Who We Are
Our mission to make music a part of every child's education is achieved through the collaborative efforts of ETM's
Patrick Cole, Chairman
Vincent Houser, Secretary
Nancy Smith, Treasurer
Lola Debney
Larry Kohorn
Henry Lee
Michele Nardone
William Sullivan
Booker White
Austin Wintory
Christopher Young
Calvin Yeung, Wharton Executive MBA Fellow Board Member
Ayke Agus
John Avila
Leni Boorstin
Daniel Catan
James Dooley
Kerry Farrell
Jesus Florido
Michael Giacchino
Susan Helfter
Angelica Loa
Yeou-Cheng Ma
Misha Piatigorsky
Anthony White
Jeremy Zhu
Victoria Lanier, Executive Director
Aliza Pearl Kennerly, Program Associate
Clifton Chang, Finance Associate
Angie Solomon, Public Relations Intern
Elizabeth Wright, Field Supervisor
Jonathan Beard, Field Supervisor
Elzabeth Megan Fong, Field Supervisor
Victoria Young Lanier, Executive Director, studied violin at Juilliard, graduated with honors from Princeton University, and received her Masters of Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. While in New York, she developed a passion for working with youth and ensuring that all children receive equal opportunities for music education. Ms. Lanier was a Program Coordinator for Education Through Music (1999-2003) and taught violin, mentored teaching artists, and designed an integrated string curriculum. In 2004, she was chosen for the Ralph Lauren Polo Jeans G.I.V.E. (Get Involved. Volunteer. Exceed.) Campaign through her work with ETM. Ms. Lanier's involvement with other music education programs include coordinating and teaching high school music for Carnegie Hall's Weill Institute Seminar. She taught violin at the Mannes College of Music Prep Division and instructed violin to inner-city Newark youth through NJ Symphony's Outreach Program.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 2003 Ms. Lanier has worked to bring music and music education to the underserved. She helped coordinate the HMI Community Outreach Initiative and also served as the Music Education Manager for the Da Camera Society. As a collaborating founder for Education Through Music-Los Angeles, she is thrilled about the expansion of ETM to LA - the first national affiliate - in order to see that every child receives equitable, excellent music education. Her experience as a professional violinist includes studio film and television recordings including Fox Simpsons and Spiderman III, performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and Walt Disney Concert Hall with diverse artists and groups from the Ahn Trio, Pacific Symphony, Il Divo, John Williams, Long Beach Opera, Kanye West, Misha Dichter, and Josh Groban to Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera.
Elizabeth Wright, Field Supervisor is a native of North Carolina and received her BA in cello performance from the University of California, Los Angeles with Ronald Leonard. She performs regularly with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Mozart Classical Orchestra, as well as the Mladi Chamber Orchestra. She is an active studio and chamber musician and performs with the Jacaranda Series in Santa Monica, CA. Ms. Wright has worked with Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Zinman, Ivan Fischer, John Williams, John Clayton, Vince Mendoza, David Newman, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Christian McBride, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mandel, Terence Blanchard, Billy Childs and Ben Harper.
Ms. Wright has designed and implemented educational outreach programs for the Young Musicians Foundation, as well as the Pasadena Pops Orchestra. She has taught violin, cello, and general music for the YMF Youth Mentor Artist Program, Childrens' Music Workshop, the American Youth Symphony String Project and the Henry Mancini Institute. Ms. Wright is a dedicated music educator and has taught within the LAUSD and Santa Monica-Malibu School districts. She is a Suzuki cello teacher and maintains a private studio on the West Side of Los Angeles.
Bill Sullivan, Associate Director of Development, has been a board member for Pacific Serenades since 2001. Having just celebrated its Twenty-Second Season, Pacific Serenades has recently gained national prestige through two Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, which have previously been awarded to other distinguished groups such as Kronos, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Monday Evening Concerts. Through Pacific Serenades, Bill has also witnessed first hand the desperate need for musical education, as audiences have been consistently aging. Bill also serves as President of the University of Chicago Club of Los Angeles, a role in which he has responsibility for relations with 5,000 local alumni and donors. By leading over sixty events since 2001, Bill has tried to create the most all-inclusive community possible for Chicago’s diverse alumni based upon differences in age, interests and ethnicity. Bill is thrilled by the opportunity to serve ETM-LA (Education Through Music – Los Angeles), as it creates a way to address the vital need for musical education. ETM-LA offers Bill the opportunity to serve his passions for education and music simultaneously, so that he can enrich both fields.
Aliza Pearl Kennerly, Program Associate, is a recent graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in Comparative Literature and minored in Theater and Dance, as well as East Asian Studies. She is also a singer-songwriter (ASCAP member), guitarist, actor and writer, and has led musical theater master classes and workshops for children from elementary school to high school in conjunction with professional theater performances. She has performed in acclaimed productions at McCarter Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theater, and has toured nationally in theater productions. She can be seen in various independent films.
Teaching Artists
Nick Alvarez, Cello & Violin
Jonathan Beard, Cello
Christine D'Alexander, Cello & Violin
Ryan Duffy, Violin
Christina Eng, Violin
Elizabeth Megan Fong, Violin
Tim Hagen, Recorder
Amanda Johnson, Guitar, Chorus, General Music
Emily Kubitskey, Recorder
Andrew Leonard, Recorder
Audrey Salmon, Violin
John Storie, Guitar
Lindsey Strand-Polyak, Violin
Chris Thomas, General Music
Andrea Whitt, Violin
Jonathan Beard (cello) holds degrees in music from Stanford and UCLA, and is a 2006 recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Henry Mancini Composer Scholarship. An accomplished cellist and educator, he teaches for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Young Musicians Foundation, and performs with local music groups and for recordings. He is also a talented composer, having recently completed a PBS documentary film "California's Lost Tribes," and contributing music for the TV pilot "Secrets of a Hollywood Nurse." He is assisting John Frizzell in Hollywood on the score for the upcoming film, "The Reaping", and Universal Publishing will be publishing a rock version of Beard's "Silent Night".
Brittany Cotto (Violin), is from Chicago, Illinois, and began her music education at the age of two. She received a Bachelors of Arts from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She has performed throughout Europe and the United States with various artists including LeAnn Rhimes, Tony Bennett, John Williams, Patrick Williams, Burt Bacharach, Bobby McFerrin, Quincy Jones, Barrage and Marco Antonio Solis. She has performed with the Santa Monica Symphony and the American Youth Symphony, and has played on Grammy-award nominated recordings. Ms. Cotto is currently teaching the String Project with the American Youth Symphony and LA's BEST After School Enrichment Program, and is excited to be a new teaching artist with ETM-LA. She is an active member of AFL-CIO Local-47.
Ryan Duffy (Violin/Violist) just completed his Master's of Music degree at the University of Southern California, studying under Donald McInnes. In addition to teaching with ETM-LA, he freelances in the Los Angeles area with various orchestras such as the Riverside Philharmonic and the Torrance Symphony, and teaches privately in South Pasadena. He has also performed with vocal artists as diverse as Tom Jones, Michael McDonald, and Patti Labelle. When not playing the viola or teaching, Ryan enjoys hiking, traveling, and the company of animals.
Christina Eng (Violin) is a violinist and educator originally from the New York area. She continued her professional studies receiving a Bachelors of Music from Boston University. Her international performance experiences extend to Europe and Asia and include artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, and Emmanuel Ax. She currently teaches violin, viola and cello at various music schools in the Los Angeles area while maintaining a private studio. In addition, Christina has a Masters of Arts in Theology with an emphasis in theology and the arts.
Elizabeth Megan Fong (Violin) has studied violin for eighteen years. She has studied and played many different styles and forms of Western, American and World Music. In 2001 she received her BFA from Sarah Lawrence College and began teaching for Education Through Music Inc. in New York City. She now resides in East LA pursuing her career as a music educator and artistic collaborator of performance and composition.
Amanda Johnson (Guitar, Chorus, & General Music) is a teaching, performing, and touring musician from Hollywood, California. She graduated from Citrus College where she established connections in the Southern California music community. She has performed internationally with a jazz band and has taken an original rock group on tour throughout the United States. Currently she performs every week with various cover and original bands. For over ten years Ms. Johnson has been teaching guitar, bass, piano and flute to children of all ages.
Joo Lee (Cello) studied at Juilliard, New England Conservatory, and is currently a Masters Scholarship student at Thornton School of Music, USC. Her cello instructors include Ron Leonard, Peter Stumpf, and Ardyth Alton, and her chamber coaches include the Ying Quartet, Lewis Kaplan, and the Borromeo Quartet. Ms. Lee performs as a soloist, chamber, and symphonic musician, and has held Fellowship positions at Aspen and the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory. She is a cello instructor for the USC Outreach Program, teaching in various public school settings, and also teaches privately in her own studio.
Ayako Ono (Violin) received her Master of Violin Performance from Yale University as a recipient of the Yale School of Music and The Edward R. and Leila E. Wardwell scholarship, and her BM from Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington with the Chancellor Gros Louis scholarship. She served as teaching assistant for Professor Mimi Zweig using the Suzuki Method during her studies at Indiana University. She has been an active participant at the Aspen Music Festival, Tours International Music Festival, Sunflower Chamber Music Festival, and the Hampden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Ono has studied under the direction of Franco Gulli, Camilla Wicks, Syoko Aki, Masao Kawasaki, and has participated in master classes with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, William Preucil, Nancy Allen, The Shanghai String Quartet, and the Tokyo String Quartet. She has played for the San Antonio Symphony, and was also a member of the Houston Chamber Orchestra and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. In addition to performing, Ms. Ono has taught for the Houston Independent School District and currently teaches as a violin instructor for the Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, California.
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Maria Scherer Wilson (Cello) earned her M.M. in Cello Performance from University of Texas, Austin and B.M. in Music Education from University of Evansville, IN, in 1999; principal teachers were Phyllis Young and Pablo Mahave-Veglia respectively. is a Los Angeles based string educator, alternative cellist, touring musician, and recording artist. In addition to her expanding private cello and violin studio, she instructs six Beginning Cello Groups of 2nd graders at Castelar Elementary with Education Through Music and an Intro Cello class to 6th and 7th graders at Lincoln Middle School. A strong advocate of string education, Mrs. Scherer is Secretary and a Board Member of the Greater Los Angeles American String Teacher's Association Chapter. In 2003, Mrs. Scherer Her performance career is highlighted by engagements with Florence Henderson, Jody Watley, Cat Power, String Theory and the Regina Klenjoski Dance Company.
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Perry Smith, Program Coordinator and Teaching Artist (Guitar) is quickly gaining recognition as one of the bright young stars in today? jazz scene. Working primarily with the New West Guitar Quartet, vocalist Kathleen Grace and the Perry Smith Group, he has performed extensively throughout the US, Japan and Canada. Mr. Smith is an award-winning composer receiving honors such as Finalist for the 2007 International Songwriting Competition, and the ASCAP 2006 Young Jazz Composers Award. In 2005, he graduated from the Thornton School of Music at USC with his BM, and studied with legendary guitarist Joe Diorio and composition with bassist John Clayton. He has performed or recorded with artists including Dave Brubeck, Bobby McFerrin, Peter Erskine, and Alan Pasqua. As an educator, Mr. Smith has performed outreach concerts for the Henry Mancini Institute, USC, AYSO and enjoys teaching guitar to eager young minds.
Chris Thomas (General Music) attended the University of Oregon, obtaining degrees in Music Composition and Political Science. He attended the prestigious Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television graduate program at the University of Southern California, where he studied with Chris Young, Pete Anthony, John Frizzell, Jon Erlich, Freddie Wiedmann, Kenneth Hall, Joel McNeely, Richard Kraft, Chris Brooks, and Eric Schmidt. At age 16, Mr. Thomas began writing his first theatrical, ballet and film music scores. His professional experience ranges from street performer to concert cellist to orchestral film composer, and has also been involved with Balinese gamelan and Chinese opera. He currently composes, orchestrates and edits feature film scores in his Culver City studio. Music is the love of his life!
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Andrea Whitt (Violin) is a violist who specializes in both classical and jazz music. She completed her master's degree in viola performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2007. Ms. Whitt has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and School, Chamber Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, and the Henry Mancini Institute where she sat Principal Violist. While deeply rooted in classical playing, she has studied and performed all styles of jazz, and has performed with artists Christian Howes, Patrick Williams, Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, Chris Brubeck, and Johnny Mendel. In addition, she has performed with the LA Masters Chorale, Los Angeles Bach Festival and the Santa Monica Symphony. Ms. Whitt studied violin and violin pedagogy with renowned instructor, Robert Gillespie.
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Planned for 2009-2010:
- Partnerships with 8 schools serving approximately 2,000 children in Los Angeles!
OUR WISH LIST
Each Donation Makes a Difference!
$25
Recorders for an entire class
$75
Entire semester of music for 1 child
$150
A full year of music for 1 child
$1000
An entire semester of music for 15 kids
Underwrite the Music Program at A School:
$5,000 Level
$10,000 Level
Contact vlanier@etmla.org
Quotes
- "Thank you for opening [my daughter] up to a new world of music."-Partner school parent
