SFSU MUSIC FACULTY

Department Chair

Patricia Taylor Lee

Graduate Coordinator

Victoria Neve

Faculty

Professors -

 

Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez | Dean Suzuki

Assistant Professors -

 

 

Joshua Habermann | Hafez Modirzadeh | Gregory Magie | Alissa Deeter |

Lecturers-

 

 

Artist in Residence-

 

Branford Marsalis

B.A. with honors, Mills College; M.A., Yale University; D.M.A., Temple University

Pianist Patricia Taylor Lee came to SFSU from West Chester University in Pennsylvania where she was a professor of keyboard music and also served as chair of the Keyboard Department, Acting Dean of Graduate Studies, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Professional Studies, and Associate Vice-president for Academic Affairs. She also taught piano at the University of California at Davis and was pianist with the Sacramento Symphony. Professor Lee is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Alpha Iota, national music honorary; she holds the Master Teacher's Certificate of the Music Teachers' National Association. She has performed widely in solo recital, chamber music and with orchestra. Lee is the author of numerous publications for music teachers and a frequent adjudicator of state, national, and international music competitions. She has directed the CSU Summer Arts Chamber Music workshop for two summers and lectures widely on piano music, including that of her former teacher, Darius Milhaud.

Dr. Lee has served on the board of the National Piano Foundation and as a trustee of Mills College and is presently on the boards of the San Francisco Community Music Center Library and the Performing Arts Library and Museum, and Friends of Chamber Music. She was a 1990 recipient of a San Francisco State University Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award. In 1993 and 1994 she led music delegations to Eastern Europe and to the former Soviet Union under the auspices of People to People. She is currently a member of the Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music.

Deborah Benedict-Jackson (1993)
Lecturer in Music

B.A., Stanford University; M.A. (Voice), New England Conservatory of Music

Mezzo-soprano Deborah Benedict-Jackson is active as a performer and instructor. She has performed leading roles with West Bay Opera, Berkeley Opera, and Diablo Light Opera. Ms. Benedict-Jackson, was an apprentice artist with Santa Fe Opera, Portland Opera, and Long Beach Opera. Recently, she has given recitals at Walla Walla College, Washington, San Francisco State University, and Herz Hall, U.C. Berkeley. She sang the Alto Rhapsody with the U.C. Berkeley Men's Chorus, Honegger's King David, and was soloist in Haydn's St. Theresa Mass. She is soloist at Trinity Episcopal Church, San Francisco, and directs and sings with Opera Bravo, an operatic quartet formed in 1990.

Ronald Caltabiano (1996)
Associate Professor of Music
e-mail: rcalt@sfsu.edu

B.M., M.M., D.M.A., The Juilliard School with Vincent Persichetti and Elliott Carter. Professional studies: Peter Maxwell Davies, Elie Siegmeister, Andrew Thomas; Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (conducting), Harold Farberman (conducting)

Dr. Caltabiano's home page

Composer Ronald Caltabiano first came to international attention in the early 1980s with his String Quartet No. 1, premiered in Great Britain by the Arditti Quartet and in the United States by the Juilliard Quartet. Orchestral commissions and perforamances by the San Francisco Symphony, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Notable chamber works include Concerto for Six Players, commissioned by the Fires of London for their farewell performance; On the Dissonant and Rotations, both commissioned by Australian ensembles; and prominent commissions by American organizations, including the String Quartet No. 2 (Emerson Quartet), Quilt Panels (Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center), and Clarinet Quartet (consortium of new-music ensembles). Vocal works include song cycles, dramatic cantatas, and a chamber opera, Marrying the Hangman, on a text by Margaret Atwood.

Major awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation were anticipated by a number of awards from BMI and ASCAP as well as two Bearns Prizes. Since working as assistant to Aaron Copland during the last five years of that composer's life, Caltabiano served on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory before coming to SFSU.

For additional information, see his entry in the New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians

William Corbett-Jones (1967)
Professor of Music

Professional Studies: University of Southern California, Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Academia Chigiana, Siena, Italy

Pianist William Corbett-Jones has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the Far East as recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and in collaboration with internationally renowned colleagues. His concertizing in Europe has included recitals in most of the major capitals, with the Lausanne and Winterthur Orchestras in Switzerland, and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy. Professor Jones has performed for the BBC, Hilversum, Basel, Lausannne, Cologne, Paris, Brussels and Istanbul radios, and has often appeared at festivals such as the Salzburg Chamber Music Festival and the Meiringen Festival in Switzerland.

Jones' repertoire extends from the Baroque to the Modern. He has presented several cycles of the Sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert, and the complete solo works of Mozart and Chopin.

In 1992, Professor Corbett-Jones was guest professor at the La Salle College of the Arts in Singapore. He also concertized and gave master classes at the Hong Kong Academy of Arts and at several universities in Taiwan. In 1993, he was guest professor at the Sydney, Australia Conservatorium of Music.

Alissa Walters Deeter (2001)
Assistant Professor of Music

B.M. (Vocal Performance), Central Michigan University; M.M., Ph. D. (Vocal Performance), Florida State University.

A Marshall, Michigan native, Dr. Alissa Walters Deeter recently joined the music faculty at San Francisco State University with teaching responsibilities that include private voice, vocal literature, vocal pedagogy, and opera workshop. Soprano Alissa Walters Deeter has performed with many of AmericaÕs foremost opera companies, including Mid-Michigan Opera, Central City Opera and The Santa Fe Opera. She has sung the title roles in Orfeo ed Euridice and L'incoronazione di Poppea as well as Musetta in La Boh�me, Adina in L'elisir d'amore, Anna in Intermezzo, Blanche in Dialogues des CarmŽlites,Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Dorine in Tartuffe, Frasquita in Carmen, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Casilda The Gondoliers, and Maria West Side Story. A Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Southeast Regional Finalist, Dr. Deeter has participated in a number of competitions, placing as a semi-finalist in the Jenny Lind Competition and as a finalist in the Mobile Opera Competition. She was also the director of opera workshop activities at Belvoir Terrace Fine and Performing Arts Camp in Lenox, Massachusetts. In addition to opera, Dr. Deeter is an active recitalist. She recently performed the work David by Stephen Melillo with the Northwest Missouri State Wind Ensemble at the annual conference for the Missouri Music Educators Association. She has sung the world premieres of Range of Light by Steve Hicken and Songs for the Young by Anthony Zilincik, and has also performed selections of Joseph CantaloubeÕs Chants d'Auvergne, accompanied by a ten-piece wind ensemble arranged by Douglas Walters. Dr. Deeter is actively involved in the study of therapeutic massage and its subsequent benefits for vocalists. She was invited to give a guest presentation on massage therapy at the National Association of Teachers of Singing voice pedagogy workshop in January of 1999. Her interests in body awareness and musculo-skeletal structure led her to become a nationally certified massage therapist.

Shinji Eshima (1991)
Lecturer in Music

B.A. Stanford University; M.M. The Juilliard School

Double-bassist Shinji Eshima is Assistant Principal Bass of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and a member of the San Francisco Opera and Skywalker Ranch Orchestras. He has performed as soloist with several ensembles throughout the Bay Area and has distinguished himself as a teacher.

Richard Festinger (1990)
Professor of Music
e-mail: raf@sfsu.edu

B.M. (magna cum laude), San Francisco State University; M.A., Ph.D. (Composition), University of California at Berkeley

Richard Festinger emerged into prominence as a composer in the early 1980s. At that time he was a founding director of the nationally acclaimed Earplay ensemble for contemporary American music in San Francisco. Before turning to composing, he led his own groups as a jazz performer, an experience which has had a profound stylistic influence on his music.

Today his music has been performed on three continents, in the United States, Europe and Asia. His works have been commissioned by Parnassus, Earplay, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, the New Millennium Ensemble, the Redwood Symphony, the Aprodu-Miroglio Duo, the Alexander String Quartet, the Laurel Trio, The University of California, New York University, the Left Coast Ensemble, the City Winds, Alter-Ego, and the Music Teachers National Association.

His music has also been performed by Griffin, Phantom Arts, New Millennium, Speculum Musicae, the Sun String Quartet, Composers Inc., the Seoul Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Berkeley and Riverside Symphonies, the Orchestra da Camera Italiana G.F. Ghedini, the Ensemble Italiano per la Musica Contemporanea, Ensemble Kaleidacollage, sopranos Jane Manning and Karol Bennett, and the Boston Chamber Ensemble.

Richard Festinger's work has been honored with commissions and awards from the Jerome Foundation, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, and the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, the Barlow Foundation, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1978-80 he studied in Paris as recipient of the George Ladd Prize, and in 1993 he received the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1994 he founded the Composition Workshop as part of the California State University's annual Summer Arts Festival.

Mr. Festinger has been a resident composer at the Edward MacDowell Colony (1982, 1983 and 1985), the Camargo Foundation ( 2000), CitŽ Internationale des Arts (2001), Yaddo (2001), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2001), the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (1994 and 1996-1997) and the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, California (1997), and has been a fellow at the IRCAM AkadŽmie dÕŽtŽ in Paris (2001), the Wellesley Composers Conference (1993), and the June in Buffalo Festival (1994). In October-November of 2001 Mr. Festinger will be in residence at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.

Festinger, who studied composition and conducting at the University of California in Berkeley, has taught at the University of California and Dartmouth College, and since 1990 has been a member of the composition faculty at San Francisco State University. His music is published by C.F. Peters Corporation and Fallen Leaf Press, and his works are recorded on the Centaur, CRI and CRS labels.

Click here to visit Richard Festinger's web site.

Karen Gottlieb (1989)
Lecturer in Music

B.A. (With honors), University of Washington; M.M. (Harp, with honors), The Cleveland Institute of Music

Karen Gottlieb performs regularly as second harpist with the San Francisco Symphony and other Bay Area ensembles, including the California Symphony, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Berkeley Symphony. She is also principal harpist with the prestigious Cabrillo Music Festival. In 1990 she toured with the San Francisco Symphony on their European Festival Concert Tour and in 1983 she soloed with the San Francisco Boys Chorus on their concert tour of Australia and New Zealand. Gottlieb has performed with Broadway shows such as A Chorus Line, Hello Dolly, Woman of the Year, Nine, and The Tap Dance Kid, and has accompanied contemporary singers Tony Bennett, Ann-Margaret, Neil Sedaka, Anthony Newley, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme.

Saul Gropman (1986)
Lecturer in Music; Artistic Director, Morrison Artists' Series

B.M., M.M., Manhattan School of Music

Guitarist Saul Gropman is active as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He has performed in Europe, South America, and across the United States. Mr. Gropman has collaborated with both the Alexander and Kronos String Quartets, with tenor Paul Sperry, and has appeared as soloist with the Sacramento Symphony, New York Chamber Orchestra, Inland Empire Symphony, and the Symphony of the Redwoods. Since 1989 Mr. Gropman has been artistic director of the Morrison Artists' Series at San Francisco State University. Saul Gropman received both his B.M. and M.M. degrees as a scholarship student of Manuel Barrueco. He was chosen by Maestro Andres Segovia to perform in his Master Classes in Los Angeles and New York and also participated in the III Concurso Internacional de la Guitarra in Alicante, Spain under José Tomas.

Joshua Habermann (1996)
Assistant Professor of Music
e-mail: joshh@sfsu.edu

B.S.L.A., Georgetown University; M.M., D.M.A. (Conducting), University of Texas, Austin

Conductor Josh Habermann has worked with such ensembles as the Adirondack Chamber Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra, and the World Youth Choir. As a singer, he performs with the New Texas Festival, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, where he is also the assistant conductor. Dr. Habermann has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestra and Chorus of Holy Names College, and the Chamber Singers of the University of Texas at Austin. At San Francisco State University, he conducts the Concert Choir, the University Chorus, and the Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Habermann's teachers include Peter Erdei, Craig Johnson, and Helmuth Rilling.

Peter Josheff
Lecturer in Music

B.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison; M.A. (Composition), University of California, Berkeley

Josheff teaches clarinet at San Francisco State University. He has given master classes in contemporary performances with Earplay to student composers at Stanford University, San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. He has participated in the American Composers Forum Composer in the Schools Program as a performer of high school student composition, and has visited classes to talk about his work as a composer and performer.

He performs, records and tours both with Earplay, a highly acclaimed ensemble based in San Francisco that he co-founded in 1985, and with the Empyrean Ensemble, in residence at the University of California, Davis; and is a member of the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players (UC Berkeley). He has performed with the most music ensembles in the Bay Area, including the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Composers Inc., and the left Coast Ensemble.

He has appeared on many concert series and festivals devotes to new music, among them, Asian Music Week 2000 (Yokohama, Japan), the Centro Nacional des las Artes (Mexico City), the Music on the Edge Series (University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), the Monday Evening Music Series (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), the Other Minds (San Francisco), the Pacific Rim Festival (UC Santa Cruz), the Mills College Concert Series, the Tempo Festival (UC Berkley), and the Sacramento Festival of New Music.

Recently Josheff performed in a production of Erling WoldÕs chamber opera ÒA little Girl Dreams of Taking the VeilÓ at the ODC Theater, and with the Lawrence Pech Dance Company at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco); and he recorded music of Richard Felciano with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and music of Mario Davidovsky with the Empyrean Ensemble.

As a composer, Josheff writes music ranging from works for solo instruments, piano, and voices (including spoken voice) to works for large ensembles and orchestra. His music has been performed nationally at the Manhattan School of Music, the University of Vermont, the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Pittsburgh. In California his works have been performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Oakland Civic Orchestra, Earplay, the Empyrean Ensemble, City Winds, Schwungvoll, and on many concert series. He has been the recipient of grant form Meet the Composers and has been in residence at the MacDowell Colony.

Some of his recent works include: Memento (2001) for spoken voice, baritone voice, bass clarinet, guitar and marimba; written for singer/composer Allen Shearer. Prosperous Soul, Gregarious Heart (2000) for ten instruments; commissioned by the Empyrean Ensemble. Four Poems by Mary Holmes (2000) for soprano voice and bass clarinet; written for Eliza OÕMalley. Lonely Elephant Variations (1997) for orchestra: commissioned by the Berkeley Youth Orchestra. Remembering (1996-97) for soprano voices, clarinet/bass clarinet and piano; commissioned by Schwungvoll.

McDowell Kenley (1987)
Lecturer in Music

B.F.A., University of New Mexico; M.S. (Trombone), The Juilliard School; M.A. (Musicology), New York University; D.M.A., Stanford University

McDowell Kenley is principal trombonist of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, a position he has held for 17 years. He studied with Glenn Dodson, Edward Kleinhammer, Arnold Jacobs, Alan Ostrander, and Robert Harper. Mr. Kenley's prior professional experience has been as both principal and bass trombonist with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and includes years as a freelance musician in New York (including jazz ensembles and Broadway shows), as well as regular positions in symphonic and operatic orchestras in Germany and the Netherlands. Mr. Kenley played with "Doc" Severinsen's Now Generation Brass for approximately 5 years, and was a member of the NBC Tonight Show Orchestra. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.

Josh Levine
Lecturer in Music Composition/Theory
E-mail: jlevine@sfsu.edu

Josh Levine was born in Corvallis, Oregon (USA) in 1959. He trained as a classical guitarist at the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel, Switzerland, before going on to study composition there with Balz TrŸmpy. He subsequently studied for a year at the Conservatoire national supŽrieur de musique in Paris with Guy Reibel. During 1994-95, he participated in Ircam's Cursus de composition et d'informatique musicale. Most recently he worked with Brian Ferneyhough at the University of California, San Diego, where he received his M.A. in musical composition in 1994 and is now completing his Ph.D. He is currently a Lecturer in Composition, Theory, and Electronic Music at San Francisco State University. His tape composition, Tel, received First Prize at the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition in 1987. Among his other works are: Glimpses for flute, viola, and guitar (1986, rev. 1988); "Éin gleicher Weise umher" for soprano, violinist, guitarist, and ensemble (1988-89, Pro Helvetia commission); Zwischenwelt for percussionist, small ensemble and electronics (1991, Ensemble Contrechamps commission); Downstream for guitar and computer-processed guitar sounds (1992, GMEB commission for Magnus Andersson; Jury selection, ISCM World Music Days, Stockholm 1994); Points of no return (Inflorescence I) for flute and percussion (1992-93; Stipend Prize, Darmstadt 1994); Reprise for bass clarinet (1996), and Belle du dŽsert for voice, percussion, and electronics (1995-1999); as well as two works commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain: A part of many journeys for horn, two trombones, cello, and contrabass (1993-94), and Land for 22 instruments (1996-97). His current projects include a string quartet and music for AustraliaÕs ELISION ensemble.

Professional Studies: Indiana University, Tanglewood Music Center; Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Allegheny College

Mr. Lifsitz studied violin in his native Boston with Marylou Churchill and at Indiana University with Paul Biss. As a member of the Alexander String Quartet he has performed throughout Europe and North America, appearing regularly at halls such as Amsterdam's Concertgebauw and New York City's Lincoln Center. He has been an Artist in Residence at The Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies in Wye, Maryland and has held similar positions at St. Lawrence University, Baruch College, and North Carolina School of the Arts. Prior to joining the Alexander Quartet Mr. Lifsitz performed over several seasons with the Boston Symphony and taught Chamber Music and Violin at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Mr. Lifsitz continues to perform as soloist and in recital. In 1995, along with his Quartet colleagues, Mr. Lifsitz received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Allegheny College for his service to the arts and education.

Carolynn A. Lindeman (1973)
Professor of Music

B.M. (Music Education), Oberlin College Conservatory of Music; M.A. (Music), San Francisco State University; D.M.A. (Music Education), Stanford University

Carolynn Lindeman is a past President of MENC - The National Association for Music Education and past president of CMEA - The California Association for Music Education. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Music Education (ISME) and the President's Committee on the Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center. Active as a speaker, she has addressed educators in almost every state and in Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia, Mexico, South Africa, and Israel. In April 2001 Dr. Lindeman led the first delegation of music educators on a People to People Ambassador Program to Cuba. The recipient of two San Francisco State University Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Awards, Dr. Lindeman was given the California Arts Council 2001 Outstanding Arts Educator Award, the CMEA: The California Assocation for Music Education Award for Extraordinary Service to Music Education in March 2000 and the California Band Directors Association Friends of Music Education Award in February 1999. She is the author of PianoLab: An Introduction to Class Piano, Fourth edition (Wadsworth, 2000), coauthor with San Francisco State University Professor Emerita Patricia Hackett of Music Lab: Introduction to the Fundamentals of Music (Wadsworth 1988) and The Musical Classroom: Models, Skills and Backgrounds for Elementary Teaching, Fifth edition (Prentice-Hall,2001), compiler of Women Composers of Ragtime (Theodore Presser, 1985), and the author of over fifty articles. She is the series editor for twenty-three publications related to implementing and assessing the National Standards in Music (MENC, 1995-2002).

B.M.E., Ohio University; M.A., (Flute Performance) University of Iowa; Diplome Superieur de Concertiste de Flute, Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris, France

Ms. Lukas is currently Second Flute with the San Francisco Symphony and has performed extensively throughout the world as a soloist and ensemble musician. Before coming to San Francisco, Ms. Lukas was a member of the faculty at San Diego State University.

Gregory Magie (2001)
Assistant Professor of Music
Email: magie@sfsu.edu

B.M. (Horn), Eastman School of Music; M.M., University of Redlands; D.M.A. (Conducting), University of California, Los Angeles

Conductor Gregory Magie made his professional debut leading the Redlands Symphony in 1995. Based on that success, Dr. Magie was invited to conduct at the Arrowbear Music Camp. Since that time, he has gone on to be the Chorus Master/Associate Conductor of the Pasadena Lyric Opera, where he was the music director for their productions of Carmen and the Tales of Hoffmann. He has held conducting positions at Pomona College, Graceland University, and Oxnard College. At San Francisco State University, he conducts the SFSU Symphony and Symphony Winds, and teaches conducting, horn, and music theory. Dr. MagieÕs teachers include , Gunther Schuller, Verne Reynolds, and James Keays.

B.A. (With honors), M.A. (Piano Performance), San Francisco State University; Doctoral Studies, Stanford University

Ms. Morgenstern teaches basic piano and music theory. She frequently plays in duo-piano and vocal recitals in the Bay Area and has lectured on various topics from piano accompaniment to class piano. Ms. Morgenstern is the former Musical Director of the Orpheus Opera Company of Palo Alto and has assisted with many opera workshops and productions. She also teaches piano and coaches diction and interpretation in her private studio.

David Motto (1996)
Lecturer in Music
E-mail: strdmm@slip.net

B.A. (high honors) University of California at Berkeley Interdisciplinary Degree: Music, History, Philosophy

Electric bassist David Motto is active in the Bay Area music scene as a performer, songwriter, arranger, and educator. David has recorded with more than thirty groups and has songwriting credits on the CDÕs Here and There by folk-rocker Jessie Turner, Moon Over Tuesday by jazz vocalist/trumpeter Big Skin, and Rebirth by British modern rock band Handsome Poets. He once spent a year as house bassist for the hit theatre show Beach Blanket Babylon and has worked with such diverse artists as jazz guitarist Jack Gates, Chicago bluesman Jim Kasey, R & B vocalists Richard Waits and Ledisi, reggae singer Don Jeron, rock band Trial by Fire, Brazilian singers Liza Silva and Celia Malheiros, Klezmer band Klezmania, Celtic rockers Phoenyx, and the California Symphony. David is the author of the MusicianÕs Practice Planner, a specialized lesson planner and practice log used by music teachers and students throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Japan, and Australia. He is currently writing a method book and series of sightreading books for electric bass, and he is a contributing writer for Bass Player magazine. His pedagogical method includes jazz and popular repertoire, etudes from his classical double bass training, and hands-on learning of jazz theory as it applies to the electric bass fretboard. David has had a private teaching studio since 1985 and has been a member of the music faculty at San Francisco State University since 1996. He is a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators, the Music Education National Conference, the Music Teachers National Association, and a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In addition, he is the owner of Molto Music Publishing Company. For more information on his book, please visit www.moltomusicbooks.com.

B.M., Illinois Wesleyan; M.M., D.M.A., University of Kansas

Pianist Victoria Neve teaches piano and music theory. She has distinguished herself as a piano soloist, chamber musician, duo pianist, and accompanist in concerts throughout Northern California and in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Tennessee. Her appearances include presentations for the College Music Society, the National Conference on Women in Music, the Memphis State Music Festival and the State Convention of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers. Dr. Neve has been heard on radio as a piano soloist on the National Public Radio series "Early Series," as well as on stations KQED in San Francisco, KPFA in Berkeley, the University of California, Santa Cruz radio station, and KMVR in Northern California. Her repertoire ranges from the music of the early Classic composers, performed on a period instrument, through the 20th century.

Dr. Neve's doctoral dissertation, excerpts of which have been published in Piano Quarterly, is entitled Virtuoso Aspects of Mozart's Independent Piano Variations, a study of the development of piano virtuosity in improvisatory forms in the late 18th century. She has also written for Clavier magazine and reviews CD recordings for the Sonneck Society Bulletin.

Dr. Neve is Founder and Director of the San Francisco Young Pianists' Competition, held annually since 1983. She has adjudicated numerous other competitions, including the San Francisco Youth Symphony Young Artists' Competition, the Young Keyboard Artists' Association Auditions, and various events sponsored by California schools, colleges, and music teachers' associations. She has given Master Classes at schools, colleges, and pianists' associations in New Jersey, Illinois, and California.

B.A., M.A., Ph.D., University of Minnesota; advanced study, Royal Academy of Music (England)

Composer and pianist Wayne Peterson is the 1992 winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. His works have been performed by the San Francisco, Oakland, and Minnesota orchestras, the Group for Contemporary Music, Speculum Musicum, the Washington Square Players, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Mr. Peterson has recently completed compositions for the American Composers Orchestra in New York City and the San Francisco Symphony, as well as a piece for the Alexander String Quartet, commissioned by the Gerbode Foundation and a work for the Earplay Ensemble of San Francisco, commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation. Other recent honors include a Composer's Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1986) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1989-90). His music is published by C. F. Peters, Boosey and Hawkes, Lawson-Gould and Seesaw Music.

Click here for information on the Wayne Peterson Prize in Music Composition.

Alina Wattenberg Plourde (2000)

Lecturer of Music, Oboe, music history, and music education

B.M., Eastman School of Music; M.M., D.M.A., University of Illinois

Alina Plourde, lecturer in oboe, music history, and music education, joined the San Francisco State University music department in the fall of 2000. She received her B.M. at the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Richard Killmer. In 1994, she moved to Illinois, where she played in Sinfonia da Camera and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, and received her master's and doctoral degrees while studying with Nancy King. Since moving to the Bay area in 2000, she has been busy freelancing as an orchestral musician, starting a chamber music group, teaching, and performing as a musician-in-residence in the San Francisco schools. She recently designed an innovative course, titled "Musician-in-Residence," which takes San Francisco State students into a local elementary school to develop their skills in outreach work, performance, teaching, and finding interdisciplinary connections with music.

B.A., Washington State College; M.A., Washington State University; advanced study, University of California at Berkeley

Professor L. LeRoy Roach came to San Francisco State University after several years of successful experience as a teacher and conductor of instrumental music in California schools. He has received commendations from the Music Educators National Conference, the California Music Educators Association, the California Band Directors Association and was recently cited in a feature article "Musician Profile" in The Performing Arts, Bay Area Arts Journal.

The Symphonic Bands at San Francisco State University, under his direction, were recognized as exemplary ensembles throughout the state and have presented numerous clinics and concerts. As a guest conductor Roach has conducted numerous state, county and area honor bands and orchestras, including the 1986 CBDA All-State High School Honor Band, the 1988 Northern California Band Directors Association Honor Band, and the 1988 Western States Collegiate Wind Band Festival at California State University at Fresno. Mr. Roach has served as president of both the California Music Educators Association and the California Band Directors Association.

B.F.A., California Institute of the Arts; advanced study (Percussion), The Cleveland Institute of Music

Mr. Rosenthal has been the principal percussionist of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra since 1982. He has also played with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera, the Chamber Symphony of San Francisco, The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Cabrillo and Ojai Festival Orchestras, as well as many other performing organizations. He has recorded for CRI, Columbia, and Reference records.

Lisa Sanchez (1996)

Lecturer in Music
e-mail: lsanchez@sfsu.edu

B.A. (Music) San Francisco State University

Lisa Sanchez has extensive experience as a jazz and pop freelance musician, performing in Bay Area clubs,concert series, hotels, restaurants, and with musical theater bands since 1979. A versatile guitarist and vocalist, she has worked in many musical settings as both a leader and a sideperson. Her recording credits include album projects,commercials,and her own cassette album,"Vocalist/Guitarist". She is also the author of an instruction book, "Bebop Heads for Guitar". An experienced teacher, she has taught at Guitar Solo, Community Music Center of San Francisco, and California Coast Music Camps. In addition to teaching guitar classes at San Francisco State University, she is currently on the teaching staff of Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto,Ca.

B.A. (Music Instruction), Universidad de Guadalajara; M.M. (Composition), Peabody Conservatory; M.M. (Composition), Yale University; Ph.D. (Composition), Princeton University.

Click here to visit Prof. Sanchez-Gutierrez's home page.

Professional Studies: Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara; The San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Mr. Spellman has been principal tubist for the San Francisco Opera since 1977. He is also principal tubist for the Marin Symphony and the Golden Gate Brass, and is a founding member of the San Francisco Tuba Quartet. Mr. Spellman has performed at the Tanglewood and Grand Teton Music Festivals and has been a concerto soloist for the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival and the Portland Youth Philharmonic. He is also a clinician for the California Band Directors Association. Mr. Spellman has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Oregon, Oakland and Houston Symphonies.

B.S. (Music Education), Florida A&M University; M.M. (Music Composition), Washington University; Ph.D. (Education), University of San Francisco

Dianthe "Dee" Spencer co-directs the Jazz and World Music Studies program at San Francisco State University. She has served as assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, Dartmouth College, Berklee College of Music, and Simmons College. A jazz pianist, singer, and composer/arranger, she performs in a wide variety of educational and cultural settings and lectures widely on the history of the jazz combo. At Berklee, Dee played with Branford Marsalis, Wallace Rooney, Greg Osby, Terri Lynn Carrington, Jeff Watts, and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Her areas of expertise include jazz performance and improvisation, piano performance, and electronic music synthesis.

The recipient of many honors, awards, and grants, she was recognized for "Outstanding Contributions to Jazz Education" by the International Association of Jazz Educators in 1986, 1989, 1990, and 1994. Recent activities include the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy in the Schools Committee, where she served as director of the 1994 San Francisco Bay Area All-Star Grammy High School Jazz Band. She has performed with former Tower of Power vocalist Lenny Williams, jazz legend John Handy, and was featured with the Bobby Murray Blues Band. Recent activities include a Bay Area Women's Philharmonic collaboration project with the Oberlin Dance Collective, Bobby McFerrin, and Voicestra. She is a member of the San Francisco Urban Institute, and has served as president of both the Northern California Chapters of the International Association of Jazz Educators and the Society of Ethnomusicologists. She also serves on the board of directors of the Community Music Center. Dee is actively involved with middle school and high school jazz band directors. Her current research deals with promoting jazz education as a violence-prevention tool for at-risk youth.

B.A. (Music Theory and Literature, magna cum laude), Seattle Pacific University; M.A. (Music History); Ph.D. (Historical Musicology), University of Southern California

In addition to teaching music history that emphasizes contemporary and experimental music, Dr. Suzuki is also active in the music community, locally, nationally and internationally. He is working on a book detailing the evolution of American Minimal music and its relation to contemporaneous movements in the arts. He produces and hosts "Discreet Music," a weekly radio program featuring new, ambient, world, experimental, and unusual music on KPFA-FM in Berkeley. As a music critic and journalist, he regularly contributes to several publications, including Wired, Pulse, Musicworks, Audion, and Goldmine, among others. Dr. Suzuki serves on the Board of Directors for the Paul Dresher Ensemble/Musical Traditions. He also researches, writes about, and lectures on inter-media arts genres including Text-Sound Composition (Sound Poetry) and Sound Sculpture. He co-edited Boabab, the cassette journal of Sound Poetry, and in 1999 delivered a paper titled "Minimalism in American Text-Sound Composition" at the First International Congress of Polypoetry and Seventh Barcelona Polypoetry Festival in Spain.

Wayne Vitale
Director, Gamelan Sekar Jaya
email: wayne@gsj.org

Wayne Vitale has devoted his life to Balinese gamelan music. Though he started his musical career in the world of Western classical music, the discovery of Balinese music in 1979 changed its course. He never looked back. Altogether he has spent more than six years in Bali, supported in part by a Fellowship for Independent Scholars from the NEH. His compositions for Balinese gamelan are known throughout Bali through live performances, cassette recordings, and television programs, and have impacted the evolution of modern Balinese kebyar music. He owns a recording company, Vital Records, that has released critically acclaimed CDs of Balinese music. In addition more than twenty-two years of performing in, and composing for, the internationally renowned Bay Area ensemble Gamelan Sekar Jaya (the last twelve as general manager and director), he teaches Balinese gamelan music at San Francisco State University. He has also devoted himself to the metallic art of gamelan tuning, frequently travelling throughout the United States to tune and restore Balinese instruments.

Wayne Wallace (1996)
Lecturer in Music

As a musician, composer, and producer, Wayne Wallace has worked with numerous artists, including Angela Bofill, Pete Escovedo, Chris Isaak, and Santana. With an extensive background in Afro-Cuban jazz, Wallace received a 1993 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to compose an original work reflecting San Francisco's diverse musical cultures.

D.R.S.A.M. (Teaching and Performance) Glasgow; A.R.C.M. (Teaching), London; Royal Danish Conservatory of Music (Soloist Class Debut); M.M. (Performance), Yale University; Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Allegheny College

A native of Northumberland, England, Sandy Wilson completed his graduate studies at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen as a recipient of two Danish Government Scholarships and the Sophus Berendsen Award. While performing as a member of the Royal Chapel Orchestra, he studied composition with Niels Vigo Bentzon and cello with Ehrling Blondahl-Bengtsson. Mr. Wilson was principal cellist at the age of 21 in the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft Orchestra in Lucerne, Switzerland, at which time he also performed extensively in duo recital with Swiss pianist, Hedy Salquin. In 1979 Mr. Wilson moved to the United States, completing a degree at Yale University as a student of Aldo Parisot, Otto Werner Mueller and the Tokyo Quartet. He co-founded the Alexander String Quartet in 1981 and has since lived in this country, devoting most of his energies to the development of the Quartet. Mr. Wilson has written and frequently participates on panel debates on the subject of chamber music residency development and presentation.

With his quartet colleagues, Mr. Wilson directs the Morrison Center for the Advanced Study of Chamber Music. In 1995, Mr. Wilson, along with his Quartet colleagues, received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Allegheny College for his service to the arts and education. He serves on the board of Chamber Music America.

B.A. (Music), San Francisco State University

Guitarist Jim Witzel has distinguished himself as a freelance jazz artist. For 20 years he has led and performed with jazz groups in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, working with John Handy, Mark Isham, Art Lande, Mel Martin, Glen Cronkhite, Mike Clark, and Dave LeFebvre, among others. He has hosted and performed on his own weekly television series, "Jazz After Midnight," and has been featured with his own group at both the San Jose and Stanford Jazz Festivals.

Mr. Witzel has twice toured Europe as a performer and teacher. His recordings include Up Until Now and, most recently, Give and Take, released by the Joplin & Sweeney Music Company.

B.A. Wuhan Conservatory, China; Artist's Diploma, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati; Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Allegheny College

Ge-Fang Yang, violinist, was born in Wuhan, China. He came to the United States as a Starling Scholarship student of Dorothy Delay and Kurt Sassmannshaus in 1988. Mr. Yang has served as a faculty member at the University of Kentucky, at the Aspen Music School, and most recently at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. He continues to be active as a soloist and has performed and studied chamber music with the LaSalle and Tokyo String Quartets. In 1995, Mr. Yang and his Quartet colleagues received Honorary Doctorates of Fine Arts from Allegheny College for their service to the arts and education.

B.A. Davidson College; Professional Studies: Pennsylvania State University; Artists Diploma, Hartt School of Music ; Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Allegheny College

Paul Yarbrough, violist, is a native of Clearwater, Florida. Mr. Yarbrough's teachers have included Elaine Lee Richey, Lillian Fuchs, Raymond Page, and Sally Peck. A frequent soloist with orchestras, he has also given numerous solo recitals throughout the United States and was principal violist of the Chamber Orchestra of New England. In 1995, along with his Quartet colleagues, Mr. Yarbrough received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Allegheny College for his service to the arts and education.

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