Geoff Osika credits his musical training to three men: his father David, a fine trumpeter and music teacher who indicated that in order to be taken seriously as a musician the 15-year old would have to do more than just play in a rock band; John Schaeffer, former principal bass of the New York Philharmonic, who in two and a half years’ time conditioned the young bassist to gain acceptance at both the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music; and Roger Scott, former principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who opened the methodical bassist’s ears to a deeper understanding of orchestral playing and repertoire.

After Curtis, Geoff embarked on several years of full-time orchestral jobs. He has held positions with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galícia in Spain, and the Oregon Symphony. From each place he took with him a wealth of musical and life experiences.

Geoff has been a part of the recording industry in Los Angeles for close to two decades.

A professional musician for over 30 years, cellist Kathleen Hood has been a member of the Long Beach Symphony since 1980. She has performed in a wide variety of contexts, including various professional orchestras, chamber ensembles, and film soundtracks. In addition to her B.A. in music performance from UCLA, she has also has received a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. from UCLA in ethnomusicology, and she specializes in music of the Near East. Since 1992, she has played cello in a variety of Arab music ensembles. She is also the founder and director of the Ondine Chamber Ensemble, a group that performs at weddings and other events.

Tenured in 2008

(Formerly known as Xiao-Dan Zheng)

Cellist Helen Z. Altenbach grew up in a family of musicians. Her cellist father was her primary teacher until she was accepted to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory at the age of 12, and later, to Juilliard Pre-College at 14. As a young musician, Helen frequently performed in Avery Fischer Hall, Juilliard Theater, Carnegie Hall (with Itzhak Perlman, as part of the Perlman Music Program), Alice Tully Hall, and many other venues as a soloist and a chamber musician.

Helen’s achievements include winning the Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition, Juilliard Honor Strings Competition, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Young Artist Award, LaGuardia High School for Music, Arts, & Performing Arts Concerto Competition, ASCAP Ira Gershwin Award, and second prize in Corpus Christi Young Artist Competition. Her piano trio at Juilliard was featured on WQXR 93.6 Radio NY with host Robert Sherman and NPR “From the Top” show with host Christopher O’Riley.

In 2001, Helen moved to Los Angeles to study with Ron Leonard at USC’s Thornton School of Music. Shortly after graduation, Helen won the audition for the Long Beach Symphony. She also served as a regular substitute cellist for the San Diego Symphony, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Between 2009-2012, Helen held a tenured Principal Cello position with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra but eventually moved back to L.A. after winning a permanant position with the L.A. Opera. Helen is now a tenured member of the L.A. Opera Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and the New West Symphony Orchestra.

Her album “Grieg and Prokofiev” with pianist Clara Yang on Albany Records label won the 2014 Global Music Award Silver Medal. She is also part of the recording music industry for motion pictures and television in Hollywood.

Photo by Kat Tuohy Photography

Tenured in 2009

Cellist Kyle Champion has been a contracted member of the Long Beach Symphony since 2007, after working 10 years as a frequent substitute with the orchestra. He is currently principal cellist with the Redlands Symphony, and has performed with numerous area orchestras including the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, San Bernardino Symphony, Pasadena Pops Orchestra, and South Bay Chamber Orchestra. Kyle was a member of the American Sinfonietta, under the direction of conductor Michael Palmer, joining the ensemble on three European tours, participating in their Summer Music Festival in Bellingham, Washington, and can be heard on their Mendelssohn CD on the Summit Records label, and the Beethoven in Bellingham CD with renowned pianist Garrick Ohlsson. In addition, he served as artist/faculty at the Wintergreen Music Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia. He rounds out his performing schedule playing chamber music recitals with the cello quartet Quatracelli!. Kyle has twice been featured soloist with the Redlands Symphony Orchestra, most recently performing Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in 2007.

Kyle has been instructor of cello at University of Redlands since 1995, and has served on the faculties of La Sierra University, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Oklahoma City University and Oklahoma Baptist University. He is also the co-founder of the Chamber Music Academy of Southern California, presenting chamber music classes for young musicians from elementary to high school age. He has recently been selected as the string orchestra director for the Webb School in Claremont.

Kyle completed his Master of Music degree in cello performance at the University of Southern California, where he was a student of Ronald Leonard, and his Bachelor of Music degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, studying with Marion Davies. He has studied chamber music with Donald McInnes, members of the New Hungarian String Quartet and the contemporary music ensemble, Voices of Change.

Kyle is married with two sons, and loves reading about military history and railroads in his spare time. He plays on a cello commissioned by him, made by the renowned contemporary luthier Christopher Dungey in 2001.

Tenured in 1970

Victoria Bacon was born in Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach, California. A student of the University of Southern California’s Preparatory Division, she also attended the Music Academy of the West and graduated from California State University at Long Beach, with a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance. Her teachers were Gabor Rejto, Edgar Lustgarten, and Bernard Greenhouse.

During the summers, Victoria has performed for the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, Long Beach and Pacific symphonies, and the Flagstaff and Carmel Bach festivals. She has played in the Debut Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, Long Beach Opera, Long Beach, Downey, Pacific and Orange County (principal cello) symphonies, Ballet West, New York City Ballet, Disneyland’s Candlelight Orchestra, The Gary Bonner Singers Orchestra (principal cello), and The Fab Four (Beatles).

Musical theater experience has included playing for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera, the theaters of La Mirada, and San Gabriel and the Laguna Playhouse.

Victoria has performed with a variety of chamber groups, including La Mer Quartet, the Lyric String Quintet, Pacific Strings, the Renaissance Players and a Long Beach Symphony string quartet (part of LBSO’s education program).

She has taught cello for Saddleback College, Vanguard University, Pacific Symphony, Orange County Youth, Long Beach All-District, Pacific Symphony Youth, and Anaheim GATE orchestras, the Youth Center in Los Alamitos and in her studio.

Her most rewarding and challenging experience has been in raising four musical, (now adult) children. Victoria is a second-generation professional musician. Her father, Roger Bacon, performed with various Big Bands across the United States, and, later, with his own band in the Long Beach/Los Angeles area for many years. Currently, he and her mother enjoy attending LBSO concerts.

Tenured in 1995

Cellist Margaret Edmondson has had a long and successful career as a teacher, chamber musician and orchestral player. She was the resident cellist with Southwest Chamber Music for four seasons and during her tenure won a Grammy Award for best small ensemble performance, performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, was heard frequently during their 26 weeks of statewide live radio concert broadcasts each season and participated in world premiere performances and recordings of contemporary works by Morton Subotnick, Mel Powell, Charles Wourinen, Stephen Mosko, Wadada Leo Smith, Richard Felciano and Morton Feldman. Maggie has also performed on the chamber series of the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Camerata Pacifica, Sundays Live at LACMA as well as working with the Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale Sinfonia Orchestra. Maggie was a co-founder and founding faculty of Renaissance Arts Academy, a California Public Charter School in North East Los Angeles, chosen as a California Distinguished School in 2009 and winner of the Los Angeles Music Center Bravo Award and CCSA Charter School of the Year in 2010. Her work there from 2003 to 2011 included creating and nurturing the string program that served 200 young string players each year, chairing the Performing Arts Program, teaching cello, advanced theory and conducting, and coaching chamber music. She also conducted the beginning, intermediate and advanced string orchestras and was responsible for programming, arranging and transcribing music for all performances. From 2003-2009 she had the pleasure of co-teaching a cello workshop for beginning to advanced students at the Community School of Music and the Arts with her teacher and mentor, world-renowned cello pedagogue Irene Sharp. Maggie has also had a busy private teaching studio for over 30 years. When not immersed in her musical life she can be found in the garden with her violist husband Dmitri Bovaird.

Tenured in 1972

I have been playing the cello since the age of seven and my main work has been in the orchestral and studio work areas. My first professional job was as the youngest cellist hired by the Houston Symphony under the direction of Sir John Barbirolli and Sir Andre Previn. I was also the youngest cellist hired by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta.

I have served as principal cellist with the Tulsa Philharmonic, the American Ballet Theater, the Jeoffrey Ballet and also the Pasadena Pops. I was a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic Quartet. I presently serve as assistant principal with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra since 1972.

I have had the distinction of being the only cellist on The Lawrence Welk Show for its last seven years. I have played for six United States Presidents.

I have done numerous recordings from orchestral, classical, operatic, popular, television and movies. I have worked with Lucianno Pavarotti, Jose Carrera, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson and Madonna to name a few. Also, I have done numerous stage shows.

My teaching includes Oral Roberts University, University of Tulsa and Occidental College, plus private teaching.

I am lucky that I love what I do and it has brought me so many opportunities and has allowed me to play across the United States to the Orient and Europe.

I reside in Burbank at a home once owned by Gordon Robinson, the composer for Liberace, with my wife Maureen.

Sara Behar has been a violist in the Long Beach Symphony since 1986. Her violin accomplishments include Pasadena Symphony, Tanglewood Institute, and Congress of Strings where she was concertmaster under Daniel Lewis. Her viola accomplishments include the Long Beach Opera, Pro Arte Chamber Ensemble, and solo appearances including “Harold in Italy” with the Beach Cities Symphony, and a recital with Zita Carno, former pianist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Behar has studied with fine teachers including Manuel Compinsky of “The Compinsky Trio”, Glen Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, and Alan De Veritch, former principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Sara’s education includes California Institute of the Arts, (performance), California State University Northridge, (performance, child development), and California State University Long Beach, where she specialized in Music Therapy. Sara has been teaching violin and viola at all levels for over twenty five years, and uses her diverse education to create a unique personalized experience for her students. She has also worked as a Music Specialist in pre-schools and elementary schools in the Los Angeles area. Sara has written and composed “song stories” in which she uses the violin as her accompaniment, integrating these stories into her Music Specialty work.

“Comparisons with Argerich should not be given lightly, but Paremski is so clearly of the same temperament and technique that it is unavoidable here.” — American Record Guide

With her consistently striking and dynamic performances, pianist Natasha Paremski reveals astounding virtuosity and voracious interpretive abilities. She continues to generate excitement from all corners as she wins over audiences with her musical sensibility and flawless technique.

Born in Moscow, Natasha moved to the United-States at the age of 8 and became a US citizen shortly thereafter. She is now based in New York.

Natasha was awarded several very prestigious artist prizes at a very young age, including the Gilmore Young Artists prize in 2006 at the age of 18, the Prix Montblanc in 2007, the Orpheum Stiftung Prize in Switzerland. In September 2010, she was awarded the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year.

Her first recital album was released in 2011 and it debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Traditional Classical chart. In 2012 she recorded Tchaikovsky’s first concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Fabien Gabel on the orchestra’s label distributed by Naxos.

Natasha has performed with major orchestras in North America including Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, NAC Orchestra in Ottawa, Nashville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Minnesota Orchestra. She tours extensively in Europe with such orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchester, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre de Bretagne, the Orchestre de Nancy, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester in Zurich, Moscow Philharmonic, under the direction of conductors including Peter Oundjian, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Jeffrey Kahane, James Gaffigan, Dmitri Yablonski, Tomas Netopil, JoAnn Falletta, Fabien Gabel, and Andrew Litton. Natasha has toured with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica in Latvia, Benelux, the UK and Austria and performed with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in Taipei.

Natasha has given recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Schloss Elmau, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Verbier Festival, Seattle’s Meany Hall, Kansas City’s Harriman Jewell Series, Santa Fe’s Lensic Theater, Ludwigshafen BASF Series, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Tokyo’s Musashino Performing Arts Center and on the Rising Stars Series of Gilmore and Ravinia Festivals.

With a strong focus on new music, Natasha’s growing repertoire reflects an artistic maturity beyond her years. In the 2010-11 season, she played the world premiere of a sonata written for her by Gabriel Kahane, which was also included in her solo album. At the suggestion of John Corigliano, Natasha brought her insight and depth to his Piano Concerto with the Colorado Symphony. In recital, she has played several pieces by noted composer and pianist Fred Hersch.

Natasha continues to extend her performance activity and range beyond the traditional concert hall. In December 2008, she was the featured pianist in choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s Danse Concertantes at New York’s Joyce Theater. She was featured in a major two-part film for BBC Television on the life and work of Tchaikovsky, shot on location in St. Petersburg, performing excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and other works. In the winter of 2007, Natasha participated along with Simon Keenlyside and Maxim Vengerov in the filming of Twin Spirits, a project starring Sting and Trudie Styler that explores the music and writing of Robert and Clara Schumann, which was released on DVD. She has performed in the project live several times with the co-creators in New York and the UK, directed by John Caird, the original director/adaptor of the musical Les Misérables.

Natasha began her piano studies at the age of 4 with Nina Malikova at Moscow’s Andreyev School of Music. She then studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Music before moving to New York to study with Pavlina Dokovska at Mannes College of Music, from which she graduated in 2007. Natasha made her professional debut at age nine with the El Camino Youth Symphony in California. At the age of fifteen she debuted with Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded two discs with Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky, the first featuring Anton Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 4 coupled with Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody and the second featuring all of Chopin’s shorter works for piano and orchestra.

Colleen Sugata joined the Long Beach Symphony in October of 2011. She has been a resident of Los Angeles, CA since 2008, where she has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Riverside County Philharmonic. During the summers she is the principal violist of the Lyrique-en-Mer Opera Festival in Belle Île, France. Prior to moving to California, Ms. Sugata performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony for three years. She has recorded with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the Deutsche Grammophon label and the Brahms cycle with the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Colleen has attended various music festivals including Aspen, Sarasota, and Round Top and was selected as a performer with the Music at Menlo Institute, where her performances were broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio. She was also selected to perform Aaron Copland’s original 13 instrument version of Appalachian Spring at Carnegie Hall, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.

Colleen received both her Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. Aside from performing, Colleen enjoys teaching, sewing and taking care of her rescue dog, Thomas.