Recognized as a world class musician, Tad Calcara graduated from OHS in 1989 after completing his entire K-12 education in the Oceanside Unified School District.  He began studying piano at the age of 5, and, with the help of his father, added the clarinet to his repertoire while a student at Jefferson Junior High School.  Introduced to the study of jazz by his grandfather, former band leader Carl Calcara, he continued his musical journey at OHS, studying under the guidance of Mark Phelps and Sue Collado.  During his senior year, he was awarded the John Philip Sousa and Louis Armstrong jazz awards.  He then went on to complete his B.M. at the Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and eventually earned his M.M. at the Cleveland Institute of Music.  His musical education was enhanced by winning scholarships to attend the summer music festivals of Aspen, Music Academy of the West and Tanglewood.  Today Calcara is the Principal Clarinet of the Utah Symphony, a position he won in 1998.  Prior to his appointment with the symphony, he performed with the New World Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra.  In addition, Calcara has made many appearances as soloist with the orchestras of Utah, Cleveland, New World, the Big Band Jazz Hall of Fame and was heard on NPR, PBS and Radio France in Montpellier.  Throughout his distinguished career, he has recorded for RCA Red Seal, Reference Recordings, Toshiba EMI and Summit Brass Classical.  An enthusiast of early American Jazz, Calcara’s New Deal Swing Band is an authentic 16-piece 1930s big band which performs the original repertoire of legendary artists Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson and Artie Shaw.  This ensemble was established to present a unique concert/education program that traces the history of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal with the musical culture of the 1930s.

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