A classical violist who is diverse enough to have spent six
years with one of the most successful electronic instrumental
groups in Japan is rare. UCLA has snagged just that, however, with
the addition of Paul Colletti to the music department faculty.
A renowned performer around the world, Colletti has been
featured in numerous award-winning recordings as a soloist and in
ensembles, even receiving a Grammy nomination in the early
’90s. In addition to heading the viola department, regular
Thursday night chamber music performances are among the many things
Colletti plans on taking charge of at UCLA. He has traveled around
North America, South America, Australia, Europe and Asia throughout
his career. His longest running engagement was with the Japanese
group, with which he was included on five best selling CDs.
“It was a group that was very innovative and much closer
to pop music than classical music,” Colletti said.
“They did things from straight up jazz to gypsy music to some
classical but basically brought a young audience into the music
hall.”
Nothing quite like the Thursday music series has ever been done
on campus before, and Colletti is hoping to make it successful. The
programs will initially consist of faculty members playing in
chamber ensembles together, but he hopes that future shows will
grow to include student performers as well. The first performance,
which takes place on Oct. 10 in Schoenberg Music Hall, will include
professors Mark Kaplan on violin, Gary Gray on clarinet, and both
Judith Hansen and Jon Robertson on piano.
Though Colletti specializes in classical and chamber music, he
also plans on bringing his electronic and other musical influences
to the school. Attracting more young students to music department
shows is one of Colletti’s goals for the Thursday night
series.
Coming to UCLA will not be Colletti’s first stint as a
college professor. He spent eight years teaching in the music
department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and at the
University of Washington in Seattle, being one of the youngest
musicians to ever hold a chair position.
Colletti felt that he was being spread too thin while trying to
teach, perform and maintain a social life all at once. He decided
to stop teaching for a while and focus on performance and his
personal life. He also spent some of his time stretching his
talents and abilities to areas such as jazz, improvisation, tangos
and other musical feats he had not yet mastered. Colletti even
found himself being featured in music videos.
“A couple of years ago, I started to get the urge to teach
again and to re-devote myself to the bread and butter of classical
music,” Colletti said.
Coming fresh off his hiatus from academia, he shows excitement
toward his return to the youthful idealism of students. Colletti
appreciates the open-mindedness of young musicians he finds missing
from many older professional performers. He enjoys being able to
teach to people who are willing to experiment with different music
styles and techniques.
Though he still finds performing the most fulfilling aspect of
being a professional musician, Colletti is looking forward to the
personal rewards that come from teaching as well. Being able to
spend many years with the same students and witness their
improvements is his favorite aspect of teaching.
“Music is such a philosophical art,” said Colletti.
“There are so many aspects to it, so many higher spiritual
and musical things involved, that it’s wonderful to be able
to guide someone through such an intimate thing as music towards
their own fulfillment.”