Alumnews09-10
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College of Letters & Science University D EPARTMENT of of California Berkeley MUSIC IN THIS ISSUE Alumni Newsletter December 2010 NOTE FROM THE CHAIR “Smart people and lots of hair—just what I expected of Berkeley,” was Rufus 1–3 Events, Celebrations, Wainwright’s summation at the end of his visit to our department. In town for the San 1 Francisco Symphony’s performance of his song cycle, Wainwright engaged in a lively Visitors exchange with a cross-section of Music students in the Albert Elkus Room. Wainwright is just one of the many guests who have contributed to the vibrant intellectual community 1, 9, 14–15 Heavy Lifters of the Department of Music over the past few years. Visiting from Italy, Israel, and the UK, Pedro Memelsdorf, Edwin Seroussi, and Peter Franklin have taught courses and delivered public 4–5 Faculty Update • Pianos lectures during their semester-long residencies and a series of shorter visits by leading composers from North 4 America, Europe, and Japan is currently underway. Our students and faculty have many accomplishments to be proud of—concerts and compositions, papers and publications—as you will see throughout this 6–8, 10 Alumni News newsletter, in which we also mourn the recent loss of several dear members of our community. The 6 Department of Music has endured the toughest financial crisis in the university’s history undiminished. 6–7 In Memoriam Although the end of that crisis is not yet in sight, we continue to strive to improve in our many areas of activity. Please enjoy this newsletter and turn to our redesigned website, which debuted last fall, for the latest 8–9 Fundraising Update, news of the Department of Music. —Benjamin Brinner Music8 Donors Heavy Lifters at Events, Celebrations, 10–11 Student News the Music Department Visitors 2009–2011 By Robert Commanday, January 2010 he fall semester is coming to a close 11 Center for New Music & hen asked what inspired your love for with splendid concerts by departmental 11Audio Technologies music, drew you into it, most people Tensembles, new compositions and Wwould recall a particular teacher and publications by faculty and students, and job a one-on-one relationship rather than singular offers for several recent graduates. The University 11 Hargrove Music Library concert experiences. I believe that that was the case Symphony’s glorious performance of Mahler’s first for many who came to Cal and fell under the spell symphony is still ringing in my ears, but alongside 11–12 Carillon of one of the Music Department’s heavy lifters, it are the new inventions of our advanced graduate Marjorie Gear Petray, Barbara Rahm and Jack composers, performed by members of the new Eco Swackhamer. They were very different individuals Ensemble, both conducted by David Milnes. Since 12–13 Performance Ensembles of course, but they shared a capacity for imbuing the last issue of this newsletter appeared two years 12 ago we have graduated two classes: ninety music students with the discipline of musicianship, the 11, 14–15 Awards, Prizes, imperative of developing the skills entailed in majors have earned a BA, eleven graduate students Honors becoming a musician. have received their MA, and thirteen have finished and filed their doctoral dissertations. 14 MARJORIE GEAR PETRAY Thanks to the dedication of staff, faculty, and 15 New Courses nyone who came through the Department students, as well as the generosity of donors, we have during Marjorie’s 37 years as a Lecturer, from weathered the university’s financial troubles without 16 Messages A1934 to her death in 1971, will have vivid compromising the quality of our programs. The 16 memories of this brilliant, intense and challenging Stern fund, established in 1930, continues to enable woman, and of her piano playing, which was us to invite distinguished scholars, composers, exceptional. “She was the best teacher I ever had,” and performers to give public presentations, recalls concert pianist Deno Gianopoulos, who particularly as visiting Bloch Professors. One of continued on page 9 continued on page 2 David Milnes conducts the University Symphony Orchestra Events, Celebrations, Visitors EVENTS, CELEBRATIONS, VISITORS, continued from page 1 these was Steven Feld, whose lecture series Composer Beat Furrer, who is the conductor “Jazz Cosmopolitanism: A View from Accra, and founder of Klangforum Wien, a leading Ghana” was linked to screenings of three films European contemporary music ensemble, will he had just finished making. In spring 2010, be visiting as a Regents’ Lecturer from January visiting Bloch Professor Pedro Memelsdorff, 24 to 28, to work with composition students a renowned early music performer, worked and present his work. In March and April we through a detailed study of several medieval will mark what would have been Professor Italian theorist-composers, examining the Andrew Imbrie’s ninetieth birthday with relationship between their theorizing and concerts and a symposium (see page 3). their compositions. The talks drew a devoted Academic year 2011–12 will bring us following of early music enthusiasts. Other two distinguished visitors: Composer and visitors in the colloquium series in spring theorist Fred Lerdahl, a professor at Columbia 2010 included two leading ethnomusicologists University whose book A Generative Theory of from UCLA. “Toward an Ecology of Tonal Music, (coauthored with Ray Jackendoff) Musical Practice,” was the title of a talk by has been immensely influential, will be the Bloch Professor Pedro Memelsdorff Professor Anthony Seeger, former director Bloch visiting professor in fall 2011. In spring of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings at the 2012, the Bloch professor will be Georgina Smithsonian Institute, while Professor Tim Born, professor at Oxford University, who is Rice presented “What and Where is Theory in known for her study of musical institutions Ethnomusicology.” (IRCAM in Paris and the BBC) and aspects This past fall, in a series of elegantly of technology and mediation. Both Lerdahl crafted lectures, visiting Bloch Professor Peter and Born have enriched their work by drawing Franklin explored new perspectives on some on multiple disciplines (linguistics and of the better and lesser known composers of music theory in the first case, anthropology, the early twentieth century, beginning with sociology, and musicology, in the second). As Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy, but also we move ahead with a wealth of initiatives, giving Frederick Delius and Franz Schreker it is important also to think about preserving careful attention. Cinematic use of symphonic local musical legacies and to remember people music by composers for Hollywood films of who played key roles in shaping the contexts in the 1930s and 40s, together with what can which we make, teach, and study music today. be viewed, in hindsight, as “protocinematic” Robert Commanday’s article in this issue aspects of late nineteenth- and early twentieth- is one type of contribution to such efforts. century symphonic music were two of the Another is the Andrew W. Imbrie Memorial threads linking these lectures. Anxieties about Fund, endowed by his widow Barbara Imbrie, Bloch Professor Peter Franklin the boundary between high art and popular to benefit the Bay Area Composers Archive. culture in late Romantic music also figured The archive, originally established by a major prominently. donation from the late Jane Galante, already We look forward to starting 2011 with includes the collections of several Bay Area new oak flooring on the Hertz Hall stage, composers. This past October, 130 friends, carefully matched to the original in layout, cut, students, and colleagues attended a memorial and finish, but without the myriad scratches for our former chair, Wendy Allanbrook, at and more serious holes that have marred our the Faculty Club. Graduate students sang and stage for years. Together with the new choral played works by Mozart, the composer who risers, which are lighter, less dangerous, and figured most prominently in Prof. Allanbrook’s less damaging to the stage, this refurbishment research and publications. will bring the hall back to former glory and Finally, in October 2009, we marked the Ben Brinner & Rufus Wainwright last, we hope, for decades to come. It remains a fiftieth anniversary of the death of composer fantastic setting to hear music of many flavors, Ernest Bloch, who taught in our department and when that music includes electronic from 1940 to 1952, with a symposium, a components or requires a little boost we are concert of his works, and an exhibit of his fortunate to have excellent amplification, immaculate scores in the Hargrove Music thanks to the generosity of John and Helen Library and the foyer of Hertz Hall. The Meyer of Meyer Sound and to our excellent performance competition on October 5 audio technician Jay Cloidt. featured music majors and other Berkeley In spring 2011 we are also looking students performing works by Bloch. First forward to a rich continuation of our two prize winners were April Paik (violin), Jessica Friday afternoon colloquia series. Composers Ling (violin), Jeff Kuo (viola), Kevin Yu play and discuss recent work at 3pm; scholars (cello) and Tony Lin (piano) performing the present their latest research at 4:30pm. Piano Quintet No. 2. Second prize winner Malcolm Bilson with student pianists continued on page 3 PAGE 2 Events, Celebrations, Visitors ANDREW IMBRIE FESTIVAL o mark the ninetieth anniversary of Andrew Imbrie’s birth a series of concerts and a symposium are scheduled to take place around the Bay Area in March and April of 2011. TA renowned composer, Imbrie (1921–2007) was a member of the Berkeley music faculty from 1947 to 1991. The events of the Andrew Imbrie Festival coincide with the Hargrove Music Library’s inauguration of a new special collection of books, scores, manuscripts, and archival material from Andrew Imbrie’s personal collection, donated to the library by the Imbrie family.