Music and art have the power to evoke emotion in us. This collection features artists, musicians and their work. Visit: uctv.tv/arts
Victor Minces teaches the science of music. He seeks to transform our perception of everyday experiences by revealing the physics behind them. Through his program, Listening to Waves, he works to make science accessible to all and imbue creativity in the scientific process. Hear his perspectives on teaching, arts education and more in this engaging conversation. Series: "Education Channel" [Science] [Arts and Music] [Education] [Show ID: 37090]
As a highlight of their 2020-2021 Season, Camarada presents the world premiere of a newly-commissioned work by Tijuana-based bassist and composer Andrés Martin. Unstoppable is a work in four movements for flute, violin, and double bass that reflects its creator's multiculturalism. In conversation with Rafael Fernández de Castro, Director of UC San Diego's Center for US-Mexican Studies, and Beth Ross Buckley, Co-Artistic Director of Camarada, Martin discusses Unstoppable's genesis and structure, and reflects upon his cross border projects and his work with Camarada. [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36890]
Alexis Smith originally created the mural "Same Old Paradise" in 1986 for temporary display at the Brooklyn Museum, after which it was stored for over 30 years. Now the massive mural - 62 feet long and 22 feet tall - has been permanently installed at the North Torrey Pines Living & Learning Neighborhood as part of UC San Diego's Stuart Collection. "Same Old Paradise" also served as the inspiration for Smith's "Snake Path," one of the collections most iconic works. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36631]
Allan Havis, UC San Diego Professor of Theater and Dance and Director of the UC San Diego Film Studies program, is joined by visiting scholar Robert Marx to host a rare, candid discussion with revolutionary theater director Ariane Mnouchkine, who founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble Théâtre du Soleil in 1964, which she continues to direct today. Series: "Kyoto Prize Symposium" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36810]
Ehren Tool is the ceramics studio manager in the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley. In his off-time, he makes clay cups that he hopes start conversations about war. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36762]
Known for his playful and ironic photo portraits of Weimaraners with names like Fay Wray and Man Ray, William Wegman is an accomplished artist in a variety of media. He joins Stuart Collection's Mary Beebe and Mathieu Gregoire to discuss the genesis and installation of his piece for the Collection, "La Jolla Vista View." Wegman also shares his thoughts about creative inspirations, methods, and processes. Series: "Stuart Collection" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36136]
UC San Diego Library's Nina Mamikunian joins Stuart Collection's Mary Beebe and Mathieu Gregoire for an exploration of "UNDA" (Latin for "wave"), the late Ian Hamilton Finlay's 1987 contribution to the Collection. Topics discussed include Finlay's artistic influences and creative methods for the piece in the context of his long career. Series: "Stuart Collection" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36055]
Visual artist, songwriter, musician, and raconteur extraordinaire Terry Allen joins Stuart Collection's Mary Beebe and Mathieu Gregoire for a wide-ranging exploration of the history and methods of creating "Trees," his installation for the Collection. Other topics for conversation include comments about Allen's public artworks that followed that initial commission and his latest album, "Just Like Moby-Dick." Series: "Stuart Collection" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36054]
Anthony Graham from Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego joins Stuart Collection's Mary Beebe and Mathiue Gregoire to discuss the work of Los Angeles-based artist Alexis Smith. Smith's collaboration with the Collection began in 1992 with her iconic Snake Path, and continues with her monumental mural Same Old Paradise, slated for installation on-camps in 2021. The trio of panelists offer insights into Smith's themes and creative strategies. Series: "Stuart Collection" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 36001]
Students, teachers, and administrators from Discovery Charter School talk about their experiences with STEAM education and share STEAM inspired projects, Series: "STEAM Channel" [Science] [Arts and Music] [Education] [Show ID: 36069]
The US/Mexico border has served as a creative catalyst for artists for more than a century, but perhaps never more than now as barriers between both societies have grown. Join us for a lively discussion with three leading musicians on how they reflect on the border through their music, creating art that forges connections and common community. Moderated by radio journalist Betto Arcos, a regular contributor to NPR, BBC Radio 3 and LAs KPCC, the panel features Arturo OFarrill, multi-Grammy-winning composer, jazz pianist and Professor of Music at UCLA; Martha Gonzalez, co-founder and lead singer of Grammy award-winning band, Quetzal, and Associate Professor in Chicanox Latinox Studies at Scripps/Claremont Colleges; and Jorge Francisco Castillo, founder and director of the Fandango Fronterizo festival and leader of the cross-border son jarocho ensemble, Radio Guacamaya. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35614]
Evie Evangelou, the founder of Fashion 4 Development believes fashion and the arts are invaluable tools for communication. She describes her work with the UN and designers to create a more compassionate world. Series: "Compassion Beyond Borders" [Show ID: 35907]
The cosmopolitan character of the Ottoman empire, the challenges of reimagining classical music and literary texts, and the difficulties of making an opera on a small budget all arise in this conversation between composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol and UC Santa Barbara professor Abdulhamit Arvas about Sanlıkol’s Turkish coffee house opera Othello in the Seraglio. In this video, Sanlıkol richly describes the complicated creative journey his opera made from its initial conception to completion. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 35774]
The challenge of blending three sound sources, the kinescope recording system, and the multimedia afterlives of 1950s television programs all arise in this conversation between film professor Ross Melnick, UCLA archivist Mark Quigley, and sound engineer Nicholas Bergh about the ABC television program Stars of Jazz. In this video, Quigley discusses the process of selecting which episodes to restore, and Bergh describes the principles of sound fidelity that guide his restoration work. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 35806]
Johannes Brahm's Symphony No. 3, composed in 1883, is the shortest, subtlest, and most concise of his four symphonies. Each movement demonstrates Brahms' mastery of the form as he ranges from boisterous to introspective, ending on a note of dignified restraint. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35728]
Emerging composer Anahita Abbasi, recipient of a Steven and Brenda Schick Commission, premieres an adventurous work that expresses the perspectives of a diverse community through the interplay of multiple soloists and the orchestra. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35727]
Los Angeles-based composer Michael Pisaro's "Umbra & Penumbra" features virtuoso percussionist Greg Stuart as a soloist whose sounds function as the foundation of the piece, rather than as an ornament. The role of the orchestra is to draw out, and expand upon, the colors each sound casts. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35726]
The UCSB Department of Music's sixth annual showcase concert features performances by outstanding faculty, students, and alumni from the department. Faculty artists include soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, cellist Jennifer Kloetzel, violist Jonathan Moerschel, violinist Ertan Torgul, and pianists Sarah Gibson, Natasha Kislenko, and Robert Koenig. The UCSB Percussion Ensemble, Cello Squad, Clarinet Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, Young Artists String Quartet, and members of the UCSB Jazz Combos perform, as well as UCSB graduate pianist Buyun Li. UCSB alumnus Azeem Ward presents an original work of his for beatbox flute. Series: "Soundscape" [Show ID: 35621]
Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture," which the composer offhandedly characterized as "a potpourri of student songs," features an unusual treatment of standard sonata form. What emerges is one of those rarities in classical music: a fun piece, full of antic humor, that invites the listener to laugh along with the composer. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35725]
La Jolla Symphony has not performed Brahms’ mighty Third Symphony, considered one of his most lyrical works, in a quarter of a century. The Symphony also premiered two commissioned works: a new piece by emerging Iranian composer Anahita Abbasi entitled "why the trees were murmuring," and Michael Pisaro’s "Umbra & Penumbra," featuring percussionist Greg Stuart. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34848]
The 1981 premiere of John Adams' "Harmonium" signaled the arrival of a major new talent. A "choral symphony" based on poems by John Donne and Emily Dickinson, this piece marked Adams' pursuit of a new path as a composer, one that employed some of the techniques of minimalism in service of a new harmonic language. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35504]
Thomas Nee Commission recipient Celeste Oram presents a new concerto for orchestra, violin soloist Keir GoGwilt, and three offstage voices. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35502]
Virtuoso violinist Keir GoGwilt is the featured soloist in Robert Schumann's vibrant "Violin Concerto in D Minor." Once rescued from an early undeserved obscurity, this piece quickly became one of the most popular in the violin repertoire. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35503]
Adventurous programming is a signature trait of La Jolla Symphony and this concert is no exception, featuring a newly commissioned work along with two popular favorites. Nee Commission recipient Celeste Oram's, "a loose affiliation of alleluias" is an ambitious concerto for violin and three voices. Robert Schumann's "Violin Concerto" features virtuoso violinist Keir GoGwilt in one of that composer's most adventurous and popular pieces. Finally there's John Adams' "Harmonium," the large-scale work for orchestra and chorus which signaled the arrival of a major new talent. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34847]
Béla Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra" is one of that composer's most accessible and popular works. Composed at a time when Bartók was terminally ill with leukemia, the Concerto is nonetheless full of energy and humor. In Bartók's words this music is intended to be "a life-assertion," and it served as a great composer's final artistic statement. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35400]
Opera News has called UC San Diego Music Professor Anthony Davis A National Treasure, for his pioneering work in opera. His six operas include works centered on recent historical figures & events, including Malcolm X and Patty Hearst. Davis' latest opera The Central Park Five, an exploration of the wrongful conviction of five teenagers of color in NYC in the 1980s, premiered at Long Beach Opera in 2019 to international acclaim. In this conversation with UC San Diego Music Professor Emeritus Cecil Lytle, Davis explains the genesis of The Central Park Five, and the challenges that ensue when art collides with current events. Series: "Contemporary Composers (1900-Present)" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35078]
Rossini's 1829 opera "William Tell" is rarely performed today, but its Overture lives on as one of the most popular works in the classical repertoire. The Overture is essentially an instrumental suite written in four parts and performed without pause. The best-known section is the last, the allegro vivace, famously used as the rousing theme music for "The Lone Ranger" radio and TV series (and notoriously so in "A Clockwork Orange). Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35398]
In the 2018/2019 season the La Jolla Symphony performed Florence Price's "Violin Concerto No. 2," and inaugurates their 2019/20120 season with Price's "Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major." Florence Price was the first African-American woman to have a symphonic piece performed in the 1930's by a major orchestra, but her work has been sadly neglected in the decades since. The chance discovery of several scores in 2009, including the two Violin Concertos, has sparked renewed interest in her compositions. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 35399]
Steven Schick conducts the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus in their first concert of the 2019/2020 season combines the popular and the unfamiliar. First up is Giachino Rossini's "Overture to William Tell," a perennial concert favorite with deep roots in pop culture. Next is Florence Price's "Violin Concerto No. 2," a lyrical piece forgotten for seventy years until its chance rediscovery in 2009. The concert concludes with Béla Bartók's dazzling "Concerto for Orchestra," one of that composer's most popular and accessible works. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34846]
In this fun and informative program Conductor Steven Schick guides the audience through excerpts from Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Florence Price's Violin Concerto No.1 as well as the complete William Tell Overture by Rossini. Schick places particular emphasis on the orchestra's organization and how the various sections interact with each other, with each of the musical selections serving as examples. He also invites questions from the audience. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34845]
San Diego is poised to re-imagine some of its most iconic public spaces, such as Horton Plaza Park, Balboa Park and many other locations. Three innovative curators who have created change-making arts programming for public spaces in cities across the US talk about their vision to boost audience engagement and the practical implications of contemporary arts production in high-volume public spaces. Moderated by Jonathon Glus, Director of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, the panelists are: Marc Pally, Independent Curator, Los Angeles; Susanne Theis, Program Director, Discovery Green Urban Park; and Karen Farber, Executive Director, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Show ID: 35152]
Arthur Szyk often said, “Art is not my aim, it is my means.” In this talk, Irvin Ungar exposes the viewer to the breadth and depth of the power, purpose, and persuasion of the artist Arthur Szyk who saw himself as a fighting artist, enlisting his pen and paintbrush as his weapons against hatred, racism, and oppression before, during, and after World War II. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34901]
Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, created paintings and sketches for his own enjoyment. Some of these pieces were on loan from the Geisel estate and exhibited at the UC San Diego Library for the 16th annual Dinner in the Library gala. Join a panel of distinguished speakers as they explore broad themes woven throughout Geisel’s works and its literary and artistic impact. Panelists Mary Beebe, Stuart Collection, Seth Lerer, Professor of Literature, and Rob Sidner, Mingei International Museum, each bring a unique perspective. Series: "Library Channel" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35062]
Originally written as the second (slow) movement of a string quartet, Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" went on to become one of the most popular symphonic works of the 20th century in its final orchestral arrangement. The solemn character of the Adagio has led to its frequent use as mourning music, much to Barber’s distress since it was not his intention to write a requiem. It was broadcast following the announcement of President Roosevelt’s death in 1945, and performed by the New York Philharmonic to mark Barber’s own death in 1981. Indeed, the Adagio seems fated to be used whenever someone needs music that sounds both “ceremonial” and “American.” Whatever its unintentional cultural accretions, Barber's melody is still both beautiful and powerful after countless hearings. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35009]
A close friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth was a largely self-trained composer who was immersed in English folk music. His works grew directly out of his contact with the English countryside, as exemplified by "The Banks of Green Willow" with its evocation of pastoral life in all its idealized simplicity and tranquility; indeed, the composer characterized it as an "idyll." As was common in his music Butterworth bases this piece on several old English folk melodies, creating a series of brief fantasias on each of the themes before drawing to a peaceful conclusion. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35011]
Commissioned in 1936 to compose a large-scale piece for a choral society's centenary celebration, Ralph Vaughan Williams instead wrote for them a cantata for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra titled "Dona Nobis Pacem" – and it was anything but a celebration piece. Dona Nobis Pacem (“Give Us Peace”) was the composer’s protest against war and a cry for peace at a time of growing international tension. Three years later, Vaughan Williams' worst fears would be realized. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35010]
Though suspicious of German music in general Maurice Ravel was an unabashed fan of the waltz, and wrote several pieces that incorporated that distinctive rhythm. Of "La Valse," the composer wrote that “I had intended this work to be a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, with which was associated in my imagination an impression of a fantastic and fatal sort of dervish’s dance.” Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35007]
Charles Ives' "From Hanover Square North..." commemorates the sinking of the British liner Lusitania by a German submarine in 1915. That moment when Ives and his fellow commuters heard the news on a Manhattan subway platform - a sudden fusion of grief, anguish, and community spirit – became the inspiration for Ives' composition, but in typically idiosyncratic fashion Ives didn't render the scene realistically; rather, it was the starting point for a musical meditation in which Ives registered the emotional impact of what he had witnessed. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35008]
As noted by the title, this piece centers on the talents of virtuoso trumpeter Peter Evans in a performance that is largely (though not entirely) improvised in performance. Evans’ tones are manipulated at times by the composer through digital signal processing, in what amounts to another interdependent and improvised performance; indeed, the watchwords for the entire enterprise are exploration and collaboration. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33855]
Conductor Steven Schick leads the La Jolla Symphony in a performance of Jean Sibelius’ mighty "Symphony No. 5," which drives to its triumphant conclusion on six shattering chords for full orchestra. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34889]
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus closes its 64th season with a reflection on the composer/soldiers of World War I, from Maurice Ravel to Ralph Vaughan-Williams to George Butterworth, whose life was tragically cut short in the war. Music from the same time by Charles Ives, and a favorite of Benjamin Britten, Barber's Adagio for Strings, rounds out a program that is both steeped in memory and full of messages for our own time. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34007]
Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe has taken particular pleasure in writing music for film, and we hear her "Fuel" with a film by Bill Morrison. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34887]
Young Artist Winner Anne Liu performs Camille Saint-Saens’ witty "Second Piano Concerto," which has been described as “beginning with Bach and ending with Offenbach.” Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34888]
Steven Schick leads a sharply varied program. Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe has taken particular pleasure in writing music with film, and we hear her "Fuel," with a film by Bill Morrison. Young Artist Winner Anne Liu performs Camille Saint-Saens’ witty "Second Piano Concerto," which has been described as “beginning with Bach and ending with Offenbach.” The concert concludes with Jean Sibelius’ mighty "Symphony No. 5," which drives to its triumphant conclusion on six shattering chords for full orchestra. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34006]
Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish" Symphony interweaves an ancient Jewish prayer for the dead with a text written by Bernstein himself that violently challenges God's apparent disinterest in the face of human suffering, before finally reaching an accommodation with the Creator. This conflict is reflected by music that is by turns aggressive, even dissonant, and serenely harmonious. Bernstein dedicated the work's late 1963 premiere "To the Beloved Memory of John F. Kennedy." Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34689]
Two things mark Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F Major, his shortest symphony and one of the least-performed. The first is its energy; contrary to classical sonata form there is no slow movement. The second is its unflagging good humor. The Eighth is full of high spirits, unexpected twists, unusual colors, and musical jests. In the symphony's lightness some listeners detect traces of the influence of Haydn and Mozart, but as with all of Beethoven's work the language is uniquely his own. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34688]
The Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies at UCSB hosts a live musical performance by The Three Cantors: Cantor Mark Childs (Congregation B’nai B’rith, Santa Barbara) Cantor Marcus Feldman and Organist Aryell Cohen (Sinai Temple, Los Angeles) and Cantor Shmuel Barzilai (Chief Cantor of the Vienna Jewish Community). Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34681]
In 1960 a young American art student named Patricia Patterson first traveled to Inishmore, largest of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. The windswept landscape and its ancient culture made a deep and lasting impression, as did the relationships she developed during many visits and prolonged stays in the years since. Patterson has continued to draw on her vivid memories of Aran as inspiration for paintings and sketches. Series: "Portrait of the Artist" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34756]
American composer Laurie San Martin writes music that creates a compelling narrative by exploring the intersection between texture and line. Critics have described her music as exuberant, colorful, forthright, high octane, tumultuous, and intricate. This piece's title, "nights bright days" is borrowed from Shakespeare's Sonnet 43, and reflects its late-night composition. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34687]
After meeting Laurie San Martin, one this country’s most important ebullient composers, we experience the lightness of a classical great — the seldom-heard 8th Symphony of Beethoven — and conclude with Leonard Bernstein’s extraordinary and poignant Symphony No. 3 (Kaddish), with chorus, soprano soloist and narrator. The Bernstein piece, named for the Jewish prayer for the dead, was dedicated to the late President John F. Kennedy and premiered in the days after of his assassination in 1963. It is a reflection simultaneously on the loss of a president and the loss of a generation of European Jews. It is powerful music, but also hopeful. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34005]
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus present the World Premiere of "Community Acoustics" by LJ White. In this piece White expands the boundaries of traditional classical music performance to create an active and immersive sonic environment. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34638]
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
