MOSAIC Wins DownBeat Student Music Award

MOSAIC, Cal Poly’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble, is a winner of a DownBeat Student Music Award: 2023 Small Vocal Jazz Group, Undergraduate College Outstanding Performance. The magazine holds an annual national competition in which submissions are reviewed through a blind judging process. This is the second DownBeat award the group has received in two years. In 2022 it won for Outstanding Performance, Large Undergraduate Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Asynchronous. That same year, MOSAIC member Mady Frei (Music, ’22) won Outstanding Soloist, Jazz Undergraduate. The 46th Annual DownBeat Student Music Awards special section can be viewed on the DownBeat website and in the June issue of the magazine.

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Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo Scholarship Winners

Vanessa Rivera and Liliana Puente; and Manqi Liang and Grant Smith

Vanessa Rivera and Liliana Puente were 2023 scholarship winners for voice, and Manqi Liang and Grant Smith were 2022 scholarship winners for piano.

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Cantabile's Lincoln Center Performance

On March 25, during spring break, Cal Poly Cantabile traveled to New York City to give a feature performance in the world-famous Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. The 64-member group of alto and soprano voices was invited there after its performance at the February 2022 California Music Educators Conference in Fresno. The March 25 program featured the East Coast premieres of Professor Meredith Brammeier’s “I Pastured My Wolves,” and Jocelyn Hagen’s "While I Breathe, I Hope,” which was commissioned by Cantabile. Brammeier also accompanied the choir on piano. Titled “This is ME,” the concert featured music by female composers with themes of femininity in a modern world and poetry by Cal Poly singers. The group received a standing ovation at the end of the 30-minute performance. Deon’te Goodman, a member of the Broadway cast of “Hamilton” who was also on the program, approached the choir and told the members that he was blown away, and that their performance was “everything,” said Scott Glysson, Cantabile’s conductor.

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Kenyan Choral Exchange and CASMEC Conference

Left: Six choir students participated in the Kenyan Choral Exchange in Nairobi over the summer of 2022.
Right: Christopher J. Woodruff with Annemarie Schalde (Music ’22), in March at the California All-State Music Education Conference in Fresno.

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Mustang Band News: Cargo Van and Chinese New Year Parade Participation

The Mustang Band now has a cargo van, "Galileo," to transport equipment for its many rehearsals and performances. Pictured: Associate Director of Bands Nicholas P. Waldron (right) with Alex Arrieta and Ari Maman.

The band, pictured at the Ferry Building in the rain, marched in the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco in February.

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Cal Poly Symphony and Wind Ensemble Tour the Bay Area

The Cal Poly Symphony (right) and Wind Ensemble performed during spring break at Evergreen Valley High School in San Jose, where Maritza Spieller (Music ’11) — pictured at left —  is an instrumental music director. The ensemble members enjoyed a performance by the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas in Davies Symphony Hall. The program included Mahler's Symphony No. 6.

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Alumni and Faculty Reunite in New Orleans

Alyson McLamore and W. Terrence Spiller with music alumni Misti Webster (’20) (far left),
Jess Getman (’02) (middle) and Sam Nelson (’19) (far right) in New Orleans at the American Musicological Society National Conference in November.

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Alumnus Establishes Choral Endowment

Thomas H. and Susan A. Davies Choir Endowment

Mark Fugate and his wife Stephanie have generously established an endowment in honor of faculty emeriti Tom and Susan Davies in support of the student choir experience. Mark earned business degrees from Cal Poly (BS ’85, MBA ’99), and was active in the Men's Chorus and University Singers, directed by Tom and accompanied by Susan. Mark currently sings in the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale. The endowment will support the student choir experience, including for travel, recruitment, professional student development, and other enhancements to the student experience.  To find out more, visit the department's support page.

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