Mori Achen

Classical Guitar

Mori Achen earned his M.A. in Guitar Performance from California State University, East Bay, where he studied with James Bertram. He has performed contemporary music in several Composer's Inc. concerts and a wide range of repertoire in solo and chamber recitals throughout the Bay Area. In addition to Saint Mary's, he teaches at the Crowden School of Music and maintains a private studio. He is a member of WindString Duo and the Mori Achen Trio.

Paul Ackah (a.k.a. Pope Flynn)

African Dance, Dance class accompanist/percussionist

Ghanaian performer/composer/educator Paul Ackah (a.k.a. Pope Flynn) is best known as lead vocalist for the legendary Sweet Talks band of Ghana, where he brought the art of highlife music to new heights. When not on stage, he shares his joyful spirit and vast knowledge of African folk music, dancing and percussion with his legions of American students. He joined the Performing Arts Department of Saint Mary's College in 2001, where he is percussionist/accompanist in dance classes and teaches African dance.

Rosana Barragan

Dance, Choreography, Yoga

Rosana Barragan is a performing artist from Colombia. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Social Studies from Universidad Javeriana in Bogota and a Master’s degree in Dance from the Laban Centre in London. She is also certified in Yoga, Participatory Arts and Somatic Movement Education. She has worked as professor at Universidad Javeriana and Academia Superior de Artes de Bogota in her native country, and during the past two years as educational program director of the Latin Ballet of Virginia. She has been around dance since birth, inheriting the art form from her mother, a flamenco dancer, dance studio owner and teacher.

Ms. Baragan’s technique evolves from her range of experience in movement, combining a background in European contemporary dance with early training in classical ballet, her Latin American roots, Yoga and a strong influence of the world of Somatics (Bartenieff, Body Mind Centering, Laban Movement Analysis and Alexander Technique). As a choreographer, she questions and explores new approaches to the body and creates challenges for her work to be defined outside the traditional realm of dance. Her artistic work focuses on social and political issues, while her aesthetic concerns move her to build unique performance sites that create unusual audience perspectives. Her site-specific works have received several awards and have been performed at the Thames River beaches of London, parks, plazas, churches, rooftops, glass cubes and art galleries.

She has received various grants for choreography from the Government of Colombia and in 2006 obtained the National Dance Research Award from the Colombian Ministry of Culture. She has published in arts journals and dance books in Colombia, and her artistic work has been performed in Central America, South America, Europe and the United States.

Linda Baumgardner

Production Coordinator, Resident Lighting Designer

Linda Baumgardner joined the Saint Mary’s College faculty in 2008 as production coordinator for the Performing Arts department, and resident lighting designer for the Dance Company. She holds an MFA in Theatre Design and Production with a double emphasis in Stage Management and Production Management from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and a BA in Performing Arts from Saint Mary’s College. She has worked as a lighting designer, stage manager and production manager in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Chicago. Design credits include “Six Questions” for the Davalos Dance Company; “Who is She,” “Coasting,” and “Horsethief Lake” for Dana Lawton Dances, and the world premiere of Capacitor’s “The Perfect Flower.” Management credits include work with the Joffrey Ballet, including “Giselle,” “Sometimes it Snows in April,” “To Know Her,” and “Deuce Coupe;” the North American Premiere Opera “Sextuor L’Origine des Especes,” and the world premiere of Richard Foreman’s “What to Wear.” Ms. Baumgardner worked as producer and company manager for foolsFURY where she produced the 2009 FURY Factory, an international theatre festival which featured works by 23 companies, including many San Francisco artists, and ensembles from as far as Afghanistan and the UK. In addition to her work at Saint Mary’s, Ms. Baumgardner has recently been appointed as managing director for the Ragged Wing Ensemble.

James Brosnahan

James Brosnahan holds a Bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Masters in Fine arts in Web Design and New Media and most proudly is the father of two. As a dancer he started training in his home town of Berkeley, then went on to tour the United States and Europe, performing in shows with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Bobby McFerrin, Julio Iglesias, and Little Richard, and was a featured swing dancer in the movie Swing (2003). Brosnahan was the choreographer for the Disney movie James and the Giant Peach, as well as the animation choreographer for the 20th Century Fox movie Monkeybone. He has choreographed and danced for Dance Through Time and The Dick Bright Orchestra and recently worked as choreographer for the animatronics “Lake of Dreams” exhibit currently showing at the Wynn hotel and casino in Las Vegas. James completed an extensive teaching residency program for Edinburgh International Art Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has taught for 12 years for San Francisco Ballet’s DISC program and is in his 16th year on the faculty of St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA.

Dan Cawthon (Professor Emeritus)

Acting, Theatre history, History of musical theatre

Fascinated by the intersection of spirituality and theatre, Professor Dan Cawthon holds a Ph.D. in theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the theological underpinnings in Eugene O'Neill's late plays. He holds a graduate degree in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and another in literature from the University of Tulsa.

From 1971-1980, he taught in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Manitoba (Canada). He then joined the Religious Studies faculty of Saint Mary's College, and was instrumental in establishing its Performing Arts Department, which he chaired for 12 years. He has directed more than two dozen student productions at the college that cover a wide range of styles and traditions including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Zoo Story, Inherit the Wind, Rashomon, The Fantasticks, Hippolytus, Man of La Mancha and Our Town. He is also a founding member of the Graduate Liberal Studies faculty at Saint Mary's and served for many years on its advisory board.

Dan is a member of Actors' Equity Association, and has performed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, the California (Berkeley) Shakespeare Festival, and other theatres in the Bay Area. His performance of DAMIEN, a one-man play recounting the life of Father Damien de Veuster, the Leper Priest of Molokai, which was first performed at the Berkeley Stage Company, toured extensively—culminating in a two-week run at the Edinburgh Festival in 1989. The production was remounted in 2007 and numerous performances took place throughout California.

Dan is the Artistic Director of the Eugene O'Neill Foundation, Tao House (in Danville), Along with his many directing assignments there and at Saint Mary's College, he has directed at the Willows Theatre (Concord) and the Walnut Creek Center Repertory Theatre.

Michael Cook

Design, technical theater, children's theater

Michael R. Cook has been designing and directing professionally in and around the Bay Area for the past thirty years. Among the professional companies and colleges he has designed for are Berkeley Shakespeare Festival (Resident Designer and Production Manager - 8 years), California Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep. (Resident Designer - 3 years), Shakespeare at Paul Masson (VITA - Resident Designer - 4 years) and Saint Mary's College (Resident Designer - 18 years). In addition he has been a Guest Designer for the California Actors Theatre, Contra Costa Music Theatre, The Attic Theatre, Saratoga Chamber Theatre, Berkeley Jewish Theatre, San Jose Stage Company, Sunnyvale Repertory Theatre, Solano College and Tau House among others. He has also Stage Managed and Tour Managed in Europe, United States and Canada. Michael is also an actor, (a longstanding member of the Actors Equity Association) and a director, and has directed at many theatres around the Bay Area. His two most recent directing assignments were “City Of Angels” (the only Broadway show with a jazz score) and “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum." He now home bases out of Saint Mary's College of California where he teaches and is the resident Scenic and Lighting Designer for the Performing Arts Department. He is also the Theatre Manager, in charge of all the technical aspects of running the theatre. Last year he received the “Freeman Award” from the Eugene O'Neill Foundation in Danville, California

Michael is most proud of having created and directed all the shows for the Children's Theatre Program at Saint Mary's College. Now in it's 15th season, its offerings have included Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Charlotte's Web, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Ugly Duckling and The Princess and the Pea, and each year draws capacity audiences of elementary and pre-school students. In 2004 Michael wrote and performed around the country a one-man show based on the life of Saint John Baptist De La Salle, called “Saint John Baptist De La Salle — Journey Of A Man.” He was blessed to have Jeffra (his wife) and SMC theatre professor Dan Cawthon co-direct this production. Jeffra also wrote and produced all the original music for the play. Also a painter and sculptor, Michael recently had an exhibit called “portraits," presented by the Library at Saint Mary's College.

Catherine Marie Davalos

Modern dance, Choreography, Dance history, Dance criticism and analysis

A Chicana choreographer, the work of Catherine Marie Davalos emerges from her Mexican voice and the constant rediscovery of identity. She utilizes a movement style that is rooted in breath and momentum. Her dances are often multilayered interweaving theatre with pure movement, humor with satire, and a political agenda with sexuality. Her passion is to cross many borders and delve into the coalescence and contradictions of being a Chicana and a Mexican American Princess. 

The Davalos Dance Company has been presented at various venues in Northern and Southern California since its inception in 1994. Her latest dance, Finding Equal, premiered in December 2007 at the Vision Series dance festival held at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, CA. Borders, Spaces and Brown-Eyed Girls premiered August 2007 as a solo at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus, St. Paul, MN. In 2006, Blue Monkeys was created after visiting Guadalajara, Mexico. It premiered at Raw and Uncut, Footloose Dance Studio, San Francisco, CA, was also performed at Centrum Center for the Arts, Port Townsend, WA, and Works in the Works, Berkeley, CA. The company was chosen for the Women on the Way Festival in January 2006 for the full evening work “Dreams Suite.” January 2005 marked the 10th anniversary of the Davalos Dance Company and they celebrated with a concert at ODC Theater in San Francisco. The concert, Sacral Queens, Latinas, and Dreams was praised by Rita Felciano in DanceViewTimes.com. In January they also performed in the Women of the World Festival at Dance Mission and at the Dance IS Festival 2005, at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, in Berkeley. In 2004, they were part of the Printz Dance Project's performance, Encore 2, in San Rafael, CA and the Saint Mary's College Dance Company spring concert, Mandala, Moraga, CA. In 2002 they were produced by ODC Theater for Rock, Paper, Song, as part of the series, Migrations. This honor was awarded after performing One Size Fits All in Pilot 33 and Moon Dance in Pilot 35. July of 1998 marked the company's Northern California debut when they performed two new dances for Summerfest/Dance '98. Later that year, the company performed at Saint Mary's College with the CLAM series. In 1997 Ms. Davalos received a second multi-cultural grant to perform at the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). The first grant was awarded in 1995 for Mixed Company. In 1996 she was presented by Highways (Santa Monica, California) for American But Hyphenated. Highways also presented her full-evening work Borders, Spaces, and Brown-Eyed Girls in 1995. The Davalos Dance Company has performed at Beyond Baroque (Venice, CA) with VIVA for Chicks and Salsa ‘95, the Long Beach Museum of Art (Long Beach, CA) for the Children's Cultural Festival; Highways for Fierce Tongues, A Celebration of Latina Art & Artists, produced by Luis Alfaro and Monica Palacios; and they performed with Voices In Motion V, at LACE (Hollywood, CA). Ms. Davalos performed at the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.) when her duet Doblez was chosen to represent the Southwest region at the National College Dance Festival in 1994. She was nominated for the Dance Magazine “Outstanding Choreographer” award for 1994 and the Los Angeles, Lester Horton Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography, 1997. The Davalos Dance Company has been praised in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Ms. Davalos earned a BA in Philosophy and Dance and an MFA in Dance from CSU, Long Beach, where she was honored as “Most Outstanding Graduate for the College of the Arts.”

Reid Davis

Acting, Theatre history

Reid Davis completed his doctorate in Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley in 2006. He joined the Saint Mary's College faculty in 2005 as an adjunct professor in theatre, and since then has directed Urine Town and Twelfth Night. His work as a professional director has included three years as Associate Director of the Apprentice Company at Actor's Theatre of Louisville, directing “Lynette at 3 AM for the Humana Festival of New American Plays, assisting internationally reknowned writer/director Athol Fugard on the American premiere of MY CHILDREN! MY AFRICA!, and directing at American Conservatory Theatre and California Shakespeare Festival. He is a core company member of Shotgun Players (Berkeley) and won several Bay Area Critics Circle awards for his work with the company. Recent credits include teaching appointments at UC Berkeley and Los Medanos College; directing THE LARAMIE PROJECT at Los Medanos College; performing in the world premiere of Mark Jackson's THE DEATH OF MEYERHOLD for Shotgun Players in 2004 (Bay Area Critics Circle awards for production and ensemble); originating the role of Mau Tant in the world premiere of Jackson's FOREST WAR for Shotgun Players (2006); and collaborating with Dr. Maya Roth (Georgetown University) on the Jane Chambers Award workshop of TROJAN BARBIE by Christine Evans at the 2007 conference of the Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) in New Orleans.

Rebecca Engle

Theatre History, Acting, Theatre Masterpieces

Rebecca Engle has worked as a professional actress and director at such Bay Area institutions as the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, the Eureka Theatre and the Bay Area Playwright's Festival. Before joining the Performing Arts faculty at Saint Mary's College, she taught in the theatre training programs of San Jose State, UC Berkeley and the Drama Studio of London at Berkeley, among others. As a director, Ms. Engle is known for her physically-heightened ensemble-driven productions of contemporary American plays - Ellen McLaughlin's Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Anthony Clarvoe's The Brothers Karamazov, Octavio Solis' Marfa Lights and Susan Lori Parks' Venus among them. Her directorial work has been frequently honored by the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. In 2005 she received their "Excellence in Education" award, and at the start of 2009 she was awarded the 2009 Kennedy Center National teaching Artist Grant. Ms. Engle has extensive experience with the collaborative process, and her work with playwrights, poets, dancers and musicians has yielded a number of original, movement-based works of theatre.

Dawn Foster-Dodson

Cello, chamber music

Dawn Foster-Dodson has performed as a soloist on most of the major concert series in the Bay Area. She is frequently the Principal Cellist of the Best of Broadway theatrical productions at the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate Theatres. For twenty-three years she played with the San Jose Symphony, and she has also been a member of the California Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony, and most other Bay Area orchestras. She has played with many of the world's favorite vocalists, including Pavarotti, Marion Anderson, Ray Charles, Liza Minelli, Stevie Wonder, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Ben Vereen, Rod Stewart, and Smoky Robinson. She maintains an active teaching studio, and joined the Performing Arts Department faculty in 1998, coaching chamber music ensembles and teaching string classes.

Dr. Julie Ford

Director, Glee Club and Chamber Singers

Dr. Julie Ford (julieford.org) is a classical and jazz conductor and vocalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. As Director of Worship and Music at Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, she directs three choirs, designs liturgy, performs as vocalist, pianist, arranger, band leader, and conducts major choral-orchestral works with regional artists and ballet
ensembles. Her Chamber Singers performed at the 2009 ACDA National Convention in the Interfaith Service she designed. She sings in Moodswing (vocal jazz quartet) and Everyday Wisdom (sacred jazz/gospel/pop/lite-classical ensemble). Her professional focus is integrating classical and contemporary forms to address the challenges of 21-
century liturgy by partnering with jazz and classical musicians, seeking to recast contemporary worship music to higher levels of complexity and artistry. Dr. Ford serves as the Repertoire and Standards Chair of Music and Worship for the California ACDA, serves within CMEA as guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, and holds degrees from San José State University (Bachelors-Voice), The Eastman School of Music (Masters-Conducting) and the University of Oklahoma (Doctorate-Choral Conducting). She is indebted to her principal teachers Perla Warren, Roger Letson, Charlene Archibeque, Donald Neuen, Samuel Adler, and Dennis Shrock.

Pamela Freund-Striplen

Violin, viola

Violist Pamela Freund-Striplen is a member of the St. Mary's College faculty and Artistic Director of the Gold Coast Chamber Players. Her chamber music credits include San Francisco Symphony's Chamber Music Sundaes, Midsummer Mozart, Composers, Inc., UCSF's Chancellor's Concert Series and the California Mozart Society. In April 1999, she was a guest artist in chamber music concerts in Germany, and was invited in November 2001 to join the Amati Quartet in Holland for a quintet concert. Her recent solo appearances include performances in Holland with members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic. She studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and with the Curtis Quartet in Philadelphia, where she received the Young Musician's Award in chamber music two consecutive years. Pamela has performed with the San Diego Symphony and as Principal Violist with the San Diego Opera before relocating to the Bay Area. She became Principal Violist of San Francisco Opera's touring company, Western Opera Theater, touring nationally for three years, and performs frequently with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera Orchestras. In 1994 she was invited to tour Europe with the New European Strings, under the direction of Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and has performed with them at the Seattle International Music Festival. Pamela is an active recording artist, performing regularly for film projects at George Lucas' recording studio, Skywalker Sound. She has a private teaching studio in Lafayette and is a frequent guest coach throughout the state, most recently for the American String Teachers Institute for Chamber Music in Los Angeles and the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Patrice Hambelton

Flute

Patrice Hambelton studied flute at Whittier College and the Music Academy of the West, and was the winner of the Prestigious Los Angeles Phi Beta Auditions for Young Artists. She has performed in master classes with Julius Baker, Geoffrey Gilbert, Alain Marion, and James Galway. She served as Principal flutist for the Arch Ensemble in both concerts and recordings, touring with the ensemble throughout the United States and Europe. Currently, she performs with the Berkeley Symphony in their Music Education Program and freelances throughout the Bay Area.

Donald Kennelly

Trombone

Donald Kennelly is a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s trombone section, where he has held a position since 1980. A graduate of San Francisco State University, he has been Principal Trombonist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and a featured soloist with that ensemble on both alto and tenor trombones.

He has also performed as a member of the Carmel Bach Festival, the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival, the Midsummer Mozart Festival, and Sinfonia San Francisco. In addition to his responsibilities with the Opera, Don enjoys an active schedule with the Golden Gate Brass Quintet.

Bliss Kohlmyer

Bliss Kohlmyer began her training in Wooster, Ohio. She attended The Juilliard School for two years, and then graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in Dramatic Arts. In New York City, she danced and toured internationally with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and The Sean Curran Company. In San Francisco, she danced with Janice Garrett and Dancers, Robert Moses' Kin, and The San Francisco Opera Ballet, among others. Bliss has set Moses’ “The Supplicant” and “Lucifer’s Prance” at Cal Poly University and assisted in setting “Speaking Ill of the Dead” at Jacob’s Pillow. She was on faculty at ODC School for a number of years and was a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley from 2007-2009. Bliss has taught master classes at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, The University of Nevada at Reno, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Arizona State University, San Francisco State University, Cal Poly University, Stanford University, and The San Francisco Dance Center. She has also been an artist-in-residence for the San Francisco Arts Education Project and is a certified pilates instructor. Along with Kara Davis, she established project agora in 2006, co-producing two evenings of work at Dance Mission. Studying the intersection of dance and technology, Bliss recently received her MFA in Dance from The University of Washington.

Dana Lawton

Director, SMC Dance Company

Dana Lawton is Director of the Saint Mary's College Dance Company. She is also a faculty member at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, and a certified yoga instructor. In the studio she teaches choreography, modern dance and yoga, and in the classroom "Perceiving the Arts" and "World Music and Dance." Ms. Lawton danced professionally with the renowned San Francisco company Janice Garrett & Dancers from 1997-2004. She has choreographed her own work and was presented at ODC and the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, Eighth Street Studios and the Temescal Arts Center in Berkeley, and several stages in the northwest. She served as Artist-in-Residence at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center 2006, was awarded Outstanding Performer in the 2000 Vision Series, and was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for her performance in Janice Garrett's Wayfarers. Ms. Lawton holds an MFA in Choreography from Mills College and a BFA in Dance from California Institute of the Arts. Upcoming, she will perform a new work, Coasting, with original score by David Karagianis, at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco as part of the theater's Vision Series. 

Sharon Lee

Piano

Sharon Lee joined the St. Mary's College Music Faculty in the fall of 2008.  She actively performs as choral accompanist, collaborative pianist, vocal coach, music director, and piano instructor. She has performed and recorded throughout New England and the nation, with various colleges, companies, and organizations including the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Children’s Chorus, MassTheatrica, Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, New England Conservatory, Wellesley College, and Boston College. During past summers, Ms. Lee attended the Music Academy of the West, SongFest Professional Program, and Mendocino Music Festival's Emerging Artists Program.  She has participated in masterclasses with Mitsuko Shirai, Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, Pierre Vallet, Thomas Quasthoff, Warren Jones, Craig Smith, John Harbison and Myung-Hwa Chung.  

Ms. Lee graduated with honors in music from UC Berkeley and continued her studies at the New England Conservatory where she received her Master's degree with honors and distinction in performance in Collaborative Piano.  She then furthered her Collaborative Piano studies at the conservatory to receive her Graduate Diploma.  Ms. Lee's teachers have included Irma Vallecillo, Kayo Iwama and John Greer, and Barbara Shearer. 

Aside from working at St. Mary's College, Ms. Lee accompanies for the Voci Women's Choral Ensemble, teaches and accompanies at the Crowden Music School in North Berkeley, and loves teaching students of all ages in her private piano studio.  Sharon, her husband Eurus, and her two young daughters love living in the Bay Area, close to family and friends. 

Rojelio Lopez

Rogelio has earned his MFA in dance at CSU Long Beach.  Rogelio has had the pleasure to work with wonderful choreographers such as, David Dorfman, Bill Young, Joe Goode, Terry O’Connor, and Andrea Woods, among others. Besides dance, Rogelio studied theatrical scenic, and lighting design.  He has won two Lester Horton awards for best performance in a small ensemble and set design for Girl Falling Toward the Sky, choreographed by Keith Johnson.  Rogelio is presently in Holly Johnston’s Ledges and Bones Dance Company, and currently a faculty at Saint Mary’s College and Shawl Anderson’s Dance Studio.

Adam Luftman

Trumpet

Originally from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Adam Luftman joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra as Principal Trumpet in 2007. Before moving to San Francisco, Mr. Luftman spent two seasons with the Baltimore Symphony, three as Co-Principal Trumpet of the new World Symphony in Miami, and one with Civic Orchestra of Chicago.During his time off from the opera, Adam has been a guest artist with many of the country's finest orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Seattle Symphony. He has also enjoyed domestic and international touring, as well as recording with some of these ensembles.

During the summer, Mr. Luftman has performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, Spoleto Festival, Music Academy of the West, Breckenridge Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.

As a soloist, Mr. Luftman has been featured with the New World Symphony, New Century Chamber Orchestra, Springfield (MA) and Canton (OH) Symphonies, and twice with the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra. In addition to his orchestral work, Mr. Luftman has also performed with the Bay Brass, New World Brass Quintet, Breckenridge Brass, and is an avid jazz musician.

Adam has recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, for ESPN Sunday Night Football, and on many movie and video game soundtracks recorded at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in California. He can be heard on Naxos, Ondine, and Sony records.

Mr. Luftman is currently on the faculty of San Francisco State University and Saint Mary's College. He has presented masterclasses all over the country, including at The San Francisco Conservatory, New World Symphony, Baltimore School for the Arts, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and Tanglewood.

An honors graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Interlochen Arts Academy, Mr. Luftman's teachers have included Michael Sachs, Raymond Mase, Mark Gould and Adolph Herseth. 

Dave Maier

Fight Director/ Stage Combat Instructor

Dave Maier is an award winning fight director whose recent work includes Macbeth (Shotgun Players), Rich & Famous (ACT), and Crime and Punishment (Berkeley Rep).  In addition to working with St. Mary’s Theatre program, he has built fights for UC Davis,The Magic Theatre, African American Shakespeare, Impact Theatre, Cal Shakes, Shakespeare Santa Cruz and Berkeley Opera, among others.  He is an Associate Instructor of theatrical combat with Dueling Arts International and a member of Actor Equity Association.  Dave also teaches at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, where he serves as Outreach Coordinator, and has taught courses at UC Santa Cruz and Cal State University East Bay.  Some current projects include The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Berkeley Rep), Romeo and Juliet (Cal Shakes), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Impact Theatre).

John Maltester

Director, SMC Jazz Band

John Maltester earned his Bachelors and Masters of Arts degrees from Cal-State University at Hayward. In addition to directing the Jazz Band at Saint Mary's (a position he's held since 2006), he has been Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Los Medanos College for thirty-five years and is also Music Director Emeritus of the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director for the Diablo Wind Symphony.

Mr. Maltester brings a diverse background of abilities to the conductor's podium. He directs bands, orchestras, jazz bands, and chamber ensembles. Recognitions include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Parent Teacher Association, Outstanding Educator of the Year Award (1989-90) at Los Medanos College, the KABL Citizen of the Day award (1984), the President's award for Lifetime Contribution to Education at Los Medanos College (1999), and the Contra Costa County Regional Arts Council award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts (1999). He has been listed in the “Who's Who in Education” in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2004. He is involved in several community-oriented activities including the Contra Costa Arts Council as well as several advisory board positions. He is one of only two conductors to conduct both the California State Honor Band and Honor Jazz Band.

His ensembles have performed at countless local, regional, state, and national music conferences, as well as many international venues. The LMC Jazz Ensemble received a Superior rating at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Jazz Festival for twenty-six straight years. The LMC Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble have toured Hawaii, Europe, Australia, Jamaica, China, and the Pacific Northwest as well as throughout the Western United States. In the brief time he has directed the Saint Mary's Jazz Band, the ensemble has enjoyed dramatic growth both in numbers and musical quality.

Mr. Maltester is also active as a trombonist, rehearsal techniques clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor and lecturer throughout Australia, the Western United States, Hawaii, and Alaska. In addition he is the American Youth Soccer Organization Regional Referee Administrator for Area 2C (Contra Costa, Solano, and San Joaquin counties), a National referee and assessor, a USSF referee, and is also active as an ASA umpire. He resides in Martinez, California with his wife and two daughters.

Frank Murray

Frank Murray joined the Performing Arts Department in 1988. He has taught a wide range of theater courses, including theater history of all periods, theater theory and literature, acting, Perceiving the Arts, and theater/film courses during January Term. He is particularly interested in both the origins of theatre and 19th and 20th century drama. He has directed numerous college productions, including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Trojan Women, She Stoops to Conquer, The Bacchae, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), The Actor's Nightmare, and Little Shop of Horrors. From 2002-04 he served as Chair of the Performing Arts Department, and since that time as Dean for Academic Development. On the side, he sings in the baritone section of "Cantare," one of the Bay Area's finest choirs.

Donna Olson

Voice Instructor

A native of Boston, Donna completed her Bachelor of Music at the Boston Conservatory of Music, Dance & Drama, staying an additional two years to perform with the famous Opera Theater of The Boston and New England Conservatories. She moved west in 1986, met her mentor, Ellen Faull, in Seattle, and has since enjoyed great success as a professional opera singer and voice teacher. Donna is the teacher and founder of The Vocal Studio in Oakland, CA, specializing in all aspects of bridging the gap from undergraduate to graduate studies for serious young singers. Many of her students are working professionals and many have gone on to receive full scholarships to major institutions such as Boston Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, University of Arizona, and Loyola University. A well-sought Mezzo Soprano and "artist of great expression" in recital as well as opera, Donna is a frequent performer of oratorio and recital work. She has sung with companies, festivals and orchestras across the United States, including: Seattle Northwest, Fremont, Columbia, Bravo Vancouver, Los Gatos, Newport, Boston, Portland Chamber, and Oregon Symphonies, as well as the Midsummer Mozart and Mendocino Music Festivals. Donna has sung major roles with the Opera Companies of Portland, Sacramento, Nevada, Stockton, Auburn City, Sierra, Washington East, Eugene, West Bay, Livermore, Old Church, Berkeley, and Opera Idaho. She has been the featured soloist on CD recordings of Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, and Vashti. Recent credits include conducting master classes on vocal technique and speech projection at Starr King Academy, Laney College and UC Berkeley; staging and originating the creative concepts of David Schiff's VASHTI, performing the seven roles with "humor, vocal strength and warmth;" and becoming a member of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). Donna joins the Performing Arts Department at Saint Mary's College of California as our new Lecturer of Voice.

Megan Opel

Lino Rivera

Piano, chamber music, music history

Born in the Philippines, Dr. Lino Rivera won his first national competition at age eight. He has performed as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist, and accompanist on three continents. He has been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, notably live performances with the Manila Symphony Orchestra and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Rivera makes it his mission to advocate and premiere contemporary works; to explore and meet the artistic, creative, and technical challenges of piano transcriptions (the subject of his doctoral dissertation); and to discover and perform obscure solo piano repertoire throughout the ages.

Rivera is a celebrated performer for Composers, Inc. an organization based in San Francisco dedicated to promoting works by contemporary American composers. Recently he performed many of the Beethoven sonatas in conjunction with renowned music historian Robert Greenberg on a concert lecture series presented at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, California. He is a frequent soloist at Music Teachers' Association of California conferences, and regularly serves as an adjudicator of piano competitions. Recent solo recitals have taken place in Miami, Corpus Christi, Savannah, Chicago, Los Angeles and Anchorag.

Martin Rokeach

Theory, European music history, jazz and blues history, chamber music, world music

The music of composer Martin Rokeach has been performed by the Berkeley Symphony, Romania's Constanta Symphony, the United States Army Orchestra, Pacific/Mozart Ensemble, Cygnus Ensemble (NY) Dunsmuir Piano Quartet (San Francisco), League of Composers (NY), the Chicago Ensemble, Musica Nova (Macedonia), Wyck Trio (U.K.), Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, Chameleon Ensemble (Boston), the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Players, the Sheridan Players (Chicago), the Webster Trio (Houston), Guitarinet (Poland) and many other outstanding ensembles and soloists throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. His works have earned honors in 12 composition competitions, most recently those sponsored by Audio Inversions of Austin, International Clarinet Association, and the Chicago Ensemble, and he has been commissioned to write music for New York's Cygnus Ensemble, Switzerland's Dobrzelewski/Marrs Duo, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Music Teachers Association of California, California Association of Professional Music Teachers, New York's Eight Strings and a Whistle, San Francisco Symphony Principal Hornist Robert Ward and numerous soloists. His music has been published by Fallen Leaf, RonCorp, Go Fish and ALRY, and recorded on the Albany, Furious Artisan, Arizona, Emeritus, North/South, Capstone, and Amie labels. He has been a featured composer and speaker at the Hartt Conservatory of Music, New York University and Wichita State University, and concerts devoted exclusively to his music have been held at Washington State University and Western Carolina University.

Recent performances of Mr. Rokeach's music have taken place at the Manhattan School of Music, Sacramento's Festival of New American Music, the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble, NYU, Sarah Lawrence College, West Virginia's Marshall University, The Boston Conservatory, Third Street Music School (NY), and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (San Francisco).

Mr. Rokeach earned his Ph.D. in music composition and theory from Michigan State University, and bachelor's and master's degrees from San Francisco State University. He is one of the founders and artistic directors of San Francisco's contemporary music concert series, Composers, Inc. In 1999 he was named "Saint Mary's College Professor of the Year."

Vera Schwegler

Vera Schwegler has been dancing for 15 years as a ballet and modern dancer. She has danced with choreographers such as Janice Garrett and Dancers, Dana Lawton Dances, Jia Wu Dance Theatre, Cathy Davalos, Shaunna Vella and others. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Saint Mary's College of California in English and Dance. After practicing yoga for many years, she obtained her Yoga Alliance certification with YogaWorks. She is also the Assistant Producer and Technical Manager for Thrilling Heroics Productions which took a show to the Edinburgh, Scotland Fringe Festival in August 2011.

Jennifer Smith

Jennifer Smith has been performing and teaching dance in the Bay area for over 20 years. She earned her BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Physical Education/Exercise Science, and her MA from Saint Mary's College in Kinesiology. She is also a certified Pilates instructor. Ms. Smith combines her interest in the art and science of the human body while teaching a variety of classes in the dance studio and the classroom. Ms. Smith was a founding member of the acclaimed California Contemporary Dancers, performing with company for ten years. She currently performs with Dana Lawton Dances.

Timothy M. Smith

Director and Conductor, Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra

Timothy M. Smith is Music Director and Conductor of the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra and Professor Emeritus of Music. Maestro Smith is a seasoned conductor, veteran music educator and accomplished performer, most recently serving for twenty-two years as Professor of Music at California State University East Bay in Hayward. In addition to his work with the CCCO, Maestro Smith is in continuous demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. He has conducted professional orchestras and wind bands and, over the past 30 years, has appeared as guest conductor with hundreds of high school and junior high school honor orchestras and bands throughout the western, northwestern and mid-western states, including several all-state ensembles. For several years he was Music Director of themulti-level Youth Orchestra of Southern Alameda County and, in the summer of 2007, conducted the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra during their tour to China.

Professor Smith holds degrees in Horn Performance, Conducting, and Music Education from the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific and the prestigious School of Music at Northwestern University, is a former member of the Stockton, Modesto, and Spokane (WA) symphony orchestras, and still maintains a performing schedule as a freelance horn player. In recognition of his deep commitment to music education on several different levels, Professor Smith was named the California Music Educators Association Bay Section's "Outstanding Music Educator of 2006." He has served for 23 years at La Sierra Fine Arts Camp, and participates as a professional coach and performer at the Humboldt Brass Chamber Music Workshop.

Anthony Striplen

Clarinet

Anthony Striplen, Clarinetist and Bass Clarinetist, is a native of Bakersfield, CA and has been a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 2000. He has been associated with San Francisco Opera for many years, initially as Principal Clarinet with the company's touring arm, Western Opera Theater.

In addition to performing his duties with the Orchestra, Mr. Striplen has been active at various studios (including Skywalker Studios) recording soundtracks for numerous motion pictures, television programs, and video games, among them Jurassic Park III, a video/CD with rock band Metallica, and commercials for Dove Soap featuring cartoon characters Wilma Flintstone and Jane Jetson. As chamber musician, Tony appears with the Gold Coast Chamber Players, of which he is a co-founder.

Outside the Bay Area, Mr. Striplen has performed at Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and at the Jerash Festival in Amman, Jordan.

Tony attended San Francisco State University, studying clarinet with Donald Carroll of the San Francisco Symphony. Other mentors include Boston Symphony clarinetists Rosario Mazzeo and Harold Wright, as well as his first teacher, Mary Moore. Tony has been a participant at the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood, a clinician at Bay Area music camps, and a guest speaker at the 1997 California Music Educators Conference for Northern California. Tony is on the faculty of St. Mary's College.

Wendy Tamis

Harp Instructor

Wendy Tamis holds the post of principal harpist with the Berkeley Symphony and the Fremont Symphony. She was the principal harpist with the Bear Valley Music Festival for 15 years and the acting principal harpist with the Boise Philharmonic in Idaho for over 10 years.  Ms. Tamis performs regularly with several Bay Area orchestras including California Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, West Bay Opera, Modesto Symphony and Santa Rosa Symphony.  She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Opera and Ballet orchestras and has toured several times with the Western Opera Theater, the touring company of the San Francisco Opera.  She performs as a member of a flute and harp duo and the Muir Trio, a harp, clarinet and soprano ensemble. Her principal teachers include Anne Adams and Susann McDonald.

Shaunna Vella

Shaunna Vella is a choreographer/ dancer/ teacher/ and performance artist who has been creating work in the Bay Area since 2003. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from St. Mary's College where she double majored in Dance and Psychology, and was the recipient of the Louis LeFevre Award for Performing Arts. Her work has been seen at ODC Theater, Dance Mission Theater, The Garage, Studio 210, and The Ashby Stage. As a dancer, she continues to dance for local companies such as Anne Bluethenthal, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Liss Fain Dance, Paufve Dance, Agora Dance Project, Dance Ceres and Davalos Dance Company. She has been teaching at St. Mary’s College since 2004, and teaches at Ace Dance Academy in Walnut Creek. She served as a active artist for the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee in 2007-2008. As well as being an artist and teacher, she works in the field of social justice and has worked for the Tides Foundation, The Family Violence Prevention Fund, and currently works at the Jewish Community Federation.

Mike Williams

Jazz guitar

Mike Williams earned his Master of Arts from Caifornia State University, Hayward and has performed professionally as a guitarist for thirty years in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1995, he authored the advanced guitar instruction book, Guitar Lessons with the Greats, for Warner Brothers Music. His private students continue to receive major local, state and national awards, and many have become prominent performers in the music industry.

Renée Witon

Class Piano

Renée Witon is a pianist, accompanist and composer. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from Alverno College (Milwaukee) and the Master of Music Degree from Catholic University of America (Washington, DC). In addition to working as a lecturer at St Mary's College, Renée is director of music theory for the San Francisco Girls Chorus, is Assistant Director of Music at First Unitarian Church in Oakland, and maintains a private piano studio in Oakland. She has also taught at the Community Music Center in San Francisco and George Washington University in Washington, DC. While in Washington, she also worked as a music specialist at the Library of Congress. In addition to solo and chamber concert performances, Renée frequently appears as a guest host on KUSF radio's contemporary music showcase, “Classics Without Walls.” In 2000, she released a solo piano CD, Coming Home, featuring music of Brahms, Beethoven, Suk, Ravel, and her own compositions.

Jia Wu

Modern dance, choreography

Jia Wu joins the Performing Arts Department in the fall of 2008. A native of China, she earned a BA in Choreography and Performance from Beijing Dance Academy and an MFA in Choreography from the University of California, Los Angles. As a choreographer, performer and dance filmmaker, her daring kinetics and provocative works applies Asian dance vocabularies and aesthetics to explore modern issues such as globalization, feminism, and multiculturalism.  She has earned numerous honors, including an award for outstanding performance and choreography at the Chinese National Dance Competition in 2000 and a  prix d'excellence for best performance at the 2004 Festival International de Musique Universitaire in Belfort, France. She is the recipient of the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Performing Arts Award, Edna & Yu-Shan Han Scholarship, and the Clifton Webb Scholarship from the school of Arts and Architecture at UCLA. Most recently she received the "Jumping Frames 2008 Dance Video Award" in the Jumping Frames Dance International Video Competition in Hong Kong.

Ms. Wu has performed both her contemporary choreography and traditional works on programs in China, France, Germany, Mexico and the United States. Her work The Other Shore was recently included in the premiere performance of Los Angeles Movement Arts at the Nate Holden Theater, and also was selected by Pina Bausch for the NRW International Dance Festival in November 2008 in Essen, Germany. In 2007 Bird Cage was programmed on the Gala Concert of the American College Dance Festival at the  University of San Francisco and subsequently performed in the Los Angeles Dance Invitation. Born to Search premiered in 2007 at the Dance in August Festival in Berlin. That same year Ms. Wu's solo piece, Situ-Asian, was selected for the Dancing in the Margins Festival at Electric Lodge and also the International Meeting on Research in Dance in Mexico. In 2006 The Flying Peacock was performed at two UCLA venues, Royce Hall and the Fowler Museum of Cultural History. Ms Wu has received commissions from Ren Min University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and South China Normal University, and her dance works have been televised throughout China. In 2003 Enjoy our world was commissioned for the Opening Ceremony of the Asian Gymnastics Championships at Tian He Stadium in Guangzhou. About Xiang Zi, a full-evening work created in collaboration with four other choreographers, premiered in 2001 at the Tian Qiao Theatre in Beijing.

As a filmmaker, Ms Wu's dance films have been presented at festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, UK and the U.S.A.