To ensure that students have the opportunity to examine the widest possible cross–section of music practices, the School of Music regularly invites celebrated artists from around the world to share their experience and insights with students and supplement the expertise of regular faculty. Some guests also serve as visiting faculty members who spend one or more semester at CalArts. In recent years, the pool of visiting artists has included:

Composition, Experimental Sound Practices

Thomas Ankersmit
Arte Sonoro
Robert Ashley
Bang on a Can All–Stars
David Behrman
John Bischoff
Henry Brandt
Chris Brown
Gavin Bryars
Monique Buzzarte
Gary Chang
Paul DeMarinis
Nick Didkovsky
Ensemble Intercontemporain
Annie Gosfield
Eva Maria Houben
Killick
David Lang
George Lewis
Flo Menezes
Diego Minciacchi
Phill Niblock
Pauline Oliveros
Hilda Paredes
Larry Polansky
Eliane Radigue
Terry Riley
Laetitia Sonami
Carl Stone
William Winant
Trevor Wishart
Christian Wolff
John Zorn

Jazz Studies

Ralph Alessi
Gregg Bendian
Ignacio Berrio
Bobby Bradford
Billy Childs
Steve Coleman
Alice Coltrane
Ravi Coltrane
Brad Dutz
Mimi Fox
Fred Hersch
John Hollenbeck
Vijay Iyer
Kneebody
Art Lande
Kate McGarry
Mark Miller
Andy Milne and Dapp Theory
Roberta Piket
Rova Saxophone Quartet
Kenny Werner
Leni Stern

Multi–Focus Performance

Ann Baltz
Bob Becker
Boris Berman
Dusan Bogdanovic
Pierre Boulez
Phylis Bryn–Julson
Abbie Conant
Stuart Dempster
Bill Douglas
Eve Egoyan
Mark Gould
Paul Hanson
Tom Heasley
Lorin Hollander
Nicholas Isherwood
Joan LaBarbara
Jennifer Lane
Jonathan Mack
Michael Milenski
Andreas Mitisek
Nikola Lutz
Luiz Carlos Xavier Pinto
Elena Riu
Michael Sachs
Irmin Schmidt
Stefano Scodanibbio
Lucy Shelton
Demetrius Spaneas
Carlos Eduardo Di Stasi
Vladimir Stefanovsky
Tom Stevens
John Wallace
William Winant

Performer/Composer, African American Improvisational Music

Thomas Buckner
Andrew Cyrille
Fred Frith
Henry Grimes
Gerry Hemingway
Jacqueline Humbert
Leroy Jenkins
Peter Kowald
Yusef Lateef
George Lewis
John Lindberg
Bennie Maupin
Oguri
Adam Rudolph
John Zorn

World Music Performance

Dr. Shankar Bhattachayra
Nyoman Cerita
Tibetan Monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery
Anang Tokok Dwiantoro
Djivan Gasparyan
Sidi Goma
Huun–Huur–Tu
K. G. Kalyanasundaram
Abhaiman Kaushal
Kitka
Brian McNeill
K. Munikumar
A.K.C. Natarajan
L. Shankar and Gingger
Emiko Susilo
Hom Nath Upadhay
Vasudevan