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PERFORMERS’ BIOGRAPHIES
Sy Grossman studied composition with Frank LaRocca
and jazz theory and performance with Dave Eshelman and Dan Zinn while
attaining a music degree at CSU Hayward. He has been a jazz piano student
of Susan Muscarella and Mark Levine. For the past three years he has led
jazz trios and quartets in Santa Monica, Santa Fe, and Chicago. Roy Halliday is a percussion student in the Music
Department at Cal State Hayward. He is an active member of East Bay jazz
community and is also a percussionist in several Bay Area symphonies, wind
ensembles and choral groups. Roy Henderson is a music educator in the Fremont
Unified School District. He began playing in New Orleans, Louisiana and
has played with professional groups and big bands in the Bay Area. He has
a master's degree in performance on flute from Holy Names College in
Oakland. Aaron Shaul is a local favorite on both electric and
double bass. In addition to exploring the jazz and classical music scene,
he is completing his studies for a BA in Music at CSUH. He is also a proud
member of the AFM Union Local 6. ...... Philip
Santos, violin, is Assistant Concertmaster of
the Marin Symphony, concertmaster of the Fremont Symphony and Principal
Second Violin of the
California Symphony. In addition, he has played with the San Francisco
Symphony since 1982 and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia
Festival since 1994. A
frequent chamber music performer, he has appeared on Old First Concerts,
Sierra Chamber Society, Chamber Music Sundaes, and
The San Francisco Symphony chamber music series. Mr. Santos
currently teaches violin at California State University at Hayward. ....... Van-Anh
Vo, Vietnamese National dan tranh champion,
began to study music at the age of four and has since devoted her life to
music and dan tranh. She graduated with distinction from the National
Conservatory of Music in Hanoi, where she remained as a music professor.
She has performed in more than fourteen countries, many times with the
Dong Noi Folk Ensemble, which she founded and directed. Besides dan tranh,
Van-Anh also performs as a soloist on other instruments such as the
monochord (bau), the 36-string hammered dulcimer (dan tam thap luc), the
bamboo xylophone (dan t’rung), the k’longput, and traditional drum
(trong) in live and televised concerts and broadcast recordings. She
recently recorded the soundtrack for the Sundance best documentary film
and 2003 Academy Awards Nominee “Daughter from Danang.”
She now lives and teaches dan tranh and other Vietnamese
traditional instruments in northern California. ......... The Tran
sisters, My-Thuan, Song-My, and Thuy-An,
have studied Vietnamese cultural music with Van-Anh Vo for two years. As
part of the Viet Spring Folk Ensemble, they have performed at various
charity and community events, including events for VNHELP, the Pacific
Links Foundation, and the East Meets West Foundation.
In January, they performed at a Lunar New Year celebration for the
East Meets West Foundation. They have also performed in libraries across
the Bay Area in showcases of Vietnamese traditional music. My-Thuan Tran is a sophomore at UC Berkeley, where
she is double-majoring in Political Science and Economics. Prior to
studying with Van-Anh Vo, she studied the zither for six years with
Professor Ngoc Dung. Song-My Tran is a senior at Milpitas High School. In
addition to playing the monochord, Song-My plays the piano and the violin,
and is a member of the San Jose Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra. Thuy-An Tran is an eighth-grader at Thomas Russell
Middle School. Thuy-An also plays the piano and violin, and is a member of
the San Jose Youth Symphony Concert Orchestra. ................. Chi
Nguyen, a junior at California High School, has
played piano for nearly twelve years.
At the age of three and a half she began studying piano in the Holy
Names College Preparatory Music Department and is now taking lessons from
Ellen Wassermann. She has won
numerous awards in competitions, including the Sylvia Ghiglieri
Competition, University of Pacific Music Competition, East Bay Music
Festival, Menuhin-Dowling Young Musicians Awards, and Fremont Symphony
Orchestra Young Artist Piano Competition.
She has performed with her sister Truc in many volunteer recitals
at senior centers and elementary schools around the Bay Area.
Chi loves reading, writing, singing, and acting and enjoys being a
part of the Mock Trial and speech and debate team at her school. Truc Nguyen, a senior at Stanford University, is a
management science and engineering major and a music minor.
She has played piano for sixteen years; she currently studies with
Thomas Schultz at Stanford and has studied with Ellen Wassermann.
She won the Blew-Culley-LaFollette Prize in the Stanford Music
Awards Competition, along with various prizes in other piano competitions,
including the East Bay Music Festival and Stanford Young Artists Festival.
She has also performed in a Panel Honors Recital at the Music
Teachers’ Association of California State Convention.
Besides playing piano, Truc enjoys photography, reading, and nature
hikes. ♫
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