In 2019, alumni and current PCM instructor Erica Lee started the annual PCM Alumni Concert to further cultivate PCM’s dedication to community. Last Sunday, August 18th, we continued this tradition with 7 performers with graduation years ranging from 2018 to 2024.

On this nostalgic evening, former students returned to campus to perform in Barrett Hall. A special aspect of this particular recital was that over half of the performers graduated in 2020 and had lost the chance to perform their senior recitals that year due to the pandemic. It was especially poignant to hear them perform four years later.

Read about what the performers have been up to since their time at PCM, and watch their performances from the 2024 Alumni Concert below.

Lauren Hoffman ‘19
Lauren Hoffman studied at PCM from eighteen months until the age of nineteen participating in Young Musicians, recorder ensembles, private flute lessons, flute ensemble, and theory with Barbara Mullens-Geier, Rachael Denny, and Dr. Kathryn Eames. Throughout high school she was a member of the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra and PCM’s Flute Ensemble. She graduated from The Master’s University in 2023 with a B.M. in Flute Performance and, shortly after, began pursuing a M.M. in Flute Performance at Azusa Pacific University. She now has a private flute and piano studio, works as a Lead Music Librarian and Music TA, and is a member of the Grace Community Church Orchestra in Sun Valley. She was the principal flutist of The Master’s University Orchestra and is the principal flutist of the Azusa Pacific University Orchestra. In the coming years, Lauren plans to build her private studio, offer more performances in Los Angeles, and possibly pursue a DMA in Flute Performance.

Jazzbird Molina ‘20
Jazzbird Molina began studying classical guitar with Dr. Brian Barany when he was eight years old. While at PCM, he performed with the Los Angeles Youth Guitar Orchestra, which toured Europe in 2018 alongside the German youth guitar orchestra, “Guitarreando.” In 2019, he was invited to join the quartet “Guitarra del Alma,” coached by artist-teacher Scott Tennant and he began jazz studies at UCLA’s Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, “Jazz in the Classroom” program.

At Occidental College, Jazzbird majored in jazz guitar performance and group language, serving as a mentor and recruiter for their growing jazz department under the direction of Jonathan Richards. He graduated with honors this Spring. For the past year, he has directed the big band and jazz combo at Eagle Rock High School. He regularly performs live and in studio sessions around Los Angeles, from playing at local venues to recording orchestral works. He recently played guitar on tour for Enny Owl, a Los Angeles-based folk artist, with two performances at the Sled Island Music Festival in Calgary, Canada. This fall, Jazzbird will attend Cal State Northridge to pursue a master’s degree in jazz studies with a concentration in jazz guitar performance. In the meantime, he has returned to PCM as the 2024 Education Programs intern.

Frank Watnick ‘18
Frank Watnick studied voice at PCM with Mariné Ter-Kazaryan. He recently graduated with his M.M. in vocal performance at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), and finished his first season as a staff singer in the Grammy-Award-winning Pacific Chorale. He graduated with his B.M. in Vocal Performance from Chapman University. At Chapman, he performed operatic roles including Jaquino in Beethoven’s Fidelio and Don Curzio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, was a finalist in Chapman’s annual Instrumental & Vocal Competition, and performed as Mercury in Buck Ross’s adaptation of Orpheus in the Underworld at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. At CSUF, he has performed scene-work from Così fan tutti and La Traviata and performed in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene with CSUF’s Opera Theater. He won 3rd place in CSUF’s 2023 Music Associates Solo Competition, Vocal Division. Mr. Watnick debuted with Lyric Opera of Orange County in 2023, first joining their L’Opéra Petit summer scenes program in the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo; he made his mainstage debut with the company as Bardolfo in a concert performance of Verdi’s Falstaff in April 2024. He recently sang in Opera Italia LA’s production of Don Pasquale and was a finalist in the Redlands Bowl Young Artist Competition. He has performed with the International Lyric Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Vicenza, Italy.

Keilani Bolhuis ‘24
Keilani Bolhuis studied at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music from 2012-2024. When she was 6 years old, she began learning piano with Nadia Cherni in Burbank and attended PCM’s Young Musician’s classes. Shortly after, she began her Suzuki violin studies at PCM with Madeleine Eaton and Tami Iskenderian, and then music theory with Dr. Katherine Eames. She began studying violin with Elizabeth Hedman in 2017, and then jazz piano with Amy Rowe, jazz violin with Megan Shung, and jazz combo with Danny Janklow. Keilani was one of 16 Jazz Instrumental Semi-Finalists in the Music Center’s 2023 Spotlight Competition and has won the branch and regional levels of the Southern California Junior Bach Festival in piano performance. Keilani was awarded the National Gold Medal by the Royal Conservatory of Music and performed at the Celebration of Excellence Ceremony at Carnegie Hall. She graduated from California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley in May 2024. In her senior year, Keilani was awarded PCM’s Roman Andrew Borek Scholarship sponsored by the Fine Arts Club of Pasadena. Keilani will be attending the New England Conservatory of Music in its Contemporary Musical Arts program this fall, where she will pursue music composing and arranging.

Jadon Elliott ‘20
Ever since Jadon can remember, there has always been a guitar lying around the house. He first started studying music in the Young Musicians program at PCM. When he graduated from the Young Musicians program he chose to study classical guitar and hasn’t looked back since. Jadon studied with Dr. Brian Barany for eight years. During that time he participated in the Los Angeles Youth Guitar Orchestra’s (LAYGO) tours through California, Germany, and the Czech Republic. In his senior year of high school Jadon decided to pursue a degree in music composition.

Jadon has always loved films and film music, so he decided that he would study music composition with a concentration in new music. New music is a twist on traditional classical music where new techniques are pioneered. He has composed for Loadbang, the Jasper String Quartet, and Third Coast Percussion. He is currently earning his bachelor’s degree.

Albert Zhou ‘20
Albert Zhou first started music lessons as a toddler in PCM’s Young Musicians program. He began studying the violin at age five and later picked up viola at the PCM Chamber Music Intensive, the summer before high school. Albert played in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen Arts Camp and alongside musicians from major L.A. area orchestras in the Eastern Sierra Symphony. He is an avid chamber musician and was a member of the Meridiem Quartet, which won the bronze medal at the 2019 Pasadena Conservatory of Music Chamber Music Competition. As an active member of the music community at Princeton, where he studied molecular biology with a minor in music performance, Albert was president of Opus — Princeton’s chamber music collective — and principal violist of the Princeton University Orchestra. He also served as a violin teacher and viola section coach for the Trenton Youth Orchestra. While at Princeton, Albert spent a semester abroad in London at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Nathan Braude. Past teachers include Jessica Thompson, Andrew Picken, Aimée Kreston, Tami Iskendarian, and Erika Walczak. Albert plays a viola on a generous loan from Ann Horton.

JR Santiago ’20
John Robert Santiago began flute lessons at age 13 at PCM. He recently graduated from UCLA with a B.M. in Flute Performance and served on the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Student Advisory Board. John Robert has performed at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Miami’s New World Center, and the Dolby Theatre. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States 2, and Colburn Sinfonietta. Additionally, John Robert has premiered works by composers such as Bruce Stark, Valerie Coleman, and Lera Auerbach. He was a soloist in the world premiere of Thea Musgrave’s Orfeo V for two flutes and orchestra with the UCLA Philharmonia at the 2024 Hear Now Festival. John Robert has been a featured soloist on NPR’s From The Top (show 380), a winner of the Colburn Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, a laureate of the Pasadena Arts Council’s Fulcrum Arts Award, a finalist in the Mondavi Center National Young Artists Competition, and winner of the National YoungArts Foundation Competition in Classical Music. He was a UCLA Gluck Foundation Fellow and played in their Woodwind Quintet. This fall, John Robert will be pursuing his M.M. at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.