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April News & Highlights

Featured This Month
Program Highlights
New to Video On-Demand

FEATURED THIS MONTH

An Evening with Poet Billy Collins

Don’t miss this chance to enjoy American poet Billy Collins as he reads a selection of humorous poems and discusses the craft of writing with Dean Nelson and an appreciative audience at the keynote event of the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University.

An Evening with Billy Collins
Premieres April 1 at 8pm

Find more video from past
Writer’s Symposium by the Sea events.

Is the Human Mind Unique?

New from CARTA, scientists from different fields discuss cognitive abilities often regarded as unique to humans, including humor, morality, symbolism, creativity and preoccupation with the minds of others. They assess the functional uniqueness of these attributes, as opposed to the anatomical uniqueness, and whether they are indeed quantitatively or qualitatively unique to humans.

Is the Human Mind Unique? Premieres April 8.

To Be Musical Concludes

We wrap up the six-part series on what makes music musical this month with two fascinating presentations. On April 2 at 9pm, Grammy-winning soprano and UCSD Professor of Music Susan Narucki presents “Utterance, Ritual, Expression: Why Singing Makes Us Human.”

Then on April 16, Diana Deutsch, UCSD Professor of Psychology, shows the striking difference in how people hear simple musical patterns in “Musical Illusions, Perfect Pitch and Other Curiosities.”

Browse all To Be Musical programs.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

All programs repeat throughout the month. Visit the Program Schedule on our web site for additional air dates and times.

Ocean Science Surpasses 10 Million!

When people want to learn about the ocean, they turn to Birch Aquarium at Scripps’ “Perspectives on Ocean Science” lecture series, available on TV and online through UCSD-TV and its sister station, UCTV.

How do we know? The collection of 130+ videos, available on the channels’ websites, YouTube and iTunes, just surpassed 10 million views, making it UCSD’s most popular science series and UCTV’s 14th most popular series, out of a whopping 350!

Learn more about this accomplishment and the importance of Birch Aquarium‘s public outreach program, then dive in to the “Perspectives on Ocean Science” video archive! Stay tuned April 10 at 8pm for the TV premiere of the latest installment, “Genetics and Gray Whale Behavior,” which is also available online now.

Poetry Spring Fling with Billy Collins

No foolin’…. April is National Poetry Month and we’re headlining our linguistic Spring fling with a delightful presentation featuring American poet Billy Collins, who reads a selection of humorous poems and discusses the craft of writing with Dean Nelson and an appreciate audience at the keynote event of the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University.

“An Evening with Billy Collins” premieres tonight (April 1) at 8pm and is also available online, along with excerpts of Collins’ readings of individual poems.

You can also browse our astounding archive of programs from past Writer’s Symposium events, going all the way back to 2000 with guests Otis Chandler, former publisher of the LA Times, and best-selling author George Plimpton. There’s even a remarkable conversation with legendary author Ray Bradbury!

If you’re hungry for more poetry, make sure to browse our complete poetry library, loaded with established and emerging writers from around the world.

This is no April Fools’ prank, we promise!

Pianist Cecil Lytle Presents Beethoven

Renowned pianist and educator Cecile Lytle has been delighting audiences with his annual Rebecca E. Lytle Memorial Scholarship Concerts for 19 years, with proceeds benefiting deserving students from the Preuss School at UC San Diego.

UCSD-TV has been along for the ride since 1998, making the performances by Lytle and his noteworthy guests, spanning 200 years of jazz, popular standards and chamber music, available to audiences on TV and online.

This year’s program features Lytle performing two late signature works by Ludwig van Beethoven: the monumental Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major (“Das Hammerklavier”) and the dramatic Piano Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Beethoven’s final composition for piano.

Watch “Cecil Lytle Presents Beethoven” online now, and take a trip through the Lytle Memorial Scholarship Concerts archive to find even more musical delights.

Who’s Behind That ‘Murder in the Cathedral?’

This week, San Diego Opera is busy is preparing for a murder, set to take place Saturday night when their production of Ildebrando Pizzetti’s “Murder in the Cathedral” takes the stage. Based upon the drama by American poet TS Eliot, the story revolves around the 1170 murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket by henchmen of King Henry II in Canterbury Cathedral.

In UCSD-TV’s presentation of “Stars in the Salon,” premiering tonight (Marchy 26) at 8pm and online now, host Nick Reveles joins the cast and artistic team behind the new San Diego Opera production to discuss the intricacies of this unjustly-negelected masterwork.

Then check out “OperaTalk!” where host Nick Reveles provides a guided historical tour of the work, including its basis in Eliot’s play, the development of musical themes, and Pizzetti’s melding of words and music for maximum dramatic effect.

Before you head to the theater to enjoy the show, make sure to tune in Friday, March 29 at 9pm for the premiere of UCSD-TV’s behind-the-scenes documentary, “Opera Spotlight.”

Want to catch up on San Diego Opera’s season so far? Check out our Opera video archive!

FEATURED THIS MONTH

An Evening with Poet Billy Collins

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Health & Medicine

Science

Public Affairs

Arts & Music

Check out the latest additions to our online video archive