Violin I Raymond Kobler, Concertmaster Paul Manaster, Associate Concertmaster Jeanne Skrocki, Assistant Concertmaster Nancy Eldridge Christine Frank Kimiyo Takeya Ayako Sugaya Ann Shiau Tenney Maia Jasper Robert Schumitzky Agnes Gottschewski Dana Freeman Grace Oh Jean Kim Angel Liu Shalini Vijayan Violin II Bridget Dolkas, Principal Second Violin Jessica Guideri, Assistant Principal Yen-Ping Lai Yu-Tong Sharp Ako Yamaguchi Ovsep Ketendjian Linda Owen Phil Luna MarlaJoy Weisshaar Robin Sandusky Alice Miller-Wrate Xiaowei Shi Viola Robert Becker, Principal Viola Janet Lakatos, Assistant Principal Carolyn Riley John Acevedo Meredith Crawford Luke Maurer Julia Staudhammer Joseph Wen-Xiang Zhang Pam Jacobson xxx Cheryl Gates Margaret Henken Cello Timothy Landauer, Principal Kevin Plunkett, Assistant Principal John Acosta Robert Vos László Mező Ian McKinnell M. Andrew Honea Waldemar de Almeida Jennifer Goss Rudolph Stein Bass Steve Edelman, Principal Doug Basye, Assistant Principal Christian Kollgaard David Parmeter Paul Zibits David Black Andrew Bumatay Constance Deeter

Flute xxx, Principal Flute Sharon O'Connor Flute, Piccolo Cynthia Ellis Oboe Jessica Pearlman, Principal Oboe Deborah Shidler English Horn Lelie Resnick Clarinet Ben Lulich, Principal Clarinet David Chang Bass Clarinet Joshua Ranz Bassoon Rose Corrigan, Principal Bassoon Elliott Moreau Andrew Klein Bassoon, Contrabassoon Allen Savedoff French Horn Keith Popejoy, Principal French Horn Mark Adams James Taylor, Assistant Principal French Horn Russell Dicey Trumpet Barry Perkins, Principal Trumpet Tony Ellis David Wailes Trombone Michael Hoffman, Principal Trombone David Stetson Bass Trombone Robert Sanders Tuba James Self, Principal Tuba Percussion Robert A. Slack, Principal Percussion Cliff Hulling Timpani Todd Miller, Principal Piano/Celeste Sandra Matthews, Principal Harp Mindy Ball,Principal Michelle Temple

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Raymond Kobler
Violinist Raymond Kobler was appointed Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra by Music director Carl St. Clair in 1999. During his illustrious career he has appeared as soloist on numerous occasions with the Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony.  In this capacity, he has collaborated with such conductors as Andre Previn, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Christoph Eschenbach, Neemi Jarvi, and Herbert Blomstedt.  At the gala opening of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco in 1980, he performed the Bach Double Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin.  From 1974 to 1980, Kobler served as Associate Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, and from 1980 to 1998, he served as Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony.  He appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony more than seventy times.  Important premieres in which he has been featured include the United States premiere of Sir Michael Tippett's Triple Concerto in 1981, the North American premiere of the Violin Concerto by Janacek in 1989, and the United States premiere of the orchestra version of Lutoslawski's Partita in 1991, with the composer conducting.  In 2002, Kobler was nominated for a Grammy award as a member of the chamber group AN DIE MUSIK.  Raymond Kobler presented San Francisco premieres of chamber works by Elliot Carter, Witold Lutoslawski, Ellen Taafe Zwilich and others.  He gave the first San Francisco performances of Haydn's Violin Concerto No. 1, Frank Martin's Polyptique in 1993, and the violin concertos of Korngold in 1994 and Rozsa in 1996.  With the Cleveland Orchestra, he appeared as soloist in violin concertos by Glazunov, Mozart, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi,  In 1977, he was soloist in the Tippett Fantasia, under the composer's direction in a special performance before Britain's Prince Charles.  Kobler also served as concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra in many recordings under Music Director Lorin Maazel.  He was a soloist at the Orchestra's sixtieth anniversary concert.  Kobler can also be heard on disc in San Francisco Symphony London Decca recordings of Strauss' Ein Heldenleben, Thus Spake Zarathustra, Til Eulenspiegel and Metamorphosen.  After earning a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, Kobler joined the United States Marine White House String Quartet, concurrently earning a Master of Music degree at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  Upon leaving the service, he became concertmaster of the National Ballet Orchestra.  He then joined the National Symphony under Antal Dorati.  Two years later, he was appointed to Assistant Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony.  In 1995, Kobler was appointed by Sir Georg Solti to be concertmaster of the World Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble comprised of concertmasters and principal musicians from major orchestras around the globe.  The orchestra was created for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.  The orchestra reassembled in September of 2000, for a concert on London's Royal Albert Hall under Valery Gergiev. 

Paul Manaster
Paul Manaster has been the Associate Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony since 1998. He is almost a native Californian, having grown up in San Diego from the age of 1. Paul has performed with a variety of groups in the Southern California area, including the Opera Pacific orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Prior to his move to Orange County, Paul lived in Texas for eight years, playing with the San Antonio Symphony. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with Myron Kartman. In addition to performing, Paul is an instructor of violin at Chapman University. He lives in Irvine with his wife Dianne, a concert oboist, their 13-year-old daughter Stephanie (a native Texan), and three cats.

 

Jeanne Skrocki
Jeanne Skrocki, violin, is the Concertmaster of the Opera Pacific Orchestra and the Assistant Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, California. She began her musical training with her mother, Bonnie Bell, and then studied with Manuel Compinsky of the famed Compinsky Trio. At only seventeen years old, Jeanne was awarded a full scholarship to study with Jascha Heifetz in his Master Class at the University of Southern California. Ms. Skrocki has served as Concertmaster for the American Ballet Theater, San Bernardino Symphony, the Neumark Ensemble, and the Mozart Camerata. She has performed with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. Jeanne also has an active chamber music career and is a founding member of Les Amis Musicalles, an award-winning flute, violin and viola trio (with Cynthia Ellis on  flute and Janet Lakatos on viola) which has performed throughout the United States. The trio was a first-place winner in the National Flute Association Chamber Music competition and has been featured multiple times in live broadcast on K-Mozart radio's “Sundays Live” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Their debut CD, “Beyond Beethoven,” was released in February 2006 on the Centaur Records label to rave international reviews. Jeanne has also recorded with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and can be heard on many major motion picture and television soundtracks. Ms. Skrocki is in demand as a teacher, and enjoys coaching both chamber music and solo musicians. She has been on the faculty of the Redlands Community School of Music Summer Workshop since 2001. Jeanne has a bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and resides in Corona, Ca. with her husband, Stan, and daughter, Laura, also an aspiring young violinist.

Nancy Eldridge
Violinist Nancy Coade Eldridge is an active orchestral musician and teacher in the Orange County area. She has played with Pacific Symphony since 1996 and has played with many of the area’s orchestras, including Opera Pacific, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed during the summer at music festivals located in Coos Bay, OR; Bend, OR; Logan,UT; Japan, and Los Angeles. Currently, she is teaching at three Orange County elementary schools and instructs seventeen violin and viola students in her private studio.
Eldridge grew up in Carlsbad, the third of three musical sisters. All three started music lessons on violin in the Carlsbad Suzuki program under Donna Christmas. Later, she studied with Michael Zeitlin and Isaac Malkin and finished her last year of high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Eldridge went to the Oberlin Conservatory to study with Marilyn McDonald, and during her final year, was a winner of the La Jolla Symphony’s Young Artist Competition. Eldridge earned her Master’s degree at the Juilliard School and after graduating, studied orchestral repertoire with Joyce Robbins. While living in New York City, she freelanced in orchestras around the city and in several Broadway shows.
Teaching is an important facet of Eldridge’s career. She has completed several levels of Suzuki teacher training, and is a certified Orff Schulwerk teacher. The Orange County schools in which she teaches are a part of Class Act, the flagship educational program of the Pacific Symphony. Added to her duties in Class Act this year will be a class of beginning recorder.

Christine Frank
First violinist Christine Frank has been a member of the Pacific Symphony since 1998. She is also the Assistant Concertmaster of the Opera Pacific Orchestra, and was a member of the Anacapa String Quartet performing throughout the United States from 1994 to 1998. Christine is an avid amateur ice skater, and also enjoys crafts such as knitting and beadworking. Christine is from Vienna, Virginia, and earned degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Yale University. The violin that she plays on is a generous loan from the Pacific Symphony’s instrument loan program.




Kimiyo Takeya
Kimiyo Takeya, violinist, has been a member of Pacific Symphony since 1985. She is a graduate of the Toho School of Music in Tokyo and the Guildhall School of Music in London. As a soloist and chamber musician she has performed with the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, the Pacific Chamber Players, the London Mozart Players, and the English Sinfonia. She's a member of Opera Pacific orchestra and an active studio musician having performed on numerous film scores, television shows, albums, and commercials. Currently, she's on the faculty of CSULB Department of Music. She is an avid poker player often frequenting the No Limit Hold'Em cash games in Southern California. In 2004 she finished 5th Place at The Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker Ladies Event and cashed in the Ladies No Limit Hold'Em event at the 2006 World Series of Poker. She's married to bassist, Paul Zibits, and has a son, Zachary, 11.

Ayako Sugaya
First violinist Ayako Sugaya has been with the Pacific Symphony for eight years. Ayako is originally from Kamakura, Japan. She received both her Undergraduate Diploma and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Masuko Ushioda. Ayako loves internet technology, which easily lets her keep in touch with her family and friends. In addition to surfing the web, favorite things to do when not playing the violin are eating dark chocolate and having a good laugh.

 

 

Ann Shiau Tenney
Violinist Ann Shiau Tenney has been a member of Orange County’s Pacific Symphony Orchestra since 1994. In addition to her post in the First Violin section of the orchestra, she is also a member of Opera Pacific and freelances in Southern California. Ms. Tenney received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with both Dorothy DeLay and Naoko Tanaka. She was a recipient of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation Scholarship as well as other numerous awards and scholarships. Her Master of Music degree was obtained at Yale University under the tutelage of Sidney Harth. While studying at Yale, she was also Assistant Principal Second Violin in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. A native of Needham, MA, Ms. Tenney began her violin studies at the age of seven. For seven years she was in the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and was appointed Concertmaster during her last two years. Her solo appearances include the Esplanade and Harvard’s Sanders Theater with GBYSO under the direction of Eiji Oue. Her awards include fellowships to Tanglewood and the Great Woods Festival, second place in the Harry Dubbs Competition and the Robert Hardt Award. Ms. Tenney maintains a private teaching studio and coaches for Junior Chamber Music. She serves as String Chair for the Music Teachers’ Association of California, Irvine Branch. Her extracurricular interests include playing video games, hiking, and mountain biking. 

 
Maia Jasper
L.A. native Maia Jasper, violin, is one of PSO's newest members. She received her B.A. with Honors in Musicology from Yale in 2003, and her M.M. from the USC Thornton School of Music in 2006. She also studied at the Paris Conservatory in France. In addition to her work with the PSO, Maia performs frequently with the LA Philharmonic, LA Chamber Orchestra, and Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra.







Robert Schumitzky
Robert Schumitzky, originally from St Louis, Missouri, is in his 20th season as a member of the First Violin Section with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Associate Concertmaster as well as the Orchestra Personnel Manager for Opera Pacific. He has been a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra since it’s inception in 1991. Prior to his move to California in 1989, Schumitzky performed for four seasons with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra following a two year stint with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Ohio). Schumitzky began studying the violin at the age of 7 and continued his studies at the Saint Louis Conservatory of Music where he was accepted as a Special Student at the age of 11. In 1977, he received a citation for Outstanding Musicianship and continued his studies with Sally Thomas and Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School in New York where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1983. Fryderyk Sadowski, Max Rabinovitsj, and Jacques Isrealievitch are among his Principal Teachers and his Master Class performances include those of Henryk Szeryng, Josef Gingold, Alexander Schneider, and Szymon Goldberg. He was Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra from 1973-1980 under the direction of both Leonard Slatkin and Gerhardt Zimmermann and has performed as soloist with the Saint Louis Conservatory Orchestra, the Saint Louis Conservatory String Ensemble, the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and as a Young Artist Competition Winner with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure with the Saint Louis Symphony, Robert performed on many tours under the direction of Leonard Slatkin and Raymond Leppard. In 1994, 1996 and 1998 he toured Japan with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under the direction of John Mauceri. In March 2006, Robert joined the Pacific Symphony on its first international tour performing in the great concert halls of Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hannover, Lucerne, and Vienna. Schumitzky performs on a “Long Pattern” Stradivarius made in 1694. He currently resides in Newport Beach and, in his spare time, enjoys playing Ice Hockey, Snow Skiing and Tennis.

Agnes Gottschewski
Agnes Gottschewski has been a member of Pacific Symphony's first violin section since 1996. She also holds positions as assistant concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony and first violin at Opera Pacific. She is an active studio musician, but her greatest interest is in playing chamber music. As a chamber musician, she has been performing every summer since 1997 at the Sitka Chamber Music Festival in Sitka/Alaska. She has also been performing with Camerata Pacifica including a tour to the East Coast, Ireland, and Great Britain. For a number of years she was a member of Southwest Chamber Music, playing many premieres of contemporary chamber music and recording a number of CDs, including a Grammy winning one. She has also been an artist faculty member at the Music Fest Aberystwyth (Wales/England), a chamber music festival.
Agnes is originally from West Berlin, Germany, where she started playing the violin at age 6. After getting an undergraduate degree from the Hochschule der Kuenste in Berlin she moved to Southern California for graduate studies at UCSD and UCSB. When she is not busy rehearsing, recording or performing music, Agnes spends time at a pottery studio making mostly functional ceramics, making jewelry, going walking or hiking with her husband and her dog, or spending an occasional evening at home.  Photograph by Steven Rogers.


Dana Freeman
Dana Freeman, an Orange County native, was raised in Kansas City where she was concertmaster of the youth orchestra. She studied at the Peabody Preparatory Conservatory and completed her music degree at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. Immediately after graduation she joined the Utrechts Symphony, which then became the Netherlands Philharmonic. While in Holland, Dana free-lanced with numerous orchestras, including the Residentie Orkest, Amsterdam Philharmonic, Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra. Ms. Freeman returned to California and joined the Pacific Symphony in 1986. She has free-lanced extensively throughout Southern California. She has toured with Yanni and Andrea Bocelli, and in 2000 her quartet joined the Neil Diamond band as the first string players ever to tour with him. She enjoys teaching and her videos on violin and viola instruction from the "Ultimate Beginner" series are in music stores worldwide. She lives in Aliso Viejo with her husband, bassoonist Bill Hunker, and their daughter Jeannette.

Grace Oh
Violinist Grace Oh joined the Pacific Symphony in 2001. She can also be heard performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Opera Pacific. Away from the violin, Grace enjoys hiking, reading, and watching a good college football or Lakers game.

 

 

Jean Kim
 Jean Kim, violinist, is in her third season with the PSO. She is currently also a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee. Jean received her Bachelor of Arts degree from La Sierra University with Dr. Lyndon Taylor and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan with Paul Kantor. She also teaches privately at San Gabriel Academy. Together with her husband, Eric, and their dog, Dorie, they enjoy fishing, going to the beach, and cooking.






Angel Liu

Shalini Vijayan
Shalini Vijayan is in her sixth season as a member of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra's first violin section. Shalini is also a founding member and Principal Second Violin of New York based Absolute Ensemble, having recorded multiple albums with them including the 2001Grammy nominated Absolution. As part of Absolute, she has performed throughout the United States and Europe, most recently in the Vienna Konzerthaus and London's Barbican Hall. A member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida from 1998-2001, Shalini served as concertmaster for Michael Tilson Thomas, John Adams, Reinbert de Leeuw and Oliver Knussen. She was also concertmaster for the world premiere performances and recording of Steven Mackey's Tuck and Roll for RCA records in 2000. Shalini now lives in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles with her husband, composer Brian DeBoer and their son Ashok and enjoys hiking in the San Gabriel mountains with her dog, Lucy.

Bridget Dolkas
Bridget Dolkas, first violinist of the California Quartet, is a vibrant member of the musical community in Southern California. She is the Principal Second Violinist of the Pacific Symphony, and performs on the orchestra’s popular chamber music series, Café Ludwig. With the California Quartet, Ms. Dolkas has been invited to perform in Europe and across the United States. She has attended USC, UCLA and Manhattan School of Music, and now teaches on the faculty of Chapman University. In her spare time, Bridget works as a “professional organizer” for her family and friends. Her most recent passion has become property restoration, discovered this year while renovating four houses on five acres in Carlsbad, CA.





Jessica Guideri
Jessica Guideri spent the last two years as the Associate Principal Second Violin in the Phoenix Symphony. In January of 2008 she was offered a position in the Seattle Symphony, but opted to join the Pacific Symphony as the Associate Principal Second Violin. Jessica also freelances in San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles counties.
Since making her Carnegie Hall solo debut with the New York Youth Symphony, Jessica has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Queens Symphony, the Westchester Symphony, and the Symphony Orchestra of Campinas in Brazil, and she has given solo recitals in Taiwan, Italy, and the United States, including appearances at Steinway Hall, Lefrak Hall, and Lincoln Center.
As the first violinist of the Fry Street Quartet, Jessica toured nationally and internationally, including performances in the Balkans (sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the U.S. Department of State), Prague, and France. As a chamber musician she performed in Alice Tully Hall, The Banff Music Center, Merkin Hall, and Weill Hall, and participated in the Taos, Norfolk, Sarasota, Caramoor, and Aspen Music Festivals. Jessica performed as concertmaster with the Phoenix Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra in Germany, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and she was a member of the Long Island Philharmonic and the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra. Jessica also serves on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival as Associate Concertmaster.
Jessica received both the Bachelor and Master of music degrees in violin performance from the Juilliard School, where her teachers included Dorothy Delay, Masao Kawasaki, and Joel Smirnoff.



Yen-Ping Lai

Yutong Sharp
Yutong Sharp has been with the Pacific Symphony since 1994.  She was born in Beijing China, and started violin lessons at age 6 with her father.  At age 7, she went to the Central Conservatory and studied  with Professor Li Shang Yang and Wang Zhen Shan. In 1990 she received a full scholorship to go to the University of Southern Califonia.  At that time, she moved to the States to study at USC with Professor Alice Shoenfeld.  She  received her Artist Diploma in 1994.






Ako Yamaguchi
Violinist Ako Yamaguchi has been with the PSO since 2000. Ako is originally from Sendai, Japan, and attended the Toho School of Music in Tokyo where she received her Bachelor of Music degree. She continued her education at the New England Conservatory in Boston where she earned a Master of Music degree as well as a Graduate Diploma. Prior to the PSO, Ako was a member of the New World Symphony for two years. She enjoys cooking and gardening in her free time.

Ovsep Ketendjian
Ovsep Ketendjian is a native of Yerevan, Armenia where at an early age he graduated form the Tchaikovsky School in violin. His teacher was Jeanter Merguerian. Later he attended the Komitas Conservatory and studied with Arm Shamshian. In 1975 he immigrated to the United States and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Juilliard School in New York. There he studied with Lilian Fuches, Felix Galimir, and Dorothy Delay. He performed as a soloist, and chamber player in New York, Boston, New Jersey, and South America, and China. He is the founder and first violinist of the Khatchaturian Quartet of Los Angeles, and he is a permanent member of Pacific Symphony. Mr. Ketendjian is a very successful violin teacher and serves CSULA as Adjunct Professor of Violin.

Linda Owen
Linda Owen, violinist, has been a member of the PSO since it's first season in 1978. She was raised in Los Angeles, and received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Education degrees from Whittier College. Her teachers have included Donald Gelman, Ruth Haroldson, Mehli Mehta, and David Margetts. She recently retired from the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District after 37 years, first as an instrumental music teacher and then as the Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for her last 17 years. Linda is the first violinist of the Santiago String Quartet. She loves to read and take care of her large vegetable garden. With her husband, Bill, she is an avid fly fisherman.






Phil Luna

Robin Sandusky

MarlaJoy Weisshaar
MarlaJoy Rubin Weisshaar, violinist, joined the Pacific Symphony’s rockin’ Second Violin Section in 2002. She also enjoys teaching in the Symphony’s Class Act program as well as her own Private Violin Studio. MarlaJoy began studying the violin at age 3 with Mary Manaster in her native city of San Diego. When she was 10, her family moved to North Carolina, where she continued her musical studies and made her debut at 15 playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (her favorite!) with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. She earned her High School Diploma and Bachelor of Music Degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts and her Master of Music Degree at Carnegie Mellon University, under the mentorship of Andrés Cárdenes. In addition to her symphonic and teaching schedule, MarlaJoy enjoys musical opportunities in which she can combine her classical skills with improvisation. Some of her hobbies include running, hiking, practicing yoga, automobiles, animals, and poetry. She lives in Costa Mesa with her new husband (!!!), Dan Weisshaar, of M & R Weisshaar and Son Violin Shop, Inc.

Alice Miller-Wrate
Alice Wrate is a second violinist in the Pacific Symphony. She also performs with Opera Pacific. She received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Maryland. There she studied with Daniel Heifitz and took lessons and coachings with members of the Guarneri String Quartet. She won several competitions and was named a Pressor Scholar. She attended Rice University for her Master’s degree and studied with Kathy Winkler. During the summers, she has attended festivals such as National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Garth Newell Chamber Music Festival, and the Sarasota Music Festival. While attending the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, she discovered a passion for hiking that hasn’t waned. Her husband and twin daughters return to Colorado every summer to enjoy the Aspen Music Festival and the great outdoors.

Xiaowei Shi
Violinist Xiaowei Shi joined Pacific Symphony in 2009. A native of China, she came to the US at age sixteen to study violin at Crossroads School with Abram Shtern. She later earned her music degree in violin performance with a full scholarship from University of Southern California, where she studied with Alice Shoenfeld. During her study at USC, she served as concertmaster for USC Symphony and assistant concertmaster for both the American Youth Symphony and the Debut Orchestra. Upon her graduation, she was awarded USC School of Music strings department’s “departmental award”. Before becoming a member of PSO, she was a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She also plays with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera, and enjoys teaching and freelancing in Southern California.



Robert Becker
Bob Becker is a graduate of the Juilliard School. Serving for an unprecedented three years as the assistant to the Juilliard Quartet's Robert Mann, he received the Werter Award for "outstanding contribution to the field of chamber Music" upon graduation. A Naumberg Award winner and founding member of the American String Quartet, he has been awarded the Vera Barstow First Prize in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition as a member of that ensemble as well as later serving as the violist of the New York String Quartet. At the age of 17, he was appointed Principal Viola of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra while attending the Blair Academy and Peabody/Vanderbilt University, prior to moving to New York and Juilliard. Pincipal and Solo Viola of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra since 1982, he is also the Principal Viola of Opera Pacific and Solo Violist for visiting ballet companies to the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Former coordinator of student chamber music for the Aspen Music Festival, he is well known as a chamber music coach as well as a performer. He is an internationally known viola pedagogue and is dedicated to the training of young violists as well as his work with Azusa Pacific University and Chapman University's college students. His film recodings (over 250), records, and television sound track recordings are too numerous to list. He is the founder of the "Viola Workout" in Colorado to focus young violists on technique plus musical and personal growth.  Also, he is an avid backpacker, fly-fisherman, amateur chef, and dedicated but mediocre golfer. Proud father of twin daughters Laura and Allison, he counts them as his life's best accomplishment! Joining them on a trip to Kenya in 1999 to dig water wells for the people of Limuru, he accepts that he is not skilled at all things with a shovel and will content himself with the viola for the immediate future.

Janet Lakatos
Janet Lakatos is the Assistant Principal Viola of the Pacific Symphony, a position she has held since 1988. Prior to this, she was Principal Viola of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Currently she is also Principal Viola of the Pasadena Symphony, and Associate Principal of both the Hollywood Bowl and the Opera Pacific orchestras, as well as a member of the award winning chamber ensemble, Les Amis Musicalles, with colleagues Cindy Ellis and Jeanne Skrocki. For the past thirty years, Ms. Lakatos has maintained an active career in the motion picture film recording business. In addition, she was solo-violist for many years with the Stuttgart Bach-collegium, and with this group, often toured Europe and Japan. Ms. Lakatos is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California, where she was chosen for membership in the honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. In her spare time, she loves to travel, read, garden, and hike with her Great Dane mix dog, Zeke.


Carolyn Riley
Carolyn Riley grew up in a small town in Virginia. After attending the Juilliard School and graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, Carolyn accepted a viola position with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. An active international performer, Carolyn has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Russia, and Israel. Her chamber music performances have been heard in major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. As former principal violist of the National Repertory Orchestra, she soloed with the orchestra numerous times, including performances of Don Quixote by Strauss, and Theme and Variations by Alan Shulman. Carolyn also regularly plays with the Los Angeles Opera, Opera Pacific, the San Diego Symphony, the Pageant of the Masters, and records for the Motion Picture Industry. When Carolyn is not performing, she enjoys running, baking bread, and eating 3 musketeers candy bars.

John Acevedo










Meredith Crawford

Meredith Crawford, 22, has been studying the viola exclusively for the past five years. She began her studies with Michael Zaretsky of the Boston Symphony while attending the Walnut Hill School for Fine and Performing Arts, and continues her studies at Oberlin with Peter Slowik. Currently, she is a senior working towards degrees in both Viola Performance in the conservatory and English in the college. At Oberlin, Crawford sat principal viola in both the Oberlin Orchestra and the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra since 2006. In spring 2009, she was selected to perform in the Oberlin Conservatory's Commencement Recital. She was also hand-picked to participate in several ensemble projects, including the Oberlin Symphony's performance at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Robert Spano (for which she sat assistant); a recent recording of Debussy's "Danses sacrée et profane" and Takemitsu's "Toward the Sea II" with the Grammy-winning recording label Telarc (for which she sat principal); and a performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Crawford also won first place in the Ohio Viola Society's annual competition in 2007.
Crawford has attended such summer programs as the Yellow Barn Young Artist Program in 2004, Oberlin in Italy in 2006, the Sarasota Music Festival in 2008 and Kneisel Hall in both 2007 and 2008. In 2005, she toured Venezuela and Brazil with New England Conservatory's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and performed throughout southern Maine in 2007 with the Cicada Chamber Players, founded by New York Philharmonic bassist Bill Blossom. In fall 2008, Crawford was selected to represent Oberlin Conservatory in the Kennedy Center's 5th anniversary of their Conservatory Project, and will perform with the Skokie Valley Symphony in December 2009 as the 1st-place winner of their 29th Annual Young Artist Competition.

Luke Maurer
Violist Luke Maurer, a native of Santa Barbara, California, began his musical studies on the violin with his father. He received his B.M. and M.M. degrees in viola performance from the University of Southern California, studying with Donald McInnes and Ralph Fielding. Luke has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan as an orchestral and chamber musician. A member of the Pacific Symphony since 2003, Luke also performs regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

 

 

Julia Staudhammer
Violist Julia Staudhammer has been a member of the Pacific Symphony since 1992. She was born and raised in Southern Caloifornia and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Julie is also a member of the Opera Pacific orchestra and the Pasadena Symphony. She also enjoys Tuesday night Reggae music sessions. Outside music, Julie's passions are her three children, ages 7, 4, and 2, as well as water skiing.

Joseph Wen-Xiang Zhang
Joseph Wen-Xiang Zhang has been a member of the Pacific Symphony's viola section since 1994. Born in Wuhan, China, he finished his studies at the Wuhan Conservatory on violin and then was Concert Master for seven years with the Orchestra of Guilin in China. After moving to California in 1989, Joseph attended La Sierra University and completed a Performance Certificate, studying with Dr. Lyndon Johnson-Taylor. Joseph saw performance opportunities on viola, and honed his viola playing skills. In addition to winning a position with the PSO, he substitutes in the LA Philharmonic.

Pam Jacobson
Pam Jacobson became a member of both Pacific Symphony and Opera Pacific in 2008, after subbing as a violist with both orchestras for several years. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Chapman University, then took up viola after having a viola made for her by Rena Weisshaar in late 2001. Along with her "Pacific" performances, Pam plays with various chamber ensembles, covering a diverse assortment of musical styles, from classical to jazz fusion. She also enjoys playing with her church's praise band at Bethel Grace Baptist Church, where her husband Joe is Worship Pastor. Pam and Joe have been blessed with a beautiful little boy, Elijah.



xxx

Cheryl Gates
Cheryl Gates has been a member of the Pacific Symphony viola section since 2002. Prior to accepting her position with this group she received a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Masters Degree in Viola Performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While on the east coast, Cheryl held positions in the Richmond (VA), Harrisburg (PA), and Syracuse (NY) Symphonies. Cheryl loves to travel and has been fortunate to participate in many music festivals abroad, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in northern Germany as well as festivals in Valencia, Spain; Vienna, Austria; Kuhmo, Finland and many others in the states. Since returning to the west coast in June of 2002, Cheryl has performed with various orchestras in the Southern California area. She has worked as a studio musician and has performed for many ballets, operas, musicals, and pop concerts in the Los Angeles basin. Cheryl also teaches a wide range of private students, from beginners to advanced students, and ages 5 to adult.
Amidst a busy music career, Cheryl treasures her free time in many ways. Cheryl grew up in Santa Monica, California, and as a current resident of Newport Beach, she is lucky to have her family close by. After playing competitive volleyball in school, she now takes advantage of the sunny California weather and beach proximity by enjoying a friendly beach volleyball game as often as possible. Cheryl has also been an avid skier ever since her family first put her on skis at the age of 3. She takes advantage of the local mountains in the summer time as well, having recently climbed Mt. Whitney in central California.


Margaret Henken
Margaret Henken has been a violist with Pacific Symphony Orchestra since 1994. She holds a B.A. degree and a teaching credential from California State University, Northridge, where she studied with Manual Compinsky. She enjoys her family, the mountains, gardens, and composing.

Timothy Landauer





Kevin Plunkett
Kevin Plunkett is currently in his 19th season as Assistant Principal cellist of the Pacific Symphony. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he studied at the New England Conservatory under Laurence Lesser, and at Northern Illinois University under Raya Garbousova. He has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, as well as the Detroit Symphony. He has also held teaching positions at the Universities of Maine and Delaware, where he was also a member of the Delos String Quartet. In his leisure moments Kevin enjoys tinkering with computers, reading, hiking, and various intellectual pursuits.



John Acosta

Robert Vos
In addition to the Pacific Symphony, cellist Robert Vos is also a member of the Opera Pacific Orchestra. He has been a winner in several solo competitions, including first prize in the Mu Phi Epsilon National String Juries and prizes from the American String Teacher’s Association Competition (Collegiate Division). He has also performed in a number of important summer festivals, including as recipient of the Gabor Rejto cello fellowship at the Music Academy of the West, Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. From 1995-98, he was a member of the New World Symphony where he toured extensively and recorded for the Argo Decca and BMG labels. Since returning to Southern California, he has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the region, including the Classics Become Eclectic series in Pasadena, and on the Sundays Live program on KUSC F.M. He received his cello training at University of Southern California where he studied with Eleonore Schoenfeld. He is a committed teacher, with extensive training in Suzuki pedagogue, and he has a small studio of private students. Outside of life at the cello, he enjoys hiking and nature photography. Also outside his cello career, he has pursued research, consulting and teaching in environmental politics and policy. In 1999, he earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Southern California where he now holds a part time appointment as a research assistant professor working with the Center for Sustainable Cities

László Mező
Born in Budapest, Hungary, László Mező began his cello studies at the age of six. He gained national recognition as one of the most talented cellists of his generation when he won First Prize in the “Kertész Ottó Memorial Competition” in 1998. Subsequent successes brought him international recognition when he won Fourth Prize in the “Antonio Janigro Junior International Competition” in 1998, Second Prize in the “International Dávid Popper Competition for Young Cellists” in 2000 and Special Prize in the “International Dávid Popper Cello Competition” in 2004.He was awarded with the first prize of the Ima Hogg International Competition in Houston, TX, in June 2008.
Following in the footsteps of his father, cellist László Mező (cello professor in the Liszt Ferenc University of Music, Cavalier of violoncello, a jury member in major cello Competitions and Festivals and a member of the Bartók Quartet), László Mező has forged a career as a soloist, recitalist, master teacher and chamber musician. He has performed extensively in Europe, Asia and America, appearing in countries such as The United States, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Croatia, France, Slovakia, Brazil and Japan. Always eager to pass on his knowledge, László has conducted master classes in Japan, Switzerland and Hungary.
As soloist, László has performed with Maestros Ádám Fischer, Thomas Wilkins, Grant Llewellyn, Zsolt Hamar and Jerzy Swoboda. As chamber musician, he has collaborated in recitals with pianists Gábor Farkas, Márta Gulyás, Piotr Folkert and Balázs Szokolay, violinist Kristóf Baráti, cellist Philipp Muller and the Bartók Quartet. He has also played under the direction of Zubin Mehta and Kent Nagano (among others) as a member of the Bayerische Staatsorchester in Munich.
László Mező holds master degrees from the Liszt Ferenc University of Music in Budapest and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. He has also participated in the master classes of Uzi Wiesel, Josef Podhoransky, Othmar Müller, Philippe Müller, Rainer Zipperling, Fenyves Lóránd and Wolfgang Boettcher. In addition to performing and teaching, László is currently in the class of Ralph Kirshbaum at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.



Ian McKinnell
Ian was born in England and moved to South Pasadena at age 4. Ian started the cello in the public schools and studied with Joseph DiTullio (Louise DiTullio's father) and Gabor Rejto. He has a B.M. in cello performance from Chapman University and a M.M. from U.S.C. Ian has been a member of PSO since 1979 and is also Assistant Personnel Manager. He is dedicated to music education, which includes having a large private studio, conducting 2 string and 1 full orchestras at El Dorado High School, and PSO's Class Act program. His wife Laurie is an elementary music teacher, his daughter Lesley is a singer and musical theater major, and his son Andrew is a clarinetist. When not playing music, Ian enjoys sailing on his boat, camping, and mountain or road biking.


M. Andrew Honea









Waldemar de Almeida
Since 1985, Waldemar De Almeida has been a part of the Pacific Symphony's cello section. Originally from Brazil, he started playing the cello at age nine and also studied the piano. He later went to Switzerland to attend the Geneva Conservatory, then came to the states to study at Yale University with Professor Aldo Parisot. Wally has had positions playing with the Suisse Romande,Birmingham, Dallas, Auckland, Sao Paulo, Adelaid, and the San Diego Symphonies, often holding Principal or Assistant Principal chairs in those orchestras. Apon moving to the Los Angeles area, Wally played in many local orchestras, and has been the Principal Cellist of the California Philharmonic Orchestra since 1997. In addition to performing, he enjoys teaching cello to advanced students. When he doesn't have a cello and bow in hand, Wally loves to explore nature, and to meet new and interesting people while traveling.

 

 

Jennifer Goss
Jennifer Goss, cellist, is a native of California, where she received her training in the San Francisco Bay area from Margaret Rowell and Irene Sharp.    During her studies in Vienna, Austria, she studied with Valentin Erben, cellist of the Alban Berg Quartet, and earned a Concert Diploma in Violoncello from the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (Academy of Music). In Vienna, she was active in many chamber ensembles and played in both the ÖRF (Austrian Radio) Orchestra and the Vienna Chamber Opera. Upon returning to the United States in 1981, she performed in the Inland Empire, serving as principal cellist of the Redlands Symphony, the Redlands Bowl Orchestra, and the Riverside Symphony. She also taught at the University of California, Riverside. Since 1986, Ms. Goss has been a member of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County. She maintains teaching studios at both the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles and at home in Glendale. She is also active in the freelance world, playing and performing in chamber music concerts. Ms. Goss is a member of ASTA, MTAC, the Los Angeles Violoncello Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda.


Rudolph Stein

Steven Edelman
Steve Edelman comes from a family of musicians. He studied here and in Europe, his first job being Assistant Principal Bass in the Phoenix Symphony in 1969 at the age of 19. After his stint with Phoenix, it was off to San Diego and back to Hollywood where he has recorded over 500 movie sound tracks . Steve started in the recording busuness recording records. His favorite movie score to record was with composer Elmer Bernstien, Animal House. "It has been 25 years in the Pacific Symphony and I'm happier than ever with the music making." He has been married for 20 years and has a 12 year old daughter, both of whom travelled with the PSO on the recent European tour. He loves all types of music with the exception of opera, because there is too much yelling!

 

 

 

Doug Basye
Doug Basye joined Pacific Symphony as Assistant Principal Bass in 1994. Originally from Colorado, Doug holds degrees from Indiana University and Carnegie Mellon University. Before joining Pacific Symphony he played in the Colorado Symphony and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife (Spain). Since moving to Orange County he has played with San Diego Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, San Diego Opera and Pittsburgh Symphony. Doug is on faculty at CSU Fullerton and teaches privately. A current member of PSO's Class Act program, he is in residency at 4 Orange County elementary schools. He lives wih his wife, Hong, and their son, Aaron,  in Mission Viejo. In his free time Doug enjoys woodworking, skiing, and frisbee.

Christian Kollgaard
Bassist Chris Kollgaard joined the PSO in 1985. A native of New York, Chris attended the Eastman School of Music and London's Guildhall School of Music, followed by positions with the Norwegian Opera and the Oslo Philharmonic. After 8 years in Europe, he moved to Southern California in 1983 and began a career as a freelance musician, serving over the years as a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera and the Pasadena Symphony. As a studio musician, he has played on over 500 film scores. He lives in Glendale with his wife, cellist Deborah Kollgaard, and his daughter Caitlin.

 

David Parmeter
David Parmeter began his musical life playing violin at age 7 while growing up in Fresno and Long Beach, California. Soon he graduated to cello, which he played for the next ten years, earning a scholarship to UCLA. It was here that the 20-year-old David was enlightened to the wonders of the double bass, under the tutelage of Pacific Symphony member Paul Zibits. David graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Music Composition and Double Bass Performance. In 1995, David won a position with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra after having served as Principal Bass in the YMF Debut Orchestra. Playing the bass has allowed David to travel several times to Europe, record music for major motion pictures, and fool around in some of the jazzier clubs of Los Angeles. All proceeds from David's career benefit his young children Benjamin and Matilda, his wife Searmi, and his dogs Bela and Chloe.



Paul Zibits
Paul Zibits, Bass/Personnel Manager, has been a member of Pacific Symphony since the opening of the first Segerstrom Hall in 1986. Originally from Chicago, he's been an active studio musician since moving to California in 1979, performing on over 500 motion picture sound tracks. He runs his own business, Ichiban Entertainment Inc, which provides music contracting services for venues throughout Southern California. He taught at UCLA for 20 years and is currently on the Department of Music faculty at CSULB. His major interest outside of music is tournament poker and has a 7th Place finish at the World Series of Poker. His poker blog can be accessed at IchibanPoker.com. In 2006 he became a published author and editor of the book Poker Face 2. He's married to Kimiyo Takeya, violinist in Pacific Symphony, and has two sons, Zachary, 11 and Andy, 29.


David Black
David R. Black has been a section bassist with the Pacific Symphony for over 25 years. He began his career in PSO while working on his Bachelor of Music degree at California State University, Fullerton. He continued his studies at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, where he received a Master of Arts in Music. During this time he studied with Bertram Turetzky, well-known soloist and recording artist, and Dennis Trembly, Principal Bassist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 1984-89 David was the solo bassist for the Roger Wagner Chorale, touring and recording three albums. He has spent many summers performing with music festivals including the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and the Ojai Music Festival.
David is a member of the Opera Pacific Orchestra, and has played with many other orchestras in Southern California including the Long Beach Opera and the San Diego, Pasadena, Redlands and Riverside symphonies. He is currently Professor of Bass at Biola University, Chapman University, and Whittier College.



Andrew Bumatay
Andy Bumatay, bassist, has been a member of the PSO since 1982. He is now retired from teaching instrumental music in the public schools, K-12, after 36 years. After growing up in Delano, CA where he was a grape picker, gas station attendant, and US postal worker, he attended Bakersfield Jr. College, UCLA, Cal State Northridge, and Pepperdine. His teachers were Jack Ritchey, Bob Manning, Warren Benfield, and Peter Mercurio. Andy enjoys cooking (especially for the Bass Section picnic at Verizon Ampitheatre), bowling, and generally doing things with his wife Lynn that he couldn't do while teaching in the public schools.




Constance Deeter
Connie Deeter is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with David Walter. She has performed with the Pasadena, San Diego, Long Beach and Santa Barbara Symphonies, as well as many other groups in Southern California, and has played on a number of movie sound tracks. In addition to the Pacific Symphony, Connie is a member of the Redlands Symphony and the Chinese Classical Music Ensemble. She teaches privately, and at Loyola Marymount University.

xxx

Sharon O'Connor

Cynthia Ellis
 Flutist Cynthia Bueker Ellis is a member of the Pacific Symphony, playing solo piccolo since 1979. Her performance credits also include Los Angeles Music Center Opera, Pasadena Chamber Orchestra and the Cabrillo Music Festival in Santa Cruz, California. She has also served as the principal flutist for touring ballet companies on their Orange County stops including the Royal Ballet of London, American Ballet Theater, Stuttgart Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, and the San Francisco Ballet. In January of 1995, she was appointed Principal Flutist with the Opera Pacific Orchestra. She has recorded with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra as well as on several major motion picture and cartoon soundtracks.
Ms. Ellis received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with Honors from California State University, Fullerton, and was chosen as Music Associates Outstanding Student of the Year upon completion of her work in 1983. Her many scholastic honors include membership to the honor societies of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Kappa Phi, and membership and listing in Outstanding Young Women of America for 1983. She was named as one of O.C. Metro Magazine’s “Ten Women Making a Difference” in March 2002 for her work in the field of music education. She has been published in Flute Talk magazine, a international educational journal, and was appointed editor of the “Let’s Talk Picc” column in May 2003. She won the John and Mary Virginia Foncannon Chamber Music Scholarship from the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation in 2007, as well as the Pacific Symphony Chairman of the Board “Orchestra Hero” award.
Chamber music credits include performances in the Pacific Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Concerts and American Composers Festival Chamber Music Concerts, the Corona del Mar Baroque Festival, the Sonora Bach Festival, Fullerton Friends of Music Series and live broadcasts on KUSC’s Sundays Live! Concert Series. In March 2000, her chamber trio, Les Amis Muscalles, won first place in the National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition. The group has performed at NFA annual conventions in Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, and San Diego, California. The trio actively concertizes throughout Southern California and has commissioned composers for new works, among them, Arni Egilsson, Bruce Broughten, and James Hopkins. The trio released their first CD, “Beyond Beethoven” on the Centaur Label in February 2006.
Music education is an important facet of Cindy’s career. She is instructor of flute at California State University at Fullerton, where she also holds a lectureship position and coaches the university flute ensemble. In October 2003, Ms. Ellis performed the world premiere of Stephen Maphar’s Sonata for Flute, Wind Ensemble and Women’s Choir, “The Celestial”, at CSUF. In addition, Cindy has been an instructor for Pacific Symphony’s nationally recognized “Class Act” education and outreach program. She is a member of the Music Teachers Association of California and Mu Phi Epsilon. She currently serves as a member of the National Flute Association Pedagogy Committee.

Jessica Pearlman

Jessica Pearlman currently holds the position of principal oboe of Orange County’s Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Pearlman moved to Orange County after completing her Master of Music degree in 2009 at The Juilliard School as a student of Elaine Douvas, Nathan Hughes and Pedro Diaz, all of the Metropolitan Opera. While in New York, she performed and toured with some of the city's most esteemed ensembles, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera. She has been a member of the Verbier (Switzerland) Festival Orchestra since 2007, participating in two international tours led by Charles Dutoit and Ludovic Morlot. As a soloist Ms. Pearlman has been featured with the Pacific Chamber Symphony, San Jose Chamber Symphony, Colorado College Summer Music Festival and the Mansfield (OH) Symphony Orchestra where she also served as principal oboe during the 2005 - 2006 season.
Ms. Pearlman hails from Half Moon Bay, CA where she studied oboe and violin and performed in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and with her local community orchestra. Her continued study of music and science brought her to Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she earned a B.M. under the tutelage of the late James Caldwell as well as a B.A. in neuroscience, as a pre-med student. Her summer research in brain tumor models conducted at Johns Hopkins University was presented at the 2006 conference of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Among Pearlman's other talents, she is a dedicated and passionate teacher. She served as a secondary oboe teacher to undergraduate students while at Oberlin College and Yale University (where she spent the first year of graduate school), and in 2006 served as woodwind professor for the Associaciòn Nacional de Conciertos youth music festival in Panamà. She currently resides in Newport Beach with her rescue dog, Nadia. Visit Miss Pearlman online at www.jessicapearlman.com



Deborah Shidler

Lelie Resnick

Ben Lulich
Benjamin Lulich was appointed Principal Clarinet of the Pacific Symphony in May of 2007. He comes to Orange County after spending a year as Associate Principal, 2nd & Eb Clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony. Benjamin attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where he was a student of Richard Hawkins and won the concerto competition and both the Fine Arts and Young Artist awards. He then received his B.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Frank Cohen and continued his studies at Yale University with David Shifrin. While in Cleveland, Benjamin was an active freelancer, and performed with The Cleveland Orchestra on several occasions, including two tours. He has also performed with the New World Symphony, and has spent summers at Marrowstone Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Music Academy of the West, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and the Colorado Music Festival. Benjamin has also won concerto competitions at Music Academy of the West, Cleveland Institute of Music, Marrowstone Music Festival and was a Theodore Presser Scholar. Additional clarinet teachers include Laura DeLuca, Alain Desgagne and Fred Ormand. A native of Oregon, Benjamin started playing the clarinet at age 11, taking lessons with Ted Burton in his hometown of Bend.

David Chang


Joshua Ranz
Joshua Ranz and is currently Acting Principal Clarinet of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and holds the position of Utility/Bass Clarinet with Pacific Symphony. He is on faculty at Pomona College and Biola Conservatory of Music. Last March he was Acting Principal Clarinet on the Pacific Symphony European Tour and performs that duty regularly with Pacific. He has recorded with Pacific and is active in the Television and Motion Picture industry. Previously, he was a member of the Honolulu and San Jose symphonies. Josh spends his summers performing with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in western New York and has performed with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego for the past few years. Josh was a member of the Aspen Music School and Festival faculty where he taught lessons, gave master classes and performed in the Festival and Chamber orchestras. He has played recitals at the International Clarinet Association Convention and performed with the New York Woodwind Quintet at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He was also a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Josh attended Yale School of Music where he studied with David Shifrin and received his Bachelor's degree at Harvard College, majoring in music composition and analysis. Aside from his classical pursuits, Josh has been involved in Klezmer music since he was a young child. At Harvard, he composed a Klezmer concerto for clarinet and chamber orchestra as his senior thesis, and performed it with fellow members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. This past October Josh and his wife Lelie Resnick (an oboist) had a baby boy, Jonah Ethan Ranz.

Rose Corrigan
Ms. Corrigan enjoys a varied career as an orchestra musician, chamber musician, soloist, teacher and studio musician. Ms. Corrigan is a graduate of the University of Southern California where she studied with Michael O’Donovan.  This is her first season as Principal Bassonist with Pacific Symphony. She is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Los Angles Opera Orchestra. She has played on numerous movie soundtracks, television scores, records and commercials.  Currently she is on the faculty at the University of Southern California. She lives in Sierra Madre with her husband and three children.

 

Elliott Moreau
Elliott Moreau was appointed Second Bassoon of the Pacific Symphony in 2005. A native of San Diego, Elliott began bassoon studies with Arlen Fast, now of the New York Philharmonic. He received his Bachelor of Music from DePaul University, his Master of Music from USC, and completed a Certificate Program at Temple University in 2005. His primary teachers were Bill Buchman, Steve Maxym, and Daniel Matsukawa. Prior to the PSO, Elliott was a member of the Haddonfield Symphony in New Jersey. Elliott was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Opera Pacific Orchestra in 2006.

Andrew Klein
PSO bassoonist Andrew Klein has been a member of the orchestra since 1984. In addition to his numerous performances in the OC, he also performs regularly with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and for the past 21 seasons as solo bassoon with the Pageant of the Masters Orchestra in Laguna Beach. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Andy attended California Institute of the Arts and USC. Andy's teachers include Don Christlieb, Michael O'Donovan and Norman Herzberg. When not making reeds and preparing for concerts, Andy enjoys composing and arranging music, hiking, reading, traveling, gourmet food and wine.

Allen Savedoff
B.M. Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford; M.M. University of Michigan. Former faculty member at Augusta College, Georgia and St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. Member of the Pacific Symphony (since 1986), Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Opera Pacific and California Philharmonic. Has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic New Music Group, Music Center Opera, LA Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Glendale Symphony, LA Master Chorale and Southwest Chamber Music. Studio work includes recording for feature films and television. He has recorded two solo CDs: Contradiction, a collection of jazz standards for contrabassoon; and most recently, SavoirFaire, a classical album for bassoon and contrabassoon. Both are available on Capstone Records.

Keith Popejoy


Mark Adams
Mark Adams, french horn, has been a member of the Pacific Symphony since 1993. He performs often with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Opera Pacific, and has played on hundreds of motion picture soundtracks. He enjoys racing his vintage Ford Mustang, hiking the peaks of the Eastern Sierra, or reading a good book by the fireside at his Eugene, Oregon retreat. He also dabbles in photography and Japanese gardening. When in California, he resides in a 50-year-old home in the hills with his black-and-white cat, Moe.

 

James Taylor
Since graduating from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1985 James (Jim) Taylor has performed with the San Francisco Opera and Symphony, and at many other Bay Area venues. He is currently the 3rd/ Assistant Horn of Orange County’s Pacific Symphony Orchestra. As Principal Horn, he has performed with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and the Mendocino Music Festival as well as with many of the worlds leading ballet companies. He has toured nationally with the Royal Philharmonic of London and the Western Opera Theater, and internationally with PSO.

 

Russell Dicey

 

 

 

 

Barry Perkins
Barry Perkins, Principal Trumpet of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, began playing the trumpet at the age of five under the instruction of his father. Barry later attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied with Charles Schlueter. At the age of twenty, he won his first Orchestra job as the Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Mexico City Philharmonic. After five years in Mexico, Barry decided to come home and quickly was able to establish himself in the freelance scene in San Diego. While in San Diego, he became the first-call substitute Principal Trumpet of the San Diego Symphony and a member of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra. Barry has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Opera, Baltimore Symphony, State of Mexico Orchestra, Mineria Philharmonic, and the UNAM Philharmonic. He is the Founder of the Barry Perkins Trumpet Academy which educates trumpet students of all ages all over Southern California. If not playing his trumpet with the orchestra, you can find Barry in the gym pumping iron.

Tony Ellis
Tony Ellis has held the position of second trumpet with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra since 1984. He recently performed Principal Trumpet for Stravinsky’s Petroushka and Thaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, both of which were broadcast live on KMZT. He has also performed Principal Trumpet with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. Mr Ellis was appointed to the position of Second Trumpet with the Opera Pacific orchestra in 2005. He has performed as Principal Trumpet on several productions including Turandot, Carmen, Tosca, Carmina Burana, Paglicci, and Jake Heggies’s Dead Man Walking. Mr. Ellis has performed with Southwest Chamber Music for the last ten years, during which time he recorded four CD’s. He has performed solo trumpet on “Carlos Chavez Complete Chamber Works Volume 2”. The performance won a GRAMMY for best Small Ensemble Performance, Classical Category in February 2005. Solo apperarances include performances with local universities and colleges, among them, the California State University Fullerton Brass Ensemble, the Pacific Brass of Long Beach, Fullerton Commmunity Concert Band, Irvine Valley College Wind Ensemble and Saddleback College. Tony has commissioned a solo work for trumpet titled Reinvention composed by Steve Mahpar. Tony is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, where he earned both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. He lives in Brea with his wife, Cynthia, and two Labrador retrievers Diva and Penny. He is an avid golfer and racing enthusiast.


David Wailes
Dave has been playing with the Pacific Symphony since 1984 and has been Last Trumpet for all of that time. A native of Idaho, he attended CSU Fullerton and The University of Southern California during which time the USC football team went 21-0 but lost two Rose Bowls. Dave is currently married to Victoria Miskolczy, a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and they own an elderly rat terrier named Basil and a blood-letting boston terrier named Kirby. Dave also reads alot, plays way too much golf and recently painted his house, inside and out, by himself. Well, his wife helped some.




Michael Hoffman
Michael Hoffman, Principal Trombone with Orange County’s Pacific Symphony has been a member since 1989. He has performed in a variety of ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, LA Music Center Opera, the Peter Britt Festival, Opera Pacific and Niobe Brass. He can also be heard on many movie soundtracks including Hook, Far and Away, Jurassic Park, Lost World, Titanic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Down With Love, Sea Biscuit, Hidalgo, and King Kong. Mike is very active with Pacific Symphony’s nationally acclaimed ‘Class Act’ program and has enjoyed working with many elementary schools as a band director and adopted musician, finding great satisfaction in contributing to the very important and worthwhile goal of developing future audiences. When Mike isn’t performing, he enjoys woodworking, as well as keeping up with his 12 year-old daughter Madeleine.

David Stetson
David received his Bachelor of Music Performance degree with honors from USC in June, 1979. In July of that year he won a position with the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for 10 years. Since returning to Southern California, David has maintained an active freelance career in many recording studios and ensembles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  He also performs regularly with the Pageant of the Masters orchestra, the Long Beach Municipal Band, and Opera Pacific. David became a full-time member of the Pacific Symphony in 2000, but has been playing extensively with the orchestra since 1994. He is on  faculty at Chapman University, Biola University, Azusa Pacific University, and the University of California, Irvine. With what little time is left after raising four children, David forces himself to lift weights and enjoys collecting old stuff.

Robert Sanders
Robert Sanders grew up right here in Costa Mesa, where he began studying the trombone in at the age of 11. His teachers have included Don Kimble, Jeff Reynolds, Robert Simmergren and Roy Main. His professional career began at the age of twenty-one playing with the Disneyland Band. After three years there, he moved on and has stayed busy performing ever since. He has been a member of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra since 1986, the Hollywood Bowl and Opera Pacific Orchestras since their founding and was a member of the Long Beach Symphony for more than a decade. He has played on a freelance basis with: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, numerous traveling Ballet and Opera Companies has played for hundreds of motion picture scores and has spent considerable time in the pit at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. He teaches trombone at California State University, Fullerton. He is a Trustee of Local 7, American Federation of Musicians here in Santa Ana, is the President of the Southern California Chapter of the Theater Musicians Association and serves on that organization's National Board of Directors.

James Self
Jim Self is a Los Angeles free-lance musician, a veteran of thousands of motion pictures, television shows and records, and tuba soloist on many prominent movies. His tuba was the “Voice of the Mothership” in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is the Principal Tuba/Cimbasso with the Pacific and Pasadena Symphonies, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Opera and Opera Pacific orchestras. He holds a DMA from the USC Thornton School of Music where he teaches tuba and chamber music. His compositions and arrangements include works for solo tuba, brass quintet, other brass, string and woodwind chamber music and for band and orchestra. The Pacific Symphony has commissioned him to write a new work for the orchestra that will be premiered on the classics series in Spring, 2008. Jim has produced nine solo jazz and classical recordings. His music and recordings are available from: http://www.bassethoundmusic.com. Jim’s hobby is flying his 1973 Piper Arrow.

Robert A. Slack
Robert Slack is a leading Timpanist/Percussionist in the Southern California area. Winning a national audition for a percussion position in the Pacific Symphony in 1990, he then became the Principal Percussionist in 1992. In addition to his work with the Pacific Symphony, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, Opera Pacific, the Long Beach Symphony, and in many Ballet performances at the Los Angeles Music Center, the Kodak Theater, and other L.A. venues. Major performances with ballet orchestras include the American Ballet Theater, Joffery Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet of Russia, Royal Danish Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Kirov Ballet, and Miami Ballet. Broadway show productions include The Car Man, Annie, Evita, Fosse, Wicked, and others. Previous to his position with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Slack held positions as Timpanist with the Nassau Symphony on Long Island and Assistant Principal Timpanist/Percussionist with the Naples, Florida Philharmonic.
Mr. Slack received a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Nation’s premier music conservatory. While at Curtis, Mr. Slack studied with Gerald Carlyss, Principal Timpanist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Michael Bookspan, Principal Percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Slack received an Orchestral Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in 1989. He also performed and studied with Roland Kohlof, former Principal Timpanist of the New York Philharmonic, at the Waterloo Festival in New Jersey. During high school Mr. Slack attended the Juilliard School of Music Pre- College Division, and studied extensively with New York Philharmonic Principal Percussionist Christopher Lamb at the State University of New York at Purchase. Mr. Slack has appeared as soloist with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra under the direction of composer/conductor John Williams in the Williams work Escapades for vibraphone and alto saxophone, and also performed the work at Disneyland with the Chapman University Orchestra. He has also been featured in the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s American Composers’ Festival with internationally renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma. Additional solo appearances include the Pacific Symphony Family concerts and the New Sousa Band under the direction of Keith Brion at the Ambassador auditorium in Pasadena. He has also been a soloist on the Pacific Symphony Pops series with the jazz vibraphone classic Midnight Sun. As a solo Marimbist, Mr. Slack is known among Musician for his musical interpretations of the Music of J.S. Bach, having performed solo recitals of Bach’s music at Chapman University, Biola University, and at the Orange County High School for the Performing Arts.
Highly sought after as a teacher, Mr. Slack has had many of his students placed in major music conservatories and universities such as the Juilliard School, Indiana University, U.C.L.A., U.S.C. School of Music, and others. Several of his students have earned positions in professional orchestras. He has held teaching positions at Fullerton College, C.S.U. at Fullerton, Santa Ana College, and Chapman University. Currently Mr. Slack maintains a private teaching studio in Orange County. Also active as a jazz musician, Mr. Slack heads a Jazz trio "Rob Slack and Friends" which has been a featured group at local venues. Mr. Slack studied Jazz Vibraphone with the L.A. area's leading Jazz Vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake, and studied drum set with jazz legend Joe Morello of the Dave Brubek quintet in the 1950’s. Mr. Slack can often be seen "sitting in" at local jazz spots after Pacific Symphony concerts.  Visit his website at www.ocpercussionstudio.com.

Cliff Hulling
Cliff Hulling received his bachelor of music degree in percussion performance and his masters degree in theory and composition from California State University, Fullerton. He has worked as a percussionist for many groups including the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Chorale, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Royal Ballet. He has also worked with artists such as Sarah Vaughn, Doc Severinson, Henry Mancini, Ray Charles, and many other well-known musicians. He has appeared on both the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Mr. Hulling is also a staff composer for the Ludwig Music Publishing Company, where he published A Modern Approach to the Drum Set and A Collection of Marimba Solos. As a composer he was featured on Crosscurrents, the 2003 Biola University Faculty composers CD, and in 1997 his percussion piece The Journey won the High music Award at the Percussion World Championships. He regularly performs at the Ahmanson Theater where his Broadway credits include performances of the musicals Chicago, Titanic, Fosse, Cinderella, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Miserables, Into the Woods, Caroline or Change, Little Shop of Horrors, Play Without Words, Curtains, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Light in the Piazza, Edward Scissorhands, and A Chorus Line.

Todd Miller
Timpanist Todd Miller is one of the founding members of the Pacific Symphony as well as the LA Opera. He has a Bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California, majoring in both french horn and percussion. He went on to receive a Master's degree from USC in conducting. As a teacher, Todd has been a professor at Cal State Fullerton since 1971. As a performer, he is a member of the Pasadena Symphony, Opera Pacific, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and has worked in the Los Angeles symphonic and recording industry for many years.

 

Sandra Matthews
Sandra Matthews was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England. She began her piano studies at age six and at age eleven began private cello lessons which continued through her college years. By the age of fourteen, Sandra had completed the examinations provided by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and had won many first prizes in piano competitions and festivals in Warwickshire. She was awarded a full scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she attained a masters degree (G.G.S.M.) in piano performance and teaching. During her years at the Guildhall, Sandra was in great demand as an accompanist and was awarded the schools accompanying prize. After graduating she was given a bursary from the City of London for a further years study in accompanying,chamber music and harpsichord.
Since moving to California, Sandra has been on the staff of California State University, Fullerton, University of Irvine California, Orange Coast College. Married with two daughters, Sandra maintains a busy life-style teaching and freelance accompanying throughout California. Her most important work has been with the Pacific Symphony for which she has been the principal keyboard player since its inception in 1978.
In 2005 Sandra released a solo piano CD (Pearls along the Way). She plans to release an all Mozart album and also an album for violin, voice and piano with her two daughters Rachael and Sarah next year. Sandra loves to hike and camp and is a certified foot reflexologist.

Mindy Ball
Mindy Ball began playing the harp at the age of 14, studying with Marjorie Call-Salzedo. She received her degree in harp performance from Chapman University and graduated with honors. She also trained with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institiute Orchestra under the distinguished American conductor Leonard Bernstein. Since 1979, Minday has served as Principal Harp with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and is currently Principal Harp for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Opera Pacific, and the Pittsburgh Opera in Pittsburgh, PA. She performs regularly for major touring ballet companies and has recorded for major motion picture and television, including PBS specials for Barry Manilow, American Ballet Theater and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Mindy has toured with the Pacific Symphony to Europe, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra to Japan and Brazil and Cancun with Johnny Mathis. For 12 years, Mindy performed for the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. In addition, Mindy has played for political dignitaries such as former President George Bush, former President Richard Nixon, and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Along with keeping a busy freelance career, Mindy teaches harp at Biola, Chapman, Cal State Fullerton, Vanguard and Concordia Universities. Mindy is married to a retired United Airlines pilot and resides in the city of Orange along with her dog Sophie, and three cats, Gloria, Sanctus, and Benedictus.

Michelle Temple
Harpist Michelle Temple has been a member of Pacific Symphony since 1994, and was named Principal Harp with the Santa Barbara Symphony in 1991. Enjoying frequent visits to her hometown, she also serves as Principal Harp for Opera Santa Barbara. An active freelancer, Michelle delights in playing a wide variety of musical styles and instrument combinations. She earned her advanced degrees from Indiana University and the University of Southern California. Michelle loves reading, watching movies and laughing uncontrollably, but her favorite thing, besides playing music, is spending time with animals of all kinds.