Blog

Christopher studied piano with Polli Chambers-Salazar and chamber music with Susan Svrček at PCM for much of his youth before graduating in 2007. He is now a lauded pianist who has performed in major cities worldwide and held residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. He holds graduate degrees from Julliard and Yale and is completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University. This summer he started as a full-time piano faculty at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.

Cece McIntyre spent 8 years at PCM studying violin with Elizabeth Hedman, piano with Elizabeth Babor, and participating in PCM’s chamber music program. Since graduating from PCM in 2022, she moved to Chicago before attending DePaul University’s School of Music. She recently spent the summer at Meadowmount, a seven-week-long practice intensive in upstate New York. Read on to learn about her experiences with these programs and how she reflects on her time at PCM.

Jazzbird Molina ‘20 spent 10 years at PCM, studying classical guitar with Bryan Barany and recently graduated with honors from Occidental College in the Spring of 2024 with a bachelor’s in jazz guitar and group language. He will spend the next two years pursuing his master’s degree in jazz studies at Cal State Northridge. He continues to expand his musical experience by directing music groups at Eagle Rock High School and performing live with Enny Owl at the Sled Island Music Festival in Canada. He also remains heavily involved in the PCM community as he served as our 2024 Education Programs intern and played in our 2024 Alumni Concert. Read on to hear more about his music education, his return to PCM, and what it was like to switch from classical guitar to jazz guitar.

Join us at our Alumni Concert on August 18th to hear flutist John Robert (JR) Santiago ‘20 play Fantaisie on Themes from C.M. von Weber’s “Der Freischütz”. JR recently graduated from UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, receiving his bachelor’s degree in Flute Performance and is preparing to pursue his master’s at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in the fall. Below, he reflects on memorable moments since he graduated from PCM, including his feature on NPR’s From the Top as the 2020 Jack Kent Cooke recipient, and playing with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl’s 2023 Summer Series. He touches on what he’s learned about the importance of music and the reward of seeing his hard work pay off.

Isabella Hayden, 19, studied violin and chamber music at PCM for five years prior to graduating in 2022. She is now a second year student at Williams College in Massachusetts, where she is majoring in English. In this blogpost, Isabella shares reflections on the impact music has had on her life and her experience continuing to pursue musical endeavors as a non-music major at Williams.

In addition to completing PCM’s Young Musicians program (which he began at the age of one), alumnus Albert Zhou ‘20 studied violin with Aimée Kreston, viola with Andrew Picken, and chamber music with Andrew Cook. Now 21, Albert is a senior at Princeton University, where he is pursuing a B.A. in Molecular Biology and a Certificate in Viola Performance. Read below about Albert’s latest pursuits.

Silvana Gutierrez was first introduced to music through PCM’s outreach program, Young Musicians at Jefferson Elementary (now at Longfellow Elementary). She quickly developed a passion for music and later received a scholarship to study violin at PCM. Silvana continued her musical studies throughout high school with Rachel Fabulich and became an accomplished violinist.

As the 2022-2023 school year comes to a close, we are delighted to acknowledge the exceptional achievements of the graduating class of 2023. These talented individuals excelled musically and made significant contributions to our musical community while studying at PCM.

Kaetlyn Liddy studied Classical Voice under Mariné Ter-Kazaryan from 2011-2017 before moving on to graduate from Brown’s Applied Music Program. Now Kaetlyn lives in New York City and works as a journalist for NBC News. Read more about Kaetlyn and her experience at PCM.

Sudi Feng studied violin and piano at PCM for seven years before graduating in 2021. She is now in her second year at the University of Southern California, studying neuroscience and getting involved in research while continuing her piano studies. Below, Sudi shares about what she has been up to since graduation and how studying music has helped her succeed academically.

Meleeah Abkarian studied voice at PCM with Mariné Ter-Kazaryan and graduated in 2010. Since then, she has received her Bachelor and Master of Music in Vocal Performance and has performed in several international opera programs. She now works as a voice and piano instructor at 88 Keys Music Academy in Arcadia.

Aimée McAnulty studied viola at PCM with Patrick Rosalez and chamber music with a number of PCM faculty, including Andrew Cook, Aimée Kreston, and Rebecca Merblum. She received her Bachelor in Music from the University of Michigan in 2019 and is the violist in the Ivalas Quartet. Ivalas Quartet has performed in various concert series and participated in residencies across the country (including University of Colorado Boulder under mentorship of the Takács Quartet). They were named Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School, in the fall. Over winter break we caught up with Aimée. Read more below.

Max DoVale studied jazz piano with Gary Fukushima from 2015 to 2017. After leaving PCM, Max moved to New Orleans to get his Bachelor’s of Music in Composition at Loyola University. Now, he works as a jazz pianist and music director for a theatre company. He shares about his experience working as a musician in New Orleans and how his musical background has prepared him for his current career.

Nina Dinan, class of 2022, has studied piano with Nic Gerpe since 2019. She began attending UCLA in the fall and plans to continue playing piano while focusing on academics. Over the summer we caught up with Nina, who shared the impact of studying piano and why she loves playing music.

Michelle Nguyen, class of 2018, began studying guitar at PCM in 2009. Her teachers included Connie Sheu and Felix Bullock. During her time here, she participated in LAYGO’s Stuttgart Tours in 2014 and 2018 and was a member of the guitar quartet, Sonos Quattuor. She has since graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in Behavioral Neuroscience and is now pursuing her Master’s at Stanford University in genetic counseling. Over the summer we caught up with Michelle and she shared the impact studying music has had on her and what she hopes to come of her future.

Meet Emerson Smith, PCM’s Education Programs Intern. Emmy is a PCM alum and currently attends the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), studying Piano performance with Craig Richey. She plans on graduating in 2025.

Violet Bretz studied cello with PCM Artist-Teacher Andrew Cook from 2018 to 2020 and also studied chamber music at PCM. She recently joined the PCM administrative team as the Development and Marketing Intern, funded by the Los Angeles County Arts Internship Program.

As the 2021-2022 school year comes to a close, we’re thrilled to celebrate the graduating class of 2022 and all of the amazing things they have accomplished. When the pandemic began, this year’s graduating seniors were sophomores in high school, having to negotiate a challenging shift to online learning in the middle of their musical education. However, they remain dedicated and have grown immensely over the past two years.

Jackie Andresen is a composer and violinist from Los Angeles, California. Classically trained in violin, she began studying under violinist Dorthy Kwon at PCM and later attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). She now attends New York University's Steinhardt School of Music, studying Music Theory and Composition with a concentration in Screen Scoring under composer and conductor Alba S. Torremocha and film composer Chris Hajian. She has written music for several short films and has scored collaborations between Canon and Sumire Lenses. In the summer of 2020, she completed a mentorship under composer Michael Levine and later interned for composer Catherine Joy. She is currently featured on MPATH’s album of Phenomenal Women Composers vol. 13.

The Chamber Music Intensive has been a cornerstone of PCM summer programming for the past 8 years. Recent CMI’s have included the return of a handful of accomplished PCM graduates as apprentice coaches. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic, this summer’s Chamber Music Intensive was cancelled; however, a few of the PCM’s alums who were in town for the camp decided to participate in a private concert for friends and family.

Throughout his years at PCM, Saren Daghlian’s (‘20) passion for music was clearly evident. Back in October, we caught up with the seventeen-year-old violinist, who was already halfway through his first term at Caltech.

Arianna Aviña began studying music at PCM in 2014. She studied percussion with TJ Troy and piano with Nic Gerpe. Arianna played percussion in her high school marching band until she graduated in 2018, and is now pursuing her Bachelor's of Music in Percussion Performance at Cal State Long Beach.

Esther Delamater, née Langer, began studying music at PCM in 2008 when she was 10 years old. She spent most of her time studying viola with former PCM faculty, Rachel Fabulich and graduated in 2015. Esther comes from a musical family: both her sisters studied viola at PCM, her father, John, plays piano, and her grandmother plays cello! We recently caught up with her to see what she's been up to since graduating.

In May, Jadon was scheduled to present his senior guitar recital in Barrett Hall, a rite of passage for many students as they conclude their high school music studies. However, when Covid-19 caused a mass cancellation of events worldwide, senior recitals like Jadon’s were cancelled as well. So when he sent us the video of his senior recital, which he recorded over the summer, we asked if we could share it with the PCM community.

PCM checks-in with piano alumna, Ashley Cheng who currently studies at Pomona College.

On Thursday, March, 19, Los Angeles residents were asked to stay in their residences and limit all activities outside of their homes beyond what is necessary for essential tasks. Days later, PCM adapted its lessons and programs and launched a “distance learning” spring quarter. For this series, we’re checking in with students, instructors, and staff members to see how they’re managing and how distance learning (and teaching) is working for them.

On Thursday March, 19, Los Angeles residents were asked to stay in their residences and limit all activities outside of their homes beyond what is necessary for essential tasks. Days later, PCM adapted its lessons and programs and launched a “distance learning” spring quarter. For this series, we’re checking in with students, instructors, and staff members to see how they’re managing and how distance learning (and teaching) is working for them.

On Thursday March, 19, Los Angeles residents were asked to stay in their residences and limit all activities outside of their homes beyond what is necessary for essential tasks. Days later, PCM adapted its lessons and programs and launched a “distance learning” spring quarter. For this series, we’re checking in with students, instructors, and staff members to see how they’re managing and how distance learning (and teaching) is working for them.

Eric Lifland began his studies at PCM in 2002 with then piano teacher, Andrew Norman. He continued with Annie Chen and studied chamber music with Barbara Mullens-Geier, Rebecca Merblum and Patrick Rosalez, graduating in 2012. He is now back in Los Angeles, working with Education Through Music LA and the LA Children's Chorus, and on December 8, 2019, Eric made his conducting debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall. PCM recently sat down with Eric to hear about that experience and his career in music education.

At the end of every school year, PCM seniors graduate from high school and move on to new chapters in their lives. In an effort to re-experience the nostalgia of my grade school youth that I, and my friends, yearn for, I am ecstatic to share that, with the generous help of the PCM staff, PCM will be hosting an alumni recital on August 17th, at 7 p.m., in Barrett Hall. I hope this endeavor can help create a space for former students to revisit campus, perform alongside their friends in a safe space, and reconnect with one another.

On August 25th at 5 p.m., the Daghlian Ensemble will hold a concert in Barrett Hall to benefit Atria Connect, a new non-profit co-founded by PCM alum George Daghlian. George started the project with several of his peers at Caltech, where he’s entering his third year and majoring in biology with a goal of pursuing an MD-PhD in pediatric neurosurgery and medical engineering.

Marta Stevanovic studied voice and piano at PCM with Mariné Ter-Kazaryan, from 2001 to 2010. After finishing her studies at PCM, and graduating cum laude from Polytechnic School, Marta Stevanovic attended Harvard University. After Harvard, Marta received a Robert W. Woodruff Fellowship, a merit-based full ride scholarship, to attend Emory University School of Medicine. During her first year at Emory, Marta continued to pursue her passion for music by joining the Emory University Chorus. Marta recently completed her third year of medical school and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. She was also awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Foundation Fighting Blindness Medical Student Research Fellowship and will be taking a year away from medical school to conduct research at the University of Southern California and the University of California Santa Barbara.

David Rodgers studied at PCM for six years—first as a chamber music student, then as a piano student—with Dr. Susan Svrček. David just graduated from Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music where he majored in Piano Performance with a concentration in jazz studies. He is currently an active member of Keb’ Mo & Taj Mahal’s touring band as the keyboardist and assistant musical director; and this week, he released his debut album, Songs For A Generation, which includes ten original compositions, all written within the past year.

Isabel Barragan is a Pasadena Conservatory of Music alumna and LAYGO member. She studied at PCM for four years with Connie Sheu and is now a freshman guitar major at California State University, Fullerton, studying with Martha Masters.

Christopher Goodpasture writes about how PCM has transformed since he attended the Conservatory in 1995.