Festival of New and Improvised Music

Brightwork newmusic

The CSUDH Music Department’s Festival of New and Improvised Music is curated by artistic director and music professor Jonathon Grasse, bringing to the CSU Dominguez Hills campus and its students workshops, masterclasses, lectures, and concert performances by leading artists. The festival’s resident ensemble Brightwork engages students in all of these events during Brightwork Day, including readings of student compositions.

With support from the College of Arts and Humanities, the festival celebrates newly composed music of various contemporary styles while also promoting improvisation workshops and performances led by some of Southern California’s leaders in avant-garde and free jazz, and Creative Music approaches. Students engage with festival participants from the Los Angeles area’s substantial improvisation scene including jazz legend Bobby Bradford, Ellen Burr, Vinny Golia, Emily Hay, Roberto Miranda, the Pan African Peoples Arkestra, Dwight Tribble, percussionist Joseph Mitchell and tubaist William Roper’s Judicanti Responsura, and newcomer Sean Sonderegger’s Magically Inclined. Occasional to the festival are performances by The Native Plant Society, an improvisation ensemble directed by professor Grasse.