
Marilyn Horne to receive Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award
USC Thornton alumna Marilyn Horne was recently announced as one of the Recording Academy’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award honorees. Horne is widely celebrated as one of the world’s most renowned opera singers. Her decades-spanning career has earned her four GRAMMY Awards and 15 nominations, as well as a 1992 National Medal of Arts and numerous […]

Jensen McRae’s “Wolves” named one of KCRW’s Best of 2020
In KCRW’s roundup of some of the best music of 2020, Popular Music alum Jensen McRae’s (BM ’19) 2020 release, “Wolves,” was named among the top 15 songs most loved by the station’s DJs. “Wolves” is one of a few songs McRae has released ahead of her first full length album, expected to release later […]

Holiday events to enjoy online this winter break
While holiday celebrations may look different this year, there are still opportunities to enjoy festive concerts from the comfort of home. Check out just a few of the online events happening this month featuring students and alumni of USC Thornton: Holiday Karaoke with the Los Angeles Master Chorale Thursday, Dec. 17 | 7:00 p.m. (PST) […]

Jermaine Stegall featured on The Star Wars Show
Screen Scoring alum Jermaine Stegall (GCRT ’04) was interviewed in a special segment of “The Star Wars Show” about the composer’s work on “Our Star Wars Stories,” a digital series about the devoted fans of Star Wars. Stegall’s connection to the Star Wars universe began when he attended a composing lab at Skywalker Ranch, which […]

Remi Wolf named to Vevo’s 2021 Artists to Watch
Pop artist Remi Wolf (BM ’18), an alum of USC Thornton’s Popular Music program, has been named one of Vevo DSCVR’s 2021 Artists to Watch. The list highlights emerging artists poised for breakthroughs in the coming year, and has previously named artists such as Sam Smith and Billie Eilish. As one of the new class […]

Austin Wintory PlayStation blog explores the making of “The Pathless”
USC Thornton Composition alum Austin Wintory (BM ‘07) wrote a blog for PlayStation in which he shares a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his score for the game “The Pathless.” The score fuses multiple musical traditions from around the world in what Wintory calls a “global jam band.” “The resulting scope was significantly beyond […]

Jason Goldman featured in JAZZed Magazine cover story
Jason Goldman, chair of the Jazz Studies program, was featured in the cover story of the latest issue of JAZZed Magazine. In the feature, Goldman shares at length about his music career, his experience teaching at USC Thornton, and his own recent releases. Goldman also shares pieces of advice he hopes to impart on his […]

USC Dornsife celebrates Danika Banh and the Music Inspiring Community club
Danika Banh, a biological sciences major at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and a piano minor at the USC Thornton School of Music, was featured in an article by USC Dornsife about a music education student club she founded, Music Inspiring Community. Banh initially launched the club last year with the […]

Carlos Rafael Rivera discusses “Queen’s Gambit” score with American Songwriter
Composer and USC Thornton alum Carlos Rafael Rivera (MM ‘04, DMA ‘10) recently spoke in depth with American Songwriter about the process of scoring the hit Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit.” Rivera describes in great detail the challenges and successes of scoring dramatic chess matches and the series’ dynamic main character. “Getting the musical tone […]

Thomas Kotcheff interviewed in The New York Times
Thomas Kotcheff (MM ‘12, DMA ‘19), an alum of USC Thornton’s Composition program, was interviewed in The New York Times about his recent album release, the first commercial recording of Frederic Rzewski’s Songs of Insurrection, which received glowing remarks from the composer himself. In the article, Kotcheff discusses his personal highlights from the recording, and […]