Nick DePinna
Adjunct Assistant Professor - Musicianship

As a composer and producer of both concert and commercial music, Nick DePinna’s output is wildly diverse. His creative concert works are performed with increasing regularity across the United States, while at the same time his music for visual media can be heard on 1000+ films and episodes of television across networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, HBO, ESPN, A&E, BBC, National Geographic WILD, VH-1, Hallmark, CMT, Netflix, and Disney+.

His arrangements, orchestrations, and transcriptions have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Riverside Symphonia, the Hollywood Jazz Orchestra, the Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, MUSE/IQUE, the MESTO Orchestra, the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters, the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited, and have been recorded for many albums and film scores.

His 2019 debut EP of progressive big band music, Nexus Music, Vol. 1 (Orenda Records), was met with critical acclaim for both DePinna as a “splendid writer and arranger with an advanced point of view,” as well the “yeomanlike work of his excellent ensemble” (Jack Bowers, All About Jazz). Most recently, his commercial big band music was featured in Sony Interactive Entertainment’s 2022 video game, Gran Turismo 7.

Also a versatile trombonist, DePinna has performed, toured, and/or recorded with a large variety of groups, including the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Kenny Burrell’s Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited, the Jon Jangtet, Justo Almario’s Afro-Colombian Ensemble, the John Daversa Big Band, Remy Le Boeuf’s Assembly of Shadows, the Billy Vaughn Orchestra, the Mike Barone Big Band, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, the Long Beach Opera, and the Pasadena Pops Orchestra. He has also recorded and/or performed with Dream Theater, Paloma Faith, Moses Sumney, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Loggins, M83, Bobby Caldwell, Dianne Schuur, and The Temptations.

A protégé of James W. Newton Jr., DePinna also trained in Western Art Music composition with David Lefkowitz, Paul Chihara, and Ian Krouse, while simultaneously receiving mentorship from American artists of the African musical diaspora including Kenny Burrell and Jon Jang. He is a co-founder of “L.A. Signal Lab,” a new-music collective focused on the intersection of notated and improvised music.

David Lefkowitz
Professor - Composition, Vice Chair of the Department of Music
Melissa Bilal
The Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture, Director of Armenian Music Program
Theresa Dimond
Lecturer - Percussion Performance
Benjamin Smolen
Lecturer - Flute Performance
Varty Manouelian
Lecturer - Violin Performance, Violin LA Philharmonic
Gloria Cheng
Adjunct Professor - Contemporary Music, Performance Studies
Neal Stulberg
Professor - Conducting, Director of Orchestral Studies
Rakefet Hak
Continuing Lecturer - Opera UCLA
Alison Deane
Associate Adjunct Professor
James Miller
Lecturer - Trombone Performance, Associate Principal Trombone LA Phil
Chris Hanulik
Adjunct Professor - String Bass Performance; Principal Bass LA Phil
Jens Lindemann
Distinguished Professor - Trumpet Performance
Wendy Caldwell
Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
Peter Golub
Lecturer - Composition, Music and Film
Kay Rhie
Assistant Professor - Composition
David Kaplan
Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance
Ian Krouse
Distinguished Professor - Co-Area Head, Composition
Michael Dean
Professor - Voice Performance
Arturo O’Farrill
Director, UCLA Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra; Professor
Lucy Yates
Lecturer - Vocal Diction and Vocal Coaching
Che-Yen Chen
Professor - Viola Performance
Christoph Bull
Adjunct Professor - Organ Performance
John Steinmetz
Lecturer - Bassoon Performance
Ben Hong
Lecturer - Cello Performance
Ji Young An
Lecturer - Violin Performance
Cheryl Lin Fielding
Lecturer - Vocal Diction and Vocal Coaching
Dante De Silva
Lecturer - Composition and Music Theory
Juliana Gondek
Distinguished Professor - Voice Performance
Lindsey Beardsley
Manager - Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition
Iris Malkin
Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
Sarah Koo Freeman
Visiting Professor - Cello Performance
Mildred Yi
Lecturer - Music Education
William Kinderman
Distinguished Professor and Elaine Krown Klein Chair in Performance Studies
Ryan Brown
Lecturer - Choral Studies and Music Education
Victoria Kirsch
Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
Travis J. Cross
Professor - Conducting, Director of Bands
Wendy Richman
Lecturer - Performance Studies
Noel Cano Hearn
Lecturer - Alexander Technique and Music Education
James Darrah
Professor - Director of Opera UCLA
James Bass
Professor and Chair of the Department of Music, Director of Choral Studies
Noah Meites
Lecturer - Music Theory
Jonathan Davis
Lecturer - Oboe Performance
Joshua Ranz
Lecturer - Clarinet Performance
Jan Berry Baker
Professor - Saxophone, Head of Woodwinds, Vice Chair of the Department of Music, Special Assistant to the Dean for Faculty Mentoring
Shahab Paranj
Gramian-Emrani Postdoctoral Fellow in Music and Lecturer - Composition, contemporary concert music
Vladimir Chernov
Distinguished Professor - Voice Performance
Boris Allakhverdyan
Lecturer - Clarinet Performance, Principal Clarinet LA Philharmonic
Lou Anne Neill
Lecturer - Harp Performance, Harp LA Philharmonic
Brendan McBrien
Lecturer - Music Education
Hitomi Oba
Lecturer and Director of Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
James Lent
Lecturer - Collaborative Piano
Camilo Cedeno
Assistant to the Chair - Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition
Andrew Ordonez
Events Manager - Department of Music Performance, Education and Composition
Richard Danielpour
Distinguished Professor; Director of Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music
Aubrey Foard
Lecturer - Tuba Performance
Inna Faliks
Professor - Head of Piano
Amy Sanchez
Lecturer - Horn Performance
Lily Chen-Hafteck
Professor - Music Education, Special Assistant to the Inaugural Dean for Curricular Reform
Dwayne Milburn
Lecturer - Conducting and Composition
Gregory Goodall
Lecturer - Percussion Performance
Johanna Gamboa-Kroesen
Assistant Professor - Music Education
Movses Pogossian
Distinguished Professor of Violin; Founder and Advisor, Armenian Music Program - Music Performance

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