SummerFest continues its tradition of presenting works by contemporary composers, with world premieres by two Pulitzer Prize-winning American composers: Steven Stucky and John Harbison. The program also features a seminal work by Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, and Antonin Dvorak's popular Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor.

Haydn's clarinet trios were probably intended to be performed by friends at home for their own pleasure, rather than as concert works for professional musicians. They are music meant to be enjoyed by both musicians and audience in a relaxed setting. Recorded on 8/19/2014.

In its 30th season La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest continues its tradition of showcasing works by contemporary composers, including pieces commissioned especially for SummerFest. The composers represented in this program are a Who's Who of modern music: Sean Shepherd, George Tsontakis, David Lang, and Richard Danielpour.

Students, administrators and academic researchers demonstrate the value of learning music in school as they show improvements in English and Math test scores, class attendance rates, cognitive development, self-esteem and the ability to work with others. Featured are Francisco Escobedo, the superintendent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District; UC San Diego cognitive scientists Terry Jernigan and John Iversen; and young musicians participating in the Community Opus Project, an in-school and after school music program led by Dalouge Smith, the president and CEO of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory.

Yusef Komunyakaa, an internationally renowned poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems," reads and discusses his work while writer-in-residence at UC Santa Barbara. Recorded on 03/01/2017.

Trumpeter Hugh Ragin leads a group of UC San Diego Jazz Camp students in a performance of standards and new works. Recorded on 6/30/2017.

This centuries-spanning concert takes its title from the violin concerto by English composer Thomas Ades, but it may just as well refer to the unexpected paths that link 20th-century French composer Francis Poulenc back to his medieval countryman Guillaume Machaut, and onward to Thomas Nee Commission recipient Tina Tallon's premiere work for orchestra & electronics. Recorded on 12/10/2017.

The key theme of A LINE BROKEN is the recognition that eventually all lines break, and that this is certainly true of human lives. While acknowledging the darkness implicit in that statement and reflected in several of the concert selections - for example, Courtney Bryan's remarkable "As Yet Unheard" and Ornette Coleman's discomfiting jazz tone poem "Lonely Woman" - there are also offerings of light. Rand Steiger's "Template for Improvising Trumpeter & Orchestra" and Gabriel Fauré's "Requiem" (so uncharacteristically gentle an example of that form) both celebrate music as an expression of the life-force and a means to transcend the darkness. Recorded on 06/10/2018.

Jazz has been hailed as "America's original art form," and the annual Jazz Camp at UC San Diego is a five-day immersive summer program designed for intermediate to advanced level jazz musicians, ages 14 adult. Students work directly with internationally renowned jazz artists, exploring styles ranging from classic bebop to contemporary open-form. The Camp culminates in a finale concert performed by eight student ensembles, each under the direction of a faculty member. This program showcases highlights from the 2018 Finale concert. Recorded on 06/29/2018.