Mondavi Center Lectures: Recent Episodes
Mondavi Center
One of Mondavi Center’s most popular programs, these free presentations by knowledgeable educators, scholars, and performers provide aesthetic, historical and social context on selected artists. Designed to enhance audience enjoyment and understanding of performances, the Pre-performance lecture schedule is based on artist diversity and educational value to the community.
Elizabeth Seitz, music history coordinator for the Boston Conservatory, discusses the works to be performed at UC Davis' Mondavi Center in May 2014 by the San Francisco Symphony and their featured conductor and soloist.
Cory Combs, Director of Outreach, Music, and Enrichment, The Nueva School discusses Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese upcoming performance, Spring Quartet.
Elizabeth Seitz, Music History Coordinator, Boston Conservatory discusses the works to be performed by the San Francisco Symphony and their featured conductor and soloist.
Composer William Bolcom in conversation with Don Roth, Executive Director, Mondavi Center, UC Davis discussing Bolcom's compositions and the performance of Gil Shaham of one of Bolcom's works for that evening's performance.
Rob Tocalino, Director of Marketing, Mondavi Center, UC Davis discusses the SFJAZZ Collective.
Curtis Institute of Music President and violist Roberto Diaz with composer David Ludwig discuss the upcoming performance by Curtis 20/21, the Curtis Institute of Music’s contemporary music ensemble.
Members of Jupiter String Quartet in conversation with Carol Hess, Professor of Musicology, Department of Music, UC Davis
Scott Foglesong, Chair, Musicianship and Music Theory, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
David Robertson, music director and conductor, in conversation with Don Roth, Executive Director of the Mondavi Center at UC Davis.
Milmon F. Harrison, Associate Professor of African American & African Studies at UC Davis discusses the music and origin of the Slide Brothers.
Lei Liang, Art of Migration festival composer-in-residence, speaks about the Calder Quartet and their upcoming performance of his work.
Cory Combs, Director of Outreach, Music, and Enrichment at The Nueva School discusses the life and music of Charles Bradley.
Philharmonia Baroque Maestro Nicholas McGegan in conversation with Don Roth, Executive Director of the Mondavi Center at UC Davis.
Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts Pre-Performance Lecture: Cory Combs, Director of Outreach, Music, and Enrichment, The Nueva School discusses the Stanley Clarke Trio
Peter Grunberg, musical assistant to Michael Tilson Thomas & Samuel Carl Adams, composer, discusses the San Francisco Symphony and works to be performed on the evening of September 27, 2012.
Cory Combs, director of Outreach, Music, and Enrichment, The Nueva School, discusses members of Overtone Quartet individually and their work together.
UC Irvine Professor Raúl Fernández from the School of Social Sciences, discusses the music and life of Chucho Valdés.
Rachel Pine Barton converses with Don Roth, executive director of the Mondavi Center at UC Davis about her music career.
Listen to composer Matt McBane in conversation with Lara Downes, Mondavi's artist-in-residence, about the upcoming performance with Alexi Kenney, violin and Hilda Huang, piano.
Jaimey Fisher, associate professor of German and director of cinema and technocultural studies at UC Davis, discusses the film Platoon and its cultural significance to movie-making during its production.
Lara Downes, artist-in-residence at the Mondavi Center, UC Davis, discusses the music and her performance of "13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg: Bach Imagined."
Artistic Director Trey McIntyre discusses the Trey McIntyre Project performance and gives background.
Mika Pelo, assistant professor of music at UC Davis, discusses the film and music from the Mondavi program, "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould."
Henry Spiller, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Music, discusses the Roby Lakatas Ensemble, its gypsy roots, and the music to be performed that night.
Christian Baldini, conductor for UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, discusses the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the music they will perform at the Mondavi Center.
Edward Dusinberre, Takács Quartet First violinist, in conversation with Don Roth, executive director, Mondavi Center, UC Davis.
Susan Key, program director for Keeping Score Education, San Francisco Symphony, discusses Bach's Mass in B Minor, BWV 232.
John Scofield and Bill Frisell converse with Jeremy Ganter, associate executive director and director of programming at the Mondavi Center, about their upcoming concert.
Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt in conversation with Lara Downes, Artist in Residence, Mondavi Center, UC Davis
Simone Dinnerstein and Tift Merritt converse with Lara Downes, Artist-in-Residence, Mondavi Center, UC Davis
Cory Combs, director of education at SF Jazz, talks about the upcoming performance by Ornette Coleman and his band.
Classical pianist Christopher O’Riley, who performed at the Mondavi in November 2010, has a conversation with pianist Lara Downes, Artist-in-Residence at the Mondavi Center, UC Davis.
Henry Spiller, associate professor of music at UC Davis, discusses Bayanihan, the national fold dance company of the Philippines.
D. Kern Holoman, professor and conductor emeritus from the UC Davis Department of Music, discusses works of composers Ravel, Debussy and Berlioz to be performed Sept. 30, 2010, by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
David Robertson, music director for the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, discusses his musical career and the works of John Adams.
Jean-Philippe Malaty, executive director, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet discusses the company and gives insights into the nights performance.
Mondavi Center Pre-Performance Lecture: About Cantus with speaker James Hernandez, instructor, Natomas Charter School Performing and Fine Arts Academy (Ret.), and a private voice instructor
Mondavi Center Pre-Performance Lecture: Shanghai Symphony Orchestra with speaker Christian Baldini, Music Director & Conductor, UC Davis Symphony Orchestra.
Mondavi Center Pre-Performance Lecture: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra with speaker Nicholas McGegan, conductor, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Pre-Performance Lecture: Paul Dresher Ensemble with speaker Paul Dresher, creator of Schick Machine
Pre-Performance Lecture: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre with speakers Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director, Globe Theatre, and Peter Lichtenfels, UC Davis professor of theatre and dance
Speakers: David Finckel, cellist, Emerson and Don Roth, executive director, Mondavi Center, UC Davis, discuss the history of ensemble music for string quartets.
Speaker: Jesse Drew, Ph.D., Director, Technocultural Studies, UC Davis discusses the history of the country music genre in the United States.
This roundtable discussion includes Don Roth, executive director, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts; Wayne Brown, director, Music and Opera Education & Access, National Endowment for the Arts; Ken Foster, executive director, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco); and Paul Nicholson, executive director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland). They discuss management of non-profit performing arts centers with UC Davis Graduate School of Management students.
Speaker: D. Kern Holoman, professor of music at UC Davis, speaks about the experience of a modern day touring orchestra.
Speaker Matthew Grasso, classical guitarist and instructor at Sacramento City College, discusses Indian classical music.
Speaker Terry Nathan, Professor, Art-Science Fusion Program and Atmospheric Science Program, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis discusses the history of Herber Springs and the photography of Mike Disfarmer.
Speaker David Deffner, adjunct faculty, American River College, discusses Estonia, the musicians of ENSO, and the music of the ENSO performance.
Speaker: Steve Roach, Director of Jazz Studies, California State University, Sacramento, speaks on the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
Speaker Jessie Ann Owens, Dean, Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies, UC Davis, discusses Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg concertos.
Speaker: Pablo Ortiz, Professor, Department of Music, UC Davis, talks about the influence of composer Phillip Glass.
Speaker: Joe Craven, Joe Craven Trio speaks about the origins of bluegrass and it's associated instruments.
Speaker: Maestro Michael Goodwin, musical director of the Auburn Symphony discusses the Munich Symphony Orchestra and great classical composers.
What’s unique about the way fairy tales and fables have touched the arts, as compared to other forces (politics, literature, psychology, et al)? UC Davis faculty Della Davidson (who set Transformations, Anne Sexton’s poetic meditation on Grimm’s Fairy Tales to dance), Lucy Corin (whose fiction is touched by fable) and Brenda Schildgen (Co-editor, The World of Fables) discuss how the world of fairy tales and fables has touched the arts and their own work. Jeffrey Callison, of KXJZ’s Insight, will moderate.
Moderated by Jeffrey Callison, host of Insight on KXJZ. Dr. Milmon Harrison, African American & African Studies, and singer Mavis Staples consider the role of music in the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
Ravi Coltrane, the saxophonist from the Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary tour, joins Peter Williams, Artistic Director of Yoshi’s and Gary Vercelli, Jazz Music Director at KXJZ, in a panel discussion about the impact Blue Note Records has had on jazz. Moderated by Jeffrey Callison, host of Insight on KXJZ.
Ron Cunningham, Artistic Director, Sacramento Ballet Company discusses ABT II. Through ABT II, the American Ballet Theatre brings the stars of the future to the stage.
Lecture by James Conlon, music director of the Los Angeles Opera. His topic was LA Opera’s Recovered Voices the culmination of Maestro Conlon’s many years as an active and devoted advocate of the works of composers whose voices were silenced by the Holocaust.
Shelly Gilbride, a doctoral candidate in performance studies, Department of Theatre and Dance, UC Davis, talks about the Israeli Inbal Pinto Dance Company. The performance, which mixes fantasy, drama and comedy, has a musical score with Chopin, Swedish folk music, and songs from the 1950s.
John Abigana, music director at Woodland High School, talks about the upcoming performance by Delfeayo Marsalis and his band. They explore music from one of Duke Ellington’s most masterful compositions: "Such Sweet Thunder," a suite inspired by the poems and plays of William Shakespeare.