Eleanor Núñez, the new co-chair of the Performing Arts Department, has ambitious goals for the Santiago Canyon College music department this year.
“My big goal is to get SCC to offer a music major degree for our incoming students, which we currently don’t offer,” said Núñez, who collaborates with co-chair Alex Taber, an economics professor, composer and musician. “Up until this point, there hasn’t been what is called the AAT, or the associate of arts degree for transfer.”
SCC’s Performing Arts Department comprises music, dance and theater programs, of which music is the most comprehensive.
Students who want to be music majors at four-year universities must take core requirement classes to prepare for those upper-division courses, Núñez explained. “About half of the requirements are already provided here at SCC, but the ones that I am looking to add are music theory and musicianship.”
If plans go as she hopes, SCC will offer these critical new classes as early as the spring or fall of 2025. “I’m ambitious,” she said. “I like to get things moving as quickly as possible.”
Núñez is a proponent of the music degree. “It’s a very fun degree. It’s hard, I won’t lie. It is challenging to be a music major,” she said. “It requires a lot of discipline; it requires a lot of patience. But, of course, I think it’s very rewarding. That’s why I was a music major and why I do this now and why I want to offer this opportunity to more students so that we can have this here at SCC.”
In addition to her SCC department duties, Núñez teaches a course in the history of rock music. “I am young, and I do enjoy nonclassical genres of music,” she said. “I’m a big rock ‘n’ roll fan. There are components of pop and jazz and country embedded within the course as well, which are all genres that I very much enjoy.”
Núñez is a classical pianist and conductor and earned her bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s degree in wind ensemble conducting from Cal State Fullerton. She served as the symphony orchestra director at Irvine Valley College, where she also taught piano.
On weekends she works at the prestigious Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles as the director of band, orchestras and conducting for an extracurricular pre-college program.
For nearly 14 years, SCC’s Performing Arts Department has been chaired by the renowned Binh Vu, who is preparing to retire.
“I am coming in to continue the legacy of Dr. Vu,” said Núñez, adding she is grateful she can rely on him as a resource before he leaves. “I’ve had a million questions, and he has been so helpful in providing answers and connecting me with different folks of the community, and staff and faculty here at the college.”
Several concerts are planned for the school year, including one on Nov. 7 that will showcase compositions written by alumnus Victor Gutierrez, who earned his bachelor’s degree in music at Cal State Fullerton and recently finished his master’s at New York University.
Roberto Velazquez, recipient of the 2024 SCC Performing Arts Community Partner Award, will also be honored for his service.
Students from the Canyon High School Orchestra, directed by Michael Whang, and El Rancho Charter Middle School Orchestra, directed by Catherine Olsen, will perform classical orchestral works. “They are literally down the street from us — we’re really excited to have them be a part of this program,” Núñez said.
Just a few days before the concert, on Nov. 5, a bond measure will be on the ballot for financing much-needed new buildings on SCC’s campus. Núñez sees that one day soon a new performing arts building will be needed — concerts are typically held in the library or the gym.
“We don’t have a space dedicated for our performing arts students to study music,” she said. “We need a music facility with practice rooms and large ensemble spaces.”
Spaces suited for dancers are also needed. “We want to open dance studios as well so that dancers have the correct type of wood floor, and for ballet classes, we’ll need barres and mirrors. We need a larger stage that will accommodate large-scale theater productions.”
Núñez looks forward to future performances that combine music, dance and theater. “We’d love to collaborate in a large-scale project like a musical sometime in the future. My understanding is that this has not happened at SCC — yet!”
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