With vocals and instruments echoing through Royce Hall, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music helped bring to life the June 5 inauguration ceremony for UCLA’s seventh chancellor, Julio Frenk.

Performing for the Bruin community and leaders including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, UC Regents chair Janet Reilly and UC President Michael Drake, UCLA student performers — along with several local artists and ensembles — brought sounds that traversed Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The performers and practices exemplified the cultural vibrancy and pluralism of the school of music and of Los Angeles itself.

Frenk has often shared his love of opera, which closely harmonizes with the school of music’s commitment to the art form via Opera UCLA, an ongoing collaboration with the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television. For Thursday’s inauguration ceremony, Opera UCLA Director James Darrah created a bespoke opera scene that opened with a monologue from the play “La zapatera prodigiosa” (“The Shoemakers Prodigious Wife”) by Spanish poet and plawright Federico García Lorca, performed by undergraduate voice student Olivia Salazar. 

Graduate voice student Leela Subramaniam then performed a challenging aria from Gioachino Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville” titled “Una voce poco fa” (“A voice from a while back”), with both singers bringing rapturous applause from attendees caught up in their songs.

In rehearsals, Darrah encouraged the performers to use the moment to vibrantly welcome Chancellor Frenk into the vision of Opera UCLA. 

“You love opera, we love opera; let’s go, this is how we do opera. It’s a new era,” he told them.

Subramaniam, who also holds an undergraduate degree from UCLA and who has starred in five Opera UCLA productions, said she was thrilled that UCLA’s new chancellor loves opera and understands the art form. 

“It needs to be supported and understood and produced at a high level, and our new director is making such innovative work that keeps opera engaging and alive, that it really feels like an exciting time for Opera at UCLA,” she said. “Opera really is the convergence of all the art forms.” 

In a special private moment backstage before the ceremony began, doctoral student Gabrielle Sipen performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 as a treat from the school of music to the chancellor who, in one of his UCLA Connects: Listening Exercise sessions with the school, mentioned that his mother would practice this piece quite frequently. 

Hand in hand, the chancellor and his partner, Felicia Marie Knaul, encountered this surprise performance and spoke briefly with Sipen before proceeding to the stage. 

“He told me that hearing me perform it was like having a piece of his mother with him today,” Sipen said. 

Thursday’s inauguration ceremony also featured a performance of “Hail to the Hills of Westwood” by members of the UCLA Chamber Singers Ensemble. The UCLA Brass Ensemble, with drummers from the UCLA Music and Dance of Ghana Ensemble, featuring drums from the school’s expansive world music instrument collection — one of the largest in the world — provided processional music written by professor of ethnomusicology Steven Loza. And, university organist Christoph Bull set the tone for the morning with selections for the majestic Skinner organ housed in Royce Hall. 

The UCLA African American Music Ensemble, a cross-campus group dedicated to learning about and celebrating African American musical traditions like gospels, spirituals and liturgical music, offered a special rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner,” arranged by their director and lecturer in ethnomusicology, Diane White-Clayton. They also performed an original work by White-Clayton titled “One By One,” written in the gospel tradition and in honor of the late Reuben Roosevelt McDaniel Jr., a prominent educator at the University of Texas-Austin. 

The UCLA Music of Thailand Ensemble helped showcase the school of music’s tradition of preserving cultural practices from around the world with a new arrangement of a traditional piece for mixed musical instruments from western and northeastern Thailand, “Baisii Suukhwan” (“Calling Back the Souls”).

“The piece conveys a sense that regardless of the challenges life may bring, there’s always a comforting ‘home’ to return to, reminding us that we are never truly alone,” said Supeena Adler, ensemble director and adjunct associate professor of ethnomusicology. 

Members of Mariachi de Uclatlán were joined by members of local group Mariachi Los Camperos to perform a piece of music that is special to Chancellor Frenk. They launched into “Huapango de Moncayo” shortly after the chancellor proclaimed his pride at becoming UCLA’s first Latino chancellor.

“This performance stands as a gesture of welcome, respect and celebration at the beginning of a new chapter in leadership,” said Jesús “Chuy” Guzmán, lecturer and director of Mariachi de Uclatlán. “Whether rooted in the land or visitors, all are united in a shared reverence for Mexico’s traditions, spirit, and legacy.”

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► Julio Frenk’s inauguration: Creating a connective, impactful and exemplary university

► Watch and read Chancellor Frenk’s full inaugural address

► Julio Frenk’s inauguration ceremony is music to his ears

► UCLA community reactions to the chancellor’s inauguration

► News coverage of the inauguration