The UC Davis Department of Music's 2007-08 season will showcase contemporary and traditional sounds from around the corner and around the world -- from the Empyrean Ensemble's annual Fault Lines concert of works by California composers, to Iter Ytalicum, a musical journey through trecento Italy.

Iter Ytalicum (Italian Journey) will be performed by visiting artist-in-residence Pedro Memelsdorff and the Mala Punica ensemble, as part of the new Creativity Project at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Mala Punica (literally, pomegranates) is a vocal and instrumental ensemble devoted to the music of the trecento (14th century) and Ars Subtilior in Italy, a repertory that has been called the avant-garde of medieval Europe.

Memelsdorff, a flautist and Ars Nova scholar, directs Mala Punica, which combines erudition and musicological research with audacious means of musical expression: virtuoso solo playing and singing, rich contrapuntal diminutions and improvisation, poetry and theatricality.

In their annual collaboration, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, University Chorus and Chamber Singers, and the Alumni Chorus plan to perform Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem (German Requiem).

Spring brings the splash and crash of the first UC Davis Percussion Festival, directed by Chris Froh, featuring workshops, master classes and concerts.

Another visiting artist will be Taiseer Elias, world renowed for his playing of the oud, a pear-shaped, stringed instrument used in traditional Middle Eastern music and East African music. Professor Elias, chair of the Eastern Music Department at the Jerusalem Conservatory, founder of Orchestra of Classical Arabic Music in Israel and a member of Ziryab Trio, is due for a one-week residence in April. He will give recitals and conduct classes in Middle Eastern music theory and practice.

Additional 2007-08 highlights include individual and collaborative performances by the department's student-community ensembles: the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, University Chorus and Chamber Singers, Jazz Band, Gospel Choir, Concert Band and Wind Ensemble, Early Music Ensemble and Baroque Ensemble, Hindustani Vocal Ensemble, Gamelan Ensemble and Samba School.

Heather McClure is public events manager for the Department of Music.