One Foot in the Grave - UCLA Philharmonia Fall Halloween Spectacular

Orchestra Staff

Neal Stulberg (Beat the Stick!), Conductor

Jakub Rompczyk (Nomen Omen), Assistant Conductor 

Billy Xiong (Genshin Master), Assistant Conductor

Jacob Freiman (The Noon Witch), Orchestra Manager

Ian Lee (AB84), Orchestra Librarian

Skyler Lee (Chris Hanulik), Orchestra Librarian

Violin 1

Sean Takada (Takada in D), concertmaster

Rebecca Beerstein (Kim Possible)

Ally Cho (Alleycat)

Johannes Eberhart (Arthur Morgan)

Honor Frisco (Harry Potter)

Janice Hu ([ Reconnecting… ])

Kayla Lee (Kat)

Alisa Luera (A Maiden)

Sophia Shih (No. 2HB)

Mana Tatsuki (Ankle Biter)

Kelly Tsai (Evil Kitty)

Isaac Visoutsy (Batman)

Violin 2

Rubani Chugh (Cordyceps), principal

Mattin Aframian

Alex Collins (Monster Mash)

Ethan Cotta (Strahd Von Zarovich)

Jason Chen

Jimin Koo (Too Kool!)

Nathan Robinson

Bertrand Stone (Bertrand Russell)

Erin Tsui (Hecate)

Jocelyn Wang

Jeremiah Youngblood (Mr. Morale)

Viola

Damon Zavala (Space Cowboy), principal

Johnny Jang (Kim Chi)

Ian Lee (AB84)

Ellen Lozada (Bald Guy)

Jocelyn Pon (Itachi Uchiha)

Daniel Oviedo (Traumatized Hikkikomori)

James Renk (Prof. Brian Chen)

Layla Shapouri (Alice from Wonderland)

Cello

Kaya Ralls (Lois Griffin), principal (Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Franck)

Dylan Renk (Groceries), principal (Bernard, Dvorak)

Sarah Clark

Leon Cho (Steve)

Isaac Fromme (Prof. Ben Hong)

Isabelle Fromme (Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore)

Jasmine Lam (Bottle of Sriracha)

Edward Li (Dr. Jones)

Annabelle Lo (Average STEM Major)

Naohiro Nadahara ([Jawa])

Aerie Walker 

Peter Walsh (Peter Griffin)

Aidan Woodruff (Clayton Kershaw)

Bass

Skyler Lee (Chris Hanulik), principal

Zack Hauser (Yes Lord Vader.)

Dawson Lam (Chris Hanulik)

Luca Lesko (Chris Hanulik)

Leon Simmans (Chris Hanulik)

Atticus Simmons

Flute

John Robert Santiago* (Joe)

Emily Park* (Kevin)

Nayeon Cho* (Stewart)

* = piccolo

Oboe

Daniela Chavez (Jim)

Adelle Rodkey (Jolly Molly Mariner)

Tina Shigeyama (Little Boy)

Clarinet

Jacob Freiman* (The Noon Witch)

Aria McCauley (Mrs. Incredible)

Kai Nakkim (Jeremy Fragrance)

Esther Kim

Mia Kuo

* = bass clarinet

Bassoon

Abby Brendza (Daphne Blake)

Aaron Colon (Shaggy)

Davis Lerner* (Fred Jones)

Dani Santana (Velma Dinkley)

* = contrabassoon

Horn

Em Ellis (Alberto “The Most Beautiful Sound in the World” Cappiello)

Hannah Lee (Ein Heldenleben)

Esther Myers (Till Eulenspiegel)

Aziel Ressler (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

Michelle Yang (Bad Bunny)

Trumpet

Olivia Achcet (Rudolph)

Kenneth Brown II

Remy Ohara (Whatever)

Andrew Smith

Trombone

Ryan Heisinger (Mountain Ryan)

Reuben Molina (The Juice)

Bass Trombone

Carlos Castaneda (Mario Lopez)

Tuba

Daler Babaev (Zach Van Pelt)

Percussion

Xavier Paul (Baba Ghanoosh), Principal

Robby Good (Option 3)

Erica Hou (Ricky Bingbong)

Matthew LeFebvre 

Frankie Peacock (Frankiestein)

Viraj Sonawala (Harry Whodini)

Keyboard

Isabelle Ragsac (Yuja Wang)

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.

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 State Conservatory (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 returns 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.

Born in Mannheim, Germany, Christoph Bull has performed and recorded around the world, including France, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Russia, India, Taiwan and El Salvador, at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and at venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Lincoln Center in New York City, Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, the Cathedrals of Moscow, Saint-Denis and Salzburg as well as rock clubs like The Viper Room, The Roxy and The Whisky in Los Angeles.

Bull improvised his first melodies on the piano at the age of five and gave his first organ recitals and rock concerts with a band at the age of twelve. He’s collaborated with leading orchestras, conductors, choirs and ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, James Conlon, Carl St.Clair, Pacific Chorale, Pacific Symphony and Grammy-winning Southwest Chamber Music.

His organ teachers were Cherry Rhodes, Hermann Schäffer, Ludwig Dörr, Samuel Swartz, Christoph Schöner and Paul Jordan. He also participated in master courses with Marie-Claire Alain, Guy Bovet, Craig Cramer and Rudi Lutz.

Bull is the creator of the genre-crossing, collaborative multi-media series organica, combining traditional and contemporary music. His collaborators include DJs, video artists, live painter, instrumentalists and singers. He has also contributed to projects by Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, Harry Connick Jr., George Clinton and Bootsy Collins (Parliament Funkadelic), Cindy Lauper, Lili Haydn and Nishat Khan and opened the organ series at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa and Villa Aurora in the Pacific Palisades.

His solo album First & Grand, the world premiere recording of the Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ, was celebrated by the international trade press and showcases the stylistic versatility and expressiveness of his playing. His original song “Peace” was featured on the benefit album 2 Unite All together with songs by Peter Gabriel, Stewart Copeland and others. His song “Ali” was featured on the website for the collector’s book about Muhammad Ali by Taschen.

His music has been broadcast on TV and radio, including on NPR’s flagship station in Southern California, KCRW, on Classical KUSC and the Minnesota Public Radio program “Pipedreams”.

Bull is based in Los Angeles. In addition to his activities as a concert organist, composer, singer-songwriter, speaker, university organist and organ professor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he is organist-in-residence at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, playing one of the largest pipe organs in the world.

Outside of music, Bull is interested in politics, theology, cinema and sports. He’s read the whole Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita and Tao Te Ching, watched every Seinfeld episode and all Star Wars movies in a row in the chronological order of the storyline. He’s run the L.A. Marathon several times and won the National German Youth Championship in Baseball with his team BC Tornados Mannheim.

With “tones of pure gold” (Washington Post), Michelle Rice brings to her work a rich timbre and performance intensity. Before a recent change to dramatic soprano repertoire, Rice was hailed as a standout in mezzo repertoire, appearing in such roles as Herodias (Salome), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Flora Bervoix (La traviata), Lola (Cavalleria rusticana), Carmen and Mercedes (Carmen), the Witch and the Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Antonia’s Mother (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Gertude (Roméo et Juliette), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), and Serse and Arsamene (Serse), with companies including West Bay Opera, Opera San José, Fresno Grand Opera, Opera Cleveland, Annapolis Opera, Pasadena Opera, New Orleans Opera, and other organizations throughout the United States.

Career highlights include performances of Mrs. Grose in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Kennedy Center conducted by Lorin Maazel, the role of Dorabella (Così fan tutte) with acclaimed film director Jonathan Lynn, and Dominick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize-winning monodrama From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, performed for the composer.

Performances of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire have included the roles of Savitri (Savitri), the Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Mrs. Olsen (Street Scene), the Secretary (The Consul), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Anna (Tobias and the Angel), Jade Boucher (Dead Man Walking), Sidia Gruenfeld (Lost Childhood), Madre Melchora in the world premiere of Carla Lucero’s Juana with Opera UCLA, and the role of Kathy Hagen in Terence Blanchard’s Champion: An Opera in Jazz. Rice created the title role in Clara, an opera by Robert Convery based on the life of Clara Schumann. Of that performance, the Washington Post declared, “Rice was…reflective and confident in both her singing and acting… [she] excelled at dramatic subtleties and pierced scenes with her presence and clarity of voice–especially compelling during revelatory biographical moments.”

On the concert stage, Rice has performed the mezzo solos in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Händel’s Messiah, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Schubert’s Mass No. 5, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri, Elgar’s The Music Makers, Carlos Fonseca’s Missa Afro-Brasileira, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Musorgsky’s Songs and dances of death, among others, as well as the soprano solo in Korngold’s Passover Psalm, with groups including the Berkeley Symphony, Washington Concert Opera, and MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall. Her concert performances have run the gamut from the mezzo solo in a lauded performance of the Verdi Requiem with James Morris and Sharon Sweet, to a video presentation of the aria “To this we’ve come” from Menotti’s The Consul, featured in the National Museum of American Jewish History’s program celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 88th birthday. Rice’s recital programs feature song cycles such as Mohammed Fairouz’ Jeder Mensch with texts from the diary of Alma Mahler, and Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen.

Rice is exploring producing new classical works for the voice as an additional creative avenue. In 2021, she commissioned, produced, and performed a video recital of new works for the voice by UCLA student composers called Song Gallery. In 2022, she commissioned, fully produced, and performed a one-act chamber opera about Lady Macbeth called The Queen, My Lord, Is Dead. The premiere of The Queen was an outstanding success, and the creative team is preparing a studio recording of the opera for release and pursuing additional productions of the work.

Rice holds degrees from the University of Washington (Bachelor of Music), the University of Maryland Opera Studio (Master of Music), and the University of California Los Angeles (Doctor of Musical Arts).

YUKI IZUMIHARA is a scenic, projection, and production designer born in Shimonoseki City, Japan and based in Oakland, CA.
Ms. Izumihara’s work is influenced by years of martial arts training and is animated by a belief in discipline, ethics and craftsmanship.

Recent engagements include projection design for Cirque Musica’s Holiday Wonderland, production design for Semele and Tosca with Opera Santa Barbra; scenic design for INTERSTATE with East West Players; projection design for The Cuban Vote with Miami New Drama (winner of Carbonell Awards Outstanding Achievement of an Artistic Specialty for Projection Design); scenic design for The Capulets and the Montagues with Opera Omaha; Sanctuaries with Third Angle New Music; production design for QUANDO with Heartbeat Opera, The Fall of the House of Usher and desert in with Boston Lyric Opera. Her work has been featured at LA Opera, the New World Symphony, The Adrienne Arsht Center, San Diego Opera, the Hammer Museum, Getty Villa Museum, and various theaters in Los Angeles.

As an artist, graphic designer, and animator with an emphasis on spatial composition and color narrative, Yuki aims to clarify, establish and amplify project identities through visual language, including Long Beach Opera’s 2022 vision//revision season art, title card design for Opera Philadelphia’s La voix humaine, Opera Omaha’s ONE Festival 2018-2022, and various projects in developmental stages.