The People
The band
Laila mameesh, flute
Laila Mameesh (Fremont, CA) is a senior Flute Performance major. Laila has performed in a variety of musical ensembles ranging from the Virtuoso International Flute Ensemble to the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps Band of the West Unit, the latter of which was invited to perform for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. Laila can usually be found daydreaming about playing video game music for a living.
Scott Pastor, clarinet
Scott Pastor (Manteca, CA) is a junior Clarinet Performance major at the University of the Pacific. Over the past several years, Scott has participated in many ensembles including honor bands, jazz bands, and community bands, such as the Azores Band of Escalon, a Portuguese band. He has studied clarinet with Art Holton at San Joaquin Delta College, and is currently studying with Dr. Patricia Shands.
Thomas hubel, trumpet
Thomas Hubel (Mountain View, CA) is a third year Music Education major. He has been playing the trumpet for over 10 years, and has performed in masterclasses with Mark Inouye and David Turnbull. An avid supporter of the marching arts, Thomas has spent five years with the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps. He is very excited to cultivate a new community of contemporary music at Pacific!
joshua dunsford, trombone
Joshua Dusford (San Mateo, CA) is currently a senior Music Education major at University of the Pacific. He has experience playing in classical, jazz, funk, pop, ska, rock, reggae, and Latin genres as well as performing in the pit orchestras of several musicals in the SF Bay Area. Always on the search for finding ways to expand his musical knowledge, he joined 28/78 in order to start learning about the foreign topic of new music. When he is not performing, Joshua enjoys reading, spending time with friends, and working with the Boy Scouts of America to help teach younger scouts.
diego bustamante, keyboards
Diego Bustamante (Paradise, CA) is a sophomore Piano Performance major at University of the Pacific. He has studied piano for 12 years and has been an active performer throughout California, appearing as a solo artist, chamber musician, collaborative pianist, and concerto soloist. In addition to being a classical musician, he is also an active ragtime pianist, and is a regular performer at the Sutter Creek and West Coast Ragtime Festivals. Aside from his passion for music, Diego is also an avid birder and overall nature enthusiast.
Peter altamura, electric bass
Peter (Santa Rosa, CA) is a sophomore Music Composition major. His composing style reflects that of Tuomas Holopainen, Hans Zimmer, and Howard Shore. As a performer he has been playing bass and trumpet for seven years in many types of ensembles including classical, jazz, rock, punk, Christian and experimental. In addition to being a classical composer and performer Peter currently writes and plays bass in blues rock band Stone Salad and art-punk band Backwards Compatibility. Aside from music, Peter is an avid BMW enthusiast, movie buff and outdoorsman.
Fernando Lozano, percussion
Fernando Lozano (Pittsburg, CA) is a junior Music Education major. At University of the Pacific, Fernando plays in various ensembles and studies under Brian Kendrick and Jonathan Latta. He is at home in jazz and other non-classical styles, and can be found jamming away on drum kit. Fernando is also a trumpet player, and performs on the lead part with the Pacific Jazz Band.
micah vogel, violin
Micah Vogel (Spokane, WA) is a senior Violin Performance major. As an eclectic violinist, vocalist, and percussionist, Micah performs with a diverse range of University and student-run ensembles at Pacific, including the Pacific Stocktones, Flagship Barbershop Quartet, Zane DeBord Blackbird, and the UOP Symphony Orchestra, where he has been concertmaster for the past two years. Micah is a committed performer of and advocate for both chamber and contemporary music, organizing large-scale extracurricular projects such as Fall 2017’s Duets with Friends recital, or his upcoming New Works for Violin project (more details to come).
Sabrina boggs, violin
Sabrina Boggs (Visalia, CA) is a senior Violin Performance major. She works as a Conservatory Student Representative to assist in the recruitment of prospective students. Sabrina is the President of the Mu Eta chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon, the Vice President of Pacific’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter, and a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.
Anne Plescia, viola
Anne Plescia (Sacramento) is a sophomore Violin/Viola Performance major. Anne started playing violin at age 3, and became very involved with the Sacramento Youth Symphony ensembles, including several years in the organization’s top ensemble, the Premier Orchestra, under the baton of conductor Michael Neumann. Anne was also the Concertmaster of the Sierra Mountain Music Camp Orchestra from 2014-2018, under conductor Leo Gravin. She also performs in the Summer Chamber Music Workshop at CSU Sacramento, led by Susan Lamb Cook. Anne performed Symphonie Espagnol by Edouard Lalo in the 2015 Reno Pops Concerto Festival, and she continues to perform widely in California. She has also travelled to Catania, Sicily for violin Masterclasses and intensive studies at the V. Bellini University. She now studies violin and viola under Professor Igor Veligan at Pacific.
Laura Robb Martín
Laura Robb Martín (Madrid, Spain) is a sophomore Cello Performance major at University of the Pacific, where she is happy to be studying with Dr. Vicky Wang. She began her cello studies at the Madrid Conservatory at age 8. In her junior year of high school she received a scholarship to study with Martha Reilly in New York, during which she also joined the top orchestra of the Inter Schools Orchestras of New York under maestro Jeff Grogan. In her senior year of high school, she moved to Arizona where she studied with NAU professor Dr. Mary Ann Ramos and was an alternate with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. Laura holds a Grade 8 Diploma with Distinction from the ABRSM.
Tristen Collinsworth, electronics/Bassoon
Tristen Collinsworth (Tracy, CA) is a sophomore Bassoon Performance major. He has been learning music for 9 years, and has been studying bassoon for 5 years. He is currently a member of University of the Pacific's Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the San Joaquin County Honor Band, the Central California Youth Wind Ensemble, as well as several pit orchestras for musicals in central California. In his free time, he enjoys composing and arranging music, reading, and playing alto saxophone with the Pacific Pep Band.
andrew lu, conductor
Andrew Lu (Palo Alto, CA) is a senior Music Education major. He has worked with many different ensembles at Pacific as a conductor, and played in even more as a flute/piccolo player. An avid vocalist, Andrew has sung with the University Choirs, and is a member of the award-winning barbershop quartet Flagship. Andrew hopes to teach high school band after graduating, before pursuing a graduate degree in conducting.
28/78 EXTENDED FAMILY: Jenna Diebert, vocals; Nico Peruzzi, conductor; Peter Altamura, electric bass
Behind the scenes
andrew lu, artistic director
Andrew Lu is the founder & artistic director of 28/78 New Music Ensemble. As an active conductor the Pacific Conservatory community, he led performances with Pacific’s Choirs and Symphonic Wind Ensemble, in addition to several student compositions. Outside of the Conservatory, Andrew has conducted and music directed musical theatre productions with PEP and A Theatre Near U. He is also the Choral Assistant for the Stockton Youth Chorale.
An avid composer, Andrew has collaborated on two new musicals with A Theatre Near U, ’Twas Brillig (2015) and A Beautiful Glass (2016), the latter of which was nominated for an SF Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Original Music. He has also had several original compositions and arrangements performed in various concerts at Pacific.
Andrew is currently pursuing a B.M. Music Education with an Instrumental concentration at Pacific, where he studies flute with Mathew Krejci, composition with Robert Coburn, and conducting with Eric Hammer, Yejee Choi, Peter Witte and Harvey Benstein. He is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, NAfME, and the Barbershop Harmony Society. More at: musicbylu.com
An avid composer, Andrew has collaborated on two new musicals with A Theatre Near U, ’Twas Brillig (2015) and A Beautiful Glass (2016), the latter of which was nominated for an SF Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Original Music. He has also had several original compositions and arrangements performed in various concerts at Pacific.
Andrew is currently pursuing a B.M. Music Education with an Instrumental concentration at Pacific, where he studies flute with Mathew Krejci, composition with Robert Coburn, and conducting with Eric Hammer, Yejee Choi, Peter Witte and Harvey Benstein. He is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, NAfME, and the Barbershop Harmony Society. More at: musicbylu.com
Braydon Ross, education/development coordinator
Braydon Ross (Mountain View, CA) is a freshman Music Education major. He currently studies horn with Professor Jennie Blomster, and performs in Pacific's Symphonic Wind Ensemble and University Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor he has served as the Drum Major for his high school, as well as for the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets, winning the title of DCI 2018 Open Class Champion. As the Education/Development Coordinator for 28/78 NME Braydon develops Open 78 and educational engagement programs, and aids in developing 28/78 NME & NMF for future seasons.
Nicolasa kuster, Faculty advisor
Bassoonist Nicolasa Kuster joined the faculty of the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music in Stockton, California in the Fall of 2008. She balances her full-time teaching position with a rich orchestral, chamber, and solo performing life around northern California and beyond. She also launched and continues to lead the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, a biennial competition for young women bassoonists from the Americas. This competition awards $20,500 in prizes at the exciting three day MQVC Bassoon Symposium open to all (www.mqvc.org).
Kuster is Principal Bassoon of the Stockton Symphony and New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestras, Second Bassoon of the Monterey Symphony, and performs on occasion with the San Francisco and San Diego Symphonies. Previous positions include the Wichita Symphony (also serving on the faculty of Wichita State University), the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony. She spent six summer seasons performing and recording with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and can be heard on the Chandos Label playing Principal Bassoon on Gian Carlo Menotti's operas and other works. She has enjoyed teaching and performing at many summer festivals and camps, including Anchorage Music Festival; Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic; Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop in Arcata, CA; the Marrowstone Festival in Bellingham, WA; Bocal Majority and Operation O.B.O.E. as well as Pacific Music Camp at home in Stockton.
Her solo appearances with orchestra include performing Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Bassoon Concerto on the opening Gala performance of the International Double Reed Society in 2013, Peter Schickele's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Stockton Symphony in 2015, multiple-city tours of Kazakhstan, as well as televised performances in Italy and Panama. She is the winner of the 1995 Chicago Musicians Club of Women's Solo Competition Farwell Award, which she won while a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago studying with the late Bruce Grainger, Assistant Principal Bassoon of the Chicago Symphony. She is a Double Degree graduate from Oberlin College and Conservatory with a B.M. in Bassoon Performance and a B.A. in Religion. She was a student of George Sakakeeny and taught at Oberlin for him as a sabbatical replacement in Fall 2002. Her solo CD, Metamorphosis, can be found at NicolasaKuster.com.
Kuster is Principal Bassoon of the Stockton Symphony and New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestras, Second Bassoon of the Monterey Symphony, and performs on occasion with the San Francisco and San Diego Symphonies. Previous positions include the Wichita Symphony (also serving on the faculty of Wichita State University), the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Virginia Symphony. She spent six summer seasons performing and recording with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and can be heard on the Chandos Label playing Principal Bassoon on Gian Carlo Menotti's operas and other works. She has enjoyed teaching and performing at many summer festivals and camps, including Anchorage Music Festival; Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic; Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop in Arcata, CA; the Marrowstone Festival in Bellingham, WA; Bocal Majority and Operation O.B.O.E. as well as Pacific Music Camp at home in Stockton.
Her solo appearances with orchestra include performing Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Bassoon Concerto on the opening Gala performance of the International Double Reed Society in 2013, Peter Schickele's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra with the Stockton Symphony in 2015, multiple-city tours of Kazakhstan, as well as televised performances in Italy and Panama. She is the winner of the 1995 Chicago Musicians Club of Women's Solo Competition Farwell Award, which she won while a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago studying with the late Bruce Grainger, Assistant Principal Bassoon of the Chicago Symphony. She is a Double Degree graduate from Oberlin College and Conservatory with a B.M. in Bassoon Performance and a B.A. in Religion. She was a student of George Sakakeeny and taught at Oberlin for him as a sabbatical replacement in Fall 2002. Her solo CD, Metamorphosis, can be found at NicolasaKuster.com.
Andrew conklin, faculty advisor
Andrew Conklin is a composer, songwriter, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who makes music that engages both with American vernacular idioms and contemporary classical practices. He has appeared as a composer or performer throughout the United States and Europe, and his music has garnered recognition from diverse voices spanning the worlds of popular and classical music.
Andrew's work has received critical acclaim in blogs such as Pitchfork and The Line of Best Fit, and has been supported by grants from sources that include the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Vox Novus. His first full-length album, If I Were More Like You, was praised by the indie rock musician Merrill Garbus as "one of the best collections of songs I've had the pleasure of being exposed to, ever" (Filter Magazine). Andrew's string quartet was a finalist for the 2017 Lake George Composition Competition and received performances at the 2017 Florida State University Biennial New Music Festival and the 2017 Society of Composers National Conference in Kalamazoo, MI. As a 2018 Millay Colony Fellow, Andrew will continue to work on Song Collector, a cycle of large-scale compositions that exist in dialog with Sidney Robertson Cowell's field recordings of California folk songs from the late 1930s.
A versatile musical collaborator, Andrew earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Recording for his bass playing on The Hazel and Alice Sessions by Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands. His playing can be heard on record labels including Six Degrees, Spruce and Maple, Plug Research, City Slang, and Arhoolie, and he has recently contributed as a guitarist to recordings by Ben Goldberg, Meklit Hadero, and Michael Rocketship. He has also toured extensively in the United States and Europe as a guitarist and bassist with indie rock bands (Chris Cohen), bluegrass groups (Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands), and improvising combos (Timosaurus). As a composer, Andrew has enjoyed fruitful partnerships with musicians from some of today's most inquisitive new music ensembles, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Mise-En, Spektral Quartet, Ensemble Connect, Tala Rasa Percussion, and the Calidore String Quartet.
Andrew majored in jazz studies at Oberlin Conservatory and received his PhD in composition at Stony Brook University. A dedicated educator, he has held teaching positions at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and Stony Brook University, where he won the President's Award for Teaching by a Graduate Student in 2016. In August 2018, Andrew will join the Conservatory of Music at University of the Pacific as Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory.
Andrew's work has received critical acclaim in blogs such as Pitchfork and The Line of Best Fit, and has been supported by grants from sources that include the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Vox Novus. His first full-length album, If I Were More Like You, was praised by the indie rock musician Merrill Garbus as "one of the best collections of songs I've had the pleasure of being exposed to, ever" (Filter Magazine). Andrew's string quartet was a finalist for the 2017 Lake George Composition Competition and received performances at the 2017 Florida State University Biennial New Music Festival and the 2017 Society of Composers National Conference in Kalamazoo, MI. As a 2018 Millay Colony Fellow, Andrew will continue to work on Song Collector, a cycle of large-scale compositions that exist in dialog with Sidney Robertson Cowell's field recordings of California folk songs from the late 1930s.
A versatile musical collaborator, Andrew earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Recording for his bass playing on The Hazel and Alice Sessions by Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands. His playing can be heard on record labels including Six Degrees, Spruce and Maple, Plug Research, City Slang, and Arhoolie, and he has recently contributed as a guitarist to recordings by Ben Goldberg, Meklit Hadero, and Michael Rocketship. He has also toured extensively in the United States and Europe as a guitarist and bassist with indie rock bands (Chris Cohen), bluegrass groups (Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands), and improvising combos (Timosaurus). As a composer, Andrew has enjoyed fruitful partnerships with musicians from some of today's most inquisitive new music ensembles, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Mise-En, Spektral Quartet, Ensemble Connect, Tala Rasa Percussion, and the Calidore String Quartet.
Andrew majored in jazz studies at Oberlin Conservatory and received his PhD in composition at Stony Brook University. A dedicated educator, he has held teaching positions at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and Stony Brook University, where he won the President's Award for Teaching by a Graduate Student in 2016. In August 2018, Andrew will join the Conservatory of Music at University of the Pacific as Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory.
peter witte, dean of the conservatory
Peter Witte serves as dean of the Conservatory of Music and professor of music at the University of the Pacific, a position he began on July 1, 2017.
From 2008-2017, Mr. Witte served as dean of the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
During his tenure in Kansas City, UMKC's Conservatory raised $63M in pledges and gifts, increased the enrollment of students of color and international students by 45% over nine years, saw the number of degrees awarded rise 23% over the previous 8-year period, and launched its first professional degree in jazz, housed in a newly crafted jazz studies area.
By establishing and reenergizing partnerships with a broad range of artistic, educational, and civic organizations, Mr. Witte helped place students on stage at (le) poisson rouge in New York City, in rehearsal halls in Kansas City's K-12 schools, and in galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. He helped to establish annual performances at the iconic Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the historic Folly Theater in Kansas City, and aided students and faculty in establishing international relationships in Japan and China.
Prior to his appointment in Missouri, Mr. Witte served as chair of the Department of Music at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta for nine years. At KSU, Mr. Witte helped plan and open the Bailey Performance Center, hailed as "a beaut" by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now home to annual residencies of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
An alumnus of University of Michigan, Witte serves on the boards of the PRISM Quartet, the California Symphony, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the National Association of Schools of Music.
From 2008-2017, Mr. Witte served as dean of the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
During his tenure in Kansas City, UMKC's Conservatory raised $63M in pledges and gifts, increased the enrollment of students of color and international students by 45% over nine years, saw the number of degrees awarded rise 23% over the previous 8-year period, and launched its first professional degree in jazz, housed in a newly crafted jazz studies area.
By establishing and reenergizing partnerships with a broad range of artistic, educational, and civic organizations, Mr. Witte helped place students on stage at (le) poisson rouge in New York City, in rehearsal halls in Kansas City's K-12 schools, and in galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. He helped to establish annual performances at the iconic Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the historic Folly Theater in Kansas City, and aided students and faculty in establishing international relationships in Japan and China.
Prior to his appointment in Missouri, Mr. Witte served as chair of the Department of Music at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta for nine years. At KSU, Mr. Witte helped plan and open the Bailey Performance Center, hailed as "a beaut" by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now home to annual residencies of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
An alumnus of University of Michigan, Witte serves on the boards of the PRISM Quartet, the California Symphony, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the National Association of Schools of Music.
SPECIAL THANKS: James Gonzalez + Stage Crew, Jeff Crawford + Owen Hall Recording Studio, Dr. Nicolas Waldvogel, Dr. Yejee Choi, Dr. Eric Hammer, Keith Hatschek, Igor Veligan, Eric Dudley, Zach Manzi, Briana Bacon, Ray Cleverly, Melissa Riley, Yvette Khan, Kim Girardi, Splinter Reeds Quintet.