David Granger currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area
where he works as a freelance musician performing in orchestras
throughout northern California.
Currently Artist Affiliate in cello and chamber music at the
University of California, Davis, Susan Lamb Cook is an
active performer and educator in the capital region.
Luis “Tito” Talamantes holds a bachelor of professional
studies in interdisciplinary music studies from Berklee College
of Music and has been a Mariachi educator for Stockton Unified
School District for over six years. His ensembles have been
invited to the White House (2016), performed at the Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts (2018), and have placed in many
national competitions.
DMA, Choral Conducting, University of ArizonaMM, Choral Conducting, University of British Columbia (Vancouver)BA, Music, Lewis & Clark College
Erik
Peregrine (they/them/theirs) enjoys an
active career as a conductor and educator, serving as the
Director of Choirs and Lecturer in Music at UC Davis and as the
artistic director of Ensemble Companio, an award-winning
Northeastern regional chamber choir.
Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, University of Michigan
Percussionist Christopher Froh specializes in
promoting and influencing the creation of new music through
critically acclaimed performances and dynamic lectures. To date,
he has premiered over 150 chamber and solo works by composers
from 17 countries. His collaborations include some of the most
significant composers of the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries, including Chaya Czernowin, David
Lang, Steve Mackey, John Adams, George Crumb, Liza Lim, Matthias
Pintcher, and Keiko Abe.
D.M.A. Jazz Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder 2017M.A. Instrumental Music Performance, California State University, Fresno 2012B.A. Instrumental Jazz Performance, California State University, Fresno 2010
California native Otto Lee is a
saxophonist, educator, and composer. After completing a bachelor
of arts degree in instrumental jazz performance (2010) and a
master’s degree in music performance (2012) at California State
University Fresno, he began his teaching career at CSU
Fresno as well as Fresno Pacific University where he was in
charge of the big band applied lessons. After spending a brief
stint as the director of jazz studies at CSU Fresno, he decided
to pursue a DMA in Jazz Studies from University of Colorado,
Boulder (2017).
Brian Rice is a highly acclaimed performer, educator, and
recording artist and one of the most versatile percussionists in
the Bay Area. Though best known as a specialist in Brazilian and
Cuban music, he can be heard playing a multitude of styles,
and his percussion playing graces over sixty recordings.
After coming to the United States over two decades ago, Rita
Sahai continued her extensive music studies under the world
famous sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, who passed away in
2009. Impressed by her talent and passion toward music,
“Khansahib,” as she affectionately called her guru, gave her the
title Gayan Alankar (Jewel of Music).
Sahai, an acclaimed composer, performer, and teacher, tours
throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and India. She is also in
demand at recording studios at home and abroad, where she
graciously lends her voice to many diverse musical projects,
including contributing vocal tracks for Grammy Award-winning
artist Béla Fleck and performing on Alonzo King’s Sacred
Texts, a CD of international music that won the Isadora
Duncan Award for music excellence. She has also collaborated on
several live musical productions with Jennifer Berezan’s “Edge of
Wonder” project.
Stacey Pelinka is a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and
the Eco Ensemble. She plays principal flute with San Francisco
Opera’s Merola Program productions and second flute with the
Berkeley Symphony, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the San Francisco
Chamber Orchestra, and the Midsummer Mozart Festival. A certified
Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, Stacey teaches Feldenkrais at
the San Francisco Symphony. She attended Cornell University and
the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Timothy
Day.
Michael Goldberg, guitar, is currently playing solo and chamber
recitals throughout the United States. He has toured as part of
the Alma Duo, an ensemble of violin/viola and guitar, and is also
a longtime member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, a group
devoted to contemporary music performance. He has recorded on the
Arabesque and Kameleon labels.
Kerstin Allvin has won numerous awards and competitions
throughout her career as a concert harpist and has performed
across the United States from Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie to
the historic Carmel Mission in California. She has
frequented Japan, performing solo concerts at the prestigious
Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Nogi City Hall, and for Detroit/Toyota
City’s Sister City Association. She holds degrees, honors,
and performance certificates from Indiana University, University
of Michigan, and post-graduate studies with Jaqueline Borot,
Honorary Professor of the Paris Superior
Faythe Vollrath, harpsichordist, performs as a soloist and
chamber musician throughout the United States. Hailed by the Wall
Street Journal for her “subtly varied tempo and rhythm
that sounds like breathing,” her solo performances include venues
such as MusicSources in Berkeley, CA, Gothem Early Music in New
York City, and Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg.
Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, University of Michigan
Percussionist Christopher Froh specializes in
promoting and influencing the creation of new music through
critically acclaimed performances and dynamic lectures. To date,
he has premiered over 150 chamber and solo works by composers
from 17 countries. His collaborations include some of the most
significant composers of the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries, including Chaya Czernowin, David
Lang, Steve Mackey, John Adams, George Crumb, Liza Lim, Matthias
Pintcher, and Keiko Abe.
New England Conservatory of Music, Master of Music (2001)
UC Davis Lecturer in Music I-Hui Chen is a
compelling pianist who seamlessly radiates her music and thoughts
to the audience. Critics consider her musicality to be honest and
direct, reflecting the composer’s original intentions, yet
retaining her own creative individuality. In addition to her role
as a solo performer, she is a dedicated teacher to young
musicians and an experienced collaborative pianist.
Steinway Artist Natsuki Fukasawa’s music career has
taken her throughout U.S. cities as well as to Europe,
Scandinavia, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Japan, and China,
performing at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and
Copenhagen’s Tivoli Concert Hall. Fukasawa has won many accolades
and international prizes, including rave reviews
in Strad and Fanfare magazines and the Best
Chamber Music Recording of the Year from the Danish Music Awards.
Michael Seth Orland has appeared extensively in the Bay Area as a
chamber musician, playing with the San Francisco Contemporary
Music Players Earplay, the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players,
New Music Theater, the Empyrean Ensemble, Other Minds, and in the
San Francisco Symphony’s New and Unusual Music Series.
Kevin Stewart hails from the greater metropolitan area of
Detroit. Upon graduating from the University of Michigan, where
he received a Bachelor of Woodwind Performance degree, Kevin
headed west and settled in the Bay Area, hooking up with the San
Francisco Saxophone Quartet, the Nuclear Whales Saxophone
Orchestra, and most recently the South American jazz group
Quinteto.
Michael Schwagerus, double bass, joined the North State Symphony
in 2001 and continues serving there as principal bassist. During
this time, he has also performed with the Sacramento
Philharmonic, Modesto Symphony, Sacramento Choral Society,
Sacramento Chamber Music Society, and was also principal
bassist for the Townsend Opera.
As full-time music teacher of St. James School in Davis, Michael
enjoys conducting Concert Band and Choir while teaching K–8 music
to the school’s 300 students.
Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Michigan Master of Music Performance degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Bruce Chrisp is the principal trombonist with the Marin, Santa
Rosa, Fresno, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz County, Vallejo, and Carmel
Bach Festival orchestras.
B.A. UC Davis, music composition and theoryM.A., music composition and tuba performance, CSU, Sacramento
Portia Njoku, a composer, tubist, and music educator, holds a
bachelor of arts degree in music composition and theory from
the University of California, Davis and a double master’s degree
in music composition and tuba performance from California State
University Sacramento. As an active performer, she has
held principal positions with many ensembles and continues to
freelance with chamber groups like the highly popular German
Brass Band, Grand Isle Fire Brigade throughout the
Sacramento and Bay Area regions.
A champion of contemporary music in the United States and abroad,
violist Ellen Ruth Rose is currently a member of Empyrean
Ensemble, the flagship new music ensemble in residence at UC
Davis, and Earplay, the San Francisco-based contemporary
ensemble.
Melita Anastasia Denny is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at UC
Davis. She earned a bachelor’s of science degree in viola da
gamba performance from Indiana University Jacob’s School of
Music, graduating with distinction in 2009. During her studies at
IU, she also did additional work in music history with research
interests centering on the history of music theory and imitative
counterpoint in Renaissance sacred polyphony.
Bachelor of Music degree, Indiana University and Master’s degree, University of Texas, Austin
Jolán Friedhoff relocated to Davis in 2008 after serving as
assistant concertmaster of the Saar State Opera Orchestra
(Germany) for twenty years. Since her return to California, she
has performed as assistant concertmaster and concertmaster for
several orchestras in the region, including the Sacramento
Philharmonic, Modesto Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, and the Bear
Valley Music Festival. She also has been part of the
Mendocino Music Festival orchestra, Sacramento Choral
Society, and Sierra Master Chorale.
Sand plays with the chamber ensemble Musical Assembly, is
director of the New York State Baroque, and appears with many Bay
Area early music groups. He has recorded for Meridian, Harmonia
Mundi (France and the U.S.), Arts and Music, KATastroPHE,
Wildboar, and Titanic.
A native of Northern California, Dagenais Smiley
earned her bachelor of music degree at Oberlin
Conservatory as a student of Milan Vitek and her master’s degree
from University of Southern California under the instruction of
Kathleen Winkler. She is proud to have worked under notable
conductors such as Leon Fleisher, David Zinman, Robert Spano,
Michael Tilson Thomas, and John Williams. She has participated in
master classes given by Yuval Yaron, Kathleen Winkler, Alexander
Barantschik, Fritz Gearhart, the Calder Quartet, and Glenn
Dicterow.
Heidi Moss Erickson is a San Francisco Bay
Area performer, educator, and scientist. Noted for her “rich and
radiant soprano” (Edward Oriz, Sacramento Bee), she has performed
both in the United States and abroad.
A champion of new music, she frequently collaborates with
renowned living composers including Daron Hagen, David Conte,
Tarik O’Regan, Henry Mollicone, Jake Heggie, and her husband,
Kurt Erickson.
Peruvian-born mezzo-soprano Zoila Muñoz teaches voice on the
faculties of UC Davis and California State University,
Sacramento, and is artistic director of Apollo Opera in the
Sierra Foothills.
Malcolm MacKenzie is a professional
dramatic baritone with twenty-five years of performing experience
at leading opera houses throughout the United
States and Europe, having appeared with the
Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Paris Opera (Bastille),
Finland’s Savonlinna Festival, Washington National
Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, San Diego Opera,
Arizona Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Colorado, Opera
Omaha, North Carolina Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera among
others. MacKenzie’s wide repertoire includes many
“Baddies”:
Simon Boccanegra, Iago, Tonio, Baron Scarpia, Don
Giovanni, Count di Luna, Renato, Jack Rance,
Marcello, Germont, and Count Almaviva. He has
extensive experience teaching young professional singers, but has
also taught beginners and non-professionals.
