Festival Mozaic

Cal Poly professor and local musicologist Dr. Craig Russell will lead this interactive lecture event which will feature a conversation with Mozart Festival founder Clifton Swanson.
In addition to his teaching career, Dr. Craig Russell is a co-host of KCBX in Concert which airs Wednesdays on KCBX Central Coast Radio.  He was a staff musicologist for the Mozart Festival for over a decade leading lecture series and a series of concerts for young people called "Ear Opener Concerts."
The founding music director of the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival (now Festival Mozaic), Clifton Swanson has played a major role in the San Luis Obispo music scene. He joined the Cal Poly music department faculty in 1967 where he originally taught music appreciation and music history. He soon assumed responsibility for Cal Poly’s Symphony Orchestra and founded and conducted the Cal Poly Chamber Orchestra. He was also the music director and conductor of the San Luis Obispo Symphony from 1971 to 1984. He was elected the Cal Poly Music Department chair in 1983, and served in that role almost continuously until his retirement in 2004.

Conversational Retrospective of the Festival