A triumphant song for equality: An interview with Maestro Curtis
As part of our centennial celebrations, CMC is proud to present the world premiere of a commissioned new work by acclaimed composer-performer and longtime faculty member Maestro Curtis, PhD on April 23 at 1 pm as part of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. The premiere of Curtis’ “A Song of Triumph: The History of Black Music” will feature Maestro Curtis PhD, The Curtis Family C-Notes and special guests, including Dorothy Morrison, Bishop James Adams, Juan Escovedo, Pastor Harold Gordon, Ken Little, Larry Douglas, Ricardo Scales, Tony Bolivar, J.R. Hall, Tina Bryant, and Neil Stallings. The commission and premiere are an extension of CMC’s Black Music Studies Program.
Reimagining musical collaboration and community: An interview with Cava Menzies
On April 4, CMC is launching (Re)Imagine: 100 New Works from Cava Menzies & Community Music Center to commemorate 100 years of music for everyone. This project is in collaboration with artist, composer, and educator Cava Menzies and will result in 100 new works—50 created by Menzies in collaboration with international and local musicians and 50 created by YMP and MDYMP. These works will be shared digitally from April 4 to May 23 with an in-person event on May 14.
Chamber Music Program expands its offerings
CMC’s Chamber Music Ensemble Program has been growing by leaps and bounds. Since the Fall Quarter, the program has blossomed from three students to 22. The program still offers standard classical music groups, but has opened up the formation of groups based on the musical interests of the applicants. This has resulted in folk and blues chamber ensembles, along with the classical groups the program is known for.
Breaking ground on a new century
On Wednesday, February 16, CMC will hold a festive groundbreaking event for the Community Music Center Campus Expansion Project. This short ceremony will feature students and faculty from the Children’s Chorus, Mission District Young Musicians Program, Mission District Older Adult Choirs, and members of the SFUSD Mariachi Program performing “If I Had a Hammer” and “Las Mañanitas.” Participating faculty will include Martha Rodríguez-Salazar, Beth Wilmurt, Miguel Govea, Susan Peña, Sharon Wayne, and Tregar Otton. The event will take place in CMC’s courtyard at the Mission District Branch
CMC Sessions 2022: Traditions Moving Forward
Two highly successful projects from last year, “CMC Sessions,” from the cultural traditions department, and “Spotlight Seminars” from the piano department, are joining together in an exciting collaboration funded by a CMC Faculty Partnership Grant.
CMC Sessions: Traditions Moving Forward will begin in January 2022, and will showcase the talents of ten CMC faculty members from diverse classical and non-classical traditions. The online presenters will use video, audio, and lecture-demonstrations to illustrate the influences and musical education that shaped them, and to highlight how their unique interests impact their teaching and performing at CMC. Their personal stories illustrate the breadth of talent among CMC’s teachers and show some of the ways the school is creatively adapting historical traditions to inspire and guide the musicians of tomorrow. These presentations by our fantastic faculty are going to be fascinating. Be sure to tune in!
CMC celebrate the season this December
As the year comes to a close, CMC’s Older Adult Choir Program is excited to celebrate the season with a return to in-person performances with festive concerts during the month of December. The concerts take place at CMC and around the city. These year-end performances feature songs in many styles and languages: from jazz standards […]
Erick Peralta: My musical home
Erick Peralta, pianist and CMC faculty member (Beginning Jazz Ensemble/piano), found his musical home at CMC at a young age. He grew up in the Mission District under the creative influence of his father, who was the bandleader of a salsa band. Erick would attend rehearsals when he was as young as three, where he would sit on his dad’s lap at the piano. Not surprisingly, Erick showed musical promise early on. Pianist, trumpeter, and CMC faculty member Marco Diaz was in his father’s band at the time and was also a CMC student. He recommended that Erick study music at CMC.
Eva “Nena” Aldaz: Going full circle
As part of our Centennial celebrations, the Mission District Young Musicians Program will be presenting a special intergenerational performance at Acción Latina’s community art stroll Paseo Artístico: History Matters in the Mission on Saturday, October 23. This event will highlight alumni in collaboration with the young musicians and feature an appearance by beloved local superstar and CMC alumni La Doña (Cecilia Peña-Govea). Older Adult Choir members from the Mission District will be also singing with the ensemble, making three generations of CMC students performing together! One of the alumni performing at Paseo Artístico will be Eva “Nena” Aldaz.
Marco Diaz: Musical beginnings at CMC
Marco Diaz’s commanding presence in the Bay Area music scene has its foundations in the scholarship program at Community Music Center. For this trumpet player and pianist, who is the bandleader for Cuban singer Bobi Céspedes and a central member of the John Santos Sextet, Diaz’s love of music first began in public school. “I heard the trumpet for the first time when I was in fourth grade,” said Diaz. “I knew that was the instrument I was going to be playing.” This passion for music was nurtured and developed through the scholarship program at CMC taking Diaz through his high school years in the early 1990’s and preparing him for studying music at San Francisco State. “I started taking piano lessons at CMC in the eighth grade,” said Diaz.“In my first year of high school, I auditioned for a scholarship, and I was awarded piano lessons, trumpet lessons, and jazz theory. That blew everything open for me. That was it. I was hooked.”
Maestro Curtis: Legacy, history, and America’s Got Talent
Maestro Curtis, CMC faculty member since 2013, is having quite a moment. His family band The Curtis Family C-Notes are going to be competing in the America’s Got Talent (AGT) quarter finals on August 24. Then on August 31, he’ll launch the Black Music Studies Program, CMC’s newest tuition-free program. As teachers at CMC, Maestro and Nola Curtis have taught piano and voice, directed choirs in the Older Adult Choir Program, and taught group classes. Their five children have grown up in the halls of CMC studying various instruments and participating in the Vocal Harmony classes their parents taught. “Community Music Center has literally changed our lives,” said Curtis. “The community of musicians and the leadership has allowed us to thrive not only in what we love to do, but as community activists.”