrived on the artistic and
Cesar Favila Appointed Long Term Fellow at Yale
The Yale Institute of Sacred Music introduced six new long-term fellows for the 2025-26 academic year. Cesar Favila, associate professor of musicology at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music,
Answering the Call: Meet Wade Dean, 2025 Graduate Commencement Speaker
In December 2024, just before the start of Spring Semester, Wade Dean received some bad news. At the time, He was teaching courses in music theory and jazz history at