Dr. Wyant Morton is Professor of Music at California Lutheran University and is in his 31st year as conductor of the Cal Lutheran Choral Ensembles, which includes the Cal Lutheran Choir, Cielo (treble choir), and Areté Vocal Ensemble–a chamber choir he founded in 2009 comprised of alumni, faculty and local professional level singers. He served as Chair of the Music Department from 1998-2013 and 2018-2019.

In recent seasons, Morton has prepared the Cal Lutheran Choral Ensembles for performances with the New West Symphony (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in 2022, A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream by Felix Mendelssohn in 2019 with Michael Christie, Leonard Bernstein On Stage in 2017 with John Mauceri, Gloria by Francis Poulenc in 2017 with Kynan Johns, The Planets by Gustav Holst in 2016 and Daphnis et Chloé in 2015 with Marcelo Lehninger). This season, Morton prepares the newly formed New West Symphony Chorus for performances of music from Mozart’s Requiem.

In 2012-13, Morton conducted concerts with Areté Vocal Ensemble in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival curated by composer John Adams, and the Los Angeles Opera’s Britten 100/LA Festival, commemorating the centenary of composer Benjamin Britten. In 2017-18 Areté again collaborated with the Los Angeles Opera in the Leonard Bernstein Centenary.

Other highlights in Morton’s career have been conducting New Music Concerts at Cal Lutheran which he helped start in 2003. A memorable concert brought award winning composer and then Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, to Thousand Oaks. The concert culminated with Morton conducting Salonen’s Five Images After Sappho, a performance the Los Angeles Times called “persuasive”. Morton has conducted similar concerts with Pulitzer Prize winning composers Henry Brant, Steven Stucky and David Lang. He has also collaborated with composers Libby Larsen and Morten Lauridsen; and Grammy Award winners Eric Whitacre (composer), Hila Plitmann (soprano), and Gloria Cheng (pianist).

When Natasha Kislenko sits at the piano on April 15 and 16 to perform two selections by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with New West Symphony, she will be in her element — even if that element is a bit more stress-laden than others.

“You can talk for hours on Mozart,” says the Russian-born piano virtuoso, acclaimed for her “expressive” and “exhilarating” style. “He was an absolute genius; every note he wrote was a gem. That makes it exciting — and challenging, because you don’t want to let anything go by. Nothing can be imperfect.”

Yes, she continues, musicians are all human and make mistakes. “But in Mozart,” she points out, “when things don’t work perfectly, every small imperfection makes everything else slightly off. One of my piano teachers said Mozart is the hardest composer to play for that reason. But if I have the choice of who I want to play, I say give me Mozart because he demands so much more.”

For her first-ever performance with New West Symphony, Natasha will perform the first movements of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11, “Alla Turca” (Andante grazioso) from 1784, and his Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor (Allegro) from 1786. Both pieces, she says, are demanding and challenging, “and every moment in them is special.”

Born and raised in Moscow, Natasha was introduced to piano around age 7 by her parents who were not musicians but who appreciated the importance of music in one’s life.

“They asked me about learning violin,” she recalls, “and I said, ‘No, absolutely not.’ So I took piano, mainly because it was easy for me.”

She was lucky, she adds, “to have access to great concert halls and museums in Moscow. Going to operas and concerts early on was invaluable, even though it was in my subconscious.”

Natasha also had a teacher “who recognized my abilities early,” but it wasn’t until she was a teenager that her interest in piano caught up with her abilities.

“In high school,” she says, “there was a competitive atmosphere, and I had ambition, and I understood that to get better I had to practice a lot. And once I got into that musical environment, there was no way back.”

Studying under Anatoly Vedernikov, Natasha earned a degree in piano from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, then came to the U.S. to further her studies. She earned another degree in piano at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, studying with Joaquín Achúcarro, and then her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University in New York, working with Gilbert Kalish.

“At the time I came to America,” she notes, “things were difficult in Russia for musicians. Now things have improved for musicians but there is no way I would go back.”

Not that she needs to. Natasha has won several international piano competitions, including the Grand Prize at the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition in 1996, and performed all over the world, notably throughout Europe and the U.S.

As resident pianist of the Santa Barbara Symphony since 2010, she has been a featured soloist for the Shostakovich, Grieg, Clara Schumann, de Falla and Mozart piano concerti. She has performed with many distinguished musicians and, along with Bulgarian violinist Chavdar Parashkevov, released two CDs for violin and piano, “Russian Sonatas” and “Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler,” for wehich The Strad magazine praised her “limpid and beautiful pianism.”

And she enjoys working with aspiring musicians, having served since 2004 at the Music Academy of the West, and since 2007 on the music faculty at UC Santa Barbara, where she is Senior Continuing Lecturer, Keyboard Program. She has also taught masterclasses at universities in the U.S., Turkey, Italy and Germany.
As a keyboard teacher and professor, her philosophy is to “be true to the composer. As much as I appreciate individuality, I focus more on getting intentions of composer on the page. That means knowing how to execute technically what’s on the page, and then listen to other works by the same composer or his contemporaries.

“The piano is miniature orchestra, so you need to know the lines and textures. And then, once you understand that, your individuality kicks in, and you can develop your style, and interpret it your way.”
In addition to her regular work with Santa Barbara Symphony, Natasha’s near-term schedule includes a tour of Turkey and Bulgaria with violinist Parashkevov. And she looks forward to her 18th summer participating with Music Academy of West.
She enjoys travel and nature walks in her free time, what there is of it. Which makes sense for someone who embraces the challenge of performing Mozart to perfection.
“You can easily hear when things are not working in Mozart,” says Natasha. “So to make the most powerful impact, it has to be absolutely perfect. But that’s part of the enjoyment, because Mozart is fun to play.”

“Binging on Mozart” will be presented by New West Symphony on Saturday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., at Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center, Thousand Oaks, and on Sunday, April 16, 3 p.m., at Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center, Camarillo. Information: (866) 776-8400.

Written by Mike Nelson

“You can play Mozart too over-the-top or too boring,” he continues, “so I tell my students, listen to his operas in order to play Mozart well, because it all comes back to singing. Pretend you are different characters and playing them all — the hero, the bad guy, the damsel in distress. That’s how you learn to sing Mozart on your instrument, and it’s where you find the fun and joy in playing Mozart.”

It is that lyrical approach to his instrument that has made Josh a critically-acclaimed and in-demand clarinetist for nearly three decades. In addition to his work with New West Symphony, Josh is the principal clarinet of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), has been a member of the Pacific Symphony since 1997, and performs regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

After earning his Master of Music from Yale, Josh landed his first job as bass clarinet with the Honolulu Symphony, then moved to San Jose and finally to Southern California in 1999. He has played two decades with New West Symphony, joining the core roster in 2012.

More recently, Josh joined the faculty of UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, where he enjoys working with clarinet students and helping them find their voice, as it were, with their instrument — to make it sing.

“As wind players, we’re connected to the idea of singing, playing our instruments with a lyrical quality that is so important,” he explains. “That’s why I feel it’s really important to learn how to be an artist and not just a technician when you play the clarinet.

“Some students have great technique, but are rather bland musically. As a teacher, I don’t skimp on the technical part, because they need very good technique, and I can always help them improve. But as a personal goal, I encourage them to learn how to be expressive, because it’s good for them, it’s good for the music, and it’s more fun to teach.”

“Binging on Mozart” will be presented by New West Symphony on Saturday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., at Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center, Thousand Oaks, and on Sunday, April 16, 3 p.m., at Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center, Camarillo. Information: (866) 776-8400.

Written by Mike Nelson

Cedric Berry has sung everything from classic opera to modern opera, and sung it well. But regardless of what he’s singing, this Midwest-raised, Los Angeles-based baritone keeps one thought at the front of his mind:

Enjoy what you’re doing.

“That’s what I share with young singers I work with,” says Berry, who will perform in New West Symphony’s “Binging on Mozart” concerts April 15 and 16. “I always tell them, ‘You have to find a way to enjoy what you’re doing. Reduce the barriers you may encounter — whether it’s nerves, breath support, or whatever — and become as confident and as comfortable as you can. And if you can find a way to enjoy what you’re doing, the audience will enjoy it, too.”

Cedric Berry’s audiences have clearly enjoyed what he does. In the past two decades, he has earned numerous rave reviews for his operatic and concert performances in the U.S. and abroad, including several opportunities to perform the works of Mozart which, he says with a smile, “is like coming home.”

“I think of Mozart as a cornerstone of music,” says Cedric. “You have to get past Mozart to get anywhere else in opera, something I learned when I was younger. When I was participating in vocal competitions and would sing Verdi or Wagner, I was told, ‘That’s very good, but you need more Mozart.’

“In Mozart I find a balance that, as someone who is very math-minded, I appreciate. I’ve done a number of more modern and contemporary operas, so it is always a breath of fresh air to come back to Mozart, because there is no one better. There’s a very lyrical quality to his work, and a happy feel to most of his music.”

For New West Symphony’s Mozart concerts, Cedric will perform “Non più andrai” (“You shall go no more”), an aria from “The Marriage of Figaro,” one of numerous productions in which he has performed with Los Angeles Opera and other companies around the world.

His first professional experience as a Resident Artist with LA Opera included the roles of Fiorello in “The Barber of Seville,” followed by Schaunard in “La Boheme,” Wagner in “Faust,” and Crébillon in “La Rondine,” among others. He’s also performed in many USC Opera productions, with Pacific Repertory Opera and UCLA Opera, and in the lead role of “Kublai Khan in Invisible Cities,” a 2014 Pulitzer Prize Finalist.

Overseas, he’s sung in a concert version of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” in Spain; with LA Opera in “Salome” at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland; and in tribute to Paul Robeson for the Banlieues Bleues festival in Paris. And he has sung in numerous major orchestral concerts from California to Europe to Japan, including several performances with the New West Symphony.

Quite a resumé for one who as a youth sang in church choirs but was told by his grade school teacher that he was singing improperly. But when she heard him sing a solo (“My voice matured very quickly”), she evidently reconsidered her opinion, and assigned him a solo to sing at a school assembly.

It wasn’t long before Cedric, who grew up in “Michiana” (southern Michigan and northern Indiana), was entering and winning vocal competitions. In his junior year of high school, he was accepted at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy, an international high school in Michigan, where he had attended summer music camps.

That’s where I got introduced to opera,” he says. “By then, I’d already been involved with school plays, and did a lot of singing around town. At Interlochen, the counselors said, ‘You can combine singing and acting if you go to opera.’ And I just had a knack and a voice for it.”

His first operatic role was Grandpa Moss in “The Tender Land” by Aaron Copland, a role first played in 1954 by the famed Norman Treigle. Coincidentally, when Cedric came to USC, that was his first role, as a freshman — in disguise, sort of.

“Actually, freshmen weren’t supposed to be involved,” he recalls, chuckling. “But I told them I was a junior and they gave me the role. And even after they found out I was a freshman, they let me keep it.”

Cedric earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music at USC. He also earned a graduate certificate in college student personnel services, leading to his current position as assistant chair of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. The work, and his management of several real estate properties around Los Angeles, provides a nice balance to his musical work that, he says, “has come roaring back” after the pandemic.

In April he’ll perform with Stockton Symphony and as part of the annual “Opera in the Desert” series in Palm Springs. In May he heads to Toronto for rehearsals of a “reboot” of Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha,” completed in 1911 and considered to be the first Black opera, though it was not performed until a half century after the composer’s death.

“We’ll start performances in June, and hopefully next year bring it to the U.S.,” says Cedric.

And he enjoys participating in LA Opera’s “Connections” outreach program that brings opera to young people who might not otherwise have exposure to quality classical music.

“More than anything,” he says, “I want them to enjoy the experience.”

“Binging on Mozart” will be presented by New West Symphony on Saturday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., at Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center, Thousand Oaks, and on Sunday, April 16, 3 p.m., at Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center, Camarillo. Information: (866) 776-8400.

Written by Mike Nelson

“The orchestra,” declares Mason Bates, “is one of mankind’s greatest creations.”

Spoken, you might say, like a true composer of symphonies and operas — a Grammy-winning composer at that. But for Bates, creator of “Philharmonia Fantastique” which will be presented by New West Symphony on March 4 and 5, an orchestra is more than a means of making beautiful music.

“It’s the diversity that is so fascinating and incredible,” he says, “a diversity of instruments, technologies and people who come together, to breathe as one organ, to create something beautiful that touches an audience.”

Such “unity in diversity” is the essence of “Philharmonia Fantastique,” a multimedia concerto that combines live action with high-tech animation. Each orchestral section (or “family”) is showcased, with the help of a curious sprite who flies through the instruments of the orchestra to explore the fundamental connections between music, sound, performance, creativity and technology.

“The orchestra is one of mankind’s greatest creations.”

“Philharmonia Fantastique” combines Bates’ music with the artistic skills of Oscar-winning director/sound designer Gary Rydstrom, and Oscar-nominated animation director Jim Capobianco. As performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Edwin Outwater, the work recently received a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Classical Recording.

“Our engineers achieved an extraordinary result amidst the most challenging recording environment,” says Bates, referring to the height of the COVID pandemic in spring 2020 when recording took place.

“We had to record the instrumental families separately,” he continues, “but doing so actually gave us amazing control in the studio later. And the collaborative process illustrated the piece’s theme of ‘unity from diversity’ — the orchestra as a model of different materials and technologies fusing into one beautiful super-instrument. It was a miraculous achievement, and the team did a phenomenal job.”

And the audience’s response to “Philharmonia Fantastique” — whose premiere was delayed by COVID for a year — has been overwhelmingly favorable. Multi-Oscar-winning composer John Williams has called it “a truly magnificent achievement. In the art of marrying music with animation, ‘Philharmonia Fantastique’ is the biggest step forward since ‘Fantasia’ itself.”

The finished product, says Bates, is not only “the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on,” but is “remarkably close” to what he had initially envisioned: “an exuberant piece that would fly inside instruments while they playing, infectiously kinetic and fun. All those things worked out and is a tribute to those who collaborated on it.

“When we were drawing up the script, I had this image of a little girl going into her school music room to learn about the instruments. But Jim Capobianco said, ‘Let’s do something magical,’ and the human ‘explorer’ became a sprite, which allowed us the freedom to do what we wanted. It’s a virtuostic bit of animation.”

Moreover, “it is a piece for any age,” says Bates, who is delighted that New West Symphony’s presentation of “Philharmonia Fantastique” will include performances for elementary school students on March 7 in Oxnard and March 8 in Thousand Oaks.

“There is a childlike wonder in this piece that we all can identify with,” says Bates, “and New West is presenting it in a perfect way, concerts for symphonic audiences and youth.”

Perhaps, he adds, some of those children will be inspired to pursue music, much as he did while attending St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Virginia. He was a piano student who began composing choral and instrumental works before his teen years, and credits his middle school piano teacher, Hope Armstrong Erb, for nurturing his dream.

“There is a childlike wonder in this piece that we all can identify with.”

“She heard me play these wild rhapsodies,” he recalls, “and she told me, ‘If you want to get better as a composer, you need to get better as a pianist. Practice piano for an hour a day every day, and I’ll mentor you as composer.’ There are many mentors behind every artist, and Hope is someone I stay in touch with to this day.”

Bates’ earned a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s of Music in Composition from the Columbia University-Juilliard School program, and a Ph.D in Composition from UC Berkeley, where he studied at its Center for New Music and Audio Technologies.

During that time, his interest in combining electronic and symphonic music was nurtured while working as a DJ and techno artist at clubs and lounges in San Francisco, and he cofounded Mercury Soul, a San Francisco-based non-profit that presents club shows combining classical music and DJ sets in clubs.

Perhaps not what one would expect of a member at the Composition faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, or one who served as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ first composer-in-residence.

But this is someone who refers to his music as a revival of 19th-century narrative symphonies using 21st-century sounds. “I’ve always been attracted to an exuberant mix of new and old,” Bates says, “and creating a musical vehicle with a gleaming surface, but also with that solid orchestral structure underneath the hood.”

That’s one reason Bates is happy that New West Symphony’s presentation reunites him with NWS Music Director Michael Christie, with whom he shared a 2019 Grammy for Best Opera Recording for “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.”

“You can hear New West Symphony and Michael Christie do classical pieces as well as mine and other contemporary works, and that’s a great example of the orchestra never stopping its evolution,” Bates says. “We all love Palestrina and Bach, right? And the first performance I saw after seclusion was San Francisco Opera’s production of ‘Tosca,’ which I enjoyed. But we all love to be challenged, too.”

And that means embracing the evolution of music, instrumentation, technology and, especially, people — as Mason Bates has done, in a way that is collaborative, original and exciting.

New West Symphony will be performing Bates’ “Philharmonia Fantastique” as part of its “Symphonie Fantastique” concert on March 4th & 5th.

Written by Mike Nelson:

As one who holds a Master’s in Music from Westminster Choir College, one of the nation’s leading choral institutions, it stands to reason that Dr. Ryan Board — at some point in his career as an internationally acclaimed conductor and singer — would have performed one of classical music’s milestone choral works, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

But life is not always reasonable, or logical. Which means that New West Symphony’s presentation of Beethoven’s Ninth on November 19 and 20 — joined by Pepperdine University’s Concert Choir, the Arete Choir of Thousand Oaks, and guest soloists — will be the first time that Board, Pepperdine’s director of Choral Activities, will perform the Ninth.

“It is a considerable feat, I guess, that I’ve avoided this piece,” smiles Board, who has conducted topflight ensembles performing major choral works all over the world. “And I’ve performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis [composed at the same time as the Ninth] multiple times. But I am eager and excited to do the Ninth, especially with New West Symphony.”

And it isn’t as if Board is unfamiliar with Beethoven or his Ninth, which broke new ground when it premiered in 1824 and soon became the standard-setter for the choral symphony.

“It’s fun to try and understand Beethoven,” Board observes. “He was an ornery, thorny and  interesting musical and historical figure. I like how provides a window into his struggle through this piece that takes us on an interesting and exciting journey.

“He sets out a stalwart beginning, and then you hear his personality take over. Ultimately, he’s developing the text, focusing on the fact that, somewhere up above, there is surely a loving father. And the way he tries to master the traditional forms of music, yet break them down to serve the texts, is fascinating.”

Board agrees with Maynard Solomon, the late musicologist and Beethoven biographer, who said the Ninth is unified by its stark contrasts. “It’s tense and aggravated,” Board notes, “and then you come from these darker emotions to joy. It was really revolutionary for his time. And after he did it, everyone else said, ‘How can we surpass what Beethoven has done?’ And they couldn’t.”

Having earned his BME from the University of Northern Colorado BME, and his DMA from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Board has directed choirs at prestigious venues for numerous regional, national and international events including the American Choral Directors Association’s conventions, the Prague Choral Festival, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival’s Spotlight Series. An avid conductor of choral-orchestral literature, he has conducted works ranging from J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion to Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw.

Now in his 13th year at Pepperdine, Board directs two major ensembles: the Concert Choir, comprised of 60 to 65 students, both music and non-music majors (90 to 100 in non-pandemic years), and the “top tier” Chamber Choir, ranging from 24 to 36 students.

“Because of Covid, we’re kind of rebuilding at this time,” he says. “And because some of our students are involved in other campus musical performances, we’ll have about 40 members of the Concert Choir performing Beethoven, combined with Arete.”

It will be the first but “hopefully not the last” time that Pepperdine’s choral ensemble has sung with New West, and Board welcomes the opportunity for many reasons.

“New West, Sasha (Gurevich, NWS general manager) and Michael Christie [NWS Music Director and Conductor] have been great in reaching out to us,” he says. “And although we have a tight schedule at Pepperdine and our musicians are always busy, I wanted very much to do this.”

“When you consider the educational opportunity for college students to get into a great hall with a great professional orchestra and a top conductor in Michael Christie, it’s a catalyst for a great experience. And when you combine all of this with one of the great works of the Western musical canon, well, now you’ve been to the mountaintop. And our students will want more. That’s the power of education.

“So I see this as a way to enlighten our students. They may not know or appreciate it yet, but they will when they see all the moving parts working together — choir, soloists and orchestra. And Beethoven won’t disappoint.”

Join us November 19-20th for our Ode to Joy performances in Thousand Oaks and Camarillo, click to purchase your tickets!