Staff
Instrumental Music Director - Ms. Yeon Choi
Her groups are known on a local and regional level for their attention to detail and the quality of their musical performances, where they consistently earned superior and unanimous ratings at festivals. This past year, Ms. Choi performed with her students at the International Band and Orchestra Festival at Carnegie Hall and received the highest rating of Gold. This year, the Chamber orchestra was chosen as the representing ensemble group at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association Music Educators Conference. Their performance at the Orange County Segerstrom Performing Arts Center earned the highest rating of Mastery!
Ms. Choi has professional affiliations with the California Orchestra Directors Association, American String Teachers Association, and the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA). Her service to SCSBOA includes All-Southern Honor Group String Orchestra Manager, All-Southern Honor Group Full Orchestra Manager, Middle School honor group audition panelist, conference clinician, Vice President of Middle School Education, and Vice President of String Education.
Ms. Choi believes music education allows students to develop a music appreciation and encourages the skills and discipline necessary for achieving musical success throughout a lifetime of experiences. Students learn the importance of a cooperative team effort while working with fellow members to accomplish shared goals.
Instrumental Music Director - Mr. Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach Bob Cole Conservatory of Music earning two degrees in Music and Jazz Performance (Trombone). As an undergraduate at CSULB, Mr. Smith performed with the Concert Jazz Orchestra directed by Jeff Jarvis earning the Downbeat Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Graduate College category in 2013/2014. Mr. Smith has traveled across the country performing with the 21-time World Champion Concord Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps then later teaching the Blue Devils “B” Corps, The Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps from LaCrosse Wisconsin, Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps from Diamond Bar California, The Academy from Tempe, Arizona, and most recently as Brass Caption Head at Impulse Drum and Bugle Corps. He has taught and designed at several prominent band programs in the Southern California region. In addition to marching and performing in 4 Rose Parades as part of the opening and closing ceremonies with the Riverside City College Marching Tigers, Taylor is an active professional musician, performing alongside some of LA’s top recording instrumentalists. He is currently an active member and adjudicator for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA), and is the new Marketing Coordinator for the California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC).
Mr. Smith recently finished his 7th year teaching having taught as Associate Director of Instrumental Music at Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, Ca) in 2016-2021 as well as the Director of the award winning Mater Dei High School Music Academy. In 2018, the Music Academy won the silver medal award and gold in 2019 for Outstanding Beginning Band Recruitment Program in the Music For All Advocacy in Action Awards. The Music Academy was also featured in a publication of the YamahaED Magazine in Fall 2019. Mr. Smith moved into the role of Associate Director of Instrumental Music at El Dorado High School (Placentia, Ca) where he directed the Orchestra and Band program alongside Eric Samson (Director) from 2021-2023.
Currently, Mr. Smith is the Director of Instrumental Music at Tesoro High School teaching AP Music Theory, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, and the Titan Regiment.
Mr. Smith completed his Masters in Teaching and Learning with Emphasis in Social Emotional Learning, and Single Subject Teaching Credential from National University Spring 2021!
He has over 20 years of experience and has worked with many high schools and drum corps more notably 2001 W.G.I. Silver Medalist Fountain Valley HS, 2009 S.C.S.B.O.A. Gold Medalist Savanna HS, 2014 A.D.L.A. Gold Medalist Anaheim HS, Taipei Yuehfu, The Troopers, and Pacific Crest. In 2018 he helped Tesoro HS Percussion win the Silver Medal at A.D.L.A. Finals.
He is currently on faculty as a music teacher at Irvine High School and is a musician at the Disneyland Resort.
He has his BA in Sociology from California State University, Long Beach and a teaching credential from California State University, Fullerton.
Summer began his music career at Buena High School participating in Marching Band, Indoor Drumline, and Wind Ensemble as a section leader and principal player. He graduated from CSU Long Beach with a B.A. in Economics while practicing and performing with the CSULB Concert Band. Summer is currently a performing member of Broken City Percussion and Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps.
Summer also teaches percussion at Grover Cleveland Charter High School and Buena Park Middle School.
Nolan graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S in Genetics & Plant Biology with a minor in Dance & Performance Studies and still performs with a dance company in the Bay Area.
Gabe is currently working on his bachelor’s degree in liberal studies at California Polytechnic University of Pomona. His goal is to inspire students to be the best versions of themselves whether that be in color guard or in the classroom. His end in mind is to work his way from being a teacher and become an administrator at the elementary school level.
A recent resident of anaheim, he previously 2 years performing with the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps as well as 4 years with the SJSU Spartan Marching Band.
While in the bay area he spent 3 years at the Kings Academy Knights Brigade, helping them win visual and a WBA gold medal in their division.
Scholastically he is currently teaching visuals at Tesoro High School, Kennedy High school, Whittier High School, Fallbrook High School. Independently he is on his first year on staff at Gold Indoor as well as his 3rd year on staff at Golden Empire Drum and Bugle Corps.
As a full-time visual instructor, he is always seeking to expose his students to new forms of movement while teaching them tangible life skills.
He has received coaching and masterclasses from Kronos, Telegraph, Aizuri, and Argus Quartet members.
Cole has served as Concertmaster for the Bob Cole Conservatory Symphony and regularly performs with the Mozart Classical Orchestra and American Youth Symphony.
In addition to performing, Cole enjoys teaching a wide age range of students and coaching string ensembles in public schools throughout Orange County.
He also enjoys writing arrangements and transcriptions for strings and has written arrangements for Midori.
For the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons, Cole was a member of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Crystaline Tran is a native of Southern California with a diverse portfolio as a violinist and teacher. She has established a rapidly growing violin studio in Orange County. Her students have earned top chairs in their respective school ensembles in Capistrano Unified School District, Saddleback Unified School District, Irvine Unified School District, and Tustin Unified School District. She is also a violin coach for middle and high schools in these school districts. Ms. Tran most recently joined the staff at Long Beach Harmony Project, which works directly with Long Beach Unified School District to provide access to music education for youths in underserved communities.
In addition to teaching, Ms. Tran freelances in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas. Recent projects have included live performances of original works for major streaming platforms such as Apple TV+, Amazon, CBS, and Paramount+, recording at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios, and playing in the premiere of Stephen Ferre’s “Postcards from Home.”
Ms. Tran earned a B.M. in String Performance while on full scholarship at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music (BCCM) at California State University, Long Beach. She is continuing her studies as a graduate student under scholarship at the BCCM and is studying with Moni Simeonov.
Currently, Chris performs with the Dana Point Symphony as associate principal cello. He was a member of Symphony Irvine, the Montage Civic Orchestra, and the Crystal Cathedral Hour of Power Orchestra. He is a founding member of Love4Cello, a cello quartet based in Los Angeles, where he also serves as the group’s arranger. In 2014, as a member of the Southern California Chamber Ensemble, Chris performed in Nagoya, Japan, with renowned urhu virtuoso George Gao. He is a string coach for numerous high school and middle school orchestra programs throughout Orange County and is the cello teacher for the Casa Romantica Music Festival Academy. Chris has freelanced and taught privately in the Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside County, and San Diego County areas since 2003.
Matt Hare
String Bass CoachEmail:me@matthare.com
Matt Hare is well-known as a performer and educator. He is on faculty at the University of California at Irvine, Concordia University, and Saddleback College. Dr. Hare also teaches several sections of Music Appreciation and History of Rock online and in the classroom at Saddleback College. He is a string coach at Irvine, Laguna Hills, Trabuco Hills, and University high schools. He frequently gives recitals and master classes that often include his own transcriptions and arrangements.
Dr. Hare is a long-time member of the International Society of Bassists. He was a clinician for their Young Bassists’ program at the 2009 convention at Penn State and the 2011 convention in San Francisco.
Previously he was the first director of educational programs at Lemur Music, a retailer specializing in the double bass. He has been on faculty at Luther, Cornell, and Wartburg Colleges and the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival.
Dr. Hare freelances with many ensembles in Southern California, including the San Bernardino and San Diego Symphonies. He has been a regular member of the bass sections of the Quad Cities and Peoria Symphonies and has played in the sections of many symphonies in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
He holds a BA from Bloomsburg University, a MM from Butler University, and a DMA from the University of Iowa. Major teachers include Mark R. Jelinek, Diana Gannett, David Murray, and Volkan Orhon.
Fred is a violist from Southern California. He earned his BM from Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB and his MM at LSU School of Music. Passionate about contemporary music, he helped premier many pieces, such as Tucker Fuller’s The Book of Hours for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra and San Schults’ Prajna for solo viola. He also played with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the New Resonance Orchestra. Fred has studied with Kimberly Sparr, Phillip Triggs, and Jason Bonham.
Fred has been teaching since 2018 and is just as passionate about teaching the younger generation as he is about performing. On the weekends, Fred likes to hike around Southern California and spend time with his dog.
Brian Slack
String Bass CoachEmail: bslack.home@gmail.com
Brian Slack is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree specializing in double bass performance at California State University, Long Beach. Here, he studies with Douglas Basye, assistant principal double bass of the Pacific Symphony. At the Bob Cole Conservatory, he serves as the principal bass of the Symphony Orchestra. Originally, Brian is a native of the city of Diamond Bar.
Brian regularly performs with the American Youth Symphony and has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, during the 2023 summer festival season. His concert engagements have taken him to venues nationwide, including the Lincoln Center in New York City and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. In addition to performing, Brian enjoys teaching in various public schools throughout Orange County and Los Angeles County."
Jasmin Cruz, a Bay Area native, is an emerging music educator with a tireless passion for igniting musical curiosity. Jasmin is pursuing a dual Bachelor's in Music at California State University, Long Beach, majoring in Instrumental Music Education and Strings Performance. She contributes her performing skills to the BCCM Symphony at CSULB while under the tutelage of Dr. David Garrett from the LA Philharmonic.
Jasmin's commitment to nurturing musical growth has taken root in her teaching endeavors. With years of experience teaching piano and cello in private settings, she has honed her ability to impart the gift of music to eager learners. After she graduates, her ultimate goal is to become a classroom music educator. In this pursuit, she has already gained valuable experience coaching cello and strings in various Southern California schools, starting in Fall 2022 and continuing with constant dedication.
