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.

Gail Gerding Mellert began her violin studies at the age of five with the late Elizabeth Holborn and graduated Magna cum laude with a degree in violin performance from USC’s Thornton School of Music, studying under the late Eudice Shapiro. At an early age, she developed her love for and commitment to teaching. Gail has taught string classes at Los Angeles Harbor College, Marymount College. and through the city of Torrance CA. She has also taught at the Southern California Suzuki Institute, and the Southern California Chamber Music Institute. 

For nearly 45 years, she has continued to maintain a high reputation with her private studio of aspiring violinists. She has had over 30 students perform as soloists with symphony orchestras, such as the Beach Cities Symphony, Torrance Symphony, Bellflower Symphony, Santa Monica Symphony, Brentwood Symphony, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The Disney Young Musicians Symphony, the Redland’s Bowl, and the Asia America Symphony, to name a few. Her students have won prizes in various competitions both locally as well as nationally. Many have gone onto prestigious conservatories and universities and are pursuing careers in music.

Gail has been featured in "Peninsula People Magazine," twice and once on the cover and has been recognized for Superior Teaching and Contributions to music in LA from the Crossroads School of Music. In 2012, she received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for her service to the community and in 2013, Gail was the recipient of the Studio Teacher of the Year Award by the American String Teachers Association. Gail is a member of the Peninsula Committee for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and has been on the board of Mu Phi Epsilon, American String Teacher's Association, and Music Teachers Association, serving as president for 3 years and currently holds the office of Vice-President. Gail served as string chair for the South Bay Certificate of Merit program for over 25 years.  She has also been a frequent adjudicator for the Southwestern Youth Music Festival, Southern California Junior Bach Festival, ASTA-CAP, VOCE, Suzuki Graduation, and Certificate of Merit programs.

In addition to teaching, Ms. Mellert freelances throughout Los Angeles in chamber groups and orchestras, and has performed with the Prima Divas and the Musique Sur La Mer Orchestra, with which she traveled to England twice to perform for the Queen’s Jubilee and events for the Royal Wedding of William and Kate.

Her philanthropic involvements have taken Gail to Oaxaca, Mexico for nine consecutive years with the Plant With Purpose organization. She brings her violin and ministers through music to remote villages, who have never been exposed to violin. Additionally, Gail frequently plays for hospitalized patients as well as hospice communities.

Gail is the mom of three adult children and grandma to two precious humans. 

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). 

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.

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.