UCLA Philharmonia

Mathew Harget is a woodwind artist, graphic designer, and administrator specializing in classical saxophone based in Los Angeles. Beginning as a jazz musician, Mathew has spent many years as a member of various big bands. He has previously performed at the OMEA annual conference with featured artist Bobby Selvaggio and performed alongside guests Wayne Bergeron and Rusty Higgins. Once Mathew experienced the nuanced vibrance of classical saxophone, he began his transition away from the jazz world, and into the sphere of classical saxophone. Never fully giving up his roots, Mathew continues to imbue the liveliness of big band jazz into the classical saxophone realm to give emotional, dynamic performances.

Mathew received a Bachelor of Music (BM) in Saxophone Performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2020 where he studied with Dr. J. Michael Weiss-Holmes. During his time there he cultivated his love of chamber music as a member of the CCPA Saxophone Quartet. Currently, Mathew is a student of Dr. Jan Berry Baker at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA and will receive a Master of Music (MM) in Saxophone Performance this spring. He will be continuing to attend UCLA to start his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in the fall of 2023. Mathew is a recipient of the Gluck Fellowship and is a member of the Gluck Saxophone Quartet. They regularly perform free concerts for the Los Angeles community. Mathew has participated in chamber workshops by the Fifth House Ensemble (CCPA) and DECODA (Gluck). As an orchestral saxophonist, he has performed several times with the UCLA Philharmonia and UCLA Symphony. Mathew has performed in masterclasses for Taimur Sullivan, Kenneth Tse, Eugenia Moliner, Denis Michael, Scott Hostetler, Pat Posey, Michael Hernandez, and Arno Bornkamp with additional studies from Thomas Snydacker and James Lang. Mathew recently gave his Royce Hall debut as a winner of the 2022 UCLA All-Star Competition, premiering Piet Swerts’ arrangement of Klonos for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra.

Mathew had the opportunity to curate content for the North American Saxophone Alliance’s (NASA) social media accounts leading up to and during the 2020 biennial conference in Tempe, Arizona. He also redesigned the brand identity for the Chicago Saxophone Day and the Chicago Saxophone Institute. Since their redesigns, Mathew has served as the graphic designer for both annual events. He regularly designs promotional materials for local recitals and events. Mathew will be continuing creative endeavors with the hope of further involvement in marketing and arts administration.

Polish-born conductor Jakub Rompczyk is a third-year DMA orchestral conducting major at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, studying with Neal Stulberg. At UCLA, he co-directs the campus-wide orchestra UCLA Symphony, assists in productions of Opera UCLA, and serves as a graduate teaching associate. Before moving to Los Angeles, Rompczyk graduated with an MM from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he served as Assistant Conductor of the the Eastman orchestras. In 2016-17 and 2017-18, he was a conducting apprentice at the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he was mentored by the orchestra’s former chief conductor Mariss Jansons. As the recipient of the Erasmus Program scholarship, Rompczyk studied conducting under Uros Lajovic at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He has participated in masterclasses with Bertrand de Billy, Mark Gibson, Nicolas Pasquet, Leonard Slatkin, Mark Stringer, Kirk Trevor, and David Zinman.

Recent engagements include conducting the final performance of Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” for Opera UCLA, serving as an assistant conductor for the production of “La traviata” at Opera Santa Barbara, and leading the world premiere workshop reading of “The Grand Hotel Tartarus,” a new opera composed by Richard Danielpour. In June 2023, Jakub will conduct a staged Opera UCLA production of Poulenc’s “Les mamelles de Tiresias” in the two-piano version by Benjamin Britten and Viola Tunnard.

Among the international orchestras Jakub has conducted are the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), MAV Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), and Poznan Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra (Poland).

A passionate scholar, he has received several prestigious UCLA research awards: a Department of Musicology Ciro Zoppo Research Fellowship and two Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program Awards. The awards have supported his ongoing research into the Hollywood composer duo of Walter Jurmann and Bronislaw Kaper, as well as Polish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Jakub’s DMA dissertation will focus on Weinberg’s Symphony No. 8 “Polish Flowers.”

UCLA PHILHARMONIA

Neal Stulberg, conductor

Jakub Rompczyk and Gemalene Acupan, assistant conductors

Jacob Freiman, orchestra manager

Ian Lee and Skyler Lee, orchestra librarians

VIOLIN I

Ela Kodzas, concertmaster

Rebecca Beerstein

Rubani Chugh

Janice Hu

Alisa Khodos

Alisa Luera

Michelle Sheehy

Sean Takada

Jocelyn Wang

Mingye Wang

VIOLIN II

David Chang, principal

Ethan Cotta

Anika Hirai

Kayla Lee

Kayla Phan

Arya Shapouri

Sophia Shih

Angel Sun

Emily Taylor

Marina Wong

VIOLA

Damon Zavala, principal

Charlotte Goode

Ian Lee

Subin Lee

Ellen Lozada

Daniel Oviedo

Jocelyn Pon

Layla Shapouri

Amy Takagi

Larry Joe Williams

CELLO

Isabelle Fromme, principal

Alvin Liu

Kaya Ralls

Minnie Seo

Peter Walsh

DOUBLE BASS

Lee Skyler, principal

Luca Lesko

Atticus Simmons

FLUTE

Yundian Cao

Na Yeon Cho

John Robert Santiago*

* = Piccolo

OBOE

Mana Chan*

Gianna Colombo*

Katie Rusalov

* = English horn

CLARINET

Nicholas Kim

Darren Liou*

Alex Parlee

Devin Walsh

Yijin Wang

* = Bass clarinet

BASSOON

Abby Brendza 

Tobias Menon

Matthew Rasmussen

* = contrabassoon

TRUMPET

Emma Breen

Kenneth Brown II

Saúl Gutierrez

Andrew Smith

(Nick isn’t playing, I believe.  Saúl is taking his place on Delius.)

HORN

Vincent Jurado

Hannah Lee

Esther Myers

Drew Slipka

Abraham Zaman

TROMBONE

Nathan Culcasi

Spencer Mar

Robert Verdugo

BASS TROMBONE

Jason Bernhard

TUBA

Errol Rhoden

PERCUSSION

Alejandro Barajas, principal

Celeste Crabb

Matthew LeFebvre 

Frank Peacock

HARP

Ginger Rose Brucker

CELESTA

Terry Hsu

PIANO 

Austin Ho