LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES

Section

Los Angeles Welcome Letter


Welcome to the Los Angeles Section of the California Chapter of ASTA. Our section represents string players and teachers in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura. After serving for many years on the LA Board, I am looking forward to serving for the next two years as President. 


ASTA can serve so many different roles for string players throughout their lives. When I first joined ASTA, for me, it was about community. Later it became more about what I could learn as a member of ASTA through conferences and the journal articles. ASTA also offers a certificate program to help students track and document their progress for college which I have used for my students. Our section competition attracts over 100 students every year. We have sponsored various organizations that help low income students learn a string instrument. ASTA also offers the opportunity for service. I have met so many wonderful people while volunteering on the board and helping to present the activities we offers. But if time is limited for you, your membership still means a lot to the organization. For many years I was an ASTA member but did much more performing than teaching. This is not a contradiction. Yes ASTA is an organization that supports string teachers and string students but it is not necessary to be either to become an ASTA member. Membership is one of the ways that ASTA raises money for the projects we offer. Our State and our LA Area Section gets a portion of each person’s membership dues. The more members we have, the more programs we can offer, it’s that simple. Please reach out to your colleagues and encourage them to support our programs through membership. Remind your colleagues that we are a worthwhile local organization for them to consider joining when making their donations for the year.


Please feel free to reach out to me with questions, concerns, or ideas.


Wendy Velasco

President CalASTA-LA 




Solo Competitions


Due to the number of applicants, bowed Strings will have a video first round via Accept’d.  Click HERE


The following videos have great tips on making a great audition video

However, DO NOT introduce yourself on the video for the ASTA-LA Competition

how to make a good audition video for music school 

https://playmys.org/instructions-for-a-good-video-audition/


Competition Dates & Deadlines:


Our Harp and Guitar Competitions will be in early April. Application forms will be available in January.


Our Bowed Strings Competition will again have an online round through Accept’d with applications opening March 1 for an April 1 deadline.

The Final Live Round will be Saturday, May 25, 2024 at CSUF.

We are forever grateful to the Hennings-Fischer Foundation which donates money to help our finalists with the additional costs of performing in the Final round of our dual round bowed strings competition.


Our chairs are:


Marcia Dickstein, harp chair

Brian Head, guitar chair

Jillian Risigari-Gai Lopez and Trina Hodgson co chairs of the bowed strings



Grants and Webinars:


We plan to continue our grant and webinar programs this year. We have set aside money for these events. In past years we have had a December 1 deadline for applications but last year we opened it up for year round applications. We plan to do the same this year. We will continue to accept applications as long as money remains in the fund. More members could help us increase this program! Questions can be addressed to our general email account stringalongeditor@gmail.com


ASTACAP In Person:


Our in person ASTACAP program continues to expand under the leadership of chair, Kay Pech. Watch your e-news for more information about dates. If you have at least 2 hours of exams and a location, our chairs can help you set up your own studio dates — or, you can send a student to one of the other dates that have been arranged throughout the year. You can find out more information in our newsletter and our monthly email news. For questions contact Kay Pech ASTACAP.LA@gmail.com 


Kay Pech is the chair for CalASTA-LA’s in person ASTACAP exams. For those who are interested in the online exams that are hosted by the National office, information can be found at

https://astastrings.org/site/astacap.


Student Chapters are a great opportunity for students to learn performing and teaching skills through the lens of the national community. CalASTA-LA will sponsor the membership for any professor who starts and maintains a student chapter at their school. For more information about how to start one at your school, check out this wonderful article https://www.violinist.com/blog/Championcello/20228/29329/.



SECTION NEWS

Annual Award Honorees OPEN LINK

Annual Award Nomination Form OPEN LINK

ASTA LA Code of Conduct OPEN LINK

 “ASTACAP in-person 2024 Application”  OPEN LINK

Bowed Strings Competition Winners OPEN LINK

Chamber Music Festival Application OPEN LINK

Grant Guidelines and Application OPEN LINK

Los Angeles ASTA Facebook OPEN LINK

String Along "Member Shares" Guidelines OPEN LINK

Student Chapter "How to" OPEN LINK

Youth Orchestras August 2019 OPEN LINK

2024 Bowed Strings Competition Guidelines OPEN LINK

Follow the Los Angeles Section

Don't miss a beat on section news

LOS ANGELES OFFICERS

Wendy Velasco
President Stringalong Editor
Wendy Velasco
President Stringalong Editor

Wendy Velasco is an active freelance cellist in the Los Angeles area.  She completed her undergraduate education with a Bachelor of Music, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Southern California.  Previous instructors include: Eleonore Schoenfeld, from USC; Bernard Greenhouse, of the famed Beaux Arts Trio; Harvey Shapiro, from the Juilliard school; and Vladimir Orloff, from the University of Toronto.  Ms. Velasco is the Assistant Principal cellist with the New West Symphony which performs in Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and Santa Monica. She has performed for movies and television shows and with such area ensembles as: the Pacific Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale,  Long Beach Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, and the Mozart Camarata.   For many years, she was the personnel manager for the Riverside County Philharmonic. She has performed with such artists as  Pinchas Zuckerman,  Anne Akiko Meyers, Sarah Chang, Philippe Quint, Lara St. John, Anton Kuerti, Angela Cheng, Christoper O’Riley, Arnaldo Cohen, Vassily Primakov, Jens Lindemann, Jon Nakamatsu, Yakov Kasman, Gil Shaham, The 5 Browns, Andre Bocelli, Van Cliburn, Cho-Liang (Jimmy) Lin, Robert Thies, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Jiracek, Corey Cerovsek,  Andrew von Oeyen, and many others.


Wendy Velasco currently teaches at the music studio “Iced Pita Music Lessons”.  Ms. Velasco has performed many educational performances for 3rd graders, introducing them to the string family and classical music.     As well she has served on two “Arts for All” committees which seek to improve access to arts education for public school students.  She is an active member of the American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA). 



Laurie Niles
President-Elect
Laurie Niles
President-Elect

President Elect Laurie Niles is the founder and editor of Violinist.com, which has served the violin and classical music community on the Internet since 1996. A violinist and a former newspaper reporter, Laurie lives in Pasadena, where she also maintains a private violin studio and free-lances in the Los Angeles area. In addition to her Violinist.com blog, she also has written articles for The Strad magazine, Strings magazine, Symphony magazine and the American Suzuki Journal and published two books, Violinist.com Interviews Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Arts degree in Journalism from Indiana University. She has completed SAA training courses in all 10 Suzuki books and was a recipient of the CalASTA Los Angeles Distinguished Service Award in 2017.

Marcia Dickstein
Past President
Marcia Dickstein
Past President

Harpist Marcia Dickstein has been enticing new audiences to the harp in chamber music and solo with orchestra, and inspiring composers to write new works in classical and jazz genres. To date, she has commissioned and/or premiered over 175 compositions by American composers. Her performance credits include: soloist with orchestras in Louisville (KY), Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and chamber orchestras in Geneva (Switzerland), South Bay (Los Angeles), and with Los Angeles Master Chorale, Roger Wagner and William Hall Chorales, and over 1000 outreach concerts.

Marcia has recorded numerous chamber music and solo recordings including the award winning 3 Friends, Chamber Music of Arnold Bax and the latest with The Debussy Trio, Angles of Angeles (Klavier, Koch, Harmonia Mundi, and RCM labels), and played on over 500 film scores, including Toy Story 1,2,3 and 4, La La Land and First Man, Rogue One and Star Wars IX.  She also plays for the Family Guy, American Dad and Empire TV shows. As Founder/Artistic Director of The Debussy Trio, now in its 31st year, she has performed worldwide: in the US, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia and Japan, over NPR radio, on commercial & PBS TV. She also plays with the Long Beach Symphony and San Luis Obispo Symphony.

Active as a composer/editor, her harp solos, transcriptions, and scholarly editions are sold internationally.  Adjunct Professor of Harp at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA, Ms. Dickstein also holds Master Classes throughout the USA and maintains a private studio in Los Angeles. 

Connie Deeter
Secretary
Connie Deeter
Secretary

Connie Deeter is a member of the Pacific Symphony and the Redlands Symphony, and has played with the Pasadena, San Diego, Long Beach and Santa Barbara Symphonies, as well as many other groups in Southern California.  She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with David Walter. Connie is on the faculty of Pomona College, Loyola Marymount University, and Glendale Community College.

Kay Pech
Treasurer ASTACAP Chair
Kay Pech
Treasurer ASTACAP Chair

Kay Pech is a violinist and violist and has served the Greater Los Angeles Area Board as ASTACAP Chair, Chamber Music Festival Chair, Facebook page curator and as Treasurer. The founder/director of the Chamber Music Institute/Southern California, now in its 24th summer, she continues to study, perform and teach the great chamber works. On the CMIsc website, https://chambermusicinstitute.com she provides a history of “Women and the Violin,” which includes biographies and a list of music women have composed for string instruments. She retired in 2005 after teaching violin, viola and chamber music for eight years at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and retired in 2000 after teaching violin, viola and chamber music for 21 years at Saddleback College, as well as 10 years for the ASTA-Summer Institute of Chamber Music. After teaching  private violin and viola pupils in her studio for 65 years, she retired in September 2019.


COMPETITION  CHAIRS

Brian Head
Guitar
Brian Head
Guitar

Brian Head, associate dean, academic affairs, professor of practice, and director of undergraduate music theory, classical guitar and composition at USC Thornton School of Music, was voted Outstanding Thornton School Graduate of 1991.


Head was chosen in 1999 as the USC Gamma Sigma Alpha Professor of the Year. He is sought after as an ensemble guitarist performing in numerous chamber and symphonic groups including XTET, Ten-String Music and the New World Symphony. His compositions are published by Alfred Music and Guitar Solo Publications, and have been recorded on Delos, Denon, Digital Revolution, GSP Recordings and Massax Productions. His music has been performed throughout the U.S. in venues including Merkin Hall in New York, the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, as well as abroad in Tokyo, Madrid, Sao Paulo, and Dubai.


He currently teaches on the faculty of his alma mater, the USC Thornton School of Music.



Marcia Dickstein
Harp
Marcia Dickstein
Harp

Harpist Marcia Dickstein has been enticing new audiences to the harp in chamber music and solo with orchestra, and inspiring composers to write new works in classical and jazz genres. To date, she has commissioned and/or premiered over 175 compositions by American composers. Her performance credits include: soloist with orchestras in Louisville (KY), Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and chamber orchestras in Geneva (Switzerland), South Bay (Los Angeles), and with Los Angeles Master Chorale, Roger Wagner and William Hall Chorales, and over 1000 outreach concerts.

Marcia has recorded numerous chamber music and solo recordings including the award winning 3 Friends, Chamber Music of Arnold Bax and the latest with The Debussy Trio, Angles of Angeles (Klavier, Koch, Harmonia Mundi, and RCM labels), and played on over 500 film scores, including Toy Story 1,2,3 and 4, La La Land and First Man, Rogue One and Star Wars IX.  She also plays for the Family Guy, American Dad and Empire TV shows. As Founder/Artistic Director of The Debussy Trio, now in its 31st year, she has performed worldwide: in the US, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia and Japan, over NPR radio, on commercial & PBS TV. She also plays with the Long Beach Symphony and San Luis Obispo Symphony.

Active as a composer/editor, her harp solos, transcriptions, and scholarly editions are sold internationally.  Adjunct Professor of Harp at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA, Ms. Dickstein also holds Master Classes throughout the USA and maintains a private studio in Los Angeles. 

Jillian Risigari-Gai Lopez
Bowed Strings
Jillian Risigari-Gai Lopez
Bowed Strings

Jillian Risigari-Gai Lopez is a proud Los Angeles native and freelance artist. She started her musical path at the age of 3.  Jillian earned a Masters in Fine Arts in Harp Performance from California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Music in Performance- Harp from California State University- Long Beach. She is currently pursuing a DMA in Performance at UCLA. She is on faculty as professor of harp at University of Redlands. Jillian holds principal positions with Long Beach Ballet Company, Pacific Opera Project, Pasadena Opera, and The Contemporary Performance Collective. She is on faculty as professor of harp at University of Redlands. 


A music community that is centered around the artistic process as a building block or foundation to reinforce the sustainability of classical music’s future in an inclusive and comprehensive way has always been the leading forefront of Jillian’s lifelong ambition. She is currently Principal Harpist & Co-Founder of the Los Angeles Chamber Music Co. (LACMC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide audiences with exceptional and affordable chamber and collaborative arts concerts that inspire and promote our sense of passion, community, and diversity. Through Jillian’s passion and love of intimate chamber works, she is currently curating programs that feature and highlight an eclectic range of repertoire showcased in livestreams,  live music, recordings, music videos, and music education.

Trina Carey Hodgson
Bowed Strings
Trina Carey Hodgson
Bowed Strings

MEMBERS AT LARGE


Nick Alvarez


Louise Brown


Kyle Champion


Gene Chung


Sam Fischer


Fung Ho








                                                   

   Leslie Ho


 Robin Johnson


Patti Kilroy
                                               

  Jacquie Lewis-Wang


Gail Mellert


Janine Riveire




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