Jammies

Act One

Bella Vista High School Band and Color Guard
The Bella Vista High School (BVHS) band program includes marching, concert and jazz bands; drill team; color guard; and winter percussion/guard. The BVHS program supports the last marching band in the San Juan Unified School District. They have competed throughout the Central Valley, the Bay Area and Nevada, and have received many top honors and awards. Sacramento Magazine named them the Best High School Marching Band in 2002.

The BVHS band has played at the Sacramento Metro Chamber “Perspectives” concerts, at parades in Fair Oaks, Memorial Day performances at Fair Oaks Cemetery and Mt. Vernon Memorial Park, at Placer Title Company and at Sunrise Mall. They have played in musical productions, including South Pacific, Crazy for You, Titanic and The Music Circus musical production of The Music Man.

The band’s travels include Vancouver, Canada, to participate in the Victoria Day Parade, Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon, and Hawaii at the USS Missouri near the Pearl Harbor Memorial. In April 2006, the band has been invited to attend the London Heritage Music Festival at the Royal Academy of Music.

Stephanie Abbott, Nicholas Albano, Amanda Bitnoff, Ian Brown, Haley Buchanan, Joshua Cambridge, Danielle Chipman, Mary DePaola, Timothy Dobek, Andrew Dreifus, Kevin Foster, Zachary Franklin, Aaron Friedman, Nicholas Fusco, Sarah Garcia, Miles Gerlach, Cynthia Grantham, Alyssa Gunderson, Tania Haag, Aaron Harbert, Nathan Harbert, Melissa Harvey, Anthony Hauger, Breanna Hawkins, Eric Hernandez, Clifton Herrmann, Vincent Hjerpe, Michelle Iwase, Brian Kerby, Christopher Knapp, Ian Knox, John Laing, Tanner Laret, Brett Leonard, Catherine Lucero, Andrew McCarthy, William McHugh, Jonathan Merkley, Tynisha Mims, Anthony Mongalo, Ellen Moore, Angelo Moreno, Jennifer Morgan, Candiss Muramoto, Bradford Nguyen, Kari Nishikawa, Russell Nowotenski, Katherine Nurss, Edward Pineda, Elena Plummer-Raphael, Andrew Plummer-Raphael, Daniel Reed, Christopher Resnicke, Ted Reynolds, Jonathan Salazar, Joseph Salenko, Spenser Sellens, Jordan Shippy, Thomas Simpson, Ryan Sincoff, Michael Smith, Tyson Smith, Amanda Stavroff, Spencer Strombeck, Molly Swan, Nicholas Taylor, Anthony Teresi, Amber Thompson, Erik Trethewey, Samuel Triplett, Rhyss Undajon-Haskell, Chelsea VanSkike, Ellen Van Vleck, George Van Vleck, Eric Veliquette, Gary Vestal, Hannah Von Dracek, Benjamin Wallis, Tessa Will, Eric Will, Rebekah Wilson, Rachel Wilson, Brandon Zeman.

Loretto High School Chamber Singers
The Loretto High School choirs have a long history of musical excellence under the leadership of Susan Greene, who retired last year after 15 years at the school. Now under the direction of Anthony M. Lien, the choirs continue to provide outstanding performances. As a testament to their musical excellence, the chamber singers recently were invited to perform at several community events, including the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra’s recent performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and they have contributed a track to a forthcoming CD that is being produced by Sacramento Cottage Housing. Anthony Lien received a Ph.D. in musicology from UC Davis, and also holds graduate degrees in choral conducting and theology. In addition to his many conducting experiences in and around Sacramento, he is founder and music director of the Davis Festival Singers, and directs the choir at Lutheran Church of the Incarnation in Davis.

Piper Adams, Patricia Berg, Gabrielle Carvidi, Cortney Copeland, Courtney De La Mater, Michelle DeAngelo, Vanessa Fuller, Catrina Hayes, Rachelle Hayes, Tess Heidig, Amanda Holland, Kelley Jakle, Harnoor Jolly, Erin Jones, Claire Karoly, Elena Katnik, Sasha Lee, Traci Lee, Danya Levesque, Megan Lipps, Lauren Marshall, Christina Martin, Hayley McClurg, Kristine Morales, Samantha Moore, Amanda Neal, Rosa Neidhardt, Stephanie Ottersen, Laura Spaller, Catie Tien, Jessica Wallace, Aleena Weidman, Annmarie Weidman, Chelsey Winchell.

Francesca Fong
McClatchy High School sophomore Francesca Fong dives right in to the second movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata in D minor. It’s a piece that’s known to give the cello quite a workout, from the racy arpeggios to the aggressive pizzicatos, but Francesca’s up for the challenge. She counts among her influences the famous violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who once accidentally chopped off the tip of her pinky while cutting vegetables but hardly let that stand in the way of upcoming performances. “She re-fingered every single piece for the concerts,” Fong recalls with admiration. The lesson? “I should never say, ‘I can’t do it.’”

Yang Lu
At a recent recital, dressed in a sharp black suit and a crimson tie, Yang Lu cut a dapper figure. He cut a demanding Chopin scherzo down to size, too, with some serious piano chops. Yang, now 15, got a grand piano for his seventh birthday. Apparently, he’s been using it—a lot—ever since, racking up distinguished contest wins and broadening his horizons. Bear in mind that his e-mail address begins with “jazzman.” This cool customer won’t let a single genre contain him.

Sacramento Country Day School Woodwind Quartet
For five years the Sacramento Country Day School Woodwind Quartet has been an inspirational presence throughout the state. It performs with emotional intensity, technical precision and intellectual rigor in concerts throughout the year. Over the course of its five-year history the quartet has received many honors, including superior ratings from the California Music Educators Association for three consecutive years and silver and bronze awards from the All State Festival.

Min-Ji Kim, Siya Mehtani, Jennifer Patel, Clara Wirth.

Christian Brothers High School Vocal Jazz Ensemble
The Christian Brothers High School Vocal Jazz Ensemble has brought the art of vocal jazz to its campus and community for over a decade. The group is honored to be returning to the Classical Jammies for the second year in a row. The group also will be featured at the California Music Educators Association state conference right here, in Sacramento, this coming March. One of its members was selected as a finalist for the 2005 High School Vocal Jazz Ensemble Grammy, and recent alumni have been accepted as music majors at CSUS, San Jose State University and Berklee College of Music.

Director Ron Slabbick has been teaching at Christian Brothers High School for the past four years. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Education from Western Michigan University and an M.M. in Conducting from CSUS.

Francesca Arostegui, Jennifer Ary, Adam Boles, Jonathan Chaffin, Britton Cope, Will Finan, Kristina Guerrero, Alex Kemper-McCall, Briana Perez, Justin Perez, Anthony Tavianini, Ashley Thorne, Katie Tucker, James Waterhouse, Briana Wilborn, Sarah Willis. Piano: Brian Steckler, Bass: Tom Lopes, Drums: James Neal, Director: Ron Slabbinck.

Act Two

Elaine Fitz Gibbon
“A lot of times, especially in this age, classical music is not appreciated,” says 15-year-old cellist Elaine Fitz Gibbon. “And many people look down on it as being boring, lifeless and stupid, while it is exactly the opposite.” Listen to her having a go at Rachmaninoff and you’ll know what she’s talking about. Elaine once broke her bow in half out of frustration and had to borrow someone else’s for a competition. She won the competition, but all the prize money went toward fixing her bow. As you might expect, she’s an expressive player with a strong command of dynamic range—and of earned discipline.

Cynthia He
It’s as fun to watch Cynthia He play the piano as it is impressive to hear her. Her nimbleness with, say, the emotive turns of phrase in a Chopin ballade, or its dazzling sprees of 32nd notes, suggests more than the payoff from dutiful practicing. Cynthia has a real feeling for the music; a personal involvement. No wonder she keeps a quotation from Beethoven on her piano: “The great pianists have nothing to show save technique and affection.”

Woodcreek High School Musical Theatre
The Woodcreek High School Musical Theater class, made up of thirty seven ninth- through-twelfth grade students, is an audition-only class in which the students prepare the high school’s spring musical. Recent musicals performed by the class have included Les Misérables, Children of Eden and Seussical. The students have received over twenty Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance Elly nominations for their productions. Numerous graduates have gone on to pursue careers in musical theatre. The class is taught by co-directors Adrienne Dritz-Mars and Jennifer Vaughn. This year’s musical is Once On This Island which will be performed at Woodcreek High School on March 30 through April 7. The students of the musical-theater class and their directors are truly honored to be performing for you this evening!

Bob Afable, Kurt Bogle, Nicolas Cardona, Daniel Clifford, Monica Dedhis, Jamie Dehn, Katara Ford, Michael Fox, Emily Funk, Kenneth Gagni, Maria Hernandez, Jennifer Holm, Emily Holmes, Chelsea Huddle, Andrew Kenton, Christine Kim, Katelyn Lewis, Megan Lewis, Miriam Mars, Laura Martinez, Kathryn Miller, Kayla Morgan, Tiffany Osgood, Amanda Pomaranski, Blake Prentiss, MiYoung Shin, Erika Tatum, Dorian Tokuno, Breeann Torres, Amanda Tremblay, Stephanie Walsh, Kacey Williams, Michael Wooten. Musical Directors: Adrienne Dritz-Mars and Jennifer Vaughn, Piano: Jennifer Vaughn, Percussion: Jim Nakayama, Bass: Jessie Neibolt, Choreographer: Stephen Hatcher.

Rio Americano AM Jazz Ensemble
Big -band jazz is legendary at Rio Americano High School. The AM Jazz Ensemble boasts two invitations to the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival in New York City, numerous regional jazz-festival awards, special recognition from Downbeat Magazine and Sacramento Magazine’s, and an unprecedented seven wins at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The group has traveled and performed in Europe, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Japan … with plans to visit China in 2006. For 24 years the band has been under the direction of Craig Faniani, who was chosen as Sacramento county’s Teacher of the Year in 2000, and is being awarded the Jammies Award for Outstanding Contributions to Youth Music Education this year.

Saxophones: Adam Ballanti, Kelly Doherty, John Faniani, Ramsey Castaneda, Andrew Woodruff; Trumpets: Justin Au, Bret Bailey, Tim Ingram, Phil Smith; Trombones: Taylor Ashley, Dan Feinstat, Kesav Raghavan; Rhythm: Shannon Eshoff, John Farrace, David Leary, Dinos San Pedro.