Oakland Public Conservatory of Music

Main Faculty Angela M. Wellman, M.M Sandra I Noriega Ph.D. Hector Lugo, ABD Branice McKenzie, MM Ronnie Daliyo Mark Wright Holly Burnett, BA Juan Paul Jones Erik Lee, BA Daniel Faiver, M.A. Youth Music Mentors Amina Scott Carolina Gonzales Tracy Fitzsimmons Adam Lankford Gemma Pelcastre Board of Directors Kevin Skipper-President Laurie Cahn-Secretary Gillian Hall Sonia Lankford Georgia Webb , M.A. Angela Wellman, M.M. Founder, Treasure	Biographies
	Main Faculty
	Angela Wellman, M.M. Founding Director, Dean Trombone	Trombonist Angela Wellman, hailing proudly from Kansas City, Missouri, has performed with the McCoy Tyner Big Band, Joe Williams, Al Grey, Slide Hampton and other noted musicians. From 1991-94, Angela was a California Arts Council Artist in Residence, during which time she designed and implemented a Jazz Studies Curriculum for Cole Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School in Oakland, CA. In 1997, she was awarded a Master’s degree in Music Education from theEastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She subsequently returned to the Bay Area, and served as the Education Director for the Oakland Youth Chorus where she developed award-winning community music education programs. Ms. Wellman is a recipient of national, state, and city Arts awards and fellowships for performance study and music education. Among these awards is the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Study Fellowship to study with trombonist Steve Turre. Raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Ms. Wellman was nurtured in a musical family, and is a third generation jazz musician and music educator. She grew up listening to the stride piano style of her grandfather, her father's swinging ballad & blues piano, and the soul-stirring songstylings of her mother, Jyene Baker. Angela inherits her passion and understanding for the preservation of musical traditions through education from her uncle and mentor, Eddie B. Baker, Sr., founder of the Charlie Parker Memorial Foundation & Academy for Performing Arts and the International Jazz Hall of Fame. Angela's initiation into the world of Jazz as a player began while hanging out at sessions at the famed chitlin' circuit Local 626, the once–Black musicians' union in Kansas City, and now sanctuary for the spirits of jazz pioneers such as Ernie Williams (The Last of the Blue Devils), Count Basie, Charlie Parker, and countless others who got their start in that very place. In 2005 she founded the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music to provide high quality, affordable music education for Oakland citizens. Angela divides her time between Oakland and Madison, WI where she is pursuing doctoral studies in Education/Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin. She also performs and teaches throughout the United States. Her band, New Roots, performs spirited, contemporary music, creating new forms, styles, and roots in the Jazz tradition
	Sandra I Noriega Ph.D. Artistic Director of Orchestras, Conductor, Prep Program Coordinator	In 1980, Sandra I Noriega (aka Sandy Mabee) received a full scholarship to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Completing her studies in 1983, she became the SF Conservatory’s first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion Performance. In 1985, she became California State University East Bay's first woman to earn a master’s degree in Percussion Performance. Sandra held the tenured position of Principal Timpanist with the legendary Women’s Philharmonic under Maestros JoAnn Falletta and Apo Hsu from 1980 to 2004. The WP premiered many works by women composers and recorded four CDs of works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Florence Price, Lili Boulanger, Germaine Tailleferre, Elinor Armor, and others on the Koch International label. In 2005, she founded and directs The Bay Area Women’s Percussion Troupe, a professional group dedicated to highlighting and promoting the presence of women in the field of Percussion Performance. In 2008, Ms. Noriega completed an intensive Post-Master’s Program earning a Professional Performer’s Certificate in Instrumental Conducting at California State University, Sacramento. She has been accepted into various Conductor’s Seminars and Workshops and has been honored on numerous “Who’s Who” in Music lists. Also, in 2008, Sandra founded the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s Symphony Orchestra, an all-volunteer orchestra, now in it’s 4th season. Her mission for this orchestra is to publicly perform works by ethnically under-represented composers, women composers, living composers, in addition to standard repertoire; and to provide an opportunity for performing musicians to engage in, experience, and develop an appreciation for the need and significance of performing these works. In September 2010, Sandra was appointed as the Assistant Conductor of Community Women’s Orchestra, one of only three Women’s Orchestras in the US. Additionally, in 2010, Sandra became a charter member of Classical Musicians with Disabilities, and has been invited to conduct several works at the inaugural concerts of The D Major International Music Festival, to be held 11/25-26/2011, in Kiev, Ukraine. She has also been invited as a Guest Conductor of the Castro Valley Chamber Orchestra for their Oct. 23rd concert. Sandra has served as Professor of Music at the college level for over 10 years, and at the high school and elementary levels since 1975. From 2008 – 2010, Sandra worked for Education Through Music Bay Area, as a Field Supervisor overseeing Music Educators throughout the Bay Area. Sandra also directed the Bay Area Asian Children’s Percussion Ensemble, an outreach program of the Wisdom Culture and Education Organization in Fremont, CA, and continues to teach in her private Castro Valley music studio. In addition to her music degrees, Sandra holds a BA and a PhD in Biblical Studies focusing on the Nature of Music and its ability to effect lives in a positive and tangible manner.
	Hector Lugo Percussionist	Héctor Lugo is a talented and experienced percussionist, singer, songwriter, and teacher. A native of Puerto Rico, Héctor has performed, recorded, and toured with renowned local and international artists in the Latin, Jazz, and Afro-Caribbean music communities, including, among others, Luis Cepeda and the Los Cepeda Folkloric Ensemble, Bobby Céspedes, Conjunto Céspedes, Luis Romero and Mazacote, John Santos and the Machete Ensemble, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Gilberto Gutierrez and Mono Blanco, the Larry Vukovich Latin Jazz Orchestra, the Venezuelan Music Project, and the Mission Project. He composed music for a theatre piece, Living in Spanish, that has been produced in San Francisco, New York, and Seoul. He has lectured on the history of Puerto Rican music and taught workshops on Latin percussion locally and internationally. Hector has a Masters in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he has also done substantial doctoral work in the political sociology and cultural history of Latin America and the Caribbean. Presently, he leads Son Borikua, a seven piece ensemble, dedicated to creating original music inspired in the Puerto Rican folklore. He is co-director of the Bomba and Plena Workshop at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, and a percussion instructor with the Oakland Youth Chorus’ Music of Our World program.
	Branice McKenzie, M.A. Vocal Performance	Branice McKenzie's career includes everything from jazz to theatre to prolific songwriting. Some of her credits include critically acclaimed performances at the Newport Jazz Festival, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and The Umbria Jazz Festival. On the theatrical stage she has created roles in Shades of Harlem,Sing Sister Sing and Jazz Alley. As a composer and musical director, she has penned music for Shelter, Voices: A Children's Song, Shades of Harlem andBlackbirds of Courage. Most recently she is the recipient of the Meet the Composer grant. She made her directorial and writing debut with the world premier of Celebrate Kwanzaa at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center to which she is also a contributing composer. 　 She has worked with such luminaries as Harry Belafonte (1984-1993), Gregory Hines (1987 – 2003), Roberta Flack, Hugh Masekela, Peggy Lee, Dianne Reeves, Miriam Makeba, BeBe Winans and Carly Simon to name a few, performing all over the United States, Europe, Africa, Moscow, Russia and Morocco and was an original cast member of I Can’t Stop Loving You – the Music of Ray Charles. 　She can be heard on numerous jingles and recordings including Hugh Masekela'sUptownship singing the heralded single, If You Don't Know Me By Now, Grammy nominated Loves Drum Passion by Olatunji and the just released single Maybe Next Year with jazz artist extraordinaire Onaje Allan Gumbs on his latest CD, Remember Their Innocence. Ms. McKenzie has just released her first children’s CD, I Am Me: Melodies, Lyrics and Lessons, to rave reviews from children of all ages! Her composition, Sing, Sing, Sing, was selected as the second grade song in McGraw-Hill’s music textbook, Share The Music, to be released later this year for children around the world. Ms. McKenzie holds a B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and an M.A. in Music Education from New York University.　 Ms. McKenzie is the co-founder of the landmark Black Chorus of Brown University where she served as director for her entire tenure at Brown, the first ensemble of its kind in the history of Brown University. Her busy schedule includes her work as a choir director and Minister of Music for the past several decades. She remains in great demand as a choral and vocal coach, conductor and soloist, as well as Music Minister in the tri-state area of New York City. Ms. McKenzie is the Assistant Minister of Music at the Antioch Baptist Church of Corona in Queens, New York where she has been for the past 23 years under the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Marvin J. Bentley.
	Mark Wright Trumpet	Mark Wright, trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, arranger, has been an active part of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for about 16 years. He studied music formally, at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Pacific. Mark has performed with many greats, including, Clark Terry, Ray Charles, Plas Johnson, John Handy, Pharaoh Sanders, Louie Bellson, Herb Geller, Grover Washington Jr., David Murray, Steve Turre, Rodney Franklin, Freddie Redd, Dave Ellis, Joshua Redman and Don Carlos. Born in Berkeley, California, his first teacher was Vernon Carlson. Strongly versed in the Jazz tradition, Mark places an emphasis on performing his own compositions, of which he has written over 250. In addition to performing with his own Jazz band, Mark also works as an independent contractor performing, arranging, and composing for diverse musical groups and styles, including Latin, R&B, large Jazz units, Reggae, and Pop. Mark's musical activities have taken him to Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hawaii, Seattle, Idaho, and other locations throughout the country.
	Ronnie Daliyo Zimbabwe Marimbas - Gumboots Dance - Mbire	As the only male Zimbabwean traditional dancer in the Bay Area, Mr. Daliyo’s classes have offered students the completely unique experience of learning the culture, history, songs, drumming and dance steps of Zimbabwe. There is nowhere else in the Bay Area where students can learn such dances as Dinhe, of the Korekore; Muchungoyo of the Ndebele; and Mbakumba, Mbira and Mhande of the Shona people. We know of no other Zimbabwean man in the Bay Area or Western United States with the experiences and artistry that Mr. Daliyo brings, allowing for this unique teaching experience. Mr. Daliyo will continue to teach and perform, not just in the Bay Area, but in Boulder, Colorado; Cedar Crest, New Mexico; and throughout other parts of California (Sacramento, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara). His present dance and music students are very much looking forward to continue experiencing the deep traditions and culture of Zimbabwe as only presented in his classes, workshops and performances. Mr. Daliyo’s teaching and performances have facilitated the bridging of African and Western cultures. As guest artist with the Chinyakare Ensemble, his presence has enhanced group members’ development as artists and deepened their connection with Zimbabwean tradition. In the past, the Chinyakare Ensemble members have had the opportunity to travel to Zimbabwe to immerse themselves in the cultural experience and in music and dance as taught by the artistic director’s, Julia Chigamba’s family. Mr. Daliyo has brought that experience to the Chinyakare Ensemble’s rehearsals that take place three days each week. Mr. Daliyo’s tutelage has allowed the Chinyakare Ensemble to showcase what is uniquely Zimbabwean at such performances as the Annual Collage des Cultures Africaines at the Berkeley Community Theater, the largest Pan-African gathering of musicians and dancers on the West Coast, the Berkeley World Music Festival and the World Music and Dance Festival in Sacramento. Organizations throughout the Bay Area and the United States recognize Mr. Daliyo’s unique ability to immerse audiences in his art form and further audience members’ understanding of traditional Zimbabwean music. Since Mr. Daliyo has been guest artist with the Chinyakare Ensemble, such events as Young Audiences showcases and Oakland Public Conservatory of Music repertory performances have engaged children and adults in enhancing their understanding of the music, dance and culture of Zimbabwe. Mr. Daliyo’s teaching and performances help audiences to appreciate their own cultures, as they are similar to, yet distinct from Zimbabwean traditions.
	Holly Burnett, B.A. Woodwinds, Piano, Guitar
	Juan Paul Jones Piano & Cello
	Erik Lee, B.A. Dance
	Daniel Faiver, M.A. Percussion
	Adjunct faculty
	Ajayi Jackson Musical Artist	Ajayi Jackson is one of the California Bay Area's most talented and rounded musical artists. He is a multi-instrumentalist with an uncommonly diverse and broad scope of expertise. Mr. Jackson tours internationally, working as a bassoonist, African percussionist, trap drummer, pianist, and composer. This Bay Area native has certainly broken the mold as he has accomplished what no other musician ever has, exemplifying such high degrees of excellence in several genres of music with such diverse instrumentation. He began his international career in Europe at the age of twelve as a classical bassoonist and shortly there after as a pianist in Japan, performing his own compositions. He has worked with some of the most talented musicians of our time such as Prince Lashaw, Omar Sosa, and John Santos, to name just a few. Mr. Jackson has also worked with several esteemed dance companies such as Dimensions Dance Ensemble (Zimbabwe Tour 2001 / CubaTour 2003), Ashe Dance Collective (N.Y.C. Suga Cula Wata), and Traci Bartlow and Dancers (Bay Area HipHop Theatre Festival 2005 / Malcolm X Jazz Festival 2004/5). With a BFA in classical bassoon performance from Cal State Hayward, this self-defined jazz musician has his hands and many instruments in several places. When not on tour performing on one or several instruments, he contributes to his community through arts education, and has an extensive background in the fields of African and African Diaspora arts education as well as music theory and analysis. Whether you see him on stage with artists such Marc Joseph Bamuthi (Word Becomes Flesh / Scourge), in the class rooms of Oakland's inner city schools, or hear his performances on the radio with Jazz artists Idriss Akamor or Hip Hop artist Zion I or Folk artist Hyim, Mr. Jackson is always a pleasure to experience and quite the honor to behold.
	Dr. Gregory Mertl Theory & Composition	Gregory Mertl has received commissions from the Phoenix Symphony, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Fairbanks Symphony, Richard Killmer, ASCAP/the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Festival of the East, and the Big Ten university wind ensembles. Recent awards include the Chicago Symphony’s First Hearing Award, a 1998 Tanglewood Composition Fellowship, and three ASCAP Foundation Grants to Young Composers in 1996, 1997, and 1998. At Tanglewood, he had the tremendous privilege of studying with Henri Dutilleux and Mauricio Kagel. Orchestras such as the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic (through ASCAP’s Millennium Commission in honor of the Aaron Copland Centenary) premiered his works. Other projects included composer-in-residence at the Chamber Music Festival of the East at Bennington College in Vermont in August 2001 and the Phoenix Symphony premiere of Pandora’s Beethoven-Box in January 2002. In recent years, his compositions have been performed at the 1999 International Double Reed Society Conference in Madison, WI, the Festival du Moulin d’Andé in France in 2001, the University of Illinois, the University of Alaska, Colgate University, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University. In 2002 his music reached audiences in Honolulu, Boston, Rochester, France, Singapore and Taipei, Taiwan. Performances in 2003 and 2004 included Princeton, Hamilton, Colgate and Northwestern Universities, Eastman School of Music, Weill Recital Hall in New York and a French premiere by cellist Xavier Phillips on the France Musique radio station. He has worked frequently with choreographer Augusto Soledade and Brazz Dance Company. Stable Flux, one of their largest collaborations, premiered at Smith College in April, 2001 and subsequently in Salvador, Brazil. Awarded by the symphonic wind ensembles of the Big Ten Universities, the Big Ten Band Commission received its premiere in April 2003. The score, entitled Love, Play On, won third prize in the Harelbeke International Wind Ensemble Composition Competition in Belgium. 2005 winter concerts included four performances of Lover Calls in Florida and a Canadian premiere in January, a radio program on Vermont Public Radio on February 12th with live performances and, in March, a song cycle at Towson University in Baltimore. Subsequent performances occur in Taiwan and China in June. 2005-2006 commissions include a concerto for piano and winds for Taiwanese pianist Solungga Liu and a consortium of ensembles in the US and Europe, a work for the Ostrava Oboe Festival, and a cello concerto for the French cellist Xavier Phillips. He holds his undergraduate degree from Yale University and master’s and doctoral degrees in music composition from the Eastman School of Music.
	Gary Brown Acoustic & Electric Bass	Born into a family of musicians Gary Brown's inevitable musical career began at an early age. By his eleventh birthday Gary was already performing in jazz bands with his two brothers and his father, jazz trumpeter Wilbert Brown. Gary went on to form his own bands and develop a talent and reputation as a skilled and versatile bassist. While enrolled in San Jose State University's Art/Design program Gary came to realize that music was his true calling and made the decision to make it his life and his career. After leaving school he continued to study privately with the renowned Skip Parnell, a teacher and lecturer from the esteemed Philadelphia Academy of Music. In the past 20 years Gary has toured extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia ,South America and the Middle East where he has recorded and shared the stage with Flora Purim & Airto, Pharaoh Sanders Jeff Beal, Steve Winwood, Narada Michael Walden, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls , Ernie Watts, John Lucien, Torninho Horta , Eddie Henderson , Joyce, Alex Acuna, Dori Caymmi, George Duke, Roy Ayres ,Oscar Castro Neves , Lyle Mays, Giovanni Hidalgo, Mike Shrieve, Paul McCandles, Alphonse Mouzon, Andy Narrell, Pete and Sheila (Sheile E.) Escovedo, Jose Neto Quartet. As a member of Terra Sul he composed and co-produced on their CD "Kindness of Strangers" (Motown jazz label MOJazz). In addition to the co-writing and arranging Gary also shares a producer credit with drummer Celso Alberti for recording artist Zaza's ambitious CD "Book of Kings". Gary is one of the three members of Pray for Rain, a film and soundtrack production team whose credits include Sid & Nancy, Straight to Hell, Trust Me, Zandalee (with Judge Reinhold and Nicholas Cage) and The Linguini Incident (starring David Bowie). Their projects include work with famed Parliament keyboardist Bernie Worell on the movie Car 54 Where Are You? and the theme and dramatic underscore for the Fox television series Key West. They continue to compose underscore for various projects for the major cable networks including HBO, Lifetime, Showtime and Cinemax, as well as for the major television networks ABC, NBC and CBS. Currently dividing his time perfoming with Flora Purim & Airto, Anamandara Trio and the Rebeca Mauleon Group, a The Claudia Villela & Ricardo Piexto Group .Gary continues to compose, perform and produce with various artists and is writing music for his first solo project.
	Babatunde Lea Percussionist	Babatunde Lea is a Bay Area percussionist, and an established session musician. He has forged a career steeped in the rhythms of the Motherland of Africa and its Caribbean & South American Diaspora. Lea was raised in New York and Englewood, New Jersey, but in the late 1960s migrated westward to the Bay Area, where he was further immersed in global rhythms, courtesy of such affiliations as fellow percussionist Bill Summers’ (The Headhunters; Los Hombres Calientes) visionary ensemble Bata Koto. ‘Tunde, as he is known to intimates, has also drawn immeasurable experience working with such singular stylists as Leon Thomas, Pharaoh Sanders, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Van Morrison, Oscar Brown, Jr., and a host of others. Lea’s cultural quest doesn’t end at the bandstand. Since 1993 he and spouse Dr. Virginia Lea have operated the Educultural Foundation, a Bay Area youth education operation that through a variety of programs immerses students and schools in global rhythms primarily from Africa and the Caribbean Diaspora. “The Educultural Foundation is something my wife and I put together to sow seeds of change and be agents of change, trying to better ourselves and our communities. We teach critical thinking about social and cultural issues through the arts,” the drummer informs. One of their programs, Yo Ancestors! neatly dovetails and is a precursor to Suite Unseen: Summoner of the Ghost’s quest for the spiritual essences.
	India Cooke Violin/Piano	India Cooke, violinist, composer and educator, plays a wide range of music – from classical to jazz. India has performed in San Francisco Bay Area symphony and opera orchestras, chamber ensembles, and Broadway shows. As one of California’s most respected contract artists, she has performed as featured soloist with Joe Williams and the Louie Bellson Orchestra, and has played with Sarah Vaughn, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and many others. Her continuing jazz and improvisation experiences include performances with Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Pauline Oliveros and many others. As an educator, Ms. Cooke was an Artist-in-Residence at the San Francisco School of the Arts, and currently teaches at the San Francisco Community Music Center, Mills College and at her private studio. She has conducted lecture/performances in Bay Area public schools, colleges, and other educational programs.
	Sandi Poindexter
	Shelly Crouse Monarez Violin
	Jaz Sawyer Percussion
	Youth Music Mentors
	Amina Scott Bass
	Carolina Gonzales Marimbas
	Tracy Fitzsimmons Trumpet
	Adam Lankford Leadership, Tenor Sax and Marimbas
	Board Members
	Kevin Skipper President
	Laurie Cahn Secretary
	Gillian Hall
	Sonia Lankford
	Georgia Houston Webb Board Member	Thirty-five years as a college counselor/administrator. Experience included eighteen years managing UC Berkeley’s outreach, recruitment and marketing activities for generating applications from both freshman and transfer prospective students; with oversight for designing and managing distribution of print and electronic marketing; events planning; training staff to make admissions presentations; fielding inquiries from prospective students, parents and college counselors; organizing and facilitating programs for newly admitted students; implementing innovative approaches to recruiting underserved students; training and supervising professional staff; providing oversight for student and alumni outreach volunteers; serving as a lead reader for the admissions decision making process; budgetary oversight for marketing, recruitment and outreach for the office; evaluating outcomes; data management; facility management; projecting long range goals and writing reports. Work history includes employment as a college counselor/administrator at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; Scripps College in Claremont, California; and the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. Webb received a Master of Science Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University Of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, Wisconsin; and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa - Bachelor of Arts- Philosophy May, 1973. She also holds California Community College Lifetime Credentials as Supervisor, Counselor, Instructor of Basic Studies, and Teacher of Classes for Adults. Webb has extensive community service and has served on the following Boards of Directors: Oakland Public Conservatory of Music; Lakeside Temple of Practical Christianity, Oakland, CA; The Dylan Jamal Cartharn Foundation for Music & Arts, Inc.; Project SOAR, Haywood, CA; East Bay Consortium, Cal SOAP, Oakland, CA; College Resource Network, Oakland Unified School District; Council of African American Parents, Diamond Bar, CA; Educating Young Minds, Los Angeles, CA; Young Black Scholars, Los Angeles, CA - Scholars Resources Network; Spanish Trail Girl Scouts, Pomona Valley; Pomona Valley Martin Luther King Scholarship Committee; National Council of Negro Women, Inc., Pomona Valley Section; California Student Opportunity and Access Program (CAL-SOAP), South Coast Consortium, Whittier, CA; Community Friends of International Place, The Claremont Colleges; Claremont Community Foundation, Claremont, CA; NAACP, Pomona Valley Branch, Pomona, CA. She describes her most outstanding achievements as being the mother of Ayinde Pendleton Webb; receiving the Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC), Human Relations Award, and Innovator & Renovator Award 1999; being elected Democratic Nominee, United States House of Representatives for the 33rd Congressional District, 1990; and receiving a nomination for and NAACP Image Award for Best Local Play for “A Little Piece of God” of which she is the playwright.