New music school opens in Fremont

The California Conservatory of Music has opened its first Fremont location, expanding the Bay Area music school’s footprint beyond Sunnyvale and Redwood City. The school says the Fremont campus is now enrolling students for private lessons and group classes in piano, guitar, violin and voice. The conservatory lists the new site at 3890 Mowry Ave., Suite 200, in Fremont. The opening gives the company a third Bay Area campus, according to its website. The Fremont launch adds a new outpost for a school that says it has operated in the region for nearly 15 years. The conservatory says its Fremont program is aimed at children and adults and will serve students from Fremont, Newark, Union City, Milpitas and Warm Springs. The school is offering free trial lessons through its website as it builds enrollment at the new location. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) ### Which school opened in Fremont? The California Conservatory of Music is the operator behind the new campus. The school’s Fremont page says the site is “now open” and accepting new students, while the company’s locations page lists Fremont alongside its existing Sunnyvale and Redwood City campuses. Christopher Mallett and Robert Miller are the conservatory’s directors, according to the school’s “Our Story” page. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) That page says the two first met in 2009 while teaching at the Longay Conservatory of Guitar and later founded the California Conservatory of Guitar in Santa Clara in May 2011 before broadening the school into the California Conservatory of Music in 2017. ### What will students be able to study there? Piano, guitar, violin and voice are the core offerings listed for Fremont on the school’s website. The conservatory says its instructors provide one-on-one lessons for beginners, children taking their first class and advanced students preparing for recitals, exams and auditions. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) Group instruction is also part of the Fremont plan. The conservatory’s group-classes page lists guitar and violin group classes and says students can deepen skills in a shared setting, while the main site says many students supplement private study with music theory classes and ensembles. ### How does the Fremont site fit into the company’s expansion? (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) Redwood City became the conservatory’s second location in 2016, according to the company’s history page. The school says it opened that campus to better serve students from Palo Alto, Redwood City and San Mateo who had been traveling south for lessons. In Fremont, the company says it is extending the same model farther into the East Bay. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) The Fremont page says the campus is intended to bring the school’s instruction and community to students in Fremont and nearby cities, while the main site identifies Fremont as the newest location in a three-campus network. ### What do the founders say sets the school apart? (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) Robert Miller and Christopher Mallett trace the school’s teaching approach to Frank Longay, a guitar pedagogue they worked with before founding their own program, according to the conservatory’s history page. The company says Longay’s focus on raising students’ potential through the Suzuki approach shaped the school’s vision after his death in 2011. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) The conservatory’s Fremont page says its instructors are university-trained and experienced performers, and it describes the program as built around personalized instruction for each student’s goals. The site also says the school emphasizes warm, professional teaching and close relationships with students and families. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) ### Where can families find the Fremont campus and sign up? The Fremont campus is listed at 3890 Mowry Ave., Suite 200, with a local phone number on the conservatory’s website. The site says prospective students can schedule a free trial lesson and reserve a spot through the Fremont enrollment page. The conservatory’s next step in Fremont is enrollment. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com) As of this week, the company’s website says the campus is open and accepting new students for fall lessons in Fremont, Newark, Union City and surrounding communities. (thecaliforniaconservatory.com)