Music Through the Centuries

The Westmont Chamber Singers, Grey Brothers, director, is a select ensemble drawn from the Westmont College Choir. The ensemble offers elite, small-vocal-ensemble experience to advanced singers who wish to explore challenging literature written for few voices per part, and specializes in sacred and secular music from the 15th century to present-day. Their repertoire includes madrigals and motets of the Renaissance, contemporary sacred and secular music, folk-song arrangements, spirituals, and present-day jazz and pop music, as well as early Spanish choral music from Mexico and the United States. The ensemble comprises soprano: Lillyana Huerta, Bethany Le, Jessica Lingua; alto: Sharon Ko, Justice Patocs, Naomi Pulver, tenor: Christopher Browning, Kenny Galindo, Fritz Mora; bass: Alex Dell, Sean McElrath, Nathan Sirovatka.

Adelle Rodkey, oboist, received her BM Degree in Music Pedagogy, magna cum laude, from Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Illinois), where she studied oboe with Carl Sonik. A native of Santa Barbara, she was an oboe student of Anne Anderson and a piano student of Lana Bodnar and Marilyn Clemons. Honors accorded her have included the President’s Award from Wheaton College, as well as awards from the Music Teachers National Association and the Pillsbury Foundation. Adelle performs frequently in several orchestras and chamber music ensembles, and is Instructor of Oboe at Westmont College. As a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, she maintains a private studio of oboe and piano students.

Renée Hamaty, pianist, has performed worldwide as soloist and collaborative pianist. She majored in music at Occidental College, studying with Aube Tzerko, and has concertized widely as vocal and instrumental accompanist, including collaboration with Leonard Bernstein in West Coast premieres (Candide and Mass) and Stephen Sondheim in Chicago and Los Angeles. For fifteen years she was Music Director and pianist for “Opera & Broadway Under the Stars” concerts at Arts & Letters Cafe in Santa Barbara, and served as vocal faculty pianist for the Music Academy of the West’s 2013 MERIT program. In addition to her active piano collaborating schedule, Renée teaches private piano students of all ages in her Santa Barbara studio.

A native Manhattanite, Eric Valinsky has, for more years than he would like to admit, maintained dual careers in computer systems architecture and music. He was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Illinois, finally achieving his DMA in music composition from Columbia University. He studied composition with Walter Aschaffenburg, Salvatore Martirano, Jack Beeson, and Darius Milhaud; piano with Sara Crawford Drogheo and Emil Danenberg; and conducting with Harold Farberman. While living in Los Angeles, he became music director and composer-in-residence for The Storie-Crawford Dance Theatre Ensemble. Returning to New York, he served in a similar capacity for Danny Buraczeski’s Jazzdance, Uris Bahr and Dancers, and The New American Ballet Ensemble as well as composer-in-residence for The Rachel Harms Dance Company, Opera Uptown, and the Dance Department at City College of New York. He is currently Music Director for the American Dance & Music Performance Group and moonlights as founder and partner of Inlineos LLC, a strategic Internet consulting company.

Leslie Cook, mezzo-soprano, is a Santa Barbara Music Club scholarship recipient who is currently concertizing on both opera and concert stages in Europe and the United States. She earned her BM and MM Degrees from UCLA, studying with Vladimir Chernov, and while living in Europe she won First Place in the Vissi d’Arte International Singing Competition in Prague. Her performances include the title role of Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Czech Republic) as well as numerous major operatic roles and concert performances. Leslie has been awarded many honors, including First Prize in the Sigma Alpha Iota Competition in Los Angeles and the Young Musicians Foundation.

John Ballerino, pianist, was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and earned his DMA in Collaborative Arts from USC. His principal teachers have included Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Brooks Smith, and Martial Singher, the latter at the Music Academy of the West. An accomplished speaker about and performer of Spanish and Latin American music, he lectures and performs throughout the United States and the Caribbean and has served as Spanish diction coach for productions by the Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Master Chorale. Former Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor for Opera Santa Barbara, Dr. Ballerino is currently Continuing Lecturer of Collaborative Arts at UCSB.