Cayden Bloomer is a native of Pacific Grove, CA (famously known as “Butterfly Town, U.S.A.”)  He is a third-year undergraduate oboe performance major at UCLA and studies with Jonathan Davis.  Other teachers have included Eric Ohlsson, Emily Brebach, and Christopher Philpotts at the Brevard Music Center, and Elaine Douvas at the Hidden Valley Institute of the Arts. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, Cayden has performed at prestigious events including the Monterey Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, and Carmel Bach Festival, where he was an award winner in its Young Artists’ Showcase Competition. In 2022, Cayden performed the Mozart Oboe Concerto with the Youth Music Monterey Honors Orchestra after winning its annual concerto competition.  He recently won the 2024 Yen Liang Concerto Competition and performed the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto with the Diablo Symphony Orchestra. After studies with Gabe Young at the Central Coast Academy for Jazz and Orchestra, Cayden was selected to play English horn with a world-wide orchestra at Carnegie Hall through the Honors Performance Series. He currently plays oboe and English horn in the California Young Artists Symphony, a pre-professional orchestra in Southern California.

Gabriel Esperon is a 22-year-old violinist from Miami, Florida. He received undergraduate degrees in violin performance and economics at Vanderbilt University, where he studyied with Cornelia Heard. Prior to studying with Ms. Heard, his musical education was largely shaped by Eric Berken, Gary Kosloski, and Robert Davidovici. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree in violin performance at UCLA, studying with Varty Manouelian and Movses Pogossian.

In the summers of 2022 and 2024, Gabriel was a fellowship student at the Aspen Music Festival, where he served as principal player in the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Chamber Symphony, and studied and performed with musicians including Robert Spano, Augustin Hadelich, Bryn Terfel, and Nicholas McGegan. He was a finalist in the Vanderbilt Concerto Competition in Nashville and the Mary Hilem Taylor Competition with the Palm Beach Symphony. Gabriel has performed in masterclasses taught by Zakhar Bron, Paul Kantor, Grigory Kalinovsky and others. In addition to his performance activities, Gabriel teaches young students on a weekly basis through MusicTeacherLA and the W.O. Smith School. On weekends, he enjoys hiking, playing Catan with friends, and working on his motorcycle.

Chinese-born conductor Gan Xiong has led orchestras including the Case Western Reserve University Orchestra (Cleveland, OH), Tokyo Sinfonia, UCLA Symphony, Miami Music Festival Orchestra, and Bacâu Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), and has conducted student productions of musicals including “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” He has led youth orchestras in Shanghai including the Huangpu District Youth Orchestra and Shanghai Kite Youth Orchestra, where he served as faculty in a Baroque summer camp session and conducted its final concert in 2019.

Also a vocalist, Gan was a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus from 2021 to 2022, where he participated in a recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 3 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He holds a bachelor’s in vocal performance from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s in orchestral conducting from The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. His teachers have included Kathleen Horvath, Bruce Hangen, Charles Gambetta, and Ovidiu Balan; he has participated in masterclasses with Mark Gibson, Arthur Fagen, Apo Hsu, Robert Ryker, and John Farrer. He currently pursues a doctoral degree in orchestral conducting at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, studying with Neal Stulberg.

Habin Kim is a Los Angeles-based lyric coloratura soprano.  She received her undergraduate degree in voice performance at UCLA and is currently a Masters student at UCLA, studying with Juliana Gondek.

In July 2024, she made her professional debut with Long Beach Opera in the stage premiere of Pauline Oliveros’ “Bye Bye Butterfly,” directed by McCall Cadenas. This coming February, she will perform the role of Rebecca in the world premiere of Daniel Kessner’s “The Camp,”, an opera about a Japanese family in a relocation camp during World War II.  In 2023-24, Habin won second place in the Guild Opera Company Competition. She performed in UCLA’s “opera scenes” program in roles including Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), and Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites) . In November 2024, she performed the role of Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, directed by James Darrah, and in June 2023, appeared as Thérèse in Poulenc’s “Les mamelles de Tirésias,” directed by Alison Moritz.

Hannah Verduzco is a lyric soprano and fourth-year undergraduate at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she studies voice with Michael Dean and vocal coaching with Iris Malkin. Previous voice teachers have included Maria Fortuna Dean and John Buffett. She is the recipient of a 2023 and 2024 UCLA Opera Scholarship and anticipates graduating this June with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education, Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, and California K-12 Music Teaching Credential. Notable UCLA performances have included Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Dave Brubeck’s Gates of Justice, and Lera Auerbach’s Symphony No.6 (Vessels of Light) and the May 2024 world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s The Grand Hotel Tartarus. She has also performed with the Adoro Early Music Ensemble for two seasons. After graduation, Hannah plans to pursue a master’s degree in vocal performance and opera. She is passionate about culturally responsive pedagogy and performing diverse vocal repertoire.

Johnathan Ma is a first-year music education major at UCLA with a concentration in piano. A native of Riverside, California, he comes from a family of musicians who inspired his musical journey.  He began playing piano at age three, and graduated from Woodcrest Christian High School.

A former student of Dr. Chun-Yi Wang, Johnathan currently studies with Biguo Xing at UCLA. He has achieved significant success in competitions across California, including the Southwestern Youth Music Festival and the Southern California Bach Festival. He has also completed a certificate of merit program, earned state honors, and been invited to perform at multiple state conventions. He won the International Young Gifted Musicians competition, and as a result performed at Carnegie Hall’s winners’ recital. In addition to his solo activities, Johnathan has served as accompanist for his school’s choir tours and band concerts and has performed at numerous public community service events. A dedicated music educator, Johnathan has studied several secondary instruments, including cello, horn, and voice. He has participated in a wide range of ensembles, such as the JCM String Quartets, CYMO Orchestra, and Forum Music Festivals.  Outside of music, Johnathan enjoys swimming, playing board games, and traveling, including international community service trips where he shares his passion for music.

Romeo Lopez is an emerging operatic tenor and music producer from Long Beach, California.  He received his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from The Bob Cole Conservatory of Music and currently pursues a master’s degree in vocal performance at UCLA, studying with Juliana Gondek.

Sohee Park is a third-year undergraduate flute major at UCLA. A graduate of Seoul Arts High School, she participated in master classes taught by Denis Bouriakov, Carol Wincenc, and David Formisano. Her ensemble experience include performances with the Seoul Arts School Orchestra (2019–2021) and the California Orchestra Academy (2023).  Sohee has earned numerous accolades, including first prizes in M Music Concours, Eumyoun Concours, Classical Music Magazine, and Han Yae Concours. She has also performed at the Young Musicians Festival, Yaejin Young Artist Concert, and Seoul Arts High School Young Artist Concert.