Get a 20% discount when purchasing to four or more Music Department events sold through the Cal Poly Ticket Office. Cal Poly faculty and staff receive 20% discount for any Music Department event sold through the ticket office. Prices are inclusive of all fees.
Matt Sargent Algorithmic Music Workshops
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024
1:40-3 p.m. and 3:10-4:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center, Room 130
Matt Sargent returns to Cal Poly to offer workshops in composing algorithmic music. Sargent is a composer, guitarist, recording engineer and music technologist based in upstate New York, where he is an assistant professor of music at Bard College.
Free admission
Music Therapy Career Spotlight: Steven Franco-Santiago
Steven Franco-Santiago
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Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024
11:10 a.m., Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Steven Franco-Santiago will share his experience pursuing music therapy as a career path. He is a music therapist and guitarist based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he works for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Caribbean Healthcare System and as an adjunct professor at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. He also worked as a clinical rehabilitation therapist in music at the Department of State Hospitals-Atascadero.
Free admission
Faculty Showcase
John Astaire, Jamaal Baptiste, Kaitrin Cunningham
Jennifer Freye, Amy Goymerac, Ken Hustad
Janet Joichi, Emily Lanzone, Stephen Nutt
Grace Seng, Paul Woodring, Christopher J. Woodruff
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Friday, Oct. 25, 2024
6:30 p.m. Davidson Music Center, Room 218
A dozen Cal Poly Music Department faculty members will be featured!
The event will include Music Department vocal and instrumental applied faculty who are recognized across the region for their expertise in solo and chamber ensemble performance. They will present intimate works that highlight their artistic achievements.
Kaitrin Cunningham, soprano, will open the program singing songs from Richard Strauss’ “8 Gedichte aus ‘Letzte Blätter’” (8 Poems for High Voice and Piano), including “Die Nacht,” “Allerseelen,” “Georgine” and “Zeignung”; Janet Joichi, piano, will play Maurice Ravel’s “Une barque sur l’océan” (A Boat on the Ocean), from “Miroirs”; and percussionist John Astaire will play Mutsuhito Ogino’s “The Waves in the Cave” on marimba.
New faculty member and pianist Jamaal Baptiste will make his Cal Poly debut with guest clarinetist Ana Nelson in a performance of Nelson’s original work titled “NelBap Choro,” followed by sopranos Amy Goymerac, Kaitrin Cunningham and Jennifer Freye singing “O mio babbino caro” from “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini. Violinist Emily Lanzone and Paul Woodring will play the first movement, “Allegro,” from Edward Elgar’s “Violin Sonata, Op. 82”; and Stephen Nutt, tuba, will play two movements from “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” (Songs of a Wayfarer) by Gustav Mahler and transcribed by Douglas Sparks.
The recital will conclude with a chamber ensemble performance of four movements from Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Septet in E-flat, Op. 65,” by violinists Lanzone and Grace Seng; Ken Hustad, bass; Christopher J. Woodruff, trumpet; and Woodring, piano. Music majors Erik Petrovich, viola; and Emiko Wong, cello; will also perform.
For information on the faculty recitalists, visit the Music Department’s faculty website.
Music majors at Cal Poly are required to be enrolled in applied or private lessons each quarter. Many non-music majors who are enrolled in larger ensembles — including Cal Poly Symphony, Wind Bands and University Jazz Bands — also have lessons with faculty.
Tickets at the door ($10 general, $5 students)
Janina Fiałkowska Piano Master Class
Friday, Nov. 1, 2024
4:10 p.m. Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Paderewski Festival Gala pianist Janina Fiałkowska will give a master class for Ukranian students and Paderewski Youth Piano Competition winners.
On Nov. 2, Fiałkowska will be the piano soloist with the San Luis Obispo Symphony in performances of works by Mozart, Mussorgsky and Paderewski, conducted by Andrew Sewell.
This event takes place during Cal Poly's Mustang Family weekend. For information on parking, visit the Mustang Family Weekend parking page and Cal Poly's parking page.
Free admission
Bruce Chamberlain Presentations
Bruce Chamberlain
Bruce Chamberlain has been a collegiate director of choral activities for 41 years, the last 18 in the School of Music at The University of Arizona. His Arizona Choir has been featured at national and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and the American Guild of Organists as well as national and international concert tours for collaborations with major symphony orchestras.
Q&A with Bruce Chamberlain
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024
11:10 a.m. Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Chamberlain will talk and take questions about having a professional career as a conductor.
Free admission
Bruce Chamberlain Choral Conducting Master Class
Friday, Nov. 8, 2024
11:10 a.m. Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Chamberlain will coach several Cal Poly music aumni who are currently working as choral music educators. PolyPhonics will sing as the laboratory choir.
Free admission
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto: A Talk About Chinese Music and Culture
Ning Zhang and Chen Zhao
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
11:10 a.m. Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Cal Poly Political Science Professor Helene Shanruo Ning Zhang, and Chen Zhao — guest violin soloist on “The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto” for the Cal Poly Symphony’s Nov. 16 concert — will give a talk and welcome discussion about Chinese music and culture.
Free admission
Chamber Music Recital with Chen Zhao
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
7:30 p.m. Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Guest violinist Chen Zhao will join members of Cal Poly’s applied faculty and students to perform Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 in G Major. Student chamber ensembles will also perform.
Free admission
W. Terrence Spiller Piano Recital
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025
7:30 p.m. Spanos Theatre
Professor Emeritus W. Terrence Spiller will perform a variety of repertoire ranging from the late-18th century into the mid-1920s, including Béla Bartok’s demanding Sonata and Franz Schubert’s legendary "Wanderer" Fantasy. Joseph Haydn's Keyboard Sonata in D Major, Hob.XVI:37; Claude Debussy's "Children's Corner"; and Franz Liszt's "Soirées de Vienne No. 6" based on a work Franz Schubert will also be on the program.
Tickets ($22 general, $12 students)
Bach Week
Jan. 23-25, 2025
Instrumental Master Class and Continuo Workshop
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025
11:10 a.m.-1 p.m., Cal Poly Davidson Music Center, Room 218
For the first half, guest artists Leif Woodward, cello, and Anna Washburn, violin, will coach Cal Poly students in instrumental repertoire from the Baroque era, with a focus on historically informed performance. During the second half, the guest artists will coach students in effective continuo playing, which is the foundation of all Baroque music.
Free admission
Vocal Master Class
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025
3:10 p.m., Cal Poly Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Guest artist John Buffett will coach several Cal Poly voice students in repertoire from the Baroque era.
Free admission
Akademie Lecture-Demonstration: Music for the Golden Hour
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025
7:30 p.m., Cal Poly Davidson Music Center, Room 218
Music Department Chair Alicia M. Doyle will present a lecture titled "Music for the Golden Hour" which will explore the evolution of service music for Vespers from chant to J.S. Bach. Guest performers will demonstrate the lecture concepts.
Free admission
Chamber Concert: Buxtehude — The Italian Influence in Northern Germany
Friday, Jan. 24, 2025
7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo
Bach Week welcomes back the world-class musicians of Tesserae Baroque! A period instrument ensemble specializing in repertoire of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The music of Dietrich Buxtehude was a profound influence on Bach’s style. In this program, Tesserae and festival bass John Buffett will explore works by Buxtehude and his contemporaries alongside selected early Italian works — which in turn had a profound influence on the early German style. Featuring vocal cantatas alongside virtuosic instrumental works, this program traces the thread between the early Baroque style and the music of J.S. Bach.
Members of Tesserae Baroque:
- Anna Washburn, baroque violin
- Leif Woodward, baroque cello
- Aaron Westman, baroque violin
- Alexandra Opsahl, recorder
- Ian Pritchard, harpsichord
Tickets ($22 general, $12 students)
Special ticket price for both Jan. 24 and 25 concerts ($30 general, $15 students)
Finale Concert: Magnificat
Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025
2 and 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo
Members of Cal Poly’s Chamber Choir, Symphony and faculty will join with guest artists to perform works based on the Magnificat text, a canticle from the traditional Vespers service that shares the song of Mary as found in the gospel of Luke.
Tickets ($22 general, $12 students)
Special ticket price for both Jan. 24 and 25 concerts ($30 general, $15 students)
Bennardo-Larson Duo Concert
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
7:30 p.m., Davidson Music Center, Room 218
The Bennardo-Larson Duo is a contemporary classical duo committed to the performance of forward-thinking works for violin and piano. Comprised of Maya Bennardo, violin, and Karl Larson, piano, the duo is dedicated to aesthetically diverse programming that illuminates new repertoire for their instrumentation alongside intrepid works from the past. The Bennardo-Larson Duo was formed in 2016 when they undertook the task of learning and performing Charles Ives’s complete works for violin and piano, which they presented on their annual ‘Ives of March’ concerts from 2017-19.
Their performance at Cal Poly will focus on contemporary performance techniques and recent collaborations with living composers.
Free admission
W. Terrence Spiller: All-Chopin Piano Recital
Friday, April 25, 2025
7:30 p.m. Performing Arts Center Pavilion
Music Professor Emeritus W. Terrence Spiller will explore a broad swath of Frédéric Chopin's works, including dances, a nocturne and concluding with his extraordinary set of Preludes, Op. 28.
- Tres Valses brillante, Op. 34
- Berceuse in D-flat Major, Op. 57
- Nocturne in F-sharp Minor, Op. 48 No.2
- Polonaise in F-sharp Minor, Op. 44
Tickets ($22 general, $12 students)