Blog Archives
Aaron Smith
Aaron Smith is a Los Angeles-based trumpeter, actively performing across several genres. He’ll play just about anything, but really loves a great lyrical solo or action score. In addition to playing trumpet in wild Up, Aaron serves as principal trumpet for the Southeast Symphony. He also has the fortune of participating in projects such as the John Daversa Progressive Big Band, WOW! (Wind Orchestra
Matisse Geenty
Matisse Geenty brings creative innovation and fresh objective thinking wherever she goes, helping achieve fast and lasting results in business growth. As a violinist with a passion for innovative arts and sustainability, she lends a unique blend of results-driven work that is both adaptive and intuitive to the demands of the modern creative economy. Matisse is Associate Director of Fix Creative, a California based
James Darrah
Los Angeles based director, production designer, and visual artist James Darrah’s collaborative focus through varied mediums has quickly led him to be recognized as “the newest discovery… a gifted young American director” (Chicago Tribune) who “injects real drama” (New York Times) into productions that become “once-in-a-lifetime experience[s]” (Opera News). His uniquely collaborative and team-based approach to unconventional projects has also led to the creation of the new LA-based production and design company Chromatic: a collective of interdisciplinary artists who
Stephen Pfeifer
Born in New York and raised in Southern California, Stephen began his studies on the Double Bass at the age of 10. For his Bachelor of Music Degree he studied with Oscar Meza, Assistant Principal Double Bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at California State University Northridge. It was under Mr. Meza’s tutelage that Stephen became a member of the well known American Youth
Adrianne Pope
Adrianne Pope is a violinist, violist, improviser and sound maker currently living in Los Angeles. As a musician who strives to promote the music of living composers, Adrianne has premiered many works and has had the privilege to work closely with composers including Stephen Rush, Steve Reich, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Yehudi Wyner, Martin Bresnick, and David Lang. Her love of new works
Linnea Powell
Linnea Powell enjoys a multifaceted career as a freelance violist in the Los Angeles area, performing regularly as an orchestral, chamber, and studio musician. An avid interpreter of new chamber music, Linnea is a member of the Los Angeles new music collective wild Up and co-founded Aperture Duo with violinist Adrianne Pope. Linnea has performed on diverse concert series including Jacaranda, WasteLAnd, Tuesdays at
Nick Tipp
You walk into a train station. Someone hands you headphones. You turn them on, and a live opera is beamed to you as you wander between the performers on the concourse. All in a day’s work for engineer and producer Nick Tipp. In the last 10 years, Nick has become the go-to engineer for live recordings and broadcast mixes in Los Angeles and around
Jodie Landau
Jodie Landau is a 23-year-old composer, vocalist, and percussionist. His music combines elements of chamber music, rock, and jazz for live performance, film, theater, and dance. As a solo performer, Jodie sings while playing vibraphone and marimba. Landau works with the acclaimed modern music collective, wild Up as a performer, composer and production manager. He has also performed with groups such as Vinny Golia
Jonah Levy
Jonah Levy is a Chicago born, Bay Area raised trumpeter who moved to Los Angeles three years ago. He received his Bachelors of Music in trumpet performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA, and just completed a year of post-graduate studies at The Colburn School Conservatory of Music. He has also been a member of
Matt Cook
Matt Cook is a GRAMMY® Award winning percussionist based in Los Angeles, CA. He is known for his work with the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, the experimental classical ensemble WildUP, and microtonal band PARTCH. He is also involved in projects ranging from folk rock music to jazz and international ensembles. Matt’s work is often heard on studio and film recordings but is often seen in performance
Allen Fogle
Hailed as “A nice guy…I think he plays the tuba or something”, hornist Allen Fogle is an active freelance musician and educator in the Los Angeles area. He has performed with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as Principal Horn of the American Youth Symphony, and is currently
Claire Chenette
Claire Chenette is principal oboist with the Knoxville Symphony in Tennessee and simultaneously enjoys an active freelance career in Southern California. In addition to her work with Wild Up, she frequently performs with her folk band Three Thirds, the San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and Long Beach Opera, among others. An advocate of new music, Claire has been a
Ashley Walters
Cellist Ashley Walters has been described as performing “…with the kind of brilliance that beckons a major new performer on the new music scene.” (LA Times) Walters has gained attention as an interpreter of new music, a prodigious performer in chamber music, and a dedicated teacher. As a solo artist, Ashley has been the dedicatee of numerous works by composers such as Nicholas Deyoe,
Andy Bill
Andrew Bill is a native of Minneapolis, MN, where he studied under Elliot Fine, principal percussionist for the Minnesota Orchestra. Upon relocating to Texas, he pursued a Bachelors Degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas. While at NT studied under She-E Wu, Dr. Robert Schietroma and Leigh Howard Stevens. Bill was a member of the Wind Symphony under the direction of
Christopher Rountree
32 year old conductor Christopher Rountree founded wild Up in 2010. He first fell in love with music playing bass in a garage band, trombone in a brass band, and watching the Berlin Philharmonic play Brahms and Bartok. This year, Rountree makes his Chicago Symphony, LA Opera and Atlanta Opera debuts, returns to the Music Academy of the West and twice to the San Francisco Symphony’s
Brian Walsh
Brian Walsh is a musician who is interested in sound and communication, regardless of the genre. Mr. Walsh specializes in performance on the clarinet and bass clarinet, and is fluent in many styles of music. He is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts (MFA, BFA), and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Mr. Walsh frequently performs with such
Richard Valitutto
Richard Valitutto is an emphatic and dedicated performer of compositions for the piano that span the instrument’s entire existence. Described by the Los Angeles Times as a “vivid soloist,” “quietly dazzling,” and “vigorously virtuosic,” he is a pianist, chamber musician, vocal accompanist, and composing/improvising creative who is sought after for his tenacity in bringing dynamic life to scores old and new in a spirit
Derek Tywoniuk
Derek Tywoniuk is a percussionist and composer currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. As a performer, he has appeared with WildUp, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, among others. He is also a member of the Smoke and Mirrors percussion ensemble, which has recently recorded an album with Yarlung Records (due for release in the next year), and will perform Takemitsu’s “From
Andrew Tholl
Andrew Tholl is a composer, violinist, drummer, and improviser. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “vigorously virtuosic,” his performances and compositions have been heard throughout the United States and Europe. As a soloist and chamber musician, he is dedicated to the performance of new music and the collaborative process between composer and performer. He has premiered over two hundred new works and has
Derek Stein
Derek Stein plays cello. He enjoys playing all styles of music, but has a special interest in contemporary music, also known as new music, also known as squeak-fart music. Derek began studying cello at the age of four under the tutelage of his father. He holds a Bachelors of Music Performance from Arizona State University and a MFA from the California Institute of the
Melinda Rice
Melinda Rice plays viola with the Isaura String Quartet, and arranges and plays violin with the Craft in America house band. Her compositions and arrangements of folksong have been presented by the Hammer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, ArtShare, Microfest, SASSAS, and the Craft in America Study Center. She has released two albums, Before the Color Blue (2013) and Let Someone In (2015), and is
Erin McKibben
Erin McKibben is an active flutist and teacher currently residing in Southern California. As a soloist, Erin has given acclaimed performances with several orchestras across the country. She has also appeared as a soloist at the National Flute Association Convention as a prize-winner of the Orchestral Excerpt Competition in New York City, and as a guest recital soloist at the National Flute Association convention
Andrew McIntosh
Described in the Los Angeles Times as “an explorer into the cracks of intonation and the quirks of symmetry”, LA-based composer Andrew McIntosh is known for writing music with “soundscapes rich and immersive” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “lavish cascades of colorful sound” (LA Times). His music is regularly performed in the US and Europe and has been featured at major venues in The
Chris Kallmyer
“not everyone would call this music. . .” – Los Angeles Times Chris Kallmyer makes sound with everyday objects to explore the processes, customs, and environments through which humans have altered landscape and place. His work explores a participatory approach to making music through touch, taste, and process to point to who we are and where we live. Chris has presented work at the
Maggie Hasspacher
Maggie Hasspacher is an actively performing bassist/vocalist originally from the Detroit area. She studies at the University of Michigan as a DMA student in classical bass performance, but also sings and plays bass as a single performer. She premieres and commissions new works for double bass and voice by composers such as Noah Meites, Sarah Gibson, Christopher Rountree and Timo Andres, and writes her
Ryan Darke
Trumpeter Ryan Darke enjoys a diverse career as a performer and educator. Ryan is currently pursuing a Professional Studies Certificate at The Colburn School, where he is a student of James Wilt of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He completed his Masters in Music Performance from Rice University in 2010 and completed his Bachelors Degree at the University of California State Long Beach in 2008.
Archie Carey
Archie Carey is a bassoonist and composer living in Los Angeles and working in the world. He considers the art of music as a meditative and stimulating creative process whether it’s learning to play a new piece on the bassoon or composing a new piece with pen, paper, stones, sand, field recordings, analog electronics, and more. Archie has had the opportunity to perform music
Matt Barbier
Matt Barbier (CIM-BM/CalArts- MFA) is an LA based trombonist and composer focused primarily on experimental intonation, noise, and the physical processes of instruments. His playing has been described by the LA Times as being “of intense, brilliant, virtuosic growling that gave the striking impression that Barbier was dismantling the instrument while playing it.” Working collaboratively with composers such as Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Nicholas Deyoe,
Caitlin Kelley
Hailed as “dazzling” by Peninsula Reviews, violinist Caitlin Kelley is a versatile performing artist, equally at home with traditional classical and contemporary repertoire. Currently based in Los Angeles, she enjoys a diverse career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. As a soloist, Caitlin has appeared with orchestras across the country and presented recitals in both the United States and Europe. She recently