Department of Music Concert and Event Listing

Jump N Funk is an immersive multimedia experience honoring the sonic legacy of Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer and activist, Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti. This celebration captures the essence of Fela’s groundbreaking fusion of traditional Nigerian rhythms and American Funk, a sound that continues to resonate globally across generations.

Since 2001, international DJ, producer, and scholar Rich Medina has served as the main conduit for connecting this rich Pan-African sound to dance floors worldwide. His passion and expertise have kept Fela’s legacy alive, bringing the Afrobeat movement into new cultural spaces.

This San Diego debut is presented in partnership with Professor King Britt through his Blacktronika course at UC San Diego, which honors the contributions of innovators of color in electronic and dance music. This collaboration creates a powerful bridge between history, education, and dance floor energy, celebrating Fela’s enduring influence on global music culture.

DJ’s:

Rich Medina

King Britt

Visual: Visualeyz

New Music for Two Voices is a collaboration between sopranos Susan Narucki and Kirsten Ashley Wiest, featuring performances of commissioned works alongside iconic modern works from the 20th century and from earlier historical periods.  

The April 16 concert features the world premiere of  NauðaR Níu [The Nine Needs] for two sopranos and percussion by American composer Jeffrey Holmes.  

Nauðar Níu refers to a particular magic charm, evoked through ancient Runic ritual and incantation. Holmes' text utilizes Runic inscriptions and carvings from the 5th to 12th centuries, eliciting an icy landscape of mythical beings, evoked through a unique compositional language: modal melodies, unique microtonal tunings and writing for the singing voice that is compelling and powerful. Both singers will play a variety of small percussion instruments made of natural materials upon which Runic inscriptions were carved: wood, stone, skin, iron, and bone. 

Nauðar Níu [The Nine Needs] weaves together past and present, logic and magic, in an otherworldly musical journey.

The concert also includes music by Hildegard von Bingen, selections from Pascal Dusapin's Two Walking, and music by Henry Purcell accompanied by pianist Kyle Adam Blair .

With Flying Colors Presents "Dreams Dyed Blue: A Journey Through Dreams In Sound & Color"

Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025

Time: Performance @ 7pm PST

Location: Conrad Prebys Music Center's Experimental Theater @ UC-San Diego

Price: Free but space is limited

Directions: https://music-cms.ucsd.edu/about/directions.html

About:

“There is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars….and in the memories of those we love.”

"Dreams Dyed Blue" is a spatialized electroacoustic/hip-hop audiovisual performance that explores the beauty, sadness, joy and loss of reaching toward a dream. This collaborative experience features visual contributions from Ben Guerrette, Mingyong Cheng, and LUX|LUMN, as well as musical contributions from Anita Chandavarkar, Natalia Merlano Gomez, David Aguila and Timothy “Ill Poetic” Gmeiner.



Artist bios:

With Flying Colors // https://www.soundrzn.com/ and https://www.benguerrette.info/

With Flying colors is comprised of audiovisual duo Timothy Gmeiner and Ben Guerrette. Tim has toured internationally as a hip-hop artist under the name “ill poetic”, and is currently a PhD student in UC-San Diego’s Computer Music program with a focus on spatialized and interactive compositions in virtual reality and audiovisual live performance. Ben Guerrette is an immersive experience designer who creates environments that transport you into a state of play and wonder. Through light, visuals, and sound, he crafts environments that tell a story and bring people together. He is co-producer of 'City Lights' a winter light event that takes place at Quartyard in the East Village.



Mingyong Cheng // https://www.mingyongcheng.com/

Mingyong Cheng is an interdisciplinary artist at the intersection of AI, generative art, and environmental research. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Art Practice and Art History at UC-San Diego with a specialization in interdisciplinary environmental research. Her work combines visual arts with speculative ecology, treating AI as a collaborative force in the creative process.



LUX | LUMN // https://www.luxlumn.com/

LUX | LUMN is a San Diego-based digital art studio specializing in creating vibrant visual experiences through projection mapping and immersive digital art. Their work weaves visual narrative layers into live music and stage performances, as well as crafting unexpected, magical environments for private events. Renowned for their innovation and creative approach, LUX | LUMN transforms spaces into an unforgettable environment.



Anita Chandavarkar // https://anitachandavarkar.com/

Anita Chandavarkar is a flutist, improviser, and composer living in San Diego, California. In addition to playing Western flute in a contemporary context, Anita plays bansuri bamboo flute in the Hindustani classical tradition, and was a featured performer at the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. She studies with Lyon Leifer, disciple of Pandit Devendra Murdeshwar.



Natalia Merlano Gomez // https://nataliamerlanogomez.bandcamp.com/

Natalia Merlano Gomez is an experimental music performer and creator who explores extended vocal techniques, graphical notation, improvisation, text, visuals, and electronic sounds. Her research examines the performative aspects of voice and text beyond traditional singing and interdisciplinary vocal performance from a decolonial perspective.



David Aguila // https://www.davidaguila.com/

David Aguila is a performer and composer, who’s multifaceted practice focuses on the intersection of trumpet, electronics and music production; working in the fields of contemporary, experimental, electro-acoustic and improvised music. His research is focused on parametric, gestural notation, performance, sound projection practices, and alternative approaches to trumpet pedagogy.

Grace Talaski, clarinetist, will present her 3rd DMA recital featuring a program of premieres of self-composed works for clarinets.

The program includes:

Soliloquy for bass clarinet with vocalizations
Despondency for contrabass clarinet
Four Pieces for double incomplete clarinets

kallisti chamber opera - An evening of one act operas 

May 7 & May 9, 2025  7 p.m. 
Experimental Theater 

All Wounds Bleed - Christopher Cerrone  (2013)
The Medium - Peter Maxwell Davies (1981)

American composer Christopher Cerrone's All Wounds Bleed  is a contemporary retelling of the legend of Echo and Narcissus, the abandoned goddess Hera, and the price of unrequited love.  The thirty minute work for three voices and small ensemble, features singers Emily Barger, Julia Anne Cordani and Miguel Zazueta.

Peter Maxwell Davies' The Medium, is a portrait of a character whose life is shrouded in mystery.  Is she a mystic, a person without a country, the victim of an unspeakable crime?  Davies' monodrama, featuring mezzo soprano Julia Anne Cordani is a 
vocal and emotional l tour-de-force that is timely and unforgettable. 

The Bridge Music Series focuses on bridging the classical and contemporary music genres and working across disciplines to create cultural connections.

Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri Human and Machine N1 (for percussion solo)

Jukka Tienssu Plus II for clarinet and cello (for clarinet and cello)

Lei Liang Trio (for piano, cello and percussion)

Ashley Fure therefore i was (for piano, cello and percussion)

Marc Neikrug Fantasy (for clarinet, cello, viola and percussion) world premiere

Artists: Aiyun Huang (percussion), Felix Fan (cello), Cory Smythe (piano), Joshua Rubin (clarinet), Chi-Yuan Chen (viola)

The Arcades, an undergraduate collage of music, is a UCSD student-led music festival seeking to showcase undergraduate talent. Featuring genres ranging from opera to hardcore metal and everything in between, the inaugural edition of The Arcades is an exciting synthesis of the diversity and talent that UCSD’s student population has to offer.

Organized by a team of undergraduate students, the idea for a student-run festival was birthed by Professor Steven Schick, who helms The Arcades Steering Committee. Programming, Administrative Matters, Live Audio and Sound, Marketing as well as Performances will feature undergraduates at the forefront, providing them with the exciting opportunity to showcase their talents at a world-class institution. The Arcades will spotlight 337 individual musicians, 32 distinct instruments and 28 different genres, with many of these performers having their live audience debut at the festival.

Taking place on May 18th 2025, the festival will see the Conrad Prebys Music Center reimagined, and will present over 6 hours of music spanning the entire building. This is a show that is the first of its kind, and is definitely not one to be missed!