Now Fine-Tuned, The Music Center Hosts Concert Series In May

The month of May is featuring an inaugural concert series in celebration of the campus’s Music Center, which opened for classes and performances this past January. The $21 million center, already critically acclaimed by both architecture and music critics, is considered one of the best university music facilities in the country because of its acoustic and design features. And, like a giant musical instrument, the center has been fine-tuned over the past several months to be in top form for the springtime series.

"We’re all pleased with the new complex," said Arts Dean Edward Houghton, also a professor of music. "When we designed the center our primary goals were excellent programmatic function and exquisite musical sound, and these past months have shown us that we achieved our goals."

UCSC music student Susannah Murray agrees. "Being able to rehearse and perform in the new center brings everything we do to a new, more professional level," she said.

Music critic Paul Hertelendy heard a faculty-duo recital during the Recital Hall’s unveiling and was impressed by the hall’s acoustic qualities. "The only word that comes to mind for its acoustics is: glorious," Hertelendy wrote in the San Jose Mercury News. "There has not been an aurally better hall of this size in Northern California."

Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17 Celebration Gamelan!
The UCSC Gamelan program marks its 20th year of Indonesian music making with a gala evening of West Javanese and Balinese music and dance.
Music Center Recital Hall, 8 p.m.
$8 general, $5 seniors, $3 students

Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1

Sisters of the Visitation
A hilarious comedy of errors as well as revelations about secret goings-on within the convent, this nearly lost French comic opera by Francois Devienne has been reconstructed by Professor Sherwood Dudley and translated into English by UCSC Lecturer Miriam Ellis for the first public performance of the full opera since 1806.
Music Center Recital Hall, 8 p.m.
$10 general, $8 seniors, $5 students

Tickets on sale in advance at the UCSC Ticket Office: (408) 459-2159 (voice/TDD).
Patrons with special needs may contact the Ticket Office for advance assistance.