Santa Barbara Music Club

Member Type: Pianist

Pascal Salomon , Pianist

Pascal Salomon, pianist, was born in Israel, grew up in France, and has concertized as recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber music pianist to great acclaim in China, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Moldova, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.S. He has been featured soloist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Sinfonietta of Lausanne, La
Sinfonietta de Genève, Orchestre du Capital-Toulouse, and the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova, and has performed in major concert venues including Toulouse Capitole (France), Iasi Philharmonic Hall (Romania), Ernest Ansermet Concert Hall-Geneva and Stravinski Auditorium-Montreux (Switzerland), and Forbidden City Concert Hall-Beijing (China).

He studied at the Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris, earned the Virtuosity Degree at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Genève, Switzerland, and was selected for master classes with Paul Badura-Skoda, Jeremy Denk, Murray Perahia, Andras Schiff, and György Sebök. In 2017 he completed his DMA Degree at UCSB, under the mentorship of Paul Berkowitz and Dr. Lee Rothfarb; his research lecture was an in-depth study of music phenomenology from a performer’s standpoint.

Awarded “Best French Pianist” at the Senigallia International Competition in Italy, he was winner of the Maria Canals International Competition in Barcelona and received the Young Performers Scholarship from the “Société de Musique d’Yverdon-les-Bains” (Switzerland). UCSB honors included the Martin Kamen Fellowship, Ernö Daniel Memorial Prize for Distinguished Performance in Piano, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, and Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship.

His CD recordings include Pascal Salomon Plays Schumann, by ART Records, Czech Portraits, with violist Jacob Adams, by Centaur Records, and a live concert recording, Chopin, Ravel, Schubert, by the National Radio in Iasi, Romania.

Dr. Salomon taught piano at the Geneva Conservatory for nine years and presented master classes in Romania (University of Art and College of Music in Iasi), in Hungary (Crescendo Summer Institute of Art), and in China (Yunnan Institute of Arts). He is currently building the upcoming Santa Barbara Conservatory of Music, opening this September, which will offer a complete music education for grades 1-12 in the Santa Barbara area with a mentorship approach and possible scholarships. For more information, please visit their website here.

SBMC Concert Performances

Renée Hamaty , Pianist

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.

SBMC Concert Performances

Davis Reinhart , Pianist

Davis Reinhart, pianist, is 15 years old and a sophomore at Santa Ynez Valley High School. His musical studies began at age 4 at the Lompoc School of Music, studying with Dr. Bridget Hough and Jessica Collier, and he participated in numerous adjudications with the International Conservatory of Music Educators, receiving five Guild Awards. Davis performed three times at the annual Santa Maria Youth Showcase, sponsored by the Santa Maria Philharmonic Society, and has done independent study through the Royal Conservatory of Music, earning first class honors. Currently studying piano with Dr. Christopher Davis at the Santa Barbara School of Music, he plays trumpet with the Santa Ynez Valley Jazz Band and High School Jazz Club and also dances tap and hip-hop at the Fossemalle Dance Studio in Santa Ynez.

SBMC Concert Performances

Paula Hatley , Pianist

Paula Hatley, pianist, earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from the University of Arkansas, where she studied accompanying with William Gant. She has performed as a vocal studio accompanist, collaborating in numerous song recitals, and has been a member of several chamber ensembles. Active in the Santa Barbara musical community, she has served as accompanist for the Santa Barbara Master Chorale and Santa Barbara Children’s Chorus, and recently retired from the faculty of the Music Department at Westmont College.

SBMC Concert Performances

Allen Bishop , Pianist

Allen Bishop is a psychoanalyst, teacher, and pianist living in Montecito, California, with his wife Dena. Allen is a past president of the Santa Barbara Music Club, and is the founding Director of the Santa Barbara Beethovenfest. In addition, he served for eight years on the Board of Directors of the American Beethoven Society. While Allen has had a life-long interest in the piano and the music of Beethoven, it is only in the last 15 years that he has had the opportunity to study seriously with teachers including Zeynep Ucbasaran, Peter Yazbeck, Betty Oberacker, and Glory Fisher. He has performed frequently in the Music Club Concert Series and the Beethovenfest. As co-founder of the Montecito Chamber Players, he has performed at numerous retirement venues in and around Santa Barbara. Allen is the Dean of the Reiss-Davis Graduate Center in Los Angeles and maintains a private practice in Montecito.

SBMC Concert Performances

Robert Hale , Pianist

Robert Hale, pianist, holds a degree in piano performance from Southern Illinois University. After working in arts administration, including Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, he changed careers to software development. Robert studies piano with Zeynep Ucbasaran and plays chamber music with friends and colleagues in the Santa Barbara area.

SBMC Concert Performances

Marian Drandell Gilbert , Pianist

Marian Drandell Gilbert, pianist, received her BM degree from UCSB and her Masters in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music. She has twice attended the Music Academy of the West. She maintains a private teaching studio in San Luis Obispo, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is a soloist with the San Luis Chamber Orchestra and is on the Board of Directors of the SLO Symphony Orchestra.

SBMC Concert Performances

Anne Weger , Pianist

Anne Weger, pianist, has been involved in numerous musical theater productions and is an active collaborative pianist involved in local string, wind, and vocal studios. She received her AA in Music from SBCC, studied with Dr. Reginald Stewart at the Music Academy of the West, and continued her studies at California Institute of the Arts. Anne was pianist with the SB Master Chorale and Assistant Director of Music at First United Methodist Church, and is currently pianist on the staff of St. Mark United Methodist Church.

SBMC Concert Performances

Timothy Accurso , Pianist

Timothy Accurso, pianist, joined the Santa Barbara Opera team as Principal Pianist and Music Administrator in 2018, after having been on the music staff of the Palm Beach Opera and the Seagle Music Colony. He earned his BM Degree at Susquehanna University and his MM Degree at the Univerity of Illinois, thereafter becoming Resident Artist with the Utah Opera as well as Young Artist with Opera Saratoga, where he now spends his sumers on staff. Tim coaches with the Chrisman Studio Artists, engaging in education initiatives of Opera SB.

SBMC Concert Performances

Emma Lou Diemer , Composer, Pianist, Organist

Emma Lou Diemer was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 24, 1927 and died in Santa Barbara, California on June 2, 2024. Her father, George Willis Diemer, was an educator (college president); her mother, Myrtle Casebolt Diemer, was a church worker and homemaker. Her sister, Dorothy Diemer Hendry, was an educator, poet, writer, musician (married to Col. Wickliffe B. Hendry; their children are Betty Augsburger, Terri Sims, Alan Hendry, Bonny Gierhart). Her brothers were George W. Diemer II, an educator, Marine fighter pilot, musician, and John Irving Diemer educator, musician (his children are George W. Diemer III, René Krey, Jack Diemer, Dee Dee Diemer).

Emma Lou played the piano and composed at a very early age and became organist in her church at age 13. Her great interest in composing music continued through College High School in Warrensburg, MO, and she majored in composition at the Yale Music School (BM, 1949; MM, 1950) and at the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D, 1960). She studied in Brussels, Belgium on a Fulbright Scholarship and spent two summers of composition study at the Berkshire Music Center.

She taught in several colleges and was organist at several churches in the Kansas City area during the 1950s. From 1959-61 she was composer-in-residence in the Arlington, VA schools under the Ford Foundation Young Composers Project, and composed many choral and instrumental works for the schools, a number of which are still in publication. She was consultant for the MENC Contemporary Music Project before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland where she taught composition and theory from 1965-70. In 1971 she moved from the East Coast to teach composition and theory at the University of California, Santa Barbara. At UCSB she was instrumental in founding the electronic/computer music program. In 1991 she became Professor Emeritus at UCSB.

Through the years she fulfilled many commissions (orchestral, chamber ensemble, keyboard, choral, vocal) from schools, churches, and professional organizations. Most of her works are published. She received awards from Yale University (Certificate of Merit), The Eastman School of Music (Edward Benjamin Award), the National Endowment for the Arts (electronic music project), Mu Phi Epsilon (Certificate of Merit), the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (for piano concerto), the American Guild of Organists (Composer of the Year), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers/ASCAP (annually since 1962 for performances and publications), the Santa Barbara Symphony (composer-in-residence, 1990-92), the University of Central Missouri (honorary doctorate), and many others.

She was an active keyboard performer (piano, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer), and has given concerts of her own music at Washington National Cathedral, St. Mary’s Cathedral and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

In 2012 she wrote two works for violinist Philip Ficsor: Concerto for Violin (A Little Parlour Music, Remembrance of Things Past, Santa Barbara Rag) that he premiered October 19, 2012 with the Westmont College Orchestra under Michael Shasberger in Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. And a light piece for violin and organ: Holiday Madness Medley that he and Diemer premiered at the SB Music Club at First Congregational Church, SB on December 1, 2012. These works will eventually be published. Along with a new work titled Going Away they were recorded by Philip Ficsor and Diemer on the album, Going Away.

SBMC Concert Performances