Sam Nichols isn’t afraid of a little risk. As the curator for the Taproot New Music Festival, he puts a lot of trust into the composers and musicians creating pieces for the multi-day event.  

“There’s a sense of adventure,” said Nichols, chair of the Department of Music in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. “A lot of new music festivals are organized around themes or birthdays and I've kind of resisted both of those things.” 

Instead, he prefers to let the artists experiment without restrictions. That goes for the audience too.  

“It is very different than already knowing the song and then going to hear it live — that's not the vibe,” he said. “It is kind of like rolling the dice and taking a chance. My hope is that you might go to one of these concerts and it might change the way you think about music, and what music is.” 

Drawing sustenance from community 

Merriam-Webster defines a “taproot” as 1) a primary root that grows vertically downward and gives off small lateral roots, and 2) the central element or position in a line of growth or development.  

 The idea of a 'taproot' as something that’s reaching really deep into the ground and drawing sustenance from the spot that you happen to be in. 

— Sam Nichols  

That spot is in Yolo County where local musicians, including the Empyrean Ensemble and the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, have been creating new music and programming concerts since the 1960s, Nichols said.  

Over the years the once “scrappy” festival has been able to bring many notable visiting performers to the area thanks to a partnership with the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis.  

“One of the core values of the Mondavi Center’s mission is to be a ‘professional laboratory to train students in the performing arts’ and we are thrilled to present the musicians of Dal Niente and the work of these participating composers to our Davis community,” said Jeremy Ganter, executive director of the Mondavi Center. 

The impact of this training has also grown throughout the years. More graduate students from UC Davis are able to participate both as composers and as panelists to select some of the visiting composers.  

“As musicians and composers our voices are in a constant state of evolution, thanks to both our musical memory and the lasting connections we make with other artists,” Nichols said. “I’m thrilled that Taproot continues to facilitate these kinds of connections, many of which have become long lasting.” 

What to Expect at Taproot 2025 

This year, Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente, conducted by Michael Lewanski, will have three performances at Taproot. They will be working with four composers: Eli Greenhoe, James Larkins, Emre Sener and Jenny Xiong. 

Members from Dal Niente will be available after the show on Friday and Saturday for a discussion moderated by Nichols and to answer audience questions.  

The Empyrean Ensemble, an ensemble-in-residence at UC Davis – Nichols is its artistic director, will also have three concerts, conducted by resident conductor Matilda Hofman. Four composers will work with Empyrean: Parker Callister, Mary Denney, Yingting Liu and Bryndan Moondy.  

Empyrean Ensemble’s Thalia Moore, solo cello, will hold a pop-up performance at Armadillo Music in downtown Davis on Nov. 6. 

The UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, a student and community orchestra in residence at the Mondavi Center and directed and conducted by Professor Christian Baldini, will kick off Taproot with a performance at the Mondavi Center on Oct. 25. UC Davis graduate student and composer Peter Chatterjee will have his piece  When the alarm(s) stopped premiered by the orchestra.  

The remaining Taproot events take place between Thursday, Nov. 6 and Sunday, Nov. 8. The final performance will be followed by a reception at the Ann E. Pitzer Center, which will also be open to the public. 

For complete information and tickets, visit https://arts.ucdavis.edu/taproot. 

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