Welcome to Community Programs Music, Drama, & Performance Homepage
View our current course offerings in the left hand column of the page (from desktop computer) or the drop down menu (three lines on a mobile device). Registration is recommended at least one week in advance to ensure courses meet their minimum enrollment.
Interested in teaching a not-for-credit course through Community Programs? Propose a new class here.
Performing Arts Events page: https://www.cuesta.edu/student/campuslife/cpac/cpacevents/index.html
- For questions regarding Tickets, please call 805-546-3198 or visit tickets.cuesta.edu
- Parking is FREE for Cuesta Performing Arts Events.
10/06 - Ukulele 101: Learn to play over 20 songs in just 4 weeks!›
10/08 - Musical Theater Vocal Workshop›
About Our Instructors:
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Warren Balfour
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Dr. Warren Balfour is an Emeritus Faculty at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, California where he developed the Jazz Studies program . He has guest directed the state and local honor groups from California, Arizona and the Bay Section CMEA groups in California. He directed nine major European concert tours with Cuesta music groups that have included performances at the Hague in the Netherlands and Montreux, Switzerland. Dr. Balfour has had additional professional experiences as a trumpet player, having played in groups to back up such artists as Jerry Lewis, Debbie Reynolds, Roger Williams, Bobby Vinton, Manhattan Transfer, Temptations, Diane Schuur and Toni Tennille. He received degrees from Los Angeles City College, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Long Beach, and his doctorate from the University of Northern Colorado. He is Past-President of the Music Association of California Community Colleges and received the Outstanding Faculty Award from Cuesta College in 1992. In 2005 Balfour was inducted into California Jazz Educators Hall of Fame. |
| Dave Broida | Dave Broida, private blues instructor and musician, has taught Beginning Blues Harmonica at California Community Colleges and Parks and Recreation Departments since 2000 and has been performing professionally for more than 20 years throughout Northern California. |
| Michael Burrell | Coming Soon |
| Craig Coffman Chords Are Key |
Craig has taught this class to over 25,000 students nationwide since 1993. He is a professional pianist, music director, and instructor. |
| Grant Everett | Grant Everett is the Artistic Director of Cabaret 805 in San Luis Obispo. Mr. Everett is a voice teacher and a vocal coach with over 20 years teaching experience. For the past year he has been teaching this class as a workshop to local Cabaret performers. |
| Brenda Hascall | Brenda Hascall holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Performance from California State University, Northridge and a Master of Arts Degree in Band Conducting from the American Band College of Sam Houston State University. She was the conductor of the Cambria Instrumental Ensemble directing a full orchestra, wind ensemble, string ensemble and jazz band. During her eight-year tenure she also composed and arranged many pieces for the orchestra. Mrs. Hascall has been a public-school band teacher on the central coast for 23 years. She currently teaches band, orchestra, choir and guitar full-time for Lompoc Unified School district. |
| Marcy Irving | Marcy Irving has been on the music faculty at Cuesta College for 13 years. She has spent many years singing Gilbert and Sullivan operas professionally. This is the 6th wonderful summer of Central Coast Gilbert & Sullivan. |
| Jennifer Martin SLO Winds Orchestra |
Jennifer Martin joined the Music Faculty at Cuesta College in the summer of 2004 as the conductor of the Cuesta Wind Ensemble. She also coordinates the department’s Applied Music program, and teaches Class Guitar. In 2008, she was selected to be the Performing Arts Division Chair. She became a staff conductor for the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra in 2010. Previous to her appointment at Cuesta, she was the Music Department Chair and conductor of the Reno Winds and the Truckee Meadows Community Orchestra at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV, where she was the founding faculty of the Music Department. Ms. Martin holds the B.A. degree in Music Education from California State University, Fullerton, and the M.M. degree in Conducting from the University of Redlands. A conductor whose repertoire is unusual in its breadth and depth, Ms. Martin has conducted or guest conducted many ensembles, high school bands, orchestras, and honor groups in California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. She has also conducted numerous musical theater productions on the professional, college, and high school levels. As a trombonist and guitarist, Ms. Martin has played with numerous musical and theatrical groups in the west. A protégé of legendary conductor Frederick Fennell, Ms. Martin has taught at conducting symposia in Oregon and Washington. She is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra League and the College Band Directors National Association among others. Ms. Martin also concertizes as a solo fingerstyle acoustic guitarist. After a year as interim director, Ms. Martin accepted the position of Music Director of the SLO Winds in July 2015. |
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Patrick Pearson
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Central Coast guitar professional Patrick Pearson teaches the music that he loves
to play. Patrick has played lead and rhythm guitar in bands from Jazz and Blues to Rock and Reggae. He's known for his teaching methods that inspire the beginner and challenge the experienced player. |
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Chad Ruyle
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Chad possesses a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Cal State Fullerton, and a Master’s in Music in Vocal Music from Cal State Northridge. He has spent over fifteen years teaching in all realms of vocal music. Chad is on the vocal faculty of Cuesta and Allan Hancock Colleges, and performs with Opera San Luis Obispo, and the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale. As a teacher of all ages, Chad, has a thriving studio of singers and performers. |
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Brian Schwartz
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Brian Schwartz travels the world teaching & attending ukulele festivals. He is a frequent player at local ukulele jams and has been teaching on the central coast since 2015. You'll see why the ukulele brings him so much joy and how playing with others makes all the difference. He arms his students with access to an extensive website of lessons (via UkuleleSongbook.com) to utilize long after his live class concludes. He is the author of The Ukulele Workbook: An 8-week / 24 lesson playbook for first-time ukulele players which was first published in 2017 and the forthcoming Uke 202 to be published in 2019. |
| Cassandra Tarantino | Cassandra Tarantino, Conductor, has her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Church Music, Performance Flute, and English Literature. Mrs. Tarantino has participated in music festivals in the United States and Europe, and took a six-month sabbatical in Northern Ireland to study music and the Irish-Celtic Language. In 2005 Mrs. Tarantino was hired by Cuesta College to begin a choral program at the North County Campus in Paso Robles. The chorus there, The North County Chorus, has become a thriving community of singers. She has also established the first vocal classes at this satellite campus and co-conducts the Concert Choir on the San Luis Obispo campus. In 2013 Mrs. Tarantino co-founded the Central Coast Gilbert & Sullivan Company, a community based opera company. This organization’s priority is for its members to have fun making joyful, happy music. Cassandra is a board member of the CPAC Council, Choral Representative for the Music Association of California Community Colleges, and enjoys singing with Dr. Tom Davies in the Master Chorale. Folk music and dance are a passion for Cassandra, and you will often find her playing and dancing traditional Irish, English Country and Contra Dance music. |
