Contact: Michele Abba
805-756-2406; [email protected]

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Music Department’s 2023-24 season will feature guest artists, faculty members and its premier student-musicians. Fall quarter’s guests include Boston Brass and composer-performer Matt Sargent.

On Oct. 13, Matt Sargent will perform new guitar works with electronics. 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, a private liberal arts college in the hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson in New York state. The presentation is free and open to the public.

The Oct. 20 Faculty Showcase Recital, part of Cal Poly’s Mustang Family Weekend, will include cellist Megan Chartier; clarinetist Sarra Hey-Folick; pianists Idona Cabrinha, Janet Joichi and Paul Woodring; vocalists Jennifer Freye and Inga Swearingen; percussionist John Astaire on cimbalom; and tubist Stephen Nutt. Admission will be charged at the door.

Boston Brass will be the featured guest ensemble of the Cal Poly Bands for Bandfest on Nov. 9. For 35 years, Boston Brass has set out to establish a one-of-a-kind musical experience by performing everything from exciting classical arrangements to burning jazz standards. Cal Poly’s Mustang Band, Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra will all perform, and there will be a Veterans Day tribute. Tickets are on sale from the Cal Poly Ticket Office.

Additional fall events include:

• Nov. 14 Instrumental Student Recital
• Nov. 16 Vocal Student Recital
• Nov. 17 Fall Jazz Concert
• Nov. 30 Piano Student Recital
• Dec. 1 Choirs' Holiday Kaleidoscope
• Dec. 2 Arab Music Ensemble Fall Concert
• Dec. 3 Symphony Fall Concert

The department will usher in 2024 with a solo piano recital by W. Terrence Spiller on Jan. 12, and Bach Week, which runs Jan. 18-21.

The complete list of events for the academic year — which runs through June and includes dozens of free offerings — is available on the Music Department’s calendar website. For more information, call 805-756-2406 or email the department.

Tickets can be purchased in-person or online at the Cal Poly Ticket Office. To order by phone, call 805-SLO-4TIX (805-756-4849).

Patrons receive a 20 percent discount when buying season tickets to four Music Department events through the Performing Arts Ticket Office; Cal Poly faculty and staff receive a 20 percent discount on individual tickets.

All events are sponsored by the Music Department and the College of Liberal Arts. Several are also sponsored by the university’s Instructionally Related Activities program.