The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music is a place for making melodies, where young people can come and study with the masters and achieve some of the highest music goals.

The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music (OPC), the nation’s first Public Conservatory of Music, is where dreams come true, according to trombonist Angela Wellman, Founder and Director of the Conservatory.

“I want children to come here to study at no charge,” Wellman said. “The young people who would slip through the cracks, those who would normally not have an opportunity to study in a conservatory of music, the young people that I didn’t see when I was studying music in the conservatories.”

OPC is a warm, friendly and welcoming environment where students learn from musical masters such as Wellman.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Wellman has performed with the McCoy Tyner Big Band, Joe Williams, Slide Hampton and other noted musicians.

Wellman comes from a very powerful musical background. Her mother was a singer, her father was a pianist and her grandparents were also musically inclined.

Pictures of jazz legends and professional musicians cover the walls of OPC and music rooms are named after them, such as the “Ed Kelly Music Hall” and the “Smiley Winters Percussion Studio.”

Jaz Sawyer, a product of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, is a master drummer who has played with Winton Marsalis, Abbey Lincoln and many more.

When not touring the world, he teaches and mentors many young drummers, priding himself on being able to tune in on the strengths and weaknesses of each drummer and encourages them to be confident.

In the six years it has been open, OPC has grown into a community run building that excites students and board members.

“It’s amazing how we started out,” said OPC board member Gillian Hall.  “I’ve seen with my own eyes how it’s evolved into an abounding educational institution that I’m proud to be part of.”

Wellman’s partner, Sandra Mabee Noriega, was the first female to get a Masters Degree at CSU East Bay in Percussion in 1985, and also graduated form the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

“Our biggest challenge is keeping it going on small amounts of funding,” said Noriega.

She encourages Bay Area communities to support their programs through donations and concert attendance.

Wellman said her vision is to see a national agenda of public conservatories so that youth across the county can become active musicians.