Selene Kalra is an Environmental Studies exchange student from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom who found her passion in the Jazz program in UCSB Music Department.
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Music Department
UC Santa Barbara music student Donavan Walker’s senior recital, Layers, was an immersive performance blending original compositions, live music, and set design to explore the connection between dreams, nightmares, and creativity. Centered around a bed symbolizing his restless mind, the show built to a breathtaking ensemble finale, capturing the exhaustion and rewards of the creative process.
Dian Zeng’s experience providing music therapy during the Covid-19 pandemic led her to explore the broader impact of music on well-being, from supporting overwhelmed doctors to working with cancer patients. Now a Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology at UC Santa Barbara, she researches how elderly Tai Chi practitioners in Los Angeles use music to enhance both their physical and mental health . At the same time, she works as a teaching assistant in Music and Asian American Studies.
The newly opened exhibit Creative Currents: Student Expression in the Arts at UC Santa Barbara’s Sara Miller McCune Arts Library showcases decades of student creativity, spanning from 1960 to 2017. Curated by graduate student Carlyle Constantino, the exhibit highlights emotionally resonant works while exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the evolving role of curation in amplifying historically overlooked voices.
UCSB English student and actor-turned-director Curran Seth made his directorial debut with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, collaborating with the UCSB Music Department and Shrunken Heads Production Company to bring the dark, character-driven story to life. Emphasizing emotional depth over technical precision, Seth guided his cast—many of whom were primarily singers—to tap into their characters' psychology, resulting in a raw and immersive production.
The UCSB Chamber and Concert choirs held their fall concert earlier this month in downtown Santa Barbara, carrying themes of hope and light through their music in a concert titled, “Hope Finds Light.”
The four-person UCSB band Wahoo was formed last year in a dining hall and the members have since established themselves as rising stars by playing at The Rose Bowl’s Bruin Fest for Hispanic Heritage Month. Andrew Adorno (on guitar), Carlo Lapayese-Calderon (on Cajon), Matthew Diaz (lead vocals) and Abhi Sahota (on bass) aim to keep performing on larger stages. Andrew Adorno sat down for an interview to talk about Wahoo’s Rose Bowl performance, how UCSB fostered the creation of Wahoo, and his personal journey with music.
Cinema sound editor Javier Umpierrez joined UCSB Film and Media Studies professor Greg Siegel for a post-screening discussion on the 2021 fantasy mystery film Memoria, which was the inaugural feature of “Panic!,” a fall series presented by UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center. Umpierrez spoke about his role in Memoria’s sound design and the film’s portrayal of bodies and locations recording history.
The story of how UCSB college band Rebelution put themselves on the map, garnering a global audience of millions and a Grammy nomination. A feature story written by UCSB student Emily Ferguson.
UCSB’s Department of Music hosted an Opera Gala last month, showcasing the talents of UCSB and Ventura College students in three separate performances: one at UCSB, one at Ventura College and an abridged version at the Casa Dorinda retirement community. The primary focus of the Gala was six opera singers, all graduate students in UCSB’s music department. The event also featured a chorus, orchestra, and dancers .
This spring, UCSB’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division hosted a creativity contest to highlight the work of creative students across the UCSB campus. Here are the first and second prize winners in the music category.
Max Jack, a researcher and an alumnus of the Ethnomusicology Ph.D. program at UC Santa Barbara, recently spoke to students and faculty about his experience navigating the academic job market in the United States and abroad. Jack also gave advice on doing research and submitting to academic journals.
Professor Fabio Rambelli from UCSB’s Religious Studies and East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies departments, speaks about hosting “The Transcultural Exploratorium: Neuro Music and Japanese Culture” event and how he exposed the UCSB community to traditional Japanese sounds.
Musician and composer Gene Coleman spoke to a UC Santa Barbara audience about his work in Neuro Music. With compositions inspired by the brain’s auditory pathways, Coleman studies music from a neuroaesthetic perspective for creative production.
UC Santa Barbara graduate student Gulia Gurevich last week shared her research into Uzbek music history, in a joint lecture and recital. Gurevich presented Uzbek history as it influenced music, and discussed women’s role in music as a professional and educational field. After her lecture, she performed several different Uzbek works, including both solo and duo pieces.
The UC Santa Barbara Jazz Ensemble performed its Fall Concert with a tribute titled “The Identity of Ellington.” Ensemble director Jon Nathan spoke to HFA reporter Maya Johnson about what it meant for a predominantly white UCSB band to explore the history of race in jazz’s origins, and to give credit to artists and innovators who had been underpaid, discriminated against, and sidelined as jazz culture developed in the 20th century.
Richard Croy, the new production and events manager for UCSB’s Music department, sat down for a Q&A to discuss his experience in theater and producing, as well as his plans to revitalize Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall.
The UC Santa Barbara Classics Department began the school year with an event that brought ancient myth to life. Interested students participated in a play through of the video game “Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical.” During the session, organized by Classics Ph.D. student Rick Castle, participants examined how contemporary adaptations of ancient stories portray marginalized communities, such people of color and queer people.
The 2022-2023 web and social media intern team in the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts covered an array of events for the HFA website and social media platforms this year. Meet the faces behind the stories.
London-based artist Wajid Yaseen said that cassette tapes give a rare glimpse into the lives and immigration experiences of Pothwari-speaking people, whose language has no written form. The lecture was hosted by UCSB’s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music, Ethnomusicology Forum, Library Special Collections, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.