UCLA Symphony

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.

Oliver Chan is a conductor, pianist, harpsichordist, and organist. He earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music degrees in piano performance at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he studied with Walter Ponce. He then received a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music of Cal State Long Beach, where he studied with Johannes Müller Stosch. Chan currently pursues his doctoral degree in orchestral conducting at UCLA with Neal Stulberg. Other conducting teachers have included Dean Anderson, Jacob Sustaita, Edward Dolbashian, Andreas Mitisek, Mark Gibson, Neil Varon, and Kenneth Kiesler. Chan is currently music director of the Los Angeles-based opera company Opera Italia and staff accompanist at UCLA and Santa Monica College. In November 2025, he served as assistant conductor of Opera UCLA’s production of Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw.”

Makiba Kurita currently pursues a Master of Music in Violin Performance at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she studies with Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where she studied with Nelson Lee and Stefan Milenkovich and was awarded multiple merit-based scholarships.

As a soloist, Makiba has received recognition in several competitions, including the Conant Concerto Competition, Midwest Conservatory Concerto Competition, Paul Rolland Violin Competition, and the Thomas J. Smith Competition. She was also a semifinalist for a violin position with LA Opera last June.

In orchestral settings, she has served as concertmaster for numerous ensembles, including the Illinois Honors All-State Orchestra, the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and UCLA Philharmonia. She has also performed as a first violinist with the NAfME National Symphony Orchestra and with ensembles including the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia da Camera. She is currently a violinist with the California Young Artists Symphony (CYAS) and a fellow of the UCLA Gluck Program.

In 2020, she launched the Coronyan Violin YouTube channel, where she shares violin covers of Japanese pop music, film soundtracks, and classical works. Her online presence has led to performances across the United States, Japan, and Europe, including appearances at the University of Illinois, collaborations with members of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and performances at the Young Artists Bayreuth Festival in Germany. She also appeared as a violinist in Don Toliver’s recent music video, Excavator.

In Japan, she has performed in a variety of community spaces, from concert venues to train stations and schools, bringing violin music to new and diverse audiences. In her free time, Makiba enjoys cooking, baking, playing video games, and spending time with her family.