My Story

I'm an opera singer-turned-director who came of age during the decade of the brain. I've always been pulled both by art and by science and have finally found ways to integrate the two in my work. I finished a Masters of Music degree in Voice Performance and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience and currently am an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco, with a cross-appointment at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I'm passionate about communicating ideas to the public, by directing operas that illustrate the richness of the human experience, creating compelling lectures and podcasts about the brain, conducting research on the neuroscience of creativity.

I teach science by telling stories. 

For my TV debut, I co-hosted a 6-episode docuseries called Miracle Detectives on the Oprah Winfrey Network and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. I'm fortunate to have been featured on major radio stations across the US, including several appearances on the NPR program City Arts & Lectures and The Sunday Edition on the CBC in Canada. I'm the co-creator and host of the popular science podcast Inquiring Minds, which has been downloaded more than 13 million times and Cadence: what music tells us about the mind, now available on iTunes. I wrote and hosted the Audible Original podcast Radiant Minds: the World of Oliver Sacks and I also direct operas that put the complexity of the human psyche center stage. I’m now the Communications Core Lead at the Sound Health Network, dedicated to promoting research and public awareness of the impact of music on health and well-being.

I went to school for a long time.

Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, I'm affectionately known as Dr. Dre by students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where I pioneered the application of neuroscience to musical training, and at the University of San Francisco, where I now direct The Creative Brain Lab. My BSc is in psychology and French literature from the University of Toronto, my MM degree in vocal performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and I received my Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA. Also, I’m super excited to soon take on the Presidency of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity (in April 2024!) and Chair the Scientific Advisory Board of the NeuroArts Blueprint (already started!).

I've written a bunch of stuff. 

My first book, How Music Can Make you Better, is part of the How series published by Chronicle Books and it’s a perfect gift for the audiophile in your life, or the person who just doesn’t get why people are so obsessed with music. You can find it on Amazon or directly at Chronicle Books.

As a scientist, I've published more than 50 original papers and chapters related to the neural basis of memory and creativity, including several seminal articles in top scientific journals.  My scientific work has been featured in Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, Nature: Science Careers and Discover Magazine. I've also written for MotherJones.com, American Scientist, Vitriol Magazine and other publications.

I like to talk. 

I often give keynote talks, for organizations as diverse as Genentech, the Dallas Symphony, SXSW, and Ogilvy along with frequent invited talks at conferences and academic institutions. My 24-lecture course Essential Scientific Concepts was released by The Great Courses in 2014, selling more than 20,000 copies in its first year.  My second course with them, Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience was released in early 2017. Number three is called How Digital Technology Shapes Us and it came out in 2020. My fourth - on The Creative Brain is out now and streaming on the Wondrium platform. They’re all available here.

View my projects ->

Opera

I also like singing. A lot.

I was that kid who listened to Maria Callas while doing homework. When I was 11, I made my mainstage debut as an altar boy in the Canadian Opera Company's production of Tosca. I was hooked. 

Mostly I sing opera, with a lyric coloratura sound. I'm particularly fond of Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. But I'm especially committed to singing contemporary opera - music written by composers who were or are alive during my lifetime. For a list of the roles I've sung and the people I've worked with, head on over here. 

A few years ago, I joined forces with Dana Sadava, a friend and esteemed colleague, to form Pasadena Opera. We present operas that speak to current issues and pique our artistic and scientific interests. (In addition to being an awesome conductor, Dana also has an engineering degree from CalTech). Dana convinced me that my real talent is directing. She argued it’s the best combination of my knowledge of neuroscience and my artistic sensibility. She was right. Now I'm the Creative Director of the company, and my focus in opera has shifted from singing to directing. Thanks Dana.

Chamber Music

I had a band.

I love chamber music, which is music played by a handful of musicians without a conductor. My favorite combination is voice + string quartet, sometimes adding piano. I started a group called Vocallective: a consortium of musicians with whom I perform vocal chamber music. I've had the good fortune of collaborating with people like the Telegraph Quartet, Keisuke Nakagoshi, Ian Scarfe, Edwin Huizinga, Meerenai Shim, Allison Lovejoy and many others. I even have a scientific project devoted to figuring out what makes a musical group 'groove'. Check it out here. 

Podcasts

I have a nifty home audio studio.

So I record myself often. I have two podcasts so far: Inquiring Minds, which has about 360 episodes and more than 13 million downloads and Cadence, a podcast exploring what music can tell us about the mind. Radiant Minds: the World of Oliver Sacks is a podcast I wrote and hosted for Audible and Money Travels is my podcast presented by Visa.  

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