Taproot Festival brings new music to Davis, continuing this week

Sam Nichols isn’t afraid of a little risk. As the curator for the Taproot New Music Festival, he puts a lot of trust into the composers and musicians creating pieces for the multi-day event.

“There’s a sense of adventure,” said Nichols, chair of the Department of Music in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. “A lot of new music festivals are organized around themes or birthdays and I've kind of resisted both of those things.”

Instead, he prefers to let the artists experiment without restrictions. That goes for the audience too.

“It is very different than already knowing the song and then going to hear it live — that's not the vibe,” he said. “It is kind of like rolling the dice and taking a chance. My hope is that you might go to one of these concerts and it might change the way you think about music, and what music is.” (excerpted from a story by Maria Sestito, College of Letters and Science)

UC Davis Taproot Schedule

Thursday, Nov. 6

• Noon concert, 12:05 p.m. to 1 p.m., Pitzer Center

Ensemble Dal Niente, Michael Lewanski, conductor

 

Empyrean Ensemble

Sam Nichols, director • Matilda Hofman, resident conductor

 

Program

Erin Gee: Mouthpiece: Segment of the Third Letter (2007)

Anthony Cheung: Windswept Cypresses (2005)

Bryndan Moondy: these waters and our porous lines PREMIERE

• 7:30 to 8 p.m. Empyrean Ensemble’s Thalia Moore, plays Raven Chacon’s Quiver for solo cello at Armadillo Music (free)

Friday, Nov. 7

• 7:30 to 9 p.m., Ensemble Dal Niente at the Ann E. Pitzer Center

Saturday, Nov. 8

• 7:30 p.m. Ensemble Dal Niente at the Ann E. Pitzer Center

Sunday, Nov. 8

• 2 to 3:30 p.m. Empyrean Ensemble at the Ann E. Pitzer Center (free)

Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Felipe Baeza in Conversation with Ruben Zecena

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, Rm. 1002, Cruess Hall, UC Davis 

 

Felipe Baeza received a BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (2009) and an MFA from Yale University (2018). He has presented solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, London, Mexico City and New York. 

 

Ruben Zecena, assistant professor of English at UC Davis, is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in contemporary Latinx Literature and Culture, which he engages through the lens of Queer of Color Critique, Border Studies, Affect Theory, and Transnational American Studies. His work is animated by his experiences as a formerly undocumented queer migrant from El Salvador.

 

This event is organized by the Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio Program and supported by the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis.

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Call for Artists: 24-Hour Study Room Art Contest

Enter by Nov. 14

 

The UC Davis Library and ASUCD Aggie Arts Committee are holding a student art contest to decorate the 24-hour Study Room in Shields Library.

UC Davis undergraduates are invited to submit a design concept on the theme “Celebrate Your Environment.” Winners will receive a $75 gift card and a canvas to create their proposed piece. The final designs will be displayed in the 24-hour Study Room, celebrating the variety of environments that are meaningful to UC Davis students.

 

Please visit the AAC announcement webpage to learn more about applying, eligibility, judging criteria and contest terms.

Native Arts Market is Sunday at Gorman

Native American Heritage Month is in November

In addition to the Gorman Museum Native Arts Market, there are numerous events happening across the campus in November that honor and recognize the Native American people who first called Davis and Yolo County home.  Link to more info

Curtis On Tour: Bernstein, Bruch and Schubert at Mondavi Center Sunday

Sunday, Nov. 9, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Juliette Tacchino, soprano

Tzu-Yi Yu, clarinet

Roberto Diaz, viola

Lynn Ye, piano

The esteemed Curtis Institute of Music educates and trains exceptionally gifted young musicians to engage a local and global community through the highest level of artistry.

Each year, Curtis on Tour emerging artists perform alongside celebrated alumni and faculty of the esteemed school. Curtis President and renowned violist Roberto Díaz leads a talented ensemble featuring clarinet, viola, piano, and award-winning soprano Juliette Tacchino. The program showcases Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata, Schubert’s The Shepherd on the Rock, selections from Bruch’s Eight Pieces, and gems from the art song repertoire. 

Tickets

UC Davis artists join ‘a collection of feminists’ at Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento

Maria Manetti Shrem Art Studio Professors Robin Hill and Annabeth Rosen, UC Davis, are among the artists featured  in the Crocker Art Museum exhibition “Making Moves, A Collection of Feminisms,” curated by Francesca Wilmott and Sara Morris on view through May 3, 2026. Hill and Rosen are among a long roster of prestigious artists.

The installation illustrates the breadth of materials and approaches artists have employed to represent women’s experiences. Ranging from figurative depictions to more abstract expressions, the exhibition examines the evolving complexities of femininity and feminism that have inspired generations of visual artists. Organized thematically, “Making Moves” explores ideas of self-representation, care, sentimentality, the erotic, and memory. The artworks featured are drawn from the Crocker’s permanent collection, alongside generous loans and gifts from private collections. And for the first time at the Crocker, Frida Kahlo’s work will be on view. The iconic 1947 painting “Self-Portrait with Loose Hair,” on loan from a private collection, affirms Kahlo’s cultural identity in the years following the Mexican Revolution and stands as a powerful expression of feminine strength and self-definition. 

Anchored by two works by Frida Kahlo including the iconic Self-Portrait with Loose Hair (1947), the exhibition brings together more than 70 works that reflect the breadth of feminist thought and women’s experiences across two centuries.

Drawn primarily from the museum’s collection, Making Moves highlights recent acquisitions by living artists as well as works by historic trailblazers. Photographs of Kahlo, including a recently acquired image by Lola Álvarez Bravo, will be shown alongside the rare self-portrait, which has just returned from international exhibition.

The exhibition runs through May 3, 2026. Sunday, Nov. 16 is the Crocker's monthly Pay What You Wish day, offering free admission for all visitors.