OPC centers African American culture in the development of American musical culture and identity. Our programs celebrate, preserve, and extend the musical heritage of the people of Oakland and the broader Bay Area by providing affordable, culturally sustaining experiences for people of all ages.
The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music is a project of Music Is eXtraordinary, Inc, (MIX), a California 501c3 which provides music education for people in urban areas. Music Is eXtraordinary(MIX) was founded in 2001 by Musician/Educator, Angela M. Wellman. Ms. Wellman consulted with schools to develop music programs that reflected each school's culture. In 2004 MIX became a 501c3 non-profit and opened its first music center, the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music (OPC) in 2005. OPC is part of a broader agenda to build a national network of Public Conservatories with a unified teaching philosophy and teaching practices that engender equity, belonging, and empathy through the music.
OPC opens the world of music to all through access to quality, economical instruction in a nurturing environment. We value rigor and scholarship in our quest to preserve the musical traditions of Oakland.
Oakland's diverse communities will make and hear music everywhere. Everyone experiences healing, harmony, non-violence and safe streets through learning and playing music together. Our music and educational process resonate with the aspirations of our communities and our native artists by reclaiming spirit and culture, illuminating ancestral authenticity.
Since 2005, Oakland Public Conservatory has delivered masterclasses, performances, workshops, and community events by local and international artists. These guests have included world-renowned Count Basie Orchestra, two-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master Slide Hampton, Sam Burtis and Sonny Bravo (of the famed Tito Puente Latin Jazz Ensemble), trombonist Steve Turre, Zimbabwean master Ronnie Daliyo, former Harry Belafonte vocalist Branice McKenzie, John Santos, Airto Moreira, Marcus Shelby, internationally acclaimed Afro-Peruvian percussionist Juan Medrano Cotito, Rhiannon Giddens and the Carolina Chocolate Drops and a host of professional musicians living in the Bay Area. The conservatory has been featured in several local publications touting the success of its programs and initiatives. Upon invitation by the United States Embassy in Peru, our Frederick Douglass Youth Ensemble represented the United States in the First Festival of Music and Dance of African Descendants in Lima, Peru. In 2016, founding director Angela Wellman was presented with the Cultural Key to the City of Oakland by Mayor Libby Schaff.
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Black Girls Play (BGP) is a holistic music education program that combines the serious study of instrumental & vocal music combined with intergenerational mentorship and leadership development for young Black girls and Women.BGP focuses on the needs and life experiences of young Black girls with innovative and engaging approaches to learning, inclusion and self-determination. BGP girls receive group and private instruction, audition preparation for post-high school matriculation into college/university music programs, and preparation for professional careers in the music industry.
The Black Banjo & Fiddle Fellowship (BBFF) is a collaboration between the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music and the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention. The BBFF project aims to repatriate old-time music in African American communities and illuminate the Black experience in creating old-time music. BBFF is a two-year paid fellowship program that trains Black musicians in old-time music and its rich history. To repair the historical and cultural ruptures that erased the Black origins of banjo and fiddle music and to ensure that the tradition is sustained in Black communities, the BBFF is also a teacher-training program. It will train apprentices to teach the music, ensuring that it can be passed down from generation to generation.
Designed to serve adults, 18 and up, the Community Music program offers a wide array of group and private instruction, classes, ensembles, ongoing lecture series, special events, and concerts.
Ages 8-17
Preparatory Studies is an afterschool program that offers group & private lessons, special workshops, and performance opportunities. Classes include Beginning-Advanced Performance Ensembles, Musicianship, Band and Orchestra instruments, Piano, Percussion, Zimbabwean Marimbas, Afroperuvian Cajon, Guitar, Electric Bass, Banjo. Instruments are provided as needed and available.Read More →
The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music is a project of Music Is eXtraordinary, Inc, (MIX), a California 501c3 which provides music education for people in urban areas. Music Is eXtraordinary(MIX) was founded in 2001 by Musician/Educator, Angela M. Wellman. Ms. Wellman consulted with schools to develop music programs that reflected each school's culture. In 2004 MIX became a 501c3 non-profit and opened its first music center, the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music (OPC) in 2005. OPC is part of a broader agenda to build a national network of Public Conservatories with a unified teaching philosophy and teaching practices that engender equity, belonging, and empathy through the music.
