University of Southern California

Acclaimed violinist and Gramophone Classical Music artist, Christian Tetzlaff, leads a violin masterclass with USC Thornton Strings students.

The singing actors of the USC Thornton Opera Program present an evening of opera and musical theater scenes including Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Verdi's Falstaff and The Fantasticks written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.

ALAJE, the USC Thornton Afro-Latin American Jazz Ensemble led by Aaron Serfaty, headlines this ongoing series featuring USC Thornton jazz ensembles. ALAJE plays the great Afro Cuban influenced Latin music from 1970’s New York salsa scene and 1980’s Latin jazz.

Guest conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner leads the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble in a performance that showcases the wide range of the ensemble's spectrum including works by Bryce Dessner, Dai Fujikura, Oliver Messiaen, Rob Smith, and Eric Whitacre. Program Dai Fujikura: Frozen Heat Oliver Messiaen: Oiseaux Exotiques Eric Whitacre: October Bryce Dessner: Murder Ballades Rob Smith: Dance Mix

The Verona Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the New England Conservatory of Music that features alum Jonathan Dormand, presents a masterclass for USC Thornton Strings students.

Acclaimed musicology scholar and president of the Victoria Guitar Society, Alexander Dunn, leads a classical guitar masterclass at USC Thornton. While finishing his PhD in Musicology at UC San Diego, Dunn completed his doctoral dissertation on the Theorbo music of Robert de Visée. His ground-breaking publication inspired Guitar Review Magazine to publish several of his guitar transcriptions from this collection. He now heads one of Canada’s top guitar programs at the University of Victoria.

The USC Studio Guitar Program presents the studio of professor Adam del Monte in a performance of classical guitar repertoire.

The Verona Quartet, featuring alum Jonathan Dormand, celebrates the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth with a performance of the composer’s last quartet along with the minimalist-inspired, The Weather of It, by Irish composer, Donnacha Dennehy. The final composition Ludwig van Beethoven wrote before his death in 1827, the String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135, is punctuated by a three-note theme: “Must it be?” Beethoven posed this question while considering the end of his life, and the Verona Quartet will address the iconic composer’s query as part of a three-day residency highlighted by a concert at Newman Hall. The performance will include collaborations with student writers, dancers, and jazz musicians from across USC who were asked to probe the question, Must it be? Presented by USC Visions and Voices: The Arts & Humanities Initiative

USC Thornton faculty member Bill Biersach performs on Chapman Railboard Stick with electronic percussionist Ralph Loynachan in the duo, SH[eye]N, featuring their challenging opus, "Fractures." The Chapman Railboard Stick is an all-metal fretboard which incorporates two tuning systems over ten strings, and from which Biersach controls natural and synthesized sounds via a computerized routing matrix. Together with Loynachan, SH[eye]N, has released nine albums and received three Global Music Awards. They will premiere “Fractures," via a custom-designed hexaphonic sound system. "Music—the shaman's rattle that both scares the ghosts away, and stirs them up. SH[eye]N's music stirs them up." – John Somers Blackman

Organist Weicheng Zhao joins the USC Thornton Chamber Singers in a performance of the Messe Solennelle by Jean Langlais.

Celebrated conductor Grant Gershon, artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and USC Thornton alum, leads a conducting masterclass for students.

Bob Mintzer leads the USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra in a concert with special guests Knower, featuring Genevieve Artadi and Jazz Studies alum Louis Cole. Frequent collaborators, they'll revisit material they presented last summer at JazzFest Bonn with the WDR Big Band.