May 3, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Michele Abba
Cal Poly Music Department
805-756-2406
music@calpoly.edu, http://music.calpoly.edu

Cal Poly Early Music Ensemble To Perform Work from Colonial Americas May 26

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Cal Poly's Early Music Ensemble will present a variety of choral and orchestral works from 17th- and 18th-century Colonial California and South America at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 26, in the San Luis Obispo Mission de Tolosa.

Conducted by Cal Poly music Professor Thomas Davies, the ensemble will perform music composed by Ignacio de Jerusalem, Manuel de Sumaya, and Juan de Araujo. Cal Poly music Professor Craig Russell, credited with reconstructing many of the compositions, will provide introductory remarks before each piece is performed.

An instrumental ensemble will perform with the Early Music Ensemble, Davies has been at Cal Poly since 1983 as director of choral activities and vocal studies. In addition to his work at Cal Poly, Davies is conductor of the Cuesta Master Chorale and serves as one of several conductors for Pacific Repertory Opera.

He is the choral conductor for the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and is associate director of the Oregon Bach Festival Master Class in Choral Orchestral Conducting.

Russell, a composer, music historian, and master of guitar and lute, has been teaching at Cal Poly since 1982. He has done groundbreaking work bringing to light the forgotten musical heritage of 17th- and 18th-century Mexican and Californian culture. His original compositions have been recorded and performed nationally and at international festivals.

Tickets to the concert are $12 for the public and $8 for seniors and students. They are on sale at the Performing Arts Ticket Office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. To order by phone, call SLO- ARTS (756-2787).

Patrons who buy season tickets to four Music Department events through the Performing Arts Ticket office will receive a 10 percent discount; a 15 percent discount is given to those who buy tickets to five or more events.

The concert is sponsored by Cal Poly's Music Department, College of Liberal Arts and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, call the Music Department at 756-2406.

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