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 […]
Author Archives: Christi Carras
Diverse music playlists give each dining hall its own flavor
Kristóf Almásy ducked into Rendezvous to make a call about organizing a club event. Just when the conversation turned serious, the familiar “Macarena” blared through the restaurant’s speakers. The catchy tune turned what would have been a routine phone call suddenly into an amusing memory for the third-year political science student. Each UCLA dining hall […]
Student filmmakers collaborate with James Franco for “Mississippi Requiem”
About 15 groups of four UCLA student directors, producers, writers and cinematographers gathered for an interview with James Franco in Melnitz Hall in September. After a casual half-hour chat with the director, producer and Academy Award-nominated actor, only four teams were selected for the next step. After the interview process, a total of 19 students […]
Students showcase originality, freshman talent in musical theater
An actress and a composer hatched a plan within the confines of a storage closet for offstage actors during UCLA’s production of “The Trojan Women.” Backstage of yet another show selected for the pair by the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Lauren Henning and Mina Bloom decided they were no longer content to […]
First-year gives mischievous voice to ‘Despicable Me’ character
Eleven-year-old Dana Gaier fiddled with the hem of her shirt on her first day in the recording studio as rough sketches of evil Gru’s innocent daughters hung behind her. The “Despicable Me” sound technicians were forced to address the nervous tick as the mic picked up the rustle of fabric instead of her distinct, raspy […]
Sounds of Schoenberg: The Venerable Dark Cloud
UCLA ethnomusicology students from the 1920s to the 1950s could only study foreign instruments in textbooks before the arrival of the Javanese gamelan. In 1958, American ethnomusicologist Mantle Hood purchased the Venerable Dark Cloud gamelan, a collection of 83 percussion instruments. Hood bought the ensemble from a Chinese merchant in Solo, Indonesia, for approximately $20,000 […]
Producer shares insider experience at on-campus “Top Gun” screening
Applause from every seat echoed off the walls of the Billy Wilder Theater as the names in the opening credits of “Top Gun” appeared on the big screen. The lively audience of UCLA students, staff and film industry professionals put their hands together for director Tony Scott and leading actor Tom Cruise, but no name […]