Nico Abondolo, principal bassist of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, is internationally recognized as a leading double bass soloist and chamber musician. Since becoming the first bass player ever to win first place in the 1983 Geneva International Competition in Switzerland, he has performed throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East. He composes and performs for "The Perks," a music, dance and drama ensemble he co-founded while studying at the Juilliard School of Music. He is the bassist and percussionist for his local Santa Barbara Brazilian band "Caixa de Sol." He received a master and doctorate of music at Juilliard with David Walter. Abondolo teaches at University of California, Santa Barbara, the Colburn School of Performing Arts, the Idyllwild School of Music and the Music Academy of the West.Dale Anderson, percussionist, received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern University and is a former member of the United States Air Force Bandsman's School in Washington, D.C. In addition to studying percussion with Roy C. Knapp, he has studied composition with Robert Delaney. Mr. Anderson, principal percussionist of the Pasadena Symphony, Los Angeles Opera and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, frequently performs as a recording artist for motion picture and television studios. He has authored a text on keyboard percussion instruments.
Norman "Buddy" Baker, program director for the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Program, has a doctor of music degree from Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, Missouri. His extensive career in the commercial field of music covers a vast area from the Big Band era through several years of network radio to motion picture composer. In 1954 he became composer/musical director at Walt Disney Productions where he remained 28 years. During that period he scored more than 50 feature films and 140 television features. He was composer/musical director for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland. He has conducted his music with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London and the Graunke Symphony Orchestra of Munich, Germany. His awards include an Academy Award nomination for Napoleon and Samantha and the Southern California Motion Picture Council Award for Napoleon and Samantha, Best of True-Life Adventures, Bears and I and The Million Dollar Duck, and the National Film Advisory Board award for Best of True-Life Adventures.
John Barnett, lecturer in conducting, studied with Leon Barzin at the National Orchestral Association. He attended Columbia University, received a New York Philharmonic scholarship for private study with Nicolai Malko, and studied with Georges Enesco and Bruno Walter at the Mozarteum. Mr. Barnett has served as principal conductor of the New York City Symphony and also served as assistant conductor to Sir Thomas Beecham, Fritz Reiner and Otto Klemperer. He served as conductor of the NBC Network "Standard Hour" Broadcasts and was associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has held music director posts with the Phoenix Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Association, the Los Angeles Guild Opera, the National Orchestral Association and the Puerto Rico Symphony. His guest conducting appearances have been with the principal orchestras of San Francisco, Rochester, Kansas City, Phoenix, Honolulu, the Eastern Music Festival, the Casals Festival, Opera de Puerto Rico and in the Orient, New Zealand, Italy and South America. He has recorded on the CRI, Capitol and Vanguard labels. In addition to his present teaching post at USC, he has also taught at the Claremont Colleges, Stanford University and the College-Conservatory of the University of Cincinnati.
Arthur C. Bartner, director of the USC Trojan Marching Band, studied with William D. Revelli and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. Dr. Bartner is a frequent guest conductor throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States, and led the largest collegiate band ever assembled for the opening ceremonies of Disney's EPCOT Center in Florida. Additionally, he has served as musical director of the Japan Bowl, Tokyo, the 1984 Olympic Marching Band, the 1985 Presidential Inaugural Band, the Statue of Liberty Weekend All American Games and Constitution Celebration. He is the continuing director of the College All-American Band at Disneyland.
Hans Beer, professor of conducting, has guest conducted university opera productions throughout the United States and Canada including American and West Coast premieres for USC Opera. In the spring of 1986, prior to conducting the Beijing Symphony and Shanghai Chamber Orchestra, Professor Beer conducted the USC Symphony. He holds a diploma from the Musik Akadamie, Munich, and is a former student of Carl Orff and Kurt Eichhorn.
Richard Bellis, composer, is a lecturer for the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Program. He received an Emmy Award for his score for the Stephen King thriller It and has composed music for such television films including Addicted to His Love, Money on His Side, Black Market Baby, Shattered Innocence, The Other Victim, Fallen Angel, and A Shining Season.
Shelton Berg, is an accomplished jazz pianist, composer, orchestrator and educator. His current solo CD, "The Joy" is on DMP records. A finalist in the 1988 Great American Jazz Piano Competition (PBS television), he is the pianist and arranger for trombonist, Bill Watrous, and has appeared and/or recorded with a wide range of jazz legends. Shelly was the composer for ABC's "Fudge" and CBS's "A League of Their Own" television series. He has orchestrated for rock superstars Chicago and Richard Marx, and has written for the Royal Philharmonic and American Symphony, as well as orchestras in Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta. Shelly composed the official theme song to the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival, and his orchestrations were called "magnificent...incredible" by noted film composer, Johnny Mandel. Shelly is the president of the International Association of Jazz Educators. He has appeared as a lecturer and performer or all-state clinician throughout the United States as well as in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Japan. He has published numerous compositions for jazz ensemble, and is the author of Jazz Improvisation: The Goal-Note Method. At USC, Mr. Berg conducts the ELF Ensemble, which has appeared at an IAJE Convention, and has appeared with John Pattituci, Russ Ferrante, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis, Lanny Morgan and others.
William L. Biersach has been teaching various courses within the electro-acoustic media, recording arts and music industry programs at USC since 1975. He has been a regular participant in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Freshman Seminar series for the last 10 years; he has served on the Technology Committee for the School of Music and co-coordinated the first Seminar in Music, Computers and MIDI sponsored by the School of Music. As a studio musician and synthesizer programmer, he worked on numerous commercials for television and radio during the 70s, and composed the score for the Japanese cartoon series, Dan Cougar, during the transformer craze. He also composed the musical theme for The Campaign for the University of Southern California. On the live stage he played keyboards and guitar in several Los Angeles-based bands, including Stormer and The Great Apple River Down Stream Inner Tube Float. His column, "Sach on the Rocks" was a regular feature in Journal SEAMUS (The Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) in which he explored the ramifications of technology on the perception and performance of music in modern times. In recent years he has turned his attention to the Chapman Stick¨ Fretboard, and in 1995 he produced his first solo album, Filaxis Reconsidered: Music for Chapman¨ Stick and Extensively-Prepared Digital Gadgets Nineteen Inches Wide. Two follow-up albums are currently in production. Two of his courses here at USC, The Beatles: Their Music and Their Times and Classic Rock: Popular Music of the Sixties and Seventies, have caught the attention of the national news media. As a result, he has been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine and the New York Times, as well as on CNN and Prime Time Live.
Canadian pianist Bernadene Blaha has performed in concert and as a soloist with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Mexico, Bermuda and Jamaica. Recent seasons have included appearances with the Hamilton and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras; the Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Houston Symphony Orchestras; and a tour of western Canada with the Calgary Philharmonic. Ms. Blaha has been a regular guest on the CBC radio network and has recorded for WQXR radio in New York. She recently performed the opening orchestra concert and solo recital at the XXIX International Chopin Festival in Czechoslovakia, a solo recital at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and a United Kingdom solo debut in London. In addition to other significant performance prizes, Ms. Blaha's top prize in the 11th Annual International Piano Competition in New York City resulted in two highly acclaimed recital appearances at Carnegie Recital Hall and the Lincoln Center Library. Ms. Blaha is a lecturer in the Keyboard Studies Department at USC.
Oscar Brashear's discography reads like a Who's Who in contemporary music, spanning three decades and including work as a trumpet player with artists whose fame is only equaled by their talent and accomplishments. A native of Chicago, Oscar took up the trumpet at an early age and was playing professionally in and around Chicago by 1960. In the early part of that decade he played with big bands and jazz groups, as well as recording for various artists and record companies. The end of the decade saw tours with Woody Herman in 1967, and with Count Basie in 1968 and 1969. The year 1970 proved to be momentous as Oscar worked with James Moody, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt and Eddie Harris in Chicago, before relocating later that same year to Los Angeles, his present home. Work with various artists, including recording sessions, live performances, television and film, in addition to leading his own group, has kept Oscar busy since moving to Los Angeles.
Nancy Bricard, pianist, has appeared as a recitalist and soloist with symphony and chamber ensembles in the United States, Canada and Europe. She has been a participant in international symposia and chamber music workshops. Professor Bricard is a frequent lecturer and essayist on the French keyboard repertoire, the French School of piano technique and the psychological problems of performing musicians. Her critical editions of Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and Miroirs, published by Alfred Publishers, have received national and international acclaim. She studied with Marcel Ciampi at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris, France, and with Lillian Steuber and John Crown at the USC School of Music, where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees. She is professor in the Department of Keyboard Studies.
Bruce Alan Brown specializes in 18th-century opera and ballet, 18th-century instrumental music, Mozart and Gluck. He is a member of the American Musicological Society and the Society for 18th-Century Studies. Professor Brown is the recipient of grants from the USC Faculty Research and Innovation Fund and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His recent publications include Gluck and the French Theatre in Vienna (Oxford, 1991) and a Cambridge Opera Handbook on Mozart's Cos“ fan tutte (1995). Professor Brown received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Marc Cashman is a writer, arranger, casting director, editor, director and producer of commercials for MJB coffee, Ameritone Paint, Gloria Marshall, Pizza Hut and Toyota. As a faculty member of the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Program, Mr. Cashman lends his expertise in the areas of television and radio commercials.
Ndugu Chancler, who often is referred to as "the drummer's drummer," is known as a world-class drummer and percussionist. He has to his credit an extensive list of performances, recordings, original compositions and productions. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Ndugu attended Locke High School in Los Angeles, where he began playing drums at age 13. During his high school years, he played with Willie Bobo, and played and recorded with the Harold Johnson Sextet. Immediately after high school, he pursued a music education degree at California State University at Dominguez Hills, while performing with the Gerald Wilson Big Band, Herbie Hancock and Hugh Masakela. By age 19, Ndugu had performed and recorded with such greats as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Eddie Harris, Harold Land and Bobby Hucherson to name a few. The following partial list reflects the magnitude of Ndugu's many gold and platinum associations: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, The Crusaders, Thelonius Monk, George Duke, James Mtume, Santana, Alice Coltrane, Lionel Ritchie, Kenny Rogers, Hubert Laws, Weather Report, Gerald Wilson, Willie Bobo, Bill Cosby and Patrice Rushen. Chancler is a three time Grammy nominee for Best R&B Instrumental Performance, Ghetto Blaster performed by The Crusaders in 1984; Best R&B Performance by a Group or Duo, Let it Whip performed by the Dazz Band and Best R&B Song of the Year, Let it Whip (co-writer Dazz Band single Let it Whip from Keep it Live LP, RIAA Certified Gold) in 1982.
Double Bassist John Clayton, lecturer in jazz studies, has gained prominence as a performer, composer and arranger in both the jazz and classical fields. After studying bass under the esteemed Ray Brown, Mr. Clayton was bassist for the television series "The Mancini Generation," after which he toured and recorded internationally with jazz pianist Monty Alexander. He then began a two-year association with Count Basie and his orchestra. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1984 after five years as principal bass with the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Holland), he took up conducting, composing and co-leading of the Clayton Brothers Quartet and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the latter of which won the Los Angeles Times 26th annual "Golden Feather Award" in 1990. In 1991, he received a Grammy nomination for his composition Brush This, from the orchestra's album Groove Shop. Mr. Clayton was awarded a platinum record for his arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner for Whitney Houston. He also arranged God Bless America for Diana Ross for the inaugural festivities for President Bill Clinton. In addition to recording and performing with various jazz groups and conducting and arranging for notable performers such as Natalie Cole, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, Milt Jackson and the Tonight Show Band, he recently composed a work for the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and has conducted his own and other classical and jazz works with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Patricia Cloud, flutist, holds a master's degree in music performance from USC and a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge. She has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra, San Francisco Opera's Western Opera Theater, the American Youth Symphony, the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra and many other local orchestras. Currently Ms. Cloud is the principal flutist of the Inland Empire Symphony. She has been a featured soloist with the USC Symphony under Daniel Lewis, the CSUN Symphony and the Inland Empire Symphony. Ms. Cloud is interested in many different styles of music and is a regular performer with the Los Angeles-based Lo-Cal Composers Ensemble. She was a featured soloist in the 1988 SCREAM festival and is a founding member of the Baroque ensemble Vezzosa. Ms. Cloud also has an active freelancing career and is on the faculty of Loyola Marymount University.
Robert Cloutier is a nationally recognized piano artist-technician who has prepared concert instruments for and given lecture workshops at major universities and performance centers from coast to coast including: the University of Maine, West Virginia University, the University of Texas, the University of Alaska, the Aspen Music Festival, the Sitka Music Festival, the Hollywood Bowl and the Los Angeles Music Center. As a faculty member at USC, Cloutier offers classes in the acoustics, construction and maintenance of keyboard instruments, designed to prepare pianists to meet frequent emergencies inherent to the piano. Cloutier received his bachelor of arts degree from West Virginia University where he studied piano performance with Herman Godes.
Bassoonist Rose Corrigan is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber and Music Center Opera Orchestras. She is an active recording artist for the television and motion picture industries, and she performs frequently with the Pacific Classical Winds, a period instrument ensemble. She also frequently performs with the American Ballet Theatre, Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Pasadena Symphony. Rose is presently lecturer in bassoon at USC.
Terry Cravens, trombonist, has performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Ojai Festival Orchestra, Los Angeles Brass Society, Louisville Orchestra, Austin Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony and all major United States dance companies. He has participated in 22 first edition recordings with the Louisville Orchestra conducted by Robert Whitney, the Mozart Requiem and Die WalkŸre with the Vienna Philharmonic under conductors Kertesz and Solti, and a Wagner album with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Erich Leinsdorf conducting. He is a member of the Pasadena Symphony, the Los Angeles Music Center Opera and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra. Dr. Cravens is chair of the Department of Winds and Percussion.
Donald Crockett, professor of composition and conductor of the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble, has also been composer-in-residence with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1991. Commissions and performances of his music have come from such artists and ensembles as the Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Stanford String Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and many others. Professor Crockett's work Celestial Mechanics for oboe and string quartet, commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, took second prize in the 1991 Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards. He has also received grants and prizes from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, BMI, the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, the Aaron Copland Fund, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities and the Burlington Northern Foundation. His music is published by MMB Music, St. Louis, and recorded on Pro Arte, Orion, Dominguez Digital, Laurel and CRI.
Bill Cunliffe is rapidly becoming one of the best known of today's jazz pianists, one who combines lyricism and sensitivity with a fierce sense of swing. His early training was at Duke University, where he discovered jazz under the tutelage of the great Mary Lou Williams, who urged him to "put down those books and start studyin' the music!" He then received his master's degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with the jazz pianist Bill Dobbins, and won several Down Beat Awards for his big band and orchestral pieces. After three years of teaching at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, he went on the road with the Buddy Rich Big Band and completed two European tours with Frank Sinatra. After working with Rich, he played and toured with many of today's greatest jazz musicians including: Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Art Farmer, James Moody, Bobby Watson and Art Blakey. He currently records with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz at the Movies Band and the flutist Holly Hofmann. In addition, Mr. Cunliffe recently returned from a tour with vocalist Natalie Cole. He is the 1989 winner of the $10,000 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Award, and has received stipends from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has received three solo albums from Discovery Records including: A Paul Simon Songbook, A Rare Collection and Bill in Brazil, - all of which charted in nationwide top jazz polls. His compositions are available from Kendor Music, the University of Northern Colorado Jazz Press and he is a Baldwin Pianos artist.
