What do the following all have in common: Oregon Renaissance Band; Arnica String Quartet; Arco Bello; Espacio Flamenco; Portland Jazz Hall of Fame inductees (singers); Shirley Nanette and Marilyn Keller; finger-style guitarist Shohei Toyoda (Kyoto, Japan); Grammy-award winning Doug Smith (Vancouver, WA); Italian guitarists Nicolo Paradiso and Luciano Tortorelli (Italy); Celso Machado (Brazil); Maria Olaya (Columbia); Gerardo Caledron (Mexico); the Argentine Tango group Folia Duo (Michigan); and Sandeep Koranne and Saikiran Madhusudhan sitar and tabla performers from India? They all were featured performers at Casa Della Zisa (CDZ) Collegium Musica in the heart of Beaumont-Wilshire!
More than two years ago, Dr. Peter Joseph Zisa (music instructor at Pacific University and Portland Community College, with six CDs and an array of music books to his name), and his wife Yukiko founded CDZ Collegium Musica, a music and education non-profit organization located at the historic bungalow at 4624 NE Fremont Street. Their vision is bringing the community together through music and cultural exchange. Given the diversity of the concert programming and the positive response of the community, the vision of the CDZ-CM has begun to be realized. The Collegium’s monthly concert series, featuring notable local musicians as well as national and international visiting artists, is one of the ways Collegium Musica provides these opportunities for the community. CDZ-CM also provides paid opportunities for university music graduates to perform and provide similar music workshops at K-12 schools. In addition to master classes, the collegium also hosts educational workshops on a host of cultural topics, such as cooking styles, Japanese tea making, Qi-gong, yoga, calligraphy, photography, and honeybee stewardship.
Starting in July, Collegium Musica will host a music camp for young people (activities include ensemble playing, improvisation, conducting, and composing), along with four special Sunday Family Music Programs intended for children, their parents, and their grandparents. The four programs are Stories, Musical Instruments, and Music of 1) the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 2) Argentina, 3) Mexico, and 4) India. These programs are interactive; children will have an opportunity to examine and play instruments. The cost of the workshop is a free-will donation. If interested in taking classes, attending concerts, being on their mailing list, contributing ideas, or volunteering time, please contact CDZ-CM at casadellazisa@gmail.com or call 503-307-4907. Upcoming events can be found on their website: www.cdzcollegiummusica.org.