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.
Cal Poly Bandfest: Over Sky and Sea
(Click image for full-size file)
Friday, Nov. 21, 2025
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center
All three Cal Poly Bands will perform for Cal Poly’s Bandfest! The Mustang Marching Band, Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra will present an energetic season opener.
Titled “Over Sky and Sea,” the concert is the first in a series that will culminate in summer 2026 with a tour to Europe. The music to be performed has been selected to represent compositions by composers from the U.S., and to introduce student musicians to the works from nations around the world.
The Wind Orchestra’s set will include “Second Suite in F” by Gustav Holst, a mainstay of wind band repertory; “Into the Clouds” by Richard Saucedo; and “Kentucky 1800” by Clare Grundman, a rhapsody based on three American folk songs.
The students of Wind Ensemble have chosen a program of five works, including “Aloft” by Stephen Bryant, “Danse Diabolíque” by Joseph Hellmesberger, and “Elixir” by Michael Markowsi. Jaromir Weinberger’s “Polka and Fugue from ‘Schwanda, the Bagpiper’” will incorporate the Forbes Pipe Organ played by music major Olga Arutyunyan.
The 220-member Mustang Band will close the concert with arrangements of popular music from this season’s field shows: “Marvel,” “Motown,” “Disney,” “Shrek,” as well as Cal Poly school songs that the group is performing for Cal Poly Athletics events.
The concert will be conducted by Director of Bands Christopher J. Woodruff and Associate Director of Bands Nicholas P. Waldron.
Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)
Cal Poly Mustang Band in Chinese New Year Parade
(Click image for full-size file)
Saturday, March 7, 2026
6 p.m, San Francisco
The Cal Poly Mustang Marching Band has been invited for the 11th time to participate in the Alaska Airlines Chinese New Year Parade — named by the International Festivals and Events Association as one of the top 10 parades in the world — on Saturday, March 7, in San Francisco.
The Mustang Band first performed along the 1.7-mile length of the Chinese New Year Parade in 2014 and was among 15 marching bands that participated. It has been awarded first place in the adult marching bands category multiple times, most recently in 2024. This year’s parade gets underway at 6 p.m.
The band’s more than 220 members, from academic disciplines across the campus and nearly all of Cal Poly’s six colleges, perform at nearly 50 campus events each year, including athletic games and university functions.
Before the parade, starting at 3 p.m., Mustang Band will continue the tradition of performing some of its favorite pep and postgame tunes in front of the landmark Ferry Building, the gateway to San Francisco, which is visited annually by millions of visitors, on The City’s Embarcadero.
The parade began in the 1860s as a means for the Chinese community to educate and share its culture with the greater community. Nothing like it had ever been done in their native China. The parade and festival have grown to be the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia.
The Chinese New Year Parade will celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse with floats, dragon dancers and other festive entries. The event will be broadcast live on ABC 7 and streamed on Hulu. Search for the 2026 Chinese New Year Parade.
Cal Poly Band Festival Finale Concert: Musical Journey Around the World
(Click image for full-size file)
Friday, March 13, 2026
7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Center
The Cal Poly Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble will bring an exciting conclusion to the Band and Orchestra Festival as they continue their musical travels across the globe.
The festival and concert are being produced in collaboration with the Iota Pi chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, national honorary band fraternity. Twenty middle and high school bands and string orchestras will participate in the festival Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, which will offer performance adjudications and professional clinics.
The capstone for Friday’s events is the Cal Poly Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble’s concert of new works for concert band, titled “Musical Journey Around the World.” Student musicians are looking forward to the performance.
“The music on our program is widely varied,” said flutist Nathan Coelho, a music major from Lincoln, California. “Each piece is so well-composed, coming from different theoretical styles and band traditions.”
The Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble will present works drawn from the international theme of the concert season by Ferrer Ferran, Dennis Llinás and Samuel Hazo whose music is drawn from American, Cuban and Spanish traditions.
“Shenendoah” will be performed the Wind Orchestra in a rich new setting by Omar Thomas of the traditional folk song. Also on the Wind Orchestra set is John Mackey’s “Foundry.” The work is an exploration of the possibilities of featuring non-traditional percussion — like salad and mixing bowls, and piles of wood.
A new work by Cal Poly music Professor Meredith Brammeier will be performed by the Wind Ensemble. “Stitches in Time: A Second Piece” is a three-movement composition in which each section reflects a pattern frequently used in quilting.
“Music for Prague, 1968” is Karel Husa’s response to the invasion of his home country by armed forces of the Soviet Bloc. The work is considered among the most important works in the wind band canon. The Czech-born Husa (1921-2016), who became an American citizen, settled in Ithaca, New York, where he taught composition at Cornell University and Ithaca College. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1969 for his String Quartet No. 3.
The concert will be conducted by Director of Bands Christopher J. Woodruff, Associate Director of Bands Nicholas P. Waldron. Guest conductors will include Jennifer Martin from Cuesta College and Leo Sakomoto from California State University, Bakersfield.
Participating schools in the festival are:
- Anacapa Middle School
- Arroyo Grande High School
- Atascadero High School
- Atascadero Middle School
- Central Coast Waldorf School
- Dos Pueblos High School
- Judkins-Paulding Middle Schools
- Laguna Middle School
- Los Osos Middle School
- North Salinas High School
- Paso Robles High School
- Paso Robles Middle Schools
- San Luis Obispo High School
- Templeton High School
- Vandenberg Middle School
- Ventura High School
Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)
Cal Poly Wind Bands Spring Concert: Journey Home
(Click image for full-size file)
Sunday, May 31, 2026
3 p.m., Performing Arts Center
The Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble conclude their season’s journey with a program of music by composers from here at home. The sonic landscapes of John Williams and Nicole Piunno have been student and audience favorites. The program will introduce a new work by Laura M. Kramer to honor the career of Cal Poly Director of Bands Emeritus William Johnson. The Wind Ensemble will conclude with John Mackey’s expansive tour-de-force "Wine-Dark Sea."
Tickets ($17 and $22 general, $12 students)