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The MAP Mentor orchestra is a community of professional musicians committed to continuing the legacy of LA’s musical heritage through mentorship, education, and performance.
Musicians at Play Mentor Orchestra
Artistic Director/Conductor
Anthony Parnther
Anthony Parnther
Artistic Director/Conductor
American conductor, Anthony Parnther, is the Music Director and Conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra in San Bernardino, California, and the Southeast Symphony in Los Angeles. Anthony also serves as the Artistic Director of Musicians at Play, in Burbank, California and as Resident Conductor of the newly established Orchestra US.
Anthony has embraced an international career that emphasizes his passion for storytelling with audiences, advocating for underrepresented talent in the concert hall, and cultivating inspiring experiences with underserved communities. He has conducted artists spanning every musical genre including Joshua Bell, Jessye Norman, Yundi Li, Frederica von Stade, Roderick Williams, the Canadian Brass, Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, Jennifer Holliday, Lynn Harrell, and Alan Walker. Recent guest conducting engagements include a wide variety of ensembles and festivals including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chineke! Orchestra, Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Hear Now Music Festival, BrightworkNewMusic, UCLA Philharmonia, the Pittsburgh Microtonal Festival, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, and the World Opera Forum in Madrid, Spain.
Over the last decade, Anthony has conducted the Hollywood Studio Symphony on a lengthy list of the top film, television, and video game entities in the world. Recent projects include Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Tenet, Little, The Hunt, Fargo, The Long Way Back, The Night Of, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and League of Legends. He has conducted hundreds of sessions for a long list of media composers including Ludwig Göransson, Jeff Russo, Rob Simonsen, Nathan Barr, Edouard Brenneisen, Maclaine Diemer, and Germaine Franco. Anthony has accepted invitations with orchestras internationally to conduct live film concerts, particularly the scores of John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Michael Giacchino, and Jerry Goldsmith. His live orchestral concerts for Riot Games’ League of Legends in Barcelona, Beijing, Seoul, and Los Angeles are among the most viewed symphonic concerts in the world, with live audiences of 50,000+ spectators and a viewership that outpaces the World Series with approximately 100 million live streaming each League of Legends Finals Opening Ceremony.
Recognized as a leading authority on orchestral works by minority and women composers, Anthony has restored and performed orchestral works by Florence Price, Zenobia Powell Perry, George Walker, Margaret Bonds, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington, and Samuel Coleridge Taylor. He has given premieres of works by Errollyn Wallen, John Wineglass, Gary Powell Nash, and Marian Harrison. He has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by living composers such as Renee Baker, James Wilson, Phillip Herbert, Daniel Kidane, Chanda Dancy, and James Newton. He was profiled by Los Angeles’ KCET/TV as a “Local Hero” in 2015 for his extensive community outreach and advocacy for the performance of works by minority and women artists.
Violins
Roger Wilkie – Principal 1st Concertmaster
Roger Wilkie – Principal 1st Concertmaster
Violins
Southern California native violinist Roger Wilkie has been the beloved concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony for over 27 years. He has appeared as a soloist throughout his career with the Symphony, performing the concertos of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and more recently Sibelius. Mr. Wilkie’s professional career began at age 21 when he joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, eventually being appointed Principal Second Violin, a position he held until 1989. He has since returned as Guest Concertmaster. He has also served as Guest Concertmaster with the LA Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Real Filharmonia De Galicia, Spain under Music Director, Helmut Rilling.
Wilkie has participated in the soundtracks of over 1000 films and television recordings. He received the honor of serving as concertmaster for John Williams’ scores for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Indiana Jones IV, Munich, and Memoirs of a Geisha. He recently soloed on the movie A Single Man and in The Adventures of Tintin score by John Williams. Wilkie has also performed on scores for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Deadpool, Avatar, Gone Girl, The Town, among others.
Wilkie is an accomplished chamber musician and the founding member of the Angeles String Quartet, performing and touring with them from 1988–1993. He was the solo violinist with Santa Barbara-based Camerata Pacifica, on whose series he played hundreds of concerts over a ten-year period. He has appeared at many chamber music festivals including La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Festival. He is a member of the Pacific Trio, which has made several tours of Europe and participated in the Silver Lire International Festival of Chamber Music in St. Petersburg.
Fernando Arroyo Lascurain – Principal 2nd Concertmaster
Fernando Arroyo Lascurain – Principal 2nd Concertmaster
Violins
Fernando Arroyo García Lascurain received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Composition at the Manhattan School of and a PhD in Composition at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) where he worked with composers Bruce Broughton, Paul Chihara, Ian Krouse and David S. Lefkowitz.
His music has been performed throughout the world and ranges from solo instrumental works, chamber music and large symphonic works to film, theatre and popular music. Most recently the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra (NYC), the Southern California Viola Choir (LA)and members of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and Santa Barbara Symphony have performed Fernando’s music. As a film composer, Fernando wrote the music for “Any Given Tuesday”, a PSA featuring Elton John and Jamie Foxx. Recent film collaborations highlights include work on Independence Day: Resurgence(2016), Pet Fooled (2016), Survivors (2018), and Midway (2019).
As a violinist, Fernando is an active violinist in the Hollywood studios recording for films, TV, records and with orchestras including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, New West Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Riverside Symphony and the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra.
Crystal Alforque
Crystal Alforque
Violins
Crystal Brooke Alforque has earned her Bachelor degree in Violin Performance at California State University Northridge. Classically trained, she also has a Jazz, Celtic, and R & B background. Crystal has been teaching in southern California for six years.
Since moving to Los Angeles, she has worked with multiple ensembles such as Cal State Northridge’s Honors String Quartet, Cal State LA’s Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, Center Stage Opera, Minor Canon, Southeast Orchestra, Debut Orchestra and American Youth Symphony. She has also worked with various artists including Stevie Wonder (BET), The Foo Fighter’s (Grammy’s) , Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, Katharine McPhee, Kenny G, CeCe Winans and David Foster (American Idol). She was also an on-set musician on FOX’s hit television series GLEE.
Susan Chatman
Susan Chatman
Violins
Violinist Susan Chatman, a Chicago native, has been an active studio and live performance musician in Los Angeles for the past 25 years. Focusing on her main passion of commercial music, Ms. Chatman has performed on and contracted for numerous TV shows such as the Grammys, American Music Awards, MTV Awards, BET Awards and American Idol. She has also played on countless Phono/TV/Movie recordings with a wide range of artists including Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg.
Susan is the founder of the recording group Nu World Strings, which consists of a diverse and talented string section who can play to a groove. During her frequent hometown visits to Chicago, she often found herself asking why they didn’t have more recording sessions. After brainstorming with her colleagues Katherine Hughes and Rich Daniels, Third Coast Music was born with the goal of drawing more awareness and bringing the recording industry to the great city of Chicago.
Ron Clark
Ron Clark
Violins
Ron Clark is a 1st violin with the Pasadena Symphony and POPS Orchestra. In addition, he has recorded on many feature film soundtracks including Incredibles 2 (2018) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). He has also performed on many studio albums including Michael Bublé’s Nobody But Me and Michael Jackson’s Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix.
Lisa Dondlinger
Lisa Dondlinger
Violins
Hailed by Peabo Bryson as “the finest first chair in the business”, Lisa Dondlinger is being recognized as a game changer in the music industry. Equally at home in the worlds of classical and pop music, Lisa combines the technique of a studio musician with the charisma of a leading artist. A Grammy nominated artist herself, Lisa has performed and recorded with all of the top artists of our time ranging from Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and John Legend to Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder. She has performed as a soloist and/or Concertmaster on television shows such as The GRAMMYS, American Idol, The Voice, The Tonight Show, The American Music Awards, The Ellen Show, The Latin GRAMMY Awards, X Factor, Rising Star and Home for the Holidays. Her lengthy list of television credits also includes The Academy Awards, The Emmy Awards, Dancing with the Stars, Penny Dreadful and Luke Cage, to name a few. Lisa has played on the soundtracks to many major motion pictures including the Academy Award nominated score for Passengers as well as recent blockbusters Finding Dory and The Jungle Book. She also performed regularly with mega superstar Céline Dion in her latest production entitled, Céline.
Helen Nightengale
Helen Nightengale
Violins
Helen Nightengale began violin studies at the age of two and has performed since the age of 10. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Nightingale has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world, and has held numerous symphonic positions, including concertmaster positions with the London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Frankfurt Opera, and the Hamburg Philharmonic.Nightingale is a frequent guest artist of many chamber music festivals including Aspen, La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, where she has performed with some of today’s great artists including Hilary Hahn, Cho Liang Lin, Paul Neubauer, Michael Tree, Lynn Harrell, Jon Kimura Parker, Horatio Gutierrez, Jeffrey Kahane, Steven Hough and Vladimir Feltsman.
In June 2010, Ms. Nightingale and her husband, (the late) cellist Lynn Harrell, were named Artist Ambassador’s for the Save the Children Foundation and their HEART (Healing through Education and Art) campaign. As a result of this appointment, they formed a non-profit, “HEARTbeats Foundation, Inc” which, in addition to other organizations, raises money and awareness for the HEART program.
Joel Pargman
Joel Pargman
Violins
Joel Pargman is a graduate summa cum laude (BM ’02) of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, where he studied violin performance with Robert Lipsett on a full scholarship and served as a violin teaching assistant.He currently performs with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and the Pasadena Symphony. As a member of the Denali Quartet, he was for eight years artist-in-residence for Santa Monica’s critically acclaimed “Jacaranda” concert series.Mr. Pargman’s violin has been heard and seen on many national and international media broadcasts, including “A Prairie Home Companion,” NPR’s “World Cafe,” the 2006 Grammy Awards Show, the eTown Live radio show, “Last Call with Carson Daly,” “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” XM Satellite Radio’s “The Joint,” KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” and MTV’s Christina Aguilera VMA Special.
He has recorded with such diverse artists as Ben Harper, Jamie Foxx, Joe Cocker, Thrice, Eric Clapton, Louie Bellson, Sue Raney, Kenny Loggins, Sean Combs, Cruna, and Matt Goss, and has performed on the soundtracks of over 100 feature films.Mr. Pargman is an alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival as well as the Tanglewood Music Center, where he served as concertmaster of both the opera orchestra and the Fellowship orchestra. He spent his third year at Tanglewood as a member of the resident new music quartet, the New Fromm Players.
Sara Parkins
Sara Parkins
Violins
Violinist Sara Parkins is a Grammy award winner for Best Chamber Music Performance of the complete recordings of the Haydn String Quartets with the Angeles Quartet. Sara is a member of the acclaimed Eroica Trio. Along with the trio repertoire, the Eroica Trio performs the Beethoven Triple Concerto with orchestras in North America and Europe.Sara has a strong interest in contemporary music and is a member of The Eclipse Quartet, which focuses on playing living composers. Her Piano trio, Mojave, performs new music as well as the great traditional works of past centuries. She is an active studio musician and was a member of the Rosetti String Quartet. In addition, Sara has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York City and is currently the principal second violinist with the Pasadena Symphony. Ms. Parkins has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Strings in the Mountains and the Bravo Festival in Vail, Colorado. Internationally, Sara has participated at the Taklos Festival in Zurich, The Wels Unlimited Festival, the Festival Internationale de Cadaques in Spain and in Eisenstadt, Austria. Sara is featured on Phillips Classics, Victo, Avant and Tzadik recording labels. Other international performances include, but are not limited to, Buenos Aries, Ljubljana, Prague, Russia, Austria and Germany as a Chamber Musician and Soloist. Sara attended the Curtis Institute of Music and SUNY at Stony Brook. She lives in Los Angeles and loves the sunshine despite the traffic
Ben Powell
Ben Powell
Violins
Ben Powell is one of the most versatile violinists of his generation. British born, he now lives in Los Angeles after residencies in Boston, Paris and New York. He is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music, where he majored in composition and performance.Upon hearing the playing of Stephane Grappelli in his teens, his journey into string improvisation was born. Recently, Ben collaborated on his own recording projects with vibraphonist Gary Burton, cellist Lynn Harrell and percussionist Peter Erskine. He was featured soloist on the Warner Bros blockbuster ‘Dunkirk’ (2018) and ‘Batman vs Superman’ (2017), both scored by notable composer Hans Zimmer, and has worked in the recording studios of LA with Neil Young, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Michael Buble, celebrated film composers Hans Zimmer, Alexandre Desplat, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Geoff Zanelli and Bill Ross.
A lover of the French style ‘Gypsy Jazz’, Ben recently performed the acclaimed ‘Symphonic Django’ suite as a soloist with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra joined by guitarist John Jorgenson. Ben has appeared alongside Paul Simon, Herbie Hancock, Gloria Estefan, Danny Elfman, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, and recently as an improvising soloist with Steve Wonder at The Forum, LA. Ben has enjoyed cameo appearances on prime-time television including The Mindy Project, New Girl and Two and a half Men. The latter saw Ben performing in a scene alongside Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer. Ben transcends boundaries, not only by his own playing but by bringing together varied musical company to join him. This was most recently realized on his March 2016 release ‘The LA Sessions’. Gathering 26 of LA’s finest musicians, Ben compiled an album merging music from the worlds of Bebop, American Folk, Classical, French Musette, Film, Gypsy Jazz, Fusion, and Traditional Jazz.
Lydia Reinebach
Lydia Reinebach
Violins
My mother and father are both professional musicians and college music professors. In my family, music is in the fabric of who we are, not just an activity that we do. I grew up in South Carolina on a university campus where quality music education was a top priority. Piano lessons began at age 3, violin at 4, flute at 9, even pipe organ at 11. Throughout my childhood, our family purpose was clear: make excellent music and equip others to do the same. In 1985 my family moved to Los Angeles so that my Father could complete his Doctorate in Choral Conducting at USC. I remember walking the grounds of the USC School of Music with my father, listening and watching the students practice along the paths outside.
From Arcadia Jr. High/High School through University, I watched my parents work multiple gigs and long hours to ensure I had every opportunity to continue in their footsteps as musicians, developing my identity as a violinist. I remember my first gig – a $20 string quartet casual – at age 14. I’ll never forget how rewarding it felt to be paid for the first time to do what I loved. Over the years I have performed in Musical Theater, Opera, Ballet, Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and on Recording Sessions. I’ve worked as a Music Educator, an Orchestra Contractor and an Orchestra Personnel Manager.
Isabella Reyes
Isabella Reyes
Violins
Isabella Reyes was a scholarship student at both the Longy School of Music and UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and earned her Master of Music in Viola Performance in 2016 from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. She has also studied and performed at music festivals in Canada, Portugal, and Italy. In addition to being a performer of classical, orchestral, and chamber music styles; Isabella has also cultivated an interest in recording for various other genres, with particular focus on film and video game scoring. Apart from music, Isabella is a huge all-around nerd with love for video games, sci-fi, anime, Magic the Gathering, you name it.
Albert Romero
Albert Romero
Violins
Albert Romero is a Los Angeles native and after graduating from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Albert went on to earn a BFA in Violin Performance and an MA in the innovative program of Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts. In addition, Albert earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from the Longy School of Music of Bard College in 2018.
With nearly two decades of professional performance experience, Albert has recorded with major motion picture studios and has performed in many local orchestras including Orchestra Santa Monica, Santa Monica Symphony, Brentwood-Westwood Symphony, West LA Symphony, Corona Symphony, Whittier Regional Orchestra, Dream Orchestra, and Opera Santa Barbara.
Albert has worked with artists such as Dionne Warwick while part of the YMF Debut Orchestra and is featured in a DVD Jazz and the New Song Book, Live at the Madrid Theater with Carmen Lundy, recorded while still a student at CalArts. Albert has also been featured in the string section for Draco Rosa’s album VIDA and has played in Marco Antonio Solis’ 2014 concert tour.
Albert first started teaching with the Community Arts Partnership while a student at CalArts and continued as a private and group violin teacher with many local schools. Albert enjoys teaching all ages, some of his students are only three years old and many have been older adults. Albert instills passion in his students’ own playing, is committed to students finding their own voice and style, but most importantly, Albert helps students to build a beautiful tone and sound. Albert believes the more students love their sound, the more they will want to play and practice consistently.
Violas
Brian Dembow
Brian Dembow
Violas
Andrew Duckles
Andrew Duckles
Violas
Canadian-born violinist Andrew Duckles enjoys a diverse musical life as a recording artist, chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. Formerly principal viola of the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet orchestras, Mr. Duckles has made guest appearances as principal viola of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony, and the New West Symphony. From 1999 to 2002, Andrew spent three seasons performing, recording, and touring with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Mr. Duckles appears regularly as a guest artist on a number of chamber music series throughout the United States and Europe and shares the stage frequently with the Alexander String Quartet and the exquisite flute-harp duo Arpa y Aulos. Andrew teaches viola and chamber music at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach.
As a recording artist, Mr. Duckles is featured on a multitude of studio albums, television, and motion picture soundtracks. Andrew has been featured as a performer on television programs such as Saturday Night Live, The American Music Awards, The Grammys, and the Tonight Show. Andrew has degrees from both the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His hobbies include cartooning, following international soccer, and collecting great music. Andrew is married to culinary genius, master educator, and French horn player extraordinaire Laura Strand.
Corinne Olsen
Corinne Olsen
Violas
Corinne Olsen, a native of Long Island, New York, regards herself as a rock star trapped in a classical musician’s body. She began playing violin in fifth grade at school. Her determination made her concertmaster of the Brookhaven Youth Orchestra, whose performances ranged from concerts at Carnegie Hall and Stony Brook University’s Staller Center, to pit orchestra for the Nutcracker ballet and West Side Story (among others), to small chamber groups for private events. As a result, Corinne learned a variety of music, and became a more versatile musician when she picked up the viola in high school.
After studying viola at the NYS Summer School of the Arts’ School of Orchestral Studies, Corinne attended the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. There she participated in a master class led by Pinchas Zukerman, performed at Carnegie Hall again, and took part in the Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague. In 2005, she received a Bachelor of Music, Violin Performance with a minor in Music Business. Corinne then studied recording at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY before moving to LA. She received a Master of Music, Viola Performance from CSU Long Beach in 2009. Soon after graduation, Corinne joined the Golden State Pops Orchestra as a violinist and the live band for rock musician Avery Watts as violist. She also performs with Lady Low, Margot Lane, and Rex & the Lying Heir, tours with American Murder Song, and freelances with orchestras throughout southern California. Corinne is also an orchestra coach for middle and high schools and youth ensembles. Her ultimate goals are to become a studio musician and to tour with rock bands.
Sharon Ray
Sharon Ray
Violas
Sharon hails from Philadelphia where she studied, taught and performed bass and viola. She holds a performance diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. While in Philly, she recorded with Teddy Pendergrass, Kool and the Gang, toured with Stevie Wonder and played with the likes of John Petrucci, Sammy Davis Jr, and the Philadelphia Opera Company. A long time faculty member of the National Guitar workshop, Sharon is author of Bass for Beginners(Alfred Publishing.) Sharon is a member of the CalTech/Occidental Symphony.
Robin Ross
Robin Ross
Violas
Robin is the owner at Wachovia Fabric Art and Art Studios and performs in the viola section with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Robin studied viola performance at California State University at Northridge.
Stefan Smith
Stefan Smith
Violas
Stefan L. Smith was born in Joliet, IL. He holds two Bachelors of Music Cum Laude degrees in Viola Performance and Music Composition from DePaul University in Chicago. He was also awarded a full tuition graduate scholarship in Viola Performance from USC’s Thornton School of Music.
Stefan has written music for concert hall, film/TV, video games, R&B/Pop, as well as having an extensive symphonic playing career. He has been principal and/or acting principal violist with the Hollywood Studio Symphony, New West Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, South East Symphony, Henry Mancini Institute Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, DePaul Symphony, Oistrach Chamber Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, among others. He is also a sought-after on-screen musician, appearing on projects such as Modern Family, West Wing, The Voice, Glee, 90210, American Music Awards, and the BET Awards. He has written music for film, TV and video games and performs in the symphonic and recording industries of Los Angeles. In 2013, Stefan was appointed to the Viola Section of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
Stefan has received numerous awards, including the National Award of Merit at the National Fine Arts Festival of 2000. In 2013, he taught Violin, Viola and Music Composition as part of the UC Berkeley Young Musicians Program Faculty. He wrote a commissioned symphonic work for the Chicago Sinfonietta, which premiered at Orchestra Hall in Chicago in 2019. He is also Artistic Director of Fever Up’s “Candlelight” chamber series in Los Angeles, and the Artistic Director of the Metropolis Chamber musicians.
Stefan is a sponsored artist with the following:
William Harris Lee Performing Artist
Former Maestro Foundation Performing Artist
Coda Bow International Performing Artist
Remic Microphones Performing and Recording Artist
David Walther
David Walther
Violas
A multi-talented violist, David Walther is also a prolific composer whose influences range from past and present classical music to rock, pop, hip-hop, rap and jazz. He has composed pieces for The Debussy Trio, The Christiane Trio, The Capital Trio,The Karoly Duo, The Southern California Viola Choir, as well as pianist Duncan Cumming and cellist Paul Cohen. David joined The Debussy Trio in 1999, having received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Southern California. Since then, he has performed and recorded with The Debussy Trio throughout the world. A recording of David’s chamber music entitled Threads of the Heart (Albany label) features performances by both The Debussy and Capital Trios.
Cellos
Mark Bassett
Mark Bassett
Cellos
Mark Bassett, a resident of Los Angeles, California, earned his cello performance degree at the New England Conservatory of Music. He also has a degree in music education from the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York.
As a freelance musician, Mark has played with many orchestras and chamber groups including Philadelphia String Quartet, Calder Quartet, South Florida Symphony and Fresno Philharmonic. Mark’s passion for video game music has led him to be principal cellist for runs with the Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess tour, and Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds tour.
As a studio musician, he has been part of many soundtracks including AAA games such as Final Fantasy 12 and 15 and indie games such as Diluvion. As an active music educator, Mark maintains a studio of cello, violin, and bass students, and teaches at the West Coast Music Academy.
Giavonna Clayton
Giavonna Clayton
Cellos
As the daughter of professional musicians, Giovanna Moraga Clayton was destined to have a life in music. “She’s going to be a cellist!”, an exclamation made by her father within hours of her birth, set the path for her future.Born in Toluca, Mexico and raised in Southern California, Giovanna earned a number of accolades as a young cellist. Making her orchestral solo debut at the age of 14, Giovanna has continued to solo with orchestras in the U.S. and as Central America as well as holding tenured positions with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
Working in the Los Angeles studio scene for the last 14 years, Giovanna has played on countless movie soundtracks, records and television shows. In search of a more creatively challenging project Giovanna became a founding member of the Latin Grammy Nominated group Quattro. Touring with the group, now known as Quattrosound, has provided a new platform for her to expand her musical reach. An accomplished and respected musician in the classical world, Giovanna is quickly gaining acclaim in the contemporary-music world as a singer/songwriter. Giovanna has shared stages with many greats including Yo-Yo Ma, Pinkas Zuckerman, Daniel Hope, Bocelli, Prince, Beyoncé, Adele and many more. Giovanna resides in Los Angeles with her husband, two children and dog.
Stephen Erdody
Stephen Erdody
Cellos
Stephen Erdody is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. While there, Mr. Erdody was principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra, recipient of the Otto G. Storm and Juilliard Alumni Scholarships, and the winner of the Morris Loeb Prize for Outstanding Achievement in String Studies. He was the founding cellist of the New York String Quartet, and has served as principal and solo cellist of the Pacific Symphony, Opera Pacific, American Ballet Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem and the Joffrey Ballet.
Stephen has performed with artists including Emanuel Ax, Jeffrey Kahane, Yehudi Menuhin, and Lynn Harrell. He is a former member of the music faculties at UC, Irvine and the Aspen Music Festival. From 1987 until 2002, Stephen was the cellist of the acclaimed Angeles String Quartet, winning the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for their complete recordings of the 68 Haydn String Quartets.
Stephen is active in the film and recording industry and is solo cellist in John Williams’ “Angela’s Ashes”, “Munich”, and “Memoirs of a Geisha”, where he performs a duo with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He is also soloist on Mark Mancina’s score to “August Rush” and Nicholas Glennie-Smith’s score to “Secretariat”. He has been featured by other composers including Hans Zimmer, Alan Menken, Michael Roth, and the late Basil Poledouris. He also soloed on “ER” (composer Martin Davich) and the mini-series, “The Pacific” (composers Zimmer, Blake Neely, and Geoff Zanelli). Stephen was also the solo cellist for the celebrated television series’ “Pushing Daisies” (composer James Dooley).
In 2003, Mr. Erdody founded Chamber Music Los Angeles, an organization that supports non-profits that enrich at-risk, ill or disadvantaged children’s lives through the performing arts.
Stefanie Fife
Stefanie Fife
Cellos
Stefanie Fife, a native of the San Fernando Vally began cello at the age of ten. She received her B.M. and M.M. degree from C.S.U.N. in cello performance.
After college she transitioned into the Los Angeles freelance music community and has enjoyed a varied career in the Los Angeles performing and recording scene since. She has performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Greek Theater with bands such as The Eagles, The Who, and Stevie Wonder; several Broadway shows at the Ahmanson Theatre and with numerous orchestras including Long Beach Symphony, L.A. Mozart Orchestra, and L.A. Master Chorale.
She has performed on hundreds of records for such artists as Frank Ocean, Elton John, Beck, Madonna, Ricky Martin, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Faith Hill, Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige and Snow Patrol. Motion picture credits include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Up, Coco, Despicable Me, Moana, Frozen 2, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Incredibles 1 & 2, Spiderman 2 & 3 and television shows include Supergirl, Blindspot and Lost.
Trevor Jarvis
Trevor Jarvis
Cellos
Trevor Jarvis is a classically-trained cellist based in Los Angeles. Experienced in both classical and pop/rock, he brings passion and creativity to his music. Trevor has played with artists Andrea Bocelli, Wyclef Jean, Imogen Heap, andThe Click Five, and his songwriting can be heard on country superstar Little Big Town’s album Nightfall, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country chart.
At age ten, Trevor joined the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. By age 15 he was playing under conductor Federico Cortese in the Boston Youth Symphony. With this orchestra Trevor performed in Boston’s Symphony Hall, Sanders Theatre, and Jordan Hall, and participated in international tours to Estonia, Latvia, and Russia in 2004, Portugal and Spain in 2006. During this time, he also developed a love for pop and rock music.
Trevor attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying with Grammy award-winning cellist Eugene Friesen and graduating summa cum laude in three years with a degree in performance. While there, he collaborated on numerous high-profile projects, writing the string arrangement and recording cello for a song produced by John Mayer, and performing with international artists such as Rosa Passos, Oscar Castro-Neves, and Leo Blanco.
Since relocating to LA, Trevor has performed at the Dolby Theatre and Disney Hall, and recorded for film and TV at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage, Fox’s Newman Scoring Stage, and Sony Studios’ Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage. He played on the TV series Star Trek: Picard and The Umbrella Academy, and has appeared on NBC’s The Voice. Trevor maintains an active schedule as a cellist for film, TV, concerts, and pop records, as well as collaborating with prominent Los Angeles songwriters.
Armen Ksajikia
Armen Ksajikia
Cellos
Since 1976, Armen has been active in LA’s musical life, working with artists such as Heifetz, Rostropovich, Van Cliburn, Pavarotti, Rosza, Giulini, Baryshnikov, Cage, Mancini, Corea, Dudamel, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Randy Newman, Zubin Mehta and James Cameron, and with groups such as the Eagles, Incubus, System Of Down, and with the Duke Ellington, Dancing with the Stars and Academy Awards orchestras. He is also a busy recording musician with over 1,100 movies to his credit.
Armen has appeared as a soloist with the Nacional Orchestre du Brazil, Pacific Symphony, and Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Chamber orchestras, and subs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He belongs to several ensembles including The Catgut trio, The Rio Trio, California String Quartet and the award-winning Armadillo String Quartet, with whom he performed Haydn’s complete string quartets in a 34 ½ hour marathon. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 with PDQ Bach and has appeared in the Cabrillo, Colorado, Banff, Sitka Summer, Oregon Bach, High Desert, Park City and Venice Film festivals; the Rio International Cello Encounter and Jasper Festival of Music and Wine.
In 1993, Armen made his ‘limousine-driving” debut in James Cameron’s True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. Armen played his own “death scene” in the movie.
Armen’s performances in “less conventional” venues include 16-day whitewater tours down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, “concerts for grizzlies” inside a clarifier tank of an old pulp in Sitka, Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro and at Neverland Ranch. He is particularly proud to have soloed with the Hiland Mountain Women’s String Orchestra at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.
Adrienne Woods
Adrienne Woods
Cellos
Adrienne Woods grew up in a musical family in the small southern town Florence, South Carolina and started playing the cello at age four. She uprooted herself after attending the University of South Carolina after studying with cellist Robert Jesselson and jazz instructor Bert Ligon to hone her craft in Los Angeles.
Since being in Los Angeles, Adrienne has played studio work, orchestral works, television shows, and toured with many star artists including John Legend, Ariana Grande, and Adele. She most recently played in the Oscars, the Grammys with Sean Mendez, and The Lady Gaga Jazz show. Adrienne is currently working on a second solo album and an album with her string group Saga Strings.
Basses
John Belzaguy
John Belzaguy
Basses
A recent ex-patriot from New York City, John has been very active since his arrival in Santa Fe, with the Latin jazz group, “Yoboso”. He is a very proficient upright bass player whose major New York playing experience includes work with Fred Hersch and Howard McGee.
Oscar Hidalgo
Oscar Hidalgo
Basses
Oscar Hidalgo is currently working as the associate principal bass of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (since 1996).
In addition, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, and Hollywood Bowl orchestras, the Pasadena, Long Beach, San Diego and Pacific symphonies, and at the Ojai Music Festival. He has also appeared regularly at the Oregon Bach Festival.
He is also active in the movie and television recording studios of Los Angeles.
William Johnson
William Johnson
Basses
William “BJ” Johnson is an accomplished bass player in the Greater Los Angeles region. He attended Oberlin College and U.S.C. Thornton School of Music.
His musical adventures incorporate all avenues of music, from film and television recordings to orchestral and operatic performances. Mr. Johnson has worked on over 100 film/television scores, performed live internationally on The Grammy Awards Show, Jimmy Kimmel Show, and many other television shows. He has performed with many orchestras in the Southern California area, including Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Long Beach Symphony.
Geoff Osika
Geoff Osika
Basses
Geoff Osika credits his musical training to his father David, a fine trumpeter and music teacher; John Schaeffer, former principal bass of the New York Philharmonic, who conditioned the young bassist to gain acceptance at both the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music; and Roger Scott, former principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
After Curtis, Geoff embarked on several years of full-time orchestral jobs. From 1992 to 2003 he held positions with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galícia in Spain, and the Oregon Symphony. From each place he took with him a wealth of musical and life experiences.
Since settling in Los Angeles, Geoff has enjoyed the rewards of freelancing, having performed as a substitute with the L.A. Opera, L.A. Chamber Orchestra, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Pasadena Symphony. He continues to perform the orchestral repertoire on a regular basis, being the principal bass of the Riverside Philharmonic and the Long Beach Symphony.
Geoff is also part of the recording industry in Los Angeles, having played for motion picture and video games. In the summers, he is the dedicated bass player for the Pageant of the Masters, the unique annual tradition in Laguna Beach.
Jonathan Richards
Jonathan Richards
Basses
Jonathan Richards is a bassist and composer living in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music where he studied with classical bass virtuoso, Nico Abondolo, and jazz legend, John Clayton. He holds a Master’s Degree from Cal Arts and is currently on faculty at Pasadena City College.
As a touring and studio musician, he has had the privilege of working with artists including David Foster, Khalid, Toni Braxton, Joe LaBarbera, Marquis Hill, Snuffy Walden, Van Hunt, Jeff Goldblum, Anthony Wilson, and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
Jonathan has been featured on numerous recording projects for albums, television, and film. These include Beyoncé’s, The Gift, Katharine McPhee’s PBS Soundstage Special, The American Music Awards, and scoring sessions for shows such as The Night Of (HBO), Mrs. America (HULU), and Dear White People (Netfilx). As both an electric and double bassist, he performs genres ranging from orchestral to jazz and pop. He can be seen in numerous videos with Postmodern Jukebox, Sara Niemietz, and the Sarah Reich Tap Music Project, and is a regular performer with The Southeast and San Bernardino Symphony Orchestras.
In January of 2018, Jonathan premiered a project under his own name (Jonathan Richards Quartet) at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles. He is also co-leader of Wilberta, an ensemble performing original music drawing from jazz and alternative genres.
Dave Stone
Dave Stone
Basses
Growing up in Glendale, CA, 2nd generation bassist Dave Stone followed in his father’s footsteps, starting with his high school band at Eagle Rock High School. He later spent five years on the road with Woody Herman, recorded with Stan Kenton and Harry James, and was a member of Louie Belson’s band for several years.
Dave has worked at Disneyland, has done studio work for movies and television, recorded jingles, and performed at jazz parties, local clubs and shows.
Among the popular artists with whom Dave has recorded rhythm and/or orchestra bass are Frank Sinatra, Barbra Steisand, Linda Rondstat, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Natalie Cole, and Aretha Franklin. In 2004, he recorded a song with Sir Paul McCartney. Dave cites the opportunity to play with Andrae and Sandra Crouch in gospel concerts and for the movie The Color Purple as one of his greatest experiences.
His movie credits include Mission Impossible 3, Star Trek 7, Victor Victoria, The Grinch, Mod Squad, and 102 Dalmatians, and among popular TV shows: Dallas, Knot’s Landing, The Simpsons, and CSI: Miami. Dave enjoys performing in a supportive role.
Dave currently resides in Huntington Beach, where he is an avid surfer.
Karl Vincent
Karl Vincent
Basses
You are more likely to find Karl performing in Jazz, Rock and most other L.A. music venues or as a soloist or playing bass on feature movie scores including Coco, Rogue One, Frozen, Spider Man films, Up, live concerts (Beyoncé, The Who, Snoop Dogg, Evanescence), and acting or cameo appearances on TV (Black-ish, Grandfathered), in commercials, and appearances in movies (La La Land, Gangster Squad, Water for Elephants). A list of Classical Music performances include appearances at Disney Hall, The Hollywood Bowl and other grand venues throughout California including performances with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Long Beach Opera (principal bass), and many other professional orchestras and chamber ensembles in the Los Angeles area.
Flutes
Catherine Baker
Catherine Baker
Flutes
Catherine Baker, a Houston native, has most recently been named the Second Place Winner of the 2019 National Flute Association Orchestral Audition and Masterclass Competition. She has also been named First Place Winner and Murray Panitz Memorial Award Winner of the 2018 Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Young Artist Competition and as a finalist and received honorable mention at the 2018 San Diego Flute Guild Young Artist Competition. Catherine has served as the Principal Flute of Orchestra Santa Monica, the American Youth Symphony, and the YMF Debut Orchestra, and additionally the Piccolo Chair of the Young Artists Symphony Orchestra of LA.
Ms. Baker has also performed in orchestras throughout the country including the Bakersfield Symphony, Brevard Music Center, the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Muse-ique, the New World Symphony, the Redlands Symphony, the San Bernardino Symphony, the South Dakota Symphony, the Southeast Symphony, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Texas Music Festival. Through her performances, she has played under notable conductors including Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Keith Lockhart, Andris Nelsons, Carl St. Clair, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Catherine received the Special Recognition award in the YMF Debut Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist in October 2014. Her main teachers include Sydney Carlson, Marianne Gedigian, Jennifer Keeney, and Jim Walker. Currently, she is a flute teaching artist at the Heart of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA @ HOLA), Neighborhood Music School, and the Young Musicians Foundation and the Musicians at Play Foundation.
Heather Clark
Heather Clark
Flutes
Heather Clark has established herself as one of Los Angeles’ most sought after flute players. Her orchestral resume includes present and past positions as Principal Flute with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, and the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. During her career in Los Angeles, Ms. Clark has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and numerous other Los Angeles regional orchestras.
Ms. Clark is also a regular in Hollywood’s recording studios and can be heard on hundreds of major motion picture soundtracks including Rio, Life of Pi, and Frozen. Her resume includes working with the finest film composers including John Williams, Danny Elfman and James Horner. In addition, she has worked with a variety of recording artists including Barbra Streisand, Josh Grobin, Flea, Michael Buble and Carrie Underwood. In 1994, Ms. Clark was awarded First Prize in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition. In addition to her performing career, she has become a leader in teaching audition skills. She was a pioneer in creating Flute Audition Bootcamp which specialized in preparing students mentally and technically for their audition. Ms. Clark is currently teaching at California State University Northridge.
Oboes
Claire Brazeau
Claire Brazeau
Oboes
Claire has established herself as a versatile soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. An awarded finalist in the International Gillet-Fox Oboe Competition, her command of the instrument has been featured in concerto performances with orchestras and ensembles such as Le Train Bleu at Bravo Vail, the Redlands Symphony, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Claire has become a fixture in the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s numerous chamber music series in addition to guest appearances with the Camerata Pacifica and Jacaranda series.
An omnivorous musician, Claire can be heard performing period instruments with the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra followed by a concert of world premieres with new music collective Wild Up, of which she is a member. In addition to her concert season, Claire is an active freelance studio musician who has recorded for several film and TV soundtrack recordings.
Claire is part of the woodwind faculty of the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University Long Beach where she maintains an active oboe studio. Deeply committed to music education, Claire frequently serves as guest clinician at numerous youth orchestra programs in Southern California. She is also a faculty member at the National Take a Stand Festival; a full-scholarship youth orchestra intensive spearheaded by the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel comprised of nationally selected students from El Sistema-inspired programs. Among Claire’s other festival engagements are the Lucerne Festival Academy, Yale School of Music Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Aspen, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the Pierre Monteux School. During the 2011-2012 season she served as a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, Italy.
Jessica Wilkins
Jessica Wilkins
Oboes
Jessica Wilkins is a multifaceted musician with a diverse performance and composition career. She has performed as an oboist with a variety of ensembles including, the Southeast Symphony, San Fernando Symphony, LA Winds, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Jessica has also been able to perform around the world in countries like China, South Africa and Canada.
Composing and arranging are also significant elements of Jessica’s career. At age 18, Jessica had a collection of her oboe duets retailed by RDG Woodwinds. By age 21, she had launched her online sheet music company to showcase her original transcriptions. Her arrangements have been performed by solo artists and chamber music groups like Nancy Ambrose King, Cordancia Chamber Orchestra, University of Northern Colorado oboe studio, and Bocal Majority. In 2015, her Astor Piazzolla arrangement of Five Tango Sensations premiered at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Tokyo, Japan. Jessica is currently working on adding more music by underrepresented composers and educating the arts community on these composers’ achievements through her Black Excellence Project.
Jessica currently resides in Los Angeles, CA as an active freelance oboist and teacher. As an oboist, Jessica has had the opportunity to perform all throughout Southern California in recording sessions, orchestras, operas and small chamber ensembles. She has also been an active mentor to the students of the Inner City Youth Orchestra, which aims to bring high quality music education to those in lower income neighborhoods. Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music as well as a Master’s degree in oboe performance from the University of Michigan
Clarinets
Gary Bovyer
Gary Bovyer
Clarinets
Clarinetist Gary Bovyer, “a virtuosic and passionate soloist” according to the Los Angeles Times, is principal clarinetist of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Orange County’s Mozart Classical Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale Sinfonia and the Santa Monica Symphony.
In addition to his orchestral responsibilities Gary Bovyer is much in demand as a soloist. He gave the world premiere of David Newman’s Concerto for Winds with the Long Beach Symphony and premiered Solo Movement for Clarinet and Orchestra also by David Newman with the Santa Monica Symphony. He has also appeared as soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony, the Santa Maria Philharmonic, the Bremerton Symphony, the Berkeley Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He is featured on the Philips recording Always and Forever by The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra with John Mauceri conductor, the Nonesuch recording of Steve Reich’s Daniel Variations and the New World recording of James Newton’s Sacred Works.
Gary Bovyer has been an active clarinetist in the Los Angeles recording studios for over 25 years and can be heard as principal clarinetist on many of the motion picture scores of James Horner, Danny Elfman, David Newman and George Clinton. A native of Oakland, California, Gary Bovyer received his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School.
Donald Foster
Donald Foster
Clarinets
Donald T. Foster is one of Southern California’s most active musicians, serving as the second clarinetist in the LA Opera Orchestra and as principal clarinetist of both the Pasadena and Santa Barbara Symphonies. He is a frequent auxiliary/substitute musician with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Diego Symphony, and can be heard often as part of the Jacaranda Chamber Music Series in Santa Monica. A frequent studio musician, he has been featured on numerous soundtracks for motion pictures and television.
He graduated from the University of Southern California, receiving his master of music degree in 1996 while in the studios of Yehuda Gilad and Michele Zukovsky. He has received Fellowships from both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals, the latter of which he attended for four consecutive summers. Prior engagements include serving as principal clarinet with the Philharmonie der Nationen based in Hamburg, Germany, with whom he performed in over 250 concerts in virtually every major city in Europe. He has also served as principal clarinet of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, Colorado.. Solo appearances include the Copland Clarinet Concerto with the Santa Barbara Symphony under the baton of Nir Kabaretti and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Pasadena Symphony and Nicholas McGegan.
He is an associate professor of music at Moreno Valley College in the Riverside Community College District and divides his time sharing residences in Palm Springs and the Silver Lake area of LA with his husband Josh and their fat cat Greta.
Juan Gallegos
Juan Gallegos
Clarinets
Southern-California native Juan Gallegos is a familiar and respected name in the freelance community through-out the entire Southland, having performed in the clarinet sections of orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony and New West Symphony, as well as on studio sound stages throughout Los Angeles, performing on several major motion picture and television soundtracks.
With a diverse education, Gallegos earned his Bachelor’s degree in clarinet performance from California State University, Fullerton while in the studio of Håkan Rosengren. He went on to complete his Master’s degree with Nathan Williams at the University of Texas, Austin, and while at UT, won the Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition. In 2010, was a featured soloist at the International Clarinet Association Convention, performing the world premiere of Brett Kroening’s Fuego.
Gallegos has earned a reputation as a well-respected conductor and educator, currently serving as The Diamond Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director and having served as Music Director and Conductor of the Orange County Collegiate Orchestra, Assistant Conductor with the California Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the Cal State Fullerton Wind Symphony, Symphonic Winds and University Band, and was a conducting fellow with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. He went on to earn a second master’s degree in conducting from Cal State Fullerton, studying with Mitchell Fennell.
Gallegos is currently on the faculty at Riverside City College teaching clarinet.
Dr. Jonathan Sacdalan
Dr. Jonathan Sacdalan
Clarinets
Clarinetist Dr. Jonathan Sacdalan’s musical experience includes performing with the San Bernardino Symphony, the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony and the California Ballet Company. Currently, he serves as principal clarinetist in the Southeast Symphony. As a chamber musician, Jonathan has performed with Jacaranda, Pacific Serenades, and the Helix Collective.
Dr. Sacdalan’s playing can be heard in the motion picture soundtracks of Christopher Robin, Little, and Welcome to Marwen, and for the music video of 2020 motion picture, Mulan. Over the last several years, Dr. Sacdalan has recorded television episodes for Star Trek Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Stargirl. He has performed live with notable artists in the film industry including Seth Macfarlane, John Debney, Alex Wurman, Bruce Broughton, Sean Callery, and more.
Dr. Sacdalan holds Doctorate and Master degrees from UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree from the California State University, Fullerton. While not performing, he is a devoted clarinet instructor with the Musicians at Play Foundation, Harmony Project and LA Philharmonics’s Youth Orchestra LA Initiative.
Bassoons
Lieza Hansen
Lieza Hansen
Bassoons
As a bassoonist in Los Angeles, Lieza Hansen has performed in a variety of settings, proving both versatility as a performer, but also as a pedagogue. While she usually performs regularly with multiple orchestras across Southern California, during the past few months Lieza has been using recent events as an opportunity to collaborate and participate in more recorded and live streamed performances. As a teacher, Lieza’s focus is not only on mastering musical ideas through the bassoon, but also cultivating lifelong skills that go beyond the instrument. Lieza has given group masterclasses at a number of schools and music programs in the Los Angeles area as well as in her home state of Iowa while maintaining a private studio in Glendale, CA. Passionate about providing music education in underserved communities, Lieza teaches through the American Youth Symphony’s “Share-A-Stand ” program, and has previously worked with students at Harmony Project and the LA Philharmonic’s YOLA program. Also a skilled reedmaker, Lieza teaches bassoon reed making classes at the University of Southern California and provides reeds to numerous students and professionals throughout Southern California. Lieza holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Southern California.
Theresa Treunfels
Theresa Treunfels
Bassoons
Theresa Treuenfels received her Bachelor of Music in bassoon performance from the University of Southern California where she studied with Michael O’Donovan and Norman Herzberg. She also studied with David Breidenthal at the Music Academy of the West and Evandro Dall’Oca at Teatro della Scala in Milan, Italy. As a freelance musician Ms. Treuenfels has played both bassoon and contrabassoon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Pacific Symphony and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, among others. She is currently second bassoon in the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and the Desert Symphony and acting second in the Riverside Philharmonic. Additionally, she has performed at the Cabrillo Music Festival, Oregon Coast Music Festival, and Sunriver Music Festival.
As a chamber musician Ms. Treuenfels is a founding member of Calico Winds. The quintet has toured throughout the United States and has participated in the Arts Presenters Alliance YPCA Seminar culminating in a concert in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Their two CDs, All in One and Vintage America received praise from the Los Angeles Times and Gramophone Magazine. Calico also recently commissioned a piece from composer Damian Montano, Sinfonia Concertante, for woodwind quintet and chamber orchestra, which they premiered with the Culver City Symphony. Ms. Treuenfels is also a member of Azusa Pacific University’s faculty quintet.
Ms. Treuenfels is currently adjunct faculty at Azusa Pacific University’s School of Music, was previously on faculty at La Sierra University, and has been on faculty at the Colburn School’s Community School of Performing Arts since 2005.
Saxophones
Frederick (Keith) Fiddmont
Frederick (Keith) Fiddmont
Saxophones
Educator/woodwind specialist Frederick (Keith) Fiddmont moved to Los Angeles in 1991 after leaving the legendary vibraphonist Lionel Hampton to begin a two-year stint with singer Rickie Lee Jones. He has recorded or performed live with such legends as Stevie Wonder, Luis Miguel, Diana Krall, Christian McBride, Marcus Miller, James Brown, The Temptations, Jennifer Holliday, Natalie Cole, Nancy Wilson, and B.B. King (Grammy award winning One Kind Favor), as well as gifted artists like Wayne Brady, Billy Childs, Queen Latifah, Michael Buble, and John Pizzarelli. As a freelancer, he has performed with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, the Ed Neumeister Big Band, the Luckman Jazz Orchestra, and the Southeast Orchestra. He is currently featured on Phil Ranelin’s Tribe Renaissance Live!
Keith has been a member of the award winning Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra for the past twelve years. The group’s recent credits include “The Big Band Bash” with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, and the Benny Golson 80th Birthday Celebration at the Kennedy Center. Keith joined the music faculty of Santa Monica College as an adjunct in 1996 and became a full-time faculty member in the Fall of 2010. In addition to SMC, Keith has worked as the Jazz and Commercial Music Coordinator for the Orange County High School of the Arts since 2008.
Dan Higgins
Dan Higgins
Saxophones
Dan Higgins first distinguished himself as an outstanding saxophonist while attending University of North Texas. Dan has worked with bands and jazz artists such as Louis Bellson, Dave Grusin, Stanley Clarke, Arturo Sandoval and George Duke. As a member of the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin big band, Dan recorded two albums and toured Europe and Japan. He can be heard on jazz albums with Quincy Jones, Arturo Sandoval, Sammy Nestico, and Pat Williams. Dan contributed 2 arrangements on the 2013 Grammy winning CD of Arturo Sandoval “Dear Diz”.
Dan has recorded with such noted artists as Phil Collins, Jose Feliciano, Cher, Natalie Cole, Randy Newman, Babyface, Dave Matthews Band, Katy Perry, Whitney Houston, Harry Connick Jr., Christina Aguilera, Ringo Starr, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Queen Latifa, Roberta Flack, Barbra Streisand, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Frank Sinatra, Andrea Bocelli, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart and Neil Young. When I Fall in Love, with Natalie Cole, produced by David Foster, features Dan on tenor sax.
Dan’s varied talents on saxophones and woodwinds make him a sought after session musician in the film, TV and record industry. Dan is the solo alto saxophone voice of Bleeding Gums Murphy from the TV series, The Simpsons. The Academy Awards, Emmys, Grammy Awards, SAG Awards, People’s Choice Awards and Espys are just a few of the live TV specials he has played. Dan has worked on 700 motion picture scores and is a featured saxophone soloist on the scores: Catch Me If You Can, Ray, Sideways, Awakenings, and Sleepless in Seattle. Such notable composers as John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Marc Shaiman and Randy Newman call on Dan to play their film scores.
Under the direction of John Williams Dan has been a guest soloist with noted orchestras such as the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic performing the John Williams piece Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra.
Bob Sheppard
Bob Sheppard
Saxophones
Bob Sheppard, jazz saxophonist and woodwind specialist. His diverse skills have been highly acclaimed for decades as a touring and first-call studio musician. He blankets a striking and distinguished roster: Freddie Hubbard Quintet, Chick Corea & Origin, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Mike Stern Band, Billy Childs, Lyle Mays Quartet, Steps Ahead, Michael Brecker Quindectet, Horace Silver, Peter Erskine Dr. Um & The Lounge Art Ensemble, John Beasley, Scott Henderson & Tribal Tech, Harry Connick Jr., Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Dianne Reeves, Michael Buble, Kurt Elling, Quincy Jones and Frank Sinatra. Sheppard’s jazz and pop collaborations also include: Randy Brecker, Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Cole, Boz Skaggs, Dave Grusin, Michael Franks, Burt Bacharach, Lee Ritenour, Queen Latifah, Nat Adderly Quintet, Arturo Sandoval, Chris Botti, Karrin Alysson, John Patitucci, Patrice Rushen, Vince Mendoza.
He’s recorded on over a hundred movie and tv scores working with composers such as Randy Newman, Mark Isham, Alan Sylvestri, Tom Newman and John Williams. Live TV bands of legend include The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, American Idol, Dick Cavett, and The Late Show with Joan Rivers. His Big Band teamwork includes John Beasley’s Monk’estra, Bob Mintzer, Bill Holman, Akiyoshi/Tabakin, Bob Florence, Patrick Williams, Bill Watrous, GRP All Star Big Band, Seth MacFarlane and is a frequent member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Bob has five solo albums as a leader: The Fine Line (2019); From The Hip (2013); Close Your Eyes (2010); In The Now (2002) and his first album Tell Tale Signs (1991), produced by Walter Becker.He’s received multiple Grammy nominations for his contributions with Billy Childs, John Beasley and others.
As a passionate music educator, Sheppard is an adjunct faculty member at the USC Thornton School of Music, and frequently a guest artist-clinician around the globe. Bob holds a M.M.degree from the Eastman School of Music and teaches privately in his LA studio.
Trumpets
Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron
Trumpets
Wayne Bergeron is enjoying a career as one of the most sought-after musicians in the world. Studio sessions, film dates, international touring, jazz concerts, guest appearances, and clinics keep him busy not only in his hometown of Los Angeles, but worldwide.
Bergeron first caught the ear of many when he landed the lead trumpet chair with Maynard Ferguson’s band in 1986. Bergeron can be heard on Maynard’s recordings of Body and Soul, Big Bop Nouveau, Brass Attitude, and The One and Only Maynard Ferguson. Bergeron demonstrates daily why Maynard remarked, “Wayne is the most musical lead trumpet player I’ve had in my band.” As a sideman, Bergeron’s list of recording credits reads like a who’s who in contemporary jazz and pop, running the stylistic gamut from Ray Charles to Green Day. Other names include Beyoncé, Barbra Streisand, Michael Buble, The Dirty Loops, Seth MacFarlane, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Seal, Diana Krall, Tito Puente, Christina Aguilera, Dianne Reeves, Michael Bolton, Earth Wind & Fire, The PussyCat Dolls, My Chemical Romance, The Mars Volta and many others.
Bergeron has worked on over 450 TV & motion picture soundtracks. A partial list of film credits include The Incredibles 2, Minions 2:The Rise of Gru, Soul, Ford vs. Ferrari, La La Land, The Secret Life of Pets 1 & 2, Wreck it Ralph 2, Toy Story 4, The Lion King (2019), The Mule, Crazy Rich Asians, First Man, Smallfoot, The Predator, Sing, Moana, Frozen, Rocky Balboa, Bridge of Spies, Get On Up, Toy Story 3, Monsters University, Despicable Me 1 & 2 and numerous others. Bergeron’s passion for big bands has led to his inclusion in some of Los Angeles’ most well-respected bands. He has recorded and played with Quincy Jones, Gordon Goodwin, Arturo Sandoval, Pat Williams, Sammy Nestico, Jack Sheldon, Chris Walden, Tom Kubis, John La Barbara, Bob Florence, Bill Elliot, Ray Anthony, Bill Watrous, and Bob Curnow. After being behind the scene for so many years, Bergeron stepped out on his own with his first solo effort, You Call This a Living? This debut project earned him a Grammy nomination in 2004 for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, as well as rave reviews from fans and press worldwide. Bergeron’s second CD, Plays Well With Others, released on the Concord Jazz label in 2007, was met with the same acclaim. Bergeron’s most current CD, Full Circle, was released in January of 2016. Bergeron feels this is his best work to date.
Bergeron is a National Artist for the Yamaha Corporation of America and is co- designer of the YTR-8335LA trumpet and YFH-8315G Flugelhorn. Bergeron also designed a series of trumpet mouthpieces with Gary Radtke of GR Technologies that are available through Bergeron’s website.
Bergeron was mentored by legends like Uan Rasey, Bobby Shew, Warren Luening, Gary Grant, Rick Baptist, and George Graham. He hopes to inspire a new generation of young players and enjoys his work as a clinician and educator. “Nothing makes me feel more accomplished than hearing a young musician say that I inspired them or had a positive influence on their life. For me, that’s the real payday.” Bergeron is currently on faculty at California State University Northridge.
Chuck Findley
Chuck Findley
Trumpets
Charles B. Findley (born 13 December 1947 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American session musician. Most widely known as a trumpet player, he also plays other brass instruments such as flugelhorn and trombone. His technical abilities and versatility are renowned even among other session players, with the celebrated session horn player and arranger Jerry Hey saying “Chuck Findley can play anything”.[1]
A graduate of Maple Heights High School in Ohio in 1965,[citation needed] and the Cleveland Institute of Music,[2] Findley’s first professional work was with the Jimmy Dorsey Big Band before joining the Buddy Rich Band on a world tour.[3] In 1989 he joined the Tonight Show band led by Doc Severinsen.[4] He was also a member of the band on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1994 to 2001.
A regular collaborator on recordings by artists such as B. B. King and Steely Dan, he has also played and/or recorded with Nancy Sinatra, Miles Davis,[5] Stanley Turrentine, Toto, Pat Boone, Christopher Cross, Jaco Pastorius,[6] James Last, Lee Ritenour, Jackson Browne, George Benson, Luis Miguel, George Harrison, Elton John, Carole King, Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Jose Feliciano, The Rolling Stones, Dionne Warwick, Diane Schuur,[7] Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Tina Turner, Al Jarreau, Sarah Vaughan, Narada Michael Walden, Buddy Rich and many others.
Chuck Findley played the flugelhorn solo on the Carpenter’s 1970 #1 hit record-“Close to You.” Findley also often collaborates with his brother Bob, another trumpet player. Findley is considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew.
Nathan Johnson
Nathan Johnson
Trumpets
Nathan Corey Johnson continued on to play for the Ohio State Wind Symphony, Jazz Ensemble and The University of Toledo Wind Symphony and Jazz Ensemble. Corey has worked on independent films/documentaries as an actor, film score arranger and editor. He has a passion for sound design production methods and he wants to expand commercial music practices from from the An active educator in the community, Noah maintains a studio of private students who are all motivated and aspiring musicians, many of which have gone on to successful careers in music. In addition to trombone playing, Noah is an orchestra manager, contracting personnel and managing the musical operations of The San Bernardino Symphony, Opera Santa Barbara, The West Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, The Central Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Barry Perkins
Barry Perkins
Trumpets
Barry Perkins has served as Principal Trumpet of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra since 2004. Throughout his career, he has performed with many world renowned orchestras, famous classical and jazz artists as well as esteemed conductors. Barry has performed on the world’s most prestigious concert stages including those of Munich, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Lucerne, Hannover, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Essen, Vienna, as well as those of the United States.
In addition to his current duties with the Pacific Symphony, Barry is a member of the music faculty at California Baptist University, UCI and founder of the Barry Perkins Trumpet Academy which has reached hundreds of young musicians throughout Southern California.
Barry learned to play the trumpet from his father at the early age of five. He later went on to study with Richard Birkemier, Donald Green with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Charles Schlueter, Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony
Barry is also an active Hollywood Studio Musician. A few recent film and TV credits include: Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, Aquaman, Creed 2, First Man, The Predator, Welcome To Marwen, Lego Movie 2, Toy Story 4, Deadpool 2, Star Wars:The Last Jedi, Ready Player One, Jumanji 2, Orville, The Post, Downsizing, Star Trek Discovery, Logan, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Transformers:The Last Night, Spiderman: Homecoming, Cars 3, Rogue One, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Hidden Figures, The Amazing Spiderman 2 to name a few.
Bryce Schmidt
Bryce Schmidt
Trumpets
Born in Salem Oregon, trumpet player Bryce Schmidt was a distinct musical talent from a young age. As a teen, Schmidt received early recognition from the music community winning the National Trumpet Competition’s High School Soloist division in 2006. Bryce continued his musical studies earning a Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees under the tutelage of Bill Campbell at the University of Michigan. Bryce’s artistry then earned him the James Stamp Trumpet Scholarship while working on a Graduate Certificate at the University of Southern California under the guidance of Los Angeles Philharmonic trumpeters Boyde Hood and Thomas Hooten.
Finishing his formal studies in 2017, Bryce quickly began making a name for himself in the freelance community. Having already played as a guest performer with the Detroit Symphony and Ann Arbor Symphony, Bryce has played in Los Angeles with the Downey Symphony, guest principal with the American Youth Symphony, Hans Zimmer Live, and has served as a sub musician with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Schmidt is also an active recording artist, performing on music for film and television. He can be heard on Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, A Wrinkle in Time, as well as the critically acclaimed Paramount film A Quiet Place. Bryce’s television credits include Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Empire, Dynasty and Cobra Kai.
In addition to his busy performing schedule, Mr. Schmidt also maintains a studio of private students. As a clinician, Bryce has worked with students at every level, including but not limited to middle school, high school, and university aged musicians.
Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith
Trumpets
Aaron Smith is a Los Angeles-based trumpet artist. He actively performs across several genres and will play just about anything, but really love a great lyrical or action score. He also contributes original work to the public repertoire with work written for brass quintet, concert band, among others.
For the International Trumpet Guild, Smith has appeared as a guest Solo Artist and more recently as a member of the Hollywood Epic Brass. He enjoys outreach work, teaching privately, composing and arranging.
Smith holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. He is also a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy.
As a freelance artist, Smith performs for motion picture, television and video games, including PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center, Riot Games, Spike, Touchstone Pictures, Universal and Warner Brothers. He has served supporting roles on shows such as Dancing With the Stars, Ellen, the LATE LATE Show and The Voice. He participates in a variety of ensembles such as the Grammy-nominated John Daversa Progressive Big Band and the Hollywood Studio Symphony. Smith currently serves as principal trumpet for the Southeast Symphony, conducted by Anthony Parnther.
Chad Willis
Chad Willis
Trumpets
Equally at home in a multitude of musical idioms, Chad Willis has visited 20 countries and as many states, performing with Lyle Lovett, Kurt Elling, The Manhattan Transfer, Eugene Corporon, Bill Conti, Houston Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Southern California Brass Consortium, United States Air Force Band of the Golden West, The Pacific Brass, Orange County Wind Symphony, Jeff Daniels, Doug Cameron, Bryan Pezzone, Bill Holman, Rich DeRosa, Wayne Bergeron, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, Bob Mintzer, John Daversa, David Ricard, Donny Most, Lyle Mays, Lynn Anderson, Frankie Valli, Clare Fischer Big Band, Brent Fisher, The Platters, Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Crystals, Bowser from Sha Na Na, The Dixie Cups, Denis Deblasio, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Darcy James Argue, John Mosca, Tim Ries, Bernard Fowler, Bob Curnow, Chris Vadala, Shadmehr Aghili, Scotty Barnhart, Brad Leali, Arnold McCuller, Francine Reed, James Morrison, Matt Rollings, Jim Cox, Russ Kunkel, Jim Riggs, John Wasson, the Billie Leadbetter Big Band, the Houston Civic Jazz Orchestra, the Dallas Original Jazz Orchestra, the Nobles of Note, The American Jazz Composers Orchestra, Rikki Derrek, Colette Lush, Becky Martin, Steve Huffsteter, Mike Barone, Steve Hass, John Netzinger, Viktor Krauss, Keith Sewell (Dixie Chicks music dir.), Luke Bulla, Buck Reid, Harvey Thompson, Charles Rose, Stuart Duncan, and many more.
Horns
Dylan Skye Hart
Dylan Skye Hart
Horns
Los Angeles native Dylan Hart is a busy freelance musician. Depending on the day, Dylan can be found recording French Horn on music for video games, motion pictures, theme parks, cruise lines and television shows as well as performing a wide variety of music genres including solo, chamber music, pop, jazz, contemporary, and orchestral. In 2013, Dylan won Honorable Mention in the Professional Division at the International Horn Competition of America.
Dylan is very active in the Los Angeles film music scene and is quickly becoming a highly sought after principal horn player. He has recorded films with many great film composers such as Alexandere Desplat, James Newton Howard, Bruce Broughton, Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer and John Williams. Some movie titles that Dylan can be heard playing principle horn on include Ready Player One, Deadpool 2, Star Wars The Last Jedi, X-Men Apocalypse, Suicide Squad and The Jungle Book. You can hear him play some of the last horn solos written by the late James Horner in Magnificent 7. Dylan has also recorded albums and made television appearances with music legends Michael Buble, Sting, Neil Patrick Harris, Stevie Wonder, Wu-Tang Clan, Gladys Knight, Yo-Yo Ma, Neil Young and The Beatles! Dylan can be heard playing solo horn on his namesakes (Bob Dylan) two most recent albums “Shadows in the Night” and “Fallen Angel”. In the summer of 2013, Dylan toured Europe with The Who doubling on horn, trumpet, trombone, wagner tuba, and mellophone. He has also toured with John Williams’ Star Wars in Concert and Eden Espinosa of Wicked.
Dylan maintains an active teaching studio as the professor of horn performance at Cal State University Long Beach and has been highly sought after as a guest performer and lecturer. In the orchestral world, Dylan has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra to name a few.
Paul Klintworth
Paul Klintworth
Horns
Via Instrumental Casting, Paul appears as a French horn player in the Nina Simone movie, in a music video with ADELE, and commercials for United Airlines, Humira, and Wienerschnitzel, playing Alpenhorn.
I am fortunate to have a diverse career in Los Angeles as a freelance Musician, Music Educator, Instrument Repair Technician, Sports Broadcast Technician and Camera/Jib Operator. As a musician, I record in the Hollywood studios for TV and film and perform live with many ensembles in southern California, including The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and The San Diego Symphony. I have worked and recorded with numerous artists and film composers including John Williams, James Horner, Danny Elfman, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera and Michael Jackson.
In Sports Television, I have worked as a Jib Technician on the Indy Car, National Pro Grid League and CrossFit circuits for NBC and ESPN, as well as on productions for the Golf Channel. I also served as the Technician for the 2014–15 Spidercam crew on ESPN’s Monday Night Football, BCS Championship Game and Pro Bowl. In addition to these activities, I own and operate a brass instrument repair business (LABrassworks.com), dabble in Videography / Video Editing, and maintain active studios at Riverside Community College and California State University, Fullerton. I hold a Bachelor’s degree from The University of Southern California, (where I studied under Vincent DeRosa), and certificates from The Colorado Institute of Musical Instrument Technology and Spidercam US.
I lived and worked in southern Japan for 15 months during college. It was there that I met my wife of now 19 years. We reside in Glendale, California with our 3 awesome sons!
Kristy Morrell
Kristy Morrell
Horns
Kristy McArthur Morrell has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1997. She is a faculty member at USC’s Thornton School of Music and The Colburn School of Performing Arts. She performs frequently with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, LA Opera, and Pasadena and Pacific symphonies. A respected recording artist, she has performed on numerous motion picture and television soundtracks and records.
Kristy has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from USC, where she also received her Master of Music. She received a Bachelor of Music and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. In 1993, she was the first place winner of the International Horn Society solo competition and in 1997, she was the first place winner of the solo competition at the International Women’s Brass Conference. Her principal teachers were Verne Reynolds, Vincent DeRosa and James Decker.
Danielle Ondarza
Danielle Ondarza
Horns
Danielle Ondarza is a horn player based in Los Angeles. As a freelancer, she has performed with many orchestras in Southern California, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, as well as concert series and festivals such as Jacaranda and Hear Now.
She has performed as principal in musicals at major venues such as the Pantages Theatre and Segerstrom Center for the Arts. In film and television, her credits include Finding Dory, Deadpool, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Suicide Squad, Once Upon a Time, Penny Dreadful, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Danielle played principal horn for Josh Groban on his Straight to You Tour, traveling for six months throughout the United States and Europe. She has also performed live with a variety of artists, including Andrea Bocelli, Mariah Carey, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Alicia Keyes, Queen Latifah, Idina Menzel, Kanye West, and Juan Gabriel. Recording credits include dates for Mary J. Blige, Barry Manilow, Madonna, Sia, and Justin Timberlake.
A dedicated teacher, Danielle is on the faculty of the Colburn School’s Community School of Performing Arts, Pasadena Conservatory of Music, Pomona College, and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). Her students have been accepted to a long list of prestigious universities and conservatories, including Eastman, USC’s Thornton School, the Manhattan School, San Francisco Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and UCLA’s Herb Alpert School.
Preston Shepard
Preston Shepard
Horns
Preston’s journey into working in the film industry started with music. A Los Angeles area native, Preston grew up in a musical home where he played piano, cello, and trumpet before settling on horn (French Horn) in high school. He attended both Cal State Northridge and Azusa Pacific University on performance scholarships, and fell in love with playing commercial, trailer and film music in the recording studio. His studio recording experience led to an interest in the art of recording itself, and he soon found himself immersed in the world of digital audio recording, just as the “home studio” explosion was happening in the early 2000’s.
This interest soon translated into recording indie film scores for friends and colleagues, and eventually splitting his career into two equal parts of recording and mixing music for television and film, and performing both in the studios, as well as performing with many of the LA area regional orchestras and theatre companies. Along the way, Preston also got into sound editing for pictures, and has supervised and mixed over a dozen feature films over the years.
Bob Watt
Bob Watt
Horns
Bob Watt is the former Assistant Principal French Horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and first African American French Hornist hired by a major symphony in the United States.
Born in Neptune, New Jersey, his father was a jazz trumpet player. Watt won a scholarship to The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and continued studies at California Institute of the Arts. At the age of 22, he was hired by Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to play assistant principal horn, where he remained for 37 years.
He has worked with the likes of Quincy Jones, Yo-Yo Ma, and Placido Domingo; performed under the baton of Pierre Boulez, Andre Previn, and Leonard Bernstein; and can be heard on the soundtracks for Star Trek: Voyager, The Simpsons, and Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna.
Watt is also the author of an autobiography, The Black Horn: The Story of Classical French Hornist Robert Lee Watt, published by Rowman and Littlefield, which was featured and acclaimed by outlets such as NPR.
Trombones
Lori Stuntz
Lori Stuntz
Trombones
Trombonist Lori Stuntz holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the USC Thornton School of Music. Lori plays principal trombone with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, trombone with the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, and frequently performs with many orchestras.
As a commercial player, Lori plays lead trombone for the all female big band Maiden Voyage and has performed with artists such as DIVA, Nancy Wilson, Jack Sheldon, Diane Schuur, Ray Anthony, Lionel Hampton, Bill Watrous, and The New York Pops. As a recording artist she has appeared on many major motion picture soundtracks, commercials, video games, and records. She is the first female trombonist to record on a major motion picture.
Lori is on the faculty of Cal Poly Pomona and Mt. San Antonio College and enjoys living in the Los Angeles area with her family of six.
Noah Gladstone
Noah Gladstone
Trombones
Noah Gladstone is an active performing musician, playing the trombone and other low brass instruments on recording media for television, film and video games and in live performance. He has performed with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and The Chicago Symphony Orchestra to name a few. As an early music specialist, he is a founding member of Tesserae-Baroque and performs on historic instruments such as the sackbut, serpent and ophicleide. He holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in music from The University of Southern California.
In addition to performance, Mr Gladstone is a co-owner and music contractor/producer of Hollywood Scoring, a multimedia music production company and recording studio facility in Los Angeles. He has been involved with the production of recording sessions and live music shows (both locally and global) for a variety of clients ranging from all aspects of the entertainment industry. Some include: NBC-Universal, Illumination Entertainment, Microsoft, Netflix, Tencent, Adult Swim, Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks and Thanksgiving Parade, Disney Theme Parks, Blizzard Entertainment, National Public Radio, as well as Riot Games: League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra and Wild Rift. He maintains a small studio of private students and has had devoted students throughout the years, many of whom have gone on to their own careers in music.
Steve Hughes
Steve Hughes
Trombones
Denis Jiron
Denis Jiron
Trombones
Denis Jiron was born and raised in Los Angeles of Nicaraguan parents. Mr. Jiron attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and, later, California State University Northridge. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from CSUN he went on to attend the Music Conservatories in Trossingen, Germany and Mannheim, Germany, respectively. While in Germany Mr. Jiron was recruited to play lead trombone with the German National Youth Big Band. Upon returning from Germany he attended and earned a master’s degree from CA Institute of the Arts. Mr. Jiron has had a lively career playing with a wide variety of acts including: Kanye West, Queen Latifah, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, The Voice, American Idol, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, LA Opera Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is currently attending Michigan State University as a DMA candidate.
Bill Reichenbach
Bill Reichenbach
Trombones
A native of Takoma Park, Maryland, Bill was educated at the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Emory Remington. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1975, Bill has played on at least 1000 records, 600 movies plus countless jingles and television shows. Primarily a bass trombone player, Bill also plays tenor trombone, contrabass trombone, euphonium and tuba. The Bill Reichenbach Quartet CD continues to be heard on jazz radio stations throughout the country.
Bill is a member and on the board of directors of The American Federation of Musicians – Union Local 47, as well as a member of the board of the Recording Musicians Associations of Los Angeles (RMALA).
Tuba
Joseph Jackson
Joseph Jackson
Tuba
Joseph Jackson resides in Long Beach with his wife Sheveeta, 5-year-old son Jacob and newborn son Jeremiah. Joseph holds a B.A. degree from the University of Southern California and a Master of Music degree from Azusa Pacific University.
Joseph is principal tubist with the Rio Hondo and Desert Symphonies and has performed with Pasadena Symphony, New West Symphony, Conejo Valley Symphony, Marina Del Rey Symphony, Redlands Symphony, The Long Beach Ballet and La Primavera Orchestra. He has been soloist with the Carson and New Valley Symphonies on multiple occasions and has had solo performances with the Golden State British Brass Band and The Southwest Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference (SWRTEC). Recently, he conducted a Master Class session at SWRTEC called “A Musical Approach to Etudes.” He has studied with Tommy Johnson, Doug Tornquist, Jim Self, Roger Bobo, Pat Sheridan, Norm Pearson and John Van Houten.
An active freelance and studio musician, Joseph plays on recordings and soundtracks, including with Terence Blanchard, The GKM Jazz Orchestra, The Hollywood 12, and DeadMau5. Joseph founded the Citrus Six Tuba Ensemble and has commissioned new music for this ensemble. In addition, he has commissioned four other solo/chamber works for tuba and plans to have many more commissions done.
Joseph is also a teacher and clinician. He is professor of tuba at Citrus and The Master’s College. With Youth Orchestra LA at HOLA, Joseph is the Low Brass Specialist, where he leads sectionals with all brass instruments, teaches private instruction, occasionally conducts the Symphonic Winds, and coaches the Brass Chamber Ensemble “Yo Brass.”
Joseph is involved in ministry at Crenshaw Church of Christ, where he serves as a music minister and deacon.
Timpani
Don J. Williams
Don J. Williams
Timpani
Donald J. Williams’ vast and varied career as a percussionist, composer, orchestrator and conductor spans popular and classical music while advancing musical education in both America and Europe. His creative work has appeared on thousands of film and television soundtracks and popular music and original cast albums over the past four decades. In fact, he’s been a part of the majority of the world’s biggest movies over the past. He has also performed with more than 45 different Broadway productions while also serving as a special instructor for prestigious universities.Don Williams
Don has worked with composers such as Michael Giacchino, Alan Silvestri, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Debney, James Horner, Arthur B. Rubinstein, Alexander Desplatt, James Horner on films the likes of “Benjamin Button” “Munich” “Memoirs of a Geisha” “Ratatouille” “ Titanic” “E.T,” the “Indian Jones” film series, “Jurassic Park, “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” “Star Wars-VII,VIII,IX, Star Trek. He has performed on Timpani for 20 years on the Academy Awards Oscar Shows, Grammy Awards.Don is the Program Director and co-founder of the Musicians at Play Foundation.
Percussion
Sidney Hopson
Sidney Hopson
Percussion
Sidney Hopson celebrates a diverse career spanning the music industry and public policy. As a percussionist, he has performed for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble, Southeast Symphony, Ensemble FIRE (NYC), Los Angeles Master Chorale, Opera Santa Barbara, members of the Echo Society, and more. He is currently the principal percussionist of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra.
He made his Lincoln Center Debut in 2016 in the opera “Paradise Interrupted” by composer Huang Ruo. He has performed in orchestral premieres of John Williams, Philip Glass, John Corigliano, Morten Lauridsen, Peter Eötvös and Kaija Saariaho. He has also performed and recorded with a wide range of commercial artists including Stevie Wonder, Danny Elfman, Rhianna, Burt Bacharach, the cast of “GLEE”, Dionne Warwick, Lamont Dozier, Dave Koz, Patrice Rushen, David Benoit, and Brian Wilson. He can be heard on over 100 film/tv soundtracks, from the cult horror film The Caretaker to Illumination’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2018).
Students from his private percussion studio have been accepted into degree programs at USC, UCLA, NYU, CalArts, Berkeley College of Music, UC Riverside, CSU Northridge, and more.
As an arts consultant, Hopson advises artists, arts institutions, and the public and private sectors on content development, strategy, and best practices to advance social justice and cultural equity, foster economic growth, prevent local crime and global terrorism, mitigate climate change, and support international development via the arts.
He is currently writing his first book, “E L I S I O N”. In it, he discusses the complex and intimate relationship between the arts, artists, and the great social and geopolitical issues of our time. Through personal anecdotes, interviews, and scholarly analysis, he presents his case for artists’ profound potential to heal historic social wounds, strengthen volatile cultural bonds, and achieve greater global stability.
Pete Korpela
Pete Korpela
Percussion
Pete Korpela is a Los Angeles based studio and touring percussionist, recognized internationally for his versatility in orchestral, latin, jazz, world, rock, and pop music. He has collaborated with such renowned talent as, among others: Danny Elfman; Hans Zimmer; Alan Silvestri; Michael Giacchino: John Powell; Harry Gregson-Williams; Josh Groban; Robbie Williams; Jeff Russo; Henry Jackman; Marco Beltrami; Michael McDonald; Carter Burwell; Disturbed; Alan Parsons; Calle 13; Rickie Lee Jones; Al DiMeola; Kelly Clarkson; Madeleine Peyroux; Lizz Wright; Ed Shearmur; Kandace Springs; Ana Moura; Joe Trapanese; Rob Simonsen; Melody Gardot; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; Seth MacFarlane; and the 91 st Academy Awards Orchestra.
Some of the movie and TV soundtracks Pete has performed on: The Lion King (2019); Spider-Man Far From Home; Mulan (2020); Jumanji 3; Spies In Disguise; The Addams Family (2019); It 2; Doctor Sleep; Ready Player One; Men In Black International; Christopher Robin; The Predator; Ferdinand; LEGO Movie 2; Onward (2020); Call of the Wild (2020); Mandalorian; Star Trek Discovery; Lady and the Tramp; ToGo and Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Pete has appeared at Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Sydney Opera House and O2 Arena (London), and has toured across US, Canada, Japan, China, Europe, Scandinavia, South Africa and the Philippines. In 2011, he joined Josh Groban’s “Straight to You” world tour and is currently Mr. Groban’s percussionist. In 2012, he toured extensively, with jazz vocalist Melody Gardot, and with tenor Nathan Pacheco. Between 2003 and 2007, he toured throughout the United States with the first National Tour of Tony-Award-winning Walt Disney’s The Lion King, as a marimbist and featured on-stage percussionist. He has also performed with major Broadway shows Hamilton, Motown and Beautiful.
An active Los Angeles-based studio musician, Pete has been working with composer Jeff Russo on the new Star Trek: Discovery series, which features a wide array of exotic percussion instruments from Pete’s ever-growing collection. His work can also be heard on the award-winning Assassin’s Creed 2, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations soundtracks—with over 10 million copies worldwide—and in movies Straight Outta Compton (composer Joe Trapanese) and Going in Style (composer Rob Simonsen). He has featured in popular TV shows, including: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; Conan O’Brien; Jimmy Kimmel; Ellen, Good Morning America; Live with Kelly; Later… with Jools Holland; Dancing with the Stars; America’s Got Talent; and PBS Presents: Jackie Evancho. And in 2010, Pete performed with Cirque du Soleil as musical director and lead drummer in a nationally televised project.
Born and raised in Finland, Pete studied orchestral and hand percussion extensively at the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in World Music/Percussion, and at Los Angeles Music Academy. As an instrument-maker and innovator, his collaboration with Pearl Percussion led to an original new design called “The Jingle Cajon” which won DRUM Magazine’s “Drummie” award in 2010. He also designed the critically acclaimed “Shaker Pandeiro” for Cooperman Co.
Nick Stone
Nick Stone
Percussion
Los Angeles based percussionist and drummer Nick Stone has made his career performing across the world, including such countries as France, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and China. He has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
A native of LA, he has performed with many different ensembles around Southern California including The Echo Society, The New West Symphony, The Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, and The Southeast Symphony. From 2011 to 2013 he was a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, South Africa, serving as Co-Principal Timpani and Principal Percussion. With this group he toured across South Africa and to Europe.
He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University where his teachers included Gerald Carlyss, Kevin Bobo, and Steve Houghton and received his Master’s Degree from Rutgers University,
Don J. Williams
Don J. Williams
Percussion
Donald J. Williams’ vast and varied career as a percussionist, composer, orchestrator and conductor spans popular and classical music while advancing musical education in both America and Europe. His creative work has appeared on thousands of film and television soundtracks and popular music and original cast albums over the past four decades. In fact, he’s been a part of the majority of the world’s biggest movies over the past. He has also performed with more than 45 different Broadway productions while also serving as a special instructor for prestigious universities.Don Williams
Don has worked with composers such as Michael Giacchino, Alan Silvestri, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Debney, James Horner, Arthur B. Rubinstein, Alexander Desplatt, James Horner on films the likes of “Benjamin Button” “Munich” “Memoirs of a Geisha” “Ratatouille” “ Titanic” “E.T,” the “Indian Jones” film series, “Jurassic Park, “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” “Star Wars-VII,VIII,IX, Star Trek. He has performed on Timpani for 20 years on the Academy Awards Oscar Shows, Grammy Awards.Don is the Program Director and co-founder of the Musicians at Play Foundation.
Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine
Percussion
Peter Erskine has played drums since the age of 4 and is known for his versatility and love of working in different musical contexts. He appears on 700 albums and film scores, and has won 2 Grammy Awards plus an Honorary Doctorate from the Berklee School of Music. Fifty albums have been released under his own name or as co-leader. He has played with the Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson big bands, Weather Report, Steps Ahead, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Kenny Wheeler, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Brecker Brothers, The Yellowjackets, Pat Metheny & Gary Burton, John Scofield, et al, and has appeared as a soloist with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, plus the London, Los Angeles, Chicago, BBC Symphony, Bochum, Tokyo Metropolitan, Yomiuri Nippon, Oslo and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras. He premiered Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Erskine — Concerto for Drumset & Orchestra” with Beethoven Orchester Bonn and performed it at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Peter has been voted ’Best Jazz Drummer of the Year’ ten times by the readers of Modern Drummer magazine and was elected into its Hall of Fame in 2017. Peter graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and studied at Indiana University under George Gaber. Peter is an author with several books to his credit, including“No Beethoven” — an autobiography and chronicle of the band Weather Report — plus his latest title, “The Drummers’ Lifeline.” Peter is Professor of Practice & Director of Drumset Studies at USC, and conducts masterclasses worldwide, while his latest endeavors include several innovative play-along apps for iOS.
Dan Greco
Dan Greco
Percussion
Dan started piano lessons at age 5 and continued his piano studies through high school. He started drum lessons in the 6th grade studying with G.A. Remonko through high school. Dan received a full scholarship in percussion to West Virginia University where he studied for 4 years with Philip J. Faini. He also continued piano studies with Dr. James Miltenberger. After graduating with a performance degree in Applied Music Performance, Dan immediately started working playing various music jobs in Denver and Boston. In 1975 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as a session musician.
Guitar
Jamey Arent
Jamey Arent
Guitar
Jamey Arent is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer based in Los Angeles. Born in Denver, Jamey picked up the guitar at the age 12, when he first heard the Beatles. After completing a degree in jazz studies from the Oberlin Conservatory, he moved to Los Angeles to receive a master’s degree in studio/jazz guitar from USC and begin his career as a gigging musician.
As a sideman, Jamey has performed and recorded with artists like Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Matthew Morrison, B. Slade, Spencer Day, Taylor Dayne and Raquel Rodriguez. Jamey has also played on soundtracks for Netflix, TBS and Comedy Central shows, including Netflix’s original series Motown Magic, where Jamey recorded on songs performed by Smokey Robinson and Trombone Shorty. He also featured backing up Woody Harrelson on a cover of Elvis’ “Burning Love,” from the Zombieland: Double Tap soundtrack.
An avid educator, Jamey is an adjunct professor of commercial guitar at the Herb Alpert Music Center at Los Angeles City College , teaches private lessons regularly, and has appeared in dozens of lesson videos for the popular Pickup Music website. Jamey is also frequently hired to demonstrate guitar equipment from companies like Heritage Guitars and Vertex Effects.
Harp
Jillian Lopez
Jillian Lopez
Harp
Jillian Lopez is a proud Los Angeles native and freelance artist. Jillian earned a Masters in Fine Arts in Harp Performance from California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Music in Performance- Harp from California State University- Long Beach. She is currently pursuing a DMA in Performance at UCLA. Her versatile style has been mentioned by LA Weekly (Hollywood Fringe Festival) where they describe her as “one who reaps musical dividends, adding to the story’s magical feeling.”
Film credits include ‘Papa Hemingway in Cuba’ (2015), and ‘The Ground Beneath Their Feet’ (2014), and ‘With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story’ (2010). She was a featured performing artist for PBS “Artbound Special Episode: Invisible Cities” (2015) composed and adapted by Christopher Cerrone (Pulitzer Prize Finalist). She was also featured in pre-recorded tracks on the green route from The Industry’s ‘Hopscotch’ .
On stage, Jillian has collaborated with LAMC, 3-D Theatricals. Good People Theater Company ‘The Fantasticks’ (Hollywood Fringe Festival) , Musical Theater West, Encore Southbay, The Lewis Family Playhouse, and the Independent Shakespeare Company. In the Spring of 2017, Jillian was featured in a A Laugh Than Think Production of ‘For Piano and Harpo’ written and starring Dan Castellaneta (voice of ‘Homer Simpson’).
She is currently Principal Harpist & Co-Founder of the Los Angeles Chamber Music Co. (LACMC), Long Beach Ballet Company, Pacific Opera Project, Pasadena Opera, and The Contemporary Performance Collective. She has performed with The Industry Opera Company, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and Long Beach Opera. She has also performed with Grammy Award winning and nominated artists such as Diane Schuur, Melissa Manchester, The Irish Tenors, and the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet.
Piano/Keyboards
John Beasley
John Beasley
Piano/Keyboards
Larry Goldings
Larry Goldings
Piano/Keyboards
Larry Goldings is a Grammy-nominated pianist and composer. His organ trio with Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart has been recognized in the New York Times as “the best organ trio of the last decade.” Goldings’ musical inspirations draw from a lifetime of absorbing jazz, pop, funk, R&B, electronic and classical music.
As a performer and recording artist, he is known for long-term collaborations that straddle the realms of jazz and pop with such artists as Jim Hall, Maceo Parker, John Scofield, Steve Gadd, Jack DeJohnette, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Sia Furler, John Mayer, and others.
Goldings has been recording and touring with singer-songwriter James Taylor since 2001, and is the featured musician on Taylor’s One Man Band CD/DVD, the culmination of a two year world-wide tour with James and Larry in duet. In 2007, Scofield/Goldings/DeJohnette’s Trio Beyond – Saudades (ECM) was recognized with a Best Instrumental Jazz Album Grammy nomination for their searing live recording at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Goldings’ music graces the soundtracks of many film and television projects. He contributed to the jazzy fabric of Clint Eastwood’s Space Cowboys and enhanced John Madden’s Proof and Judd Apatow’s Funny People with original compositions, as well as providing ghoulish organ music for “Lurch” to play in the animated film, The Addams Family. Goldings’ Nino Rota-inspired score to Jeff Garlin’s Dealin’ With Idiots is the backdrop to this hilarious film about the zany parents of a Little League baseball team. Listeners of NPR’s This American Life can hear Goldings’ music underscoring many of its dramatic stories.
Larry scored the Netflix series, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, infusing the drama with shades of ragtime and early jazz, in combination with modern, back-beat oriented cues, in which early jazz meets hip-hop. The soundtrack has been released by Warner Bros. through Watertower Music
Mark Levang
Mark Levang
Piano/Keyboards
Mark LeVang was born into a musical family. As the son of a successful studio guitarist, Mark learned at an early age on how to make a business out of music. After honing his craft while enlisted in the United States Air Force Band, Mark returned to Los Angeles to make his way through the many avenues and alleyways of the local music scene. From all indications, this has worked brilliantly for him. Mark’s talents as a multi-faceted recording keyboardist, composer/arranger and musical director have created a unique brand that transcends every venue, from Motion Picture Scoring Stages to “High Society” Events, Worldwide. “Firstly, I am a steward to the music.” Mark states. It is with that dedication to the music, coupled with his love of client service that has kept Mark LeVang at the top of his game for over three decades.
Mark Gasbarro
Mark Gasbarro
Piano/Keyboards
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mark Gasbarro now lives and works in Los Angeles. Mark’s work as pianist, composer/arranger/orchestrator and producer has taken him around the world, though his home base has been his work in Hollywood. His work may be heard on hundreds of productions from blockbuster feature films and television series through album projects, awards shows and more. Among these many are: Star Trek Beyond, Jurassic World, Disney/Pixar’s Zootopia, Tomorrowland, Pixar’s Inside Out, Up, Ratatouille, Cars 2, The Incredibles, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Mission Impossible III, the Academy Awards, Star Trek Into Darkness, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, TV series Lost, Revenge, Big Love, What About Brian, Ghost Whisperer, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Castle, among many others. His live concert work ranges from opera through musical theater to jazz and pop.
He is also an adjunct professor of both piano and composition at Azusa Pacific University. Equally comfortable among varying styles of music, Mark moves smoothly through jazz, pop, film, classical and world music.
As a composer his work has supported dozens of shows seen on the Fox Network, ABC, PBS, A&E, HBO, the History Channel and the Discovery Channel.
Some of Mark’s recent work as orchestrator may be heard in Inside Out, Jurassic World, John Carter, Land of the Lost, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Mission Impossible III, Robert Altman’s film The Company and scores to video game projects including Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, (winner BAFTA Award -Best Interactive Score) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Call of Duty, several of the Medal of Honor titles, , many others.
He has also served as arranger/producer/pianist and conductor on over 70 CD & video productions for Integrity Media, Inc., Brentwood Records, Columbia Records Japan, Monarch Records, Tidal Wave, and his own new production company Gasbarro Music Group.
Josh Nelson
Josh Nelson
Piano/Keyboards
A native of Southern California, Josh Nelson maintains an active and creative schedule as a pianist, composer, educator, and recording artist. He has performed with some of the most respected names in jazz, including Natalie Cole, Anthony Wilson, George Mraz, Jeff Hamilton, Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Eddie Daniels, Ken Peplowski, Richard Galliano, Benny Golson, Sheila Jordan, Greg Hutchinson, John Clayton, Seamus Blake, Matt Wilson, Sara Gazarek, Dave Koz, Joe Chambers, Kurt Elling, John Pizzarelli, and Lewis Nash.
Josh’s fourth studio album Discoveries (2011), introduced a pairing of classic science fiction ephemera with new compositions for a brass and wind ensemble (featuring a live ongoing video projection and art installation component as well, called The Discovery Project). Exploring Mars (2015) presented musical themes on the Red Planet, and The Sky Remains (2017) examined his hometown of Los Angeles. His latest album is Live in Japan (2020).
Awards include the Louis Armstrong Award and the John Philip Sousa Award. In 2006, Josh was one of only twelve semi-finalists in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.
Josh toured for 6 years with legendary vocalist Natalie Cole. He continues to tour with artists Kenny Washington, Gaby Moreno, and Alicia Olatuja.
Orchestra Manager
Don J. Williams
Don J. Williams
Orchestra Manager
Donald J. Williams’ vast and varied career as a percussionist, composer, orchestrator and conductor spans popular and classical music while advancing musical education in both America and Europe. His creative work has appeared on thousands of film and television soundtracks and popular music and original cast albums over the past four decades. In fact, he’s been a part of the majority of the world’s biggest movies over the past. He has also performed with more than 45 different Broadway productions while also serving as a special instructor for prestigious universities.Don Williams
Don has worked with composers such as Michael Giacchino, Alan Silvestri, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Debney, James Horner, Arthur B. Rubinstein, Alexander Desplatt, James Horner on films the likes of “Benjamin Button” “Munich” “Memoirs of a Geisha” “Ratatouille” “ Titanic” “E.T,” the “Indian Jones” film series, “Jurassic Park, “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” “Star Wars-VII,VIII,IX, Star Trek. He has performed on Timpani for 20 years on the Academy Awards Oscar Shows, Grammy Awards.Don is the Program Director and co-founder of the Musicians at Play Foundation.
Librarian
Michael Ryan Armstrong
Michael Ryan Armstrong
Librarian
Michael Ryan Armstrong started playing in the Conejo Valley Youth Orchestra in 2002 and has been a coach since 2005. He is a keyboardist, trumpeter, and conductor, and is the music director of the Westlake Village Symphony. He is principal keyboardist for the American Youth Symphony where he has worked with Alexander Treger, James Conlon, David Newman, John Williams and Alan Silvestri.
Mr. Armstrong has performed with the Golden State Pops Orchestra, the San Fernando Valley Symphony, the Westwood Symphony, and many others in the Los Angeles area. He is the assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Symphonic winds and has conducted them in concerts throughout France, Luxembourg and china. In September 2014, he was appointed as program coordinator for the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra. In the summer, Mr. Armstrong works as a music librarian at Idyllwild Arts. His teachers include Bill Benson and Edward Francis.
In 2013, Mr. Armstrong accepted the position of Assistant Conductor and Librarian with Conejo Valley Youth Orchestras. His knowledge as a musician and his enthusiasm for working with talented youth have proven him to be a great asset to the orchestras.
Personnel Manager
Connie Boylan
Connie Boylan
Personnel Manager
Program Manager
April Williams
April Williams
Program Manager
April Williams, a native Los Angeles Arts Education activist, currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Musicians at Play Foundation. She has held that position for seven years and is responsible for the artistic oversight and coordination of virtual and live public performances, the MAP Mentor Orchestra’s overall strategic and operational plan, year-round programs, educational outreach, and community involvement. In addition, Williams oversees the training programs for the direct internal organizational processes and infrastructure, and is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing operational facets of the annual budget. She also monitors the quality of program execution and provides expert guidance on project management and personnel performance, as well as the organization’s marketing, communications, public relations, production, orchestra operations, media, diversity, and inclusion initiatives.
Williams has a gift for building audiences and bringing communities together through arts and culture, education, and diverse partnerships. The variety and depth of musical acts, from intimate 3-piece combos to 23-piece big bands and orchestras, keeps serious and casual music listeners coming back for more.
Among Williams’ successes was her tenure as an estate agent for Prudential Realty where her yearly sales topped the $40 million mark. In addition, she was a top producer, a training director, and a member of the Chairman’s Circle Gold Division for 10 years. In 2008, when the financial crisis resulted in evictions and loss, April provided live music as a healing source by bringing Los Angeles communities together. April is the creator of the Red-Carpet Jazz Series for Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City, producing over 2,000 concerts in Los Angeles between 2008-2014. An advocate for live music, education and LA musicians, April’s series created over 20,000 live performance jobs for musicians, vocalists, music educators, and sound engineers.
She is responsible for dozens of groundbreaking artistic initiatives that include the launch of five new virtual learning programs, a virtual orchestra and vocal series, major multi-disciplinary projects, and dozens of live professional performances and community events. April’s tenure with Musicians at Play has been defined by her close relationships with such prominent musicians and composers as John Williams, Michael Giacchino and her husband, veteran studio percussionist Don Williams, who has appeared on thousands of film and television soundtracks, popular music recordings, and original cast albums over the past four decades. He is also the brother of the world-renowned, Oscar-winning film composer, John Williams. Generations of Williams-family musicians have been a vibrant force in the classical, pop and film music culture since 1925.
Williams is a life-long Southern California resident and, together with her husband Don, have raised six children.