LCMS
choir & Orchestras

FACULTY

Mrs. Shaniee Kennedy, a first-generation college student who was raised by her great-grandmother, attended LEAP in 2011 and returned multiple times as a Life Coach at UCLA and served as a camp counselor at the Ronald McDonald House Charities Camp for Good Times for kids with pediatric cancer. While completing her BM in Music Education and Clarinet Performance at CSU Northridge, she studied with Dr. Julia Heinen, and competed for the Miss California Icon Organization and won in 2014. She was named CSUN's Outstanding Graduating Senior Finalist in 2015. While serving as the assistant conductor of the CSUN Youth Orchestra, Mrs. Kennedy studied at The Catholic University of America, University of Maryland, and University of Georgia, in the Clarinet Academy of America. After winning the Miss America local title of Miss Malibu Coast 2016, she competed at Miss California and won the Talent Award and Highest Academic Achievement award. She earned her Masters of Music in clarinet performance at UCLA under Gary Gray, and has traveled throughout the US to promote both scholarship and her platform of "Keeping Quality Music Education in California Schools and the Importance of Live Music." Her speeches at Music Advocacy Day in the State Capitol allowed for a unanimous vote to pass three Senate Bills for new state standards for music education to be rewritten. Mrs. Kennedy was selected to give the commencement speech for the Inaugural Herb Alpert School of Music and received the Dean’s Medal in June 2017 at UCLA. Shaniee is a Buffet Crampon Artist and sponsored by Beaumont Music. She is the clarinet professor at The Masters University as well as the new Orchestra and Choir director at Lindero Canyon Middle School and Strings Teacher Mariposa School of Global Education. Shaniee continues to conduct, perform, record and is a member of the all female clarinet quartet known as Four Play Clarinet. She is currently enrolled at Mount Saint Mary’s University for her second Masters Degree in the Science of Education.

Thomas Lovasz, Cello Coach, Thomas Lovasz is a cellist and teacher based in Los Angeles. He received his BM in Cello Performance from the University of Pecs in Hungary and his MM in Cello Performance from California State University, Northridge.

As an active soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, Thomas had the privilege to perform with artists such as John Williams, Zoltan Kocsis, Lynn Harrell, and Istvan Vardai in countries such as Hungary, Germany and the United States. Currently, he is a member of LA and Ventura based chamber ensembles such as the Santa Barbara String Quartet or the LA Chamber Music Company. Thomas performs with multiple orchestras such as Orchestra Santa Monica, and he has also performed as a soloist with the Vietnamese American Philharmonic Orchestra.

Besides performing, Thomas enjoys teaching students of all ages. He started teaching in 2011 at his Alma Mater, the Ferenc Liszt School of Music in Hungary. Since then he has taught in numerous music schools and privately as well. Currently, he is cello instructor at Dave Janssens School of Music, Richman Music School, and Anthem Music Lessons. He is also teaching elementary string orchestras at Valley Christian School, as well as, coaching strings at A. E. Wright and Lindero Canyon Middle Schools.