Practice-a-thon 2020 came to an exciting end, with the total time practiced by students, faculty, parents, and staff exceeding 100,000 minutes! We are completely blown away by and incredibly proud of you - our musical community - for your commitment to practicing and raising funds for scholarships, even during such challenging times.

In last year’s annual report, we outlined PCM’s growth over the 2018 - 2019 school year. The Conservatory was on a well-planned, predictable path. This year’s story is different. For the first three quarters, 2019 - 2020 continued along the same dynamic, upward trajectory. Once again, our story was one of growth, ambitious programs, exciting concerts, and uncompromising, high level music education. But in mid-March, everything changed...

In keeping with social distancing requirements, VIRTUAL ARTNIGHT PASADENA will happen October 23, 2020. ArtNight Pasadena is the City’s signature cultural event, produced by the Cultural Affairs division in partnership with the ArtNight partner organizations. ArtNight Pasadena is a dynamic arts and cultural Open House that happens each March and October on the 2nd Friday. Up to 18 venues will provide free programming, including visual, literary and performing arts virtually.

This past November, Julian Gray, guitar department chair at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, gave a master class to PCM guitar students and presented two lectures for PCM guitar faculty. He also gave private lessons to two advanced guitar students, Jadon Elliott and Evelyn Nguyen. Mr. Gray has taught three of PCM’s guitar faculty - Felix Bullock, David Margolis, and Adam Pettit - and two PCM guitar alums - Alexandra Iranfar (‘07) and Brandon Wong (‘19). Below are some reflections and highlights from this recent experience.