Opera drawn from autobiography explores experience of schizophrenia

Elyn Saks felt suffocated, trapped in a room filled with doctors. She lay restrained with leather bounds, her hands and feet tied, she said. It was her first year at Yale Law School; she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, a psychosis defined by paranoid delusions, hallucinations, dysfunctional ways of thinking and agitated body movements, according […]

Professor works with the Getty on exhibition of Buddhist cave art

Peter Sellars traveled halfway across the globe to see the dusty caverns of the Mogao Grottoes near Dunhuang, China. “It was so overwhelming. The caves are so amazing in the history of arts, and yet a cool thing about them, they’re also amazing in the history of Buddhism,” Sellars said. “The cave paintings had musicians […]

Student’s solo art exhibition draws curiosity on fluidity of identity

Ten-year-old Alice Jung didn’t know how to speak Korean when she and her family moved from Tucson, Arizona to Seoul, South Korea so she sketched. She drew bluebirds to prove to her classmates that birds other than pigeons existed in America. Until she mastered the language, she spoke through her art. “The only way I […]

Sounds of Schoenberg: The Afro-Cuban Batá drums

Each week, Daily Bruin A&E will explore the instruments of the World Musical Instrument Collection and their performers that all contribute to the musical landscape of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. This week, we highlight the Afro-Cuban Batá, a set of sacred drums used to honor the African Yoruba Gods. Four-year-old Melena Francis […]