Arts & Culture

UCSD Celebrates Opening of State-of-the-Art Music Center

By Maureen Cavanaugh / KPBS Midday Edition Co-Host

Published May 7, 2009 at 8:10 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Artist's rendering of the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall.

UCSD Celebrates Opening of State-of-the-Art Music Center

UC San Diego is set to open their new, $53 million Conrad Prebys Music Center on May 8. We'll find out what's in store for the making of great music at the center.

Maureen Cavanaugh: After months of bad news about cutbacks to higher education in California and a general sense of economic gloom, comes some welcome good news from the music department at UC San Diego. This weekend the campus marks the opening of the new Conrad Prebys Music Center.

The complex includes teaching, rehearsal and practice space, recording studios and what designers say is one of the best small concert halls in the world.

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Administrators hope the new $53 million facility will enhance UC San Diego's reputation as a premier center for education in new music composition and performance.

Guests

Rand Steiger, composer, conductor and chairman of UCSD's music department.

Roger Reynolds, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and a professor of music at UCSD.

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Maureen Cavanaugh has been a familiar voice for KPBS listeners for more than 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities including announcer, host, and producer. As host of KPBS Midday Edition, Maureen has interviewed a wide range of notables, such as comedienne Sandra Bernhardt, actor John Lequizamo, author Chuck Palahniuk, composer Marvin Hamlisch, artist Robert Irwin, and designer Zandra Rhodes. But of all the interviews Maureen has conducted, her most special was with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Before joining KPBS in 1997, she worked as a news anchor for KSDO and KOGO News Radio in San Diego. While working for commercial radio stations in San Diego and in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maureen reported on both hard news and lifestyle features. Maureen has received three "Golden Mike" awards from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California for economic reporting and breaking news. She has also received a "Best of Show" and “Best Radio Newscast” awards from the San Diego Press Club and the "Flo" Award from Public Radio Program Directors Association for Best Public Radio Announcer in a large market. Maureen is a native of Queens, New York, but after more than 20 years in San Diego she feels she qualifies as a real Southern Californian.

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