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.

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.

Kayleen Kim is a first-year undergraduate student at UCLA studying music education and  English. Kayleen started her cello studies at the age of 9 under Jenny Hyunseung Oh, professor at Concordia University and currently studies under Professor Sarah Koo. Kayleen made her debut at  the Junior Chamber Music’s Honors Tour in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest with her piano trio. She  then performed at Carnegie Weill Hall after winning first place in the 2021 American Protégé  International Concerto Competition. Kayleen has won awards in other renowned competitions, including  the ENKOR International Music Competition, the Bellagrande International Music Competition, the  Great Composers Competition, and the Charleston International Music Competition. In addition, she  was a nominee for the Orange County Register’s 2023 Musician of the Year. As an orchestral cellist,  Kayleen has participated in the CASMEC All-State Symphony Orchestra for three years, where she  held principal cellist positions in 2021 and 2023. Kayleen is also committed to advancing music  education. She is the vice president of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) at UCLA  and was the COO and her high school branch’s founder and president of Interlude Musical Outreach,  a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides free classical music lessons. Outside of music,  Kayleen is the copy/layout editor at MUSE, UCLA’s Undergraduate Musicology Journal; a GA/Spec staffer at UCLA Model United Nations’ events; and a journalist specializing in entertainment policy.

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.

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.

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.

Praised by Opera News as a “gleaming, pitch perfect soprano,” soprano Leela Subramaniam has sung at some of the world’s most prestigious houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Gärtnerplatz Theater, Theater Basel, Irish National Opera, LA Opera, and Carnegie Hall. She was the 1st prize winner of the Joan Taub Ades Competition, as well as a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Competition, Tenor Viñas Competition, Giulio Gari Foundation, and the Zinka Milanov International Competition. Upcoming engagements include the title role of Laila Starr in Kamala Sankaram’s “The Many Deaths of Laila Starr” at Minnesota Opera, a night of operetta with South Bend Symphony, and the title role in Handel’s “Rodrigo” with Opera UCLA. Ms. Subramaniam received her M.M. and professional studies certificate in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music and her bachelor’s from UCLA in art history and music (vocal performance). She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in vocal performance at UCLA, studying with Michael Dean.

Aiden Tang is a fourth-year piano performance major at UCLA studying with David Kaplan. He started piano studies at age four and decided to pursue piano performance as his university major while studying with Markus Pawlik as a high school senior. Aiden attended the Decoda Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2024 and the Bowdoin International Music Festival in the summer of 2023, both of which significantly contributed to his chamber music experience and pianistic growth. Aiden was also a violinist in UCLA Symphony during his freshman year. At the moment, his favorite classical composer is Sergei Rachmaninoff, and his favorite non-classical artist of all time is Bruno Mars. Besides music, Aiden enjoys serving for AACF at UCLA, watching basketball, and occasionally playing Minecraft with his friends.

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.

Samuel Chung is an orchestral conducting major in the master’s program at UCLA, studying with Neal Stulberg and leading its ensembles, including UCLA Symphony, UCLA Philharmonia, and uclaFLUX.

A passionate advocate of cross-disciplinary collaboration, Chung founded the Magari Ensemble, a nonprofit organization that presents interdisciplinary and purpose-driven events across the country, in 2021. With the Magari Ensemble, Chung has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects with organizations including New England Conservatory’s Blind Glass Ensemble and the Schönberg Center in Vienna.

Chung serves as assistant conductor of the Vicente Chamber Orchestra and taught at the Montecito Music Festival as orchestra director in the Summer of 2024. He has also assisted and prepared ensembles for conductors including Paul Phillips (Stanford University) and Larry Livingston (USC Thornton) and conducted in masterclasses taught by Arthur Fagen, John Farrer, Nicolás Pasquet, Johannes Schlaefli, Gerard Schwarz, and others. In 2023, Chung was a finalist of the Respighi Prize in Conducting, issued jointly by the Chamber Orchestra of New York and Comune di Bologna (Italy).

Chung holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University, where his primary teachers were violinist Lucia Lin and musicologist Jeremy Yudkin.

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.

Heralded by the Los Angeles Times as “. . .a shining example of podium authority and musical enlightenment,” NEAL STULBERG has garnered consistent international acclaim for performances of clarity, insight and conviction. Since 2005, he has served as Director of Orchestral Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. From 2014 to 2018, he served as Chair of the UCLA Department of Music.  He currently serves as Artistic Director of the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience.

In North America, Mr. Stulberg has led the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Mexico City, National, New Jersey, New World, Oregon, Pacific, Phoenix, Saint Louis, San Antonio, San Francisco, Utah and Vancouver symphonies, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. A former assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Carlo Maria Giulini and music director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, he is a recipient of the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award.

Mr. Stulberg’s European appearances have included performances in Germany with the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and the orchestras of Augsburg, Bochum, Dortmund, Freiburg, Herford, Jena, Münster, Nürnberg, Oldenburg and Rostock. In Holland, he has conducted the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and led the Netherlands Ballet Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, North Holland Philharmonic, Gelders Orchestra and Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam. He has also appeared as guest conductor with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway), Warsaw Chamber Orchestra, Klaipeda Chamber Orchestra (Lithuania), Athens State Orchestra, London Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Barcelona Liceu Orchestra and Norwegian National Opera Orchestra.

International engagements have also included the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Korea Philharmonic (KBS), Queensland, Adelaide and West Australian symphonies, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta and Ra’anana Symphonette.

An acclaimed pianist, Stulberg has appeared as recitalist, chamber musician and with major orchestras and at international festivals as pianist/conductor. His performances of Mozart concertos conducted from the keyboard are uniformly praised for their buoyant virtuosity and interpretive vigor. In 2011-12, he performed the complete Mozart sonatas for violin and piano with violinist Guillaume Sutre at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall and at the Grandes Heures de Saint Emilion festival in France. In 2018, he performed throughout South Africa on a recital tour with saxophonist Douglas Masek and in 2022, appeared as solo pianist in the world premiere of Inclusion, a new work for pianist and chamber orchestra by Hugh Levick.

Mr. Stulberg has conducted premieres of works by Paul Chihara, Mohammed Fairouz, Jan Friedlin, William Kraft, Alexander Krein, Betty Olivero, Steve Reich, Peter Schat, Lalo Schifrin, Dmitri Smirnov, Earl Stewart, Morton Subotnick, Joan Tower and Peter van Onna, among others, and has also led works by UCLA composers Münir Beken, Bruce Broughton, Kenny Burrell, Mark Carlson, Ian Krouse, David Lefkowitz and James Newton. He conducted the period-instrument orchestra Philharmonia Baroque in a festival of Mozart orchestral and operatic works, and has brought to life several silent movies from the early 1900s, including the Russian classic New Babylon, Shostakovich’s first film score. In August 2022, he conducted the North American premiere of Bas-Sheve, a recently rediscovered and orchestrated 1924 Yiddish-language opera by composer Henekh Kon and librettist Moishe Broderzon, at the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto. In 2023, Stulberg led acclaimed performances of Dave Brubeck’s cantata, The Gates of Justice (1969) and the West Coast premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Symphony No. 6 (Vessels of Light) (2022) as part of the School of Music’s Music and Justice series, presented in collaboration with the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience.

Collaborators have included John Adams; Leonard Bernstein; Chris, Dan and Darius Brubeck; Dee Dee Bridgewater; John Clayton; Mercer Ellington; Michael Feinstein; Philip Glass; Morton Gould; David Krakauer; Lar Lubovitch; Peter Martins; Mark Morris; Angel Romero; Cornel West; and Christopher Wheeldon. He has conducted Philip Glass’ opera Akhnaten at the Rotterdam Festival and Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face with Long Beach Opera in Los Angeles, and has recorded for Naxos, West German Radio, Donemus, Yarlung Records, Sono Luminus and the Composers Voice label.

Mr. Stulberg has maintained a career-long passion for the training of young musicians. He has conducted and taught at the New World Symphony, Indiana University Summer Institute, Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, New Zealand School of Music, Henry Mancini Institute, Los Angeles Philharmonic Summer Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Interlochen Arts Academy, American-Russian Youth Orchestra, Turkish Music StateConservatory (Istanbul), National Conservatory of Belarus (Minsk), Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing), Capitol Normal University (Beijing), Shanghai Conservatory of Music and National Taiwan Normal University.  In December 2019, he taught and lectured in Israel at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and Haifa University and returned to conduct its symphony orchestra in June 2024.

A native of Detroit, Mr. Stulberg is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School. He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, piano with Leonard Shure, Theodore Lettvin, William Masselos and Mischa Kottler, and viola with Ara Zerounian.

Violin 1

Makiba Kurita*

Isaac Visoutsy*

Jason Chen

Rubani Chugh

Jonathan Han

Nina Huan

Jamily Lee

JJ Liao

Nathan Robinson

* principal

Violin 2

Alisa Gukasian*

Mana Tatsuki*

Johannes Eberhart

Kayla Lee

Lyndsey Lipscomb

Andrew Dela Peña

Kelly Tsai

Erin Tsui

Helen Wang

* principal

Viola

Stefan Kosmala-Dahlbeck*

James Renk*

Zara Amendt

Isaac Tin-Long Chan

Panithi Kachinthorn

Ellen Lozada

Daniel Oviedo

Layla Shapouri

Jerry Wang

* principal

Cello

Candice Oh*

Aerie Walker*

Leon ChoHolly Chen

Kayson Chen

Sarah Clark

Isaac Fromme

Naohiro Nadahara

Aiden Woodruff

* principal

Double Bass

Aidan Neuman*

Leon Simmans*

Luca Lesko

Terence Malloy

James Shogren

*principal

Flute/Piccolo

Katlyn Lang

Emily Park

Oboe

Emma Crawford

Khuyen Hyler

Clarinet

Max Kaminsky

Esther Kim

Nicholas Kim

Devin Walsh

Bassoon

Dani Santana

Daniel Torrero

Horn

Noah Arst

Em Ellis

Aziel Ressler

Abraham Zaman

Trumpet

Saúl GutierrezRemy Ohara

Andrew Smith

Trombone

Jason Bernhard

Ryan Heisinger

Sebastian Martinez*

* Bass Trombone

Tuba

Bradley Stires

Percussion

Madison Bottenberg*

Xavier Paul

Frankie Peacock

Kobe Sanders

Viraj Sonawala

* principal