Born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, Gemalene (“Gemi”) Rae Pacleb Acupan is a first-generation, Filipina-American conductor based in Southern California.  She has received orchestral training across the globe, studying with Venezuela Symphony conductor Rodolfo Saglimbeni, London Conducting Academy founder Denise Ham, Eastman School of Music conductor Neil Varon, and Pacific Symphony conductor Carl St. Clair. Acupan graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BM in Conducting and Trumpet Performance, as well as a minor in Leadership Studies, from Chapman University. At Chapman’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, she studied with Daniel Wachs and Tim Hall and was named Chapman’s inaugural Presser Scholar.

Outside of conducting, Acupan enjoys a career as an educator and trumpet player. She has presented numerous educational concerts with the Orange County Youth Symphony and the Huntington Brass Quintet, served as a teaching assistant at Idyllwild Arts Camp, and organized several Chapman University Honor Band Festivals. She currently teaches a private trumpet studio in the Los Angeles area. She also co-owns and edits Music Workouts by Gary Scudder, a music curriculum helping  students of all ages to maximize their musical success.

Acupan currently pursues her MM in orchestral conducting with Neral Stulberg at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music.

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 UCLA Symphony, assists in productions of Opera UCLA, and serves as a graduate teaching associate. Before moving to Los Angeles, Rompczyk graduated from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he served as Assistant Conductor of the Eastman Philharmonia and Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. In 2016-17 and 2017-18, he was a conducting apprentice at the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, where he was mentored by the orchestra’s chief conductor Mariss Jansons. 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 assistant conducting the world premiere workshop reading of Quake, a new opera by UCLA Professor Kay Rhie; concerts with the Eastman School and UCLA orchestras; and performances with Eastman’s OSSIA New Music Ensemble. Among the international orchestras he 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).  In Spring 2023, he will conduct a staged Opera UCLA production of Poulenc’s “Les Mamelles de Tirésias” in the two-piano version by Benjamin Britten and Viola Tunnard.

A passionate scholar, Rompczyk received the Erasmus Program scholarship to study at the renowned University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In 2021-22, he was awarded two prestigious UCLA research awards: a Department of Musicology Ciro Zoppo Research Fellowship and a Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program Award. Both awards have supported his ongoing research into the Hollywood composer duo of Walter Jurmann and Bronislaw Kaper.  He plans to write his DMA dissertation on Mieczysław Weinberg’s Symphony No. 6 (“Polish Flowers”).

Byron is a trombone player from Clovis, CA. He performs regularly on tenor, bass, and contrabass trombones.

Byron can be heard performing with groups such as the Disneyland Band, Santa Monica Symphony, South Side Symphony, and many others. In addition to spirited live performances, Byron has also recorded for various film, tv, and music projects.

Byron completed his undergraduate degree at the University of North Texas and graduated with a Master’s of Music from the University of California – Los Angeles.

In addition to being an in demand performer, Byron also loves teaching. He can be found teaching with the LA Philharmonic’s YOLA program, the Santa Monica – Malibu Unified School District, and Pierce College in the Los Angeles area.

When he is not working, Byron enjoys cooking, playing video games, and spending time with his cat, Dizzy.

UCLA Symphony Roster

+Indicates Principal

Violin I

Srijan Satpathy+

Brian Cheng

Ariana Chin

Ethan Cotta

Matheo Irazabal

David Jang

Grace Liang

Kevin Nam

Bertrand Stone

Yun-Rong Ting

Mingye Wang

Jacey Yang

Elinor Yeo

John Yoon

Jerimiah Youngblood

Violin II

Kaeshav Chandrasekar+

Christian Byun

Santiago Cardenas

Charlie Russell

Yassna Khosravi

Viviana Hsiao

Conley Ball

Michael Lee

Robert Lee

Iris Shen

Camila Blank

Emily Hao

Alexa Jennings

Verna Chen

Amanda Martin

Vanessa Niu

Isabelle Preston

Jacey Yang

Viola

Coleman Hoffner+

Madeleine Cunningham

Andrew Kim

Ashley Lee

Nikhil Seshadri

Mallika Shah

Jeffrey Shen

Jason Stange

Ariel Villaroya

Cello

Joshua Ferrer+

Katie Lee

Emma Morrison

Caroline Ozmun

Abigail Tsai

Zachary Tu

Camila Wilson

Emma Yim

Alex Yu

Daniel Zhang

Bass

Isabel Dobrev

Dharma Dorazio

Robert Li

Flute

Leda Knowles

Yundian Cao

Shannyn Sul

Piccolo

Leda Knowles

Oboe

Cayden Bloomer

Emma Crawford

Katie Rusalov

English Horn

Cayden Bloomer

Clarinet

Shiun Choi

Cyrus Hashemi-Asasi

Jay Kim

Kim Siyeon

Bassoon

Kevin Bae

Daniela Santana

Contrabassoon

Daniela Santana

French Horn

Vasilis  Magaziotis

Daniel  Wang

Michelle Yang

Abraham Zaman

Trumpet

Christian Cruz

Saul Gutierrez

Morgan Michalik

Trombone

Elek Fenyes

Spencer Mar

Arnav Saxena

Tuba

Osi Atikpohh

Bradley Stires

Percussion

Lucas Bollenbecker

Megan DeMott

Frank Peacock

Kobe Sanders

Shawronna Sengupta

Audrey Sherrill

Viraj Sonawala

Harp 

Ginger Brucker

Piano

Terry Hsu

Celesta

Terry Hsu

+Indicates Principal