Music School Introduces Fresh Academic Staff
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is expanding its faculty, welcoming renowned musicians and scholars to its prestigious ranks.
Catherine Provenzano, a singer, songwriter, and scholar, has joined the school as Assistant Professor of Musicology. Provenzano's academic focus is on voice, mediation, and labor in contexts of popular music production, with a regional specialty in North America. She is thrilled to teach and learn in an environment of such range and vitality at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
Previously, Provenzano taught courses in popular music, critical listening, analysis of recorded sound, and music and media at NYU and The New School. She has an article published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies and has presented research at meetings of the Society for Ethnomusicology, EMP PopCon, The New School, Berklee College of Music, and McGill University.
Provenzano has conducted ethnographic research with software developers, audio engineers, music producers, and artists in Los Angeles, Nashville, Silicon Valley, and Germany.
In addition to Provenzano, the school has added David Kaplan as Assistant Professor of Piano Performance. Kaplan is an accomplished soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, and a core member of Decoda, the affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall. He considers it an honor to return to UCLA to teach young musicians.
Kaplan is a UCLA alumnus, having graduated in 2005. He studied conducting at the University de Künste in Berlin on a Fulbright fellowship.
The school has also welcomed Jan Berry Baker as Associate Professor of Saxophone and Woodwind area head in the department of music. Baker is an active orchestral saxophonist, performing with ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Orchestra.
Baker is co-artistic director of the contemporary music ensemble, Bent Frequency. She is also a founding member of the Committee on the Status of Women in NASA (North American Saxophone Alliance). Baker earned her master's and doctoral degrees in music from Northwestern University.
Peter Kazaras, the Director of Opera UCLA and holder of the inaugural Susan G. and Michel D. Covel MD Chair at the School, is another new addition to the faculty. Kazaras is a stage director and Professor of Music with a strong background as an operatic tenor. He has directed numerous opera productions at UCLA since 2007.
Regarding the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA, the 2025 incoming class of students is announced, but no new faculty members are explicitly named. The current Artistic Director is Ambrose Akinmusire, who continues to guide the students.
While no new faculty members were announced for the jazz program, other faculty or associated artists like Ambroise Aubrun (violinist, formerly at UCLA) and Martin Chalifour are involved with the school.
The new faculty members or key appointments at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music bring together an incredible richness of and passion for musical craft and scholarship. Catherine Provenzano, David Kaplan, and Jan Berry Baker, along with Peter Kazaras, are excited to contribute to the vibrant musical community at UCLA.
In the realm of education and self-development, Catherine Provenzano, a musicologist with a focus on voice, mediation, and labor in pop music production, has joined the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Meanwhile, entertainments lovers will be glad to know that the school has also welcomed David Kaplan, an accomplished pianist and chamber musician, known for his performances with Decoda, the affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall.
