Newman has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including sixteen consecutive ASCAP Awards, as well as Composition Grants from the California Arts Council, the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble and the Composer’s Guild, among many others. She was honored with the Debut Award from the Young Musicians Foundation in 2001, and was named Variety’s 1997 Composer of the Year. She has been commissioned by numerous organizations and has developed a large library of original works for chamber ensemble (vocal and instrumental), orchestra, choral, ballet and opera\oratorio. This season features commissions from the New West Symphony, Pacific Serenades, the Angeli Trio, Colburn School for the Performing Art’s Orchestra da Camera, and the Kairos String Quartet. Composer-in-Residence at the Icicle Creek Music Center in Washington for a decade, Newman currently holds that position with the Orchestra da Camera of the prestigious Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. Newman has also held residency positions with the Brevard Music Center, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, SongFest, Solisti New York, the Eastern Sierra Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of St. Matthew’s in Los Angeles, Central Washington University, California Institute of Technology, Azusa Pacific University, the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival and Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble, among others.Newman has received numerous commissions from the Mary Pickford Foundation to compose original music for newly restored vintage classic films of the silent era. She has also received commissions by Turner Classic Movies (“Mr. Wu” 1929, starring Lon Chaney), and by the Library of Moving Images (“Tom Sawyer” 1917, starring Jack Pickford). These compositions continue to receive live concert performances (with picture), appear on video\DVD format, and are frequently aired on television. As solo violist, Newman recorded Miklos Rozsa’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra with the Nuremburg Orchestra for the Grammy Award-winning Symphonic Hollywood CD, and continues to perform concerts nationwide. Newman is the mother of four beautiful children: Martha, a violinist (age 11); Isabella, a ‘cellist (age 8); and Sonny, a violinist (age 7) and vocalist Noah (age 2). She is married to conductor/violist Scott Hosfeld.
Scott Hosfeld
Violist and Conductor
Internationally acclaimed violist Scott Hosfeld is a favorite collaborator among the world's most renowned chamber musicians, and has toured the globe to critical acclaim. He was violist of the Manhattan based Riverside String Quartet, and with that ensemble won the prestigious Artists International Musicians Competition. Under the auspices of Artists International, the Riverside Quartet presented a critically acclaimed Carnegie Recital Hall debut and toured extensively.
Hosfeld served as violist and founding member of the ValCoeur String Quartet and was artist-faculty-in-residence at the University of Arizona. With the ValCoeur, Hosfeld toured nationally and internationally. Tours included concert performances at Mexico's Cervantino Festival Internacional, and in Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and Alma Ata in Kazahkstan, then a part of the Soviet Union.
For ten years Scott Hosfeld served as founder, executive and artistic director of the internationally lauded Icicle Creek Music Center in Leavenworth, Washington. During that period Hosfeld realized a lifelong dream: to establish a world class chamber music festival, chamber music institute and year round school of music in a truly inspiring environment.
A respected and entrepreneurial conductor, Hosfeld founded both the Icicle Creek Youth Symphony and the Icicle Creek Institute Chamber Orchestra. He has led these orchestras for such respected solo collaborators as Nathaniel Rosen, Steven Doane, the Turtle Island String Quartet, violinists David Perry, Darol Anger and Carrie Rehkopf, and cellist John Michel, among others. He fostered other cross discipline collaborations with bassist Edgar Myer and mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshal including commissioning of the Icicle Suite with Mr. Marshal and Darol Anger. Hosfeld successfully led the acclaimed Central Washington University Chamber Orchestra, eliciting a coveted invitation to perform at the 2005 MENC All Northwest Conference.
Most recently he received an appointment to join the string and chamber music faculty of California State University at Long Beach.
Scott Hosfeld is married to composer Maria Newman. The two make their home in Malibu, California where they are raising four beautiful children.
Wendy Prober
Piano
Wendy Prober, has performed as a pianist throughout the United States as a critically acclaimed chamber musician and soloist. She has degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Southern California, where she studied with John Perry. Ms. Prober is a frequent soloist and duo-pianist with Los Angeles area orchestras including the Occidental-Caltech Chamber Orchestra, the West Valley Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Doctor’s Symphony. In 2000, Ms. Prober appeared as soloist with the New Symphony Orchestra of Tel Aviv University in the Israeli premiere of Charles Fox’ Victory at Entebbe.
Ms. Prober is the founding pianist of Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble with whom she has toured nationally since 1988 and recorded five compact discs. Local performance venues include The Cerritos Center, LACMA, USC’s Alfred Newman Recital Hall, LMU, UCLA, The Nimoy Concert Series, and El Camino College. She recently recorded Grammy-nominated Morten Lauridsen’s "Cuatro Canciones" on Lauridsen: Northwest Journey on the RCM label. As Managing Director of Viklarbo, she has successfully written grants to the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Utah Performing Arts Tour, and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Ms. Prober has lectured on self-management for musicians and was a panelist for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ "Grammy in the Schools." As an independent radio producer, Ms. Prober co-wrote and produced "Evolutions in Harmony" featuring Viklarbo that was broadcast nationwide via the National Radio Satellite System. An Instructor of Piano and Chamber Music from 1989-1998 at Loyola Marymount University, Ms. Prober has taught at the University of Judaism and was the Adult Choir Director at Ohr HaTorah and Temple Ramat Zion. From 1988 to 2000, she was Executive Director of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony where she remains on the Board of Directors.
Festival Guest Artists
Andrew Shulman
Cello
Andrew Shulman, first British winner of the 'Piatigorsky Artist Award', comes from London, England. Shulman's careers as 'cellist and conductor have taken him all over the world. As soloist, he has directed and performed all the major 'cello concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Utah Symphony, the Singapore Symphony and orchestras all over Europe, the United States and the Far East, as well as giving recitals in such places as the Wigmore Hall, London "Debussy's 'Cello Sonata, played with fastidious poetry of phrase and technique" (The Times), The Royal Palace in Stockholm, and Buckingham Palace, London (performing 'The Swan' with the Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi, in the presence of The Prince of Wales). He has also performed Strauss' great tone poem 'Don Quixote' twice at the Royal Festival Hall, London (with Sir Simon Rattle and Benjamin Zander) "The Don Quixote was the finest I have heard" (The Sunday Times) and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles (with Esa-Pekka Salonen) "Philharmonic principal 'cellist Andrew Shulman's Quixote was always eloquent and passionate" (Los Angeles Times). Last season he gave several performances of Barber's notorious 'cello concerto "And making his Utah Symphony debut is Andrew Shulman, who gave a fabulously nuanced and impassioned performance of the (Barber) concerto...Shulman's interpretation was of the highest caliber in terms of articulation and delivery. His technical mastery was such that he made short work of the demands Barber placed on the soloist" (Salt Lake Tribune) (click this link to hear the live recording of this performance) He also performed Bloch's 'Schelomo' at two days notice "Cellist Andrew Shulman joined the CRSO and Tiemeyer for an intense, spirited performance of Ernest Bloch's "Schelomo", Hebraic rhapsody for cello and orchestra...His flawless performance of "Schelomo" was eloquent and passionate" (Cedar Rapids Gazette) (click this link to hear the live recording of this performance)Born into a family of professional musicians (his father plays Contrabass and his mother is an opera singer) Shulman studied 'cello and composition at the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music in London and after winning the major 'cello prizes there, in addition to the "Madame Suggia Gift" and the "Royal Society of Arts" prize, was appointed solo 'cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, before being offered the first chair position with London's Philharmonia Orchestra, at the age of 22, by conductor Riccardo Muti. He has performed as soloist with Sir Simon Rattle, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Semyon Bychcov, Franz Welser-Möst and Esa-Pekka Salonen, amongst others. He has also recorded over twenty-five CD's as 'cellist of the Britten Quartet (exclusive to EMI Records), Vivaldi 'cello concertos for Virgin Classics (click this link to hear this recording "One of the high points of the disc for me is Andrew Shulman's cello playing in the elegiac Concerto in C minor (Vivaldi RV401); and he is sensitively supported by the (London Chamber) Orchestra" (The Gramophone Magazine), Janacek's 'Pohadka', again for EMI, (click this link to hear this recording) 'cello works by Delius (a world premiere recording) and was solo 'cello on Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 1997', a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, the highest selling single of all time.Shulman was bestowed with an 'Honorary RCM' by The Queen Mother in 1986, and subsequently became a professor at the historic Royal College of Music in London. He has since given masterclasses all over the world, including Western and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, The Ukraine, The USA, South America, The Far East and New Zealand. In 1990 he won the prestigious 'Piatigorsky Artist Award' at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and returned to the USA on numerous occasions to teach and give concerts. Since coming to Los Angeles he has given many classes, among them those at the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Corwin Awards Masterclass at the Los Angeles Music Center, as well as playing and teaching at the Aspen, Blue Mountain, Ojai, Las Vegas and San Diego's 'Mainly Mozart' festivals.As conductor, he has performed extensively in the UK, Germany, Ireland and Scandinavia, directing the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky "The conductor Andrew Shulman really carried the orchestra along...like a British Leonard Bernstein whose brilliance was still burning in Haydn's 'Philosopher' Symphony. This was of a quality for which one may search but rarely find" (Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung) and major orchestral works by Bartok, Debussy, Dvorak, Elgar, Holst, Ravel, Strauss and Stravinsky. He has given performances of Haydn's symphonies under the auspices of H.C. Robbins Landon at the Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, with the Britten-Pears Orchestra, and has conducted the world premieres of several orchestral works, including the first ever performance of a previously unpublished work by Benjamin Britten, also with the BPO. He is a regular guest conductor with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra (London), the Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra (Bristol), the Saloman Orchestra (London), the Jonkoping Orchestra (Sweden), the Ambache Chamber Orchestra (London), the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra (London), the Royal College of Music Chamber Orchestra (London), the RCM String Ensemble (London) and the Ulster Youth Orchestra (Ireland), as well as directing the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the London Chamber Orchestra in concerto performances from the solo cello chair. In the field of opera, he has conducted Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro' (1998) and 'Cosi Fan Tutte' (2000) in immensely successful new productions at the Theatre Royal, Bristol.In 1999 he was appointed first chair cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic "The new principal 'cellist, Andrew Shulman, whose influence on the string section is beginning to make itself heard...The 'cellos, brilliantly powerful" (Los Angeles Times) and also resumed his activities as one of the most sought after solo 'cellists working in the TV and Movie music industry. At the end of 2002 he left the Philharmonic in order to expand his solo, chamber music, teaching and conducting activities still further, having made his family's home in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains.
Peter Longworth
Piano
"Peter Longworth is a concert pianist of such power and grace that even the crystal baubles on the chandeliers at Orchestra Hall tingle, dance and resonate when he plays." * Chicago Tribune
Pianist Peter Longworth is a well known and acclaimed solo performer, chamber musician and tea cher in Canada and abroad. From his base in Toronto, Mr. Longworth has performed in New York, Chicago, London, Montreal, Nice and other cities in the United States, Canada and Europe. He has been soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras across Canada. In addition, he has appeared at the Caramoor Music Festival in New York, was artist-in-residence and featured soloist at the Icicle Creek Music Festival in Washington State, and plays annually at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Longworth is a founding member of the Duke Trio, which has performed in New York and Chicago as well as throughout Canada. He is heard often on CBC National Radio and his recordings include a collaboration with Amanda Forsyth and a forthcoming CD by the Duke Trio of music by Shostakovich and Copland. Mr. Longworth is a faculty member of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he also maintains a private studio. Having given classes throughout North America, he is in demand as a chamber coach and an adjudicator at competitions and festivals. Born in England of American parents, Mr Longworth began his piano studies in Brussels and studied at Northwestern University with Arthur Tollefson and at the University of Michigan with Louis Nagel and Eckhart Sellheim. After a year at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts, he completed his studies at the Royal Conservatory with Marek Jablonski, Leon Fleisher and Marc Durand. Mr. Longworth was a finalist in the International Busoni Piano Competition in Italy. Appearances this past season include performances of Beethoven's fourth concerto in Barrie, and of Rachmaninov's third concerto in Toronto. Mr. Longworth also gave solo recitals in Toronto, Halifax, and most recently at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. In January, the Duke trio presented a complete cycle of the Beethoven piano trios in London. This summer, Mr. Longworth will be performing at festivals in Quebec, Washington State, Malibu, and Ottawa.
Melanie Conly
Soprano
Praised for her "passion and charm" (Now Magazine) and for her "sweet voice delivery" (Toronto Star), Canadian soprano Melanie Conly dazzles and delights audiences everywhere she goes. Noted often for her silvery voice she can be heard on Simon Wynberg's self titled CD for which the Napa Trade Journal said "...most moving is the arrangement of 'Ne para vender' with vocalist Melanie Conly. The direct and haunting innocence of her voice will melt the hardest of hearts."
An artist in both Canada and the United States, Ms. Conly boasts a diverse repertoire of opera, musical theatre, oratorio, recital and new music. Last season, performances included concerts at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Kairos Music Festival in Washington, and in Toronto with the Talisker Chamber Players and Tryptych Productions, to name a few. Highlights include a CBC broadcast concert featuring the music of P.D.Q. Bach with Peter Schickele, and a performance of the Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras for soprano and eight cellos.
This summer Ms. Conly will appear at the Kairos Festival in Washington State, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and the Malibu Coast Chamber Music Festival in California. She maintains a class of piano and vocal students in Toronto where she lives with her husband Peter, and three cats, Clara, Brahms, and Benny.
Steve Zander
Violin
Violinist Steven Zander degan his musical studies at the age of four at the natioanally recognize American Suzuki Talent Education Center in Steven Points, WI. After winning the prestigous Emerson Scholarship atthe Interlochen Summer Festival. where he was a finalist in the Concerto Competition, Mr. Zander received a full scholarship to study with Vartoan Manoogian at the University of wisconsin in Madison. During his time in MAdison Mr. Zander was a memeber of the MAdison Symphony, the UW- Madison and The Julliard School in the Bach, Dancing &Dynamite Society, and played Ravel's String Quatet on a live broadcast on wisconsin Public radio. Upon earning a Bachelor's Degree in violin performnace, Mr. Zander went on to study with the concert and recording artist Sergiu Luca at Rice University's renowned Shepaerd School of Music. where he earned a Master of Music degree. mr. Zander held the Anne and Charles Duncan Concertmnaster Chair of the Sheperd School Symphony Orchestra, was a sunbstitute violinist with the Houston Symphony, and perfromed on a concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Syzegy new music series with former principle members of the Houston and Boston Symphonies. he and his wife, Maia, will pursue careers as teachers and studio musicians in Los Angeles.
Hal Ott
Flute
Hal Ott is a member of the faculty at Central Washington University where he teaches flute and music history. He is currently principal flute with the Yakima Symphony, and he has been a member of the Peoria Symphony, Peoria Civic Opera Orchestra, and he has served as a faculty member in the annual Columbia Flute Society Festival. Dr. Ott holds a BME degree (summa cum laude) from Bradley University, an MM degree from the University of Illinois, and a DM from Florida State University. He has presented clinics, adjudicated, and performed on both the flute and baroque flute throughout the United States, Europe, and the Peoples' Republic of China; he has also performed on National Public Radio on numerous occasions. He was a finalist in the Erwin Bodkey Competition sponsored by the Cambridge Society for Early Music. He has performed at several National Flute Association conventions, and he has served as the NFA program chair and designed the 2001 Dallas convention. Dr. Ott has published several articles in Flute Talk Magazine and The National Flutist Quarterly. His CD, Flute for Thought, features music by American composers, and he is an author of Teaching Woodwinds, published by Schirmer.
Eric Kutz
Cellist
Cellist Eric Kutz has captivated audiences across both North America and Europe. He has been on the Luther College faculty since 2002 as Assistant Professor of Music, where he maintains a large cello studio. He is active as a teacher, a chmaber music musician, an orchestral musician, and a soloist. His diverse collaboration cut across musical styles, and have ranged from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to jazz great Ornette Coleman. Mr. Kutz is also a founding member of the Murasaki Duo, A cello and piano ensemble that is residence at Luther College.
The Murasaki Duo, which consists of Mr. Kutz and Canadian pianist Miko Kominami, toured Scandanavia last spring. Advocates for new music, the Duo actively commissions new works, in addition to perfroming the classics. The Duo recently released its debut compact disc on the Centaur Records label. It has perfromed at leading festivals, such as the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, the Icicle Creek Music Center, and Luthrean Summer Music, and it has been broadcast on public radio stations throughout the country.
As an orchestral musician, Mr. Kutz summers in Chicago as a member of the Grant Park Symphony's cello section. He has also appeared in the section of teh New York Philharmonic. For four Years prior tp his arrival at Luther College, mr. Kutz was the cellist of the Chester String Quartet, in residence at Indiana University South Bend. He perfromed over 100 concerts during his tenure with Quartet, amd with them he gave concert tours of Switzerland, England, amd Canada.
In 1997 Mr. Kutz traveled to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow as a visiting artist, perfroming new chamber works by American composers. he has perfromed over two-dozen works, and has been broadcast live on WQXR and WNYC, both of New York City, as well as nationally on PBS television's Live from Lincoln Center. Mr. Kutz holds degrees from the Julliard School and Rice University.
Miko Kominami
Piano
Pianist Miko Kominami gave her New York Solo Debut Recital at Carnegie's Weill recital Hall, as a result of winning the Artists International Award. New York Concert Review described her as "both a virtuosic and a musicianly performer." Since then, she has concertized throughout North America, and been broadcast live on Maine Kishwaukee Symphony, the Cedar Rapids Symphony, the Danbury Symphony, and the Indiana University South Bend Philharmonic. She performs in the Murasaki Duo, a cello/ piano ansemble, which released its debut compact disc on Centaur Records. Ms. Kominami has won numerous awards includong a Canada Council Arts Grant, and First Prize as the 1996 Concerto Soloists' Competition. Her degrees are from Julliard School. She teaches piano at Luther College on Decorah, iowa, and she is principal keyboardist of the Cedar Rapids Symphony.
Maia Zander
Violin
Anne Marie Ketchum
Anne Marie Ketchum, soprano, is world renowned as a soloist, recitalist and pedagogue. Hailed for her compelling and sensitive performance of new music, Mrs. Ketchum's haunting and powerful musicianship makes her listeners feel that they are hearing for the first time is somehow familiar and revered. Her knowledge and true understanding of Cuban music has earned her l the distinguished reputation as a specialist in the music of Latin composers or Latin-inspired compositions. Ms. Ketchum has premiered multiple new works and has performed as a regular guest artist with the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble for many seasons. She has recorded works ranging from Schubert to Shostakovich to Aurelio de la Vega, with Viklarbo and other highly visible and respected ensembles. Ms. Ketchum recently recorded Morton Lauridsen's Cuatro Canciones on the RCM label. which was honored with a Grammy nomination. She serves as Professor of Voice at Pasadena City College, where she chairs the vocal department.
Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra
Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra
The Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra was formed in 2006 by Music Director and Conductor, Scott Hosfeld. Comprised of internationally recognized chamber musicians and soloists, its members are among the finest their field. Dedicated to bringing great music to the coastal community of Malibu, the MCCO regularly gathers in our beach city, as well as convening for concert tours.
Eric Lloyd Wright
Architect
Eric Lloyd Wright is an architect and founder of Wright Way Organic Resource Center in Malibu, CA. During Eric's early years in architecture, he was an apprentice to his grandfather Frank Lloyd Wright and father Lloyd Wright. His portfolio includes the restoration and renovation of Frank lloyd wright and Lloyd Wright works, as well as residences and institutional buildings of his own design. Eric's current focus is on the evolution of Organic Architecture and Green Building design. His design philosophy is rooted in the integration of ecology, social responsibility and beauty.
