Tony Spano is an American music educator, conductor and arts administrator best known for his longtime work at Culver City High School in Culver City, California. He joined the school’s music faculty in 1998 and serves as Music Teacher and Band Director, as well as Executive Director of the Culver City High School Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) and Creative Director of Music. Spano teaches the school’s instrumental music program, including marching and concert band, and oversees AVPA, a multidisciplinary arts academy offering programs in music, theatre, visual art, film and dance. He was named the Culver City Unified School District’s Sony Pictures Entertainment Teacher of the Year in 2016.

Originally from Denver, Spano earned a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Colorado Boulder and later received both an MFA and DMA in instrumental conducting from UCLA. During his career he has received a Surdna Foundation Arts Teacher Fellowship, participated in the Toyota International Teacher Program in Japan, and received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to attend the “Mozart’s Worlds” institute in Vienna. He has also received repeated national recognition from the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum, being named a quarterfinalist for the Music Educator Award in 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027. In addition to his work at Culver City High School, Spano has served on the board of the Culver City Arts Foundation and has participated in national music-educator performance ensembles, including the Band Directors Marching Band.

Tony Spano

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