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 tradition, the season also promises its share of unexpected discoveries.
The vast majority of our events are free and open to the public, as well as livestreamed across the world. Wherever you are, we welcome you to our musical community.
Jazz and Musical Traditions on a Global Scale
Fresh from the Lincoln Center, acclaimed South African multi-instrumentalist Steve Dyer will bring the West Coast premiere of Freedom Melody to Lani Hall. Dyer will perform with his quartet and six vocalists from the school of music’s global jazz program. Freedom Melody reimagines the spirit of the groundbreaking 1985 Freedom Melody festival, when musicians from across southern Africa gathered in defiance of apartheid. Blending the region’s rich vocal and instrumental traditions with contemporary jazz, Freedom Melody 2025 is both a tribute and a call to imagine freedom anew. Lani Hall, October 29, 7:00 p.m.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music programs its Spring Festival of World Music annually, featuring our world-renowned ensembles supported by our Department of Ethnomusicology. Experience global music and dance traditions, everything from China to Ghana, from Thailand to Mexico and more. Schoenberg Music Building, May-June, 2026.
Opera & Symphonic Ensembles
Opera lovers will enjoy a robust season from OperaUCLA, including two full-scale operas. We begin with a bold new production of Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw at the Freud Playhouse. Based on the Henry James novella, Britten’s work is both haunting and incandescently beautiful. Freud Playhouse, November 20 through November 23.
Each year, UCLA Philharmonia hosts an All-Star Competition that draws musicians from our performance program. Winners will perform with the UCLA Philharmonia in its winter All-Star Concert. Join us for a night welcoming the next generation of musical stars. Schoenberg Hall, Saturday, January 31, 8:00 p.m.
On March 15, over 200 UCLA students from UCLA Philharmonia, UCLA Chorale and UCLA Chamber singers will be on stage for an epic programming of Handel’s biblical oratorical, Israel in Egypt. Handel’s masterpiece tells the story of Israelites’ exodus and features monumental choral writing. Royce Hall, Sunday, March 15, 2:00 p.m.
A collaboration between the orchestral and choral programs of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience bring the U.S. premiere of Bas-Sheve (1924), a one-act Yiddish-language opera/melodrama by composer Henekh Kon and librettist Moishe Broderzon. Recently rediscovered, completed and orchestrated by distinguished Yiddish experts, Bas-Sheve is based on the tragic biblical story of David and Bathsheba. Schoenberg Hall, April 19, 4:00 p.m.
Provocative Speakers and Symposia
A four-day conference on theorizing trauma and disability in the arts will bring together artists, scholars, musicians and students to offer multiple perspectives on how trauma and disabilities are both generative and reflective in the arts. The event kicks off on Thursday evening with immersive art exhibits and a concert featuring faculty and special guest, the abstract turntablist Maria Chávez. Schoenberg Music Building, Thursday-Sunday, October 16-19.
Renowned concert pianist Emanual Ax will spend an evening discussing affinities between Mozart and Beethoven, cadenzas and improvisation, dramatic aspects of Mozart’s musical language, and issues of interplay between soloist and orchestra. Schoenberg Hall, Wednesday, November 12, 5:00 p.m.
The music industry program announces the beginning of the Berry Gordy Music Industry Speaker Series. The series will bring industry professionals—creatives and executives—to speak on topics that range from personal growth to responsible leadership and the social impact of music. Stay tuned—speakers will be announced soon.
The Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music will host a one-day conference examining everything from classical to popular music, as well as regional traditions in Iran’s rich musical past. Lani Hall, Sunday, March 1, 2026.
This is Just a Sample
There is much, much more to experience at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. From our Faculty Artist Series to panel discussions and film screenings about Motown in the movies, from our Vivaldi Winter chamber concert to jazz ensembles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep informed about all our events.