Staff

Jack Allen (guitar)
Jack Allen is a Los Angeles native that has been a professional guitarist for more than 20 years. He's studied privately with Barney Kessell and John Collins. As a professional composer Jack has studied with Dr. Albert Harris. Jack's musical education includes Immaculate Heart College, Santa Monica City College, and the Dick Grove School of Music. He enjoys teaching and encouraging the development of positive activities that can motivate young people to pursue their dreams. Jack is a member of ASCAP, American Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers.

Luvi Avendano (voice)
Luvi performed with Riverside Little Opera as Barone Douphol in La Traviata, with Opera in the Ozarks as the title role in The Mikado, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, and Marcello in La Boheme. He holds opera credits in performances as “Uberto” in La Serva Padrona, Blue Moose in The Blue Moose Opera, Germont in La Traviata, andDr. Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore.

Gary Blumer (piano, composition)
www.myspace.com/garyblumerjazzpiano
Holding a masters degree in Composition from Wayne State University, he's been performing at the piano for over 35 years in jazz, classical and pop genres. Band leader, freelance pianist, composer/arranger and educator - having taught at WSU for 13 years - are all areas in which Gary has many years of experience.

Kristin Caliendo (flute, piano, voice, chilidren's fundamentals)
Kristin Caliendo earned her masters degree in flute performance from Arizona State University and has her Bachelors degree in flute performance from Grand Canyon University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. The winner of the Bay View Music Festival concerto competition and two-time winner of the Maricopa Community College “Outstanding Performers Instrumental Competition,” Kristin is currently working towards earning her Doctorate of Musical Arts in flute performance with an emphasis in music education. Kristin strives to provide her students with instruction and experience that develop proficiency on the flute in an encouraging, positive, and enjoyable atmosphere.

Josephine Chang (piano)
Josephine Chang received a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance and a Masters of Music in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a member of the Music Teachers Association of California, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Glendale branch. In addition to teaching individual piano lessons, Ms. Chang is also an instructor of group piano classes at Pasadena City College.

Irina Chirkova (cello)
A cello student at the Sofia Music School in Bulgaria from the age of 5, Irina Chirkova made her first trip to the U.S. accepting a scholarship to the Boston Conservatory where she received her Bachelors and Masters degrees. Irina won 1st prize at the Svetoslav Obretenov National Competition (Bulgaria 1988) and the Boston Conservatory Concerto Competition 2001, and 2nd prize at the Massachusetts American String Teachers’ Association Solo Competition in 1997 among many other awards. She participated in Master classes under Yo-Yo Ma, Tokyo String Quartet, Norman Fischer, Timothy Eddy, Andor Toth, Bernard Greenhouse, and Aldo Parisot. Irina had been taught at Wellesley College and at the Brookline Music School, MA. She now resides in Los Angeles.

Perfecto De Castro (guitar)
www.perfdecastro.com
Perfecto is a multi-awarded guitarist proficient in Classical, Flamenco and Electric Rock Guitar Styles. He is an active performer, having given concerts and recitals in Southern California, SF Bay Area, Portland OR, Chicago, New Jersey, Connecticut and the Philippines. Highly in demand as a teacher, Perfecto’s instruction involves modern methods in music theory, ear training, positioning and proper muscular movement, tone production, and sound design and manipulation.

Kenny Elliott (percussion, drumset)
Kenny’s career as a professional drummer began at age 12 when he performed under the direction of the Red Saunders Orchestra at the Regal Theater. He was the staff drummer for Brunswick Records while teaching at the American Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles . Kenny toured with such greats as Lou Rawls, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole and performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Lucy Arnez, Diahann Caroll, Carol Channing, Ray Charles, Al Green, Eddie Harris, Al Jarreau, Chaka Kahn, Cheryl Lynn, Billy Preston, Helen Reddy, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder among others. He enjoys teaching and working with people.

Aubrey Foard (tuba/low brass)
Aubrey Foard (b. 1982 Milwaukee, WI) is principal tubist with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and with the Albany Symphony Orchestra. He has held positions with the symphony orchestras of Canton and Youngstown and has performed as a substitute with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As a soloist, he has been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” as well as WQXR New York, KUHF Houston and KDB Santa Barbara. Mr. Foard holds a bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a master’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. As a low brass teacher, he advocates an inspired and philosophical approach to music and has been teaching successfully as a private instructor for over two years.

Peter Huerta (percussion, drumset)
A charismatic teacher and performer, Peter has played on SNL, David Letterman, Good Morning America, Ellen Degeneres, Jimmy Kimmel Live, MTV TRL, Teen Choice Awards, and with Gwen Stefani. He has been the Toy Soldier in the Disneyland parade, and recently on America’s Got Talent finals with “All That.” Serving as a percussion instructor to various high schools throughout the southland, Peter brings a lot of personality, accomplishment, and care to the studios.

Suzanne Inwood (violin)
A USC music school graduate, Suzanne has taught for over 30 years. Accomplishments include performing in the Indiana University Symphony, South Bend Symphony, USC Symphony, among others and teaching at the South Bend Community Schools Summer Clinic, the Idylwild Summer Music School, the Irvine Conservatory of Music, the USC Community School of Performing Arts. She is a creative teacher committed to excellence, providing good fundamentals for the beginner and coaching advanced students as they prepare for auditions, performances, and contests. She currently performs on the fiddle with the Bluegra$$ Billionaires.

Jim Jedekein (saxophone, clarinet, flute)
Jim received a Bachelors of Music from San Francisco State University in 1988. He played with the Royal Crown Revue, the Mambo Combo Latin Jazz Ensemble, the Johnny Crawford Orchestra, the Pasadena Jazz Orchestra, the Jonathan Stout Orchestra, the Hollywood Combo, and the Disneyland Band. Jim was a part of Bette Midler's Kiss My Brass Tour (2003-2005) of the U.S. and Australia and went to Dubai with Persian pop star Ebi Hamedi. He recently finished a U.S. tour with Star Wars in Concert. Jim taught privately for many years and has been the Artistic Director of the Pasadena Jazz Institute's Jazz Camp for Kids since 2005. He is a member of the Local 47 and Local 7, AFM.

Miyuki Nakashima (violin)
Miyuki soloed in the premier of the critically acclaimed work of "Ta if" during the 20th Century Composers Festival with the New Century Chamber Orchestra. She appeared as soloist with The New Millenium Chamber Orchestra and the Lincoln Chamber. At the age of 17, she was invited on scholarship to at California Institute of the Arts and later attended the Henry Mancini Institute. She served as assistant conductor for all of Trace Elementary School's orchestras in Northern California, and is currently working on concerts to help raise awareness of chamber music and the arts in Santa Paula and Santa Clarita.

Ken Nagatani (guitar)
Ken Nagatani received both a Master of Music and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Manuel Barrueco, and completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California in 2006 as a student of William Kanengiser. Ken has given solo performances in the Los Angeles area, and has also performed with the Glendale Community College Choir in a work written for chorus and guitar. For the past 20 years, Ken has enjoyed teaching classical and acoustic guitar to students of all ages and levels. He is currently an adjunct instructor at East Los Angeles College.

Vincent Snyder (piano)
Vernon Snyder holds the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Performance and Music Education from Southern Oregon University (2005), the Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from California State University, Long Beach (2007), the Zertifikat--Deutsch als Fremdsprache Diploma from the ActiLingua Academy in Vienna, Austria (2008, with additional piano studies at the Vienna Conservatory) and is currently a doctoral student in Piano Performance at Claremont Graduate University, where he is the recipient of the Fernandez Prize in music, and the Kenneth Fiske Fellowship. Vernon is currently the Director of Music at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Arcadia, and in addition to his duties as a church musician can frequently be heard as an accompanist and soloist throughout the Los Angeles area.

Sanja Stojicevic (piano)
Sanja obtained her undergraduate degree in piano performance at the University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and her Masters degree in piano performance at Washington University in Saint Louis. She participated and won at the National Piano Competitions in ex-Yugoslavia, and her student placed 2nd in the Stressa “Città di Stressa” piano competition in Italy in 1996 and 3rd in the Nicolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Paris, France in 1998. Sanja was on the piano faculty of the Saint Louis School of music and the Alcatel Espace Music School in Toulouse, France.

Eric Stone (guitar)
With a certificate in guitar performance from the Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music, Eric began teaching guitar in 2002, and is well-versed in teaching all contemporary guitar styles and music theory to students of all ages. He arranged and performed the score to the short film Ofelia and Joe and he also arranged a song for the web series The Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros. Eric has performed with the guitar in a variety of settings nd is a former classroom teacher holding a master's degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Louis Van Taylor (sax, flute, clarinet)
A professional musician, Louis' instrumental voice can be heard on movie soundtracks such as "Hurricane", "Friday", "Coneheads" and the "Temptations Story". On CD's with such notables as Kool and the Gang, Ray Charles, Mariah Carey, The Temptations, Amanda Marshall, Donnie, Carl Anderson, and many, many others. Louis, a former staff member of the USC Jazz Studies Dept, currently provides instruction for the Dorothy Kirby Center for special education and is a clincian for the Los Angeles Jazz Society and the Theatre of the Hearts Youth First Program.

Caster Teoh (trumpet)
Caster performed professionally with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, and numerous other symphonic groups throughout the world. In addition, he has participated in the Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival in Brazil, the Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar in the US, the Domaine Forget Music Academy in Canada, the Kumamoto Youth Music Festival in Japan, and the International Festival Santa Fiora in Musica in Italy. A graduate from the University Of Iowa School Of Music, Caster is a member in the Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Currently, he is pursuing his Master of music degree at the USC Thornton School of Music.

Carolyn Iga (CEO, piano, voice)

Lisa (voice, mandolin, banjo)
Mindy Toyosato (piano)