Santa Barbara Music Club

Member Type: Musician

Ilya Sinaisky , Pianist

Ilya Sinaisky, pianist, was born in the Ukraine and emigrated to Israel in 1990. Following undergraduate studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, he earned his MM Degree from Tel Aviv University and his DMA Degree from the University of Maryland. Prizewinner at the Darius Milhaud Performance Competition, he was awarded the Robert McCoy Prize for Excellence in Collaborative Piano at the University of Maryland. Dr. Sinaisky has been a collaborative piano faculty member at Colorado State University, Heifetz International Institute for Strings, and the Aspen Music Festival, and currently teaches piano at Rubin Conservatory (Haifa) and is pianist for the Israeli Opera.

SBMC Concert Performances

Farley Neumann , Pianist

Farley Neumann, pianist, received his AA Degree from Cuesta College, and was concerto soloist with the San Luis Obispo Symphony in Brahms Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major. As a double major at UCSB, he earned his BA Degree in Composition and Piano Performance, and as winner of the UCSB Concerto Competition he performed Liszt’s Concerto No. 2 in A major. Farley has published Five Pieces for Piano (1985) and Four Pieces for Piano (1987), and currently is the owner of Dependable Appliance Repair in Santa Barbara.

SBMC Concert Performances

Laurie Neumann , Soprano

Laurie Neumann, lyric soprano, began singing at age 7 in her church’s Junior Choir, later receiving private voice lessons from Floyd Mussard. She received her AA Degree from Cuesta College, studying with Nella Girolo, and earned her BA Degree from UCSB, studying with Dorothy Westra and performing in recitals and opera workshops. Winner of the Monday Club Scholarship Competition in San Luis Obispo, Laurie has performed throughout the Central Coast and is currently Unit Commander for the Santa Barbara Cottage Health System.

SBMC Concert Performances

Paul Berkowitz , Pianist

Paul Berkowitz has recorded the complete Piano Sonatas of Schubert for Meridian Records to worldwide acclaim. He was described by the London Sunday Times as being “in the royal class of Schubert interpreters” and his CD recordings of the Last Three Schubert Piano Sonatas were included among the same newspaper’s Records of the Year. His recording of Schumann’s Kreisleriana was selected by BBC Radio Record Review as the best of all available recordings. He also released a series of three CD recordings of Brahms Piano Music. BBC Music Magazine reviewed Vol. II commenting, “…praise to Meridian, which has in the Canadian pianist Paul Berkowitz an artist who isn’t shy of taking on the kind of repertoire traditionally the preserve of more internationally high-profile artists. Rightly so, for he has a voice, a musicality, a bigness of pianism distinctively his own…his integrity is commanding, his stylistic authority convincing and his refusal merely to play the notes impressive.”

Mr. Berkowitz more recently recorded the Schubert Impromptus, Moments Musicaux, and other repertoire as the final two volumes of his 9-CD cycle of major works for piano by Schubert for Meridian, which he began in 1984. The Guardian of London noted: “A sparkling technique allied to a clear sense of line make these recordings particularly special.” All earlier volumes have been re-issued along with the two new recordings as Schubert Piano Works, in nine volumes. More recently he has taken an interest in the piano works of the French composer Francis Poulenc, several of which he will be recording for Meridian in the next year.

Mr. Berkowitz, a native of Montreal, Canada, is a graduate of McGill University and of the Curtis Institute, where he studied with Rudolf Serkin. He lived in Britain for 20 years appearing frequently at the Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls and on the BBC, as a soloist with major orchestras in Britain and Canada and at music festivals in Belgium, Denmark, England, Scotland, France, Italy and Spain. Mr. Berkowitz left the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he had been a professor since 1975, to join the music faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1993, where he is Professor of Piano and served as Chair of the Department of Music 2007-12. He has been invited to present master classes at major conservatories, universities and festivals, and his students have won prizes in numerous competitions, including the BBC Young Musician of the Year (Thomas Adès), the International Piano Competition Palma d’Oro in Italy, the Bradshaw and Buono International Competition in New York, and the Los Angeles Liszt Competition and have gone on to have concert and academic careers of their own in Europe, North America and Asia.

SBMC Concert Performances

Sofia Malvinni , Violinist

Sofia Malvinni, violin, stems from a musical family. She started violin lessons at age three with her mother, a Curtis Institute of Music and UCSB alumna. A Santa Barbara Music Club scholarship awardee, Sofia has won numerous prizes and awards, including First Prize in the 2019 Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Junior Competition. She is a three-time winner in the Santa Barbara Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, where she has served as concertmaster for the last four years. At age 11, she performed the Bach Double Concerto with the Santa Barbara Symphony under the direction of Nir Kabaretti at the Granada Theater. In May of 2022, she was invited by Maestro Kabaretti to play in the first violin section of the Santa Barbara Symphony.

She has performed in numerous masterclasses and received lessons with renowned violinists, including Benjamin Beilman, Martin Beaver, Nathan Cole, Jennifer Koh, and Kirill Troussov, and artists such as Eliot Fisk from top conservatories (Hans Eisler Hochschule für Musik-Berlin, Colburn Music School, Curtis Institute, New England Conservatory of Music, Royal College of Music) in the US and Europe. She has spent three summers at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and was also chosen for a masterclass at the Steinway House in Munich in May 2022.

Sofia graduated a year early from Dos Pueblos High School, having fulfilled her degree requirements as a dual enrollment student at SBCC. Always challenging herself, she excels at academics and sports. While in high school Sofia thrived as a member of the Engineering Academy and was also on the Varsity Girls Soccer team while continuing to play on the Central Coast Academy soccer team.

As a community service, Malvinni has given numerous performances to help bring aid to the people affected by the crisis in Ukraine. She has become an ambassador for Direct Relief and was honored in May of 2022 for her “extraordinary commitment to the health and lives of people affected by the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in the Ukraine.” Since the crisis in the Ukraine is still ongoing, you may contribute to her fundraiser online here.

Sofia is currently attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as an undergraduate violin major in the studio of Professor Simon James. She plays on a 1741 Guarneri copy by renowned German maker Bernd Dimbauth and is striving to win a competition where she can receive the loan of an old Italian instrument to further her career ambition to be a soloist.

In addition to all things musical, Sofia is a lover of nature, animals, soccer and sunsets. When not practicing she enjoys her time with friends and the outdoors. She thanks the Santa Barbara Music Club for the many scholarships she has received over the years and for the opportunity of this solo recital. She is grateful for the support from the Santa Barbara community.

SBMC Concert Performances

Tom Mueller , Organist

Tom Mueller serves as Professor of Music and University Organist at Concordia University in Irvine, California, where he directs academic programs in keyboard, composition, and church music. He is an active recitalist, composer, and educator.

Mueller won first place in the 2014 Schoenstein Competition in Hymn-Playing, held in conjunction with the national convention of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in Boston, Massachusetts, and was honored by The Diapason as a member of the inaugural “20 Under 30” list of influential figures in the world of organ and church music in 2015.
He maintains an active concert schedule, and frequently performs across the United States and Europe. In 2010, he performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach in a series of seventeen concerts in his native state of Maine. He has received numerous commissions for new choral and liturgical works, and performances of his compositions have been broadcast on national radio and television. As an organist, his recording credits include Scott Perkin’s A New England Requiem and O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New by the Choir of St. James’, both of which were released on the Gothic label. His organ music is published by ECS.

Research interests include the early organ and keyboard works of J. S. Bach, the performance practice of organ continuo playing in the classical-era concerted sacred music of Germany and Austria, and the American reception of the nineteenth-century opera star Jenny Lind. He has presented workshops, masterclasses, and lectures for numerous organizations, including numerous AGO chapters, and has served as a faculty member for the AGO’s Pipe Organ Encounter (POE) program for young organists. He has held professional leadership and committee positions at regional and national levels of the AGO and the Association of Lutheran Musicians.

Mueller earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music. He also holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame (M.S.M. in organ), and the University of Maine at Augusta (B.M. in jazz composition and piano), where he graduated summa cum laude. He resides in Orange County with his wife and daughters.

John Mason , French Horn

John Mason, French horn, is a freelance musician in the greater Los Angeles area, and records for motion pictures and television. His most recent work includes John Williams: Star Wars Episode VIII, Geostorm, and various Marvel Movie and TV projects, as well as The Black Eyed Peas upcoming album. John also performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Long Beach Symphony, Santa Barbara Opera and Santa Barbara Symphony, and is Principal Horn of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.

SBMC Concert Performances

Virginia Kron , Cellist

Virginia Kron, cellist, was hailed in the Los Angeles Times: “Accomplished cellist … has done her best to keep alive the music of our time” and by the Ventura County Reporter: “Virginia evoked a rich, dark tone from her 300 year-old instrument.” From her extensive career, of special note is her premiere of John Biggs’ Cello Concerto with the New West Symphony and subsequent recording with the Czech National Symphony, and most recently, her premiere of Jimmy Calire’s Jazzical Cello Sonata. Her original album, “The Crystal Harp,” evoked this tribute from the American Library Association Booklist Review: “This original humorous fantasy, written and performed by Virginia Kron, features clear, well-paced narration and delightful music.” She has a B.M. Degree from the University of Wisconsin and a M.M. Degree from USC, and has long been a pillar on cello at California’s Cabrillo Festival. A frequent collaborator with UCSB’s Ensemble for Contemporary Music with featured festival performances and recordings, her mastery of the music of our time is matched by recordings and concerts with noted Celtic harpist Kim Robertson.

SBMC Concert Performances

Evan Losoya , Oboist

Evan Losoya, oboist, has studied oboe for eleven years and played both oboe and English horn in orchestras since age nine. Currently a freshman Music Composition major in the UCSB College of Creative Studies, studying with Dr. Jeremy Haladyna, he has composed for various film projects, was commissioned to compose a 90-minute film score for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and his piano piece, Hypnotic Suggestion, was prizewinner in the MTNA competition. A piano student of Dr. Charles Asche, he performs on both oboe and piano as a member of UCSB’s Ensemble for Contemporary Music.

SBMC Concert Performances

Nicoletta Christina Browne , Cellist

Nicoletta Christina Browne, cellist, is from Tucson, AZ and has played cello since age 10. She earned her BA Degree in Chemistry from Pomona College, where she studied cello with Roger LeBow, and her MS Degree in Earth Science is from UCSB, where she was awarded an Earth Research Institute Fellowship for her project, “Petrogenesis of Late-State, High-K Magmas Within a Continental Arc: Insights From Petrographic Studies.” Ms. Browne performed in the Pomona College Orchestra, is a longtime member of the Santa Barbara City College Orchestra, and hosts a radio show, Hardly Strictly Americana, on KCSB.

SBMC Concert Performances