Calendar of Events 2009-2010
2009 |
2010 |
Please Note:
- Multiple event discounts are available when purchasing 4 or more Music Department events from the Performing Arts Ticket Office(10% discount for 4 events; 15% discount for 5 or more events).
- Events held in the Performing Arts Center's Christopher Cohan Center will be indicated as Cohan Center. The Performing Arts Ticket Office charges a $3 per ticket facility fee.
- Recitals are subject to change--please call 805-756-2406 to confirm recital dates, times, and locations
October
Tuesday, October 13
Vocal Master Class with Juliana Gondek
7 p.m. Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
The Cal Poly Opera Workshop presents Juliana Gondek—a world-renowned soprano and chair of the UCLA Voice Department. Six of the Cal Poly Music Department’s leading voice emphasis music majors will perform.
Saturday, October 24
Cal Poly Choirs' Debut Concert: "Sounds of Autumn"
8 p.m., Cohan Center
Meet the 2009-10 Cal Poly Choirs as they perform masterpieces based on poems for the season of autumn. Works by:
- Johannes Brahms
- Samuel Barber
- Stephen Chatman
- Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Hear talented student soloists and selections from our Barbershop Quartets.
Susan Azaret Davies and Paul Woodring will accompany the choirs.
tickets ($13 & $15 general/$12 & $14 seniors/$8 students)
Saturday, October 24
University Jazz Band Performance
Tailgate BBQ (Parents' Weekend)
2:45 to 5:45 p.m., O'Neill Green (near Cotchett Education Building), Cal Poly
For information, visit the Parent Program Web page
November
Tuesday, November 17
Piano Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Thursday, November 19
Instrumental Student Recital
11 a.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Friday, November 20
Vocal Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Saturday, November 21
Bandfest ’09!: "A Whirlwind of Color and Sound"
Cal Poly Wind Orchestra,
Wind Ensemble and Mustang Band
8 p.m., Cohan Center
This festive season opener will showcase the diverse styles and brilliant colors of the modern wind band. It will be a musical tour de force that only the Cal Poly Bands could bring you.
- "Video Games Live, Part 2" by Ralph Ford
- "Trail of Tears" by James Barnes
- "Star Trek" by Jerry Goldsmith
- "Mother Earth Fanfare" by David Maslanka
- "Kingfisher’s Catch Fire" by John Mackey
- "Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual" by Robert W. Smith
- "Twelve Seconds to the Moon" by Robert W. Smith
In addition…the Pride of the Pacific Mustang Marching Band will fill the hall with its dazzling arrangements performed at halftime in Spanos Stadium.
tickets ($16 & $19 general/$13 & $15 seniors/$8 & $11 students)
Sunday, November 22
Cal Poly Symphony Fall Concert: "Music for a New World"
3 p.m., Cohan Center
Featuring Dvořák's:
- Slavonic Dance No. 1
- Serenade in D Minor, Op. 44
- Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
This season the symphony embarks on a year-long journey: the search for a musical voice that is uniquely American. It begins in the nineteenth century, when American composers had not yet asserted their independence from European models, and ends in the twentieth century, with American music in full bloom.
Our season-long journey begins with a program devoted to a non-American—the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák—and for good reason. On September 27, 1892, Dvořák arrived in America. He had been invited to head the newly founded National Conservatory of Music and to teach American composers to do what he had done for his native land: create a musical style unique to the nation. He surveyed African American spirituals, Native American music and … Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show! He gave young composers guidance in words, and created his Symphony No. 9, "From the New World," as a musical challenge to the nation.
The concert will begin with Dvořák's Slavonic Dance No. 1, the work that earned him his reputation for writing folk-inspired symphonic music, and which eventually led to his trip to America. Our winds will then explore his Serenade in D Minor, Op. 44, written directly before the Slavonic Dances.
tickets ($10 & $12 general/$8 & $10 seniors/$6 students)
December
Wednesday, December 2
'Take It SLO' A Cappella Holiday Concert
8 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
This is Take It SLO's first holiday performance! The 15-member vocal ensemble will perform a variety of songs to raise the holiday spirit, plus some new works and old favorites, all arranged by the students themselves. The group members are students from a variety of majors on campus.
Take It SLO has received statewide recognition over the past few years, and has been invited to perform for Universal Studios CityWalk's Holiday Rockapella Concert Series next month.
tickets at the door the night of the concert ($3)
Thursday, December 3
Instrumental Student Recital
11 a.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Friday, December 4
Fall Jazz Concert
8 p.m, Spanos Theatre
This concert will have an eclectic mix of jazz standards and modern compositions, and will be performed by the University Jazz Bands No. 1 and No. 2 and the Cal Poly Jazz Combos.
tickets ($10 general/$8 seniors and Jazz Federation members/$6 students)
Saturday, December 5
Cal Poly Choirs' "A Christmas Celebration: Of Voices, Pipes and Brass!"
8 p.m., Cohan Center
Be sure to get your tickets early for this popular opening to the holiday season. Campus organist Paul Woodring will be featured on the Forbes Pipe Organ along with the Cal Poly Brass Ensemble conducted by Christopher J. Woodruff. PolyPhonics, The University Singers, The Cal Poly Early Music Ensemble and Barbershop Quartets present repertoire to put you in the holiday mood. There will be an audience carol sing-a-long as well!
tickets ($17 & $20 general/$16 & $19 seniors/$10 students)
January
Friday, January 8
W. Terrence Spiller Faculty Piano Recital
8 p.m., Spanos Theatre
Concert pianist and Music Department Chair W. Terrence Spiller will perform works of three great composers in his annual solo recital. The first half will start with Bach’s "Partita in E minor," and conclude with Bartok’s "Dance Suite." The second half is a commemoration of Chopin’s 200th birthday, and will contain a set of his "Mazurkas" and the "Sonata in B minor." Please join us for this musical celebration of three keyboard giants in the intimate surroundings of the Spanos Theatre.
tickets ($10 general/$6 seniors and students)
Saturday, January 23
Early Music Ensemble presents "Ignacio de Jerusalem and Manuel de Sumaya: Kings of the Mexican Baroque"
8 p.m., Mission San Luis Obispo
Glorious works by the two greatest composers of the Mexican Baroque period. Featuring guest instrumentalists. Dr. Craig Russell will present a highly entertaining overview of the evening’s repertoire.
tickets ($12 general, $8 seniors and students)
Tuesday, January 26
Piano Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
February
Saturday, February 6
"A Night at the Mission" Chamber Ensemble Concert
8 p.m. Old Mission Church, San Luis Obispo
An evening of beautiful music performed by our chamber ensembles. Performing at this event will be the Wind Quintets, Wind Dectet, Saxophone Quartets, Trombone Choir, Clarinet Quartet, String Quartet, Brass Quintet and Brass Ensemble.
tickets ($10 general and $8 seniors and students)
Wednesday, February 10
Vocal Master Class with Giorgio Lalov
4 p.m. Pavilion
The Cal Poly Opera Workshop presents a master class with Giorgio Lalov. Lalov is the director of Teatro Lirico D'Europa. Several of the Cal Poly Music Department's vocalists will be featured soloists.
The master class precedes the performance of "Die Fledermaus" by the Teatro Lirico D'Europa presented by Cal Poly Arts. Jacalyn Kreitzer will give the pre-concert lecture.
Saturday, February 20
Just Jazz Concert
8 p.m., Cohan Center
This concert will have an eclectic mix of jazz standards and modern compositions, and will be performed by the University Jazz Bands No. 1 and No. 2 and the Cal Poly Jazz Combos.
tickets ($12 & 15 general/$10 & 13 seniors and Jazz Federation members/$6 & $10 students)
Saturday, February 27
Cal Poly Choirs' Winter Concert: "Wings of Bliss"
8 p.m., Cohan Center
Soar to new choral heights as the Cal Poly Choirs present works by:
- Vaughan Williams
- Claude Debussy
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Antonio Lotti
- Lili Boulanger
Featured will be a world premiere by Cal Poly professor Dr. Craig Russell. “Wings of Bliss” is based on a poem by Los Osos resident Mark Lloyd Richardson. The Barbershop Quartets will also perform.
tickets ($13 & $15 general/$12 & $14 seniors/$8 students)
March
Thursday, March 4
Instrumental Student Recital
11 a.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Friday, March 5
Arab Music Ensemble Winter Concert
8 p.m., Pavilion
Join the Arab Music Ensemble as it performs vocal and instrumental selections of some of the best-known art and popular music of the Eastern Mediterranean and larger Middle East. Hear the traditional melodic and rhythmic modes in the contexts of old and new genres on instruments including the oud, nay, qanun, buzuq, violin, cello, bass, guitar, accordion, riqq, daff, darabukka/tabla, and others. Renowned guest artists bring added depth and virtuosity to the concerts, and San Luis Obispo’s own Middle Eastern dancers top off the performances with folkloric dancing.
tickets ($10 general, $8 seniors and students)
Sunday, March 7
Cal Poly Symphony Winter Concert
Student Soloist Showcase
3 p.m., Cohan Center
Our Winter Concert is the second stop on our season-long journey: the search for a uniquely American sound. It will also feature the winners of our annual student solo competition!
As we heard at the Fall Concert, Antonín Dvořák challenged American composers to find a national style with his Ninth Symphony, "From the New World." One American who answered this challenge was William Grant Still, an African-American active in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. We will perform his Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American," a work that brings the blues into the concert hall. This audacious marriage of America’s great blues tradition and the pinnacle of European instrumental art music is not to be missed!
tickets ($10 & $12 general/$8 & $10 seniors/$6 students)
Thursday, March 11
Instrumental Student Recital
11 a.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
Friday, March 12
Vocal Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Saturday March 13
Cal Poly Wind Bands' Winter Concert: “Blue Shades and Wild Nights - The Extraordinary Music of Frank Ticheli”
Cal Poly Wind Orchestra & Wind Ensemble
8 p.m., Cohan Center
Frank Ticheli is a superstar among living band composers. At this concert of wind band blockbusters, you’ll meet the composer, hear some of his most spectacular works, watch him conduct and witness the future of the wind band. Join us for an evening to remember!
- Nitro
- Sundance
- Loch Lomond
- An American Elegy
- Vesuvius
- AMEN!
- Blue Shades
- Wild Nights
- Sanctuary
- Angels in the Architecture
Frank Ticheli's music has been described as being "optimistic and thoughtful" (Los Angeles Times), "lean and muscular" (New York Times), "brilliantly effective" (Miami Herald) and "powerful, deeply felt, crafted with impressive flair and an ear for striking instrumental colors" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel). Ticheli (b. 1958) joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in 1991, where he is Professor of Composition.
tickets ($16 & $19 general/$13 & $15 seniors/$8 & $11 students)
April
Friday, April 3
University Jazz Band Swing Dance
8 p.m., Chumash Auditorium
The public is invited to this dance concert featuring original swing-era tunes played by the Cal Poly University Jazz Band No. 1. The dance will be from 8 to 10:30 p.m. in Chumash Auditorium at Cal Poly. Free swing dance lessons will be given at 7 p.m. The University Jazz Band will perform authentic big-band classics, suitable for dancing or listening.
tickets ($10 general/$6 students) at the door (not available for multiple event discount)
Saturday, April 10
Ken Hustad Bass Recital with Paul Severtson, violin, and Jeanne Shumway, cello
8 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
A faculty recital featuring:
- Duetto for Double Bass and Cello -Rossini
- Suite for Viola and Double Bass -Glière
- Works of Schubert, Rabbath and others
Tickets at the door: $5 general; $2 students and seniors (not available for discount)
Thursday, April 15
Guitar Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Saturday, April 17
Open House Concert
Featuring the Cal Poly Symphony, Wind Ensemble & University Jazz Band
8 p.m., Cohan Center
After an exciting day at Cal Poly’s Open House, come and enjoy an evening of live entertainment by three of the Music Department’s finest instrumental ensembles. This year our theme is “Shades of Blue.” The blues is one of America’s greatest musical treasures and is the foundation of virtually every major American music form born in the 20th century including jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.
The Cal Poly Symphony will perform William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American,” a work that brings the blues into the concert hall.
Then the University Jazz Band will perform "Blue Light Boogie" by jazz/R&B artist Louis Jordan and the classic "Every Day I Have the Blues."
The Wind Ensemble will perform Frank Ticheli’s “Blue Shades,” “Wild Nights” and “Angels in the Architecture.” Hollywood film composer, J. Eric Schmidt, will be on hand to conduct one of his original works for wind band.
Sit back, relax and let 100 university musicians take over. A must-see, must-hear... must be there concert!
tickets ($16 & $19 general/$13 & $15 seniors/$8 & $11 students)
Sunday, April 18
All-State Music Festival Concert
Festival Symphony Orchestra
Festival Jazz Band, Festival Wind Orchestra
2:30 p.m., Cohan Center
One hundred and fifty of the state’s finest young musicians participate in this spectacular Open House event. These young people may still be in high school, but they don’t sound like it. They are the future of music and will perform like young professionals. Come and enjoy an afternoon of extraordinarily talented young folks as they display skills far beyond their years.
Festival Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Julien Benichou, Music Director of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony and Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra in Maryland. Maestro Benichou founded and directed the Montpellier Young Orchestral Ensemble in France. He studied at French conservatories, Northwestern University, Yale University and the Peabody Conservatory.
Festival Jazz Band Soloist and Director: Dr. Charles Wood is professor emeritus of music from Santa Barbara City College, where he served as the director of bands and jazz studies for 15 years. He was the director of bands at Bakersfield College for 24 years. He is the recipient of the Jazz Masters Award given by the Santa Barbara Jazz Society and received an Honorary Service Award from the California State PTA for outstanding service to the youth of the community.
Festival Wind Orchestra Conductor: J. Eric Schmidt has been one of the busiest freelance composers in Los Angeles. He has composed, orchestrated and conducted the music for over 300 episodes of animated series produced by Disney and Warner Bros. His work has been featured in dozens of motion pictures, commercials and theme park shows. He is currently teaching conducting and composition at the USC Film Scoring Program.
tickets ($16 & $19 general/$13 & $15 seniors/$8 & $11 students)
Friday, April 23
Strings, Cords and Keys: Brynn Albanese, violin; Katherine Arthur, voice; and Susan Azaret Davies, piano
7:30 p.m. Spanos Theatre
Please join Albanese, Arthur and Davies for a faculty recital featuring works of:
- Johannes Brahms
- Astor Piazzola
tickets ($10 general/$6 seniors and students)
May
Thursday, May 13
An Evening of String Chamber Music
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Tuesday, May 18
All That Brass . . . and More!
8 p.m., Methodist Church, San Luis Obispo
1515 Fredericks St.
FREE
For the third year in a row, Roy Main’s Trombone Choir and Christopher Woodruff’s Brass Choir team up for an evening of fabulous fanfares, flourishes and fantasies in the new Methodist Church in San Luis Obispo. Also performing will be two of Cal Poly’s Brass Quintets. In addition, some windy woodwind players manage to sneak on to the stage for some much needed timbre contrast in the program. Come and join us.
Friday, May 21
Early Music Ensemble presents "A Parisian Feast"
8 p.m., Pavilion
Revel in the glorious songs and stories told in music by masters of the
French Chanson including Claudin de Sermisy, Clément Janequin and
Orlande de Lassus.
tickets ($12 general, $8 seniors and students)
Saturday, May 22
Jazz Night
8 p.m., Cohan Center
An eclectic mix of jazz standards and modern compositions that will be performed by the University Jazz Bands No. 1 and No. 2 and the Cal Poly Jazz Combos.
A surprise guest artist will be featured!
tickets ($12 & $15 general/$10 & $13 seniors and Jazz Federation members/$6 & $10 students)
Tuesday, May 25
Piano Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Thursday, May 27
Instrumental Student Recital
11 a.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Saturday, May 29
Spring Concert: Cal Poly Symphony and the Cal Poly Choirs present "An American Tapestry"
8 p.m., Cohan Center
The Cal Poly Symphony and the Cal Poly Choirs combine to bring a variety of musical styles from two of America's most beloved composers:
- Aaron Copland
- Leonard Bernstein
David Arrivée and Thomas Davies, conductors
tickets ($17 & $20 general/$16 & $19 seniors/$10 students)
June
Tuesday, June 1, and Thursday, June 3
RSVP XV: Chiaroscuro
8 p.m., Pavilion
This marks the 15th season of this diverse transmedia series celebrating electroacoustic diversity and compositional risk. Inspired by the artistic use of light and shading to create the illusion of volume, this year’s production employs the most challenging confluence of media in RSVP’s history, hanging precipitously at the edge of sound and spatial wonder.
tickets ($11 all seats)
Thursday, June 3
Instrumental Student Recital
11 a.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Friday, June 4
Vocal Student Recital
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center Room 218
FREE
Saturday, June 5
Cal Poly Wind Bands Spring Concert: A Walt Disney Concert Hall Preview
Featuring the Cal Poly Wind Orchestra & Wind Ensemble
8 p.m., Cohan Center
Featuring:
- Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble
- W. Terrence Spiller, piano
- John Astaire, percussion
- Paul Woodring, organ
- Anna Binneweg, guest conductor
- Lawrence Sutherland, guest conductor
- Meredith Brammeier, composer
Works to be performed:
- Fantasia in G Major -Johann Sebastian Bach
- Exultate -Samuel Hazo
- Scenes from the Louvre -Norman Dello Joio
- Millennium Cannons -Kevin Puts
- Concertino for Piano and Wind Ensemble -Kamillo Lendvav
- Concerto for Percussion -Joseph Schwantner
- Mother Earth Fanfare -David Maslanka
- World premiere composition -Meredith Brammeier
The Sydney Opera House in 2000, Carnegie Hall in 2003 and Prague’s Smetana Hall in 2006—these historic landmarks represent some of the musical milestones of the students of the Cal Poly Bands as they continue to strive for excellence. Don’t miss this extraordinary preview of the Wind Ensemble’s performance in the Walt Disney Concert Hall scheduled for Tuesday evening,
June 22, 2010.
tickets ($16 & $19 general/$13 & $15 seniors/$8 students)
Sunday, June 6
Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble Spring Concert
7 p.m., Spanos Theatre
Join the Arab Music Ensemble as it performs vocal and instrumental selections of some of the best-known art and popular music of the Eastern Mediterranean and larger Middle East. Hear the traditional melodic and rhythmic modes in the contexts of old and new genres on instruments including the oud, nay, qanun, buzuq, violin, cello, bass, guitar, accordion, riqq, daff, darabukka/tabla, and others. Renowned guest artists bring added depth and virtuosity to the concerts, and San Luis Obispo’s own Middle Eastern dancers top off the performances with folkloric dancing.
tickets ($10 general, $8 seniors and students)