Press

Inquiries

Russell Kelban
Director, Strategic Communications and Marketing
(310) 486-8953
rkelban@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu

 If you have general questions regarding public relations, image requests, or would like to be added to our mailing list, please email us at communications@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu.

Most of our faculty are available for news media interviews by arrangement. Please contact Russell Kelban, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing, for assistance. Our faculty are leaders in their fields and include a boundary-pushing medievalist, a leading scholar of the American musical, jazz legends, masters of traditional world music instruments, a punk scholar, in-demand composers and others who are fostering transformative critical thinking about music and musical practices. Other areas of expertise include:

  • African diaspora, critical race studies, social movements, nationalism, national anthem
  • Rap, hip-hop, jazz, blues, funk, R&B, soul; pop music, rock n roll, Motown
  • East Asia, Korean music
  • Film and TV music
  • Jewish music, Klezmer, Jewish liturgical music
  • Music business, streaming media, technology and entertainment, copyright
  • Music and politics; music, gender, and sexuality
  • Opera studies
  • And more…
The Sinatra Piano Finds a New Home at UCLA
On Wednesday, December 4, four skilled piano movers wheeled a nine-foot Model 275, 92-key Bösendorfer grand piano into the recording studio at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. The
Mostly Kosher Shares Klezmer Rock Music and Jewish Culture with UCLA
Brought to UCLA by the Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience, Mostly Kosher treated a Lani Hall audience with an evening of klezmer music with multiple influences. “The
Serenade with a Dandelion Named a Top Classical Album in 2024
Long-running and influential online magazine Textura has just released its top 20 lists for classical and jazz recordings of 2024. Coming in at number three on the list for quartet, ensemble or
David Kaplan's Solo Album Named a Top Classical Recording of 2024
Long-running and influential online magazine Textura has just released its top 20 lists for classical and jazz recordings of 2024. Coming in at number seven on the list of instrumental solo classical albums is David Kaplan, assistant professor of piano performance, with New Dances of the League of David.
A Wicked Orchestration
One of this holiday’s biggest blockbuster film releases is Wicked, the film adaptation of the smash 2003 Broadway musical. Crowds flocked to the theaters to see the movie over the

Press Releases

More News
More News
More News
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Receives $5 Million to Establish Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music
New academic center bolsters UCLA as a major force in the study of Iranian culture Through a $5 million pledge by Haleh Emrani in honor of her late husband, Ahmad
GRAMMY-Nominated Opera Director James Darrah Joins The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
James Darrah, the GRAMMY Award-nominated director/producer of acclaimed and innovative opera and film productions will join The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty in Fall 2024.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Announces the 2024-25 Season
September 26, 2024. The new season features celebrated poet Nathaniel Mackey, Tod Machover's opera "Schoenberg in Hollywood," student performances and scholarly symposia.
✨ Happy Holidays from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! ✨
From our campus to your home, we wish you a season filled with joy and music. 🎶  Enjoy the Scope Saxophone Quartet 🎷 performing an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite (Russian Dance).  🙌 Huge thanks to our amazing quartet:
🎵 Mathew Harget (soprano)
🎵 Austin Hailey (alto)
🎵 Olivia Phaneuf (tenor)
🎵 Daniel Reyes-Velarde (baritone)  #HappyHolidays #ThisisUCLAmusic #NutcrackerSuite #SaxophoneQuartet #HolidayVibes #ucla

✨ Happy Holidays from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! ✨
From our campus to your home, we wish you a season filled with joy and music. 🎶

Enjoy the Scope Saxophone Quartet 🎷 performing an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite (Russian Dance).

🙌 Huge thanks to our amazing quartet:
🎵 Mathew Harget (soprano)
🎵 Austin Hailey (alto)
🎵 Olivia Phaneuf (tenor)
🎵 Daniel Reyes-Velarde (baritone)

#HappyHolidays #ThisisUCLAmusic #NutcrackerSuite #SaxophoneQuartet #HolidayVibes #ucla
...

232 7
Alumni Shoutout! Jake Heggie (BM 1984, MA 2005) was named Composer of the Year and Angel Blue (MM 2008) was named Vocalist of the Year by Musical America Worldwide Awards. Congratulations on a stellar 2024!
-
Are you an alum with a story? DM us.

Alumni Shoutout! Jake Heggie (BM 1984, MA 2005) was named Composer of the Year and Angel Blue (MM 2008) was named Vocalist of the Year by Musical America Worldwide Awards. Congratulations on a stellar 2024!
-
Are you an alum with a story? DM us.
...

73 0
David Kaplan's 2024 album "New Dances of the League of David" has been named a top classical album of 2024 by Textura Magazine (instrumental solo category). "A more fascinating and original treatment of Robert Schumann's music," writes Textura magazine, "would be hard to imagine." Combining Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze with commissions from composers responding to Schumann's 1830 work, makes it "a riveting portrait in 28 parts."
-
Available for purchase, and streaming on all major platforms.

David Kaplan`s 2024 album "New Dances of the League of David" has been named a top classical album of 2024 by Textura Magazine (instrumental solo category). "A more fascinating and original treatment of Robert Schumann`s music," writes Textura magazine, "would be hard to imagine." Combining Schumann`s Davidsbündlertänze with commissions from composers responding to Schumann`s 1830 work, makes it "a riveting portrait in 28 parts."
-
Available for purchase, and streaming on all major platforms.
...

44 0
Textura Magazine just named "Serenade with a Dandelion" one of the top twenty classical albums (quartet, ensemble or orchestral category). The 4 disc set was the vision of Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian and features UCLA faculty Jan Berry Baker and Che-Yen Chen. Textura praised the compilation as "extremely accessible" and "a stunning act of curation... [that] captures the incredible richness of Armenian music, past and present."
-
Available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms.

Textura Magazine just named "Serenade with a Dandelion" one of the top twenty classical albums (quartet, ensemble or orchestral category). The 4 disc set was the vision of Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian and features UCLA faculty Jan Berry Baker and Che-Yen Chen. Textura praised the compilation as "extremely accessible" and "a stunning act of curation... [that] captures the incredible richness of Armenian music, past and present."
-
Available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms.
...

29 0
Fivemind Reeds joins the UCLA Wind Ensemble for an eclectic concert featuring works by Charles Ives, Clara Schumann, David Biedenbender‌, Leonard Bernstein, Gustov Holst, Arnold Schoenberg and more. 
-
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
link in bio
-
#ThisIsUCLAMusic

Fivemind Reeds joins the UCLA Wind Ensemble for an eclectic concert featuring works by Charles Ives, Clara Schumann, David Biedenbender‌, Leonard Bernstein, Gustov Holst, Arnold Schoenberg and more.
-
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 8:00 PM
SCHOENBERG HALL
link in bio
-
#ThisIsUCLAMusic
...

144 4

Follow Us On Social @UCLAAlpert #ThisisUCLAmusic

@UCLAalpert on Instagram
@UCLAalpert on Instagram