A free orchestral concert Thursday will honor the UCLA professor who died in Wednesday’s murder-suicide, musicians said.
The music department will dedicate Thursday’s UCLA Philharmonia concert to mechanical and aerospace engineering professor William Klug, who was killed in Wednesday’s murder-suicide on the UCLA campus. Admission fees for the concert, originally set at $14 for the general public and $11 for UCLA students, are waived.
“We felt that it would be appropriate to invite the public, and especially the UCLA community, to join us without any admissions charge for a concert of beautiful music at a difficult time,” said Neal Stulberg, chair of the UCLA Department of Music and conductor of the UCLA Philharmonia.
The 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. concert in the Schoenberg Music Building will feature two compositions, Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.
Stulberg said he believes the serious and inspirational styles of the compositions will provide an appropriate sound after Wednesday’s events.
Angelina Lopez-Rosende, a second-year music education and violin performance student and UCLA Philharmonia violinist, said she believes the music will comfort listeners.
“(Our goal) is providing a soothing atmosphere for the community and providing an emotional catharsis for everybody with the music that we’re going to be playing,” Lopez-Rosende said.
Stulberg said he hopes the Schoenberg Music Building will be a place of unity and reflection in honor of Klug, aided by the Philharmonia’s music.
“Music often has the capacity to evoke healing,” Stulberg said. “My hope is that the concert of beautiful and moving music will provide a public space for our community to gather and be together.”