Dawn Brooks – Professor, Music

Dawn Brooks graduated from California State University, Long Beach with Bachelor and Masters degrees in Vocal Performance and a DMA in Choral Music from the University of Southern California.  She has studied conducting with Lynn Bielefelt, Bill Dehning, David Wilson, and Magen Solomon and was a voice student of Marvellee Cariaga and Mary Rawcliffe Fairbanks.

Dr. Brooks joined the faculty of Golden West College in 2019 and teaches voice and choir classes, as well as private voice, music history, piano, and music theory.  At GWC she has conducted concerts of classical, jazz, pop, and world music with the Golden West College Chamber Singers and students in the vocal program.  She performed several solo recitals on campus, including “Beau Soir: An Evening of French Music” which featured early 20^th Century French chanson paired with art projections and “The Song is You: A Tribute to Singer of the Great American Songbook.”

Dr. Brooks was formerly the Supervisor of Vocal and Choral Studies at CSU Dominguez Hills, where she was the conductor of the CSUDH Chamber Singers, an auditioned ensemble that performed traditional choral music, including works by Britten, Schumann, Debussy, Vaughan Williams, and Pergolesi.  She conducted this ensemble in choral/orchestral performances of the Bach Ascension Oratorio, Lord Nelson Mass by Haydn, Requiem in D by Mozart, Carmina Burana by Orff for two pianos and percussion ensemble, and Requiem by Brahms.  Dr. Brooks also directed the University Chorus, a pop choir that performs with a live rhythm section, performing music by The Beatles, Prince, Michael Jackson, Queen, Coldplay, and Stevie Wonder, as well as jazz and Broadway favorites.  She co-directed the Early Music Ensemble with Dr. Scott Morris and Dr. Rik Noyce, coaching the vocalists on performance practice for music from Antiquity to the Baroque.

As a contralto soloist, Dr. Brooks has performed at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, and the John Anson Ford Theatre, as well as with the USC Early Music Ensemble and the professional chorus Zephyr: Voices Unbound.  Her musical theatre and opera credits include The Pirates of Penzance, Sweet Charity, HMS Pinafore, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Dido and Aeneas, and several Broadway revues.  She is the Director of Music at Riviera United Methodist in Redondo Beach, where she directs the adult and handbell choirs, produces a yearly fine arts concert series, and founded the Redondo Beach Baroque Festival.