Students Nominated for an Emmy

As the acceptance speech says, it’s an honor just to be nominated. Six UCLA students have been nominated for an Emmy in the music composers category and will travel to New York this week to attend the awards ceremony for news and documentary work.

Music students Jonathan Flood, Shuichi Komiyama, David Dvorin, Chris Anderson, Gil Talmi and Chris Salmassy were nominated with Warren Lustig, a producer/editor for CBS Television News for their work on “1991, A Year to Remember.”

“We’re delighted with this surprise nomination. It’s a great tribute to our talented students, and to our faculty members Roger Bourland and Thomas Lee, who encouraged and empowered them,” said Robert Blocker, dean of UCLA’s School of the Arts.

Last October, Lustig contacted Bourland seeking students who wanted to compose original music for a special year-end retrospective segment he was producing for CBS.

Music students submitted more than 20 demo tapes after viewing news clips. From those, Lustig selected the six pieces.

Lustig and the students then began to work on composing their final musical scores. Five of the winning compositions were played by the UCLA Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Prof. Thomas Lee and recorded at a special session in Royce Hall. The sixth piece was played on a synthesizer by Flood.

“It was a good experience to work with a producer and see what he wanted,” Dvorin, 22, said. “Originally, all of my ideas were rejected, but I decided to try again and was successful.”

The collaborative efforts were used in the production, which integrated music with video clips of world events such as Hurricane Bob, the Soviet coup and Desert Storm.

The segment was introduced by network anchor Connie Chung and aired Dec. 31 on “The CBS News with Dan Rather.”

The students will attend Wednesday’s ceremony at the Plaza Hotel courtesy of UCLA, which paid their air fare.

The students will pay for tuxedos, $200 Emmy tickets, lodging and other expenses.

They will be competing against two nature documentaries produced by “ABC’s World of Discovery.”

Julie Platt of Westwood has been named president of the Metropolitan Region of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles.

One of five regions of the council, the metro region includes Beverly Hills and the area west of downtown Los Angeles.

Platt has also served as chairwoman of the United Jewish Fund Campaign, which benefits a number of humanitarian services in Los Angeles and around the world.

The Airport Marina Counseling Service board of directors has elected new officers for the coming year.

Gregory Soukup, a partner with Ernst & Young in Los Angeles, will serve as president of the board. Other Westside board members include Lois Becker, John Moe, Adelle Wexler, Jill Marcellus and William Hatton.

Marie Kuffner, an anesthesiologist and an associate professor of anesthesiology at UCLA, has been named president of the Los Angeles County Medical Assn.

Kuffner, only the second women elected president in the history of the association, lives in Bel-Air. She received her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.

Other medical association appointments include Scott Karlan of Beverly Hills and Melvin Scheer of Venice. Both will serve as leaders and spokesmen for their respective districts.

Gregory Pawlik, president of the Los Angeles Assn. of Realtors, has been named regional chairman of district 17 by the directors of the California Assn. of Realtors.

As regional chairman, he will represent the Westside and areas that extend east to downtown Los Angeles for a one-year term.

He is a resident of Pacific Palisades.

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