Michael Nowak began his musical studies in the Rhode Island public school system, where he studied violin, clarinet, and tuba. His interest in composition and conducting led him to Indiana University where he met and became a student of the legendary violist, William Primrose, who inspired him to devote himself to the viola.

Mr. Nowak has served as violist and assistant conductor with the Dallas Symphony, conductor of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, and the Monterey Chamber Orchestra. He was the Music Director of the San Luis Symphony for 31 years with acclaimed performances in Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and Disney Hall. He is widely recognized for his innovative children’s concert programs such as “Fly Me To The Moon” and “How Music Tells A Story” and for designing unique POPS! concerts.

Mr. Nowak is currently the Music Director of the Santa Maria Philharmonic and Founder and Artistic Director of Orchestra Novo. Maestro Nowak is also active as a recording musician and conductor in the motion picture industry. Among the many notable films conducted by Mr. Nowak are Academy Award-winning Life of Pi, The Kite Runner, The Accountant, Fences, King Kong, and Under the Tuscan Sun. He has also been the conductor on several TV shows such as Once Upon a Time, American Crime, and Wonderland. Mr. Nowak made his on-screen acting debut as the Juilliard conductor in the movie, The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx. He resides on the central coast with his wife, Suzette, and daughter, Julia.

Daniel Gee is a conductor, composer, and educator based out of Southern California where he is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California.   His present conducting duties include serving as Assistant Conductor of the Long Beach Symphony, Associate Conductor of the USC Apollo Chorus, and as the Artistic Director of Choirs at Evergreen Baptist Church of San Gabriel Valley.  He has previously served as Associate Conductor of the USC Oriana Women’s Choir, during which he commissioned and premiered a new choral work for treble voices by composer Emma Lou Diemer. Other conducting duties have included serving as Guest Conductor of the Global Harmony Symphony, Associate Conductor of the USC University Chorus, and Assistant Conductor of the Westmont Orchestra.

As a composer, he has fulfilled commissions for ensembles in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles music communities, including the Quire of Voyces, the Westmont Orchestra, and College Choir,  and the Westridge School Chamber Orchestra. His choral music has been published by Colla Voce Music on the Jo-Michael Scheibe Choral Series. Daniel has taught as an adjunct instructor of theory and composition at Westmont College, where he also founded the Westmont chapter of the Pi Kappa Lambda music honors society.

Daniel received his Master of Music degree from USC where he studied conducting with Jo-Michael Scheibe and Nick Strimple and composition with Morten Lauridsen and Sean Friar.  Daniel completed his undergraduate work at Westmont College, majoring in both Music Composition and Philosophy, where he was graduated summa cum laude as First Senior of his class.

Daniel also continues his work as a string educator, having taught private cello for over ten years. He has lead rehearsals and sectionals for youth orchestras across the Greater Los Angeles area including the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra.

Ben Caron is a Los Angeles-based songwriter, New Age Pop artist and community organizer, who over the past five years has performed at LA’s favorite venues and whose international following enthusiastically helped him to record his debut and sophomore albums completely community-funded (by over 500 donors.)

An Iowa native, Ben attributes his eclectic musical style to his diverse life experiences, blending elements of pop, New Age, soul, folk, and gospel. Having grown up listening to all genres of music, and being greatly inspired by iconic pop, country and folk storytellers such as James Taylor, Elton John, and Garth Brooks, Ben learned popular songwriting through aural osmosis. Then at the age of 15, he picked up a guitar and taught himself to play by writing original music based on his life experiences. Needing to expand his horizons, at 18 years old Ben left Iowa to train classically in voice and acting at CSU, Los Angeles where he learned not only the essentials of good vocal technique but also the crucial necessity for authentic connection and a true inspiration in performance.

Ben began his career as a recording artist shortly after college, releasing his self-titled debut album in 2013. In 2014, he formed the singer-songwriter’s collective “The Sovereign Sons & Daughters” with whom he toured for 3 months, and in the Summer of 2014, Ben embarked on a crowd-funded solo tour of the UK. His recent acoustic EP, “CLIMB” debuted in January 2015 and for the rest of 2015 Ben lead The Joy Machine, a collective of local instrumentalists and vocalists whose mission was to spread joy, love, and connection through the power of live music. In 2016, with the help of The Joy Machine, Ben recorded and released the community-funded “King Benjamin’s Royal Heart,” a New Age-Pop concept album whose positive messaging has inspired countless listeners.

Ben currently performs both as a singer-songwriter and as a workshop leader, certified through the Yoga Alliance. His two ongoing series are “Ben Caron’s Royal Heart Tribe Experience,” a fun work/playshop that includes slow-flow yoga, beginner’s meditation, participatory music and guided movement, and “Ben Caron’s The Joy Machine,” a live concert event featuring inspiring originals, electric covers and incredible talent.

Chloe Chiu

Violinist Chloe Chiu is a vibrant and passionate musical storyteller who brings a compelling blend of sincerity, artistry and technical proficiency to her audiences as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician.
Born in Taiwan, Chloe has traveled around the globe performing as a soloist in Australia, Italy, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Singapore and Israel. She also sparkled as a member in chamber music groups and recording sessions for acclaimed singers and films.

Chloe joined the Santa Barbara Symphony in 2014 and currently, she is also a member in the first violin section of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Long Beach Symphony. She also performs with the Los Angeles Opera and Orchestra Santa Monica. Additionally, Chloe enjoys teaching and maintains a dedicated roster of violin students.

She holds a Master of Music Degree from Johns Hopkins University where she studied with Victor Danchenko, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the National University of Singapore where she studied with Qian Zhou. She also completed the Graduate Certificate Program at the University of Southern California learning from former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Glenn Dicterow.

Hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, Sydney Adedamola recently graduated in May 2018 with her Bachelors in Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music where she studied with Dr. Lina Bahn. During her time in Los Angeles she has held the position of principal second violin of USC Symphony, been a member of the Young Musician Foundation’s Debut Chamber Orchestra and performed in masterclasses taught my various distinguished musicians such as Midori Goto, Paul Watkins, Lawrence Dutton, and Michael Tree.

She spent the past summer in Breckenridge, Colorado as a soloist with and member of the National Repertory Orchestra. Sydney has won prizes in multiple international competitions including A-Muse the World: Young Promise and American Protégé and has performed in concert halls throughout the United States including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall and Symphony Hall. In March of 2014, she was selected as a soloist on a tour throughout Ireland with the Milton Academy Chamber Orchestra.

Sydney is currently a recipient of the Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship, a collaboration between the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA) and the University of Southern California. As a Fellow, she is pursuing her Graduate Certificate at USC under the tutelage of Margaret Batjer and Bing Wang whilst playing with both LACO and ICYOLA.

Violinist and educator Sakura Tsai enjoys a multifaceted career having performed nationally and internationally as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician.

A native of Southern California, Dr. Tsai earned degrees (B.M., M.M., and D.M.A.) in Violin Performance from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music where she was honored the prestigious Order of Areté and became a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Her mentors and teachers included Midori Goto, Kathleen Winkler, Hagai Shaham, and Alice Schoenfeld. Additional fields of study while pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree included Music Theory and Analysis, Violin Pedagogy with Endre Granat, and Kinesiology.

A dedicated educator, Dr. Tsai is Artist Teacher of Violin at the University of Redlands. She is also on faculty at California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley, California State Summer School for the Arts, Junior Chamber Music (Inland Empire), and most recently, Montecito International Music Festival. Dr. Tsai makes frequent appearances as an adjudicator and serves as a clinician in schools around Southern California where she mentors aspiring young musicians. In 2018, Dr. Tsai was selected to be the guest conductor of the San Bernardino County High School Honor Orchestra. She coaches instrumentalists in the Walnut Valley Unified School District at both Diamond Bar and Walnut High Schools while being actively involved with the Diamond Bar High School Performing Arts Academy Advanced Music Program. In addition, Dr. Tsai has a robust private studio and has previously held faculty positions at Marymount California University and Idyllwild Arts Academy.

As a performer, Dr. Tsai is currently a member of the Redlands Symphony Orchestra. She performs in several regional orchestras and has spent summers at the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland) and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany) academies, and Music Masters Course Japan (Japan). Dr. Tsai maintains an active career as a chamber musician winning honors at international competitions such as the International Young Artists Peninsula Music Festival and the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. As a violinist with chamber ensembles Definiens, DuselForty58, and the What’s Next? Ensemble, Dr. Tsai has championed works of numerous living composers. An avid performer of contemporary music, extensive collaboration with young composers with these ensembles included residencies and performance projects at institutions such as Idyllwild Arts Academy, California State University, Northridge and Long Beach, University of California, Riverside, and University of Southern California. Dr. Tsai’s solo and ensemble performances have been featured live on world-wide television and radio broadcasts such as classical KUSC, KRTU-FM, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Germany), and Japan Broadcasting Corporation – NHK (Japan).

Alexander Knecht, violinist, and violist, born in 1991, is a Juilliard graduate with a passion for virtuosic arrangements of music across genres both old and new. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California under full scholarship, where he studies with Bing Wang and Brian Chen. He holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Masao Kawasaki. Last year, he was awarded a Career Grant upon graduation from Juilliard for his work with original viola transcriptions including Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy. He is a proud alumnus of La Sierra University, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and violin in 2013, studying with Jason Uyeyama. During recent summers, he has been a fellow at the Astoria Music Festival, Montecito International Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, and the Aspen Music Festival, and has played in masterclasses for Paul Kantor, Paul Coletti, and Donald McInnes. He was a member of the piano quintet Quintessential, winner of the 2013 JCM-USC Chamber Music Competition, and winner as soloist of the 2013 Redlands Bowl Young Artists auditions and La Sierra University Concerto Competition. Apart from school and concert performance, he has volunteered as a musician at the Jerry Pettis Memorial VA Hospital and LLU Medical Center in Loma Linda, and has been a mentor teaching strings in the CKC-Music community engagement program in San Bernardino, CA since its founding in 2008. Outside of music, he has recently worked as a mathematics instructor at La Sierra University. He maintains a busy private music teaching schedule and is also active as a private academic tutor.

Recent performances in Los Angeles include concerts with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra where he is principal second violinist, and performances with the new, conductorless Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. Recent concert appearances in New York City include performances with Juilliard alumni at the Center for Jewish History, the Apollo Music Café, and Subculture. Throughout his time at Juilliard, he was a member of the Church of the Advent Hope in Manhattan, where he served as a musician as well as organizer and performer in their Carnegie Hill Concert Series. He was invited to participate as a finalist in the second George Gershwin International Music Competition, in addition to the 2015 Hudson Valley Philharmonic Concerto Competition. He has also been featured as a chamber musician in the Focus! contemporary music festival in 2015 and 2014, and among other pieces, participated in the U.S. premiere of Akiko Yamane’s Plastic Babys for violin, viola, and cello. He is a devoted advocate of new virtuosic arrangements both for solo instrument and piano and for chamber groups, many of which are featured on his youtube channel.

Photo credit: Alice Qiao

Hyeree Yu, originally from South Korea, started playing the viola at the age of eleven when she was fascinated by the viola sound in her youth symphony orchestra in Seoul. After she earned her Bachelor of Music degree at Seoul National University with Professor Eunsik Choi, her passion for music brought her to the United States in 2012. She went to the Yale School of Music, completing both a Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma with Mr. Ettore Causa. She won the 2015 Chamber Music Competition and performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. during her time at Yale. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Georgina Lucy Grosvenor Memorial Prize, which goes to the violist whose performances exhibit the highest potential for success as a soloist or chamber musician. From East to West Coast, she received an Artist Diploma at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Mr. Paul Coletti in 2017.

Ms. Yu joined the Long Beach Symphony in September of 2018. She began her orchestral career with the New West Symphony as a substitute violist in 2016 and then the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as a section violist. In 2017, she won the seat for the Fresno Philharmonic as a principal violist.

Hyeree Yu’s love for playing solo, chamber, and orchestral music led her to the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival in Maine, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut, and the Gstaad String Academy in Switzerland. She attended the Music Academy of the West as a Zarin Mehta Fellow, performing Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic in January 2017.

She is an avid coffee drinker and dog lover. One of her cherished outside activities include sharing classic and gospel music at the local homeless shelter and at her church.

Steve Pence is a frequent soloist with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, having recently appeared with them in Bach’s Magnificat, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, and Handel’s Messiah. He has also performed solos in Bach’s B-Minor Mass with the Los Angeles Chamber Choir, in Elijahwith the Lark Society, and in Brahms’ Requiem with the Orange County Choral Society. Steve has performed several opera roles, including Alonzo in Hoiby’s The Tempest with USC Thornton Opera and Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Pacific Repertory Opera. He lives in Long Beach with his wife and son.