Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller One False Move, and received international attention after writing, directing, and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He appeared in several major film roles in the 1990s following Sling Blade, including Oliver Stone's neo-noir U Turn (1997), political drama Primary Colors (1998), science fiction disaster film Armageddon (1998), the highest-grossing film of that year, and the crime drama A Simple Plan (1998), which earned him his third Oscar nomination.
Norman Quentin Cook, also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist for the Hull-based indie rock band The Housemartins, who achieved a UK number-one single with their a cappella cover of "Caravan of Love". After the Housemartins split, Cook formed the electronic band Beats International in Brighton, who produced the number-one single "Dub Be Good to Me". He then played in Freak Power, Pizzaman, and the Mighty Dub Katz with moderate success.
Robert Alan Krieger is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as the guitarist of the rock band the Doors; as such he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Touch Me", and "Love Her Madly". After the Doors disbanded, Krieger continued his performing and recording career with other musicians including former Doors bandmates John Densmore and Ray Manzarek. He was listed by Rolling Stone as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
Martin Leung is a pianist. He plays classical music and is known as Video Game Pianist. He gained recognition for playing video game music on the piano, both in concert venues and in online videos.
Pepe Romero is a classical and flamenco guitarist. He is particularly noted for his outstanding technique and colorful musical interpretations on the instrument.
Hagai Shaham is an acclaimed Israeli violin virtuoso. He began studying the violin at the age of six and was the last student of the late Professor Ilona Feher. He is also a violin teacher, a professor at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, in the Faculty of Arts at Tel Aviv University, and an artist-in-residence at Stony Brook University.
The USC Thornton School of Music was founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999. Founded only four years after the University of Southern California itself, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Southern California. The School is located in the heart of the USC University Park Campus, south of downtown Los Angeles.
The Colburn School is a performing arts school with a focus on music and dance located in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the Museum of Contemporary Art and across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is informally referred to as Colburn. It consists of four divisions: the Conservatory of Music, the Music Academy, Community School of Performing Arts, and Dance Academy.
Glenn Dicterow, is an American violinist and former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, as well as a faculty artist at the Music Academy of the West, following three years of participation in Music Academy Summer Festivals. He also holds the Robert Mann Chair in Strings and Chamber Music at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.
Yehuda Gilad is a professor of clarinet at the Colburn School of music and the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music.
Erica Muhl is an American composer and conductor who has been dean of the USC Iovine and Young Academy since July 2018. She formerly served as dean of the University of Southern California Roski School of Art and Design in Los Angeles from 2012 to 2018, and prior to that was associate dean and professor of composition at the Thornton School of Music. She received an Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999.
Jae Deal is an American composer, arranger, music producer, and orchestrator in various genres including pop, gospel, and hip hop as well as a professor at the USC Thornton School of Music. He's a session keyboardist, programmer, and bassist in Los Angeles, California. Jae Deal has worked behind the scenes and on stage with several premiere artists including Janet Jackson, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Mary Mary, Karen Clark Sheard, Ne-Yo, Faith Evans, Tye Tribbett, T-Pain, Jessica Simpson and Wynton Marsalis. He has also contributed to the works of Elton John, Jill Scott and songwriter, Diane Warren. Other projects have included performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and musical direction for Kirk Franklin’s Youth Ministry at Faithful Central Bible Church.
Daniel George Lewis was an American orchestral conductor and University Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California (USC).
Andrew Shulman is an English virtuoso cellist, conductor and composer. He is currently the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and maintains his cello studio at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, California.
Norman Shetler is a pianist, puppeteer and puppet constructor, and piano professor with Austrian nationality and American origin.
Giorgi Latso is a Georgian-American concert pianist, film composer, arranger, adjudicator, improviser and Doctor of Musical Arts. He is listed on the list of famous alumni from USC Thornton School of Music. Latso has won several international piano competitions and awards. He is best known for his interpretations of Chopin and Debussy. His concerts have been broadcast on radio and television in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
H. Robert Reynolds is the principal conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he holds the H. Robert Reynolds Professorship in Wind Conducting. This appointment followed his retirement, after 26 years, from the School of Music of the University of Michigan where he served as the Henry F. Thurnau Professor of Music, director of university bands, and director of the division of instrumental studies. In addition to these responsibilities, he has also been for nearly 30 years, the conductor of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, which is made up primarily of members from the Detroit Symphony.
Ted Hearne is an American composer, singer and conductor. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA.
David McLemore is an American tubist and Instructor of tuba and euphonium at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington.
Moni Simeonov is a Bulgarian violinist.
