University of Southern California

Join two of Thornton’s premiere chamber ensembles, The Santa Ana Winds and Two Button Brass, for a diverse program of music from the past and present. Hear a sampling of repertoire highlighting wind and brass instruments and stick around for the combined finale!

The Polish Music Center celebrates the 2019 anniversaries of Polish composers Grażyna Bacewicz and Roman Ryterband with a performance featuring distinguished members from the Music Academy in Łódź, Poland and students from USC Thornton. Academy Dean Tomasz Król and Contemporary Music department head, Maciej Staszewski, lead one of Poland’s most respected music academies while also being highly regarded as a violinist and a guitarist and composer, respectively.

The Composition department presents the annual electro-acoustic showcase, led by DMA student Eric Pham. Composers and choreographers, from within the USC community and afar, have come together to form collaborative groups. Each group has created a piece that represents its explorations in intermedia relationships, electro-acoustic hybridity, and innovative uses of performance spaces. "Intermedia" will showcase the results of these explorations.

The Jazz Honors Combo, led by Jason Goldman, headlines this ongoing showcase of contemporary jazz with an evening of standards from the American songbook.

Thornton’s Keyboard Department presents a dynamic program of piano music from composers of the modern era.

USC Thornton’s Strings students present an evening of solo and chamber works.

A panel of three eminent adjudicators will listen to selected Strings student finalists performing complete sonatas, partitas, and suites of Johann Sebastian Bach.

H. Robert Reynolds and Sharon Lavery lead the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble in a musically rich program including Angels in the Architecture by professor Frank Ticheli and Stravinsky’s Piano Concerto featuring soloist Kevin Fitz-Gerald, professor of Keyboard Studies. Other works include Fanfare from La Peri by Paul Dukas, Serenade by Emil Hartmann, and Hammersmith by Gustav Holst.

The USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra is joined by celebrated jazz quartet the Yellowjackets in a concert welcoming drummer Will Kennedy to the USC Thornton faculty.

Headspace will explore meditation, music, sound, and mindfulness. The event includes short pop-up performances around campus of a musical walking meditation by USC Thornton composer Veronika Krausas, a concert of meditative music by the USC Thornton Percussion Group led by Joseph Pereira, group meditation, discussions, and more. The USC Thornton Percussion Group will perform two rarely-heard works, Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s into-Second Self, during which musicians will surround the audience, and Iannis Xenakis’ Pleiades, which features instruments specifically built for the piece. Presented by USC Visions and Voices: The Arts & Humanities Initiative. ADMISSION: Admission is free. Reservations required. RSVP beginning Tuesday, February 26, at 9 a.m. USC Students, Staff, and Faculty: RSVP USC Alumni: RSVP General Public: RSVP

Trojan Brass returns to RushHour for a program full of an exciting variety of works for brass.

Violinist Midori Goto, who was recently named a Judge Widney Professor of Music at USC, will present a violin masterclass for Thornton String students.