Please join us for the grand opening of the newly completed Bob Cole Plaza and Pavilion on Saturday, October 6, 2012. Outdoor pre-festivities begin with the Steel Drum Ensemble performing at 1:30; the formal dedication program starts at 2:00. Accompanying the program will be the award-winning Pacific Standard Time Vocal Jazz ensemble and brass ensembles. Keyboard students will perform on Bob Cole’s beloved Steinway, in its new permanent home, the Bob Cole Pavilion.

At 4:00, The Bob Cole Conservatory will present a free Music Celebration in the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. The concert will feature the Chamber Choir, CSULB University Choir, University Percussion Group, Symphony Orchestra, Conservatory Jazz Combo, and University Wind Quintet. The program will conclude with the premiere of the Bob Cole Conservatory Fanfare and Anthem with music by Cole Conservatory Director John Allan Carnahan and lyrics by the Bob Cole Conservatory Chamber Choir.

Caitlyn Ryan, daughter of COTA DIrector of Facilities Colleen Ryan, was interviewed on Fox News last week. Caitlyn was diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis at the age of three and has grown into an extraordinary young woman (age 14) who is active nationally to increase awareness about the disease. She and her family works with several organizations to raise money to fight JA. You can view the video clip here.

More info on JA.

Alumni Nic Chaffee and Justin Padilla closed the Long Beach Funk Fest last weekend. Legendary guitarist Dennis Coffey joined their band Delta Nove. Coffey, a pioneer in funk, recorded such hits as “Cloud Nine”, “Ball of Confusion” and “Psychedelic Shack” by The Temptations; Edwin Starr’s “War”;  Diana Ross & The Supremes “Someday We’ll Be Together”; and Freda Payne’s #3 hit “Band of Gold”.

Delta Nove is scheduled to perform at the Lazy Summer Daze Festival in Pinecrest, CA, and the Mammoth Rocks Festival next weekend.

Alumnae Colleen Keene has been cast in the Ventura County Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company as Julia in The Grand Duke. It will run September 28 – October 21, 2012 at the Theatre on the Hill in Thousand Oaks.

Frieda Caplan, one of the conservatory’s most frequent concert attendees, is a pioneer in the produce business. The LA Times recently ran a wonderful article on Frieda. You can find it here. If you love kiwi, thank Frieda!

Olga Artemova Spriggs is nearing completion of her doctorate at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. She received a full tuition scholarship and was given the responsibility of directing the UC Men’s Chorus. They work with local high schools, contract orchestras for smaller choral/orchestral works, commission new works, and travel nationally or internationally each year. In 2011, they went to Washington D.C. and worked with Frank Albinder, former director of Chanticleer. This past May they traveled to Toronto, Canada and worked with Dr. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, director of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and performed at the historic Hart House on the campus of the University of Toronto. (Hart House looks and sounds like a smaller version of the dining hall from the Harry Potter movies). In 2012-13, they will host the first Men’s Chorus High School Festival and travel to New Orleans.

In addition to directing the Men’s Chorus, Olga has served the assistant director of the Cincinnati Children’s Choir (CCC), ensemble-in-residence at CCM. They performed at Central ACDA followed by the 2012 World Choir Games in July, taking home a gold medal in the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category.

The World Choir Games occur every two years in various locations throughout the world. Two years ago they were in China and in two years they will be in Riga, Latvia. Olga had the opportunity to meet all of the delegates from the various nations involved, and presented a workshop on Russian Diction and IPA to an international audience.

Construction is in full swing as they try to finish as much as possible before school begins.  On the left is the amphitheater and ramp down to the practice rooms. There will be lawn between the concrete seating ledges and concrete around the raised planter at the base.

The new building, known as the Pavilion, will house Bob Cole’s Steinway and serve as the formal entry into the refurbished offices. In the photo you can see the left wall: it is the original outside wall of the office. The right wall is new. The rest of the pavilion will be glass.

The official opening of the new pavilion will be on October 6: more information about the event to follow.