Stuart Chafetz is a conductor with a dynamic podium demeanor and a refined sense of audience engagement. Increasingly in demand with orchestras across the continent, this season Chafetz will be on the podium in Chicago, Naples, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinnati, Hawaii, Jacksonville, Dallas, Louisiana and others.

Previous conducting appearances include the orchestras of Buffalo, San Francisco, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Florida, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisiana, Naples, New Mexico, San Francisco Ballet and Virginia.

He’s had the privilege to work with renowned artists such as Chris Botti, Roberta Flack, George Benson, Richard Chamberlain, The Chieftains, Jennifer Holliday, John Denver, Marvin Hamlisch, Thomas Hampson, Wynonna Judd, Jim Nabors, Randy Newman, Jon Kimura Parker and Bernadette Peters.
He previously held posts as resident conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and associate conductor of the Louisville Orchestra. As principal timpanist of the Honolulu Symphony for twenty years, Chafetz would also conduct the annual Nutcracker performances with Ballet Hawaii and principals from the American Ballet Theatre. It was during that time that Chafetz led numerous concerts with the Maui Symphony and Pops.

In the summers, Chafetz spends his time at the Chautauqua Institution, where he conducts the annual Fourth of July and Opera Pops concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in addition to his role as that orchestra’s timpanist.

When not on the podium, Chafetz makes his home near San Francisco, CA, with his wife Ann Krinitsky. Chafetz holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a master’s from the Eastman School of Music.

October 2015

Known for his entertaining programs and clever humor, Michael Krajewski is a much sought after conductor of symphonic pops. He is Music Director of The Philly Pops and Principal Pops Conductor of the Houston, Atlanta and Jacksonville Symphonies.

As a guest conductor Michael has performed with the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; the Boston and Cincinnati Pops; the San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Indianapolis, Seattle, Dallas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and National Symphonies, and numerous other orchestras across the United States. In Canada he has led Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, and the Edmonton, Winnipeg and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphonies. Other international appearances include performances in Dublin and Belfast with the Ulster Orchestra as well as performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and this season’s debut with Spain’s Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.

Michael is the conductor of the video Silver Screen Serenade with violinist Jenny Oaks Baker that aired worldwide on BYU Broadcasting. On recording he has led the Houston Symphony on two holiday albums: Glad Tidings and Christmas Festival. In 2014/2015 Michael will be conducting his original Sounds of Simon & Garfunkel program all over North America featuring national touring artists AJ Swearingen and Jonathan Beedle. Michael’s other collaborative programs have included such artists as flutist James Galway, mezzo Marilyn Horne, pianist Alicia de Larrocha, guitarist Angel Romero, and pop artists Jason Alexander, Roberta Flack, Judy Collins, Art Garfunkel, Wynonna Judd, Kenny Loggins, Ben Folds, Doc Severinsen, Patti Austin, Sandi Patty, Ann Hampton Callaway, Chicago, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Chieftains, Pink Martini, Rockapella, Cirque de la Symphonie, Classical Mystery Tour, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Midtown Men.

With degrees from Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Michael furthered his training at the Pierre Monteux Domaine School for Conductors. He was a Dorati Fellowship Conductor with the Detroit Symphony and later served as that orchestra’s assistant conductor. He was resident conductor of the Florida Symphony and for eleven years served as music director of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. Michael lives in Orlando, Florida with his wife Darcy. When not conducting he enjoys travel, photography and solving crossword puzzles.

Now in his 15th season as Music Director and Conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Maestro Stuart Malina has built a reputation for orchestra building and multi-faceted versatility. In a wide variety of concerts, from masterworks and grand opera to pops, Maestro Malina’s ease on the podium, engaging personality, and insightful interpretations have thrilled audiences and helped to break down the barriers between performer and listener wherever he has worked. Maestro Malina was previously Music Director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra (1996-2003), and Associate Conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (1993-97).

In 2013, Maestro Malina was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Florida Orchestra, leading nine concerts each season, including the orchestra’s highly acclaimed Coffee series. He returns for the third time this winter to the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University for a two-week residency. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in February of 2007, conducting the New York Pops in an all-Gershwin tribute including Rhapsody in Blue, which he conducted from the keyboard, and returned to Carnegie and the Pops in October of 2007. He has recently performed with the symphony orchestras of Hong Kong, Naples, New Mexico, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fresno, Charleston, Greensboro, the Chautauqua Institution and the Sarasota Music Festival. Maestro Malina has had multiple engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Eastern Music Festival, at which he conducted the world premiere of Billy Joel’s Symphonic Fantasies for Piano and Orchestra. In 2006, he debuted with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and in 2007 with the Naples Philharmonic, after which he was reengaged for concerts in 2008 and 2009. He led the Shippensburg Festival Orchestra for three seasons, the second time performing with violinist Joshua Bell for a broadcast on PA Public Television. He has also appeared with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s (NY), Kansas City Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, AIMS Festival Orchestra (Graz, Austria), North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra and the Queens Symphony Orchestra.

On the opera podium Maestro Malina’s recent production engagements include Opera Delaware (two runs of Porgy and Bess), Piedmont Opera (Massenet’s Manon) and Greensboro Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia). He has also conducted many operas in concert, including La Bohème, Tosca and many Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. He has conducted several ballets as well, with the Charleston Ballet and with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.

In May of 2008, Maestro Malina, with several members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, spent 11 days in residence at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music in Tianjin, China, conducting the orchestra and coaching and performing chamber music. He also served as visiting conducting faculty at Penn State University for the fall semester of 2008.

In 2009, Pennsylvania Public Television awarded Maestro Malina with the Joanne Rogers Award for contribution to the artistic life of Pennsylvania, and in 2010, he was given the Jump Street Spectrum Award for excellence in the arts. He was honored by Lebanon Valley College in 2012 with the Founders Day Award, and received that same year The Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from Theater Harrisburg. In 2013, he received Leadership Harrisburg’s Platinum Award for Servant Leadership.

An accomplished pianist, Maestro Malina has impressive credits as soloist and chamber musician. He has performed concertos in Harrisburg, Greensboro, Charleston, New York and Chautauqua, most often conducting from the keyboard. His recent chamber music activities include performances in Indiana (Music at Shaarey Tefilla and at the Jacobs School of Music); annual performances for the Market Square Concert series, collaborating with the Jasper Quartet, the Fry Street Quartet, the Enzo Quartet, the Dorian Wind Quintet, and oboist Gerard Reuter; presentations of Messaien’s Quartet for the End of Time on the Linton Series in Cincinnati; and recitals with violinist Alexander Kerr and cellists Zvi Plesser and Daniel Gaisford. He has been frequently engaged for the Music for a Great Space series in North Carolina, and was director of the Piccolo Spoleto Contemporary Music Festival from 1993 to 1995.

As a composer and arranger, Maestro Malina has created dozens of orchestral works, ranging from entire pops shows to works for symphony orchestra.  His most recent composition, Brahms Fan Fare received its world premiere by the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in May of 2011.

Maestro Malina’s activities also extend to Broadway. In June 2003, he won the Tony award for orchestration with Billy Joel for the musicalMovin’ Out, which Malina helped create with director/choreographer Twyla Tharp. He has served as music supervisor for every production of the show, both in the United States and in London. Maestro Malina has also served as Associate Conductor of the National touring company of West Side Story and as conductor of the Charleston production of Porgy and Bess with performances throughout the United States, Canada, and at the Israel Festival in Caesarea. He has also directed the music for over twenty musical theater productions. In 1995, in a strange turn of events, Malina appeared on stage, acting opposite Broadway legend Zoe Caldwell in Terrence McNally’s Tony-winning drama Master Class for its pre-Broadway run at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Maestro Malina holds degrees from Harvard University, the Yale School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller. He studied piano with Drora and Baruch Arnon and with Keiko Sato.

Larry Blank is one of the most prolific and sought after composers, conductors, and orchestrators in the entertainment business today. His work has been presented all over the world, including some of Broadway’s most successful musicals, Carnegie Hall, and top television and film projects.

He was the Music Director/Conductor and/or vocal arranger for many shows on Broadway and in Los Angeles including They’re Playing Our Song, Evita, Sugar Babies, La Cage Aux Folles, Phantom of the Opera, Onward Victoria, Copperfield, Colette, A Chorus Line, and A Little Night Music. He has been nominated three times for both the Tony Award® and the Drama Desk Award for his orchestrations in the Drowsy Chaperone, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and with Marc Shaiman for Catch Me If You Can. Larry received a Drama Desk nomination for orchestrations for A Christmas Story and Honeymoon in Las Vegas.

Larry contributed to the orchestrations for the stage and film production of The Producers.

Larry also contributed orchestrations to the film of Chicago.

Larry is a regular conductor and arranger for BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night in the UK.

Larry is also the Music Director and Orchestrator (along with Mark Cumberland) for the Oliver Awards in London.

Mr. Blank has worked with top talent from varied fields of the entertainment world, notably as personal conductor to Michael Crawford. He has also worked with Michael Feinstein, Marvin Hamlisch, Bernadette Peters, Kelsey Grammar, Christine Baranski, Roberta Flack, Pete Fountain, Peabo Bryson, Sally Kellerman, Nancy Dussault, Marc Shaiman, Jerry Herman, Ann Margaret, Davis Gaines, Bette Midler, George Benson, Placido Domingo, Randy Newman, Trisha Yearwood, Tom Scott, Quincy Jones, Michael Bolton, John Raitt, and Diang Rigg.

Blank’s background includes orchestrating and arranging songs for South Park and was Music Supervisor and Orchestrator for Jerry Herman’s movie, Mrs. Santa Claus starring Angela Lansbury and Charles Durning. Some of the films he lent his talent to include The Kid, Kiss the Girls, The American President, Forget Paris, City Slickers 2, The Net, That’s Entertainment 3, North, I’d Do Anything, and Stuart Save His Family. Blank’s music can be heard on the animated feature films, Cats Don’t Dance and All Dogs Go To Heaven as well as the 101 Dalmatians Christmas Special.

Mr. Blank’s television work includes orchestrating and composing music for several of the GRAMMY Award and Academy Award shows as well as numerous television movies and shows.

Mr. Blank has guest conducted most of the orchestras throughout the world. Including San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Palm Beach POPS, Auckland Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Boston POPS, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Symphony, New Orleans Symphony and Toronto Symphony.

Larry has been named resident pops conductor along with regular pops conductor Michael Feinstein for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS.

JoAnn Falletta is internationally celebrated as a vibrant ambassador for music, an inspiring artistic leader, and a champion of American symphonic music. An effervescent and exuberant figure on the podium, she has been praised by The Washington Post as having “Toscanini’s tight control over ensemble, Walter’s affectionate balancing of inner voices, Stokowski’s gutsy showmanship, and a controlled frenzy worthy of Bernstein.” Acclaimed by The New York Times as “one of the finest conductors of her generation”, she serves as the Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and music advisor to the Hawaii Symphony.

Ms. Falletta is invited to guest conduct many of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. Recent guest conducting highlights include debuts in Belgrade, Gothenburg, Lima, Bogotá, Helsingborg, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, a European tour with the Stuttgart Orchestra, return engagements with the Warsaw, Detroit, Phoenix, and Krakow Symphony Orchestras and a 13 city US tour with the Irish Chamber Orchestra with James Galway.
 
She has guest conducted over a hundred orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Her North America guest conducting appearances have included the orchestras of Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Seattle, San Diego, Montreal, Toronto and the National Symphony and international appearances have included the London Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Korean Broadcast Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, China National Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester BBC Philharmonic, Scottish BBC orchestra, Orchestra National de Lyon and Mannheim Orchestra among others. Ms. Falletta’s summer activities have taken her to numerous music festivals including Aspen, Tanglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Wolf Trap, Mann Center, Meadow Brook, OK Mozart Festival, Grand Teton, Eastern, Peninsula and Brevard Festival.
 
Falletta is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards including the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, the coveted Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter Awards for conducting, as well as the American Symphony Orchestra League’s prestigious John S. Edwards Award. She is an ardent champion of music of our time, introducing over 500 works by American composers, including more than 110 world premieres. Hailing her as a “leading force for the music of our time”, she has been honored with twelve ASCAP awards. Ms. Falletta served as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during both the George W Bush and Obama administrations.
 
Her growing discography, which currently includes over 90 titles, consists of recordings with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Czech National Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony London Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Philadelphia Philharmonia, Prague Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Virginia Symphony and the Women’s Philharmonic. Her recording with the Buffalo Philharmonic and soprano, Hila Plitmann of Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man received two Grammy Awards in 2009. Grammy nominated discs include her recordings with the Buffalo Philharmonic of Tyberg’s Symphony No. 3, Corigliano’s Red Violin, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, Strauss’s Rosenkavalier, and Dohnanyi’s Variations on a Nursery Song. In her role as Principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra from 2011-2014, Ms. Falletta recorded 6 CDs for the Naxos returning the orchestra to its renowned recording history.

Upcoming discs on the Naxos label include the works of Florent Schmitt, Novak, Scriabin and Wagner with the Buffalo Philharmonic, works of Paine and Victor Herbert with the Ulster Orchestra and works of Stravinsky and Mahler with the Virginia Symphony.
 
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2015-16Season celebrates the 75th anniversary of Kleinhans Music Hall with works showcasing the hall’s exquisite acoustics. Recording highlights for the Buffalo Philharmonic’s 2015-16 season include the release by Naxos of the music of Florent Schmitt, and Beau Fleuve releases of The Essential Sibelius in honor of his birthday and the BPO’s Finland Celebration, and the Orchestra’s first ever Children’s CD, featuring Carnival of the Animals, Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Mother Goose Suite.
 
Since stepping up to the podium as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 1999, Maestro Falletta has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to a new level of national and international prominence. This season, the BPO will once again be featured on national broadcasts of NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, and international broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.
 
Under Falletta’s direction, the VSO has risen to celebrated artistic heights. The VSO, which made critically acclaimed debuts at the Kennedy Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall under Falletta and entered into their first multinational recording agreement with Naxos, performs classics, pops and family concert series in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Williamsburg.
 
In addition to her current posts with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, Brevard Music Center and Hawaii Symphony, Ms. Falletta has held the positions of principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Phoenix Symphony, music director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, associate conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the Denver Chamber Orchestra.
 
Ms. Falletta received her undergraduate degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York and her master’s and doctorate degrees from The Juilliard School.

www.joannfalletta.com

Robert Istad is beginning his inaugural season as Artistic Director of Pacific Chorale. Mr. Istad’s 2016-2017 season included debuts with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and return engagements with Pacific Chorale, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Sony Classical, and Long Beach Camerata Singers. He is also Dean of Chorus America’s Academy for Conductors. In June 2016, Istad made his debut with Berkshire Choral International and Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra.

Istad has prepared choruses for a number of America’s finest conductors and orchestras, including: Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carl St.Clair and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, as well as conductors Esa–Pekka Salonen, Keith Lockhart, Nicholas McGegan, Vasilly Sinaisky, Sir Andrew Davis, Bramwell Tovey, John Williams, Eugene Kohn, Eric Whitacre, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, George Fenton, and Robert Moody.

Istad is former Artistic Director of Long Beach Camerata Singers and Long Beach Bach Festival. Under his leadership, Long Beach Camerata Singers became recognized as one of the leading arts organizations of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, created a performing partnership with Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, as well as performed with Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and Long Beach Opera.

Istad is also Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at California State University, Fullerton. He was recognized as CSUF’s 2016 Outstanding Professor of the Year.  At CSU Fullerton, Istad conducts the University Singers and Women’s Choir in addition to teaching courses in conducting, performance practice and literature. Recently, he and the University Singers performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Andrea Bocelli, Kathleen Battle, recorded albums with Yarlung Records and with composer John Williams and Sony Classical.

He and his singers performed a concert of Tarik O’Regan’s music for Distinguished Concerts International New York at Carnegie Hall in November 2015.  They performed at the 2013 ACDA National Conference in Dallas, Texas and the 2012 ACDA Western Division Conference in Reno, Nevada. They also performed for the 2013 National Collegiate Choral Organization National Conference in Charleston, SC. Istad and the CSUF University Singers have performed all over the world, including a 2015 residency and performances in Paris, France, engagements at the 2012 Ottobeuren Festival of Music in Germany, the 2012 Eingen Festival of music in Germany, a 2010 performance for UNESCO in Pisa, Italy, and in 2008 at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary.

Istad received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, his Master of Music degree in choral conducting from California State University, Fullerton and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music at the University of Southern California. He studied conducting with Dr. William Dehning, John Alexander, and Dr. Jon Hurty.

Istad is President of the California Choral Director’s Association and is in demand as an adjudicator, guest conductor, speaker and clinician throughout the nation.

Matt Catingub wears many hats: saxophonist, woodwind artist, conductor, pianist, vocalist, performer, composer, and arranger. Matt is the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Macon Pops in Macon, Georgia, and recently the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Glendale Pops in Los Angeles, the Hawaii Pops in Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as the Festival Pops Conductor of the New Hampshire Music Festival. He has also held the Principal Pops Conductor positions of the Honolulu Symphony, the Hawaii Symphony, and the New Mexico Symphony.

Catingub has guest conducted for some of the most significant Symphony Orchestras in the country, including the Nashville Symphony, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, and the Symphonies of Columbus, Hartford, Omaha and throughout Canada and Japan. Catingub has conducted for artists such as Diana Krall, Yes, Al Jarreau, Gladys Knight, Kenny Rogers, and numerous others. And significantly Matt has arranged the music in the orchestra libraries for diverse artists such as Kenny Loggins, James Ingram, Boz Scaggs, the Righteous Brothers, Rosemary Clooney, Vertical Horizon, Natalie Cole, Toni Tennille, Michael McDonald, Dave Koz, Toto, Pat Benatar, and many many others.

The son of the great jazz vocalist and “Polynesia’s First Lady of Song,” Mavis Rivers, Catingub regularly performed with his mom. In 2007 Matt, a proud Pacific Islander was handed the Samoan Chief’s title of La`auli by King Malietoa Tanumafili II, the final title issued before his death. As a young man, he played a variety of instruments, conducted his first orchestra at age 15, focused on Alto sax at 16, and at age 17 played his sax at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and from there toured Japan playing with jazz legends including Dizzy Gillespie, and Ruth Brown. From there Catingub joined the Louie Bellson Big Band and a couple of years later joined the Toshiko Akiyoshi / Lew Tabackin Big Band as the lead alto saxophonist. In 1983, Catingub formed the Matt Catingub Big Band, with Rivers as a vocalist, and recorded several critically acclaimed jazz albums with his mom.

Matt had made his solo singing debut at the Frank Sinatra Celebration at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall and as a result of his performance there, the Concord Jazz CD Gershwin 100 was conceived. Catingub also wrote and performed the music for the George Clooney film, Goodnight and Good Luck, made an onscreen appearance as the leader of the band, created all of the arrangements and played tenor sax in the movie and on the CD. The Soundtrack for Goodnight and Good Luck, featuring Matt and vocalist Diane Reeves won a GRAMMY. Catingub has also enjoyed success as the leader of his Big Band, Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack touring the world with Rosemary Clooney, and backing notable artists such as Michael Feinstein, Linda Eder, Lionel Hampton, and many others. Today Matt is considered to be at the forefront of a new and innovative movement to reinvent Pops into a more fun and accessible format, encouraging dancing (when the venue allows) and loose fun, within a more informal and contemporary setting.

Sean O’Loughlin (b.1972) is the Principal Pops Conductor of Symphoria, the exciting new symphony in Syracuse, NY and the newly appointed Principal Pops Conductor of the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, B.C. Canada. He is a fresh voice and a rising name in the music world. His music is characterized by vibrant rhythms, passionate melodies, and colorful scoring. Commissions from the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra highlight and showcase his diverse musical abilities. As a conductor, he has led performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Victoria Symphony and the Seattle Symphony amongst others. He was the assistant conductor and arranger for a production of Sgt. Pepper Live in Las Vegas featuring the band Cheap Trick. He has served as conductor for national and worldwide tours with Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, and the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration. He has also appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America with Josh Groban and NBC’s “A Very Pentatonix Christmas.”

Recent collaborations include such artists as Sarah McLachlan, Adele, Josh Groban, Pentatonix, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Diana Ross, Journey, Melissa Etheridge, Blue Man Group, Janelle Monáe, Audra McDonald, Hall and Oates, Gloria Estefan, the Indigo Girls, Diana Krall, Itzhak Perlman, Natalie Merchant, Chris Isaak,  Pink Martini, Brandi Carlile, The Decemberists, Martina McBride, Josh Ritter, Gloria Gaynor and others. The Los Angeles Times calls his orchestrations “…magnificent and colorful” while adding “…even more dimension…” to the compositions. Daily Variety heralds Sean’s writing as “most impressive …” with a “wide range of coloring in the orchestra…” that “…adds heft and rolling energy.

Through his growing number of commissioned and published works, Sean is excited to continue contributing to the rich history of orchestral and wind band literature. His music is published by Carl Fischer and Hal Leonard. He is a frequent guest conductor with professional orchestras and honor bands around the country. An annual ASCAP Special Awards winner, Sean was a composition fellow at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles and holds composition degrees from New England Conservatory and Syracuse University.

Renowned for her insightful interpretations and thrilling performances, New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New currently serves as Music Director for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Ontario, Canada, Associate Conductor for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Founder and Director of the Lunar Ensemble, a contemporary music collective in Baltimore, Maryland. For the 2015-16 season, Ms. New has additional engagements with several ensembles, most notably the Long Beach and Toledo Symphonies, and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio.

As one of two Dudamel Conducting Fellows with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2014-15 Season, Ms. New led nine LA Phil ‘Symphonies for Youth’, ‘Symphonies for Schools’, and ‘Community’ concerts and covered frequently for their Music Director, Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen and other guest conductors. For the month of September 2014, at the invitation of Maestro Kurt Masur, Ms. New resided in Leipzig, Germany as a Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Fellow, where she studied Mendelssohn’s music under Maestro Masur and led the Leipziger Symphonieorchester in the historic Lindensaal of Markkleeberg.

In recent seasons Ms. New has guest conducted several orchestras, including the Atlanta and Miami Symphonies in the USA, as well as the Christchurch Symphony and Opus Orchestras in New Zealand. In 2013 Ms. New made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut, leading works by Adams, Norman and Ives on the American Soundscapes series. That same year she was selected as the David A. Karetsky Conducting Fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival. One year prior Ms. New was awarded the Ansbacher Fellowship, in which she was selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic to take up residence at the Salzburg Music Festival.

Under her leadership, the Lunar Ensemble has premiered almost 40 works since 2011 and held composition residencies at several US universities, including the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore MD, Frost School of Music in Miami FL and Tulane University in New Orleans LA. Another Lunar Ensemble highlight was the Pierrot Centenary Project, which united all fifty poems of Albert Giraud’s Pierrot lunaire through commissioned works by selected composers, culminating in the release of Lunar’s first album, featuring those works alongside Schoenberg’s seminal Pierrot lunaire.

Ms. New’s operatic conducting focuses on contemporary repertoire by composers such as Jake Runestad, Emily Koh and Joanna Lee. She has also worked on several operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore and L’enfant et les sortilèges by Maurice Ravel.

Passionate about music education, Ms. New has enjoyed working with the NJSO Academy Orchestra and New Jersey All State Orchestra during her time as Associate Conductor for the NJSO. Between 2007 and 2009, Ms. New conducted the Christchurch Youth Orchestra, which grew from 40 to 70 players under her leadership and performed upwards of nine concerts a year.

Ms. New holds a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, where she studied with Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar. She graduated from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand with a Bachelor of Music (Honors) in violin performance.

For three decades, the GRAMMY®-nominated pianist/composer/ arranger David Benoit has reigned supreme as one the founding fathers of contemporary jazz. But, like an actor who has been known primarily for one role, he wanted to show other dimensions of his artistry, influenced by Stephen Sondheim, Burt Bacharach, Dave Grusin and Leonard Bernstein.

“I’ve done records where I had a token vocal tune, all the way back to my first album,” Benoit says. “But I never did an entire record [with vocals]. So the thought here was to do something really different.”

The result is Benoit’s thirty-fifth recording as a leader and his first with a vocalist. 2 In Love, set for release on June 16, 2015 via Concord Records, features Jane Monheit, the GRAMMY®- nominated, cool-toned chanteuse from New York, who burst on the scene in 1998 as the first runner-up in the Thelonious Monk International Vocalist Competition.

“Concord suggested Jane Monheit,” Benoit says. “She was the perfect vocalist. I like to make records a certain way: I prefer to go in live and record it all at once. And a lot of vocalists can’t do that: they need to edit, fix and use auto-tune. But Jane doesn’t need to do any of those things. Many of the keys were difficult, but she sang everything live. Jane also has a background in Broadway, which is another part of my lexicon that I’ve not explored. She was up to the task and easy to work with. She made it a complete, perfect package.”

Along with Monheit, Benoit also enlisted the help of three lyricists: Mark Winkler, Lorraine Feather and Spencer Day. “Mark is my long-time collaborator,” says Benoit. “And I’ve known Lorraine (daughter of jazz critic Leonard Feather) for thirty-five years. Then, there’s Spencer Day: I was really impressed with him. What a nice, young man and fantastic singer. He brought some new blood to the table.” This terrific triad breathed lyrical life into Benoit’s songs and helped showcase Monheit’s considerable skills as an interpreter. “I met them all,” she says. “They did great work and made it very, very easy for me to do my job.”

Supported by an alternating rhythm section featuring drummers Jamey Tate and Clayton Cameron, percussionist Lauren Kosty, guitarist Pat Kelley and bassists David Hughes and John Clayton (of the Clayton Brothers), Benoit and Monheit swing and sing on ten tracks imbued with, to use Duke Ellington’s elegant phrase, “the feeling of jazz” in ballad, mid-tempo, neo- classical-, Latin-, pop- and Broadway-styled genres that range from the bossa nova-buoyed title track to the optimistic, piano-driven “Love Will Light the Way.” Violinist Michelle Suh and cellist Cathy Biagini add their impressionistic airs to the waltz “Dragonfly,” the evocative, 5/4 time-signatured “Something’s Gotta Give” – originally from a play co-written by Benoit and Winkler about Marilyn Monroe – and “The Songs We Sang,” a beautiful melancholy ballad, originally titled “Out of Tune,” about a couple that wrote hit songs and are trying to reignite their magic.

On the ebullient “Fly Away,” Monheit flexes her considerable vocal muscles. “I had a really great time wailing on that one,” she says, “because it’s a style of music that I don’t often get to sing.”

“Barcelona Nights,” is pulsed by an infectious Latin groove, which was inspired by a visit to Spain by Benoit and his wife. “I talked to Lorraine about it,” Benoit says, “and she came up with a beautiful lyric.” On the Pat Metheny-esque “Love in Hyde,” which was previously published under the title “A Moment in Hyde Park,” Benoit showcases his spirited piano prowess. “I recorded it on my second album, Life Is Like a Samba, with a big orchestra. And I always wanted to redo it,” he says. The album concludes a heartfelt solo piano performance of “Love Theme from Candide”/”Send in the Clowns,” by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, dedicated to the memory of Benoit’s mother, Betty June Benoit (1929–1997).

“Those were my mom’s two favorite songs,” Benoit says. “My friend David Pack (who started the group Ambrosia) introduced me to Lenny, and we worked on a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall. I got to know him a bit. So it was always my destiny to do something with “Candide.” And I felt it would make a nice segue into “Send in the Clowns.”

In addition to his obvious skills as a soloist, 2 In Love also highlights Benoit’s overlooked gifts as an accompanist. “He’s a wonderful piano player,” says Monheit. “He has a great understanding of singers, and that makes him a very good accompanist.” When he was coming up, Benoit worked with singers Patti Austin, Connie Stevens, and Ann-Margaret. But he credits Lainie Kazan as his biggest influence in the fine art of vocal accompaniment. “I was twenty-one when I started with her,” he says. “She literally taught me how to accompany singers.”

Benoit’s work with singers is but one more intriguing aspect of his multi-talented musicianship. He was born in Bakersfield, California, and grew up in Los Angeles. Benoit was bitten by the jazz bug after watching a Charlie Brown special on television and listening to the music of Vince Guaraldi in 1965. “I was already a fan of the comic strip,” he says, “but when I heard that jazz piano trio, that was the defining moment when I decided that I wanted to play like Vince Guaraldi.”

At the age of thirteen, Benoit studied privately with pianist Marya Cressy Wright and continued his training with Abraham Fraser, who was the pianist for famed conductor Arturo Toscanini. He also studied music theory and composition, and later studied orchestration with Donald Nelligan at El Camino Junior College and film scoring from Donald Ray at UCLA. He studied conducting from Heiichiro Ohyama, assistant conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic, and furthered his musical education with Jan Robertson, head of the conducting department at UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara symphony orchestra music director Jeffrey Schindler.

After working with Lainie Kazan as her musical director/conductor in 1976, Benoit released albums on the AVI label from 1977 to 1984. He later released several chart-topping recordings for GRP, including Freedom at Midnight (1987), Waiting for Spring (1989) and Shadows (1991), which both topped Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Charts at #5, #1, and #2, respectively. His other noteworthy recordings include Letter to Evan (1992), his tribute to another piano influence, Bill Evans, and Here’s to You, Charlie Brown: Fifty Great Years (2000). Benoit also recorded with Russ Freeman on their album The Benoit/Freeman Project (1994), and on their follow-up collaboration, 2 (2004), which was released on Peak Records. His other recordings for the label include American Landscape (1997) and Orchestral Stories (2005), which featured his first piano concerto, “The Centaur and the Sphinx,” and a symphonic work, “Kobe.”. In 2012, he released Conversation on Concord’s Heads Up International imprint.

Benoit received three GRAMMY® nominations in the categories of Best Contemporary Jazz Performance for “Every Step of the Way” (1989), Best Large Ensemble Performance for GRP All-Star Big Band (1996), and Best Instrumental Composition for “Dad’s Room,” the latter from the album Professional Dreamer (2000). In 2010, Benoit received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Smooth Jazz Awards, and he’s worked with an impressive potpourri of musicians including the Rippingtons, Emily Remler, Alphonse Mouzon, Dave Koz, Faith Hill, David Sanborn, CeCe Winans and Brian McKnight.

Benoit’s film scores include The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), produced by Clint Eastwood, and The Christmas Tree, produced by Sally Field, which was voted Best Score of 1996 by Film Score Monthly. He has served as conductor with a wide range of symphonies including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Asia America Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. A long-time guest educator with the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, he received that organization’s Excellence in Music Award in 2001. His musical selections have been featured on The Weather Channel and his version of Vince Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” is included on compilation The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz 11 (2008). Benoit also currently hosts a morning radio show on KKJZ 88.1 FM in Long Beach, CA.