David Lefkowitz - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
David Lefkowitz
Professor - Composition, Vice Chair of the Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition

David Lefkowitz, a native of New York City, studied music composition at The Eastman School of Music, Cornell University, and University of Pennsylvania, where his principal teachers were Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, George Crumb, and Karel Husa.

As a composer Lefkowitz has won international acclaim, having works performed in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Ukraine, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Israel, and Egypt.

Lefkowitz has won national and international competitions, including the Fukui Harp Music Awards Competition (twice), and the American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers (ASCAP) Grants to Young Composers Competition. In addition, he has won prizes and recognition from the National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA), the Guild of Temple Musicians, Pacific Composers’ Forum, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Washington International Competi tion, Society for New Music’s Brian M. Israel Prize, the ALEA III International Competition, and the Gaudeamus Music Week. He has also been a Meet-The-Composer Composer in Residence.

Recent commissions include works for Melia Watras of the Corigliano Quartet, ’cellist Elinor Frey and pianist David Fung, violinist Petteri Iivonen, soprano Ursula Kleinecke and Colloquy, harpist Grace Cloutier, quintets for Pacific Serenades and the Synergy Ensemble, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Cantor Joseph Gole and the Cantor’s Assembly, the Harvard Westlake Orchestra, and by the Beijing City Opera Company (China’s largest and best Beijing Opera company) to write the music for a thirteen-minute solo dance-drama; the resulting BR/EIDGING OPERA for small chamber orchestra has been well received by audiences and artists on both sides of the Pacific. He has music published by MMB Music, by Yelton Rhodes Music, Zen-On Music, Whole>Sum Music, and Lawson-Gould/Warner-Chappell Music. He has recordings available or soon to be available on Yarlung, Fatrock Ink, Japanese Victor, Yamaha, and Albany record labels.

As a theorist Lefkowitz has researched “meta-theoretical” issues such as the process of segmentation (a Component of post-tonal analysis) and the internal structure of set-classes, he has written extensively on Schoenberg’s piano music, and also has done work on music theory pedagogy, culminating with his textbook Music Theory: Syntax, Function, and Form which is expected to be published soon.

You can learn more about Prof. Lefkowitz’s music at his website, www.davidlefkowitz.com.

Professor David Lefkowitz Destroys His Piano
On a bright, summer Sunday in Westwood, scores of people convened at the Spanish revival home of David Lefkowitz, composer and professor of composition and music theory at The UCLA
Composition Alumnus Stephen Spies wins Emmy
The 2nd Annual Children & Family Creative Arts Emmy Awards for 2023 were announced on December 16 and broadcast over two days. One of the biggest winners was Netflix’s live-action
UCLA Library awards grants to eight music school projects
Jan Berry Baker, Nina Eidsheim, David Lefkovitz, Arturo O’Farrill, and Kim Nguyen Tran were among the faculty winning grants to further the scope and reach of contemporary music. “Because of
Rakefet Hak
Senior Continuing Lecturer - Opera UCLA
Ji Young An
Continuing Lecturer - Violin Performance
Wendy Richman
Lecturer - Performance Studies
Vladimir Chernov
Distinguished Professor - Voice Performance
Travis J. Cross
Professor - Conducting, Director of Bands
Regina Carter-Garnett
Professor - Music Performance and Global Jazz Studies
Jens Lindemann
Distinguished Professor - Trumpet Performance
Theresa Dimond
Continuing Lecturer - Percussion Performance
Amy Sanchez
Continuing Lecturer - Horn Performance
Kay Rhie
Assistant Professor - Composition
Lily Chen-Hafteck
Professor - Music Education, Special Assistant to the Inaugural Dean for Curricular Reform
Justin McManus
Assistant Professor - Director of Athletic Bands and Associate Director of Bands
James Miller
Continuing Lecturer - Trombone Performance, Associate Principal Trombone LA Phil
Lucy Yates
Continuing Lecturer - Vocal Diction and Vocal Coaching
Camilo Cedeno
Assistant to the Chair - Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition
Iris Malkin
Continuing Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
James Lent
Continuing Lecturer - Collaborative Piano
Brendan McBrien
Lecturer - Music Education
Shahab Paranj
Gramian-Emrani Postdoctoral Fellow in Music and Lecturer - Composition, Contemporary Concert Music
Lou Anne Neill
Continuing Lecturer - Harp Performance, Harp LA Philharmonic
James Bass
Professor and Chair of the Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition, Director of Choral Studies
Dante De Silva
Continuing Lecturer - Composition and Music Theory
Andrew Ordonez
Events Manager - Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition
Che-Yen Chen
Professor - Viola Performance
Christoph Bull
Adjunct Professor - Organ Performance
Melissa Bilal
Promise Professor in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture and Director of Armenian Music Program, Assistant Professor in Music Performance, Education & Composition
Peter Golub
Continuing Lecturer - Composition, Music and Film
Aubrey Foard
Continuing Lecturer - Tuba Performance
Wendy Caldwell
Continuing Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
Lindsey Beardsley
Manager - Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition
Juliana Gondek
Distinguished Professor - Voice Performance
Hitomi Oba
Continuing Lecturer and Director of Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
Benjamin Smolen
Lecturer - Flute Performance
Cheryl Lin Fielding
Continuing Lecturer - Vocal Diction and Vocal Coaching
Victoria Kirsch
Continuing Lecturer - Vocal Coaching
Gloria Cheng
Distinguished Adjunct Professor - Contemporary Music, Performance Studies
David Kaplan
Inaugural Shapiro Family Professor in Piano Performance, Associate Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition
Neal Stulberg
Distinguished Professor - Conducting, Director of Orchestral Studies, Artistic Director Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience
Noah Meites
Continuing Lecturer - Music Theory
James Darrah
Professor - Director of Opera UCLA
William Kinderman
Distinguished Professor and Elaine Krown Klein Professor in Performance Studies
Catherine Gregory
Lecturer - Flute Performance, Woodwind Chamber Music, Director of the Gluck Fellowship Program
Boris Allakhverdyan
Continuing Lecturer - Clarinet Performance, Principal Clarinet LA Philharmonic
Dwayne Milburn
Continuing Lecturer - Conducting and Composition
Gregory Goodall
Continuing Lecturer - Percussion Performance
Johanna Gamboa-Kroesen
Assistant Professor - Music Education
Joshua Ranz
Continuing Lecturer - Clarinet Performance
Nick DePinna
Adjunct Assistant Professor - Musicianship
Inna Faliks
Professor - Head of Piano Performance
Chris Hanulik
Adjunct Professor - String Bass Performance; Principal Bass LA Phil
Richard Danielpour
Distinguished Professor; Director of Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music
Jonathan Davis
Senior Continuing Lecturer - Oboe Performance
John Steinmetz
Continuing Lecturer - Bassoon Performance
Kaii Lee
Lecturer - Music Education
Movses Pogossian
Distinguished Professor of Violin; Founder and Advisor, Armenian Music Program - Music Performance
Jonathan Beard
Continuing Lecturer - Music Industry (Electronic Music) and Composition
Michael Dean
Professor - Voice Performance
Ian Krouse
Distinguished Professor - Co-Area Head, Composition
Noel Cano Hearn
Lecturer - Alexander Technique and Music Education
Varty Manouelian
Continuing Lecturer - Violin Performance, Violin LA Philharmonic
Ben Hong
Lecturer - Cello Performance
Jan Berry Baker
Associate Dean of Faculty Mentoring and Community Relations, Professor - Saxophone, Head of Woodwinds, Vice Chair of the Department of Music Performance, Education & Composition

Explore Other Degrees

Conducting
Graduate study and training in choral, orchestral, or wind conducting
Ethnomusicology
The study of global musical traditions through performance training, research, and field work
Global Jazz Studies
Jazz performance and musicianship courses are paired with African American Studies
Music Composition
Mentorship in the creation and realization of music for concerts, opera, and visual media
Music Education
Preparation for music educators leading to a BA and teaching credential in just four years
Music Industry
A leadership-focused professional degree which prepares students to transform the creative, entrepreneurial, and executive structures of the music industry
Musicology
The scholarly study of the histories, cultures, and critical interpretations of music and music-making
Music Performance
Study and training towards professional performance careers in Western classical music