Program applications due December 1, 2025.
Explore our programs.
Our three exceptional divisions offer cross-genre experiences, exposing students to diverse styles and techniques that will prepare them for a well-rounded career at the highest level.
Classical Performance & Composition
Contemporary Music
Research and Scholarly Studies
Spotlights
see all
News
see allKevin Lyman received Visionary Award at Billboard Live Music Summit
Shawn Mendes’ team share the inside scoop as part of USC Thornton Spotlight Sessions
USC alum Lenny Waronker inducted into 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Thornton receives 20 nominations for 68th Grammy Awards
Upcoming Events
see all-
USC Collegium Musicum
The USC Collegium Musicum is led by Adam Knight Gilbert in a program titled, "German and Dutch Lieder of the Renaissance." — Admission is free and open to the public.
-
Jazz Night at Carson: A Tribute to Peggy Lee with the Thornton Jazz Orchestra
The USC Jazz Studies Department, in collaboration with the Peggy Lee Foundation, celebrates legendary jazz vocalist and songwriter Peggy Lee.
-
Cello Masterclass with Sheku Kanneh-Mason
British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the 2025-26 Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, visits USC Thornton for a masterclass with the talented students of the Strings Department.
-
USC Thornton Opera: The Cunning Little Vixen
How does a quasi-domesticated vixen transition from human captivity on a Czechoslovakian farm to being a liberator of wild animals in a vast forest?