Composer, conductor and musical director for the Walt Disney Studios for 15 years, Willis Schaefer has received three Clio awards for his scores for the Alcoa, Praise Soap and American Airlines television campaigns during the mid-sixties. In 1976, he received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his original bicentennial concert work for symphony orchestra, concert band and choir, The Sound of America, as well as an Emmy nomination in 1979 for his score for the made-for-television movie, The Skytrap. Mr. Schaefer has written more than 2,000 individual compositions and arrangements in addition to extensive radio, television and film scores. He scored and conducted 40 episodes for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and created orchestrations for some 15 Disney movies. He also arranged and orchestrated much of the music which accompanies the rides and attractions at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland. Other work includes scoring and conducting original music for episodes of Barnaby Jones, Gunsmoke, I Dream of Jeannie, Hogan's Heroes and many of the popular Saturday morning animated series for Hanna Barbera Studios. His pops orchestrations have been performed by the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and London BBC Radio Orchestra among many others. Mr. Schaefer's most recent film score for the movie, Forgotten Heroes, was recorded by the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Schaefer attended the Chicago Conservatory and earned his bachelor of music degree from DePaul University. S - U
Margaret Schaper, professor of vocal arts, is a graduate of USC and a former student of William Vennard, Paul Althouse, Frank LaForge, Allen Lindquest and Gwendolyn Koldofsky. She has performed as a recitalist, concert and oratorio soloist, as well as in opera roles in the U.S. and Europe. She is a frequent adjudicator of regional and national competitions and has taught master classes and workshops in the U.S., New Zealand and Europe. She is a recipient of the USC Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her students have won grants, awards and top prizes in national and international competitions, and are performing in European and American opera houses including the Metropolitan, Chicago Lyric, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Alice Schoenfeld, professor of violin, has concertized as recitalist and soloist with the major philharmonic and radio orchestras in the U.S., Europe, Australia, the Far East and Canada. As a critically acclaimed violinist, she has made over 200 radio recordings for the European networks, including 34 violin concerti from the classical to contemporary literature. She has recorded for Everest and Orion Master Recordings. Also a renowned pedagogue, Professor Schoenfeld performed and gave master classes at festivals and at universities worldwide. Her students have been first prize winners in national and international competitions. They have performed repeatedly as soloists with major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Chamber Orchestra and at the Hollywood Bowl under such eminent conductors as Zubin Mehta, Kiril Kondrashin, Milton Katims and Sir Georg Solti. Former students of Professor Schoenfeld enjoy successful concert careers, hold positions in American and European universities and are members of prestigious orchestras including: the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic. Professor Schoenfeld is the director of the string chamber music program at USC. She has been the recipient of the USC Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching and frequently serves as the American juror and chairperson in national and international solo and chamber music competitions.
Eleonore Schoenfeld, professor of cello, received the artist diploma from the Hochschule fŸr Musik in Berlin, Germany. An internationally renowned cellist, she has concertized as soloist with leading philharmonic and radio orchestras, in recitals and as a unique violin-cello duo with Alice Schoenfeld in the music centers of four continents. She has made numerous solo and chamber music recordings for major radio stations in Europe and has recorded for Everest and Orion Master Recordings. Also a renowned pedagogue, Professor Schoenfeld has performed and taught at national and international music festivals, such as the Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, Centre d'Arts Orford in Canada, Croatian String Teachers Association International Summer School, Music Academy of the West, Bowdoin and Interlochen and has presented master classes worldwide. Professor Schoenfeld has been the director of the international Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists at USC since 1979. Her students have been first and top prize winners in prestigious competitions such as the Tchaikovsky, Casals, European Broadcasting Union, Geneva, South Africa, Antonio Janigro, National American String Teachers' Association, Presidential Scholars, Coleman Chamber Music, Concert Artist Guild and the Young Musicians Foundation. They have performed as soloists with major orchestras including: the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Radio Orchestra and Bamberger Symphony under eminent conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Horst Stein, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Her former students pursue successful solo and chamber music careers and are members of major orchestras and college faculties throughout the world. Professor Schoenfeld has frequently served as chairperson and juror in national and international solo and chamber music competitions including: ARD - Munich (Germany), Leonard Rose (U.S.), Antonio Janigro (Croatia), Caltanissetta (Italy), Karl Klingler (Germany) and Piatigorsky (New York). She was honored with the Eva Janzer Memorial Award from Indiana University, was the recipient of the 1996 ASTA National Distinguished Service Award and the USC Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Riner Scivally holds degrees from both Occidential College (B.A., 1973) and USC (M.M., 1994). He studied jazz guitar with Joe DiOrio, Ted Greene and Dave Koonse, and classical guitar with Jim Smith, Stephen Jones and Darryl Denning. Currently, Riner serves as a faculty member at USC and Pasadena City College where he provides individual instruction to students in jazz guitar as well as offering classes in improvisation and jazz guitar technique. As a performer, he is active in Los Angeles clubs and appears often in a duo with saxophonist Rob Kyle. Scivally performs at venues such as Jax in Glendale or System M in Long Beach, and recently began performing with a quartet featuring David Hocker on drums, Christoph Luty on bass and Dave Scott on trumpet and piano. He has performed in a tour of Japan in 1990 with the Percy Faith Orchestra and was featured in each concert in a jazz trio setting with Putter Smith on bass and Alan Broadbent on piano. His work is also recorded on the 1993 compact disc, Give and Gather, by trumpeter Clay Jenkins. The disk features Scivally's tune "Swifts" as the opening track.
James M. Self, tubist, is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Catholic University and USC. A past president of TUBA, Dr. Self is an arranger, recording artist and studio instrumentalist with performances of 600 motion picture scores. He is currently tubist with the Pasadena and Pacific Symphonies, the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, the Music Center Opera Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
Eudice Shapiro, violinist, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and a former student of Ivan Shapiro and Efrem Zimbalist. An internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist, Professor Shapiro has appeared as orchestra soloist under Eugene Goossens, Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, Josef Rosensock, Igor Stravinsky and lzler Solomon, and in chamber performances with Arthur Schnabel, Bruno Walter, Lili Kraus, Rudolf Firkusny, Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Zara Nelsova, Darius Milhaud and Leonard Pennaro. Her recordings are on the Columbia Masterworks, Crystal, Vanguard and New World labels. She is a frequent adjudicator for international competitions and has taught master classes nationally and in the Far East. She has been an artist-teacher at the Aspen Festival and a member of the faculty and artist-teacher at the Flagstaff Festival. Currently, Professor Shapiro is an artist-in-residence at the Manchester (Vermont) Music Festival and at the Fairbanks, Alaska Music Festival. Professor Shapiro's former students appear in major orchestras and on college faculties throughout the world. She has received the USC Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, the ASTA Teacher of the Year Award and the Crossroads School Superior Teaching Award.
Bob Sheppard is truly a distinctive new voice on the international jazz scene. A solo artist and highly regarded sideman, he is also an in-demand session player who works extensively in film and television as well as on record dates. In his explorations of the territory between traditional and contemporary jazz styles, Sheppard plays with fire and taste. His distinctive lines can be heard on a wide variety of recordings, ranging from major motion picture sound tracks such as Nine Months and The Net, to compact disc recordings by Steely Dan and Rickie Lee Jones. Despite his success in the studio scene, Sheppard considers jazz to be his first love. His work as a member of Freddie Hubbard's Quintet provides a prime example of Sheppard's exceptional feeling for the jazz idiom. In addition to his extensive work as a sideman, he made his solo recording debut with Tell Tale Signs on the Windham Hill label, an impressive first effort which received international acclaim. The release of Tell Tale Signs also revealed a new side of his talent - that of composer. The compositions reflect his distinctive style while incorporating a wide variety of influcences, both modern and traditional. Sheppard studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where he received a master's degree.
Bryan Simms, professor of music history and literature, specializes in music and music theory of the 20th century. He was formerly editor of the Journal of Music Theory and Music Theory Spectrum, and he has contributed reviews and essays to these journals and to Perspectives of New Music, Fontes Artis Musicae, Music Analysis, the Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute and the Cambridge Opera Journal. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Fulbright Fellowship Program. He is the author of The Art of Music: An Introduction, Alban Berg: A Guide to Research and Music of the Twentieth Century, the last of which appeared recently in a second edition. He received his degrees, including a Ph.D., from Yale University.
Alan Smith, associate professor of keyboard collaborative arts, is highly regarded as a collaborative pianist and teacher of collaborative artistry. His performing experiences have included associations in major musical venues with such musical personalities as bass-baritone Thomas Stewart, soprano Barbara Bonney, soprano Lorna Haywood; violist Donald McInnes, violinist Eudice Shapiro, oboist Alan Vogel, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Virtuosi. For his expertise and experience in song literature, chamber music and opera he is much sought after as an accompanist, coach, faculty colleague and teacher of master classes. He has given master classes, among other places, at the University of Michigan, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Smith serves as the director of the Keyboard Collaborative Arts Program at USC, the oldest and largest program of its kind in the country, and has completed his fifth season as a member of the vocal coaching faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center. His current and former students maintain important positions internationally in the field of collaborative piano. He holds many honors for scholastic and performing excellence. His own compositions for voice and piano have received performances in important music centers on both the east and west coasts, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Tanglewood Music Center. His articles and reviews on various aspects of collaborative artistry have appeared in the magazine, The American Music Teacher.
James Smith is chair of the Classical Guitar Department. He is an active performer and has given numerous recitals throughout the United States. A specialist in chamber music with guitar, he has performed and recorded with such prominent musicians as flutists Hubert Laws and David Shostac, cellists Gabor Rejto and John Walz, violinist Endre Balogh, woodwind players Mitchell Lurie and Douglas Masek, and vocalists Sun Young Kim and Michael Sells, among many others. Smith has performed as soloist with the Glendale, Marina del Rey, Brentwood and New Orleans Symphonies and, with flutist Shostac and cellist Walz, performs regularly with the Bel Arts Trio. Mr. Smith has premiered works by Musgrave, Reich, Bogdanovich, Delerue, Leisner, Sydeman and Linn, to name just a few, and his recordings for Orion, Protone and Townhall records include first recordings of works by Schickele, Crockett, Pfister and others. He served as president of the Guitar Foundation of America, and in 1986 organized the Segovia Master Classes and Commemorative, a two-week long tribute that was an event of international significance.
Richard Smith is an associate professor and chair of the Studio Guitar Department. As a world renowned solo artist, Mr. Smith has earned such accolades as a nomination for Best Jazz Album of the Year (Ad Lib Magazine) 1989, best new artist (Radio and Records Magazine) 1990, and three top five jazz albums. In his concertizing with such artists as Richard Elliot, Dan Siegel, Warren Hill, Bob Hope, Brian Bromber and Max Bennett, he has made numerous visits to Asia, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. Live performance highlights include Town Hall, NYC; Orchestra Hall, Chicago; the Universal and Greek Amphitheatres; the Montreal, Monterey, Jacksonville, JVC, Playboy, Taste of Chicago, Summerfest, World Trade Center, Madrid and San Diego Jazz Festivals, as well as appearances for BET, VH-1, PBS, NPR and German television. He has recorded on the Sony, CBS, Manhattan/ Capitol, Bluenote, Bluemoon, Optimism, Pausa, Chase Music Group, Innercity, New World, Nova and Brainchild Record labels. He is also the associate director of the International Musicians Academy of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and has taught master classes at the Musicians Academy, London, University of Northern Texas, the Musicians Institute, Hollywood, University of Oregon and the National Guitar Summer Workshops. Mr. Smith is an artist/clinician for Dappario Gibson and Electro-Voice Corporations.
Assistant professor of voice Bard Suverkrop, is a native of California and holds degrees in voice and opera from Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. He received his advanced vocal training in Europe from Hans Hotter and Josef Metternich and has been widely praised for his distinctive interpretations of Mozart's opera both as a performer and stage director. Since his European operatic debut in 1981 as Rocco in Beethoven's Fidelio, Mr. Suverkrop has been heard in recital, concert and opera throughout the world. His operatic repertoire encompasses over 70 roles ranging from the Mozart bass baritones to the leading bass roles in The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, The Crucible, Faust, Cavalleria Rusticanna, La Boheme and La Forza del Destino. He has performed under the baton of Anton Guadagno, Alberto Zedda, Heinz Fricke, Julius Rudel and Alberto Erede and in the stage direction of Otto Schenk, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and Italo Tajo. Mr. Suverkrop is also a member of the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where he teaches voice and the Auditions Training Seminar.
Scott Tennant attended USC between 1980 and 1986 where he studied the guitar with Pepe Romero and James Smith. He was one of 12 people chosen internationally to perform for AndrŽs Segovia in his historic master classes at USC in both 1981 and 1986. He was the first American ever to win the first prize in the Tokyo International Guitar Competition in 1989 and gave silver medal performances in both the Concours International de Guitare of Radio France in 1988 and the Toronto International Guitar Competition in 1984. He is a founding member of the L.A. Guitar Quartet (all USC graduates) with which he tours extensively and records for Delos, International; he maintains an active solo career as well. Mr. Tennant was on the guitar faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory between 1989 and 1993 and continues as a faculty member of the National Guitar Summer Workshops. He is presently in the midst of recording the complete guitar works of Joaquin Rodrigo for GHA Records, Belgium, and is the author of Pumping Nylon, a book on guitar technique.
John Thomas, assistant professor of jazz studies, is director of the USC Studio Jazz Ensemble. He also teaches jazz appreciation, trumpet and improvisation. Active in outreach programs, Professor Thomas initiated the "Jazz in the Schools" program in conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District. For these and other similar efforts, Professor Thomas received a commendation from the Los Angeles City Council. He has been nominated for the 1994 Downbeat Magazine Most Outstanding Teacher Award and is currently director/conductor of the Southern California Grammy High School Jazz Band and co-director of the All American Grammy High School Jazz Band. Professor Thomas is an active studio trumpeter and has performed on the scores for Murder She Wrote, Coach, Perfect Strangers and the ABC Movie of the Week theme. In 1993, he was asked to perform as first trumpet for a tour of Japan with alumni from the Count Basie, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman orchestras. Previously, he performed as first trumpet with Woody Herman, Count Basie, Louis Bellson and Chick Corea. In addition to teaching at USC, John Thomas is an artist/clinician with the Yamaha Corporation.
Ladd Thomas is professor of organ and chair of the Organ Department. He gives workshops and master classes for the American Guild of Organists, colleges and universities throughout the country. Professor Thomas has concertized in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia and Italy, appearing with orchestras conducted by Zubin Mehta, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Christopher Seaman, Eduardo Mata and others. His performances at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists have included numerous world premieres. Professor Thomas has recorded on the London-Decca, Angel, Owl, Klavier, Avant, Western International and Summit labels and for MGM, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia and Universal Studios. He holds the bachelor of arts degree and an honorary doctor of music from Occidental College. He also earned a master's degree in theology from the School of Theology in Claremont. Professor Thomas studied organ with Max Miller, David Craighead and Clarence Mader. He served the American Guild of Organists as dean, state and regional chairman. Since 1960, he has been the organist of the First United Methodist Church of Glendale.
Frank Ticheli, associate professor of theory and composition, is now in his sixth year as composer-in-residence of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. His orchestral works have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Prince George's Philharmonic Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of San Jose, Louisville, Colorado, Memphis, Nashville, San Antonio, Austin, Lubbock, Nassau, Hong Kong and others. His two most recent orchestral works, Radiant Voices and Postcard, were recently recorded along with John Corigliano's Piano Concerto by the Pacific Symphony Orchestra on the KOCH International Classics label. Radiant Voices was performed during the 1995-96 season by the Philadelphia Orchestra under guest conductor Carl St. Clair. Awards include the Charles Ives Scholarship and Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, both from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, First Prize in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Competition, the Ross Lee Finney Award and a residency at the MacDowell Colony. His 10 compositions for wind ensemble and concert band have received hundreds of performances throughout the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe, and have gained him several prizes, including the 1989 Walter Beeler Prize, and first prize in the eleventh annual Symposium for New Music held in Virginia. He has received commissions and grants from the American Music Center, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Prince George's Philharmonic Orchestra, the Adrian Symphony, the City of San Antonio, Stephen F. Austin State University, the University of Michigan, Trinity University and others. Dr. Ticheli received his master's and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Michigan where he studied with William Albright, George Wilson and Pulitzer Prize winners Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom. His works are published by Manhattan Beach Music, Encore Music, and PP Music Publishers, and are available on compact disc recordings by KOCH International Classics, EMI-Toshiba, Clavier and Mark Records
Joel Timm, adjunct associate professor of oboe, is coordinator of oboe studies. Dr. Timm enjoys a distinguished career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and teacher. Acting as associate principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic, Dr. Timm toured with the orchestra and made six recordings with Zubin Mehta and appeared as soloist. Dr. Timm has also served as principal oboist and soloist with the New Jersey Symphony, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Viruosi of New York and the orchestras of the Joffrey Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He can be heard as soloist on several recordings for CBS Records, and has recorded chamber music for the Vox, Columbia, Vanguard, RCA and Musical Heritage Society labels. He is an active performer in the motion picture industry, as well as with such organizations as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Symphony and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera.
Richard Todd's diverse performing background includes orchestra, chamber music, solo and jazz appearances around the country. A graduate of USC, Mr. Todd has participated in music festivals in the Grand Tetons, the Music Academy of the West and Tanglewood. A gold medalist in the 1980 Concours Internationale in Toulon, France, Mr. Todd has studied with Waldemar Linder, James Decker, Gunther Schuller and Vincent DeRosa and has performed under the batons of Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Klaus Tennstedt, Sergiu Comissiona and Gerard Schwartz. A former member of the Utah Symphony under Maurice Abravaanel, Mr. Todd has also served as principal horn of the New Orleans Philharmonic under Leonard Slatkin. As a soloist Mr. Todd has performed with the USC, Pasadena and Arkansas Symphonies, as well as the William Hall Chorale. Since 1980 he has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Iona Brown. His activities also include working as a freelance recording artist for the motion picture and television industry, as well as traveling both as a solo artist and guest lecturer.
Dennis Trembly, double bassist, is the principal bassist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and was a second-place winner at the 1978 International Double Bass Competition on the Isle of Man. He attended the Aspen and Juilliard Music Schools and has studied with David Borkenhagen, Nathaniel Gangursky, Peter Mercurio and Stuart Sankey. Mr. Trembly has also performed numerous solo recitals and concerti with orchestras both locally and abroad.
JoAnn Turovsky, harpist, was the winner of the American Harp Society's National Competition, Young Professional Division. She has won first prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and was a prize winner at the fifth International Harp Competition in Israel. She has appeared as featured soloist with musical organizations throughout Los Angeles and is principal harpist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Music Center Opera, the Pasadena and Long Beach Symphonies and the contemporary music ensemble XTET. She is chair of the American Harp Society National Competition. Ms. Turovsky is a graduate of USC and the University of Arizona.
James Tyler is well known in early music circles as an early music director and soloist on the lute, baroque guitar and other early plucked and bowed instruments. He studied the lute with Joseph Laden in Hartford and early music performance with Thomas Binkley in Munich, and was one of the five core members of the Early Music Consort of London under David Munrow before founding the London Early Music Group in 1977. With these ensembles, he performed in many of the major festivals and chamber music series of Europe, Australia and North America. Professor Tyler is the author of two books and numerous articles on the history and repertory of early instruments, has composed and arranged the music for various BBC-TV productions, and recently completed his fifty-fourth recording. Personal entries in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians and the International Who's Who in Music attest to his contribution to the research and performance of 16th- and 17th-century repertories. Professor Tyler directs the USC Early Music Ensemble and the master's and doctoral programs in early music performance.
