Oakland, CA–February 9, 2009. The Mills College Music Department and upcoming music festival Giving Free Play to the Imagination was prominently featured in the February 8, 2009 issue of the Los Angeles Times.

Mills College alumnus and Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed illustrated the uniqueness of the Mills Music Department and its impact on the world of music from Darius Milhaud to Leon Kirchner to the Kronos Quartet. Swed also shared his experience from his student days at Mills in the 1970s and of recent students who call their work “sound art.”  Read Swed’s story here.

David Bernstein, Mills College professor of music, in the article said the College "is even experimental in the way that it appreciates the past.”

The article accompanied an online photo gallery featuring colorful photographs of the Concert Hall and a blog featuring music selections related to Mills College. See photo gallery here and the blog here.

Giving Free Play to the Imagination is a six-concert festival that runs from February 21 through April 5, 2009, and celebrates the reopening of the Mills College Concert Hall. For more information and ticketing, go to www.mills.edu/musicfestival.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best 368 Colleges by the Princeton Review, and ranks 75th among America's best colleges by Forbes.com. Visit us at www.mills.edu.

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