About Mr. Olariu

Joshua Olariu was born and raised in Downey, California.  Coming from a musical family, he began piano lessons at the age of 4 and begrudgingly agreed to try the trumpet in the 4th grade(after his father bribed him with a Nintendo DS).  The trumpet turned out to be a great fit, and he found success performing in the SCSBOA All Southern and CBDA All State Honor Ensembles throughout middle and high school.  He attended the LA County High School for the Arts, and later earned the Chung-Kotcheff Family Scholarship to attend the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. 

While at Peabody, he spent time with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids program and realized his love for music extended to teaching as well as performing, and went on to earn his Bachelors in both Trumpet Performance and Music Education.  He studied conducting with Harlan Parker and trumpet with Joe Burgstaller and Phil Snedecor.  Upon returning to California, he worked as a brass coach for Downey High School and Long-Term Substitute for both Sussman Middle School and Warren High School’s music programs.  Eventually, he received his teaching credential from California State University, Long Beach completing his student teaching in Irvine at Venado Middle School and Irvine High School.

Following his time at CSULB he accepted a position at the Arbolita Visual and Performing Arts Academy in La Habra where he taught classes in General Music, Piano, Elementary Choir and Musical Theater, and Band from TK through 6th Grade.  This is his first year in Irvine, and he is very excited to get to know the fantastic program here at Sierra Vista!

Fun Facts:

His first performance on any stage as a trumpet player was with the LA Opera where he acted as a student to Malcolm McNab in their production of Concierto Para Méndez, a celebration of Rafael Méndez.

He traveled through Europe alongside Downey High School’s EPIC Jazz Choir, performing in Romania and Denmark as part of several music festivals.  Their choir took 3rd place in the World Choir Games in Denmark!

He loves all kinds of books, video games, anime, tv shows, you name it!  His favorites are Zelda, Pokémon, and One Piece.