Los Medanos College’s Music Department has a variety of exciting events for students this semester. The department has an event for every music lover ranging from large orchestral concerts, to smaller solo performances put on by graduating students.

On March 20, a Master Class Recital put on by professor Henderson, will include speaker Burr Cochran Philips, a professor at University of the Pacific and a guest performance by professor Ivanna Filipenko. Student vocalists will not only have the opportunity to see a performance, but will also receive a bit of coaching from the two mentors.

Following the recital, there will be two night-time Jazz Band concerts. The first will be  on April 11 and the other on May 16. More details such a tickets and times are to be announced.

Also to come, are various sophomore recitals for graduating music majors. Aaron Nakaji, the Music Department Coordinator said, “Any graduating music major needs to have a sophomore recital performance where they plan a repertoire of music and perform a concert.”

The free-of-charge student concerts are an opportunity to come and support fellow LMC students. The dates for these recitals are April 19 and 26, as well as May 3 and 10.

Though there are other big events the details of which are to be announced, two of the largest will occur in May. May 5 is the 24th annual Gospel Celebration concert. May 14 will be yet another collaborative event, much like last semester’s “Beethoven No. 1,” this time with Cal State East Bay’s orchestra. Both of these will be ticketed events the details of which are to come. 

Most of these events will be performed in the Recital Hall and it has both music and recording arts majors excited for these upcoming events.

Abraham Quecan, a music major, says that he looks forward to the collaborative events in particular. Reflecting on the “Beethoven No. 1” event last semester, Quecan is thankful for the broader community experience that came from reaching out to different bands in the area, something he says you can’t get from LMC alone.

For Zuniga, “Beethoven No. 1” was just a stepping-stone for achieving that goal of creating a broader, more connected music community in the Bay Area.

“The theme of the semester is to be involved with other community groups at the collegiate or high school level,” said Zuniga.

He is especially excited for the collaborative orchestral performance with Cal State East Bay in May.

“It’s a big deal for us to have a four-year college concert band to come here. It’s good because our students can get experience performing with prospective schools,” Zuniga said.

Bringing it back to the LMC community, Julia Steele, a recording arts major, says that she hopes more people will come and see the Department’s events because, “the music majors are really cool … and work really hard.”

Whether you enjoy musical performances big or small, keep an eye out for upcoming events and come support the most musical mustangs on campus.