Campus Stories - Music
Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2019-20
This year’s VPA Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of student-initiated collaborative projects across the Stanford campus. Projects ranged from photography, documentary and narrative film, zines, musical theater, dance, contemporary plays, and inviting renowned artists for exhibitions and artist talks serving the student community. Students and their project teams represented a wide range of…
Creative agency during a pandemic
Artists have faced constraints that affected their ability to practice their craft throughout history. The limitations artists currently face due to COVID-19—from a lack of access to concert halls and theaters to the inability to collaborate freely with others in person—are not necessarily new. Yet they also pose an opportunity for creative growth, according to…
Humanities at home
What has been on the minds of Stanford professors as they navigate this turbulent and anxious time? Where do they find comfort and solace, challenge and struggle, beauty and grace? While many aspects of campus life are now mediated through a computer screen, the extended time apart has offered us a rare chance to hear from faculty informally,…
Honors in the Arts seniors present capstone projects to the public via video essays
This year’s cohort of 16 Stanford Honors in the Arts (HIA) students presented their capstone projects by way of publicly accessible video essays, fulfilling the final requirement for the year-long interdisciplinary program. The projects employ a wide range of artistic media and genres, including creative writing, studio art, film and theater. They also demonstrate the inspiration…
Student winners of the Stanford Concerto Competition play on
Earlier this year, sophomores ADDISON JADWIN and ETHAN CHI won the annual Stanford Concerto Competition. The sophomores planned to perform concertos with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra (SSO) this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted those plans. Jadwin and Chi. (Image credit: Adriana Ramirez Mirabal) Jadwin was to perform the Walton Viola Concerto this quarter and Chi planned to perform the…
Department of Music salutes 2020 Deans’ Award winners
We would like to congratulate four winners of the 2020 Deans’ Awards for Academic Achievement, each of whom have included the Department of Music in their Stanford activities while majoring in other areas: Léa Bourgade (upper left) is a senior majoring in Human Biology. Having played the violin for 17 years, she seeks to combine her musical…
COVID-19’s impact on Stanford arts events
Stanford University has been closely monitoring the rapidly evolving events surrounding COVID-19, also known as novel coronavirus. The university is working to take steps that inhibit, rather than accelerate, the ability of infection to spread. Events that bring participants to campus have been canceled or postponed. This includes a range of arts performances, public lectures,…
Composer explores legacy of computer pioneer Ada Lovelace and using AI for musical composition
An exploration of artificial intelligence and musical composition may seem like a modern question, but Dr. Patricia Alessandrini found the beginnings of the idea in the 19th century. “Ada Lovelace is credited with the first published imaginings of AI-assisted composition,” Alessandrini said. She quoted Lovelace: “Numerous fundamental relations of music can be expressed by those…
Winter quarter 2020 guest artists
The roster of winter quarter guest artists includes talent from around the globe. Melbourne Australia’s Choir of Trinity College performs with the Stanford Chamber Chorale; Chinese dance legend and renowned choreographer Yang Liping presents her reimagined production of Rite of Spring to Memorial Auditorium; Maqueque, a collective of female artists from Cuba led by Canadian Jane Bunnett,…
Joshua Redman returns to Stanford for an extended stay
Charismatic jazz saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman returns to Stanford as a visiting artist with the Department of Music in the School of the Humanities and Sciences. Redman was the Mohr Visiting Artist with the Department of Music during winter quarter 2019 and he has a long history with the Stanford Jazz Workshop both as…
St. Lawrence String Quartet celebrates 30 years of bringing people together through music
The St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ), Stanford’s ensemble-in-residence, is fiercely committed to building communities through music and education. Whether they’re playing in a nontraditional venue or teaching students and musicians in person or online, the SLSQ strives to make connections with people who might not otherwise have access to chamber music. Established 30 years ago in Toronto…
Stanford Live presents a genre-bending musical performance exploring beauty and aesthetics in Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography
Marking 30 years since the death of groundbreaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) explores the origins and impact of Mapplethorpe’s controversial photography. This staged musical work produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann combines orchestra, vocal ensembles, theater, poetry, and photography to re-examine notions of obscenity, race, and aesthetics that Mapplethorpe himself challenged…
Grad student awarded $10K to create multimedia project with San Francisco homeless
Artist and music doctoral student Julie Herndon is the inaugural recipient of the Bay Area Composer Residency Award from the American Composers Forum. The $10,000 prize will support her work creating a multimedia project in collaboration with homeless residents in San Francisco. During the summer of 2020, Herndon will work with the homeless community in…
artsCatalyst Grants 2018-19
This past academic year, the Office of the Vice President for the Arts awarded 27 artsCatalyst Grants to faculty members from across the University. These grants foster arts experiences that enhance classroom experiences for undergraduate students. Activities included field trips to Bay Area cultural organizations, workshops with visiting artists, and attending performances. 2018-19 artsCatalyst Grant Recipients Interpreting Art (ITALIC 92), Karla…
Musicians from all over the world come to Stanford for the annual Chamber Music Seminar
Musicians from all over the world ranging in age from 18 to 82 arrived on the Stanford campus to participate in the 10-day St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) Chamber Music Seminar. Although each of the 75 musicians brings a unique background and musical goals, all share an eagerness to work directly with the SLSQ, Stanford’s…
Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2018-19
vvcThis year’s Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of projects across the Stanford campus. The projects covered many genres including contemporary plays, documentary and fiction film shorts, musical theater, zines, photography, sculpture, and more. Many of this year’s grantees utilized Roble Arts Gym as a rehearsal/work space as well as a venue for their exhibits and…
