PUBLIC PERFORMANCES: THURSDAY, MARCH 14TH
Cal Poly University Union (11AM) and Downtown SLO Farmers Market (6PM)

Featured on Voice of America, Minnesota Public Radio, and in the Washington Post, The Concert Truck revolutionizes the live music experience by turning a 16-foot box truck into a mobile concert hall, giving it the ability to bring live classical music anywhere in SLO county. This is an incredible opportunity to provide access to the arts for all!

Cal Poly Arts is presenting 10 free concerts throughout a weeklong engagement – including for students at Shell Beach Elementary, Creston Elementary, and Santa Maria-Bonita School District, TMHA – Transitions-Mental Health Association, HASLO – Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo, HASBARCO - Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara, and ECHO - El Camino Homeless Organization.

Thanks to our generous donors, all of these private performances are provided at no cost to the schools or organizations.

ABOUT THE CONCERT TRUCK’S FOUNDERS

NICK LUBY

Nick Luby is an artist that breaks boundaries and challenges the status quo. He has won prizes in numerous competitions, most recently the 2019 Prix Ravel. Nick has concertized throughout the U.S. and in France, Italy, and the Czech Republic, and his recordings have been broadcast on public radio.

Nick holds the Graduate Certificate in Performance from the University of South Carolina, an MM in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan, and a BA with honors in Music and a double major in Philosophy from Wesleyan University. His primary teachers include Arthur Greene and Marina Lomazov, and he has received additional tutelage from Nelita True, William Bolcolm, Robert Levin, and Ivan Moravec.

A Chapel Hill native, Nick maintains a successful teaching studio in Baltimore, where he resides when not on tour. His students have won international competitions, and he was a featured guest artist at the Exploring Chamber Music Festival at the University of Northern Iowa.

SUSAN ZHANG

Acclaimed as a pianist with "astounding musical authority" (Columbia Free Times), Susan Zhang made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Augusta Symphony. She has since been featured as a soloist with the South Carolina Philharmonic, the Aiken Civic Orchestra, the University of South Carolina Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. She has performed in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre and Woodruff Arts Center as well as numerous other venues in North America, Europe, and Asia. Her recordings have been featured on SC Public Radio.

Susan was a prizewinner of the Thousand Islands Chopin Competition, the Bauru-Atlanta Competition, the Burgos International Music Festival Competition, the Arthur Fraser International Piano Competition, South Carolina MTNA Young Artist Competition, and the University of South Carolina Concerto Competition. Her summer festival appearances include Pianofest in the Hamptons, the Banff Piano Master Class, Burgos International Music Festival, the Southeastern Piano Festival, and Brevard Music Center.

Susan is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, and the University of South Carolina. Her primary teachers have included Marina Lomazov, Joseph Rackers, Enrico Elisi, and Boris Slutsky. Susan currently serves on faculty at the Gilman School and Peabody Conservatory.

This series presented by Cal Poly Arts, will feature The Concert Truck founder Nick Luby (Pianist) and Mikael Darmani (Pianist) for the performances in San Luis Obispo County.

ABOUT MIKAEL DARMANIE

Pianist Mikael Darmanie has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, Russia, and the Caribbean in appearances at The Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Rachmaninov Hall at The Moscow Conservatory, Disney Hall, Bing Concert Hall, The Bang on a Can Marathon, The Cape Cod Symphony, Portland Bach Virtuosi, Mainly Mozart Festival, Camerata Pacifica, The Rising Star Piano Series in Southampton, Royal Northern College of Music, and The Emerald City Music Festival.

Mikael is also the keyboardist and DJ, and a composer/arranger for the band Warp Trio as, described as “A talented group that exemplifies the genre-obliterating direction of contemporary classical music” (Columbia Free Times). The Trio has performed throughout the world in genres ranging from jazz to hip-hop, rock, contemporary classical, bluegrass, fusion, and electronic dance music, most recently in Spain at the International Experimental Music Meeting, and at the Marché des Arts du Spectacle d'Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

He is a strong advocate for the music being created today and is a frequent performer in New York City's new music scene in places such as Times Square, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, National Sawdust, Roulette, Le Poisson Rouge, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Natural History Museum, Trinity Wall Street, Joe's Pub, and The Cell Theatre. Mikael also has recently conducted new music groups such as Contemporaneous, Chamber Music NY and Stony Brook University's Contemporary Chamber Players.

SPONSORED BY

Suzan Boatman, Sharon & John Dobson,
Marti Lindholm & Allan Smith