Andrei Gorbatenko (born 1977) is a Ukrainian American conductor and educator. He currently serves as music director of the San Francisco Academy Orchestra and has held that post since the year 2000.
Since moving back to his native city of San Francisco in 2000, he has written numerous education programs for the San Francisco Academy Orchestra including an unprecedented graduate program in orchestral studies. The program, designed to be administered by an orchestra rather than a brick and mortar conservatory, focuses on the practical skills necessary to prepare for auditions and a career in orchestral music. Coursework includes weekly lessons, excerpt classes, master classes, mock auditions, and the opportunity to rehearse and perform alongside members of the San Francisco Symphony.
Gorbatenko has a diverse career in music maintaining a schedule of conducting, teaching, recording, touring, and performing as a contrabassist in both orchestral and chamber music capacities.
He collaborated in 2014 Persian traditional music album Beyond Any Form . [1]
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Wu Man is a Chinese pipa player and composer. Trained in Pudong-style pipa performance at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, she is known for playing in a broad range of musical styles and introducing the pipa and its Chinese heritage into Western genres. She has performed and recorded extensively with Kronos Quartet and Silk Road Ensemble, and has premiered works by Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Zhao Jiping, and Zhou Long, among many others. She has recorded and appeared on over 40 albums, five of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards. In 2013, she was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, becoming the first performer of a non-Western instrument to receive this award. She also received The United States Artist' Award in 2008.
Bexley High School (BHS) is a public high school located in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. It is the only high school in Bexley City School system.
Abraham Lincoln High School is a high school located in San Jose, California in the San Jose Unified School District. It is a magnet school for "Academic, Visual, and Performing Arts" (AVPA). The current principal is Joseph Heffernan, Ed.D.
Edward Knight is an American composer. His work eschews easy classification, moving freely between jazz, theatrical and concert worlds.
Robert Phillips is an American classical guitarist.
Viviana Guzmán is a Chilean professional flutist, composer, dancer and poet, who performs over 80 concerts a year, and has played in 122 countries. She has been described by The New York Times as "an imaginative artist". It has also been said of her that "Guzmán may be the first flutist since her teacher Jean-Pierre Rampal, to be able to establish a sustaining solo career." She actively coaches at the Peninsula Youth Orchestra. Official Website
Andrew von Oeyen is a concert pianist. He is a citizen of the United States and France.
The New Century Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1992 by cellist, Miriam Perkoff, and violist, Wieslaw Pogorzelski. The goal of the founders was to present classical music in a fresh and unique way in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music director chooses the programs and guides the artistic vision and leads the seventeen members of the orchestra as part of a conductorless orchestra. Musical decisions are made collaboratively, in the goal of enhancing the level of commitment on the part of the musicians and increasing the precision, passion and power of their playing.
America's Hot Musician is an American television program which first aired on Lifetime Real Women in July 2008. The show is a reality talent competition which features strictly instrumental solo musicians of varying styles competing for a one year recording contract.
The San Francisco Academy Orchestra, founded in 2000, is an American Symphony Orchestra based in San Francisco, California.
Sharon Farber is an Israeli composer. She was born in Bat Yam, Israel.
Masterworks Chorale is a choral ensemble based in San Mateo, California.
Scott Pingel is an American bassist who is the principal bassist in the San Francisco Symphony. He had been the principal bassist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 Pingel had the privilege of performing on the acclaimed Karr-Koussevitzky bass for his solo debut with Andrei Gorbatenko and the San Francisco Academy Orchestra.
Derek Gleeson is an Irish/American musician. Born in Dublin, Ireland. He is currently the music director and conductor of the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra and has been the conductor at the Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival. Since 2012 Gleeson is also music director & conductor of the Rachmaninov Festival Orchestra. Since January 2016 Gleeson is Principal Guest Conductor or The Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Harbin, China. He also composes musical scores for film and television and of symphonic music for the concert hall.
Ben Opie is a classically trained oboist and artistic director from Victoria, Australia.
Kevin Kwan Loucks is a Korean–American classical pianist, arts entrepreneur, and nonprofit executive. In September 2021, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Chamber Music America in New York City. He previously served as Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, a presenting organization in residence at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA, and also served as Director of Innovation and Program Development at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. He co-founded Chamber Music | OC, an arts organization headquartered in Lake Forest, California, and is a founding member and current pianist of the award-winning piano trio, Trio Céleste.
Anthony Roth Costanzo is an American countertenor, actor, and producer who has led performances at opera companies around the world. Beginning his career in musical theatre at the age of 11, he has since been featured at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and Glyndebourne Opera Festival, as well as in concert with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, he won first place at Plácido Domingo's international opera competition Operalia and, in 2009, was a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. As an actor, he has performed in several films, including the Merchant Ivory film A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. As a producer and curator, he has created shows for National Sawdust, Opera Philadelphia, the Philharmonia Baroque, Princeton University, WQXR, The State Theater in Salzburg, MasterVoices, and Kabuki-za Tokyo. Costanzo is a graduate of Princeton University, where he has returned to teach, and he received his master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
Nikki Li Hartliep is a Japanese-born American soprano who has performed with major opera companies and orchestras around the world.
Stephen Waarts is an Dutch American violinist. He was the first prize winner in the senior division of the 2014 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in Austin, Texas. He was also the fifth prize winner of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium.