Grace Fong is a prize-winning American pianist with an international career as a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and contemporary keyboardist. Praised as "positively magical" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and "immediately a revelation" (Arizona Central), Fong has gained critical acclaim in the United States, Canada, Europe, United Arab Emirates and Asia. She has been featured at major venues including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall; the Kennedy Center; Musco Center for the Arts; Phillips Collection; the Hollywood Bowl; Great Hall in Leeds, UK; Reinberger Hall at Severance Hall; the Liszt Academy in Budapest; Konzerthaus Dortmund in Germany; and the National Center for Performing Arts, Beijing. Radio and television performances have included the British Broadcasting Company, "Performance Today" on National Public Radio, WFMT “Live from Chicago,” WCLV-FM Cleveland, KUSC Los Angeles, and the "Emerging Young Artists" series in New York. She has performed as soloist with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the Halle Orchestra in the United Kingdom under Mark Elder, the Polish Chamber Orchestra under Wojcec Rajski, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, among others. Described by one critic as possessing “technical brilliance, infectious energy and sheer enjoyment of music making” (BC News), Fong is a gold-medalist and prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the prestigious Leeds in the United Kingdom, International Liszt, Cleveland International, Bosendorfer International, San Antonio International, Viardo International, Wideman International, and Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition. Special prizes have included “Best Performances” Prizes of Baroque, Classical, and Contemporary works, as well as the “Jury’s Selection” Prize. Fong is also the winner of one of America's most prestigious piano awards, the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship of the American Pianists Association (the first female winner in 12 years). She also won the Grand Prize in piano from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and thereafter was named a "Presidential Scholar in the Arts,’” for which she was awarded a performance at the Kennedy Center and presented with a medallion by the President of the United States at the White House.

Born in Los Angeles, Fong was a Trustee (full) Scholarship recipient at the University of Southern California where she completed a double major and minor.

Dr. Tammy S. Yi is a first-gen conductor-educator, string pedagogy specialist and music education scholar from Los Angeles, CA. She is an assistant professor of music education at Chapman University, founding director of Mariachi Panteras and the orchestra conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic YOLA Orchestra. Dr. Yi is also faculty at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, teaching graduate courses in music performance research and pedagogy. Dr. Yi emphasizes the significance of transformative social activism for youth in music, education and the performing arts. She maintains an active conducting schedule with El-Sistema orchestra programs, local school communities and state honor ensembles. As an international conductor, she has performed at prestigious international venues, collaborating with artists including Janet Jackson, Gustavo Dudamel, Ray Chen and Thomas Wilkins, among others. In addition to conducting, she mentors pre-K–12 music teachers in the community, Teaching Artists in the YOLA program, facilitates professional development sessions and designs music education curricula for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dr. Yi’s research focus is on ethnic studies, culturally responsive pedagogy and EDIA (equity, diversity, inclusion and access) initiatives as they pertain to music performance and education. She regularly presents her work at music education and conducting conferences worldwide, gaining impressive international exposure for her and her research, including Oxford University, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, National Association for Music Education, California Music Educators Association, Sphinx Organization, and headlining the 2023 Texas Orchestra Directors Association Conference. Dr. Yi continues to serve on the American String Teachers Association's national board to train current and future music teachers in a social justice ethos so that educators can develop culturally and community-responsive pedagogy in orchestra education. Her research has appeared in leading music education journals, including Music Education Research, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Oxford Handbook Series, and Music Educators Journal. Dr. Yi's musical accomplishments in teaching, scholarship, and youth activism have earned her a number of prestigious awards. She was awarded the Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion Research Award, the Grant for Pedagogical Innovation, which led to the formation of the first collegiate mariachi ensemble in Orange County, and the Award of Excellence from Chapman University. She was also named a finalist for the 2022 GRAMMY Music Educator Award.

Prior to teaching at Chapman University, Dr. Yi taught violin and orchestral conducting at Columbia University, was the conductor of the Manhattan School of Music Pre-college Orchestra and was an assistant professor of string education and conductor of the UA Philharmonic at the University of Arizona. Dr. Yi earned her doctorate in music and music education from Columbia University as a Florence K. Geffen Fellow, and she was awarded the Ella Fitzgerald Scholarship for her master's degree at the University of Southern California.

Vera Ivanova graduated from the Moscow Conservatory (Honours Diploma), Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (MM with distinction), and the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D. in Composition). Her works have been performed in Russia, Europe and the U.S.A. After teaching as Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition at the Setnor School of Music of Syracuse University (NY), she was appointed as Assistant Professor of Music in the College of Performing Arts at Chapman University (Orange, California), where she currently works at the rank of tenured Associate Professor. Vera Ivanova's compositions have been described as "...humanistic and deeply felt works... " (John Bilotta, Society of Composers, Inc.). In her early Fantasy-Toccata (2003) for violin and piano, "the humor takes on a harder, sardonic edge recalling the composer's roots in the work of Shostakovich and Schnittke" (Ted Ayala, Crescenta Valley Weekly). In her later Three Studies in Uneven Meters for piano (2011), "the greatest power of her brief, angular, crystalline music lies in its power to provoke the gods of symmetry" (Laurence Vittes, Lark Gallery Online Blog). Dr. Ivanova is a recipient of the Sproull Fellowship at Eastman, the Gwyn Ellis Bequest Scholarship at Guildhall School, Moscow Culture Committee and American Composers Forum Subito grants, Honourable mention at the 28th Bourges Electro-Acoustic Competition, 3rd Prize at the 8th International Mozart Competition, 1st Prize in Category "A" at International Contest of Acousmatic Compositions Métamorphoses 2004 (Belgium), the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, the André Chevillion-Yvonne Bonnaud Composition Prize at the 8th International Piano Competition at Orléans (France), and the Special Award from Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. She is also a winner of the 2013 Athena Festival Chamber Competition and the 2013 Earplay Donald Aird Composers Competition and was selected to be Norton Stevens Fellow at the prestigious MacDowell colony residency in winter 2013-14. Vera is actively involved in new music not only as a composer, but as an advisor (she's been invited to be on advisory board of the American Composers Forum, Los Angeles chapter), adjudicator (UnTwelve Composition Competition, Synchromy calls for scores, International Computer Music Conference Calls for Music, MTAC Composers Today program Adjudicators Coordinator) and concert-runner/organizer (new music concerts at Chapman University's Conservatory of Music and Synchromy group of Los Angeles-based composers, of which she is a founding member).

Her music is available in print from Universal Edition and Theodore Front Music Literature, Inc., SCI Journal of Music Scores (vol. 45), on CD's from MicroFest Records (Beyond 12 Album), Ablaze Records (Millennial Masters series, Vol. 2), Quartz Music, Ltd., Navona Records (Nova and Allusions albums), Musiques & Recherches (Métamorphoses 2004), Centaur Records (CRC 3056), Soundiff (Miniatures Album, vol. 1) and on her website at: www.veraivanova.com.

Tim Hall is the director of Woodwind and Brass Studies at Chapman University. Born and raised in Southern California, Tim is a free-lance musician who is both a regular in major local ensembles and a seasoned touring musician. Equally adept in classical and jazz genres, he can often be heard with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera, the Pacific Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the California Philharmonic, the Long Beach Opera, the Pasadena Symphony, the Long Beach Municipal Band, and the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters Orchestra. The past year alone has found Tim on stage or in the pit for the Pacific Symphony, the L.A. Opera, the L.A. Master Chorale, the National Ballet of Canada, the Australian National Ballet, the Long Beach Chorale, and the Pacific Chorale, as well as in lighter concerts with Herb Alpert and comedian/singer Martin Short. He also shared a solo recital at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, in Newport Beach, where he has been an integral part of the music program for two decades. Tim has toured the United States, Europe and Asia with a variety of groups, in travels that included a five-year stay in Japan while performing in the orchestra in residence and in jazz ensembles at the Huis Ten Bosch resort. Inspired by the long teaching career of his principal mentor, the renowned Hollywood studio-musician Uan Rasey, Tim is committed to continuing his musical heritage through teaching. In addition to his work at Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, he serves on the faculties of Irvine Valley College, Saddleback College, Golden West College, Idyllwild Arts, and the Orange County School of the Arts.  Additionally, Tim owns a teaching studio in Laguna Niguel called The Music Stand. Tim’s students include winners and finalists in the National Trumpet Competition, as well as pupils who have filled positions in the All Southern Honor Bands, the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble.  Several students have successfully auditioned for Chapman University and continue their studies with him through the Conservatory.

Tim lives in Mission Viejo California with his wife Yoko, whom he met during his residency in Japan, and with whom he has raised three (trumpet-playing) sons.

A member of the Pacific Symphony since 2014, Ted Sugata was previously a member of the Sarasota Orchestra in Florida, and principal oboist with the Lyrique-en-Mer Opera Festival in Belle-Ile, France. As an active chamber and orchestral musician, he has performed with many organizations including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, South Bay Chamber Music Society, Jacaranda Music, and Glendale Noon concert series.

A native of Los Angeles, he was the recipient of the ASCAP Leiber and Stoller music scholarship and semifinalist of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Awards Competition. He continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music with Joseph Robinson and John Mack. He has performed as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, and Sarasota music festivals.

Dr. Sugata completed a doctorate of musical arts degree in oboe performance at USC in 2014 under Dr. Joel Timm.
In addition to teaching at Chapman University, he also serves on the faculties of Azusa Pacific University, Long Beach City College, the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, and OC Music & Dance. Currently his summers are spent at the Idyllwild Arts summer program where he teaches oboe and chamber music. His students have gone on to careers in music and most recently accepted into The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, Rice University, Indiana University, and USC. Recent student accomplishments include positions with the New York Philharmonic and Houston Grand Opera/Ballet.

Saxophonist, composer, arranger and music educator Gary Matsuura is equally at home in the jazz and classical idioms. His composition and arrangements have been performed by professional orchestras, big bands and school ensembles. He served as music director, arranger and lead woodwind for the Tokyo Disneyland Band and in the same capacity for other professional productions.

He has performed with Celine Dion, Rosie O’Donnell, Helen O’Connell, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Phillip Keveren, Dr. Art Davis, Jan Jordan, Debbie Ebert and Kathy Williams. He is the founder of the CCA Jazz Quintet and a member of the Saxophone Quartet of MASON, MATSUURA, VACCARO AND ZICK.

Gary has presented over 25 world premieres, including many works composed for him by Fred Katz.

He is in his 27th year of teaching at the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music at Chapman University where he established the curriculum for classical and jazz saxophone, jazz improvisation, woodwind pedagogy as well as directing the Chapman University Saxophone Ensemble. Gary is also the saxophone instructor at Irvine Valley College.

His students are recipients of collegiate scholarships and winners of competitions. Former students are now working as professional musicians and educators.

Gary holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education from California State University, Fullerton and the Diploma in Composition and Arranging from the Dick Grove School of Music. Important and influential teachers include:
Keith Clark - conducting, Allen Davis - Late 18th century counterpoint in the style of J.S.Bach, Jack Feierman - conducting, Patricia Garside - flute, Dick Grove - composition, arranging and jazz improvisation, Fred Katz - music and philosophy, John Lasser - clarinet, Mary Palchak -  flute and classical phrasing, Harvey Pittel - classical saxophone, Tom Ranier - saxophone and jazz improvisation, Tony Rodriquenz - saxophone, flute, clarinet and jazz improvisation, Stan Steele - high school band director, Mary Ellen Trefry - flute, Mike Vaccaro - saxophone, flute and clarinet and Phil Woods - saxophone and jazz improvisation.

Gary Matsuura is a Yamaha Performing Artist, playing exclusively Yamaha saxophones, flutes and clarinets. Gary is also a woodwind product design consultant for PROTEC.

A native of Southern California, Lea Steffens earned the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999. She also holds the Master of Music degree from UCLA, and the Bachelor of Music degree in Performance, cum laude, from California State University, Long Beach.

Dr. Steffens has been active as a professional clarinetist since 1988, working with symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, wind ensembles, musicals, operas, choirs, churches, theaters, theme parks and cruise ships. She holds the tenured position of bass clarinetist with the Fresno Philharmonic and can be heard regularly throughout California with a number of ensembles, and as a soloist. She performs with organizations such as the Long Beach Municipal Band, Santa Monica Symphony, Redlands Symphony, Desert Symphony, Fresno Grand Opera, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, San Bernardino Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Pacific Symphony Pops, American Winds, Los Angeles Metropolitan Orchestra, Long Beach Opera, Musica Angelica, Opera a la Carte, Aria Players, California Concert Artists, Disneyland Band, and has traveled to performance venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan.

As a studio musician, Dr. Steffens has recorded major motion picture and television soundtracks for Sony Pictures, Walt Disney/Pixar Productions, HBO Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, and DreamWorks.  Some of the titles on which she has worked include The Good German, Cinderella Man, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Hidalgo, Finding Nemo, Meet Joe Black, Geronimo, Treasure Island, The Wild West, Angels in America, and the television show JAG.

Dr. Steffens teaches clarinet at Chapman University, Irvine Valley College, and Long Beach City College. She resides in Orange with her husband Mike and daughter Kahlan.

Flutist Mary Palchak enjoys an active career as a freelance flutist in Southern California. She has played with the Pacific, Long Beach and Pasadena Symphonies, Long Beach Opera and numerous touring ballet companies, including Bolshoi, La Scalla and American Ballet Theater.

As Founding Artistic Director, President and Principal Flutist of the California Concert Artists, now Orange County's most active professional chamber music series, she has organized and performed numerous concerts with Southern California's finest musicians in addition to premiering compositions written specifically for the ensemble.

Her solo CD, Flute Music by French Composers, won critical acclaim in Fanfare Magazine and is a best-selling classical flute CD worldwide. Mary Palchak earned her Master's Degree from the St. Louis Conservatory where she studied with St. Louis Symphony Principal flutist Jacob Berg. Other teachers include Anne Diener Giles, Julius Baker and Louis Moyse.

Fred Greene is one of L A.'s busiest freelance tubists. He has played with every major orchestra in the area including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pacific and Long Beach Symphonies, as well as Santa Barbara and San Diego Symphonies. He has performed many times in pit orchestras for Joffrey and American Ballet Theater, as well as Royal Ballet of England, Kirov, Bolshoi, and Australian Ballets, He has recorded in every major Los Angeles Studio and can be heard on the soundtracks to over 100 motion pictures and many T.V. shows, commercials, and jingles. He lives close to the Chapman campus in Garden Grove with his wife Ana-Maria and their children Joseph and Michelle.

Violinist Eunae Koh enjoys an established career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Since 2019, she has been an active member of the Grammy Award-winning Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, where she regularly performs as a featured soloist, most notably leading performances of Haydn’s G Major Concerto, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, B minor Concerto, and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. Besides performing, she served on the Artistic Vision Committee, shaping the orchestra's season programming, and as one of the first Creative Leads, she curated "Romantic Landscapes with Eunae Koh," a chamber music program lauded for its programming and emotional depth by the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. During the summers, Eunae serves on the faculty at the Yellow Barn Music Festival’s Young Artists Program.

Originally from South Korea, Eunae made her concerto debut at 9 years old with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra and quickly gained recognition by winning numerous national competitions. Following her Special Prize award at the Isang Yun International Competition in 2011, her international profile began to rise. After moving to the United States in 2013, she made her U.S. debut performing the Brahms Concerto with the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Her performance of the same concerto at the Michael Hill International Competition was acclaimed for its “beauty, bending the world to its will,” culminating in Second Prize and Chamber Music Prize awards.

Eunae has performed in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Jordan Hall in the US and appeared internationally in Germany, New Zealand, Japan and Korea. She soloed with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Symphony Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra and others. Her artistry has garnered attention from major media including ArteTV, KBS Classic FM, Korea Times, New Zealand Herald, WCRB and Star Tribune.

Prior to SPCO, Eunae served as concertmaster of the Hwaum Boston Chamber Orchestra and guest concertmaster of the New York Classical Players and the Symphony in C. In addition, she has collaborated with renowned artists Joshua Bell, Tabea Zimmermann, Richard Goode, Anne-Marie McDermott, Donald Weilerstein, Steven Mackey and with ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and Chameleon Arts Ensemble.

Eunae earned her Doctor of Musical Arts at the Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Mark Steinberg. Her dissertation, "The Violin Poème as Hybrid Genre," delves into the works of Ysaÿe, Chausson, and Bloch. She obtained a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma with the Presidential Scholarship at the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music from Seoul National University. During this time, she taught undergraduate and graduate students as a teaching assistant of Donald Weilerstein and Young Uck Kim.

Described by the press as "a remarkable cellist who possesses both intellect and innate musicality... one of the finest cellists of his generation" (Chopin Magazine, Japan), Yoshika Masuda has performed throughout Australia, Japan, China, Mexico, the USA, the UK and much of western Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. He is the winner of national competitions in Australia, Japan and the U.S., and was also awarded the prestigious Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe String Award. Chamber music forms the core of Yoshika’s musical endeavours, and he has performed alongside such renowned artists as Peter Frankl, Bruno Giuranna, Gil Kalish, Cho-Liang Lin, Alissa Margulis, Roger Tapping, Don Weilerstein and Qian Zhou. He is the co-founder of the Sakura Cello Quintet and resident cellist for Salastina L.A., and was also the former cellist of the award-winning Rolston Quartet with whom he toured Canada and Europe. Yoshika was invited to perform at the festivals of Aldeburgh and Leicester in the UK, Festival Amfiteatrof in Italy, Kirishima Music Festival in Japan, Ottawa Chamberfest in Canada, and the Yellow Barn Music Festival and Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in the USA. His performances were broadcast widely on ABC Classic FM (Australia), BBC Radio 3 (UK), Musiq’3 (Belgium), Klassik Radio (Germany), KUSC (USA) and Concertzender Radio (The Netherlands). A keen advocate of contemporary music, Yoshika has given U.S. and world premieres of works by Reena Esmail, Toshio Hosokawa, Derrick Skye, Bent Sørensen, Nick Strimple and Jörg Widmann. Born in Kobe, Japan, Yoshika first started playing the cello at the age of five but moved to Australia as a young child where he began his studies with Georg Pedersen at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He then studied extensively with Hannah Roberts and Ralph Kirshbaum, whilst also receiving close musical guidance from Thomas Demenga and David Geringas. Yoshika graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK with distinction and received the Principal’s Prize along with the Leonard Rose Cello Award for outstanding achievement. He earned his D.M.A. from the USC Thornton School of Music. Yoshika is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of young cellists—his students have had successes in both local and national competitions, as well as being admitted to prestigious institutions such as Juilliard, NEC, and USC. Yoshika is currently the Assistant Professor of Cello and Director of String Studies at Chapman University's Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music. He has also served on the summer faculty of the Montecito International Music Festival, Heartland Chamber Music Festival and the Yellow Barn Young Artist Program.