Silver medalist in the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition and winner of the prestigious XIV Concours International Grand Prix Animato 2014 Paris, George Li (黎卓宇) is regarded as one of the world’s most talented and creative young pianists. His astonishing technique, distinctive tonal quality, and exceptional musicality have earned him consistent critical acclaim (New York Times, Washington Post, International Piano Magazine, Toronto Star, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Music Intelligencer) and enthusiastic audience response worldwide for his solo recitals, orchestral collaborations, and chamber music performances.

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, a Grammy Award-winning conductor who “fashions fluent and sumptuous readings” (Voice of OC) with his “phenomenal” artistry (Los Angeles Times), was appointed Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director in 2017. Under his leadership, the chorus continues to expand its reputation for excellence for delivering fresh, thought-provoking interpretations of beloved masterworks, rarely performed gems and newly commissioned pieces. Istad’s newest project, the inventive choral-theatrical concert film “To the Hands,” premiered as an official selection of the 2025 Newport Beach Film Festival and will receive its commercial release in early 2026. In July 2023, he led Pacific Chorale’s first international tour in seven years, conducting performances at leading venues in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. His artistic impact can be heard on three recent recordings featuring Pacific Chorale, including the 2022 Grammy Award-winning “Mahler’s Eighth Symphony” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on Deutsche Grammophon (2021), for which he prepared the chorus. It won Best Choral Performance and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Classical. Additionally, Istad prepared Pacific Chorale for Pacific Symphony’s commercial recording of Sir James MacMillan’s “Fiat Lux” released on Tonsehen Records (2024) and conducted the Pacific Chorale’s recording “All Things Common: The Music of Tarik O’Regan” released on Yarlung Records (2020). He regularly conducts and collaborates with Pacific Symphony, Berkshire Choral International, and Yarlung Records. His extensive credits also include recording for Sony Classical and guest conducting Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Bach Collegium San Diego, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Tesserae Baroque, and Freies Landesorchester Bayern. Istad has prepared choruses for such renowned conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, John Mauceri, Keith Lockhart, Nicholas McGegan, Vasilly Sinaisky, Sir Andrew Davis, Bramwell Tovey, Carl St.Clair, Eugene Kohn, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, George Fenton, and Robert Moody. An esteemed educator, Istad is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at California State University (CSUF), Fullerton, where he was recognized as CSUF’s 2016 Outstanding Professor of the Year. He conducts the University Singers and manages a large graduate conducting program, in addition to teaching courses on conducting and choral literature. Recently, he and the University Singers performed with Andrea Bocelli, Jennifer Hudson, Kathleen Battle, and the Eagles. Istad, who is on the Executive Board of Directors of Chorus America and serves as Dean of Chorus America’s Conducting Academy, is in demand as guest conductor, lecturer, and clinician.

Award-winning violinist Carrie Kennedy has been the featured soloist with orchestras throughout the United States including the San Antonio, Richardson, University of Southern California, Torrance, Suburban, Brevard Festival, Clear Lake, Westchester, Solano and Magic Valley symphonies, and has performed concerts around the world.

She joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in January 2012. Currently, she is also a member of the New West, Long Beach and Pasadena Symphonies, and the Fiato Quartet. She also performs with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. She has toured with the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra in South America, the Percy Faith Orchestra in Japan, the Fiato Quartet in Costa Rica and with Andrea Bocelli. She has also recorded music for many commercials, motion pictures and records.

Kennedy is an alumnus of intensive chamber music programs at Tanglewood and Amelia Island where her quartet was coached by the American, Guarneri, Emerson, and Takacs quartets. While at Tanglewood, she served as concertmaster under Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos and was broadcast live on New York’s WQXR in Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. She has also spent summers at the International Holland Music Sessions where she studied with Hermann Krebbers, the Santander Master Courses in Spain with Zakhar Bron, and the London Master Classes where she studied with György Pauk and was chosen to have her lesson filmed by Online Classics for a television documentary on the master classes.

She holds a Master of Music degree from The State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with Pamela Frank and Ani Kavafian, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California with Robert Lipsett.

Carrie resides in Pasadena with her husband and fellow LACO violinist Joel Pargman.

A Southern California native, violinist Roger Wilkie has been the beloved concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony for over 27 years. He has appeared as a soloist throughout his career with the Symphony, performing the concertos of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and more recently Sibelius to critical acclaim. Mr. Wilkie’s professional career began at age 21 when he joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, eventually being appointed Principal Second Violin, a position he held until 1989. He has since returned to the ensemble as Guest Concertmaster. He has also served as Guest Concertmaster with the LA Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Real Filharmonia De Galicia, Spain under Music Director, Helmut Rilling.

Mr. Wilkie’s career extends to the Hollywood Studios, where he has participated in the soundtracks of over 1000 films as well as television recordings. Mr. Wilkie has received the honor of serving as concertmaster for John Williams’ scores for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Indiana Jones IV, Munich, and Memoirs of a Geisha. You may hear his recent solo work on the score of the movie A Single Man and in The Adventures of Tintin score by John Williams. Wilkie has also performed on scores for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Deadpool, Avatar, Gone Girl, The Town, and many more.

Mr. Wilkie is an accomplished and sought-after chamber musician and is the founding member of the Angeles String Quartet, performing and touring with them from 1988–1993. He was the solo violinist with Santa Barbara-based Camerata Pacifica, on whose series he played hundreds of concerts as recitalist and chamber musician over a ten year period. He has appeared at many chamber music festivals including La Jolla Summerfest, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Festival. Presently, Mr. Wilkie is a member of the Pacific Trio. The Trio has made several tours of Europe and participated in the Silver Lire International Festival of Chamber Music in St. Petersburg.

Kimberlea Daggy has spent the last twenty-five years as a classical music announcer/producer for various public radio stations, including KUSC in Los Angeles, the Classical Public Radio Network, WFDD in Winston-Salem, NC and WILL in Urbana, IL.  She has created and presented a wide array of programs on classical music stations throughout the country, from daily shows to quarterly specials celebrating composers’ birthdays to her highly successful contemplative choral music program, Soul Music. Kimberlea has co-hosted live broadcasts of Los Angeles Opera performances, providing commentary and interviewing international artists such as Placido Domingo, Marilyn Horne and William Friedkin. She has given pre-performance talks and emceed programs for a variety of organizations, including LA Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Ojai Music Festival, the Broad Stage, and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

In addition to her radio career, Kimberlea has taught adult classical music education classes, most recently at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.  These classes explore various aspects of classical music, from opera to choral works to symphonic favorites.  She is a board member of the Sierra Summer Festival in Mammoth Lakes, CA, where she has presented seminars and emceed concerts.  Kimberlea is also committed to furthering the careers of young musicians.  She served on the board of the Orchestra Parents Association at Santa Monica High School, where she hosted concerts, wrote program notes and connected students to professional musicians, including LA Opera Music Director James Conlon and former Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Zubin Mehta.  She also helped coordinate the Santa Monica High School Symphony Orchestra 2014 tour to Vienna, Prague and Baden-Baden, Germany.

Kimberlea now lives in the Shenandoah Valley.  She hosts programs on classical station WEMC and NPR News station WMRA, both located in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  She also sings and conducts the choir at First Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro, VA, where her husband, Roger, is Music Director and Organist.  Kimberlea and Roger have two children in college:  Max, who is studying computer programming, and Celia, who is a viola performance major at Boston University.

Stephanie Stetson grew up in the Seattle area and while there studied with Anna Cloud and Christopher Leuba.  She moved to Los Angeles and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Horn Performance from the University of Southern California.  While there she had the privilege of studying with Jim Decker and Vincent DeRosa.  She has been a free-lance musician in Los Angeles ever since.  Stephanie regularly performs with the Pacific Symphony, LA Opera Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony and the Long Beach Municipal Band.  She has performed in numerous Broadway shows at the Schubert, Ahmanson and Pantages Theatres such as: Wicked, Lion King, The Producers, Phantom of the Opera etc…  She also has extensive studio recording experience in TV, radio, audio recordings and motion picture soundtracks.

Stephanie has been teaching at Azusa Pacific University since 2004 where she has taught Applied Horn, Horn Master Class, Horn Literature and Horn Pedagogy.  She is a member of the APU Faculty WW Quintet.  Since the beginning of 2010 she has also been teaching applied horn at Citrus College.

Stephanie is married with 4 children.  She loves her family very much and enjoys the blessings of a good family and good music every day of her life.

Darren Mulder enjoys an active performing, teaching and recording career in Southern California. He has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1996, and he actively works with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and Santa Monica Symphony. Darren spent three years as principal trumpet of the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Philharmonic Orchestra. He also enjoyed performing at the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds in Italy. He is currently trumpet professor and wind ensemble director at The Colburn School of the Performing Arts. Darren earned a Bachelor’s degree in music education from CSU Long Beach and a Master’s degree in trumpet performance from the USC.

Arthur Omura is a specialist in historical keyboard instruments. He studied organ repertoire of the Baroque under Charles Rus in San Francisco, modern technique under Dr. Ladd Thomas at the University of Southern California, and harpsichord repertoire under Dr. Lucinda Carver at USC. He has performed at the Boston and Berkeley Early Music festivals and given numerous performances at home in Los Angeles. Omura keeps an active schedule as an organist and harpsichord player. He has worked with MicroFest, wildUp, iPalpiti, and Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. Omura can be heard on several recordings, most recently on “Spirits of the Air”, a collaboration between countertenor Brian Asawa and mezzo-soprano Diana Tash, out on LML Music.  His interest in instrument making led him to work with harpsichord builder Curtis Berak, whom he has assisted in restoring several instruments, and with organ builder Manuel Rosales. Omura has a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California.

Tom Peters is a composer and GRAMMY® nominated performer who specializes in creating music for silent films, performing original scores through interactive electronics and synchronized electronic soundscapes. In April 2013, he premiered his original score to the 1927 silent classic The Passion of Joan of Arc—his ninth film—at the Toronto Silent Film Festival with Joelle Morton on tenor viol. The score was featured in a radio broadcast over the CBC. His score to John Ford’s classic western The Iron Horse (1924) premiered at The Autry National Center in Los Angeles in March 2015. The Phantom of the Opera, which premiered on Halloween Night 2015, is his 14^th silent film score.

Upcoming projects include Dziga Vertov’s landmark 1929 documentary The Man with the Movie Camera in January 2016 at the Portland Art Museum, and two recordings. The first is Tom’s score to The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, the second is a large-scale work called The Forest, both released on Tiger Barb Records.

Tom’s 2014 GRAMMY® nominated recording of John Cage’s The Ten Thousand Things on the MicroFest label with acclaimed pianists Aron Kallay and Vicki Ray, legendary percussionist William Winant, and a recently discovered recording of John Cage himself performing 45’ for a Speaker was the first American recording of this seminal work. Tom has been a member of the Long Beach Symphony since 1993 and Southwest Chamber Music since 1998. He has performed as a soloist with Ensemble Oh-Ton, People Inside Electronics, MicroFest, and the Schindler House and many others, and has been featured on Nordwest Radio in Hamburg, Germany. He is a lecturer of Double Bass at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at the California State University, Long Beach.