Christopher Dobrian

The Department of Music at the University of California, Irvine is pleased to invite applications for the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree, specifically for our concentrations in either 1) Composition, Improvisation, and Technology, or 2) Jazz Studies. These areas are coordinated by a core faculty whose work embraces diverse forms of music making, challenging conventional distinctions between classical composition, computer music, improvisation, and jazz.

The intimate size of our graduate program means that students receive close, personal attention from faculty, and are able to work on independent and potentially interdisciplinary projects. We seek students with a strong foundation who wish to further refine their skills and study existing repertoires, while also developing new creative work and exploring a wide range of contemporary music and ideas.

The Music faculty includes performers, musicologists, theorists and historians, making for a rich environment in which to develop critical skills that are essential for the 21st-century musician. The Claire Trevor School of the Arts is home to cutting-edge graduate programs in Dance, Theatre and Studio Art, as well as an interdisciplinary Master's program in Arts Computation Engineering (ACE). UCI is a quickly growing campus within one of the nation's leading research university systems. Located near the coast in Orange County, Irvine is an hour south of Los Angeles, a major art world center with vibrant contemporary music scenes.

The MFA program is generally completed in two years. Many students receive tuition waivers and stipends in return for working as teaching assistants. Applicants should possess an undergraduate degree in music or an equivalent level of training, and should demonstrate potential for creative and innovative work.

You can read more about our program on the Music Department website (

 If you have questions or are interested in applying, please contact our core faculty (Akagi, Dobrian, or Dessen), whose bios and email addresses are listed below. We welcome your inquiries and proposals.

KEI AKAGI, pianist and composer, has been a mainstay of the international jazz world for over two decades. Perhaps best known for his work as a member of the Miles Davis band in the late 1980's, his career also includes extended associations with major figures such as Stanley Turrentine, James Newton, Joe Farrell, Al DiMeola, and Airto Moreira. In addition, he has performed or recorded with Art Pepper, Blue Mitchell, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Charnett Moffett, Tom Harrell, Bobby Shew, Eddie Harris, Slide Hampton, Steve Turre, Robin Eubanks, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jeff Watts, Allan Holdsworth, and others. Akagi has recorded 12 CDs as a solo artist and leader. As a sideman and accompanist, he has appeared on over 40 CDs worldwide, including Miles Davis's last recorded works. He has also written numerous original works for his own and others' recordings, with over 30 compositions currently in publication.

CHRISTOPHER DOBRIAN is the director of the Gassmann Electronic Music Studio and the Realtime Experimental Audio Laboratory (REALab), and is producer/director of the Gassmann Electronic Music Series. Previously he was acting director of the iEAR Studios and the graduate MFA program at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and executive producer of the Electronic Arts Performance Series. He holds a Ph.D. in Composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied composition with Joji Yuasa, Robert Erickson, Morton Feldman, and Bernard Rands, and computer music with F. Richard Moore and George Lewis. He is vice-president-at-large of the Electronic Music Foundation, a non-profit organization for the preservation and distribution of electronic music, and is the author of the original technical documentation and tutorials for the Max, MSP, and Jitter programming environments by Cycling '74. His work in computer music focuses on the development of "artificially intelligent" interactive systems for composition, improvisation, and cognition. Recent works include Microepiphanies: A Digital Opera (2000), a completely computer-controlled performance; Invisible Walls (2001) for dancers, motion tracking system, and computer-controlled synthesizer; Distance Duo (2001) for two computer pianos in remote locations connected via internet; In Tongues (2002) for flute and interactive computer system, premiered by virtuoso James Newton in Havana; Mannam (2003) for Korean flute (daegeum) and interactive computer system, premiered at the Seoul International Computer Music Festival; and JazzBot (2005) for Yamaha Disklavier piano and computer-controlled musical robots, premiered by Kei Akagi at the Beall Center for Art + Technology.

MICHAEL DESSEN is a composer, improviser and slide trombonist. His music explores the dynamic intersections of multiple traditions, and his collaborators and mentors include some of the most innovative musicians of our time. He composes for his own groups and for Cosmologic, a long-standing collective quartet that has been praised in The Wire and numerous other publications for their unique approach. His upcoming release "Lineal" features Mark Dresser, Susie Ibarra, Vijay Iyer, Terry Jenoure and others, and he has also performed with artists such as Yusef Lateef, Anthony Davis, George Lewis, Marty Ehrlich, Dana Reason, Craig Harris, J.D. Parran, Philip Gelb, Marcos Fernandes, Marcelo Radulovich, Jason Robinson, Nathan Hubbard, and Eek a Mouse. He has participated in computer and multi-media based projects with Shahrokh Yadegari, Miller Puckette, Rand Steiger, Vibeke Sorensen, and Matt Abidh Waugh, and he uses his own custom setup to perform live electronics with the trombone. Dessen has also contributed articles to publications such as The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue (Wesleyan University Press), the online journal Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes Critique en Improvisation, and Musicworks magazine. His scholarship focuses especially on the role of African American traditions within late-twentieth century experimental music worlds. Dessen received a Ph.D. from from the Critical Studies/Experimental Practices division of the Music Department at the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with George Lewis and Anthony Davis. He also holds degrees from the the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he studied with Yusef Lateef and Salvatore Macchia. Just as important, he has been schooled by numerous musicians outside of academia, while free-lancing in diverse contexts.

MICHAEL HOOKER, Professor of Drama, specializing in sound design and composition for theater.

ALAN TERRICCIANO, Professor of Dance, specializing in music for dance.

CHARLES OWENS, saxophone, director of the UCI Jazz Orchestra.

RAE LINDA BROWN, Associate Professor of Music, specializing in African-American composers and jazz history.

AMY BAUER, Assistant Professor of Music, specializing in late 20th-century music.

The Music faculty includes performers, musicologists, theorists and historians, making for a rich environment in which to develop critical skills that are essential for the 21st-century musician. The Claire Trevor School of the Arts is home to cutting-edge graduate programs in Dance, Theatre and Studio Art, as well as an interdisciplinary Master's program in Arts Computation Engineering (ACE). UCI is a quickly growing campus within one of the nation's leading research university systems.  Located near the coast in Orange County, Irvine is an hour south of Los Angeles, a major art world center with vibrant contemporary music scenes.

You can read more about our program on the Music Department website (http://music.arts.uci.edu/). If you have questions or are interested in applying, please contact our core faculty (Akagi, Dobrian, or Dessen), whose bios and email addresses are listed below. We welcome your inquiries and proposals.

Music Department Website: http://music.arts.uci.edu/

KEI AKAGI, pianist and composer, has been a mainstay of the international jazz world for over two decades. Perhaps best known for his work as a member of the Miles Davis band in the late 1980's, his career also includes extended associations with major figures such as Stanley Turrentine, James Newton, Joe Farrell, Al DiMeola, and Airto Moreira. In addition, he has performed or recorded with Art Pepper, Blue Mitchell, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Charnett Moffett, Tom Harrell, Bobby Shew, Eddie Harris, Slide Hampton, Steve Turre, Robin Eubanks, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jeff Watts, Allan Holdsworth, and others. Akagi has recorded 12 CDs as a solo artist and leader. As a sideman and accompanist, he has appeared on over 40 CDs worldwide, including Miles Davis's last recorded works. He has also written numerous original works for his own and others' recordings, with over 30 compositions currently in publication.
kakagi@uci.edu

CHRISTOPHER DOBRIAN is the director of the Gassmann Electronic Music Studio and the Realtime Experimental Audio Laboratory (REALab), and is producer/director of the Gassmann Electronic Music Series. Previously he was acting director of the iEAR Studios and the graduate MFA program at the  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and executive producer of the Electronic Arts Performance Series. He holds a Ph.D. in Composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied composition with Joji Yuasa, Robert Erickson, Morton Feldman, and Bernard Rands, and computer music with F. Richard Moore and George Lewis. He is vice-president-at-large of the Electronic Music Foundation, a non-profit organization for the preservation and distribution of electronic music, and is the author of the original technical documentation and tutorials for the Max, MSP, and Jitter programming environments by Cycling '74. His work in computer music focuses on the development of "artificially intelligent" interactive systems for composition, improvisation, and cognition. Recent works include Microepiphanies: A Digital Opera (2000), a completely computer-controlled performance; Invisible Walls (2001) for dancers, motion tracking system, and computer-controlled synthesizer; Distance Duo (2001) for two computer pianos in remote locations connected via internet; In Tongues (2002) for flute and interactive computer system, premiered by virtuoso James Newton in Havana; Mannam (2003) for Korean flute (daegeum) and interactive computer system, premiered at the Seoul International Computer Music Festival; and JazzBot (2005) for Yamaha Disklavier piano and computer-controlled musical robots, premiered by Kei Akagi at the Beall Center for Art + Technology.
dobrian@uci.edu
http://music.arts.uci.edu/dobrian/

MICHAEL DESSEN is a composer, improviser and slide trombonist. His music explores the dynamic intersections of multiple traditions, and his collaborators and mentors include some of the most innovative musicians of our time. He composes for his own groups and for Cosmologic, a long-standing collective quartet that has been praised in The Wire and numerous other publications for their unique approach. His upcoming release "Lineal" features Mark Dresser, Susie Ibarra, Vijay Iyer, Terry Jenoure and others, and he has also performed with artists such as Yusef Lateef, Anthony Davis, George Lewis, Marty Ehrlich, Dana Reason, Craig Harris, J.D. Parran, Philip Gelb, Marcos Fernandes, Marcelo Radulovich, Jason Robinson, Nathan Hubbard, and Eek a Mouse. He has participated in computer and multi-media based projects with Shahrokh Yadegari, Miller Puckette, Rand Steiger, Vibeke Sorensen, and Matt Abidh Waugh, and he uses his own custom setup to perform live electronics with the trombone. Dessen has also contributed articles to publications such as The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue (Wesleyan University Press), the online journal Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes Critique en Improvisation, and Musicworks magazine. His scholarship focuses especially on the role of African American traditions within late-twentieth century experimental music worlds. Dessen received a Ph.D. from from the Critical Studies/Experimental Practices division of the Music Department at the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with George Lewis and Anthony Davis. He also holds degrees from the the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he studied with Yusef Lateef and Salvatore Macchia. Just as important, he has been schooled by numerous musicians outside of academia, while free-lancing in diverse contexts.
mdessen@uci.edu
http://www.mdessen.com

AMY BAUER, Assistant Professor of Music, specializing in late 20th-century music.


ot-grad-studies-at-uci

No doubt Christopher is becoming familiar with your work too ndrewoods

[ot] Grad studies at UCI