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New Stuff
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| * New pictures in the gallery from the Young Artist Jazz Series at Catalinas in April, the Techworks Concert at the Colony Theater in May, and the Spring Orchestra Concert in Downey in May |
| * Order a DVD of many of the 2007-08 LACHSA performances including the Music Gala. See the Announcements column or click here to find out how to orderDVDs |
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* Now you can download video from some of the recent performances. Go to the music player page and if there is a v next to the title of a song that means there is video for that song.
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* Check back often for new stuff on lachsamusic.org
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Doc's Corner
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At the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Dr. Castro has developed
one of the premier high school music programs in the country where he has served
as chair for twelve years. Most recently in 2006, the LACHSA Music Program received
the prestigious Grammy Signature Schools "Gold" Award given to only six high schools
nationally by the Grammy Foundation. His students and ensembles continue to win
awards at the national and state level. For his contribution to music, Dr. Castro
has earned numerous accolades including Distinguished Teacher Award from the White House
Commission on Presidential Scholars. Dr. Castro holds a Ph.D. from UCLA in composition.
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I want to take this moment to congratulate the class of 2008 and to say
thank you for your dedication and commitment over the past 4 years. I also
want to thank all music families and students for a wonderful year of music
performances. It was my pleasure to attend almost every performance and each
one left me with a sense of pride as I watched and heard the growth in all
our ensembles throughout the year. I hope you all take a moment to thank
your talented and dedicated music instructors. They all share your love of
music and are dedicated to our program and all our students.
Click the following link for a
tentative music performance schedule
for our 2008-09 school calendar. Please understand these dates are tentative and more
performances will be added during the summer and throughout the early part
of the year. I am sending this to all of you because many of you have
already asked me for dates. Since I am on the topic of performances, I want
all of you to come up with ways we can increase our attendance at all our
performances, next year. We are fortunate to have many of the top ensembles
in the state and country. Our students and their directors work very hard
for weeks and months to prepare for these concerts and productions. They
deserve everyone's support. I encourage all of you to give this some thought
over the summer and let me know if you have any ideas on how we can
accomplish this.
I want to give a special thank you to Eric Gurrola who put together and
maintained our music web site all year. Thank you also to Clif Lipson and
Nancy Saven who shared their photographs with us throughout the year. As
always, you can check this website to see our latest news, excerpts from our
performances and photographs. Please continue to check for updates. May you
all have a restful summer.
Sincerely,
Dan Castro
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Upcoming LACHSA Music Events
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| Jun 19 |
2:00-Everyone participating in graduation report to State Playhouse for
dress rehearsal.
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| Jun 20 |
Last Day of School
6:00 PM Graduation Ceremony at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Tickets avaialable from the LACHSA Foundation at the LACHSA Office June 9-18
12:30-Everyone performing report to artist entrance of Dorothy Chandler
and wait backstage for call to stage.
1:00-Graduation rehearsal begins at Dorothy Chandler stage.
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For details and more events, see the calendar
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Announcements
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| * Order a DVD of many of the 2007-08 LACHSA performances including the Music Gala. Click here to find out how to orderDVDs |
| * Order a DVD of the hugely successful Beggar's Opera performed by LACHSA Opera Students on November 16 and 17, 2007. Click here to find out how to order the DVD |
| * We are currently selling our latest LACHSA Jazz CD for $15. This CD features recordings from our Jazz Ensemble, Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo. It was recorded last May. CD's can be purchased directly in the music office. Checks can be made payable to LACHSA Foundation. |
| * Check out www.bridgetomusic.com for information on music schools. |
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Please read the following message from the Music Students Service League of Santa Monica:
When: June 15, 2008 from 4:30- 6:00
Where: Pierre's Fine Piano's in Santa Monica
11039 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90064
Who: The Music Students Service League (MSSL) of Santa Monica is putting on
a program of music and asking donations for the St.
Anne's School in Santa Monica. This is an extremely poor school and several
music teachers have taken on this school to start a music program. The MSSL
program is running a benefit concert to help fund their music program. They
went from having zero music to now having a class of guitars, some
percussions and a music curriculum. Hopefully one day they will have a
flourishing music department.
Anyone who wants to participate can be gaining volunteer experience by
offering music as a service. This helps society and helps the student in
their college applications.
I hope to grow this volunteer music group at LACHSA next year. It has done
really well with the MSSL group. We have had many performances at senior
homes, we have raised money for the needy and we have offered music in
community settings. June 15th is a start to grow the program at LACHSA.
Anyone interested in playing please contact Quentin Mulligan,
email address: bassoonwiz@verizon.net
phone- Home: 626-403-0626
Cell: 310-663-4247
Thanks for your help.
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Announcements Continued
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| * Congratulations to Mike Gurrola who is the recipient of our first Ray Brown Scholarship. |
| * Congratulations to Jason Goldman and our Jazz Ensemble which has been named as the Big Band winners by Downbeat Magazine in their recent 31st Annual Student Awards Issue (June 2008). |
| * Congratulations to Pat Bass and our Vocal Jazz Ensemble which has been named as the Vocal Jazz winners by Downbeat Magazine in their recent 31st Annual Student Awards Issue (June 2008). |
| * Congratulations to Maddie Deutch who received the Outstanding Performance Award in the Vocal Jazz Performing Arts High School Division by Downbeat Magazine in their recent 31st Annual Student Awards
Issue (June 2008). |
| * Congratulations to Teira Church who was awarded the Most Promising Artist Award from the Charles "Dolo" Coker Jazz Scholarship Foundation.
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| * Congratulations to Zak Rios Astor was awarded 2nd place in the Instrumental Awards on Piano from the Charles "Dolo" Coker Jazz Scholarship Foundation.
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| * Congratulations to Stephen Szabadi, John Egizi and Mike Gurrola who were selected to the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. They will play at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in July followed by a recording session at the Berklee College of Music and they will also play at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September.
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| * Congratulations to LACHSA Vocal Jazz Ensemble which took 2nd Place in the Vocal category at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 5, 2008. Vocal Jazz is directed by Pat Bass. The Vocal Jazz Ensemble members were:
Samantha Alon,
Austin Andrews,
Vanessa Coleen Campos,
Lauren Desberg,
Madelyn Deutch,
Jacob Fitch,
Hope Flores,
Lewis Hatkoff,
Benjamin Lipson,
Michael Mayo,
Lauren Mendoza-Ruiz,
Jonathan Pugh,
Jennifer Smith,
Francis Tull,
and
Ayana Williams,
and the rhythm section was
Dornell Carr,
Julian Cubillos,
Mike Gurrola,
and
Sam Miller.
| | * Congratulations to the LACHSA Combo A which took 2nd Place at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 5, 2008. Combo A is directed by Jason Goldman. The members of the combo were:
John Egizi—Trombone,
Mike Gurrola—Bass,
Levon Henry—Tenor Saxophone,
Sam Miller—Drums,
Adam Moezenia—Guitar,
Lilly Moon—Piano,
Taylor Murphy—Drums
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| * Congratulations to John Egizi and Mike Gurrola who were given Outstanding Soloist Awards respectively in the Big Band and Combo categories at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival. |
* Congratulations to the LACHSA Choir directed by Zanaida Robles which was selected as a "Showcase Choir" by the L.A. Master Choral selection committee and director, Grant Gershon. They will perform on Friday, April 18 at 11:00 in Disney Hall. The members of the Concert Choir are:
Sopranos:
Lil Ali-Oshatz,
Sarah Anderson,
Jaclyn Balacy,
Michelle Chan,
Haylee Coburn,
Natalie Felix,
Rachel Freed,
T'lark Galeas,
Nikki Lang,
Mindy Lee,
Laura Lee,
Samantha Martin,
Celeste Rose,
Stephanie Snell,
Kayla Staats
Altos:
Samantha Alon,
Anna Kate Blackford,
Lauren Desberg,
Madelyn Deutch,
Alexandra Fragosa,
Alana Haim,
Adrienne LaBorde,
Skye Lafontaine,
Meghan Mahowald,
Allysun Marshall,
Lauren Mendoza Ruiz,
Juliana Shiao,
Jennifer Smith,
Francis Tull,
Ayana Williams
Tenors:
Austin Andrews,
Derek Butler,
Kevin Gino,
Lewis Hatkoff,
Dominic Leslie,
Liam Lewis,
Benjamin Lipson,
Jack Lipson,
Zachariah Palmer,
Andres Ramirez,
Andrew Rogers,
Stephen Washington,
Albert Weathers
Basses:
Colt Beyer-Johnson,
Zachary Biggs,
Kevin Fernando,
Jacob Fitch,
Stephenson Holder,
Samuel Lopez,
Michael Mayo,
Eugene Olea,
Sean Sullivan
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| * Congratulations to the LACHSA Jazz Big Band, Jazz Combo, and Vocal Jazz. They have each been selected to compete in the Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Festival April 4–6, 2008. |
| * Congratulations to the following LACHSA students who were selected as semifinalists in the Music Center's Spotlight Awards. |
| Classical Instrumental:
Zach Price - Bass |
Jazz Intrumental:
Zak Rios Astor—Piano,
Julian Cubillos—Guitar,
Ryan Greenfield—Saxophone,
Mike Gurrola—Bass,
Levon Henry—Saxophone,
Max Zooi—Saxophone,
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Non-classical Dance:
Maya Guice,
Ariel Murphy
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| Ballet:
Tian Tan |
| Information about the Spotlight Awards can be found at www.musiccenter.org and a complete PDF list of the 90 semifinalists (15 in each of 6 performance categories) can be downloaded by clicking here.
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| * Congratulations to Madelyn Deutch and Lauren Desberg! Both have been selected for the 2008 Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Choir. This choir consist of only 8 top singers from throughout the country. They will participate in a full week of activities and performances including a performance during the Grammy Awards in February.
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| * Congratulations to Madelyn Deutch who has been selected as a finalist for
Young Arts Week 2008. Madelyn is one of 15 finalist in voice from across the
country and will traveled to Miami in January for a full week of master classes
and performances. Arts Week is sponsored by the National Foundation for
Advancement in the Arts and ARTS winners will share over $500,000 in cash
awards. |
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