Alexandra Apolloni is music historian and singer. She holds a PhD in Musicology from UCLA and a BMus in Voice from Wilfrid Laurier University. She researches the history of singing and how vocal sound conveys ideas about race and gender, with a particular interest in women pop and soul singers of the mid-20th Century. She is currently writing a book about the girl singers of British invasion-era pop for Oxford University Press. www.xandrawrites.net
Amy Gordon is a composer, arranger, singer-songwriter, and vocalist in Los Angeles, CA. She is the composer-in-residence for Nova Vocal Ensemble and the South Bay Chamber Singers. In addition to composing classical and choral music, she is also an active film composer. She teaches Music Theory and Composition at Musicians Institute, a contemporary music college in Hollywood, CA. She received her M.M. in Composition from California State University, Long Beach and her B.A. in Composition from Loyola Marymount University. For more information, visit www.amygordonmusic.com.
Ben Greenberg is a vocalist and singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA. A California native, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from UC Santa Cruz in 2015 and has been working actively as a musician since. He has sung with a variety of ensembles such as the San Francisco Choral Artists, Tonality, and the Lark Musical Society. Ben also performs his original new-folk acoustic music regularly at venues across California. He is thrilled to be joining C3LA as a new chorister for their Spring 2019 concert cycle!
American composer, singer, conductor David Avshalomov composes in a Modern Romantic style; works for solo and chamber instruments, orchestra, band, chorus, from songs and incidental pieces to oratorio and opera, often on commission. Performed across the US, in Europe, Russia, South America, the Far East; recorded on Albany and Naxos. Won numerous competitions; grants. Veteran bass chorister, soloist; recent opera roles. B.A in Music from Harvard, D.M.A. in Conducting at U. Washington; studies at Aspen and Tanglewood (Bernstein, Schuller, Ozawa). Led orchestras and choruses on both coasts, guest conducted widely, toured in Europe and the Far East. www.davidavshalomov.com
David Rentz is Associate Professor of Music at Chaffey College, Adjunct Professor and head of the conducting program at Claremont Graduate University, and Music Director of the Orchestra Collective of Orange County. David has received fellowships and grants from the Yale alumni Ventures program and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and, in 2015, was named guest professor at Xiamen University (China). B.Mus., Washington University in Saint Louis; M.M, University of Wisconsin-Madison; M.M.A. and D.M.A., Yale University School of Music.
Diana Woolner seeks out high-quality, thoughtful opportunities—her roles have varied, from on-set Music Coordinator for Steven Soderbergh’s television series The Knick; 3rd prize winner with GHOSTLIGHT CHORUS at the 14th International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany; premiering original compositions during Vassar College’s ModFest; to performing across the tri-state area, including MOMA, Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center. Diana’s compositions often have a magical quality, and her vocal works are known to utilize unconventional texts. Diana loves performing, and sings in seven ensembles throughout Southern California, including Pacific Chorale, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in the Palisades, and LARK Mastersingers. www.dianawoolnermusic.com
Fahad Siadat creates interdisciplinary storytelling works, folding together words, sound, and movement into mythic narratives. He is an advocate of innovative and adventurous music, particularly for vocal ensembles and approaches this advocacy as a performer, composer, conductor and entrepreneur. Fahad sings with HEX Vocal Ensemble and is co-artistic director of The Resonance Collective in New York. He has conducted choirs at Columbia University, CalArts, Chaffey College, and been assistant conductor of The Industry opera company in Los Angeles. Fahad is also the founder and director of See-A-Dot Music Publishing, a company devoted to the advocacy of new choral works and emerging composers. www.fahadsiadat.com
Jeff Greif, physicist by training and avocational French hornist, took up singing at age 30 in order to sing Lieder and chamber music. He has performed all three major Schubert song cycles and works by many other art song composers, was the Evangelist in both the Bach St. Matthew and St. John Passions, and participated in several choral groups, including 8 seasons with the LA Master Chorale. Besides C3LA, he sings with the Jouyssance Early Music Ensemble and Los Robles Master Chorale. In November 2018, he gives the first full performance on the West Coast of Matthew Aucoin's "Merrill Songs".
Jill Redding has been active as a soloist and collaborative musician since 1989. She studied piano and harpsichord at the University of Northern Colorado, participated in continuo workshops at Eastman School of Music, and studied jazz piano with Ron Miles at Metropolitan State in Denver, Colorado. Early in her career she debuted as a solo pianist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and later served as a collaborative pianist and vocalist for ensembles in Colorado and California. She currently performs with Jouyssance Early Music Ensemble. When not performing, Jill teaches piano, voice and collaborative musicianship across the San Gabriel Valley.
Lucy McKnight is a singer and composer currently working on her Bachelors in composition at USC Thornton School of Music. She has studied with Andrew Norman, Ted Hearne, Sean Friar and Anderson Alden. Her works have been performed in LA at Sunset Chamberfest, at Walt Disney Concert Hall by LA Master Chorale Chamber Singers, in San Francisco by members of Wild Rumpus, and in Italy and Germany at summer music festivals. She won LA Master Chorale’s Young Composer Contest in 2017 with her first choral piece, “Wir Juden.” To listen to some of her music, check out https://soundcloud.com/ucycnight.
Michael Chwe sings with C3LA, the Nova Vocal Ensemble, and the UCLA Chamber Singers, has played violin with the Vicente Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Monica Symphony, and has built lithophones played by orchestras across Europe. He is professor of political science at UCLA and has written the books “Rational Ritual” and “Jane Austen, Game Theorist” and numerous articles in scholarly journals and the popular press. His work has been featured by media including the New York Times, BBC, Washington Post, Time, NPR, Libération, and Vogue. chwe.net/michael
Morgan Woolsey is a musicologist, performer, and songwriter. Since coming to Los Angeles from New York in 2009, Morgan has performed with Vox Femina Los Angeles and the UCLA Early Music Ensemble, as well as her band Death in Venice Beach. She has also worked on a smattering of projects for film and television as a singer and composer. Morgan is currently a doctoral candidate in Musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also teaches, and her dissertation research explores the role of music in changing cinematic representations of sexuality in the 1970s, with a focus on music in the horror film.
Saunder Choi is a Los Angeles based Filipino composer, conductor, vocalist and educator. He is a teaching artist for the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pacific Chorale, serves as Director of Music at the UU Community Church of Santa Monica, and is a vocalist with the LA Choral Lab, Pacific Chorale, and many others. He has written for choral ensembles and orchestras world-wide. For a more detailed bio, check out www.saunderchoi.com/bio
Hailed by The New York Times as a “particularly agile” vocalist, Tyler Azelton is a singer, pianist, composer, teacher, and choir director. Tyler has performed from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl with various ensembles. In addition to singing with early music ensemble Jouyssance, several regional opera companies, and prog-rock band Crysys Reunion Project, Tyler has sung on many movie soundtracks, albums, and was on The Voice. Her rock album, Awake at the Funeral by Deep 6 Holiday, is available on Apple Music and iTunes. She sang for 9 years with the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
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Alice Dryden is a Los Angeles-based composer and mezzo-soprano. She directs the kindergarten-8th grade music program at Everest Value School in downtown Los Angeles. Active in Los Angeles area choral music, she is also a member of Nova Vocal Ensemble and Vox Femina Los Angeles and is proud to be joining C3LA. She is an alumna of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music (B.M. in Voice Performance and Music Education) and CUNY Brooklyn College (M.M. in Composition), where she studied with Professor Tania León. She is also an alumna of the EAMA-Nadia Boulinger Institute program in Paris.
Soprano Amy Waters sings with a number of choirs in the LA area, including Areté Vocal Ensemble and the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, where she acts as the soprano section leader and Assistant Conductor. Amy is a frequent recitalist, with a focus on 20th-century art song. Notable performances include the title role in Handel's Semele and Ottorino Respighi's Deità Silvane accompanied by the Lewis & Clark College Orchestra. Amy earned a B.A. in Music and French Studies from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. She worked professionally as a vocalist and conductor in Portland before relocating to Los Angeles in 2017. https://awatersmusic.wixsite.com/amywaters
Alto Carol Binion currently sings with the following choruses: LA Master Chorale, Jouyssance, The Golden Bridge, C3LA, LASchola, and Clarion Singers. She has worked with conductors Grant Gershon, Essa Pekka Salonen, Bramwell Tovey, Robert Shaw, Michael Tilson Thomas and Gustavo Dudamel among others. Carol studied voice/movement with Meredith Monk, and puppeteered with Basil Twist for several years. By day, Carol is an Emmy-winning costume designer and builder, currently specializing in stop-motion animation.
David Conley is a composer, conductor, singer and educator in Los Angeles; he is currently serving as the Conducting Chair of the C3LA and as the Co-Chair of the Performing Arts & Choir Director at Marymount High School. Film score highlights include The Last Protestor, En la Mente, and Forgotten Plague, hailed by the Huffington Post as “a must-see documentary”. David sings for First Congregational Church of Los Angeles and is on the roster of the Philadelphia Symphonic Chorus, Tonality, and The National Children’s Chorus. David received his B.A. in Vocal Performance from the University of Georgia and an M.M. in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College.
David García Saldaña is a Southern California-based singer and composer living in the San Gabriel Valley. Currently, he studies at CSU Long Beach’s Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. His work spans from the traditional, to the interactive and interdisciplinary. He collaborates frequently with artists in both dance and theater, focusing on developing new interactive methods of music making and the creation of electronic controllers using primarily Max MSP/Jitter and Arduino microcontrollers. www.davidgarciasaldana.com.
Drew Corey is a composer, vocalist and performance artist who creates clean, minimalist works while not losing a sense of warmth. She creates this “warm minimalism” using voices, drones, her signature extended piano technique, floating melodies and large harmonic textures. Her practice focuses on human connectivity and the visceral nature of certain physical and sonic stimuli. She creates works for choir, chamber ensemble, solo performance, voice and piano, as well as interdisciplinary works for orchestra, theater and dance. She received her BFA in Composition from the California Institute of the Arts in 2016 and is a founding member of C3LA. www.drewcorey.com
Evan Roberts is a choral conductor and tenor, currently residing in Los Angeles. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Vocal Performance, he sings frequently in choral ensembles throughout the area. Evan is the Choral Director of the Mirman School Concert Singers, as well as Choral Director at American Lutheran Church Burbank. He has sung with and conducted a variety of choirs in the LA area: the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus Young Men’s Ensemble (YME), the Artes Vocales of Los Angeles (AVoLA), the Donald Brinegar Singers, and of course, C3LA.
Heather Ogilvy is a singer, songwriter, and vocal arranger in Los Angeles. In addition to commercial session and voiceover work, she is a managing member and vocal arranger for The Silver Lake Chorus, sings and plays viola with LA-based band Brother, Sister, and performs with singer-songwriter Cassandra Violet. She is also the voice of indie pop duo Penny Engine. She holds a BA in Music and Art from Colby College. www.heatherogilvy.com
A veteran choral singer, Jennifer Grappone has decades of experience singing masterworks, modern compositions, and everything in between in large and small ensembles. She currently sings with Los Robles Master Chorale and periodically performs with Pacific Opera Project. In addition to singing, Jennifer volunteers with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, and served as their children’s chorus manager for Tosca with Los Angeles Opera. Jennifer entered the University of Michigan as a clarinet major before switching to marketing and communications. She is a recognized expert in search engine optimization, co-author of two marketing books, and owner and founding partner at Gravity Search Marketing.
Kc Daugirdas is an award-winning composer, orchestrator, and conductor based in east L.A. Recent credits include orchestrations for the film “Pokemon: I Choose You”, music for national commercials (Coke, Bud Light, Cricket Wireless), and choral works (notably “The Singing Revolution,” a 5-movement choral cantata that traces the Lithuanian struggle for freedom from the USSR, conducted by the composer at the UIC Pavilion with 1,400 singers and symphonic band.) He also directs two Lithuanian choral groups locally. He holds degrees in Music Education from the University of Illinois and Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music. www.daugirdasmusic.com
Matthew Scherb has always derived great joy and sanity from singing. Before his recent move to Los Angeles from the Bay Area, he sang for years with the San Francisco Choral Artists, International Orange Chorale, and Resound Ensemble, all of which were devoted to fostering and performing new choral music. By day, Matthew is a lawyer and handles appellate litigation for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.
Molly Pease is an eclectic vocalist and composer with an MFA in Jazz Studies from California Institute of the Arts and a BA from The New School. Molly leads experimental rock band ACKLAND and creates works for voices, strings and other combinations. Currently, Molly is part of the Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles, is a section leader and soloist at First Congregational Church of LA, and is a member of the all-women Georgian polyphony ensemble Shvidkala. Molly won two DownBeat Awards with ARC Vocal Jazz Ensemble and performed at ACDA in Chicago with contemporary choir Vox Musica. www.mollypeasemusic.com
Nick Price is an audio engineer and vocal producer, working in the Los Angeles area, as well as music director for the semi professional a cappella ensemble Hymns and Hers. He enjoys singing, writing music and contributing to efforts for homelessness and environmental protection and rehabilitation through volunteering.
Tessie Prakas is Assistant Professor of English at Scripps College, where she teaches courses on Shakespeare, Renaissance poetry, and music and literature. Her scholarship draws together her work as a literary critic and as a singer, and she is completing a book manuscript on seventeenth-century devotional poetry. She has sung with ensembles including the Horizon Chamber Choir, Yale Schola Cantorum, the Dmitri Ensemble, and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with whom she has recorded albums for Naxos and Harmonia Mundi. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Yale University and a B.A. in English from the University of Cambridge.
William Reeder is a singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Southern California. He has performed with such groups as Cal Voce, Canticum Novum LA, Golden Bridge, and the Jouyssance Early Music Ensemble. He holds a bachelors degree in Choral Music Education from California State University Fullerton. He currently serves as choral director at San Juan Community Presbyterian Church and drummer for the art rock band, Maneaters.
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