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Arts Advocates: Mary Watson-Bruce

OPERA AFICIONADO Q and A with Mary Watson-Bruce Mary Watson-Bruce, Ph.D. social sciences ’82, has an extensive history with UCI. She served as the associate director of geriatric medicine at UCI for ten years, and her late husband, Dickson Bruce, was a professor of history for over four...
Alumni, Connect 
Christopher Adriance Named Vice President of Marketing for the Irvine Barclay Theatre

Christopher Adriance (B.Mu. ’11) recently joined the Irvine Barclay Theatre as the Vice President of Marketing, overseeing the organization’s strategic marketing, branding and communications. Adriance joins the Barclay after eight years with the Pacific Symphony. During his time at the...
Faculty 
New Book on Clara Schumann Published for the Cambridge University Press Composer Studies Series

The Department of Music is pleased to announce the publication of Clara Schumann Studies edited by Dr. Joe Davies and featuring a chapter by Professor Nicole Grimes. The volume is dedicated to the late Nancy B. Reich as a tribute to her pioneering scholarship on Clara Schumann. Since the 1980s,...
Alumni 
G. Thomas Allen wins 1st place in international vocal competition

Vocal Arts alum, vocalist, composer, and music educator G. Thomas Allen recently placed 1st in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Allen is known for his remarkable vocal flexibility, warm timbre and cross-genre experimentation. He has worked with the late David Baker and the...
Faculty 
UCI Department of Music recognized as a thriving hub for Clara Schumann research and performance

The article “Wieck Spot” in VAN Magazine by Sarah Fritz pays tribute to the pioneering research and performance on Clara Schumann that is being carried out by UCI faculty at the Department of Music including Joe Davies, Lorna Griffitt, Nicole Grimes, and Nina Scolnik. It highlights the prominence...
Student 
Take it From the Class of 2022: You Got This

By Lauren Knight, B.A. ’21  There are four classes of students heading back to Claire Trevor School of the Arts this fall, but only one class has spent a full year on campus. It’s crazy to think that half of our CTSA community has never stepped foot on campus before Welcome Week! We know that it’s...
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Mari Kimura Explores Music’s Intersections with Technology and Science

By Richard Chang Mari Kimura, a professor of music at UCI’s Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology program, is connecting students, disciplines and departments with her groundbreaking work. She’s fostering collaboration and interaction during times when the coronavirus pandemic has...
Student, Connect 
Emerging Brighter

UCI student artists discovered and honed new skills in 2021 By Christine Byrd When UCI moved operations online a year and a half ago, everyone gained new skills: creating an at-home studio, mastering Zoom meetings and troubleshooting technology. But as artists struggled to keep their creative...
Alumni 
Kevin Kwan Loucks named CEO of Chamber Music America

After an extensive national search, Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network of ensemble music professionals, has named Kevin Kwan Loucks (B.Mu. ’04) as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective Sept. 1, 2021. Loucks brings over 15 years of national and international music and performing...
Faculty 
Dr. Rajna Swaminathan joins the UCI Music faculty

The Department of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Rajna Swaminathan as Assistant Professor of Music. Professor Swaminathan holds a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University’s Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry program and is an improviser, composer, and scholar. Her...
Student 
UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Names Ten New Medici Scholars

UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA) is pleased to announce the 2021 Medici Circle Scholars. Ten awards were given to both undergraduate and graduate students offering an opportunity to take their education beyond the classroom and collaborate with academics and artists in our community and...
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Zooming to UCI

Artists from around the world paid virtual visits to UCI students, opening new windows of opportunity By Christine Byrd When music major Cassandra Leisher asked the New York Philharmonic’s Ryan Roberts, a classical French horn and oboe player, how he calms pre-audition nerves, she was surprised...
Faculty 
Women in Global Music (WIGM): Network Launch

The Department of Music is pleased to support the online launch of the Women in Global Music (WIGM) Research and Industry Network, co-founded by Dr. Joe Davies, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow, and Dr. Yvonne Liao, from the Oxford Research Center in Humanities. The official launch events...
Student 
2021 Dean's Scholarship Awardees

Congratulations to the 2021 Dean’s Scholarship awardees! A very special thank you to the Giving Day donors who made these scholarship funds possible. As the leading campus in the nation providing access to all qualified students, no matter what their background, our students rely on the generous...
Alumni, Connect 
Alumni Headed to the Grammys

Kalbasi (B.Mu, ’10) performed as a soloist and with the Los Angeles Master Chorale on “IVES: Complete Symphonies,” nominated for Best Orchestral Performance. Allen (M.F.A., ’14) performed on “Choirmaster” by Ricky Dillard, which has been nominated for Best Gospel Album. Kalbasi is a SAG-AFTRA and...
Faculty 
Prof. Darryl Taylor presented two masterclasses at the New England Conservatory

World-renowned countertenor and founder of the African American Art Song Alliance, Darryl Taylor will held two master classes as part of the NEC Song Lab, a brand new and unique curriculum for singers and pianists. Student participants included graduate students in Vocal Performance and...
Alumni, Connect 
Alumni Ryan Rost, M.F.A. ’14 produces new album

Jazz musician and UCI Music alumnus Ryan Rost released his jazz trio album, “I Was Here,” on Oct. 29, 2020. The album features Doug Carter on piano, Peter Buck on drums and Rost leading on bass, and explores Rost’s curiosity through a unique compositional framework. “I’m constantly asking myself...
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Rachel Fine discovers her calling by leading arts organizations

by Richard Chang Not everyone who studies piano and music in college grows up to be a world-class, professional artist. Some grow up to be world-class, professional arts executives. Rachel Fine attended UC Irvine in the 1990s as a transfer student, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa...