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.

Carina Venter, 2026 Lecturer
Carina Venter, 2026 Lecturer

Roster of Honored Lecturers

2026 Carina Venter
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
Oct 24 Sat
9:00am
Free
lectures-symposia, world-music
Music Alive in the Archive: Legacy and Promise -- 65 Years of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive
Join us for a two-day celebration of the 65th anniversary of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. The event will feature a symposium, workshops, and concerts. International, national, and local archivists, alumni, faculty, and …
Lani Hall Learn More
Oct 25 Sun
9:00am
Free
lectures-symposia, world-music
Music Alive in the Archive: Legacy and Promise — 65 Years of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive
Join us for a two-day celebration of the 65th anniversary of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive. The event will feature a symposium, workshops, and concerts. International, national, and local archivists, alumni, faculty, and …
Lani Hall Learn More
Oct 28 Wed
1:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Dawn Norfleet: Beyond Being Alice Coltrane and Betty Davis
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Green Room (1230 Schoenberg Music Building) Learn More
Nov 5 Thu
5:30pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Joseph Toltz Book Presentation: Out of the Depths: the first collection of Holocaust songs
Out of the Depths: the first collection of Holocaust songs tells the story of a small songbook, produced in Bucharest in 1945. It contains the first collection of songs from …
Green Room (1230 Schoenberg Music Building) Learn More
Nov 10 Tue
5:00pm
Free
lectures-symposia
Doing the Future Yourself: Lessons from Punk Archives - Berry Gordy Speaker Series
Judith A. Peraino and Tom McEnaney, authors of We’re Having Much More Fun: Punk Archives for the Present from CBGB to Gilman an Beyond (2026), join with Tommy Gear and …
Lani Hall Learn More
Nov 16 Mon
3:00pm
Free
chamber-music, contemporary, lectures-symposia
Jonathan Hepfer, Percussionist: "Sisyphus as Artist"
Join us for the second of six workshops as part of the Modal Interchange: Conversations on 21st-Century Performance Practices series with Jonathan Hepfer, percussionist and artistic director of Monday Evening …
Room 1344 Learn More
Yvette Janine Jackson’s radio opera ‘Harvest’ sows seeds of sound at UCLA Nimoy Theater
From the Daily Bruin: The Center for Musical Humanities hosted award-winning composer Yvette Janine Jackson with her Radio Opera Workshop at the Nimoy.
Childhood and the Operatic Imaginary
Professor Joy H. Calico has curated a new collection of essays for Oxford University Press examining the role of childhood in opera. Featuring perspectives on opera from around the globe, …
Catherine Provenzano Talks Autotune and Modern Music
From the NY Times: Autotune is ubiquitous, and Catherine Provenzano, musicologist and music industry professor, helps explain it.
Dean Beckerman's New Book Asks Whether Meaning in Art Can Ever Be Shared
OUT NOW: Dean Michael Beckerman’s new book, “The Doctrine of One: Personal Encounters with Film, Art and Music,” explores one of the most intriguing questions in the humanities: Can meaning …
In Memoriam Mitchell Morris
By Robert Fink UCLA Professor Emeritus Mitchell Morris (64), of Cathedral City, California, passed away peacefully on August 19, 2026 after a long illness. Following appointments at McGill and the …
Judith Finell on Use of AI in Musical Compositions
Channel News Asia: Adjunct Musicologist Professor Judith Finell speaks upon AI-generated musical compositions, and the threat and opportunity that is afforded for human composers and their intellectual property.