Student play cello with eyes closed.

School of Music News

The School of Music offers enriching undergraduate and graduate degree programs for students pursuing careers in composition, conducting, jazz studies, music education, and performance. We have more than 400 music majors studying under the guidance of experienced artist and performers, master teachers, and respected international scholars.

Current Music News

attendees at an outside car show
Campus News |

Steered by President Keith E. Whitfield and UNLV Alumni Association, the first-ever event drew the support of around 100 participants.

man conducting symphony orchestra
Arts and Culture |

The orchestras are conducted by musical director Taras Krysa.

group photo of jazz ensemble
Arts and Culture |

The May 1 concert features legendary jazz drummer Tommu Igoe.

four musicians sitting while holding stringed instruments
Arts and Culture |

Now enjoying their 21st year together, this tight-knit ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music.

3d image of a colored sphere
Arts and Culture |

This 16th annual collaboration concert is a mixture of visceral percussion music and mesmerizing lighting effects.

UNLV Wind Orchestra conductor Thomas Leslie
Arts and Culture |

The concert is conducted by artistic director and conductor Thomas G. Leslie, with associate conductor Zane Douglass.

Music In The News

Las Vegas Review Journal

UNLV’s College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame has honored many Strip entertainers in its 20-year history. But the annual event itself has never played the Strip.

KVVU-TV: Fox 5

For the students of the Las Vegas High School Mariachi Joya, their excitement for class is palpable. “It’s something I always look forward to every day, picking up my instrument and playing,” the group’s Student Director, Axel Rodriguez-Olivas says. The UNLV-bound student says his dream is to teach mariachi music to others, and, luckily for him, he’ll now be able to further his mariachi education without having to leave the valley. UNLV will be offering its first mariachi program starting this fall, led by Las Vegas High School’s Mariachi Joya Director Stephen Blanco.

Las Vegas Review Journal

UNLV’s School of Music announced several new classes for the fall semester focused on mariachi. The program will be overseen by Stephen Blanco, who founded Las Vegas High School’s mariachi program in 2018.

KNPR News

The visual and performing arts are in full swing throughout the state. Making good on its promises to bring more activity and people to Commercial Center, Clark County has just launched a program with UNLV, which will produce cultural events at the East Sahara complex.

KLAS-TV: 8 News Now

What’s Cool At School? How about hundreds of high school jazz students from around the western U-S at UNLV.

EIN Presswire

The National First Ladies’ Library and Museum will host the world premiere of a new set of musical compositions inspired by the First Ladies of the United States on Sunday, October 15, at 2:00 p.m. with its partners at the Christ Presbyterian Church, 530 Tuscarawas Street in Canton, Ohio.

Recent Music Accomplishments

UNLV faculty John McMurtery and postdoctoral scholars Marta Plominska and Dawid Mzyk (all Music) performed at the 3rd International Low Flutes Festival in Washington D.C. They performed works by Laurence Dresner and Ali Ryerson for two low flutes, as well as "Waha'yoo Winds: Nevadian Images" for alto flute and trombone, which was written by Jakub…
Jonathan Rhodes Lee (Music) published a review article in the Journal of the American Musicological Society. The piece examines Nathan Link’s A Poetics of Handel’s Operas. It appears in vol. 77 no. 1, pp. 247-50 of the journal.
Amy Brown (Music) presented a Table Talk at the Learning for the Future Conference titled, "Data-Driven In"Formative" Assessment." Participants discussed various ways of gathering data to analyze student progress and learned about using formative.com as an assessment tool for students of all ages.   
Andre Chiang (Music) has and will perform with Florida State University Opera, Opera Philadelphia, OperaDelaware, and at home with Opera Las Vegas. Chiang was a late add to sing the Forester in Janáček‘sThe Cunning Little Vixen in Czech on April 5 and 7. He then sings the Commissioner in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with Opera Philadelphia on…
Jonathan Rhodes Lee (Music) published a review article in BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. The article examines Mark Kroll's Bach, Handel, Scarlatti (Cambridge University Press, 2023), which provides a reception history of these three composers in nineteenth-century England.  
Amy Brown (Music) presented Parachute Play at the Las Vegas Urban Chapter of Kodaly Educators (LUCKE) Chapter Workshop. In addition to the Kodaly method, participants experienced musical literacy using multiple methods of music education philosophies (Orff and Dalcroze). Using Edvard Grieg's, In the Hall of the Mountain King, members…