Press Inquiries - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Press

Inquiries

Robert Baker
Director, Strategic Communications and Marketing
robertbaker@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…
Can AI Win a Grammy?
From CBS, KYMA News: Judith Finell, musicologist at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, helped break down the role of AI in music production.
Lucie Leerer Is Here to Help
Search for Lucie Leerer in The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music staff directory, and you’ll find the title “Academic Advisor.” Accurate? Yes. But also incomplete. As a student affairs
Jens Lindemann on Loss and Resilience
From CBS News–One year ago, trumpet professor Jens Lindemann lost his home in the Pacific Palisades during the historic Los Angeles wildfires. To mark the solemn one-year anniversary, Lindemann gathered
James Darrah Black Directs New Pintschner Opera in Berlin
From the New York Times: James Darrah Black, professor of voice at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, will direct the Berlin premiere of Matthias Pintschner’s highly anticipated new
UCLA's Moment of Reflection Marks the One-Year Anniversary of LA Wildfires
At a somber moment of reflection and renewal, the UCLA Chamber Singers delivered a stirring rendition of “Only in Sleep” by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds known for its hushed intensity and
Remembering Hazel Chung Hood
Hazel Chung Hood played a pivotal role in establishing the bi-musicality methodology at the UCLA Institute of Ethnomusicology (now the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology) by teaching world dance studies. This

Press Releases

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Award-Winning Scholar and Musicologist Michael Beckerman Named New Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
Acclaimed higher education scholar and author Michael Beckerman has been named the new dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He will begin his role at UCLA on
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Receives Gift from Mike Curb Foundation for State-of-the-Art Student Recording Facility and More
Through a special pledge by Mike Curb, California’s former lieutenant and acting governor, and music industry veteran, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music will begin construction on a new
Happy Holidays from Michael Beckerman, Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Enjoy this festive performance of “Oh Hanukkah,” composed by Mordkhe Rivesman, and may the season bring you peace, joy and light.  #ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #HappyHolidays

Happy Holidays from Michael Beckerman, Dean of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Enjoy this festive performance of “Oh Hanukkah,” composed by Mordkhe Rivesman, and may the season bring you peace, joy and light.

#ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #HappyHolidays
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GOOD NEWS, Go Tell It! The African American Music Ensemble of the Department of Ethnomusicology at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music wishes you the very best this holiday season.  “Go Tell It” by John Wesley Work, Jr., arranged by Diane White-Clayton, director of the ensemble.  soloists - Alexis Richmond, Michael Torres
piano - Diane White-Clayton
bass guitar - Dawson Lau
percussion - Dax Corcoran  #thisisuclamusic #ucla #music #happyholidays

GOOD NEWS, Go Tell It! The African American Music Ensemble of the Department of Ethnomusicology at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music wishes you the very best this holiday season.

“Go Tell It” by John Wesley Work, Jr., arranged by Diane White-Clayton, director of the ensemble.

soloists - Alexis Richmond, Michael Torres
piano - Diane White-Clayton
bass guitar - Dawson Lau
percussion - Dax Corcoran

#thisisuclamusic #ucla #music #happyholidays
...

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Happy Holidays from the Piano Studio at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Sophia Jin and Helen Yuan bring the magic with a four-hands arrangement of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).  See our Full 2025 Holiday Playlist on YouTube. Link in bio.  #ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #Piano #NutcrackerSuite#

Happy Holidays from the Piano Studio at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music! Sophia Jin and Helen Yuan bring the magic with a four-hands arrangement of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

See our Full 2025 Holiday Playlist on YouTube. Link in bio.

#ThisisUCLAmusic #UCLA #Music #Piano #NutcrackerSuite#
...

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Maceo’s Daydream  Maceo’s Daydream, an original work by Nina Zipnick and Jonah Lachs, students at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, was performed by the Ginger Smock String Ensemble under the direction of Regina Carter during the Fall Jazz Concerts on November 23, 2025.  Violin: Miles Quale
Harp: Nina Zipnick
Bass: Jonah Lachs  See the whole song on our YouTube channel, @UCLAalpert  Our jazz ensembles perform live concerts three times a year. Visit our event calendar for more information: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/calendar/  #thisisuclamusic #ucla #jazz #newmusic

Maceo’s Daydream

Maceo’s Daydream, an original work by Nina Zipnick and Jonah Lachs, students at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, was performed by the Ginger Smock String Ensemble under the direction of Regina Carter during the Fall Jazz Concerts on November 23, 2025.

Violin: Miles Quale
Harp: Nina Zipnick
Bass: Jonah Lachs

See the whole song on our YouTube channel, @UCLAalpert

Our jazz ensembles perform live concerts three times a year. Visit our event calendar for more information: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/calendar/

#thisisuclamusic #ucla #jazz #newmusic
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Happy Holidays from the Tuba & Euphonium Studio! Enjoy this toot-ally definitive rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by master’s student Bradley Stires with his friend Nicholas Gil on guitar, performed during the studio recital on December 8, 2025.
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Catch this and more holiday favorites from the Tuba/Euphonium studio, under the direction of Aubrey Foard, on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.

Happy Holidays from the Tuba & Euphonium Studio! Enjoy this toot-ally definitive rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by master’s student Bradley Stires with his friend Nicholas Gil on guitar, performed during the studio recital on December 8, 2025.
-
Catch this and more holiday favorites from the Tuba/Euphonium studio, under the direction of Aubrey Foard, on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
...

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In Case You Missed It... At our Faculty Artist Series concert “Between the Brandenburgs” on November 17, the Camarades String Orchestra gave a stand up performance of Bernard Herrman’s chilling “Psycho Suite.”
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You can watch the full performance on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
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#ThisisUCLAMusic #UCLA #Music #Hitchcock #Psycho

In Case You Missed It... At our Faculty Artist Series concert “Between the Brandenburgs” on November 17, the Camarades String Orchestra gave a stand up performance of Bernard Herrman’s chilling “Psycho Suite.”
-
You can watch the full performance on our YouTube channel. Link in bio.
-
#ThisisUCLAMusic #UCLA #Music #Hitchcock #Psycho
...

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