Department/College/UnitArts Division

TitleDMA Candidate

AffiliationGraduate

Web Sitebendorfan.com

Mail StopMusic Center

Biography, Education and Training

Ben Dorfan has performed with The Carmel Bach Festival, NewMusicWorks, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, Santa Cruz Symphony, Monterey County Pops!, Bay Shore Lyric Opera, Ariose Singers, and Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus. He has provided music direction for Jewel Theatre Company, Mountain Community Theater, Georgiana Bruce Kirby School, and others.

Ben serves as Vice President of the Music Teachers’ Association of California, Santa Cruz County Branch, and was recently appointed as Santa Cruz Chamber Players' General Manager. He holds a BA in Music (Technology in Music and Related Arts) from Oberlin College and an MA in Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Research Interests

• Korean Traditional Music
• 18th- and 20th-century approaches to counterpoint
• American Minimalism (in the most broad and inclusive sense)

Teaching Interests

• Music Theory
• Music Composition
• Musicianship
• Piano
• Musicology
• Non-Western Music

Selected Performances

DMA Qualifying Recital (January 21, 2023)

Antarctic Circle - Eric Huebner, piano (April 17, 2023)

Rondino - San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (April 30, 2023)

A Wish for Ukraine - Yarn/Wire (May 20, 2022)

Arctic Circle - Ben Dorfan, piano (2008)