Gluck Year End Showcase Concert

The UCLA Gluck String Quartet features two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. This ensemble is comprised of top UCLA string players with members participating in masterclasses with acclaimed musicians, receiving honors in festivals and competitions, and performing extensively across the globe.

The UCLA Gluck Vocal Ensemble is made up of vocal performance students and a piano performance student at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The performers work to learn, study, and memorize music from genres like Baroque and Classical to Broadway and Cabaret. The music they learn is fitted to their voice type–Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor, or Bass. The first half of their performance consists of more classical repertoire written by composers such as Mozart, Strauss, and Tosti. The second half features more musical theater repertoire, with pieces by composers such as Bernstein and Sondheim.

The UCLA Gluck Saxophone Quartet comprises members of the UCLA Saxophone Studio under the direction Professor Jan Baker. The quartet performs extensively throughout the Los Angeles area, showcasing music from a variety of genres, ranging from baroque transcriptions and original saxophone music, to jazz and popular music. The members of the quartet bring a diversity of stylistic ideas to the forefront of their performances, utilizing all the members of the saxophone family in their performances–soprano, alto, tenor and baritone–in order to provide an unforgettable educational experience.

The UCLA Gluck Trombone Quartet consists of students in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music studying under the direction of James Miller, the acting principal trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The members of the quartet have a passion for bringing music to their community and are excited to share a unique set of musical styles, played solely on trombones, with audiences across Los Angeles. Their repertoire represents a wonderfully eclectic selection of songs, ranging from the classical canon to popular music and jazz. Regardless of one’s familiarity with the trombone and its repertoire, the UCLA Gluck Trombone Quartet is guaranteed to provide an entertaining and educational performance.

The UCLA Gluck Jazz Ensemble is composed of students in UCLA’s Global Jazz Studies program, led by faculty members Steve Loza and Terence Blanchard. The group aims to provide the highest quality of performance and education for their listeners, while at the same time paying tribute to important musical figures such as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.

Old-time music is a genre native to North America, however, like many American traditions, it boasts influences from a great diversity of native cultures, including those from Africa, Europe, and the Americas. While much of the music played by the UCLA Gluck Old-time Ensemble stems from the Appalachian string band tradition, old-time music is popular nationwide and therefore musical style can vary greatly by region. The genre is usually played on acoustic instruments, the most traditional being the fiddle and the banjo, but can also include mandolin, upright or wash-tub bass, harmonica, dobro, accordion, jug, and even kazoo. This wide array of unique instruments, textures, and styles results in a distinctive musical timbre and tunes that will surely entertain and excite audiences.

The UCLA Gluck Mariachi Ensemble is a group of student musicians performing music from various regions of Mexico. Their repertoire includes songs in a variety of different musical styles including sones jalicienses, huapangos, boleros and rancheras. They perform outfitted in the characteristic traje de charro, playing a mix of Western instruments such as the violin, guitar and trumpet as well as instruments specific to mariachi such as the vihuela and guitarrón. The UCLA Gluck Mariachi Ensemble is the latest group in a 50 year tradition of student mariachi groups at UCLA, which housed the first student mariachi in the United States in 1961. They are committed to educating the public of the culture and history of Mexico through its music.