Cuesta Concord Chorus & Voices Unite
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Cuesta Concord Chorus
Voices Unite!
International and Domestic Tours
Cuesta Concord Chorus, a community of singers, shares their joy and love of music near and far.
Find Cuesta Concord Chorus on:
Cuesta Concord Chorus (C3) is directed by Cassandra Tarantino who founded the chorus in the Fall of 2005. Through a supportive community we create music. The music we perform ranges from Medieval to contemporary choral music, a capella, accompanied, and in various languages. Chorus members range in age from 16-85. Our vision has grown to include domestic and international tours, small caroling ensembles, and Veteran Outreach. It is our honor and joy to sing for you.
Vox Concordia Mundi: Singing in Harmony around the World.
Cuesta Concord Chorus has sung in numerous languages, including:
English, French, Latin, Spanish, German, Italian, Irish Celtic, Armenian, Hebrew,
Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, ancient Germanic Latin, and Cherokee.
In addition to performing works from the Classical Choral Canon, the Cuesta Concord Chorus has performed major works with orchestra, including J. S. Bach’s Magnificat and full Christmas Oratorio, A. Vivaldi’s Magnificat and Gloria, and René Clausen’s “A New Creation.” In the summer of 2025, at the Voices Unite! Festival, they will produce a full scale orchestral production of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” which will be performed with community choruses from around the world.
2024 Winter Concert featuring J. S. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio I," with full orchestra
"A New Creation," René Clausen with Orchestra and Soloists and Narrator
Biographies
Cassandra Tarantino has her in Master’s degrees Choral Conducting from San Jose State University and Performance Flute from California State University, Northridge. Her Bachelor’s Degrees are in Church Music and English Literature from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Mrs. Tarantino has participated in music festivals as a flutist and conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in New Hampshire, Abeyrstwyth Music Festival in Wales, and Morges Chamber Music Festival in Switzerland. She took sabbatical in Northern Ireland to study Classical and traditional music and the Irish-Celtic Language. In 2005 Mrs. Tarantino was hired by Cuesta College to begin a choral program at the campus in Paso Robles. The Cuesta Concord Chorus has since become a thriving community of singers that regularly performs locally and tours throughout the US and Europe. Mrs. Tarantino conducts, teaches private flute and voice, music theory and music history at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California. In 2013, Mrs. Tarantino co-founded with Marcy Irving the Central Coast Gilbert & Sullivan Company, a community-based opera company. In 2017 Mrs. Tarantino was hired as the Director of Music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, San Luis Obispo. In 2021 Mrs. Tarantino completed her Level III Sommelier Exam through the International Sommelier Guild and is the Sommelier for CASS Winery in Paso Robles, California. Folk music and dance are a passion for Cassandra, and you will often find her playing and dancing traditional Irish, English Country and Contra Dance music. She loves to play with her menagerie of animals, garden, and travel the world with her ever supportive and awesome husband, Dr. Jon E. Tarantino.
Ryan Hartzell, bass and piano, and organ works as a Software Engineer at OnSpot Data. By night, he and a team of friends are developing a video game, Gazelle in a Winter Coat. He has been a regular choral singer on the Central Coast since moving to SLO in 2014 to study Computer Science at Cal Poly. While there, he joined the Cal Poly choirs, where he sang in the annual Bach Week and went on tour to sing in England, Wales, and Southern California. After graduating in 2018, he spent time in LA and New Zealand but returned in 2020. Since then, he has sung with the SLO Master Chorale, Resonance, the Symphony of the Vines, and, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, San Luis Obispo. In addition to accompanying the Cuesta Concord Chorus, Mr. Hartzell accompanies voice classes at his alma mater, Cal Poly, SLO.
“Voices Unite!”, California Coast International Choral Festival
Aug. 14-18, 2025
The “Voices Unite!” Ann Coppenbarger International Choral Festival will take place this summer!
Community Choruses from across the county, country, and around the world have been invited to share their voices in song, giving their own concerts and combining together in a grand concert.
This noncompetitive festival, currently the only one of its kind in the United States, will welcome choirs from around the world who will enjoy the beauty of the Central Coast region. They will perform at local wineries, Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, and enjoy the beautiful landscape of California’s Central Coast. “Voices Unite!” will feature a live performance of “Carmina Burana” with full orchestra at the California Polytechnic University Performing Arts Center on Saturday, August 16, 2025.
All concerts will be free to the public, admission on a “donation only” basis.
Check back for concert details and ticket reservation instructions.
Friday, August 15
Choral Concert in Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, 8pm
Saturday, August 16
Combined Choral Concert of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” 7:00pm, CalPoly PAC
Sunday August 17
Guest Choral Concerts at Sculpterra and Rava Wineries, 1pm-4pm
This event will honor the memory and the legacy gift of Ann Coppenbarger to the Cuesta
Concord Chorus, the Festival’s hosting organization, in which she participated in
the chorus from 2006-2021. Under the leadership of Cassandra Tarantino, the Founding
Director of the Cuesta Concord Chorus, (formerly the North County Chorus) this Festival
will bring national and international recognition to the California Central Coast,
drawing upon the rich talent, abilities and devoted audiences found in our community.
This project is made possible through the Ann Coppenbarger Endowment Fund, the generosity of private donors, and the support of Cuesta College Foundation and the Cuesta College Community Programs.
Our beloved Ann Coppenbarger
International and Domestic Tours
From the Director:
One of my favorite memories from college is going on a choir tour to the east coast.
The fact that I was on the tour as a flutist and not a singer didn’t matter. It
was an incredible tour! I knew that if I were to ever have a chorus, I would tour
the world with them. Our first tour was in 2007 to the California Missions. Our
first international tour was in 2011 to Ireland and Northern Ireland. Additional tours
have included the East Coast of the US, Germany, Austria, England, Normandy, Italy,
and Sicily. “Vox Concordia Mundi” means “Singing in Harmony Around the World.” Joining
our voices with our fellow singing friends is a wonderful way to spread peace and
harmony. We have loved each venue, each chorus, and each audience member that we
have met over these last 20 years!
Italy and Sicily “Viva La Musica!” Tour: Cuesta Concord Chorus at the Temple of Concordia, Agrigento, Sicily, July, 2024
“Vox Concordia Mundi” tour to England and Normandy: Cuesta Concord Chorus on Iowa
Beach in Normandy on July 4, 2019. We had just performed at the American Cemetery
to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. The flag we are holding was flown on
the US Nation’s Capital Building when we toured there in 2013. This flag goes on
tour with us each time.
Cuesta Concord Chorus singing “Normandy,” Words by Cyril Crane, music by Dr. Ron Kean. The chorus commissioned this piece from Dr. Kean in honor of his father who fought at Normandy. The composer is conducting. Dr. Kean wrote a piccolo part for Cassanrda Tarantino to play. The song opens with “Taps” on solo piccolo. It was her great honor to play that piece for the soldiers buried there. The chorus sang in full voice on July 4, 2019 honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Storming of Normandy.
"Normandy," Words by Cyril Crane, music by Dr. Ron Kean
The Cuesta Concord Chorus at Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany in July 2017. Our dear
Ann Coppenbarger is in the front bottom right corner with the baseball cap and big
smile.
North County Chorus with Neuschwanstein in the background, July 2017.
Cuesta Concord Chorus in the Basilika St. Michael in Austria (Where Maria and Georg von Trapp were married in “The Sound of Music”)
“Freedom Tour:” The North County Chorus in front of the NAtion’s Capital, July 2014. The flag on the building is being flown in our honor. The flag we are holding was flown in honor of Cassandra Tarantino. This is the tour that began our Veteran Outreach Program.
We performed at Veteran homes in West Virginia, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, and at the Walter Reed Hospital.
The North County Chorus giving Cassandra Tarantino an American Flag that had been flown on the Nation’s Capital Building in January of 2014.
“Ireland Choir Tour” North County Chorus in the Belfast Cathedral, July 2011. This
was our first international tour. It had originally been scheduled for 2010, but
the chorus got waylaid in Philadelphia because of the Icelandic volcano eruption.
Thanks to Travel Guard Insurance, we got all of our money back and succeeded in landing
in Dublin in 2011.
“California Mission Tour:” The North County Chorus in front of Mission San Antonio
de Padua, 2007. This was our first tour. Additional Missions where we performed
included Mission Carmel and Mission San Rafael. We worked with Dr. Craig Russel, a
Mission Music Specialist, on finding pieces that had not been performed in over 200
years. We brought those pieces back to life, and even got to sing them to the composers
who were buried in the Missions where we performed!
Veteran Outreach
Faces of Freedom Memorial, Atascadero
Our Veteran Outreach Program began with our 2014 Freedom Tour. On this tour we performed in Veteran Hospitals and Veteran Homes across the East Coast. Performing for these men and women changed our lives. All we wanted to do was sing for them as a way of saying, “Thank you for your service.” What we received from them in gratitude changed our lives. Since 2014 all veterans and spouses are invited free to our concerts and events. We sing at the Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day services at the Paso Robles Cemetery. We sing at the annual Lost at Sea Ceremony in Cayucos. When we are on tour, we seek to find Veteran Memorial and Cemetery sites where we perform.
"Alleluia," Randall Thompson, composed during WWII
Florence American Cemetery, June 16, 2024
Salzburg, Austria in front of the Greenhouse where “I am 16 Going on 17” was performed in “Sound of Music.”
Laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery, June 29, 2014.
