Therese Marie Bulat, in addition to serving as Adjunct Professor of Music at USD, maintains a private studio and serves as the Director of Music at San Rafael Catholic Church (San Diego).

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Violinist, Alyze Dreiling was born in Detroit, Michigan. She began her studies with Mischa Mischakoff .The Detroit Symphony and the Music Study Club of Metropolitan Detroit sponsored her education with Mischakoff. Ms. Dreiling graduated from Indiana University where she studied with Josef Gingold. She has attended Kneisel Hall, Blossom Music Festival and Academy of the West for chamber music and worked with Walter Trampler, Karen Tuttle, Janos Starker and Menahem Pressler. She has appeared as soloist with the Detroit Symphony, Philharmonica Hungarica at the Vienna Summer Festival, Florida Chamber Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony and Knoxville Chamber Orchestra and served as concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony and Knoxville Chamber Orchestra before coming to San Diego. In the San Diego area, she has appeared as soloist with the International Orchestra, Grossmont Symphony Orchestra and the San Diego State Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Dreiling was founding Artistic Director and Conductor of Classics for Kids. Alyze was the Violinist/Conductor of the International Chamber Players at USIU. Adept with all musical styles, she has played concertmaster for Donna Summers, Smoky Robinson, Dionne Warwick and Tom Scott, to name a few. She has also served as concertmaster for shows at the Old Globe, Civic Auditorium, LaJolla Playhouse, Lawrence Welk Theater and Starlight Musical Theater and has also played with San Diego Symphony, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Hutchins Consort, Opera Pacific, and Orquestra de Baja California. Ms. Dreiling is also the Artisic Director/Conductor of the YPO, String Orchestra and Soloists Ensemble.

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Eric Foster, a California native, gave his debut solo recital thirty years ago in La Paz, Bolivia. He has since lived as a teacher, composer and “gigging” musician in both North and South America.  Eric’s childhood experiences include living in Taiwan, Liberia, Brazil, and Bolivia heavily influencing his varied interests in composition and musical performance.

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Benjamin Sabey PhD, is a composer and music teacher. His music has been performed by many of the leading ensembles in new music, including the Arditti String Quartet, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the New York New Music Ensemble and the Antares Ensemble. Recent awards include the Royaumont Prize of Domaine Forget: an expenses paid residency at the Royaumont Abbey north of Paris and a 2009 Barlow Endowment Commission.

Benjamin Sabey holds a PhD from the University of California, San Diego where he studied primarily with Roger Reynolds. He has also studied composition with Chaya Czernowin, Philippe Manoury and Michael Hicks as well as computer music with Miller Puckette and psycho-acoustics with Richard Moore. Active as a conductor, keyboardist, vocalist and improviser, he has appeared in concert with such performers as Charles Curtis, Mark Dresser and John Fonville and with the San Diego Symphony.

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Principal Harpist of the San Diego Symphony, Julie Ann Smith has established herself as one of the most prominent young harpists today, performing as both an orchestral musician and concert artist. Gaining international recognition for her charismatic performing style and diverse repertoire, Ms. Smith was the Silver medalist winner in the 2004 USA International Harp Competition and Bronze medalist in 2001. She made her National Symphony Orchestra debut in 2003 and has been honored in numerous competitions throughout the country. Her many honors include grand prizes in the Corpus Christi International Young Artist Competition and the Midland/Odessa National Young Artist Competition, both open to all instrumentalists.

Captivating audiences worldwide with her dramatic presence and engaging style, Ms. Smith is active as a recitalist and soloist with orchestra. Her appearances include multiple performances with the San Diego Symphony, one of which includes premiering a double concerto written for her and the SDSO, the New World Symphony Orchestra, the West Los Angeles Symphony, the South Dakota Symphony, the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, to name a few. She has been the opening recitalist for the 2006 American Harp Society National Conference, the 2007 USA International Harp Competition and Guest Artist for the 2010 Young Artist Harp Seminar in Rabun Gap, GA. She also continues to perform as a soloist on concert series across the country each season.

Ms. Smith is equally experienced as a chamber and orchestral musician collaborating with renowned musicians across the country. A founding member of the San Diego-based Myriad Trio, she regularly appears in chamber concerts and has performed abroad in Italy, Japan and Taiwan. Her festival credentials include the Bay Chamber, Mainly Mozart, and Tanglewood Music Festivals, the National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto USA Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. During the 2006-07 season she was the Acting Principal Harpist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and prior to that held the position of Principal Harp for the New World Symphony Orchestra. She was the winner of the 2011 Lyric Opera Principal Harp audition and continues to serve as a substitute & section harpist with the St. Louis & Milwaukee Symphonies.

An active teacher and advocate of educating opportunities, Ms. Smith maintains a private harp studio and works with students of all ages on both lever and pedals harps. She is a certified instructor in the Suzuki method and supplements her performance schedule with master-classes across the country. Former faculty member at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Ms. Smith is also a Board Member of the San Diego Chapter of the American Harp Society as well as the Young Artist Harp Seminar in Rabun Gap, GA. Beginning in the fall of 2012, she will be joining the music program at the University of San Diego as their Adjunct Harp Professor.

Ms. Smith has released her first album, The Rhapsodic Harp, which is available from her website, www.harpjas.com. In the spring of 2012 the Myriad Trio (www.themyriadtrio.com) will release their debut recording entitled The Eye of Night. Attending the Cleveland Institute of Music, she received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in harp performance where she studied with Yolanda Kondonassis. Her other primary teachers have included Alice Chalifoux and Patrice Lockhart. A native of Hastings, NE, Ms. Smith began studying the harp at age eleven.

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Eric Starr leads a diverse career as a performer and educator based in San Diego, CA. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Stony Brook University, a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California with additional studies at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival.  Eric’s major teacher were Steve Witser, Rick Stout, Michael Powell and Terry Cravens.  Dr. Starr is currently on the faculty of San Diego State University and the University of San Diego and is the principal trombonist of City Music Cleveland.  As an orchestral musician, Eric frequently performs with the San Diego Symphony, La Jolla Symphony, and Orchestra Nova San Diego and has performed with the Canton (OH) Symphony, Youngstown Symphony and the Orquesta Sinfonica UANL in Monterrey, Mexico.

 

Eric’s chamber music and solo engagements have included appearances at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, Southwest Minnesota State University, the Ventura Chamber Music Festival, Mesa College (San Diego), the Cornelia St Café in New York City, the Peabody Institute and in San Diego with the Westwind Brass and with the San Diego Symphony Brass Quintet.  A strong advocate for contemporary music, Eric has performed with groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Palimpsest, TACTUS, and as a soloist with the CIM New Music Ensemble and the Stony Brook Premiers! concert series. Performances such as these have resulted in collaborations with composers John Adams, Christopher Adler, David Lang, Caleb Burhans, Margaret Brouwer, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Chou Wen-Chung, and many others who are graciously willing to compose for the trombone.

 

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Dr. Ella Steinberg (PhD University of Pacific) has been an established music educator and freelance trumpet player in California for over 25 years. She began her career teaching elementary and middle school band in San Bruno and then taught band and electronic music at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View for eight years. Before moving to San Diego, she taught instrumental courses and supervised student teachers at California State University, Stanislaus. In 2000, Dr. Steinberg moved to San Diego to begin her work as Director of Visual and Performing Arts for San Diego Unified School District. While observing numerous classrooms over her five years with the district, Dr. Steinberg decided to return to her primary interest, that of conducting and teaching. She currently serves as Band Director at Meadowbrook Middle School in Poway, Winds Conductor for the San Diego Youth Symphony & Conservatory, and is the Jazz Director at the University of San Diego. Dr. Steinberg holds a BM in Music Education and a MA in Secondary Education from San Francisco State University and a Doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction with a Music Education emphasis from the University of the Pacific, where she taught conducting and was Assistant Conductor of the conservatory's bands. Her conducting teachers have included John Paynter, Frederick Fennell, and Edwin C. Kruth. Dr. Steinberg is also an active trumpet player, performing with numerous ensembles throughout San Diego, including membership in the Brad Steinwehe Jazz Orchestra and the Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine. Dr. Steinberg has been an adjudicator at the Fullerton College Jazz Festival, the KSDS Jazz Festival, Hayward Jazz Festival and is a founding faculty member for The Anthology Summer Jazz Workshop and the New Youth Orchestra Jazz Program.

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Stefani Walens has been active for many years as a collaborative artist and currently accompanies and coaches voice students at USD, and teaches piano and accompanies clarinet students at UCSD. She has collaborated with vocal and instrumental students and colleagues at both universities in numerous recital programs, accompanied master classes given by Dawn Upshaw, Paul Sperry, and Jane Manning, and coached, accompanied and performed in numerous operatic productions presented by the Department of Music at UCSD.

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