CHS Music Staff
Aaron Kohen - Instrumental Music
Aaron Kohen graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Geography and pursued his Masters of Music Education at the University of Southern California. He has taught music at the elementary, middle and high school levels in LAUSD and LVUSD since 2000. Mr. Kohen studied violin, trumpet and finally bass in his youth, leading to a love of instrumental music. He has performed and recorded as a bassist with jazz groups, orchestras and rock bands, composed music for concerts, films and commercials, and taught bass privately for over 20 years.
Michael Siegel - Vocal Music
Michael Siegel grew up in the Las Virgenes Unified School District. He attended Yerba Buena Elementary, Lindero Canyon Middle School, and Agoura High School, before continuing his education and receiving both his bachelors and masters in Music at CSUN. While at CSUN he helped start one of the a cappella groups and took part in festivals and competitions. Throughout and after college, Mr. Siegel has managed music artists, booked concerts, and worked as a vocal coach with multiple singers and groups. Mr. Siegel is the Vocal Music Director at CHS and teaches both the choral and a cappella classes.
Robbie Gillman - Piano Accompanist, Choirs
Robbie Gillman is the choir accompanist at CHS and frequently performs as the pianist for the school musicals. Robbie currently works as a musician, songwriter, arranger, musical director, and educator, and as an executive producer of film. Robbie has worked as a musician with such recording artists as Juice Newton, Nell Carter, 5th Dimension. He plays for various singers in town and has had songs recorded by Juice Newton, Jennifer Warnes, and Liza Minelli. He also co-wrote the music to TV's game show On The Cover and currently writes for Hilltop Records. Robbie has been the musical director for original stage productions of Dorian, and Lizard, where he won the NAACP Theatre Award for Best Musical Director, Educator. After studying at Grove School of Music, Robbie taught there for 12 years.
Alana Loewe Weiss - A Cappella
Alana Weiss is a private voice and performance coach (alanavoice.com). In 2001, she teamed up with Joshua Barroll to create the award winning Calabasas High School A Cappella Program. An alumni of CHS, Alana received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she majored in Dramatic Art with an emphasis in Directing. She was a founding member of UCSB's premiere pop/rock a cappella group, Naked Voices, and sang professionally for many years. In addition to her close ties with the music department at Calabasas High, Alana has also vocal directed a number of the school's main stage musicals including Legally Blonde, West Side Story, and Avenue Q.
Hannah Lewis - A Cappella
Hannah Lewis is a vocalist, songwriter, arranger, composer, and educator. After getting her musical start with 15 years of classical piano training and choir singing, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree with a focus in Media Composition and Classical Voice from California State University, Northridge in 2019. At CSUN, she was a member of and musical director of the university’s first a cappella group, Acasola. She has been singing contemporary a cappella for 8 years and music directing/arranging for 6, and she sings alto in a 7-piece vocal band called From the Roots who headlined the Sing! Texas A Cappella Festival in November 2018. She also sings with the Los Robles Master Chorale and works as a music educator, a cappella coach, and session singer throughout the LA area.
Hannah has been working with CHS Bare Rhythm since Fall 2018 and is an alumna of both Bare Rhythm and Unstrumental.
Tricia Hansen - Flute
Tricia Hansen received her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. After establishing herself as an active performer and teacher in the Chicago and San Francisco communities, Tricia moved to Los Angeles, where she enjoys teaching and freelancing as a chamber and orchestral musician. She has performed with Los Angeles area symphony orchestras, toured England, and was the winner of the Redwood Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Additionally, she has recorded for film, television and album projects. A Minnesota native, Tricia returned to the heartland in 2015 for a midwest tour with pianist and frequent collaborator Natasha Marin. Tricia maintains a busy private studio of flute students and loves running, yoga, and cooking with her family.
Debra Kanter - Clarinet
Debra Kanter’s career as a professional clarinetist spanned nearly 30 years, including 23 years with the Pacific Symphony, 19 years with Opera Pacific Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (including 2 tours of Japan), numerous ballet companies, and performing with other local orchestras. Throughout her career she also worked in the L.A. studios recording Motion Picture and Television scores including the clarinet solo to the original theme to Law and Order, Aladdin, A Bug’s Life, City Slickers, A Few Good Men, Hercules, Home Alone 3, Hunchback of Notre Dame, L.A. Story, Pocahontas, Sister Act & Star Trek: First Contact. Debra graduated with a Bachelor in Music Performance from CSUF and received her Master’s in Performance from the Yale School of Music. She has held applied music positions teaching clarinet at CSUN, CSUF, Biola University and Central Connecticut State University. She has been retired for 12 years and teaches privately, coaches at CHS, travels with her husband and hangs out with her crazy poodles.
Alex Sill – Guitar
Alex Sill received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 2015 in the Jazz Program at California Institute of the Arts (Minor in Music Theory). Alex brings a wealth of experience as he has worked with the CHS Jazz Combos, jazz classes and now guitar students. He has performed and/or studied with some of the world's top musicians including Steve Vai, Larry Koonse, Lyle Mays, Lee Ritenour, Charlie Haden, Sonny Emory, Melvin Lee Davis, Joe Labarbera, Darek Oles, and Vardan Ovsepian. Alex's band is one of the leading young jazz groups in Los Angeles, and Alex has written music for a variety of different contexts including film/trailer music, jazz groups, rock bands, orchestra and a guitar trio. For more info about Alex, click HERE.
