Flute with Talia O.

I am a multi-instrumentalist (flute, saxophone, vocals), dancer (flamenco, bellydance, contemporary), and perpetual student. I have played alongside great jazz musicians such as Dave Douglas, Wayne Bergeron, Donny McCaslin, Randy Brecker, Ada Rovatti, Charlie Shoemake, Inga Swearingen, Joe Locke, Robin Eubanks, and Grammy Award winner Louie Ortega. Born and raised in San Luis Obispo, my studies at Cuesta College, Cal Poly, the Central Coast Jazz Institute, and the Garcia Dance Studio have helped her become an active and versatile working professional in the music and dance communities. During my college career, I was a vocal and flute soloist as well as a featured improviser with the Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble and Cal Poly Jazz Ensemble. I first flute in the Cal Poly Symphony, a winner of the SLO Jazz Federation's Young Jazz Scholarship and, in March 2020, performed Arthur Foote’s A Night Piece with the Cal Poly Symphony as a winner of their annual concerto competition. I was first alto saxophone with the Cuesta College Big Band and won awards for outstanding musicianship at the Reno Jazz Festival in 2017. I have danced at Carnegie Hall with the Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble and have been teaching American Bellydance for the last ten years. I have studied Flamenco with the Garcia Dance Studio under the instruction of master teachers such as Laura Garcia, Marissa Urzua, Clara Rodriguez, Pamela Laurent, Roberto Amaral, and Timo Nunez. I have danced in the prestigious televised Old Spanish Days Fiesta program in Santa Barbara, CA for the last seven years and have been teaching Flamenco for the last five. I am on various album projects and I recently opened for the all-female mariachi sensation, Flor de Toloache, at the Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo. I have Associates degrees in Jazz Studies, Jazz Performance, Flute Performance, Recording Arts, and Music Education. I have a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance with concentrations in Flute and Voice with a minor in Dance.