Alexandra Grabarchuk

Alexandra Grabarchuk, a third-year graduate student in the Department of Musicology, traveled to Finland in early December to present some of her pre-dissertation work at the Sibelius Institute’s Radical Music History Symposium.  Alexandra’s project explores radical art rock of the Soviet Union from the mid-‘70s, focusing on the complicated relationships between songwriters and the official Composers’ Union.  Throughout this project, Alexandra has been guided by the mentorship of musicologist Robert Fink and Russian popular music scholar David MacFadyen. Alexandra’s travel was supported by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Student Opportunity Fund.

Music Department professors Vladimir Chernov and Michael Dean (Chair of the Music Department) will be appearing in the L.A. Opera’s upcoming production of Charles Gounod’s tale of the famous star-crossed lovers, Roméo et Juliette. The conductor for this production will be Placido Domingo.

Professor Dean, as an “L.A. Opera debut artist” will be featured in the role of Gregorio, and Professor Chernov will have the role of Count Capulet.

More information about the cast and production, can be found at: http://www.laopera.com/season/romeo/index.aspx.

This production will run from November 6th through November 26th.

Professor Vladimir Chernov

Chair Michael Dean

“Kevork Andonian, UCLA PhD Candidate in Music Composition, had his composition for flute and marimba entitled A Longing For Joy performed at this year’s “Piccolo Spoleto Festival” in Charleston, South Carolina. The performers were flutist John Samuel Roper and percussionist Michael Haldeman and they are interested in commissioning a new work from Kevork in the near future.

On June 18th of this year the same piece was performed by flutist Marc Grauwels and percussionist Sarah Mouradoglou at the “Festival Evian” in France.

In August, 2011 Kevork will present a paper about composer Olivier Messiaen’s piece Quartet for the End of Time in Baden-Baden, Germany at the “Symposium on Art and Science” hosted by the “International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics”. At this conference Kevork will also give a lecture-recital related to his dissertation topic of music polystylism, eclecticism and transnationalism.”

“My summer begins with performances on bowed guitar (arpeggione) at the Los Angeles Guitar Festival, and then moves on to various recording projects. These include “Four Bagatelles” for two guitars by UCLA MFA alumnus Buzz Gravelle, “Five Hobo Dreams” for arpeggione and guitar, by Eric Pham, and three of my own songs performed with UCLA Musicology graduate-student Alex Grabarchuk. The recording of Volume One of my PopArt song project (texts by Darwin, Karl Marx, Beatrice Wood, Black Elk, etc.) now complete, will be in production, freeing me up to continue work on volume two. Aside from dabbing my toes in pristine mountain lakes, that’s about it.”

You can also read more about the bowed guitar on previous posts in this blog.

For more about the L.A. Guitar Festival, go to: www.laguitarfestival.com.

Jeremy Mikush, a Ph.D. candidate in the Musicology Department, has been in France since early June practicing his French and doing research in Paris for an article and for his dissertation–thanks to two HASoM SOF grants!

Also, in August, he’ll be performing his own songs as well as those of other composers with biographic and artistic works that speak to queer experience at the second installation of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History in the SoHo district of NYC (http://www.queermuseum.com/home/), giving a lecture-recital on non-traditional sexuality in musical cultures of the not-so-recent history.

All of this will be happening while he is continuing to balance work on his dissertation and his increasing collaboration with theater and performance artists in SF. In October, he will very likely perform with Original SF Cockette member Rumi Missabu in NYC with a hand-picked ensemble, in connection with retrospectives at Lincoln Center as Cockettes material is archived at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library. A very busy summer and early fall indeed!

Thanks, Jeremy–it looks like a fun summer!

Jesse Sachs is a 4th year Ethnomusicology major, world music concentration, and producer of the JazzReggae Festival 2010 and 2011. He also produced a short documentary about the 25 years of the JazzReggae Festival, A Celebration of 25 Years: A Review of the JazzReggae Festival at UCLA. Jesse says, “This festival is a monumental achievement of UCLA students for the past 25 years presenting a wide arrange of Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop, Reggae and World Music….I think this is very relevant to the ethnomusicology community, being that UCLA is home to the largest student run music festival of this kind in the country. ” A link to the documentary is: http://vimeo.com/23837535.

Donna Armstrong interviewed him about his experience producing the festival.

The 25th Annual JazzReggae Festival 2011 will take place on Sunday, May 29 and Monday, May 30, Memorial Weekend, on the UCLA Intramural Field. For information go to: http://jazzreggaefest.com

Q: How did being an ethnomusicology student prepare you for producing the JazzReggae Festival?

Jesse Sachs: Studying ethnomusicology has allowed me to think about music in deeper ways then most programmers or promoters do. Having a deep understanding of the music you work with is important if you are going to present it and spread it to the public. Not only has it refined and broadened my taste, but it has given me a greater knowledge of the cultural implications of music. My study of ethnomusicology has given me an intellectual and ethical foundation on which to promote the music I do to the world. Anthony Seeger also gave me some great wisdom as my advisor for Ethno 195 course.

Q: What things were you not prepared for? What things did you have to learn on your own?

Jesse Sachs: When you first take on a position of producing an event of this size, you basically have to give up the idea that you can be prepared for everything. There are constant surprises and challenges that come along with concerts, but that’s also why the work is fun and dynamic. To many people’s surprise the JazzReggae Festival actually is all produced by students. Both CSP and ASUCLA provide advising and some guidance, but decision making mostly comes down to the student producers. Because of this, there is a lot that you have to learn on your own, often times the hard way. The biggest learning experience one gets working on the festival is how to deal with many different personalities. We have to deal with a vast array of people, from the diverse vendors, to eccentrics and egos in the music industry, to the many fans that call into the office every day. There is no better way how to learn how to deal with different people than to get out into the world and do it.

Q: What do you plan to do when you graduate?

Jesse Sachs: I do not have any set plans yet, but I intend to help build innovative projects in music and art. At UCLA, I have definitely found that my passion is to facilitate the spreading of music that I love.

Q: Do you have any advice for other ethnomusicology students who might be interested in this type of work?

Jesse Sachs: I did not think that I would have gotten the experience that I have from UCLA when I came in as a freshman. I couldn’t have imagined putting on a 25,000 person festival, or working with my musical heroes. My advice to other students is to take advantage of all that UCLA and Los Angeles have to offer. If you love music, you are in the right place to make things happen.

“Come celebrate the work of Zelda Rubinstein in perhaps the last great film you have yet to see her featured in; CAGES (90min). This one-time screening is to benefit the Blind Childrens Center (www.blindchildrenscenter.org), Zelda’s favorite charity organization that she became actively involved in while preparing for this film.

Professor Bourland composed the music for this movie.

WATCH THE PSA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgaUQjsCsNk

WATCH THE FILM: October 10, 2010
TIME: 10:00 am
LOCATION: Vista Theatre, 4473 Sunset Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90027
TICKETS: $10.00 (available at the door)
Cages website: http://cagesmovie.com/

And even if you can’t go, please help by spreading the word.”

What first strikes me about John Cale as he comes onstage is his hair. A full rainbow of color sits atop his head. And these colorful locks bestow an unearthly quality to an otherwise unassuming figure. Having acknowledged our applause in kind, soft-spoken words, he bangs out a D minor chord at the keyboard and the orchestra begins to tune.

After microphone levels have been established, rehearsal proceeds rapidly—Mr. Cale is business-like efficient in the warmest way possible. Soon we are awash in an endless plain of mostly bright chords and melodies, stopping only occasionally to stumble over a few notes, a difficult rhythm, or a tricky entrance. Rehearsal ends a good hour and a half early. I like this Cale guy.

Much of this music is about groove. Cale’s drummer looks the part; he seems entranced by his own infectious backbeat. As for me: I’m all but dancing in my chair. I can’t help it. How much groovin’ is too much? During the concert the audience appears, to me, quite stationary. Does this display of obedient attention reflect a certain reverence for the legendary musician? I feel that bobbing heads and dancing feet would better serve the cult of Cale—at least during the more upbeat tunes. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly moments for motionless enchantment; in Half Past France the expanses of soft blue and orange sound over which the guitar rhapsodizes, raga-like, recall the meditative realm of minimalists La Monte Young and Tony Conrad, Cale’s old-time collaborators. I’m losing myself in the resonance…such is also my feeling as we conclude the set with grand, fortissimo chords and Cale singing the somewhat ironic words, “sleep…sleep…sleep, Hedda Gabler.”

* * *

At the end of the night a few orchestra members posed for a quick photo with Mr. Cale. During this brief encounter I introduced myself to Mr. Cale, though I regret not having made a proposition to him, and so I’ll inscribe my plea here:

Dear Mr. Cale,

Please take me on tour.

Sincerely,

Joshua Addison

Some student comments about the John Cale concert were:

“It was an amazing experience playing with one of the most established rock musicians of our time. The featured guests were on fire and it was great to meet and hang out with them. I hope to do some more stuff like this in the future.”

– Goni Eshed, MM Music Performance, Trumpet.

“I played at the John Cale’s concert which was an amazing experience that I would definitely never forget.”

–Boryana Popova, final year doctorate student in violin performance.

“On July 24, 2010 at Mannes College in New York, I was honored to participate in a daylong centennial tribute to Leonard Shure (1910-1995), a magnificent American pianist and one of my formative teachers. The symposium included sessions about Shure’s recordings, showings of master class videos, a roundtable discussion and an evening concert performed by several of his students. Along with conductor and former Shure student Hugh Wolff, I gave a pre-concert lecture about Shure’s life and legacy, and performed at the evening concert:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/arts/music/27keyboard.html

Leonard Shure was born in Los Angeles in 1910, grew up in Chicago and headed off to Berlin as a teenager in 1924 to study with Artur Schnabel. He eventually served as Schnabel’s assistant for six years. In 1933, Shure returned to the U.S. and began a meteoric rise as a performer that crested in the late 1940s. In a long and distinguished teaching career, including faculty positions at Mannes College, Boston University, Cleveland Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, the Aspen Music Festival and the University of Texas, Shure taught generations of prominent pianists and musicians including Ursula Oppens, Jerome Rose, Hugh Wolff, Anthony Tommasini, Phillip Moll, Victor Rosenbaum, Beth Levin, David Del Tredici, Gilbert Kalish, Paul Hirsch, John Browning, Virginia Eskin, Lawrence Leighton Smith, John Wustman, James Levine and Lynn Harrell. I studied piano privately with him from 1971 to 1976 in Boston, and he was an enormous influence on me musically.

Preparing the lecture gave me a chance to reflect on some of the values that I picked up from this remarkable musician, and seeing the videos brought back to all of us — with astonishing immediacy — the power of his playing and approach. His playing at lessons was headlong, visceral, utterly committed — even sometimes unhinged — with a gigantic range of sound and vividness of gesture. Beyond this, though, you had the sense that, as Lloyd Schwartz put it in his June 1986 Atlantic magazine profile of Shure, “he leaves one convinced that there are no alternatives.” From a rhetorical standpoint, his performances were simply colossally convincing.

All of us were so lucky to have encountered a musician of Shure’s stature. It was wonderful to share our memories of these great experiences with each other at this event.

If anyone is interested in learning more about this great musician, you can visit www.leonardshure.com where you can find recordings, tributes and an extensive biography.”

“June 16 is celebrated around the world as “Bloomsday” — the 24-hour period portrayed in James Joyce’s epic novel “Ulysses.” (The protagonists of the book are Leopold and Molly Bloom.)

This past June 16, Los Angeles celebrated Bloomsday at the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater; three of our UCLA singers — Lauren Edwards, Brian Vu and recent MM graduate Doug Carpenter — and I were part of the festivities. It was a terrific evening.

The program interspersed readings from “Ulysses” by four outstanding British actors (Bairbre Dowling, John Rafter Lee, James Lancaster and John O’Callaghan) with songs that are mentioned in the book. The readings included excerpts from the “Calypso,” “Lestrygonians,” “Cyclops,” “Ithaca,” and “Penelope” sections of the book, and the songs included “Seaside Girls,” “La Ci Darem la Mano,” “My Girl’s a Yorkshire Girl,” “Sinn Fein Amein,” “Eamonn an Chnuic,” “In Old Madrid” and “Love’s Old Sweet Song.” I accompanied at the Hammer’s estimable Yamaha YDP-223 electronic keyboard.

The theater was packed, Lauren, Brian and Doug sounded fabulous and everyone had a great time. At the reception in the Hammer courtyard afterwards (featuring a spirited Irish band and lots of Guinness), our ears were buzzing with wonderful comments.

Thanks to Stanley Breitbard, a self-described “certified James Joyce fanatic,” who organized the evening, and bravo to Lauren, Brian and Doug!!”

(Photo: Eve Arnold, Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses, 1954.)