Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty

Lorenz Gamma is Associate Professor of Violin at California State University Northridge, where he also serves as Head of Strings and Director of Chamber Music. His previous teaching includes positions at UCLA, Indiana University in Bloomington and the California Institute of the Arts. As Artistic Director of the Borromeo Music Festival in Switzerland, Mr. Gamma conducts a two-week long instrumental program for advanced string and piano students and a professional chamber music concert series.

Mr. Gamma’s private and university students regularly win prizes at solo and chamber music competitions and have gone on to continue their studies at such institutions as the Juilliard School, Indiana University, the Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Colburn School, University of Southern California and others.

With a background of having performed internationally a string quartet repertoire of over sixty composers as well as a large part of the standard chamber music repertoire of over eighty composers, Mr. Gamma dedicates himself passionately to chamber music. During his three years as co-leader of the Amar Quartett in Switzerland, Mr. Gamma performed a full-time concert schedule touring through many of Europe’s most important chamber music venues, including the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Residence in Munich, the Cologne Philharmonic, as well as in venues in many other cities such as London, Paris, New York and others. For ten years, Lorenz Gamma also served as violinist of Los Angeles based Southwest Chamber Music. The ensemble’s recordings of the complete chamber music works of Carlos Chávez won two Grammy Awards. Mr. Gamma also served as concertmaster of the Northwest Sinfonietta in Seattle, and later as Principal of the Zurich Opera Orchestra.

As a soloist Mr. Gamma has performed over twenty different violin concertos by Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Bruch, Gubaidulina, Lutoslawski, Wynton Marsalis, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Piazzolla, Rubinstein, Schnittke, Schoeck, Schumann, Spohr, Tartini, Vivaldi, and Wieniawski. He holds an extensive record of appearances on radio, both in Europe and in the United States: his radio broadcasts and CD recordings include Schubert’s String Quintet and Piano Trio in E- flat, the “Quartet for the End of Time” by Messiæn, the complete String Quartets as well as works for violin and piano and the Piano Sextet by Carlos Chávez, the Dvorák Piano Quintet, Mozart Clarinet Quintet, sonatas and partitas by Bach, Kodály, Lazarof, Mozart and Ravel, as well as string quartets by Brahms, Debussy, Dvorák, Haydn, Hindemith, Ives, Janácek, Mozart, Ortiz, Ravel, Shostakovich, Ullmann, Verdi and Wadada Leo Smith.

Chamber musicians Mr. Gamma has collaborated with include Joseph Silverstein, Paul Katz, Ronald Leonard, Donald McInnes, Angela Cheng, Andreas Haefliger and many others. Composers whom he has collaborated with include Miguel del Aguila, Adrienne Albert, John Adams, Mark Applebaum, Alexandra du Bois, Thüring Bräm, Frank Campo, Bryan Chiu, Sofia Gubaidulina, Yalil Guerra, Heinz Holliger, Andrei Kasparov, Rudolf Kelterborn, Daniel Kessner, Peter Knell, Panayiotis Kokoras, Ian Krouse, Christian Lauba, Henri Lazarof, Tomás Marco, Liviu Marinescu, Arthur McCaffrey, Mark Menzies, Thea Musgrave, Maria Newman, Gabriela Ortiz, Robert Paterson, Deon Nielsen Price, Roger Reynolds, Kurt Rhode, Thomas Daniel Schlee, Patricio da Silva, Wadada Leo Smith, Chrysanthe Tan, Vu Nhat Tan, Pham Minh Tang, Ton That Tiet, David Werfelmann, Stephen Westerhout, Gernot Wolfgang and countless others.

Lorenz Gamma was born in Switzerland, where he received his initial training as a violinist at the conservatory in Lucerne. His further studies took place in the United States – with violin luminaries Franco Gulli, Steven Staryk and Mark Kaplan.

Ric Alviso received his BM in composition at CSU Long Beach and his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA.
As an ethnomusicologist, he has conducted fieldwork in Zimbabwe, Senegal, Ghana, Tuva, Japan, Mexico and the Southwest United States. He has studied and performed music from many music cultures, including mbira and kora music from Africa, Indonesian gamelan, Albanian folk music, and various Latin American and Caribbean styles. He has performed as a pianist with the Santa Monica Symphony and as a percussionist with the Santa Monica Emeritus Concert Band.

Ric Alviso is the author numerous journal articles as well as two books: "Multicultural Music in America: An Introduction to Our Musical Heritage" and "Musical Aspects of the Corrido, the War on Drugs: and their Convergence in a Federal Prison." He is the founder and director of the Masanga Marimba Ensemble, the only Zimbabwean style marimba ensemble in Southern California.

Seven Bailey is a distinguished professional with over two decades of experience in the music industry and film/television, excelling in diverse roles such as Musician, Composer, Executive Producer, Music Supervisor, Marketing and A&R Director, Consultant, Audio Engineer, Manager, and Tour Manager. Known for his exceptional leadership, Seven has spearheaded marketing campaigns, strategic partnerships, brand development, music repertoire selection, creative and business writing, project management, budgeting, and global logistics successfully. His work has directly contributed to numerous top industry awards and nominations, underscoring his impact and influence.

Seven holds a master’s degree in Music Industry Administration from CSUN and is the newly appointed Assistant Professor and Mike Curb Endowed Chair of Music Industry Studies. In this role, he shares his extensive expertise with students, guiding them through all facets of the music business—from performance and promotion to management and production—instilling confidence and fostering their growth within the industry.

Katherine Ramos Baker, Professor, Department of Music, CSU Northridge, earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois, her masters from CSU Fullerton, and holds a Life Teaching Credential in Music from the State of California.
Dr. Baker has an array of professional experience teaching in higher education, high school, and middle school. Prior to coming to CSU Northridge, she was Director of Choral Activities at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, where she received the “Excellence in Teaching” award for the School of Arts and Sciences, 1996. Her choirs have performed internationally in the Benedictinus 2000 Festival in Rome and the Innsbruck International Choral Festival in Austria. Her CSU Northridge Women’s Chorale performed in 2007 and 2011 at universities and cultural centers in Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.  Dr. Baker made presentations at the International Society for Music Education’s conferences in both Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, as well as being a Visiting Scholar at six universities in Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. In October 2018 she was a featured panelist and a keynote speaker for the First International Seminar on Evaluations Systems for Primary and Secondary Music Education, Shanghai, China. She has received two awards for her contributions to international education: The China Institute Outstanding Contributions Award (2012) and the Phi Beta Delta Outstanding Faculty Award (2011).

A professor of music at CSUN since 1995, Julia Heinen has served on Faculty Senate, Senate Executive Committee, Graduate Studies, Educational Policies (EPC), Personnel, Planning and Review (PP&R), Educational Equity, Research and Grants, Extended Learning, University Corporation, IRA Board, SAP Appeals, College Personnel (chair 2015-2017), Faculty Awards Committees, and Academic Council along with many department committees.

Minneapolis Star and Tribune states: “Julia Heinen is a sensation,” “Absolutely brilliant.” Des Moines Register says: “Plays with intensity, conviction and impressive virtuosity.”

As a soloist, Julia Heinen has performed hundreds of concertos and recitals around the world including recent performances in Italy, Belgium, France, El Salvador, the Czech Republic, Spain and Portugal.

Ms. Heinen chaired the jury of the 9th International Mercadante Clarinet Competition held in Bari, Italy in October 2013 and served on the jury for the 2nd Biannual International European Clarinet Competition held in Gent, Belgium in January of 2013.

She served as the artistic director of ClarinetFest® 2011 and continues her work with this organization as the state of Minnesota chair of the International Clarinet Association and North American Global Chair.

Julia Heinen is a Buffet Crampon, D’Addario and Silverstein Performing Artist and performs exclusively on Buffet Crampon Legende clarinets, D’Addario Reserve reeds and Silverstein ligatures.

Education
D.M.A. 1988, University of Minnesota
M.M 1983, University of Michigan
B.M 1982, University of Minnesota

Jeffrey Izzo an accomplished and formally educated composer, lyricist, vocalist, pianist, guitarist. He has written everything from pop songs and jingles to symphonic, chamber and choral works, but his passion is composing for musical theater.

Jeff is also a veteran entertainment attorney, and in his 25+ year legal career has represented songwriters, performers, independent record companies, authors, and filmmakers, worked in-house for independent film production and multi-media organizations, and taught entertainment law and the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is currently Mike Curb Endowed Chair of Music Industry Studies at California State University, Northridge.

Jeff is admitted to practice law in New York, Massachusetts, and Washington, and proud to be an ASCAP affiliate, as well as a member of The Recording Academy, College Music Society, The Society of Composers & Lyricists, International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Association For Popular Music Education, and Songwriters of North America.

M.Mus. 2010, University of Edinburgh
J.D. 1993, Seattle University School of Law
B.Mus. 1981, Berklee College of Music

Liviu Marinescu's works have received recognition in numerous festivals of new music throughout the world, and have been performed by prominent orchestras and ensembles, including the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Czech Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, the National Chamber Radio and Music Academy orchestras in Bucharest, as well as the 20th Century Consort, North-South Consonance, and Archaeus ensembles.

His debut at the Bucharest International New Music Festival when he was 21 years old, was noted by the Parisian newspaper Le Monde de la Musique, which described one of the concerts he co-organized with other young composers and artists as being "inventive in its evolution, content, and substance,"" and promoting an "anti-conformist view." Soon after, the Bucharest newspaper Actualitatea Muzicala acknowledged that Liviu Marinescu ""not only has the intelligence and maturity expected from a modern artist, but also the ability to express himself through sounds in a convincing way."" In the U.S., his music has been praised by numerous publications, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, while the critics of The Strad, Strings Magazine, and New York Concert Review recognized its ""real expressive power and attractive rhetoric,"" ""majestic assertiveness,"" and ""startling moments."" His works have been recorded and released by Centaur, Navona, and Capstone Records and published by the American Society of Composers.

Marinescu's early works, such as his first String Quartet from 1990 and the Chamber Concerto of 1993, focused on the exploration of heterophony and sound mass. This direction was soon to be changed. Following Edwin London's invitation to study in the U.S. in 1994, Marinescu developed a growing interest in the distortion and twisting of established compositional forms and practices, through the use of paraphrases and quotations. Beginning with the Quodlibet Sonata of 1997, most chamber and orchestral works that followed, such as Mozamorphosis, Déjà Vu, Pastiche, Bach Variations, Über Alles or Homage Collage involved references to the music of the past or brief quotations. In recent years, a renewed interest in combining acoustic instruments with samples and electronic sounds has led to the development of new sonic gestures and the creation of a more personal musical language.

Equally committed to mentoring young musicians, Liviu Marinescu has taught a wide range of composition and theory courses at Concordia College, MN, West Chester University, PA, University of Maryland, and Cleveland State University, and has been a visiting professor at the Trondheim Conservatory in Norway, Palacky University in the Czech Republic and the National University of Music in Romania. Since his 2002 appointment as coordinator of music composition and theory at California State University Northridge, Dr. Marinescu has received numerous awards and grants from the Fulbright Commission, the American Music Center, ASCAP, Meet the Composer Fund, as well as the Fromm Music Foundation Prize at Harvard University.

Education
D.M.A. 2000, University of Maryland
M.M 1996, Cleveland State University
B.A. 1994, Bucharest Music Academy

A.J. McCaffrey is a songwriter and composer of instrumental, vocal and electronic music. With a background in theater, fine arts and literature, and an upbringing that has fostered a love for a wide variety of musical styles, A.J. writes music that strives to tell a story. His works are theatrical in nature, employing harmonically rich and lyrically striking sound worlds to create moving, dramatic narratives.

Hailed by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a composer of music “imbued with an extraordinary wit and intelligence”, A.J. received the Academy’s 2014 Goddard Lieberson Fellowship. He has been commissioned to write music for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Tanglewood Music Center and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. A.J.’s music has been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, the New Fromm Players, the Radius Ensemble, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble and by members of the Chiara Quartet, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Alarm Will Sound, Boston's Firebird Ensemble and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. A fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival and School, A.J. has been a featured composer on BMOP's The Next Next series, Tanglewood's Festival of Contemporary Music and the New Gallery Concert Series. His orchestral work Thank You for Waiting was chosen for the American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Readings, and he was subsequently awarded the 2013 Underwood Emerging Composers Commission. Recent collaborations include works for violist Jonah Sirota, HOCKET piano duo, clarinetist Julia Heinen, Project Fusion saxophone quartet, and the Light Matter Trio.

A.J. holds degrees in music from Rice University, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the University of Southern California. He has studied composition with Richard Lavenda, James MacMillan, Donald Crockett and Stephen Hartke. A passionate educator, A.J. was one of the founding instructors for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s groundbreaking Composer Fellowship Program. He is currently an Associate Professor of Music at California State University Northridge. A native of the Boston area, A.J. lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two children.

Education
D.M.A. 2013, University of Southern California M.Mus
1999, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama B.A. 1998, Rice University

Dr. Dmitry Rachmanov is Chair of Keyboard Studies at California State University, Northridge.  A sought-after performer, master class clinician, adjudicator and lecturer, Dr. Rachmanov has served on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, and has been a guest artist/lecturer/clinician at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Royal Northern College of Music (UK), Shanghai and Beijing Central Conservatories.
 
Rachmanov has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, London’s Barbican and South Bank Centres, at venues across Europe and Asia, and has collaborated as a soloist with the Ukraine National Symphony, and National Orchestra of Porto, among others.  He has recorded for Naxos, Parma, Master Musicians and Vista Vera labels.
An active member of the American Liszt Society, Dmitry Rachmanov is the president of the society’s Southern California chapter. He was the Artistic Director of the ALS 2016 Festival “Liszt and Russia,” hosted by CSUN. His summer festivals include Piano Sicily and InterHarmony in Italy, Corfu Piano Institute in Greece, Montecito in California, Adamant in Vermont; In the summer of 2019 he was a resident at the Brahmshouse in Baden-Baden, Germany. He has served as a Co-Director of the ChamberFest @ CSUN Festival.
 
A proponent of Russian repertoire, Rachmanov gave the US premiere of Boris Pasternak Piano Sonata, broadcast by the NPR, and he is a founding member and President of the Scriabin Society of America. His April 2014 commemorative all-Scriabin program at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall was described as “a ‘poem of ecstasy’ in every sense: giant in conception, quantity, quality, execution, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity” by the New York Concert Review. His 2022 Cambria 2-CD album release “Alexander Scriabin, the 150th Anniversary Celebration,” was praised as a “distinguished recital[…]full of riveting performances” by Fanfare magazine, adding that “Rachmanov may be considered alongside the great Scriabin interpreters.” He is in the process of recording a video anthology of Alexander Scriabin’s piano works.
 
Dr. Rachmanov is a recipient of numerous awards, among them “Jerome Richfield Memorial Scholar” at CSUN and receiving an “Outstanding CAPMT Member State Recognition Award” by California Association of Professional Music Teachers.

Dmitry Rachmanov is a Steinway Artist.
http://dmitryrachmanov.com/

D.M.A. 1989, Manhattan School of Music
M.M 1982, The Julliard School
B.M 1981, The Julliard School

CSUN Director of Jazz Studies Tina Raymond is an accomplished drummer, composer, bandleader. A unique voice in the contemporary improvised music scene, Raymond blends traditional jazz vocabulary with African polyrhythm and classical percussion technique. Brian Zimmerman of DownBeat Magazine writes, “Raymond displays ferocious chops and a remarkable sense of balance.” She has toured the US, Europe, and Asia as a leader and sideman.

Raymond’s 2023 acclaimed release, “Divinations,” showcases the first-call Los Angeles drummer in a groove-centric, melody-drenched context that may surprise admirers of the more abstract tonal personality she’s documented with SoCal avant luminaries like Eric Revis, Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia, and Dan Rosenboom, or, for that matter, on two recent albums by the acclaimed eclectic Esthesis Quartet.

Raymond received a DownBeat Educator Achievement Award (2020), and serves as President of California Alliance for Jazz. Raymond has presented globally and her teaching credits include Los Angeles City College, The Herbie Hancock Institute, University of Michigan, Bard College, and Idyllwild Arts. She received an M.F.A in Jazz (drum set) from CalArts in 2010, and a B.M. in double performance, classical percussion and jazz studies, from University of Cincinnati’s CCM in 2008. She is an endorsed educator with Remo and Sabian.

For more information about Tina, visit tinaraymond.com.

Professor Roscetti has been at CSUN for twenty years, and currently teaches Cello, Chamber Music and Entrepreneurship, She is the Director of the CSUN Honors String Quartet Program. Prior to coming to CSUN, she was the Director of the School of Performing Arts at the University of Maine, where she was the Cello Professor for twenty-three years and a member of the Faculty Piano Trio which toured extensively. She started an advanced graduate string quartet program there. She has enjoyed a performance career spanning many years, performing at many international music festivals, and performing twenty-one solo and chamber music television/radio broadcasts throughout New England and the Canadian Maritimes. She has performed chamber music with Jacques Israelievitch, concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony; Victor Danchenko of Peabody Conservatory; Jerry Grossman of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Bill Blossom of the New York Philharmonic; Eugenia Zukerman; Steven Isserlis and many others.  

Education

M.M 1981, Northern Illinois University
B.M 1978, Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Dr. John Roscigno, Chair of the Precussion Program and Director of Orchestral Studies, has been a CSUN faculty member for over 20 years and from 2019 to 2024 served as the Chair of the Music Department.  As a faculty member, he has served as Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre, and has taught undergraduate and graduate conducting.  He recently completed ten years as Music Director of the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic. In addition to his university position, he has served as the Music Director of the CSUN Youth Orchestra program, an organization comprised of 3 ensembles and 200 students from San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas.  His versatility as a conductor, pianist, percussionist and composer has led to many unique and varied performing opportunities in his musical career in the United States and abroad.  

Dr. Roscigno has had the opportunity to work extensively with professional orchestras, college orchestras and younger musicians throughout his career.   He has conducted Opera Constanta of Romania, the Conway Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Plainview Symphony and Santa Barbara Ballet Theater.  He has been a high school all-state clinician in Arizona and California.  He has been a guest faculty member at Cazadero and Gold Coast Summer Music Festivals and has held music faculty positions at University of Arizona, Auburn University and University of Central Arkansas.  Dr. Roscigno has twice served as conductor for the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition.  

Highlights of his collaborative career include serving as pianist for world renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie, hosting George Crumb in a residency featuring collaborative performances with the composer and conducting the west coast premiere of Philip Glass's Second and Seventh Symphonies.  As a strong advocate of new music, he has conducted of number of premieres by the nations leading young composers. His most cherished accomplishments include having performed in Carnegie Hall, Yankee Stadium, Olympic Stadium in Montreal and Disney Hall in Los Angeles.

Dr. Roscigno holds the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Arizona, a Master's Degree in percussion performance from the University of Illinois under Tom Siwe and a Bachelor's Degree as a double major in piano and percussion performance from the University of Arizona under Gary Cook and Nicholas Zumbro.  Dr. Roscigno is a native of New York City. In addition to his musical activities, he is an abstract painter, cyclist and avid sports fan.  

D.M.A. 1999, University of Arizona
M.M 1989, University of Illinois
B.M.A. 1987, University of Arizona

Kyle Simpson, composer, trumpet player, conductor, and bandleader is an artist that has been creating music in both contemporary and film music genres. His contemporary music has been performed by professional groups such as Unheard-of//Ensemble, Hypercube, Janacek Philharmonic, and most recently the Sofia Philharmonic. Additionally, his music has been featured in many festivals throughout Europe and The United States including Italy, Greece, France, Czech Republic, and Malaysia. In 2021, he was awarded recognition from the American Prize in Composition for his live, orchestral performance, of film scores to the classic silent films of Georges Méliès, including Kingdom of the Fairies and Trip to the Moon, which featured premieres at the DiMenna Center in New York City as well as Carnegie Free Library in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2012 He received an ASCAP award for his scoring work at the NYU/ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop. He has scored numerous feature-length films, video games, and short films including his most recent film score to Thomas Zoeschg’s feature film Every Night and Every Day (Black Deer Productions). He currently teaches Media Composition at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in Los Angeles, CA. Before his appointment to CSUN, Simpson was an Associate Professor of Music at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, PA, and then an Assistant Professor of Music Composition at West Virginia University.

view works: https://www.youtube.com/@kmstpt28/featured

Lawrence “Larry” Stoffel is the 2022 recipient of the NAfME/Music for All “George N. Parks Leadership in Music Education” Award. As Director of Bands and Professor of Music at California State University, Northridge, the CSUN Wind Ensemble is recognized throughout the state and nationally providing all CSUN band students with extraordinary performance opportunities. Over the years, the CSUN Wind Ensemble’s touring has taken students from Orchestra Hall in Chicago, to the historic Scott Auditorium in Honolulu; from Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, to one of California’s state prisons. Known for his enthusiasm at rehearsals, concerts, and clinics alike, Dr. Stoffel has most recently conducted all-state bands in Virginia, Texas, and California; he is published and lectures on topics pertinent to the profession. In 2018 Dr. Stoffel received the Hall of Fame Award from the California Music Education Association, in 2019 was elected membership into the American Bandmasters Association, and in 2021 was recognized with the CSUN Outstanding Faculty Award (the University’s highest faculty honor).

Education
D.Mus 1999, Indiana University
M.M 1990, University of Colorado
M. Ed. 1987, University of California
B.A. 1986, University of California

Andrew Surmani is Professor of Music Industry Studies and Graduate Coordinator of the CSUN M.A. in Music Industry Administration degree program. He has been working for over 35 years as an executive in the music industry. He is the President & CEO of Surmani Business Coaching, and prior to that served as the CEO of Caleb Chapman’s Soundhouse, and Chief Marketing Officer for Alfred Music, where he oversaw global sales, marketing and product development and helped consolidate company operations following the largest acquisition in print music publishing history, Warner Brothers Publications. He launched and oversaw major product lines and expanded into global markets.

Andrew is co-author of the best-selling series in North America for over two decades, ""Alfred's Essentials of Music Theory,"" as well as the ""Copyright Handbook for Music Educators and Directors,"" 2nd Edition. Andrew also works as a freelance musician, and has performed in the Montreux (Switzerland), Istanbul (Turkey), Juan-les-Pins (France), Jazz à Vienne (France), Umbria (Italy), Lake Biwa (Japan), San Sebastian (Spain), and Wigan (England) international jazz festivals, and in Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. Andrew led a band and played lead trumpet in two shows at Walt Disney World, managed high school groups on tour to Hawaii and Japan, and earned an MBA degree. He was a Founding Board Member and is a Past President of the Jazz Education Network (JEN).

Education
M.B.A. 1992, California State University, Northridge
B.M 1986, California State University, Northridge" of Music and Drama
B.A. 1998, Rice University

Steven Thachuk is known as one of Canada’s most outstanding and versatile guitarists. Performing works from J.S. Bach and Toru Takemitsu to John Lennon and Radiohead, he consistently challenges the nature of the instrument’s repertoire and boundaries. Playing both traditional classical guitar and a steel string instrument he has appeared in recital, as a chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra throughout North America, Great Britain and Europe.  Thachuk has performed most of the major concertos in the guitar repertoire with orchestra and has had concerts broadcast on NPR in America and the CBC in Canada. His playing has drawn critical acclaim.  The Westfalen Post in Germany has commented that after his concerts “the audience remains in the seats for a long time, saddened that the concert has ended”  and the Nordeste in Mexico has called Thachuk “a master of interpretation and artistry”
Since 2002, Steven Thachuk has been Director of Guitar Studies at California State University Northridge (CSUN) and was appointed as Chair of the Music Department in 2012.  For more information on the CSUN Guitar Program please visit the CSUN Music Website.

D.M.A. 1999, Eastman School of Music
M.M 1995, Eastman School of Music
B.M 1993, University of Toronto

A native Texan, tenor Hugo Vera is described as possessing a “truly heroic voice” that is both “beautiful and brilliant.” Mr. Vera has performed over 45 roles and over 50 large choral orchestral works with distinguished companies, including seven seasons with The Metropolitan Opera. In addition, Mr. Vera has sung with Spoleto, USA, Piccolo Spoleto, Kansas City Symphony, New York City Opera, Illinois Symphony and Chorus, Fort St. Symphony and Chorus, Opera Memphis, Center for Contemporary Opera, New Opera NYC, Aspen Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, Sarasota Opera, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera North, Aspen Opera Theatre, The Minnesota Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Nashville Opera, Shreveport Opera, Tanglewood Music Festival, True Concord and Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony and Arizona Opera. As an active recitalist and clinician, he has performed recitals as an Artist in Residence at Dartmouth College, University of Texas-Pan America, Westminster College, Theatre Lawrence, Presbyterian College, GLOW Lyric Theatre, Edinburg Consolidated School District, and Lawrence Arts Center.

In 2019-2020 on stage he performed as Cavaradossi in Tosca (Opera Argentario, Italy), Don Jose in Carmen (GLOW Lyric Theatre), Amaryllis in The Poisoned Kiss (Cache Valley Opera), and made his debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung.  He has performed recitals as an Artist in Residence at Presbyterian College, Bethel College, SUNY Oswego, University of Kansas Lied Center, GLOW Lyric Theatre, and Theatre Lawrence (KS). In the 2020-2021 season Hugo will be performing concerts in NYC (Stephen Wise Synagogue), as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Indianapolis Opera), as Cavaradossi in Tosca, and in the musical Showboat (GLOW Lyric Theatre).

In 2020, Hugo released an album entitled Romances and Poems featuring the works of Russian composer Sergei Taneyev on the Centaur Recording label. In addition to being featured on various Metropolitan Opera Live in HD broadcasts, he can be heard in various world premiere recordings and broadcasts which include Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Minnesota Opera), Craig Bohmler’s Riders of the Purple Sage (Arizona Opera), Paul Paray’s Mass, and the DVD of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West (Metropolitan Opera).

Mr. Vera enjoyed the privilege of training with several noteworthy young artist programs including the Brevard Music Center, the Tanglewood Music Festival, Aspen Music Center, Chautauqua Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Minnesota Opera, Opera North, Sarasota Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. He holds a D.M.A. (Honors) in Voice/Opera/Musical Theatre and Choral Conducting from The University of Kansas, an M.M. (Honors) in Voice/Opera from The University of Kansas, and a B.M. in Voice from the University of Utah.

As an educator, he has served on the music faculties at Presbyterian College, New York University (Tisch and Steinhardt), University of Kansas, and the Midwest Summer Music Institute. He keeps an active private voice studio in Tucson and New York City. He is Artistic Director, of Lawrence Opera Theatre (LOT) a summer music performing company as well as Artistic Director of the Vocal Academy of Orvieto (Italy). His main areas of interests are vocal chamber music, concert vocal works and foundational vocal teaching.

For more information please visit: https://www.facebook.com/hugoveratenor/

Dr. John Lee Whitener began his professional musical career as a percussionist and singer while still in high school in Anchorage, Alaska. He studied percussion performance and voice at the University of Washington in Seattle, receiving both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. Whitener performed and toured widely in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska singing with a professional men’s vocal quartet and playing drums with a jazz sextet. His music teaching career spans over 25 years in both instrumental and vocal music, with experience in the elementary classroom, middle and high school levels, as well as an instructor in the community college and University settings.

Dr. Whitener came to Southern California in 1985, studying composition with Dr. Morten Lauridsen and pursuing a Masters degree in Music Education at the University of Southern California. In 1987 he began working as an orchestrator and film composer in Hollywood, having scored several short movies and two full-length feature films. Whitener received his Masters degree from USC in 1995. In 2007 he completed his Doctoral studies, focusing on music education, composition, music history and conducting. While a doctoral student he continued his composition studies with award-winning composer Morten Lauridsen, and most recently has studied composition with the celebrated former composer-in-residence of the Pacific Coast Symphony and famous wind band composer, Dr. Frank Ticheli. In 2009 Dr. Whitener completed a Masters of Education degree in Educational Psychology from the USC Rossier School of Education.

In spring of 2010 Whitener was awarded the prestigious Bravo! Award given by the Los Angeles Music Center for excellence in Music Education. In 2004 the California Music Educators Association (CMEA), Southern California division, named him Outstanding Music Educator of the Year. He currently serves as a Vice president on the CMEA-Southern Section executive board. Recently he received a PTA Honorary Service Award for his work in the Burbank schools, and the Southern California Division League of Middle Schools honored Whitener with a nomination for the Middle School Teacher of the Year.

In the spring of 2006 Dr. Whitener was named the Director of the innovative Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Music program at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he is responsible for the preparation and training of all public school pre-service music teachers enrolled at USC. In the spring of 2007 Whitener was reappointed to this position, and became a full-time Assistant Professor of Clinical Music Education in the Thornton Music Education department. While living and working in Burbank, California, Dr. Whitener continues to teach, compose and conduct local honor groups. In addition to his work at USC, he teaches an award-winning instrumental music program part time in the local Burbank public school system.

M.A. 2008, University of Southern California
D.M.A. 2007, University of Southern California
M.A. 1993, University of Southern California
B.A. 1981, University of Washington

Professor Yip, MM, MT-BC is an Assistant Professor of Music Therapy and Director of the Music Therapy Program. A board-certified music therapist for over a decade, she has provided clinical music therapy services in schools, communities, and hospitals with clients ranging from infants to older adults in Texas, Florida, and California. She has worked with individuals with autism and developmental delays, children with learning and communication disorders, patients receiving psychiatric services, adult oncology patients, and adults with Parkinson's Disease. In addition to music therapy, Professor Yip teaches adaptive piano and guitar lessons.

She earned degrees from the University of the Pacific (B.M. in Music Therapy and B.A. in Psychology) and a Master of Music in Music Therapy from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Professor Yip is currently working on her dissertation to complete a Ph.D. in Music Education with Music Therapy emphasis from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Her research focuses on the impact of music and movement interventions to address motor differences of children with autism.