Ventura College's Performing Arts Department prepares students to become highly skilled performing artists. We are pleased to offer small academic classes, applied study with highly qualified faculty, and a wide variety of music, theater and dance ensembles. Our students work alongside our dynamic faculty to develop the knowledge and skills to excel in a variety of fields. Use the sidebar links to explore our department's Music, Theatre Arts, and Dance programs.
Upcoming Performances
"Fire Dance" ZePure Trio
Ovanes Arakelyan, piano Chika Inoue, saxophone Maksim Velichkin, cello
The Laurel Project starts its second season with a performance by the ZePure Trio. This ensemble is formed by VC faculty Ovanes Arakelyan on piano, joined by Chika Inoue on saxophone and Maksim Velichkin on cello. The program, called Fire Dance, features Manuel de Falla's "Danza ritual del Fuego" (Ritual Fire Dance) and other fiery selections.
Presented as part of The Laurel Project: Faculty & Guest Artist Concert Series
The Laurel Project's second concert will feature the newly-formed Fortuna Wind Quintet. This ensemble is formed by VC faculty members Kimaree Gilad on oboe, Nick Akdag on bassoon, and Jon Titmus on horn, joined by guest artists Suzanne Duffy on flute and Sarra Hey on clarinet.
Presented as part of The Laurel Project: Faculty & Guest Artist Concert Series
The Laurel Project's November concert will feature noted pianist Armen Guzelimian in a program entitled The Composer and the Performer, A Personal Narrative.
Presented as part of The Laurel Project: Faculty & Guest Artist Concert Series
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Recent Performances
Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition
Featuring the Schwab Academy Orchestra
Ashley Walters, conductor
One Performance:
Sunday, July 23 at 2:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
On Sunday, July 23, the Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra (Ashley Walters, Conductor) accompanies the finalists of the 13th Annual Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition. Day 2 of 2
Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition
Featuring the Schwab Academy Orchestra
Ashley Walters, conductor
One Performance:
Saturday, July 22 at 7:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
On Saturday, July 22, the Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra (Ashley Walters, Conductor) accompanies the finalists of the 13th Annual Henry Schwab Violin & Viola Competition. Day 1 of 2
Schwab Academy Chamber Music
Ashley Walters, director
One Performance:
Friday, July 21 at 7:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
On Friday, July 21, the Schwab Academy Chamber Music Program (Ashley Walters, director) presents its second concert of the 2023 season. One performance only!
Schwab Academy Orchestra
Ashley Walters, conductor
One Performance:
Saturday, July 15 at 7:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
On Saturday, July 15, the Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra (Ashley Walters, Director) presents its second concert of the 2023 season. One performance only!
Schwab Academy Chamber Music
Ashley Walters, director
One Performance:
Friday, July 14 at 7:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
On Friday, July 14, the Schwab Academy Chamber Music Program (Ashley Walters, director) presents its first concert of the 2023 season. One performance only!
On Saturday, July 8, the Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra (Ashley Walters, Director) presents its first concert of the 2023 season. One performance only!
Verdi: Nabucco Overture
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Ravel: Boléro
This mother's day join Ventura College Instrumental Ensembles for a very special concert. The Symphony & Chamber Orchestras will perform music including Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings; Copland's Rodeo, plus music by Duke Ellington. VC is proud to present Juan Pablo Contreras's Mariachitlán. The composer has been working with VC's student musicians on this piece and plans to join us for the concert.
“The Ventura College Orchestra gave a strong performance and clearly won over the audience. The sound of the big orchestra filled the hall; the performance was lively, loud and convincing. Cheering and an enthusiastic ovation from the audience followed. It is clear that Conductor Ashley Walters has brought the Ventura College Music program to a high level of accomplishment, building new cultural bridges in the process.”
On Saturday May 13th, the Ventura College Jazz Band (Fundi Legohn, director) pays tribute to tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, whose influential career as a performer and composer spanned more than half a century, during which time he was the tenor saxophonist and in-house composer for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet. This concert will feature special guest artist tenor saxophonist Randal Fisher.
On Friday, May 12, Ventura College Chamber Music (Ashley Walters, Director) presents its talented chamber music students in organically-formed ensembles collaborating to perform highly varied repertoire spanning the classical era to present day. The program for this concert features music by composers including Clara Schumann, Henri Duparc, J.S. Bach and Sebastián Yradier. One performance only!
Wednesday, April 26, 7:30 PM (Preview)
Thursday, April 27, 7:30 PM
Friday, April 28, 7:30 PM
Saturday, April 29, 7:30 PM
Sunday, April 30, 2:30 PM
Performing Arts Center
Studio Theatre (PAC 119)
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
It's the roaring 20s and gender norms have started to shift. Four young women celebrate their new-found freedoms as employees of the Radium Dial Company, decorating watches and clockfaces with a new invention, glow-in-the-dark paint. As decades pass and a toxic truth begins to emerge, the women struggle to hold the company accountable for stealing their health by valuing profit over safety. Based on the true story of the Radium Girls, Melanie Marnich's "These Shining Lives" illuminates the spirits of these ordinary women whose courageous battle for social justice continues to resonate in the laws that protect today's worker.
The Gold Coast Concert Chorus (Elizabeth Helms, director) joins the Ventura College Chorus and Singers (Brent Wilson, director) for two performances of Maurice Duruflé's sublime Requiem. One of the most beautiful choral pieces ever written, the Requiem pairs flowing Gregorian chant with the lush, sumptuous harmonic language of 20th-century France. Duruflé's intensely personal take on the requiem mass remains his largest and most performed work. The piece will be paired with Jocelyn Hagen's Renaissance-inspired contemporary favorite, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Composed to honor da Vinci’s remarkable legacy on the 500th anniversary of his death in 2019, the work is set to text from his notebooks, which draw on themes of art, science, nature and technology.
Featuring faculty from Ventura and Oxnard Colleges,
Northeastern University and Orange Coast College
Works by Telemann, Stravinsky, Bellinati, and Torroba
One Performance:
Monday, April 10, 7:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
Presented as part of The Laurel Project:
Faculty & Guest Artist Concert Series
On Monday, April 10, The Laurel Project presents the Primavera Guitar Quartet. The Primavera Guitar Quartet presents a diverse set of works from the Baroque to the 20th century highlighting outstanding music from Europe and the Americas, including works by Georg Philipp Telemann, Igor Stravinsky, Paulo Bellinati, and Federico Moreno Torroba. This concert features music faculty from both Ventura & Oxnard Colleges, Northeastern University and Orange Coast College: Hugo Maia Nogueira, Randy Pile, Bob Ward, and Scott Wolf.
On Sunday, March 12, Ventura College Chamber Music (Ashley Walters, Director) presents “Sound in Motion.” Organically-formed ensembles collaborate to perform highly varied repertoire spanning the classical era to present day. The program for this concert features music by composers including Schubert, Telemann and Metallica. One performance only!
On March 11, the VC Symphony Orchestra and the VC Chamber Orchestra present "Music for Dancing." Led by Ashley Walters, this concert is centered around music inspired by or written for dancing. The program includes Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances,” Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night's Dream,” Rimsky-Korsakov's “Dance of the Tumblers,” Bloch’s “Concerto Grosso No. 1,” Berteau’s “Sonata for two cellos and bass continuo” and Shostakovich’s “Piano Quintet in G Minor.” One performance only!
On Monday, March 6 Arnold Livingston Geis (tenor) and Catherine Miller (piano) present "Songs my Mother taught Me." This emotionally powerful program is a tribute to Geis’s mother, who was a successful opera singer who received her master’s in Psychology just before her untimely death due to breast cancer on September 11th, 2002. Geis's personal tragedy inspired this autobiographical program that explores the intersection of music, faith, forgiveness and healing.
Featuring music by Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss, W.A. Mozart, Franz Lehar, Antonin Dvořák, Ricky Ian Gordon & Missy Mazzoli.
Presented as part of The Laurel Project: Faculty & Guest Artist Concert Series
Artist Biographies
Arnold Livingston Geis is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program, has been an Apprentice Artist with Chautauqua Opera, a Young Artist with Opera on the Avalon and Glimmerglass Opera, and an Apprentice Artist with Bel Canto at Caramoor. He received his Master of Music from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and his Bachelor of Music from Biola University.
Native Californian Catherine Miller is the Artistic Director of the Pasadena Vocal Competition, a member of the music staff for San Diego Opera and active as a vocal coach and recitalist with classical singers. Appearances in recital with renowned soprano Angel Blue have included iconic venues such as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wigmore Hall and The Ravinia Festival. Catherine has worked extensively in the Los Angeles area with Los Angeles Opera, Opera Pacific, Opera Santa Barbara and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
Thursday, February 2, 7:30pm Friday, February 3, 7:30pm Saturday, February 4, 7:30pm
Sunday, February 5, 2:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Helen Yunker Auditorium, PAC
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
The Addams Family is a comical feast that embraces all things macabre and celebrates the wackiness in every family. In Andrew Lippa's musical, the ghoulish bunch confronts middle–American values when Wednesday Addams falls in love. Her nice, young beau and his aggressively normal parents accept Gomez and Morticia's invitation to dinner, prompting mischief and misunderstandings that change both families forever.
The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice based on Charles Addams' classic cartoons.
On Sunday, December 11, Ventura College Chamber Music (Ashley Walters, Director) presents “Light Up the Season” This varied program, featuring notable works by a diverse slate of composers from across the musical spectrum, will be performed in the Helen Yunker Auditorium at VC’s Performing Arts Center. – One performance only!
On Saturday, December 10, The VC Chamber & Symphony Orchestras (Ashley Walters, Director) present “A Celebration of Hope.” The program honors Robert Lawson on his retirement, and the repertoire is a celebration of friendship and collaboration. One performance only!
“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way s/he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”
– Maya Angelou
On Friday, December 9, the Ventura College Chorus & Singers will present a program combining music set to wise, witty texts by poet Maya Angelou with a selection of music to kick off the holiday season. Join conductor Brent Wilson and pianist Mark Holmstrom and our talented singers for this energetic and varied program.
In collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, Climate Change Theatre Action brings together playwrights from around the world to tackle one of the most polarizing issues our world faces, climate change. Through a variety of narrative styles and characters, the artists approach today’s crisis with comedy, satire, and a call to action. In an effort to enact change, the short play series strives to answer what it all means and who we understand ourselves to be as we try to save the planet.
The Laurel Project presents vocal ensemble,“Dal Segno.” Founder and conductor Brent Wilson leads the eight voice ensemble in Giovanni Palestrina’s foundational, exhilarating Missa Papae Marcelli. The program also features works by Caroline Shaw, including Partita, a piece hailed as “exhilarating, sensual and playful” by The New York Times which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 2013, making Shaw the youngest composer to ever receive this honor.
Music for Strings, Brass, Winds, Guitar, & Percussion
Led by Ashley Walters, the VC Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra present "The Dawn of a New World." Repertoire includes Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"), Borodin's String Sextet in d-minor, and Haydn's Quartet in B-flat Major ("Sunrise").
Thursday, October 27, 7:30pm Friday, October 28, 7:30pm Saturday, October 29, 2:30pm & 7:30pm
Performing Arts Center
Studio Theatre, PAC
4700 Loma Vista Rd. Ventura CA 93003
Opera’s best ghost story comes to Ventura College! Brent Wilson leads Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” in a production designed by Jamie Birkett for the VC Department of Performing Arts. The eerie story is adapted by Myfanwy Piper from Henry James’ novella.
