Cal Poly All-State Music Festival Concert Set for April 17
Some of the state’s best high school musicians will take center stage at the Cal Poly All-State Festival Concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17, in Harman Hall of the Performing Arts Center.
Cal Poly’s Music Department has sponsored the festival since 1993 to provide an opportunity for more than 100 talented high school musicians to perform great music conducted by internationally acclaimed conductors at the world-class Performing Arts Center. The festival features a Festival Jazz Band and a Festival Wind Orchestra.
Students arrive Friday for chair placement auditions and attend Cal Poly's Open House Concert that night. A solo competition is held Saturday, and the festival concludes Sunday after the concert. The winner of the solo competition will perform Sunday, accompanied by pianist and Cal Poly Music Department faculty member Susan Azaret Davies.
The Festival Jazz Band will perform “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home to,” by Cole Porter and arranged by Michael Abene; “Search” by Adam Theis, as recorded by the Realistic Orchestra; “Don’t Stop Now” by Wayne Horvitz; and “Para Ti Latino,” by Oscar Cartaya, as recorded by Spyro Gyra.
Following the performance by the solo competition winner, the Festival Wind Orchestra will conclude the program with “Alpina Fanfare” by Franco Cesarini, “Grace Before Sleep” by Susan LaBarr, “Magnolia Star” by Steve Danyew, and Danzón No. 2 by Arturo Márquez.
Mike Galisatus, trumpeter and director of bands at the College of San Mateo, will direct the Festival Jazz Band. He has received various teaching honors including the Peninsula Arts Council Arts Educator Award, the California Music Education Association (CMEA) “Otter Distributors” Jazz Educator Award, and CMEA’s Gilbert T. Freitas Annual Memorial Award for Achievement in Music Education.
Galisatus has recorded with Pete Escovedo and Queen Ida and has performed with such artists as Louis Bellson, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, Kenny Loggins, Johnny Mathis, the Temptations, Mel Torme, Frankie Valli, Kenny Washington and Mary Wilson.
Eric Wilson, director of bands at Baylor University in Texas, will direct the Festival Wind Orchestra.
He is past president of the Big 12 Band Directors Association and president of the College Band Directors National Association Southwestern Division. He was recently elected into the American Bandmasters Association and was honored as Outstanding Professor for Tenured Teaching by Baylor University in 2014.
Wilson has directed numerous honor bands and conducted his own groups at conventions of the Texas Music Educators Association, College Band Directors National Association, and the Midwest Clinic. Prior to joining the Baylor faculty, he served for 12 years on the faculty of Abilene Christian University.
Tickets are $12 and $14 for the public and $9 and $12 for students. Pricing includes all Performing Arts Center fees, and event parking is sponsored by the PAC. Tickets are sold at the Cal Poly Ticket Office between noon and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To order by phone, call SLO-4TIX (756-4849).
A 10 percent discount is given to patrons who buy season tickets to four Music Department events through the Cal Poly Ticket Office; a 15 percent discount is given on tickets to five or more events.
The concert is sponsored by Cal Poly's College of Liberal Arts, Music Department, and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406.