Faculty members
Professor of Music, Dr. Peter Curtis, is the director of the guitar program at RCC.
He has performed or recorded jazz with notable musicians including Claudia Acuna, Don Braden, James Carter, Freddy Cole, Taj Mahal and James Moody.
He has appeared in Japan and in European jazz clubs and festivals in Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, The Hague, Paris, Prague, Scaerding (Austria) and Zurich. In North America he has appeared in venues from New York’s Carnegie Hall, to Los Angeles’s Jazz Bakery and from Montreal’s Upstairs Jazz Club to Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom.
His CD, Swing State was highly recommended by All Music Guide and received 4 stars from noted jazz critic Scott Yanow.
As a classical guitarist he has given recitals in the U.S. and Canada and was awarded the Andres Segovia memorial scholarship from the Banff Centre for the Arts.
In April of 2008, a musical for which he wrote the songs was debuted at the University of Redlands. The show, Love U: The Grad School Musical, is a romantic musical comedy set in and satirizing the academic world.
He has taught at Indiana University, Indiana State University, the University of South Carolina and the Appel Farm Arts and Music Center.
Dr. Curtis received his Bachelor of Music degree Magna Cum Laude from the Berklee College of Music, a Masters of Music degree from Yale University, and a Doctor of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance and Literature with minor fields in Ethnomusicology and Music History from Indiana University.
"Peter Curtis puts a lot of thought and a lot of heart into his playing and writing. He has a beautiful sound, particularly on the acoustic guitar where his classical training comes through”
-- Mike Stern.
Jody Fisher studied with his uncle, jazz guitarist Sid Fisher who had spent many years as an RCA recording artist. After moving to the West Coast as a teenager, Jody continued taking lessons with some of the top players living in the Los Angeles area, including, Herb Ellis, John Collins, and Louis Speigner. It was during these years that he also attended The Stan Kenton Music Clinics. Jody eventually began studying with guitarist/bassist, George Stanley, who started bringing him to gigs and introducing him to other players. From this point on, Jody made a steady living playing the guitar.
As a performer, Jody has played virtually every style of music professionally. He has played many important venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and Universal Amphitheater. Today, he is primarily known as a jazz artist and has worked all over the United States, Canada, England and Germany. His newest CD, Impromptu, has received critical acclaim.
Jody has published over twenty instructional books about jazz guitar with Alfred Publishing, Workshop Arts Publications, and Mel Bay Publications. Four of his books have appeared in the Smithsonian Institute's Folkways Exhibition in Washington, DC. In addition Jody has written for most of the major guitar magazines, including Guitar Player, Just Jazz Guitar and Finger Style Guitar.
As an educator, Jody has held the positions of Professor of Jazz and Studio Guitar at the University of Redlands, in Redlands, CA, the University of La Verne, in La Verne, CA, and the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA), in Idyllwild, CA. In addition, he has also served as Associate Director of the National Guitar Workshop as well as Director of the Workshop's Jazz Summit in the the early years of that program. Jody continues to conduct seminars and clinics all over the country.
contact: peter.curtis@rcc.edu
Vasil Chekardzhikov has his Master’s Degree in Guitar Performance and Conducting from California State University of Fullerton. He hails from Varna, Bulgaria. Vasil began playing the accordion at the age of five, then switched to guitar at the age of nine. He studied guitar for over a decade with Professor Liuben Haralambiev, and graduated with excellence from High School of Arts “Dobri Hristov,” of Varna, Bulgaria. He premiered Concertino for strings by Ivan Dimov with the Dobrich String Orchestra and four guitars, together with his brothers and sister. In 2002, he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and Guitar Performance from the Academy for Music, Dance, and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He has performed as a soloist with the Haskovo Symphony Orchestra, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, recorded chamber and solo music for the Bulgarian and Belgium National Radio and Television, and has been active as a solo and chamber musician. He is laureate of over a dozen solo and chamber national and International competitions. Vasil recently received first prize at the Annual Solo Concerto Competition at CSUF in March 2005. Vasil and his brothers, Nikola and Petar Chekardzhikov as the “Triada” guitar trio, received second prize winner in the College and University Division in the 2nd Annual Guitar Chamber Competition in Brownsville, Texas in 2004. He is presently the Guitar Program Director at the Orange County School of the Arts
Cody Noriega is a former RCC guitar student of Peter Curtis. He went on to study at Pepperdine University with Christopher Parkening, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree and his Masters of Music with Andrew York at Cal State Fullerton. He won the Pacific guitar competition and was one of 15 people chosen from around the world to participate in the 2019 Parkening competition.