A native of Los Angeles, Christopher Ahn has appeared in solo and chamber music performances across the U.S. as well as abroad in Europe, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Canada and Central America. Recent performances include solo recitals at the Brand Library and Art Center, UCLA, California State University, Dominguez Hills, and Santa Monica College. He has also performed chamber music on the Dilijan, L’Ermitage Foundation, Music Guild, Trinity Lutheran, and Chapman University concert series, and has performed numerous times for live radio broadcasts on the Sundays Live recital series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Chris has enjoyed frequent collaboration with the Lineage Dance Company, most recently presenting a performance of the Bach Cello Suites with dance choreography on the Brand Library and Art Center Dance Performance series. He has also worked closely with several Los Angeles based composers, premiering new works for solo cello and chamber ensemble on new music series throughout the Los Angeles area.
Chris has been invited to summer programs at the Aspen Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Banff Centre Masterclasses, Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, and the Rencontres Musicales Camerata Lysy in Montepulciano, Italy. He has collaborated with members of the St. Lawrence, Ysaye, and Amar string quartets, and has performed in masterclasses for such distinguished musicians as Anner Bylsma, Ralph Kirshbaum, Lynn Harrell, Rohan de Saram, Paul Katz, Raphael Wallfisch, Matt Haimovitz, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, and members of the Takacs, Cleveland and Borodin string quartets. Chris pursued his studies at UCLA, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the University of Michigan, where his principal teachers included Antonio Lysy, Richard Aaron, Stephen Geber, and Colin Carr. He resides in Los Angeles, where he maintains an active and varied freelance career playing with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and recording for film and television. He was appointed Principal Cello of Opera Santa Barbara in 2018, and he currently serves as a member of the string faculty at Westmont College.
Polymathic at heart, Cam Audras believes musicians possess the power to serve as advocates for social good. Audras has served as Principal Violist with the Santa Barbara Chamber Players, the California Young Artists Symphony, and Symphony of the Vines. Additionally, he has appeared in the Santa Barbara Symphony, Pink Martini, Los Angeles Dream Orchestra, American Youth Symphony, Santa Barbara String Quartet, Organic String Quartet, 805 String Quartet, Santa Barbara Master Chorale, Symphony of the Vines, San Luis Obispo Symphony, Lompoc Pops Orchestra, and the Debut Chamber Orchestra. Audras has claimed top prizes in the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition, Valley Talent Music Scholarship Competition, and Henry Schwab Violin and Viola Competition. Festival appearances have included the Center Stage Strings Music Festival at the University of Michigan, Credo Chamber Music Festival at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Manchester Music Festival. He has performed in masterclasses for Kim Kashkashian, Rachel Barton Pine, and Dimitri Murrath, and his principal teachers were Jonathan Moerschel, Che-Yen (Brian) Chen, Yura Lee, and Helen Callus.
Audras graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music summa cum laude with degrees in Viola Performance and Environmental Studies. Cam was honored to be selected as the USC Thornton School strings department’s outstanding undergraduate. He holds Master’s degrees in Viola Performance and Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition to his teaching at Westmont College, Audras serves as a chamber music coach with the Santa Barbara Strings and Junior Chamber Music programs, and maintains a private teaching studio in Santa Barbara.
Jim Connolly, string bass instructor, is a composer and performer living in Santa Barbara, California. He writes music for The Gove County Philharmonic, The Gove County String Quartet and Lit Moon Theatre. He has composed for choir, musical saw, five string violin, string quartet and various chamber ensembles. He plays the double bass, saw, banjo, piano and sings. He attended New England Conservatory. Jim has received nine Independent Theater Awards, numerous commissions, grants, ASCAP Plus Awards and in 2001 was listed as one of the twenty-five most intriguing people in Santa Barbara. He has collaborated or performed with Nate Birkey, Gilles Apap, Jeff Kaiser, Brad Dutz, Headless Household, Jeff Bridges, Vinny Golia, Eugene Chadbourne, Cougar Estrada, Anna Abbey and his brother Kevin Connolly.
Marcia Dickstein, renowned harpist, is enticing new audiences to harp in chamber music and harp solo with orchestra, and inspiring composers to write new works in classical and jazz genres. As founder/artistic director of the Debussy Trio, she has performed worldwide in the United States, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan, over NPR radio and on commercial and PBS television.
Adjunct professor of harp at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Marcia holds master classes throughout the United States and maintains a private studio in Los Angeles. Her transcriptions and scholarly editions of solo and chamber music for professional and student harpists are published by Fatrock Ink.
Marcia has been featured as solo and chamber music harpist at festivals, in film and television, and as a recording artist. Her most recent recordings are “Look Ahead” and “Three by Three” (Klavier label), which feature 10 new works especially written for the Debussy Trio (Klavier label) and “Chill Dog” (Pupsnap Music).
Barry Newton, a Los Angeles native, studied at the University of Portland and received his B.F.A./ M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts. He has studied extensively with notable bassists including Tommy Thompson, Fred Tinsley, and Peter Rofe. His orchestral credits include Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, New West Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. Barry has worked with such eminent conductors as Leonard Bernstein, John Mauceri, John Williams, and Boris Brott. He has accompanied Yes, Chicago, Moody Blues, The Scorpions, Elton John, Brian Wilson, The Three Tenors and Andrea Bocelli, among others. Barry’s dedication to contemporary performance practice has included regular premieres of new works in the Southern California area. His jazz experiences have lead him to performances with Peter Erskine, Anthony Braxton, Buddy Childers and the Dave Pell Octet. As a practicing composer and improvisor, Barry often works with various Rock/Pop projects on the west coast. His current group ‘Kiss the Frog’ is an assortment of pop, electronica, and experimental improvisation. Dedicated to music education, he currently serves as an adjunct professor at Westmont College, Pepperdine University, Ventura College, Schwab Academy of Music, and Kadima Conservatory. Barry has been the recipient of scholarship awards by the Ahmanson Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Doris Duke Charitable Trust Foundation. He currently lives with his child Hannah in Topanga, California.
Emily Sommermann, violinist, received her Master of Music Degree in violin performance from SUNY Stony Brook under the tutelage of Isidore Cohen of the Beaux Arts Trio. She has been a member of orchestras in Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and Germany. In Santa Barbara she has performed as section violinist with the SB Symphony and SB Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Sommermann is the musical director and principal violinist with the Santa Barbara String Quartet performing frequently for private events. Pursuing excellence as a teacher, Emily has received training through the Suzuki Association of the Americas and attended conferences in Orff and Kodaly. She has been on the faculty of Laguna Blanca School, SB Music and Arts Conservatory, and Westmont College. Ms. Sommermann maintains her private violin studio at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara mentoring the next generation of musicians in the art of violin playing.
Steve Zander is in frequent demand as a studio musician, orchestral violinist, and chamber music collaborator. Based in Malibu, CA, Steve is a member of the Santa Barbara Symphony, associate concertmaster of Opera Santa Barbara, and performs in many other professional orchestras in the Los Angeles area, including the Pasadena Symphony, New West Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In recent seasons, Steve has also appeared as a concerto soloist with the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, and the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra. While still in music school, Steve was a member of the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, as well as a substitute with the Houston Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Steve has collaborated with principal members of the Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with members of the Pro Arte Quartet. Steve can also be heard on many motion picture and television soundtracks, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Logan,” and “A Quiet Place.” Steve began his violin studies at the age of four at the Aber Suzuki Center in Stevens Point, WI. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin‐ Madison, as well as a Master of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His principal teachers were Patricia D’Ercole, Vartan Manoogian, and Sergiu Luca.