Oakland Public Conservatory of Music

08/12/2026

The Journey of The Banjo: Part 3 of 3

The Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship didn't begin overnight.

Its roots reach back to 2011, when Dr. Angela Wellman introduced the Conservatory's first banjo classes after being inspired by the Carolina Chocolate Drops .

That summer, Guy de Chalus became OPC's first banjo teaching artist. In 2012, Sule Greg Wilson, American Griot helped continue building the program.

Over the next twelve years, those early classes grew into a music education curriculum that centers the banjo's African American roots and cultural legacy.

In 2023, that work expanded into the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship.

Today, youth and adult musicians continue studying, performing, teaching, and carrying these traditions forward together.

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08/10/2026

Steve Turre Official has spent more than five decades expanding the possibilities of jazz—while remaining deeply connected to the traditions that shaped him.

Born to Mexican American parents and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Turre grew up surrounded by mariachi, blues and jazz. His career took flight when Ray Charles invited him to tour in 1972, followed by opportunities to perform with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and many of the most celebrated musicians in jazz, Latin and popular music.

But one of the most defining moments in his artistic journey began with a seashell.

Turre’s mentor Rahsaan Roland Kirk introduced him to the shell as an instrument. Later, while touring in Mexico, members of Turre’s family told him that his ancestors had also played shells. What began as musical experimentation became a connection to heritage—and eventually one of the most distinctive sounds in modern jazz.

Turre went on to transform seashells into a full musical voice, even creating a “shell choir” through his ensemble Sanctified Shells. Alongside his work as a bandleader, composer and arranger, he has performed with the Saturday Night Live Band since 1984.

Steve Turre’s music keeps one foot in the past and one in the future—honoring the masters, carrying his ancestry forward and continually expanding what jazz can become.

We are honored to welcome Steve Turre as a special supporting artist for OPC’s 20th Anniversary Gala on October 24.

🎟️ Gala tickets are available: https://givebutter.com/opc20th

08/08/2026

OPC has had three homes, and each one holds a chapter of our story:

1616 Franklin Street, 2005. Where it all began.

3445 San Pablo Avenue, 2017. The historic California Hotel.

492 9th Street, today. Back in the heart of Downtown Oakland.

Twenty years. Three addresses. Same mission.

Twenty years, three homes, and twenty years of packed classrooms throughout: a displacement in 2014 that could have ended everything, community partners who carried us when we had no building of our own, a pandemic that forced us to reinvent how we taught music overnight (and still kept 80% of our students learning with us online), seven years at the California Hotel, and now, full circle: back in Downtown Oakland, not as a final destination, but as the launchpad for our next twenty years and beyond.

Over the next few weeks, we're telling that story, space by space. Because these spaces were never just addresses. They're where resilience, relationships, and a commitment to music education for all took shape.

Which OPC class, ensemble, concert, or workshop has meant the most to you or your child?

Tell us below, we're collecting stories all season as we celebrate 20 years.

Join us for our 20th Anniversary Gala, Oct 24. Tickets can be found here: https://givebutter.com/opc20th
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08/06/2026

08/06/2026

The Journey of the Banjo — Part Two: The People Carrying the Tradition

Traditions stay alive because people carry them.

The Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship is about more than learning an instrument. Fellows study repertoire, history, technique, and the communities that have sustained this tradition across generations.

Through teaching artists, culture bearers, and mentorship, preservation becomes something lived—not simply remembered. Because preserving a tradition isn't placing it behind glass.

It's placing it into people's hands. This is Part Two of our three-part series exploring the history, resilience, and living legacy of the banjo.

What traditions have been passed down to you?
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08/03/2026

Composer, pianist, and musical visionary Mary Watkins has spent decades creating music that brings together artistic excellence, spirituality, history, and social consciousness.

Her instrumental music has been performed by orchestras including the Berkeley Symphony, the Women's Philharmonic, and the Palo Alto Philharmonic , and her operas have reached stages as far as the Gerald W. Lynch Theater in New York City.

She has composed three operas, including works exploring the lives and legacies of Fannie Lou Hamer and Emmett Till, bringing Black history, social consciousness, and deep spirituality into powerful musical form.

Her film scores have earned Academy Award nominations, an Emmy Award, and a Peabody Award, including her work on Ethnic Notions, written and directed by MarlonRiggs, and Freedom On My Mind, directed by Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford.

Since moving to California in the 1970s, where she became one of the pioneers of the Women's Music movement, Mary has built an enduring creative life connected to Oakland and the Bay Area, performing, recording, teaching, and composing work rooted in reflection, justice, and human connection.

We are honored to celebrate Mary D. Watkins and her extraordinary cultural contributions on October 24, alongside this year's distinguished honorees.

🎟️ Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now.

Tickets: https://givebutter.com/opc20th

Sponsorship Information:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a7545df32601ebcc985f208/t/6a4333a40898a5110815d3d9/1782789028791/OPC-20.pdf

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08/01/2026

08/01/2026

The Journey of The Banjo Part 1:
African Roots and Black Continuity

The banjo’s story did not begin on the blackface minstrelsy stages of early 19th century America.
Its roots reach back to West Africa, where instruments like the akonting, ngoni, and xalam were played by generations of musicians.

As African people were forcibly brought to the Americas, they carried musical knowledge, craftsmanship, and traditions that evolved into the quintessential American folk instrument: the banjo.

Although minstrelsy and popular culture later obscured those origins, the history was never lost. Black musicians, families, scholars, and culture bearers continued to preserve and pass it on.

This is not about rewriting history. It’s about remembering it.

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View sponsorship opportunities:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a7545df32601ebcc985f208/t/6a4333a40898a5110815d3d9/1782789028791/OPC-20.pdf

Gala tickets:
https://givebutter.com/opc20th

07/27/2026

Oakland Public Conservatory of Music is proud to honor Rhiannon Giddens with the National Treasure Award at our 20th Anniversary Gala.

For more than two decades, Rhiannon has helped bring greater visibility to the African Diasporic roots of the banjo and the Black musical traditions that shaped American music.

Her participation in the historic Black Banjo Gathering of 2005 helped lead to the formation of Carolina Chocolate Drops. Through her music, research and public scholarship, she continues to carry this history forward while showing that the tradition is still alive and evolving.

In June 2025, Rhiannon joined OPC as a special guest for the final presentation of the Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship —connecting her work to musicians and culture bearers being equipped with both repertoire and history.

Join us on October 24 as we celebrate Rhiannon Giddens and this year’s distinguished honorees.

🎟 Early Bird tickets are available through July 30:
https://givebutter.com/opc20th

07/26/2026

Why is “public” part of our name?

Because OPC is about access—and about the music of the people.

Traditional conservatories have often centered a Eurocentric musical canon. At OPC, we also make space for musical traditions, histories and culture bearers that have not received the same recognition in mainstream teaching and learning.

Students receive serious musical instruction from professional teaching artists and culture bearers. They develop technique and musicianship while learning where the music comes from, whose stories it carries and how those traditions are passed on.

People of different ages and levels play music together, learn from one another and build relationships across generations. That shared experience supports intergenerational unity and belonging.

Access, rigor, cultural preservation and community are all part of what makes OPC a public conservatory.