Eileen Strempel, Inaugural Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, recently wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times with UCLA Law Dean Jennifer Mnookin addressing the need for access to the vaccine ahead of the 2021-2022 academic year for faculty, staff and students.

A rapid transition to remote instruction proved challenging for music faculty and students around the country. Ensemble performance opportunities core to music curricula were suddenly thrown into question. The School of Music Faculty and department chairs collaborated to devise an unconventional, cross-departmental alternative.

In spring 2021, Professor Elisabeth Le Guin, esteemed faculty member within the Departments of Music and Musicology, will assume a critical new role as Special Assistant to the Inaugural Dean for Faculty Development and Gender Equity.

Inaugural Dean, Eileen L. Strempel, addresses the fragility of our shared democracy after the horrendous events that transpired on January 6, 2021.

Richard Danielpour’s dramatic oratorio, The Passion of Yeshua, which also features members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus and the UCLA Chamber Singers, as well as six soloists, including baritone James K. Bass, was recently nominated in three Grammy categories for the Naxos recording of last year’s performance.

UCLA has opened North America’s first permanent academic home for the study of music of the American Jewish experience. Housed in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the new Lowell Milken Center for Music of Jewish Experience will foster artistic creativity, scholarship, performance and other cultural expression, thanks to a $6.75 million gift from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation.