Professor Neal Stulberg, director of orchestral studies at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, will serve as the new chair of the department of music for the next three academic years, starting July 1.
"I am delighted that Neal will assume this important administrative position, and I am confident that he will provide excellent leadership for the department through what promises to be a watershed period in its history," said Christopher Waterman, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, in announcing Stulberg's appointment.
An acclaimed conductor and pianist, Stulberg is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School. He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, piano with Leonard Shure, Theodore Lettvin, William Masselos and Mischa Kottler, and viola with Ara Zerounian.
As a pianist, Stulberg appears regularly as recitalist, chamber musician and with major orchestras and at international festivals as pianist/conductor. His performances of Mozart concertos, conducted from the keyboard, are uniformly praised for their buoyant virtuosity and interpretive vigor.
A recipient of the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, America's most coveted conducting prize, Stulberg has led the Philadelphia Orchestra; Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, National, New Jersey, New World, Pacific, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Utah and Vancouver symphonies; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, among others. He is also a frequent guest conductor in Asia, Israel and Russia; he has appeared with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Korea Philharmonic (KBS), Taipei Symphony, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and Moscow Chamber Orchestra.