UC Davis Concert Band: "Diamond Celebration"

Program

California Youth Symphony's Wind Symphony – Pete Nowlen, director

• Leonard Bernstein: Suite from Candide (arr. Grundman)
• Toshio Masimo: Formosa

McClatchy High School Concert Band – Jorge Muñoz, director 

• Selections to be announced.

UC Davis Concert Band – Pete Nowlen, director

• Li Chan: Folksong of Midu
• Tim Mahr: Diamond Celebration

Tickets

• Adult $30
• Faculty and Staff $27 [ 10% off the top price ]
• Children 18 and Under / Non-UC Davis Students $17
• Students at UC Davis $13

About the Artists

UC Davis Concert Band

The UC Davis Concert Band has existed on the campus for more than 50 years, performing in commencements, ceremonies, and its own concerts. The Band is a wind-symphony sized group of about 55 musicians, consisting of students, professors, alumni, and community members and includes students from over 30 majors and minors on campus. The Band performs classic works from the extensive band and wind ensemble repertoire, as well as transcriptions of symphonic pieces and the finest new works for band and wind ensemble. The band also travels and tours other campuses, recently including Sacramento State University and the University of the Pacific. The bands host the biannual Causeway Youth Band Festival, where guest composers/conductors are invited to UC Davis as clinicians. The Causeway Band Festival includes two festival bands for high school and junior high students. Past guest conductors include Samuel Hazo, Mark Camphouse, and Frank Ticheli.

Pete Nowlen has been a member of the UC Davis faculty since 1988 and has been a dynamic part of the northern California musical scene for nearly 30 years. He holds artistic and musical director positions with Symphony d’Oro, Camerata California Chamber Choir and Orchestra, the CalCap Chamber Music Workshop, and Sacramento’s VITA Academy. He is the director of the Wind Symphony of the California Youth Symphony in the South Bay and is Artistic Director Emeritus of Music in the Mountains. A long-time faculty member at Sacramento State in addition to UC Davis, Pete has mentored a generation of musicians and music educators for our region and beyond. As a guest conductor, Pete has led performances of the Sacramento, Auburn, Camellia, Veridian, UC Davis, and CSUS Symphonies as well as the Sacramento Philharmonic. He has served as musical director for more than a dozen theatrical programs ranging from La bohéme, Magic Flute and Hansel und Gretel to The Rocky Horror Show and Little Shop of Horrors. A prize-winning French horn soloist, Nowlen came to Sacramento in 1987 to join the horn section of the Sacramento Symphony. He joined the Music in the Mountains Orchestra in 1989 and has performed frequently with the San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet Orchestras and all of the prominent orchestras of the Bay Area and Northern California.  For several years he served as principal horn of the International Orchestra of Italy, performing and recording in Italy’s most prestigious festivals and venues.

McClatchy High School Concert Band

The McClatchy High School VAPA Music Program is committed to providing its students a comprehensive and substantial education centered on artistic awareness, musical growth, and character development. Guided by national and local music education standards, the program enhances the expected performance-based instruction with exposure to music theory, music studies from a historical and cultural context, and an exploration of real-world opportunities for musicians and applications of their talents. The education process extends beyond the classroom through collaborations with peer, community, and professional organizations in the form of shared performances, clinics, masterclasses, and presentations. In addition, program concerts, recitals, and rehearsals are conducted in a manner consistent with that of professional organizations.

The program understands and accepts its inherent responsibility to make available endeavors that lead to positive and meaningful character development in students. By emphasizing the direct correlation between personal growth and ensemble success, students are encouraged to emerge as musical leaders that demonstrate a strong work ethic, exhibit sacrifice in the name of community, and display a thirst for knowledge.

Jorge Muñoz earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance, a California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Music, and a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting from California State University, Sacramento. Under the guidance of Dr. Ernie Hills and Dr. Robert Halseth, he was a trombonist, singer, and conductor with the bands, various chamber ensembles, and choirs. He has been a participant in workshops presided by acclaimed conductors such as Fredrick Fennell, Eugene Corporon, Robert Reynolds, Mallory Thompson, John Whitwell, Allan McMurray, Jerry Junkin, Emily Threinen, and Jack Stamp.

Along with his collegiate musical training, Mr. Muñoz was a performing member of the Riverside Community College Marching Band, the Anaheim Kingsmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Freelancers Drum and Bugle Corps.

Mr. Muñoz served as the instrumental and vocal music teacher at Highlands High School in North Highlands, California from 2000 to 2007.  In that position he was the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors. He was voted new teacher of the year by the student body in 2000 and was honored by the California League of High School Educators in 2003 as a Teacher of the Year finalist. His colleagues selected him as school site Teacher of the Year in 2005 — an honor that led to the Grant Joint High School District Teacher of the Year Award and a place as a finalist for the Sacramento County Teacher of the Year. From 2008 to 2011 Mr. Muñoz held the position of head band director at Lincoln High School in Stockton, California where he taught piano, electronic music, and led the concert, jazz, and marching bands.

In his current position at C.K. McClatchy High School of Sacramento, Mr. Muñoz has focused his efforts on the creation and growth of a Visual and Performing Arts Program. As part of a dedicated arts team, he strives to create a dynamic music program that provides a balanced, authentic, and rigorous musical education that instills a life-long love of music and performance in all students. His efforts were recognized in 2021 when he was nominated as a candidate for Sacramento City Unified School District Teacher of the Year. In 2025, he was honored with McClatchy High School’s first Heart of a Lion recognition and the Friends of Sacramento Arts Hero of Arts Education recognition.

Mr. Muñoz’s other teaching experiences include service as program coordinator, drill designer, music arranger, and marching instructor for several high school marching bands. He has also held positions on the instructional staffs of the CSU, Sacramento Marching Band and the Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps. While completing his master's degree, Mr.  Muñoz had the privilege of leading the symphonic bands and co-teaching the conducting classes at CSU, Sacramento.

Mr. Muñoz currently makes his home in Elk Grove, California with his wife Megan — a registered nurse and flutist — and their twin boys Isaac and Joaquin. The Muñoz family enjoys travel, bird watching, star gazing, baseball, all things Star Wars, Disney/Pixar movies, and attending live performing arts events.

The California Youth Symphony

The California Youth Symphony was founded in 1952. Over the years they have established an international reputation for the quality of their programs. In 1963 they became the first American youth orchestra to tour overseas when they accepted an invitation to visit Japan. Over the following years sixteen additional tours to all parts of the world have earned them universal praise. However, their greatest accomplishments and our most intense focus has always been in the San Francisco Peninsula / South Bay area. The San Mateo County Times described the youth symphony as "one of the finest of the world’s youth symphonies."

The California Youth Symphony has consistently expanded its programs over the last twenty years in order to meet the growing need for youth music programs. They now have eight programs in Palo Alto and Los Altos that offer musical instruction and performance opportunities on all symphonic instruments for young musicians of beginning through advanced levels. Enrollment exceeds 400.