Herb Alpert School of Music Class Notes

Spring 2013

The new record Erosion: A Fable by the Loom Ensemble, featuring co-founder and composer Sasha Bogdanowitsch (World Music BFA 93), is now available on CD or to download. An album release concert for the record will be held on May 15 at 8 pm at TheaterLab in New York. Loom blends genres from new music to tango and from dance beats to choral hymns using dense vocal harmonies and richly layered electronics. Bogdanowitsch has released two other CDs as well on Ears Wide Open Records. Inelement, by SoCorpo, Bogdanowitsch's vocal duo with Sabrina Lastman, includes music for voices, electronics, bowed psaltery, autoharp and mbira array, while his Sonic Miniatures consists of new music for film, theater and dance. 

Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rob Coonrod (Music 06) is number 140 on the Reverbnation singer/songwriter charts in the U.S. Coonrod currently lives in Los Angeles, plays acoustic rock shows and is the lead guitarist for Pink Fuzzy Animals and Three Trees.

John Debney (Music BFA 78) has composed the music for three films either just out or due out this year. The Call, directed by Brad Anderson, is a thriller that was released in March, starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin. Jobs, a film directed by Joshua Michael Stern about the career of Apple Computer's Steve Jobs, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and Broken Horses, a thriller directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, is due out later this year.

A new novel by Brooke Halpin (Music BFA 76) is now available as an ebook at Amazon. The novel, called A Magical Mystery Time, is based on a true story about a Beatles fan who was so enamored by the Fab Four, that he thought he was a Beatle. Available for the Kindle, the ebook will soon be available for use on other ebook reading devices.

New work by Julia Holter (Composition MFA 09) was presented by Los Angeles Filmforum at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Grand Avenue location on March 14 in a program called we're (still) living.
Films by Holter, Rick Bahto, and Mark So were screened. The three artists each relate in a particular way to the work of John Cage. Holter writes and realizes melodies in Los Angeles, via various combinations of singing, recording, and playing keyboard. She has sung alone or with collaborators in festivals, homes, bars, galleries, and most commonly, churches, all around the world.

Malathi Iyengar (Music MFA 99) has received a City of Los Angeles (C.O.L.A.) Individual Artist Fellowship for 2013. She is the artistic director, choreographer, visual artist and dancer for Rangoli Dance Company, carrying on the Bharatanatyam classical Indian dance form. As part of her fellowship, she will perform on June 28 at 8 pm at Grand Performances at California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles.

Trumpeter Gabriel Johnson (Music 06) will be performing with his all-acoustic band at Vitello's in Studio City on Wednesday May 8 at 8 pm. Johnson had a busy 2012, releasing his debut album Introducing Gabriel Johnson in September, appearing on The Tonight Show performing with Placido Domingo in October, and performing at the New York Stock Exchange tree lighting ceremony in December.

C. Kenneth Lee (Composition BFA 11) has finished recording his piano playing for Asian TV actress Helena Law Lan, who pretends to play piano in episode #5 of the new series, Awfully Lawful, which appears on TVB, broadcast out of Hong Kong.

Drummer Zachary Morris (Music BFA 06) is currently on tour with the electronic artist Mochipet, aka David Y. Wang. Mochipet's eclectic mix of music includes electronic, disco, dubstep, and dancehall. Morris and Mochipet will be performing in Los Angeles at King King on April 4 at 9 PM, in San Francisco at Inner Mission on April 5 at 8 PM, and in Santa Cruz at Atrium on April 6 at 8:30 PM.

Patti Preiss-Harris (Music 85) will be playing keyboards, string
and vibraphone parts with the 12-piece big band backing up Lucie
Arnaz in a performance at the Ridgefield Playhouse
in Ridgefield, Connecticut on Friday, May 10 at 8 pm. Arnaz, the
daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, will be performing her new
show, Latin Roots, an homage to her father's legacy.

On NPR's All Things Considered on April 28, Betto Arcos, the KPFK host of Global Village, singled out Yunior Terry (Music BFA 02) in a roundup of new Cuban-influenced music. With his band, Son de Altura, Terry has released a debut album, Mi Bajo Danzon on Palo Santo Music/Ascap and widely available online.

Winter 2012/13

Emlyn Addison (Music MFA 98) has created a work for piano
called Without You-Piano, 7 hands dedicated to the memory of the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School. All proceeds from the sale of the song will be donated to the United Way of Western Connecticut's Sandy Hook School Support Fund. 

In February, Center City Opera (CCO) in Philadelphia presented excerpts from Hector Armienta's (Music 85) opera trilogy, Aguas Ancestrales as part of its Hispanic Opera Initiative. CCO will be workshopping the libretto of Armienta's La Muerte (part III of the trilogy) later this year. Armienta is the artistic director of Opera Cultura, based in San Jose, California.

Tim Carr (Music BFA 11) and Jake Faulkner (Music BFA 12) are scheduled to appear with The Americans on Late Night with David Letterman February 20, 2013. The appearance is featured in a Novato Patch article.

Ravi Coltrane (Music BFA 90) has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Improvised Jazz Solo on the track Cross Roads from his album Spirit Fiction (Blue Note).

Matthew Cook (Percussion 10), Justin DeHart (Percussion MFA 04) and Nick Terry (Percussion MFA 04) of the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet learned that their latest studio recording Rupa-Khandha was nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Surround Sound Album; Producer of the Year, Classical; and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.

Jerry Danielsen (Composition BFA 92) is running as a delegate for the 38th Assembly District in Los Angeles.

Three CalArtians gathered in Mumbai, India on March 8 to pay tribute to former CalArts music faculty members and North Indian music legends Amiya Dasgupta, who died in 1994, and Ravi Shankar, who passed away last December. Guitarist Hideaki Tokunaga (Jazz Guitar MFA 97; BFA 95), sitarist Paul Livingstone (North Indian Music MFA 97; BFA 93), and cellist Jake Charkey (World Music Performance MFA 08) were joined by Vinayak Netke on the tabla at an event called “Ragajazz,” held at Bandra Base. Tokunaga recently moved from Kobe, Japan to Mumbai and is teaching music at Oberoi International School, while Charkey, who also lives in Mumbai, plays music for Bollywood movies. Livingstone stopped through Mumbai from his base in Los Angeles while on an Indian music tour. Ragajazz features original compositions and improvisation combining classical ragas of Indian music with music from Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe along with jazz and western chamber music.

Toby Kasavan (Music BFA 74) has founded Neighborhood Music and Arts, a non-profit that does music, theater and dance programs in New York City public schools.

Gabrielle Lang (North Indian Music BFA 02), a.k.a. Gabby La La, released the video Snow Angel, for which she wrote the song, Let It Glow.

Carson Kievman (Composition BFA 75, Music MFA 76) is the Executive Director of the SoBe Institute of the Arts in Miami Beach, FL. His symphonies, operas, chamber music and experimental works have been performed internationally in stage, concert, dance, and museum. He holds an MFA and Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Carson has received numerous international awards, including an NEA Grant for American Masterworks Series, Rockefeller and Adolph Foundation awards, a Koussevitzky Foundation Composer/Director Residency at Tanglewood and two BMI Awards. Currently, he is adapting his Ph.D. dissertation into a book on The Music of Transcendence and working on his multimedia opera, Tesla, about the life of genius inventor Nikola Tesla and his legendary battles with Thomas Edison.

Curtis Macdonald (Composition BFA 86) has recently released his 17th CD, When Dreams Come True. 

Cathlene Pineda (Jazz Keyboard MFA 11) and Tina Raymond (Jazz Drums MFA 10) will perform Two Pianos with Drums in the Middle, Two Drums with Piano in the Middle with Art Lande at CalArts Roy O. Disney Music Hall on December 9, 2012.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and performer Todd Simon (Jazz Trumpet BFA 99) was spotlighted in KCET's Departures' Seasons of L.A. Letters.  Simon, who toured with Macy Gray, performed with El-P on Conan O'Brien and with Nas and Swizz Beats at the 2012 ESPY Awards.

Head over Heels, featuring original music by Jered Sorkin (Performer/Composer 08), has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It won an Annie Award for Best Student Film on February 2, 2013.

Fall 2012

Harpists Mia Theodoratus (Instrumental Performance MFA 94) and Susan Allen (BFA Instrumental Performance '73/faculty) will perform Sirens in Surround Sound, improvisations with two marimbas and celeste, with solo premiere works by Theodoratus and Josh Carro (MFA '13) on Monday, November 26.

On October 26, 2012, Mark Coniglio (Composition BFA 89), composer/media artist and co-founder of Troika Ranch, was named as a winner of the 2012 World Technology Awards announced by the World Technology Network.  The awards, presented in association with TIME, Fortune, CNN, Technology Review, Science/AAAS, Kurzweil Technologies and Accelerosity, recognize individuals and companies for innovations of "the greatest likely long-term significance." 

James Raycroft (Baritone/Bass MFA 84) has recently launched his new band The Singers Elite Vocal Big Band.They are planning an inaugural concert at El Portal.

Flutist Paul Taub (Flute MFA 78) will perform in And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind: Chamber Music for a Changing Season at Cornish College of the Arts on Sunsay, September 23 at 7PM. CalArts alumni can purchase reduced-rate tickets by choosing the "student" option on the online ticket order form.

Mia Theodoratus (See Susan Allen.)

David Trasoff (World Music Performance MFA 88) will be performing at the Hammer museum on November 9th at 6pm.

Sandra Velasquez (Instrumental Performance BFA 99) of the Brooklyn-based group Pistolera and Moona Luna,
a bilingual band for kids, reports that she has been named as the Grand Prize Winner of the 2012 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the Latin Category for her song, Nueva York, which she wrote for Pistolera's third studio album, El Desierto Y La Ciudad.

Summer 2012

Nick Block (BFA Jazz Guitar '07) and Gene Coye (Jazz Drums BFA 06) have teamed up to create the band, The Endangered and are releasing a self-titled EP this summer. Produced by Steve Miller, the EP is comprised of five tracks, including their single, "Calling on You."

Julia Holter (Composition MFA 09) has released a new album, Ekstasis, and was featured in an article by The Quietus and a "First Listen" on NPR. She will also play live at Field's Day in London's Victoria's Park on June 2, 2012.

Charles Lane (See Randall Packer.)

Randall Packer (Composition MFA 81) is hosting the online "Post Reality Show: Talk Media," presented by the 7th Annual Capital Fringe Festival. The show will air via Livestream from 10-11pm (EDT) on July 17-20 & 24-28. The first guest will be Charles Lane (Music MFA 80).

Spring 2012

Paul Anceau - Media See Suzan Shutan (Art).

Emlyn Addison (Composition/New Media MFA 98) recently produced Elegy for a Stranger, the first of five audio-visual works in "New Narratives Through Transformations Of Structure."

Aaron Drake (Composition MFA 07) has just finished filming his documentary Shelter Island. He is raising money to finisht he film and a song will be performed for each donation.

Carey Lovelace (Music BFA 75) has been selected as Co-commissioner or the US Pavillion of the 2013 Venice Biennial.

Amy Knoles (Music BFA 82) is the composer and electronic percussionist for the Empty Room dance show at The Highways Performance Space

Ann Millikan (Composition MFA 98) has three upcoming performances in Italy, the US, and Brazil, a new video XINGU with cello soundtrack, and an upcoming comission for Pat O'Keefe for clarinet that will be featured on his record in Spring 2013.

Jim Sitterly (Music MFA 80) will be having a free concert. The world premiere of The Five Fingers will include five concertos for solo violin and will be held on May 15th at7pm in the Harbor College Music Hall.

David Trasoff (World Music Performance MFA 88) has been named the Gordhan L and Virginia B "Jinx" Patel Distinguished Visting Professor in Indian Music Arts at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

Winter 2011/12

Susie Allen (Harp Performance BFA 73) will perform an improvisational concert at the Salle Acer in Paris on January 30, 2012.

Phil Curtis - see Ronit Kirchman.

Terry Dame - see Ronit Kirchman.

Enresto Diaz-Infante (Music MFA 96) has recently released a CD Civilian Life with Pax Recordings.

Brooke Halpin (Music BFA 76) shared that his recent quiz book, Do You Really Know The Beatles?, has been developed into the app Fabfouria! The book contains over 500 questions and answers on
different periods of The Beatles history.

Steve Horowitz (Music 89) has started ManhatPro West in San Fransisco, a branch of NYC based Manhattan Producers Alliance the professional mentoring and networking community for musicians.

Toby Kasavan (Music BFA 74) reports that his CD Hold Tight, recorded under the name Fingers DelRey, is now being played on Pandora.com. He also performs with the NY Blues Project, which will play at the Triad theater NYC in March and at the Montreal Jazz and Blues fastival in August. Toby is the founder and director of Neighborhood Music and Arts, a nonprofit that provides educational performing arts programs in music, theater and dance to NYC public schools. He invites interested Calartians to consider volunteering or serving on their board. In his spare time, Toby was promoted to 5th degree black belt in Aikido.

Ronit Kirchman (Music MFA 01) is co-curating and
performing in Film Music Remix at Sundance as part
of her participation as this year's Sundance Institute/Time Warner
Fellow. Phil Curtis (MFA Composition '97) is doing her computer sound processing.  Also, Terry Dame (MFA Performer/Composer '98) will perform.

Lisa Popeil (Music MFA 80) has contributed to the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Singing on the topic of Different Sung Genres, as well as to the Oxford Handbook of Music Education. Her voice research on musical theater belting substyles has been published in the Journal of Voice and she presented a paper based on vocal range at the Voice Foundation Symposium in 2011.  Lisa will present 2012 Total
Singer Workshops in New York City and at St. Gustavus University in St. Peter, MN.

Regan Remy (Music BFA 00) will be participating in a dance show at the El Portal February 17-25 with fellow alumnae Cyn Mendez (Dance BFA 09), and Alex Pratt (Music BFA 01).

Richard Rintoul (Instrumental Performance BFA 79) passed away on November 25, 2011.  He had a lifelong career in music, founding the Orchestra da Camera at the Colburn School of Performing
Arts in Los Angeles, and serving as its Music Director and
Conductor for twenty-three years. Most recently, he was a lecturer at the University of California-Santa Barbara and the conductor of their Symphony Orchestra. A memorial for Dr. Rintoul was held on January 12.

Nedra Wheeler (Jazz Bass BFA 87) will perform at the Pacific Standard Time closing reception at Greystone Mansion on Jan 28 with CalArts School of Art faculty and composer Charles Gaines and A.J. Fanning.

Fall 2011

Mathew Harwich (Music BFA 11) has finished his first album titled Power Trip under the artist name MPH.

James Brandon Lewis (Music MFA 10) is the saxophonist and composer on a new album called Divine Travels to be released soon.

Jim Santi Owen (World Music MFA 05) will be having a tribute concert at the San Fransisco World Music Festival where he is the Music Director for CalArts faculty Swapan Chaudhuri.

James Sitterly (Music MFA 80) is presenting the premier of his new musical Hell Motel on October 26th and 30th at Los Angeles Harbor College

Zero Brains a music company formed by two alums, Mark Reveley (Music MFA 98) and Mike Dillon (Jazz Studies BFA 98) has released their first iPhone metronome application, Cycles.

Summer 2011

Justin Bardales (World Music Performance BFA 11) is the guitarist for Modern American Theatre. The band recently released their second album Your Rage is Attractive and have booked shows throughout the LA area.

Steve Bilow (Music BFA 82) has accepted his appointment as Production Manager for the documentary "When Art Flourishes" by Rockford College philosophy professor Stephen R. C. Hicks.

Liz Fanora Jones (Music 10) has just launched her new teaching and music website.

Alyce Korn (Jazz Piano MFA 92) recorded an album with Chilean Guitarist Waldo Valenzuela to be released in Fall 2011. Alyse teaches Suzuki Early Childhood Music with the City of Santa Clarita Seasons and also has a successful Jazz Piano program for adults. She also travels to teach in Brazil and Switzerland

The Mother Funk Yas opened for Bob Marley's Wailers at briXton South Bay at the Redondo Beach Pier in August. Band members include Alex Emami, Morgan Fitch, Drake Peterson, Tony Rinaldi, and Chris Stewart.

Spring 2011

David Ake (Jazz Keyboard MFA 87) was recently named Director of the School of the Arts at the University of Nevada, Reno.  In addition, his second book, Jazz Matters:Sound, Place, and Time Since Bebop was published by University of California Press (2010) and he released The Dark, with EEA, which also features CalArts alumnus Peter Epstein (Jazz Reeds BFA 92) on Origin Records (2010). Last year, he won the Nevada Regents Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor in the state.  David shared, "Most important, he married the wonderful and lovely Kendee Franklin."

Paul Anceau (Music BFA 76) See Art Notes.

Andy Barbera (Performance-Guitar MFA 97), guitarist for Luck & Senses released Chapter 1 in 2010.

Timur Bekbosunov (Vocal Performance MFA 08) will be performing at the Grammy's MusiCares concert-benefit, the festival production of San Mercantonioin Germany, the world premiere of The Silent Steppe Cantata in Kazakhstan, and embarking on a solo recital tour with Vicky Chow 

Laura Bilodeau (World Music Performance MFA 06) recorded drums and percussion on Bonnie Pointer's new album, "Like a Picasso," available for download June 29th worldwide.

James Boyk (Music MFA 73) has been selected to perform and teach at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York.  His novel, Out of Tune Piano Blues, will be published in April.

Daren Burns' (Performer-Composer MFA 08) band Onibaba, which includes CalArts faculty Vinny Golia and alumni George McMullen (Music MFA 08), Scott Collins (Music MFA 08) and Craig Bunch (Music 99), was picked for the LA County Arts Commission’s band roster for 2011-2014. Burns completed a double CD with his band Brandy Repairs Utah in March and his new CD, Fear Is Not The Natural State Of Civilized People, featuring CalArts faculty Wadada Leo Smith and alumni Scott Collins, Sarah Phillips (Music MFA 08) and Craig Bunch, will be released soon. Currently, Burns is teaching International Baccalaureate music at Verde Valley School in Sedona, AZ.

Composer John Debney (Music 78)was a featured CalArts guest speaker on The Art of Film Composing on March 22.

Gary Chang (Music MFA 77) has accepted a year-long appointed as the Director of MFA Film Music Composition at the
University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

Eric DeLuca (Composition MFA 96) presented at Fostering Art and Culture Project's Creative Economy Summit on Rethinking the Creative Economy.

Peter Epstein (see David Ake).

On March 16, Sean Griffin (BFA Composition '93) arranged and conducted the first performance of music faculty Charles Gaines' Manifestos Scores at the Hammer Museum.  Griffin composed and directed EMPAC's Cold Spring last winter.

The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space on June 16-26, 2011 has invited the group of Calartians, led by experimental composer Jame Klopfleisch (Music MFA 10), to premiere a new interdisciplinary project titled, Landscape #4. The piece will be part of the Disk Stories section of Scenofest 2011- and educational project of Prauge Quadrennial and OISTAT.

The Revivalist profiled the James Brandon Lewis (Jazz Saxaphone MFA 10) Quartet's album Moments.

Kolleen Park (Music BFA 90), who is both Artistic Director at Kyyk Musical Studio and professor of Music at Howon University in Seoul, recently performed at the Seoul Jazz Festival. In December 2010, she was appointed as Cultural Ambassador for the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Bid Committee.

The work of Patti Preiss-Harris (Music 95) was performed as part of the Fairfield County Festival of Women Composers on March 12.

Dan Rosenboom (Music MFA 10) - see Michael Polish (Art BFA 92).

Susie Rosso (Music 74) Wolf recently published the novel, Wherever The Wind Will Blow It.

Adam Rudolph (Music MFA 88) will conduct the Organic Orchestra's performance of his work at the Electric Lodge in Venice, CA on Sunday, March 6, 2011. He has also released his new Moving Pictures CD.

Fulbright Fellow Robin Sukhadia (North Indian Music MFA 07) returned from his work in India to moderate LACMA's multimedia performance, India's Fabled City: The Art of Courtly Lucknow and presented at Mark Allen’s (Art MFA 99) Machine Project in Los Angeles.

Kubilay Uner (Music MFA 91) - see Michael Polish (Art BFA 92).