Teacher's PET (Audio): Recent Episodes
UCTV
Aimed at teachers, these programs enrich the classroom experience, help teachers stay up to date on research developments, and prepare students (and their parents) for college. Visit uctv.tv/teachers
Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture," which the composer offhandedly characterized as "a potpourri of student songs," features an unusual treatment of standard sonata form. What emerges is one of those rarities in classical music: a fun piece, full of antic humor, that invites the listener to laugh along with the composer. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35725]
Virtuoso violinist Keir GoGwilt is the featured soloist in Robert Schumann's vibrant "Violin Concerto in D Minor." Once rescued from an early undeserved obscurity, this piece quickly became one of the most popular in the violin repertoire. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35503]
Rossini's 1829 opera "William Tell" is rarely performed today, but its Overture lives on as one of the most popular works in the classical repertoire. The Overture is essentially an instrumental suite written in four parts and performed without pause. The best-known section is the last, the allegro vivace, famously used as the rousing theme music for "The Lone Ranger" radio and TV series (and notoriously so in "A Clockwork Orange). Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35398]
In the 2018/2019 season the La Jolla Symphony performed Florence Price's "Violin Concerto No. 2," and inaugurates their 2019/20120 season with Price's "Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major." Florence Price was the first African-American woman to have a symphonic piece performed in the 1930's by a major orchestra, but her work has been sadly neglected in the decades since. The chance discovery of several scores in 2009, including the two Violin Concertos, has sparked renewed interest in her compositions. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35399]
In this fun and informative program Conductor Steven Schick guides the audience through excerpts from Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Florence Price's Violin Concerto No.1 as well as the complete William Tell Overture by Rossini. Schick places particular emphasis on the orchestra's organization and how the various sections interact with each other, with each of the musical selections serving as examples. He also invites questions from the audience. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34845]
A close friend of Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Butterworth was a largely self-trained composer who was immersed in English folk music. His works grew directly out of his contact with the English countryside, as exemplified by "The Banks of Green Willow" with its evocation of pastoral life in all its idealized simplicity and tranquility; indeed, the composer characterized it as an "idyll." As was common in his music Butterworth bases this piece on several old English folk melodies, creating a series of brief fantasias on each of the themes before drawing to a peaceful conclusion. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35011]
Originally written as the second (slow) movement of a string quartet, Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" went on to become one of the most popular symphonic works of the 20th century in its final orchestral arrangement. The solemn character of the Adagio has led to its frequent use as mourning music, much to Barber’s distress since it was not his intention to write a requiem. It was broadcast following the announcement of President Roosevelt’s death in 1945, and performed by the New York Philharmonic to mark Barber’s own death in 1981. Indeed, the Adagio seems fated to be used whenever someone needs music that sounds both “ceremonial” and “American.” Whatever its unintentional cultural accretions, Barber's melody is still both beautiful and powerful after countless hearings. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35009]
Though suspicious of German music in general Maurice Ravel was an unabashed fan of the waltz, and wrote several pieces that incorporated that distinctive rhythm. Of "La Valse," the composer wrote that “I had intended this work to be a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, with which was associated in my imagination an impression of a fantastic and fatal sort of dervish’s dance.” Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35007]
As noted by the title, this piece centers on the talents of virtuoso trumpeter Peter Evans in a performance that is largely (though not entirely) improvised in performance. Evans’ tones are manipulated at times by the composer through digital signal processing, in what amounts to another interdependent and improvised performance; indeed, the watchwords for the entire enterprise are exploration and collaboration. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33855]
Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe has taken particular pleasure in writing music for film, and we hear her "Fuel" with a film by Bill Morrison. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34887]
Young Artist Winner Anne Liu performs Camille Saint-Saens’ witty "Second Piano Concerto," which has been described as “beginning with Bach and ending with Offenbach.” Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34888]
Two things mark Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F Major, his shortest symphony and one of the least-performed. The first is its energy; contrary to classical sonata form there is no slow movement. The second is its unflagging good humor. The Eighth is full of high spirits, unexpected twists, unusual colors, and musical jests. In the symphony's lightness some listeners detect traces of the influence of Haydn and Mozart, but as with all of Beethoven's work the language is uniquely his own. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34688]
In 1960 a young American art student named Patricia Patterson first traveled to Inishmore, largest of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. The windswept landscape and its ancient culture made a deep and lasting impression, as did the relationships she developed during many visits and prolonged stays in the years since. Patterson has continued to draw on her vivid memories of Aran as inspiration for paintings and sketches. Series: "Portrait of the Artist" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34756]
American composer Laurie San Martin writes music that creates a compelling narrative by exploring the intersection between texture and line. Critics have described her music as exuberant, colorful, forthright, high octane, tumultuous, and intricate. This piece's title, "nights bright days" is borrowed from Shakespeare's Sonnet 43, and reflects its late-night composition. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34687]
Pianist Cecil Lytle and friends celebrate the Jewish folk traditions of Eastern Europe with spoken word, Klezmer music, and songs from the Yiddish theater. Featured performers include bassist Bertram Turetzky, singer Eva Barnes, and the Second Avenue Klezmer Band. Series: "Rebecca Lytle Memorial Concerts" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34298]
Co-concertmaster David Buckley is soloist in the dynamic Second Violin Concerto of Florence Price, a prolific African-American composer that made her long career in Chicago, where her music was championed by the Chicago Symphony in the 1930s. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34404]
Chinese-American composer Qingqing Wang celebrates this nation of immigrants in her stunning composition, the 2018 Thomas Nee Commission. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34405]
Jennifer Granholm, former Governor of Michigan, identifies some of the most interesting policy ideas to address the problems of displaced workers, the skills gap and resulting inequality in an age of robots and artificial intelligence. Granholm teaches Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School and is the chair of the American Jobs Project, a multi-state research initiative on creating industrial clusters in clean energy. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 34013]
Since its premiere in Dublin in 1742 Handel's oratorio "Messiah" has become one of Western music's best-loved and most-performed choral works. Originally part of the oratorio's third section, which celebrates Christ's resurrection, the "Hallelujah" chorus has become a perennial Christmas staple, and arguably the best-known choral work in the repertoire. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34361]
Since its premiere in Dublin in 1742 Handel's oratorio "Messiah" has become one of Western music's best-loved and most-performed choral works. "For Unto Us a Child is Born" is taken from the first (nativity) section of "Messiah," which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34360]
The Young People's Concert is a fun and informative "family-friendly" introduction to the symphony. Host/Conductor Steven Schick and the orchestra perform annotated excerpts from the 2018 season-opening concert, including Tan Dun's striking "Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra" and Igor Stravinsky's beloved ballet "Petrushka." The program features an audience Q&A in addition to the Conductor's commentary. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 34001]
Renowned composer John Luther Adams discusses “The Wind Garden,” his soundscape installation for the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego, with the Collection’s Mathieu Gregoire. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30732]
San Diego-raised novelist and UC San Diego alumnus, Luis Alberto Urrea ‘77 is the featured speaker at the UC San Diego Library annual gala. Urrea, a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist, has written about the border and has knitted together stories in a way that makes them familiar and impactful for everyone. Series: "Writers" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 33668]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by saxophonist Charles McPherson. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33929]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by flutist Holly Hofmann. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33928]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by bassist Mark Dresser. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33927]
Asher Tobin Chodos’ adventurous arrangement of Ornette Coleman’s Lonely Woman places a quartet of jazz soloists within a symphonic context. Just as innovator Coleman sought to reframe jazz conventions in an idiosyncratic style, so Chodos’ arrangement seeks to reposition this 1959 work in a modern idiom, one that embraces and even expands upon the challenges of a composition that, in Chodos’ words, “occupies a middle ground between specificity and discrepancy.” Most importantly, this new take on a classic preserves the beauty and immediacy of Coleman’s original. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33857]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by composer/pianist Anthony Davis. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33926]
Though acknowledging connections between World War II and his "Symphony in 3 Movements," which premiered in 1946, Igor Stravinsky stated the piece was not program music based on extra-musical events, insisting that "the Symphony is not programmatic. Composers combine notes. That is all." In truth the 3 sections were each written for different purposes, then combined into a whole that, while very appealing, is not quite unified in the sense of a traditional symphony. Stravinsky himself suggested that a more accurate title might be "Three Symphonic Movements." No matter its genesis or stated ambitions, this piece is driven by the same exuberant, triumphal spirit as contemporaneous pieces written during the War. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33854]
Courtney Bryan’s remarkable "Yet Unheard," a work for orchestra and chorus, commemorates Sandra Bland’s tragic death in police custody in 2013. Using the text of Sharan Strange’s poem, soprano Helga Davis speaks to us in Bland’s voice, prodding us to relive the circumstances of her death and to seek answers to painful questions too long unasked. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33856]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33924]
The title "Un Sourire" translates as "A smile." Olivier Messiaen, who composed the piece to mark the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death in 1991, did not attempt to imitate Mozart's style. Rather, he based his piece on the knowledge that Mozart's music was not necessarily a direct expression of his emotional life. Messiaen fashioned his gentle homage to reflect that aspect of Mozart's music combined with his own love of birdsong. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33851]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by drummer Matt Wilson. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33923]
"When I sat down to write "Eating Flowers" I felt in many ways that I was responding to the energies of orchestral music whose colors I find irresistible: music of Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy, and Messiaen particularly. My piece does not quote or even explicitly refer to this older music, but the energy and the color was certainly an influence. I titled my piece "Eating Flowers" to capture the sense of having tasted the delicious and delicate colors of my favorite orchestral music, which nourished my own creative spirit after having been digested." --- Hannah Lash Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33852]
Toru Takemitsu's "A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden" grew of out several influences. One inspiration was the composer's dreams, including a vision of a flock of white birds led by a single black bird. Another was his love of traditional Japanese gardens. A spark was provided by the American avant-garde composer John Cage, whose concept of indeterminate music - in which passages are left to chance or improvisation by the performers - was tremendously appealing to Takemitsu. The image of a five-sided garden also informs the piece's structure: five brief sections are built on five-note themes based on the pentatonic scale. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33853]
Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14–adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases an ensemble mentored by saxophonist David Borgo. Series: "UC San Diego Jazz Camp" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33922]
A critic once commented that Schoenberg's "Five Pieces for Orchestra" requires "an orchestra of soloists," Schoenberg himself said that his aim was the development of "the emancipation of dissonance," in which no single note or key would be dominant over others. To this end melodies are fragmentary while the emphasis is on ever-shifting instrumental colors.; thus each of the five brief movements acquires a distinctive atmosphere. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33850]
Franz Liszt composed twelve “symphonic poems,” of which “Les Préludes” has proven to be the most popular. Its structure is deceptively simple, based loosely on sonata form but differing from the classical sonata in its development of a few basic themes, rather than contrasting very different thematic material in distinct movements. The attractiveness of the piece lies in Liszt’s ingenious transitions and transformations as the music moves from episode to episode, by turns turbulent and serene, until the various strands finally come together in the dramatic finale. Explaining the title “Les Préludes,” Liszt posed the question, “What else is life but a series of preludes to that unknown hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?” Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33849]
UC San Diego's Geisel Library hosts an annual Paper Theater Festival, celebrating an art form with roots in Victorian Era Europe. Paper theaters (also known as toy theaters) were used to promote productions. They were printed on paperboard sheets and sold as kits at the concession stand of an opera house, playhouse, or vaudeville theater. The kits were then assembled at home and plays performed for family members and guests, sometimes with live musical accompaniment. The theaters gradually declined in popularity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but have enjoyed a resurgence in interest in recent years among many puppeteers, filmmakers, theater historians, and hobbyists. Presently there are numerous international paper theater festivals throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as several museums. Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33264]
Emmanuel Jal, an internationally recognized hip-hop musician, former child soldier turned activist and entrepreneur, shares his story and music. Jal was born into the life of a child solider in the early 1980s in the war-torn region of Southern Sudan. He calls upon all of us to engage with our world and become global citizens through scholarship, leadership and service. [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33490]
Author and legendary athlete Kareem Abdul-Jabbar highlights remarkable African-American contributions to American society. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 33606]
An American in Paris has always been one of Gershwin's most popular scores, and deservedly so. It offers great tunes, a breezy charm that evokes both the City of Light and the Jazz Age, and Gershwin's obvious affection for the French capital. Gershwin argued that this piece is structured in sonata form and is not just a series of episodes & impressions strung together with great skill; perhaps so, but no matter. Above all else, this is fun music. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33379]
Composer Francis Poulenc maintained that one need not be solemn to praise God, and that belief is echoed is his "Gloria." Indeed, listeners not otherwise informed may not guess it's the setting of a sacred text (in this case, the second part of the Roman Catholic Mass liturgy). Poulenc's score is by turns melodic, rhythmic, serene, piquant, high-spirited, slightly dissonant, subdued, or strident, but is never less than charming. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33377]
Aaron Copland originally composed "Quiet City" in 1939 for the play of the same name. The play failed, but Copland's piece went on to become one of his best-loved & most frequently performed works. "Quiet City" is essentially an urban nocturne, the aural equivalent of Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks," and is built around two themes: an evocative trumpet call, and a dotted figure for the strings. To round out the piece Copland added haunting interludes performed either by an English horn or an oboe (in this case an oboe). Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33383]
As was the practice in a time (14th Century) before the delineation between poet and composer was as sharply drawn as today, Guillaume de Machaut set his own texts to music. "Je vivroie liement" for solo soprano, solo violin, and chamber orchestra is an homage to courtly love set to a lively fiddle dance tune that evokes both Celtic & Gypsy styles. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33374]
There are no opening notes more famous or thrilling than the clarinet trill at the start of Rhapsody in Blue that suddenly spirals upward and broadens into a seductive, near-sleazy glissando, followed by the main theme. Arguably the single best-known piece of American symphonic music, Rhapsody is not quite a true piano concerto, nor is it pure jazz; rather, it's a musical melting pot that proceeds in a series of artfully connected episodes to a jazzy, triumphal conclusion. If you've ever wondered if an orchestra can swing, Rhapsody in Blue dispels all doubts. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33380]
Luis Urrea is a prolific writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea is the critically acclaimed, best-selling author of 16 books. He talks with Steven Schick about his life and work, and their collaboration on a new version of Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat" with texts from Urrea's writings. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33265]
The String Quartet in B Minor (Op. 33, No. 1) was the first of six quartets composed in 1781 by Franz Josef Haydn and popularly known as the "Russian" quartets. By this point in his career Haydn was a master of his craft, and with that confidence he began to experiment with the sonata form. This quartet is one of two that Haydn set in the key of B minor, a rare key for both Haydn and the string repertoire, and it has an uncharacteristically adventurous, questing quality. It moves from B minor through several keys, restlessly exploring rhythms, melodies, and modulations before "landing" back upon its home key in the breathless, virtuosic final movement. This piece amply demonstrates why Mozart held Haydn in high esteem. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33220]
"Like a semi-formal family dinner, this piece offers an environment for free interaction that is both structurally rigid & weirdly volatile. In this piece, the three principal actors - 2 solo pianos & a symphony orchestra - behave like relatives. We get along, we shout over each other, we stand at a respectful distance, and we shock each other into bemused & resentful silence. This is a work that calls for trust, sympathy & humor; I couldn't have written it unless I felt for the people involved a musical kinship verging on the familial." - Composer/Pianist Asher Tobin Chodos Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33385]
Benjamin Britten originally composed his Gemini Variations for the Hungarian twins Zoltan and Gabor Jeney, who were talented players capable of performing all the instrumental parts. However, Britten knew it would be difficult to find two players with the same abilities as the twins, so he composed this alternate version featuring four musicians playing flute, violin, and piano four-hands (i.e., two pianists at one piano). Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33142]
Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" is a splendid example of what his collaborator Billy Strayohorn dubbed the "Ellington Effect," a sonic texture achieved through imaginative orchestration and unique to Ellington. Duke began with basic elements and tropes of jazz, then proceeded to filter those materials through his own indiosyncratic sense of rhythm and texture to fashion a sound that seems at once familiar yet exotic. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33384]
One of the most important composers in jazz history, Charles Mingus documented his lively impressions of Tijuana in "Tijuana Moods," a rarely performed suite. Join Grammy-winning jazz author Ashley Kahn; eminent alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, a longstanding member of Charles Mingus' band; Anthony Davis, UC San Diego professor of music and noted composer, pianist and improviser; and Steven Schick, UC San Diego professor of music, percussionist, and conductor, for an exploration of the legacy of African-American composer Charles Mingus and his historic Tijuana Moods album. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32750]
The serenade is a venerable 18th-century form as practiced by Haydn, Mozart and others. In his "Serenade in D Minor" Antonin Dvořák adapted the form to his own purposes, scoring for an unusual combination of instruments and introducing an unusual thematic unity. The result is a piece of good-spirited, sunny music that reflects Dvořák's own optimistic personality. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33144]
Franz Schubert's String Quartet in C minor, D. 703 from 1820 is popularly known as the "Quartettsatz" because only a single movement of the piece was finished. The "Quartettsatz" marked something of a coming of age for Schubert, as he began to find ways to combine the rich Viennese heritage he absorbed during his student years with his own evolving dramatic ambitions. Structurally the piece dips and swells as it progresses through a series of dramatic extremes, assuming the shape of an advanced sonata design while avoiding the limitations of that form. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33219]
The Quintet in E-flat Major amply supports the contention that Mozart wrote superbly for wind instruments. Composing for an unusual combination of instruments, Mozart speaks directly to the character of each; the short and often rapid phrases for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, & horn are beautifully supported by the piano's rippling, fluid lines. This piece is not about virtuosity, but about musicians putting themselves at the service of the music. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33154]
The city flower of Yueyuang City in China's Hunan Province is the gardenia. In creating his Gardenia for String Quartet & Pipa, composer Xiaogang Ye adapted folk songs and operas from the region to convey a sense of loss, and his longing for the beautiful scenery of Southern China. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33139]
The "Flute Quartet in C Major" is one of two Mozart quartets discovered fairly recently, and whose authorship is uncertain. Certainly the piece has all the hallmarks of Mozart's classical style: smoothly flowing melodic lines, nimble interaction between flute and strings, and a familiar theme-and-variation section. Whatever its provenance, this is graceful, pleasing music. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33153]
"Short Tales from the Mothership" celebrates an elegant genre by presenting condensed stories from fellow futurists, time-travelers, inventors, artists, and writers. This evening is inspired by the short postcard stories that magazine editor George Hay encouraged in the 1970’s. He dared such authors as Arthur C. Clarke to send sci-fi stories that easily fit onto a postcard. In that spirit, Geisel Library invited writers to submit fantasy or science fiction pieces of no more than 250 words, to be read aloud. Series: "Writers" [Humanities] [Show ID: 32844]
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus performs excerpts from the season-opening "Crossing the Rue St. Paul" concert, with commentary from the stage by Conductor Steven Schick and questions from the audience. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32618]
For more than a half century, John Lithgow has been delighting audiences on stage, in movies and on television. In a lively discussion with Peter Gourevitch, distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at UC San Diego, Lithgow reflects on his preparations for the wide diversity of roles that have shaped his career and influenced the larger culture, from his star turn in “The World According to Garp” to his SAG-award-winning role as Winston Churchill in the Netflix original series “The Crown.” Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32265]
Join Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab engineer Saura Naderi as she teaches you step-by-step how to program servos using Arduino. Learn what a servo is, how it moves, how to control speed and direction. Series: "STEAM: Adding Arts to STEM Education" [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 30393]
Performance of Great Gate of Kiev from the perennial favorite by Modest Mussorgsky, "Pictures at an Exhibition." This is the popular version orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32669]
Rosina Bierbaum, formerly of President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and an Adaptation Fellow at the World Bank, shows how climate change will affect all regions and sectors of the economy, and disproportionately affect the poorest people on the planet. Therefore, improving the resilience, adaptation, and preparedness of communities must be a high priority, equal to that of achieving deep greenhouse gas reductions,and rapid development and deployment of innovative technologies, as well as altered planning and management strategies, will be needed in the coming decades to achieve a sustainable world. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 32343]
Making novel use of a technique to detect food-borne pathogens, Emily Wilson of UC Merced reveals the microbial ecology of the conifers in Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows to understand the beneficial properties they provide the trees. Series: "Sustainable California" [Science] [Show ID: 25858]
Yusef Komunyakaa, an internationally renowned poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for “Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems," reads and discusses his work while writer-in-residence at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32148]
This year, California's winter weather has been wet and wild. Join Scripps scientist Marty Ralph, Director of Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) as he describes the phenomena of atmospheric rivers, their impact on our weather, and the essential role modeling and prediction play in managing California's precious water resources. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 31733]
Students, administrators and academic researchers demonstrate the value of learning music in school as they show improvements in English and Math test scores, class attendance rates, cognitive development, self-esteem and the ability to work with others. Featured are Francisco Escobedo, the superintendent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District; UC San Diego cognitive scientists Terry Jernigan and John Iversen; and young musicians participating in the Community Opus Project, an in-school and after school music program led by Dalouge Smith, the president and CEO of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory. Series: "STEAM: Adding Arts to STEM Education" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Education] [Show ID: 30835]
How are modern day humans adapting to climate change? To find the answer, archaeologists are studying how human societies have responded to environmental changes in the past. Isabel Rivera-Collazo focuses on understanding human resilience and adaptation to past environmental change as a lens through which we can view the future. Finding answers involves diverse disciplines, including archeology, anthropology, geomorphology, ecosystem dynamics and climate science. Join us to learn how her work at Scripps Oceanography and in UC San Diegos Department of Archeology are changing the way we view climate change and its impacts on society. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 31732]
Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky describes himself as a "composer" who considers poetry to be first and foremost a vocal art, and his work seeks to blur the distinctions between language and music by emphasizing the rhythms and innate physicality of recited verse in a jazz context. In this performance for the 22nd Writer's Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University, Pinsky's reading is accompanied by a talented trio of PLNU students. The music - a blend of rehearsed and improvised - employs a variety of jazz styles, sometimes sympathetic and sometimes in playful counterpoint, but always responsive to the poet's distinctive voice. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30820]
Oceanic Manta Rays (Manta birostris) are increasingly caught in targeted fisheries for their gill rakers, fueled by demand as a pseudo-remedy in traditional Chinese medicine. Given extremely low reproductive rates, even small artesanal fisheries and by-catch will have significant impacts on manta populations, while large-scale targeted fisheries may lead to population decline and perhaps local extinction. Understanding the basic ecology and population dynamics of the species is a prerequisite to developing effective conservation and management strategies for the species. Semmens Lab PhD student Josh Stewart is investigating the population structure and spatial ecology of oceanic manta rays in the Indo-Pacific using a diversity of techniques to identify space use, migratory corridors, regional sub-populations and connectivity between oceanic manta hotspots and aggregations. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 31731]
The two Verdi operas presented during San Diego Opera's 2016/17 season, La Traviata and Falstaff, represent the composer at two distinct stages in his life and career. Nicolas Reveles examines the evolution of Verdi's style over the forty years that separated the premieres of these masterpieces, from midlife to old age. Singers Cherylyn Larsen, soprano, and Bernardo Bermudez, baritone, join Dr. Nic to perform excerpts from the two operas. Series: "San Diego OperaTalk! with Nic Reveles" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30717]
Long term, sustained ocean observations provide scientists with much needed insight into natural and human induced changes in the world ocean. Join NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center Director Francisco Werner as he provides a broad perspective on ocean observing and its scientific value and application, as well as a close up look at the important monitoring effort in our own coastal ocean, the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 31443]
Comprised of some the world's best musicians, the SummerFest Chamber Orchestra performs Prokofiev's popular Violin Concerto No. 2, wtih virtuoso soloist Gil Shaham and under the baton of renowned conductor James Conlon. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 31620]
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the world's largest and most powerful laser system. Experimental physicist Tammy Ma explores how and why scientists and engineers are working hard to demonstrate sustainable fusion burn - the same reaction that occurs in the sun - to one day harness as a source of limitless, clean energy. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 31523]
Beethoven's celebrated Symphony No. 5 is a cornerstone of symphonic music and an iconic artwork of Western culture. Using excerpts from the Fifth Conductor Steven Schick guides the student audience through a tour of the piece, paying particular attention to themes and variations and the methods employed by the composer to build a titanic structure upon a four-note phrase. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 31159]
“She is Fierce: The Art of Joyce Cutler-Shaw” is an exploration of the multimedia artist’s expansive and diverse body of work, featuring commentary from colleagues and an in-depth interview with Cutler-Shaw. Throughout her long career the art of Joyce Cutler-Shaw has taken on a wide spectrum of forms, from melting iconic “ice words” and reflective light sculptures to installations and public commissions to intricately drawn depictions of the human form. Her subjects are human identity and the natural world; her themes are evolution and survival - from reptile into bird, from mammal to human, and from human, perhaps, to humane. But always at her art’s core, according to Cutler-Shaw, is her use of drawing “as a way of knowing, as a mode of inquiry, as a visual language.” Her “word images” have been central motifs, informing her works from the outset. Culter-Shaw’s works are exhibited in museums and library collections worldwide. Series: "Portrait of the Artist" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 31162]
Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Jennifer Hofmeister gives a lively account of why and how she is working to understand the behavior of octopuses in order to save California’s endangered white abalone, which faces extinction when the last adult generations die out within the next decade. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 31441]
¿Qué tienen que ver un tazón de maní del porte de un estadio, un elefante que se encoge y un jugador de hockey enloquecido con la nanociencia? Esas son solo algunas de las disparatadas excursiones que le esperan cuando el ingenioso presentador Adam Smith y el chiflado físico Iván Schuller lo lleven a corretear como locos de manera irreverente y cómica en busca, en la vida real, de cómo crear el magneto más pequeño que se conozca. Series: "Not Too Serious Labs" [Science] [Spanish Language] [Show ID: 31453]
Explore how a species of Scrub Jay, the Island Scrub Jay, is expanding oak forests on Santa Cruz Island, helping to recover natural habitat on California's Channel Islands. Series: "UC Natural Reserve System" [Science] [Show ID: 31252]
Sarah Giddings of Scripps Institution of Oceanography explains how the El Nino conditions of 2016 show us what the effects of sea level changes due to climate changes will look like 45 to 60 years from now. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30883]
Scripps Institution’s Jeff Severinghaus takes you on a thorough exploration of the record that greenhouse gases captured in ice for nearly a million years tells us, and explains what this reveals about current human activities and future conditions for our planet. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30661]
San Diego Opera General Director David Bennett hosts beloved opera legend Frederica von Stade in a lively discussion about her career, and in particular her long-standing collaboration with composer Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking, Moby-Dick. In addition to performing Heggie’s songs, Von Stade starred in his operas Three Decembers and Great Scott. Series: "Osher UC San Diego Distinguished Lecture Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30769]
Poet Nikki Giovanni reads a selection of her poems as part of the 2016 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 30819]
Philip Warburg explores a range of solar technologies. A seasoned environmental lawyer, Warburg makes a case for embracing this technology as he talks about what is happening around the country and what more could be done. Series: "Climate Solutions " [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 30827]
In this talk, Wenda Trevathan of New Mexico State University focuses on energetic and biomechanical factors that converge at the time of birth to set the stage for an enormously expanded role of child-rearing in human evolution. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28029]
Bela Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos & Percussion grew out the composer’s interest in the piano as a percussive rather than a lyrical instrument. Though rarely performed, since it requires the unusual combination of two superb pianists and two virtuoso percussionists, the Sonata is considered one of Bartok’s most individualistic and expressive works. Series: "La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25808]
Southern California has been bracing for the effects of a strong El Niño year, with concerns about large surf, heavy rainfall, and coastal flooding on the minds of all of us who call the Southern California Coast home. Join us to learn about how El Nino is impacting our urban coastal zone and how coastal monitoring, including a community-based observing program, Urban Tides, is essential for informing how we adapt to rising seas. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30659]
Experts from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NOAA and UC San Diego capture the imaginations of high school students interested in green technology as they demonstrate how their research helps to protect and preserve the ocean. Ralph Keeling and Stephen Mayfield keynote on CO2 emissions and algae biotechnology, followed by Chef Rob Ruiz, Noelle Bowlin of NOAA and Jessica Blanton of Scripps on their careers in studying and serving sustainable fish. Series: "STEAM: Adding Arts to STEM Education" [Science] [Show ID: 30649]
The Scripps Research Institute’s Dennis Wolan takes you on a fascinating exploration of the human body’s ecosystem and the myriad symbiotic relations found there that sustain and affect everything from immunity to behavior, and how his lab “mines” this microbiome for potential therapies. Series: "Saturday Science at Scripps Research " [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 30497]
Join a group of middle schools students as they try and figure out what kind of jobs will best suit them. Qualcomm has developed tools to help students identify their strengths, interests and values so they can start thinking about their future in the world of work. Series: "STEAM: Adding Arts to STEM Education" [Business] [Education] [Show ID: 30084]
The severe drought gripping the western United States in recent years is changing the landscape well beyond localized effects of water restrictions and browning lawns. Geophysicist Adrian Borsa describes how the loss of water across the west is causing the entire region to rise like an uncoiling spring. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30495]
Join Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab engineer Saura Naderi as she teaches you step-by-step how to make an LED light up and blink. Saura will demonstrate the basics of programming an Arduino board as well as introduce coding and engineering vocabulary and skills. Series: "STEAM: Adding Arts to STEM Education" [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 29895]
Learn more about the amazing seadragons, as well as the recent discovery of a new species: the Ruby Seadragon, one of only three species of these charismatic fishes that live exclusively in the waters off southern Australia. Join graduate student Josefin Stiller, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to learn how she and her advisors discovered the new species and how genetic diversity data is helping inform conservation efforts for these beautiful animals. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 30405]
In a veritable feast for fans of Giacomo Puccini, San Diego Opera’s Nicolas Reveles delves into the history, influences, and musical intricacies of Puccini’s TOSCA and MADAMA BUTTERFLY, two of the most popular works in the operatic repertoire. Dr. Nic is joined by acclaimed soprano Priti Gandhi in performance of selected arias from the two operas. Series: "San Diego OperaTalk! with Nic Reveles" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29912]
Karin Sandstrom studies the interstellar medium - the dust and gas in galaxies and between stars, and especially how ultraviolet light interacts with soot-like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. That, she says, is key to everything - how stars (and planets) form, how galaxies evolve, and perhaps how life emerged. Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 30014]
On the occasion of San Diego Opera’s West Coast premiere of GREAT SCOTT, Nicolas Reveles engages composer Jake Heggie in a lively conversation about the work’s conception. Known for his landmark modern classics DEAD MAN WALKING and MOBY DICK, Heggie's newest work concerns Arden Scott, an international opera star who returns to her hometown with the intention of saving the ailing company that started her career. However, her homecoming coincides with the home team's first National Championship. GREAT SCOTT sparks some interesting questions around how we perceive the Arts and what purpose they serve today. Series: "San Diego OperaTalk! with Nic Reveles" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29794]
Dale Stokes of Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Marine Physical Laboratory explores the details of different imaging techniques and how they are used to both represent science and its subjects as well as conduct research. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 29995]
Most people think that in the United States, the area around the San Andreas Fault poses the highest risk for a large earthquake. But the risk for a "great earthquake" and tsunami is highest in the Pacific Northwest. Join seismologist Diego Melgar and learn about the risks, the geologic forces behind the potential for a truly massive U.S. earthquake, and efforts underway to build warning systems for the western U.S. Series: "Jeffrey B. Graham Perspectives on Ocean Science Lecture Series" [Science] [Show ID: 29994]
Patrick Sanan, who studied mathematics at UC San Diego, explains how he combined geometry and physics to devise the mathematics that made possible the visualization of the virtual tiger Richard in the Oscar award-winning motion picture, “Life of Pi.” Series: "STEAM: Adding Arts to STEM Education" [Humanities] [Science] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25933]
UCSB’s Joseph Polchinski speaks about the search for a unified theory of the laws of physics, and the difficulty of reconciling two of the main pieces: quantum mechanics, which governs the very small, and general relativity, which governs the very large. A professor of physics and a permanent member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Polchinski was named UC Santa Barbara’s 2014 Faculty Research Lecturer. Series: "Scientific Horizons" [Science] [Show ID: 30118]
Holy hairball! Smart Puppy’s Nobel Laureate friend Albert Fert uses a hammer to show how computer memory works! Series: "UCTV Prime" [Science] [Show ID: 30082]