Dika Newlin, 82; Schoenberg Student, Musicologist, Composer

Dika Newlin, 82, composer and musicologist who as a child prodigy studied the then-radical 12-tone method of composition with Arnold Schoenberg at UCLA, died Saturday at a nursing home in Richmond, Va.

Born in 1923 in Portland, Ore., Newlin received her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State at the age of 16, then moved with her mother to attend UCLA. She was one of the last surviving pupils of the Austrian composer, who is portrayed as a domineering, abusive teacher in “Schoenberg Remembered,” a collection of her diaries that was published in 1980.

Newlin also studied with master pianists Artur Schnabel and Rudolf Serkin and earned her doctorate at Columbia University in 1945.

She taught at various universities, including Syracuse, Drew, North Texas State and Virginia Commonwealth, where she was a professor of composition from 1978 until her retirement two years ago. Through the years, she wrote operas, piano concertos, a symphony and chamber music.

She later veered into punk rock, performing with a band called Apocowlypso in Richmond, where she was known as a quirky elfin figure with a thatch of hair dyed wild colors. She also appeared in the cult film “Dika: Murder City.”