Fiesta del Pacifico

From Program Notes

Fiesta del Pacifico is one of several festivals held annually in various communities in California, which celebrate the Old Spanish Days in the State. This particular festival is held in San Diego for twelve days in the summer, and features a play on the history of the area with a cast of over a thousand, a parade, a rodeo, and street dances. Born and raised in California's Central Valley towns of Tulare and Modesto, Roger Nixon acquired a taste for the rhythms and dances of the early settlers of the state, and they appear in many of his works. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and joined the faculty at San Francisco State University in 1960. He has written over 60 compositions for orchestra, band, choir, and opera. --James Huff 23:21, March 25, 2007 (EDT) (from the program notes of The Claremont Winds, submitted with permission)