Santa Barbara Music Club

Member Type: Musician

Mandee Sikich , Pianist, Director Emeritus

Mandee Sikich completed her MM degree in Collaborative Piano in 2014 with Robert Koenig at UCSB where she was the recipient of a full-tuition music department fellowship. She also studied chamber music with Yuval Yaron. Mandee is the recipient of various awards including the Musician of the Year award (The Master’s College), the Christopher Parkening Scholarship for Excellence in Musical Performance, and the Estella Mays Memorial Award for Piano Performance. She has toured extensively to Italy, Germany, Israel, and Russia as a choral accompanist and served as the Westmont College Choir pianist from 2011 to 2014. She has maintained a private teaching studio in Santa Barbara since 2010 and is serving as the vice-president of the Santa Barbara Branch of the MTAC for the 2015-2016 season. Mandee has also worked as a music director for various theater companies in Santa Barbara including Elements Theatre Collective and Out of The Box Theatre Co. Her music direction credits Tom Greenwald Andrew Lippa’s John and Jen, Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and Duncan Sheik’s and Steven Sater’s Spring Awakening for which she received an Indy Award for Music Direction in May 2012. She has spent the past eight years accompanying various opera productions in the Los Angeles area and has also collaborated with numerous vocalists and instrumentalists for recitals, competitions, and recordings. This summer she studied for six weeks in Austria as a Lieder Studio pianist for the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz.

SBMC Concert Performances

Paolo Tatafiore , Pianist

Paolo Tatafiore is a native of Naples, Italy, and comes from a family of composers, pianists, conductors, and painters. He has concertized to considerable acclaim in Germany and the United States, as well as throughout his native Italy. His musical training began at age seven, and he studied piano with Claudio Graziano, organ and composition with Aladino di Martino, Bruno Mazzotta, and Vincenzo de Gregorio at the Conservatories of Naples, Avellino, and Salerno, while concomitantly studying Ancient Literatures and Archeology at the Federico II University of Naples. He was subsequently selected for masterclasses with such eminent pianists as Carlo Bruno and Maria Tipo, followed by solo and chamber music concerts and concerto engagements in Italy, including performances at the RAI (Italian Radio and Television) Piano Festival.

In the Italian Middle School and the Conservatory of Avellino he also became a passionate and devoted piano teacher; he has continued his pedagogical interests to this day, with some of his students having become internationally recognized performers.

After moving to the United States in 2000 he regularly appeared as soloist and chamber musician in major venues, working in close contact with the League of American Orchestras while continuing touring as a soloist in Europe. In 2009 he moved to Germany, where he became involved in multimedia projects with renowned actors Mario Adorf and Juergen Wegscheider, among others. In 2011, on the occasion of Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday he and Wegscheider toured with “Liszt in Italien,” a project incorporating texts as well as letters between Liszt and Marie D’Agoult, with music and video projection.

Among his recordings is a live performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 at the Herkulessaal der Residenz in Munich, Germany, with outstanding critical notices in major newspapers as well as the leading German magazine, Das Orchester.

Mr. Tatafiore has recently moved back to the U.S. and lives in Los Angeles, with upcoming engagements including recitals in California and concerts with American orchestras. As a composer, he has recently published a group of piano pieces and a set of variations for viola and orchestra that will be premiered in Ohio in October of this year.

SBMC Concert Performances

Johann Trujillo , French Horn

Johann Trujillo is a French horn player based in Santa Barbara, performing regularly with local ensembles such as the Santa Barbara Chamber Players, the Santa Barbara City College Symphony and Concert Band, the Ojai Pops Orchestra, and the Bottom-Line Brass. He is also a co-founder of the Los Padres Sound, a horn quartet that performs throughout the region from Goleta to Ojai. Johann studied horn at UC Davis while pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, balancing his love for music with his professional career.

SBMC Concert Performances

Thomas Joyce , Organist

Organist Thomas Joyce is Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church. Originally from Cambridge, England, Thomas has spent most of his life living in the United States. This past July, he finally became a U.S. citizen.

Mr. Joyce began his musical career as a boy chorister at the Washington National Cathedral, and continued his studies at Interlochen Arts Academy. He later attained degrees in music from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Yale University, and University of Washington. Before finding his home in Santa Barbara, Thomas worked for several churches and cathedrals throughout the United States as an organist and choral conductor.

In addition to his work as a church musician, he serves on the music faculty at Santa Barbara City College, instructs organ students from Westmont College, and is the keyboard accompanist for Adelfos Ensemble.

SBMC Concert Performances

Adán Fernández , Organist

Dr. Adán Fernández is the Director of Music and Liturgy/Organist at holy Family Catholic Church. He is also the University Organist and Adjunct Professor at California Lutheran University where he teaches Keyboard harmony and Worship and Music Courses. Dr. Fernández is the founding director of the Glendale Youth Symphony, a non-profit in Glendale California, and Associate Conductor of the National Children’s Chorus. Dr. Fernández has performed around California on some of its most prominent organs and performs a thirty minute program every month at Cal Lutheran for their Monthly Bach Recital Series. Dr. Fernández has degrees in piano, organ, and a doctorate in Sacred Music from USC with an emphasis in Organ Performance and Choral Music.

SBMC Concert Performances

Raymond Egan , Organist

Raymond Egan’s music has been performed throughout the United States, in Europe, in Australia, and at conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and The American Guild of Organists. He has had commissions from the General Assembly of The Unitarian Universalist Church and from California State University Los Angeles. His sacred music includes two masses, some larger choral works on environmental themes, and lots of choral, solo voice, and organ music. In the secular realm he is the composer of the score for the United States Steel documentary, Worlds of Von Braun.

He is the grandson of Raymond Egan, a member of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame for his songs such as “Ain’t We Got Fun” and “Sleepy Time Gal”. Raymond III was honored at the Ventura A. G. O. Chapter’s recent A Celebration of Ventura County Composers. He is presently the Organist of First United Methodist Church, Santa Barbara. He has also held positions as the Director of Music/Organist & Choirmaster of St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Los Angeles, and Minister of Music of Agape Christian Fellowship Church, Compton, California.

Raymond Egan was a composition student of Samuel Adler and John Corigliano, and an organ student of David Craighead. He has a Doctoral degree in conducting from the Thornton School of Music, The University of Southern California, where he was the Outstanding Doctoral student of 1996.

SBMC Concert Performances

David Singer , Clarinetist

Of David Singer, clarinetist, Joseph Horowitz wrote in The New York Times, “To describe his playing would be to enumerate a catalogue of virtues.” Internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Singer has built a distinguished career through performances and recordings as a Principal Clarinetist of the multi–Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (1978–2014), guest appearances with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and collaborations with some of the world’s most celebrated classical musicians, including Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Rudolf Serkin, Branford Marsalis, and members of the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets. Singer’s career highlights include two performances at the White House—first for President Jimmy Carter (1980) and later for President Bill Clinton (2000)—six summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, appearances at the Spoleto and Edinburgh Festivals, and over 100 recordings with Orpheus, including Grammy-winning albums (Gershwin’s World with Herbie Hancock and Music of Stravinsky). His acclaimed recording of the Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto was hailed by Gramophone Magazine in England as “one of the finest accounts around… exceptional… sensitive and expressive… technically brilliant.”

He has performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to concert halls in Vienna and Tokyo, on the BBC, and today his recordings mostly as a principal performer with Orpheus can be heard on Sirius XM’s Symphony Hall. His collaborations include a 1977 recording of a Max Reger Clarinet Sonata with Rudolf Serkin, later remastered by Pristine Classical, (pristineclassical.com) has inspired original compositions, such as Grammy Award-winning Robert Aldridge’s Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra, written for Singer and premiered with both Orpheus (East Coast) and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (West Coast), both to critical acclaim.

Beyond the concert stage, Singer appeared alongside Stockard Channing in The Lady and the Clarinet at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, performing the play’s score unaccompanied. He also played the role of a 1920s Polish klezmer musician in the May, 2024 UCSB’s production of Indecent.

Today, he performs with the Singer Chamber Players and the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Kuan Fen Liu. His debut memoir, From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall, captures his extraordinary life in music—sharing behind-the-scenes and often humorous stories of the legendary figures he has known, and offering inspiration not just to musicians, but to anyone chasing a dream. In September, 2025, it was announced that David Singer and From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall is the WINNER of The NYC Big Book Award in the category of – Autobiography. An audiobook of From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall with possibly one big surprise addition is in the process of being made. For more information, visit www.singerclarinet.com.

SBMC Concert Performances

Nicole McKenzie , Violinist

Nicole McKenzie, violinist, has performed widely as soloist and chamber musician. The Santa Barbara Independent declared, “McKenzie made a splash… she performed with gorgeous musicality.” Winner of the Sutton Chamber Music Award, she graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, earned a BM degree from Oberlin Conservatory, an MM degree from Florida State University, and studied with Gary Kosloski at the Music Academy of the West. She has studied improvisation with Christian Howes. Ms. McKenzie is concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra, and performs in the accordion/violin duo Continental Cafe. She played electric violin in M.O.B. Jazz Ensemble, and regularly concertized with renowned pianist, Betty Oberacker. She has taught music to students of all ages, and is currently the elementary music teacher for the Carpinteria School District. She has worked at UC Santa Barbara as a lecturer and as a music director and music performer in the Theater and Dance Department. She has created a collaborative dance and music improvisation group and has performed in various music styles including classical, jazz, folk, klezmer, and musical theater. She performs on a violin created for her by Michel Eggimann of Rome, Italy.

SBMC Concert Performances

Betty Oberacker , Director, Pianist

Betty Oberacker, pianist, is internationally acclaimed for her interpretations of both traditional and contemporary solo and chamber music repertoire, and has toured throughout Europe, Israel, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the U.S., including performances at Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Philharmonic Hall and Vienna Musikverein. She has been Artist-in-Residence at 55 universities, conservatories and music festivals worldwide, and many important composers have dedicated their compositions to her. Her musical gifts were evidenced at three, when she began to play the piano and compose entirely by ear. Piano lessons started at age seven, and at nine she was accepted on scholarship as the only child student of the noted pianist Beryl Rubinstein. Her BM/MM Degrees are from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her DMA Degree is from Ohio State University, where she was concomitantly a member of the piano faculty. Her discography includes Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (Clavier Records), A Bach Commemorative Recital (MIT Great Performances Archives), Chamber Music of Emma Lou Diemer (Orion), Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Century), John Biggs’ Variations on a Theme of Shostakovich (VMM), and Diemer’s Piano Concerto (MMC), the latter two works composed for Oberacker. Honors accorded her include a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Italy and the University of California Distinguished Teaching Award, and her students hold important positions as performers and teachers in the U.S., Asia and Europe. Dr. Oberacker is UCSB Professor Emeritus, and enjoys an active performing, teaching and chamber music coaching schedule.

SBMC Concert Performances

Eric Valinsky , Past President, Secretary

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.

SBMC Concert Performances