Ray Ushikubo fulfilled a long-held dream of performing a live duet with himself during Colburn’s Sounding Point Academy recital series this summer, playing both parts of Schumann’s Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano using Steinway’s Model D Spirio | r. 

The 2023-24 academic year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Colburn Conservatory of Music. To celebrate, we look back at how the Conservatory came to be the school it is today. Pictured left to right: Yehuda Gilad, Toby Mayman, Joseph Thayer, Robert Lipsett, and Ron Leonard with the Conservatory of Music Founders Awards, presented on April 25, 2024.

Community School saxophone student Ismerai Calcaneo Lopez (left) and Porchè Brinker (right) at the Academy Awards, where The Last Repair Shop won Best Documentary—Short Film. 

Gehry’s vision for the Colburn Center blends artistry with function and distinct identity to create an original structural composition. The building consists of an ensemble of interlocking volumes built into a terrain that slopes down from Olive Street to Hill Street and clad in a pink metallic finish. The components are knit together by an expansive light-filled entrance and a pair of gardens planted at street and rooftop level. At the heart of the building is education and performance.  

Colburn is home to the studio of famed violinist Jascha Heifetz. Originally located in Beverly Hills, the studio was carefully deconstructed following Heifetz’s death and rebuilt piece-by-piece at the Colburn School. A remarkable time capsule, the studio includes Heifetz’s original furnishings, photographs, and memorabilia.