Avant-garde music series at UCLA canceled

An avant-garde music festival scheduled for March -- a central offering of UCLA’s performing arts season that was to be dedicated to the German record label ECM -- has been canceled because of scheduling and financial difficulties.

“UCLA and ECM have been unable to agree on festival content so have decided to cancel the festival,” says UCLA Live director David Sefton of what was to be called “Elective Affinities: an ECM Festival.”

Producer Manfred Eicher, who founded the label in 1969, was to serve as UCLA Live Artist in Residence for this spring. That would have included his curating of the festival, lectures and perhaps, Sefton says, screening recent Jean-Luc Godard films for which he produced the music.

A March 12 concert by Keith Jarrett with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette will go on as scheduled, as may some others.

ECM is a critically acclaimed Munich-based label dedicated to jazz, classical and European new music. It’s associated with distinctively minimalist artwork, an often spare musical style, and sonorous acoustics. Besides Jarrett, the label is known for Estonian composer Arvo Part, Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, and vocal group the Hilliard Ensemble, all of whose music was to be performed at UCLA in March, along with several other groups.

“We couldn’t come up with a sufficiently comprehensive list of ECM artists to showcase the label as both of us wanted to,” says Sefton, who says he cancels the festival “with regret.”

The label offered no further comment.

Tickets can be refunded at the UCLA box office at (310) 825-2101.