By Angelina Ward

The annual Primavera Festival is in full swing, giving students a taste of a wide range of art, music and technology.

The celebration, which began March 31 and continues through April 13, features concerts and displays in various lecture halls throughout campus. Event highlights include media art exhibits and technology installations in addition to concerts showcasing contemporary musicians, composers and Music Dept. graduate students.

The Primavera Festival was formerly dubbed the New Music Festival before Jeremy Haladyna, a faculty member in both the College of Creative Studies and College of Letters and Science, renovated the series in 2003.

“Many festivals concentrate on outside visitors; ours doesn’t — it touts the merits of the resident creators here: creators of music, art, dance, theater, video and multimedia done right here at UCSB!” Haladyna said in an e-mail. “That’s great because it means the festival can run simultaneously in several houses. This year things are going in Lotte Lehmann Hall, Elings Hall, Hatlen Theater and the Old Little Theater.”

College of Creative Studies guest composer Arthur Gottschalk will offer a free lecture today at 11 a.m. at the Old Little Theater 154. Tomorrow, Lotte Lehmann Hall will host a contemporary music ensemble at 8 p.m.

Festival co-chair and event performer Leslie Hogan plans to debut an original piece of her music.

“This year the festival is even longer than past years because we wanted a bigger time window for students to have the opportunity to experience the numerous concerts and exhibits,” Hogan said. “The festival was kicked off before the end of Winter Quarter because we wanted both students and performers to have the flexibility to attend the various activities.”

Morgane Dulfer, a third-year economics major, said she is interested in exploring the different festivals and activities presented at UCSB.

“As a transfer student I really want to experience everything I can in my last two years here,” Dulfer said. “I have always been interested in music and art and would go to symphonies in San Francisco when I lived at home, so I want to check out the concerts and exhibits that are going on during the festival.”

For more information on upcoming performances, visit http://www.ccs.ucsb.edu/primavera/.