Dr. Tammy S. Yi is a first-gen conductor-educator, string pedagogy specialist, and music education scholar from Los Angeles, CA. She is the orchestra conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic YIYO Orchestra, director of Mariachi Panteras, and assistant professor of music education at Chapman University.
Dr. Yi emphasizes the significance of transformative social activism for youth in music, education, and the performing arts. She maintains an active conducting schedule with El-Sistema orchestra programs, local school communities, and All-State ensembles. In addition to conducting, she mentors pre-K–12 music teachers in the community, Teaching Artists in the YOLA program, facilitates professional development sessions, and designs music education curricula for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dr. Yi’s research focus is on ethnic studies, culturally responsive pedagogy, and EDIA (equity, diversity, inclusion, and access) initiatives as they pertain to music performance and education. She regularly presents her work at music education and conducting conferences worldwide, gaining impressive international exposure for her and her research, including Oxford University, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, National Association for Music Education, California Music Educators Association, Sphinx Organization, and headlining the 2023 Texas Orchestra Directors Association Conference. Dr. Yi continues to serve on the American String Teachers Association’s national board to train current and future music teachers in a social justice ethos so that educators can develop culturally and community-responsive pedagogy in orchestra education. Her research has appeared in leading music education journals, including Music Education Research, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Oxford Handbook Series, and Music Educators Journal.
Prior to teaching at Colburn Conservatory, Dr. Yi taught violin and orchestra conducting at Columbia University, was the conductor of the Manhattan School of Music Pre-college Orchestra, and was an assistant professor of string education and conductor of the UA Philharmonic at the University of Arizona. Dr. Yi earned her doctorate in music and music education from Columbia University as a Florence K. Geffen Fellow, and she was awarded the Ella Fitzgerald Scholarship for her master’s degree at the University of Southern California.
This interview has been edited for style, content, and clarity.
Let’s go back to the beginning when you first were introduced to music. Would you share that background or experience?
Emily: We started around four, and both my parents really loved music. Actually, my whole family loves classical music, and I think it was the only type of music we listened to on the radio when we were younger. We grew up learning a lot of instruments. We started with violin and then piano a year later. I think it was when we were seven, we auditioned for the music program at our elementary school. We selected piano as our major, and we both got in. At the time, we were required to choose another instrument as our minor so that we could participate in the school orchestra. I think Christy chose viola and I chose flute. Because my parents really want everything to be fair with us, I also learned a little bit of viola. Christy also learned a little bit of the flute. Later when we auditioned for the music program in our middle school, we changed our minor to violin, and we have been playing both instruments ever since.
Do you have a favorite of the two instruments?
Emily/Christy: Definitely piano.
And when or how did you become aware of the Colburn school?
Christy: The Colburn faculty came to Taiwan for an audition when we were 13, I think about 2017. We auditioned at that time and played for the live audition. So that’s when we met the faculty and how we first heard about Colburn.
What was your audition experience like at that time?
Christy: It was our first time doing a live audition playing the full length of the repertoire. So that’s kind of scary but exciting at the same time. We heard about admission to the Music Academy a month and a half later.
You’re in your second year at the Conservatory. Thinking back, how different was your first-year Conservatory experience from your time in the Music Academy?
Christy: I think when I first came to the Conservatory I was kind of surprised because I knew Colburn had a small student body, but I wasn’t expecting that small of a student [to teacher ratio]. It was only four or five people in our class, so we were really close with everyone.
Emily: And I think Performance Forum is what’s really different from the Music Academy because in MAYAP [(Music Academy Young Artist Performance)] there used to be only about one-fourth of the audience, but in Forum there’s always a full audience. And knowing that all your colleagues and faculty are there can sometimes be nerve-wracking. But I think it’s inspiring too.
For piano, you are both studying with Fabio Bidini in the Conservatory. During your time in the Music Academy you also studied with Mr. Bidini and Ms. Kim. Have you found that there are differences in the teaching or your experience between the two Colburn units?
Emily: It is pretty much the same in instruction with Mr. Bidini. We do have more lessons and time with Mr. Bidini in the Conservatory though.
As sisters and both pianists, do you engage in giving one another feedback or do you avoid doing so?
Emily: We used to not talk to each other. Not until this semester. I would ask her to come to my practice room and listen and give me advice.
Christy: But before this semester, we didn’t interfere with each other. I think she takes critiques better than me because last year when we were doing piano duo, I usually would get very mad when she told me to do something.
Do you play any duets?
Christy: We do. We performed the piano duo in last year’s Performance Forum. We also did a piano duo concert in Taiwan last summer. The program was all Rachmaninoff.
How did you get the opportunity to perform in Taiwan last summer?
Christy: You have to send recordings to the National Concert Hall concert, and then if the recordings get approved you can perform there.
In reference to Taiwan, are you international students?
Christy: We were born in Los Angeles, but we grew up in Taiwan. We came back when we were 14 to attend the Music Academy.
Given your former music training in Taiwan and that you’ve had here at Colburn, are there any major or key differences?
Christy: When I was in Taiwan, when I played music, I was focusing on how I do different phrases, just the musical things. But when I came to LA, I started focusing on not only my playing but also the background of music.
Was it the same for you, Emily?
Yes, I think in America it led us to think more openly, not just playing but also enjoying our own music.
Having been students in the Music Academy and now the Conservatory, do you have any tips or advice for someone interested in Colburn?
Emily: Just take in as much as you can during the years you’re at Colburn, and try to enjoy every interaction you have with your colleagues and your teachers; get to know as much as you can.
Christy: Take every opportunity that you have.
Now in your second Conservatory year, what’s one of your most memorable moments?
Emily: I think it’s when we got the acceptance letter from the Conservatory. We didn’t expect to get in because it’s so hard to get in the Conservatory. And also because there were two of us applying, and we knew that there were other colleagues applying too. We didn’t think that it was possible, so we were really happy when we got the acceptance letter.
Christy: I think one memorable experience would be playing with the Colburn Orchestra. Yes, it was my first time playing, well not my first time playing in an orchestra, but my first time playing piano in an orchestra. It was new for me, and I think it was really fun working with such well-known conductors such as Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
Do you find that you like it more or less playing with a larger group such as in an orchestra?
Emily: I played in a Recovered Voices performance. I also performed in the gala concert last semester. Both were great experiences. I think I enjoy playing in both [scenarios] because they’re really different. For Recovered Voices, it was a smaller chamber group and for the gala concert, it was a big orchestra.
And Christy, how about for you? Is there any difference between the two experiences?
Christy: When you’re playing in an orchestra, the rhythms and everything are really strict. There are so many people in an orchestra you can’t change anything. But in chamber, you can talk to your colleagues about where you want to slow it down or what we can do differently in every piece.
With the fall semester coming to an end, is there anything you’re each looking forward to in the spring?
Christy: Right now we’re thinking of competitions. Before competitions, we need a wide repertoire, so we’re building up on the repertoire list.
Does music have a place in your future?
Emily: We both want to be teachers and also performers.
In mentioning teaching, do you want to teach private lessons or work at a school?
Christy: We applied for the Jumpstart program in the Conservatory this year, and we think that teaching is so inspiring. Especially in how we reflect on our own playing when we’re teaching students.
What is one thing that you hope to experience before you leave Colburn?
Emily: Playing with the Colburn Orchestra would be one of our goals. We might apply to the Concerto Competition next year.
Praised by Washington Post’s The Columbian as a “musician with great poetic phrasing and poised lyrical nature,” pianist Dr. Eloise Kim is a performing artist and passionate music educator. Kim regularly performs solo and collaborative music across the United States, and has been a featured soloist with the Vancouver Symphony (USA), Jefferson Symphony in Colorado, and the Columbia and Beaverton Symphony Orchestras in Oregon.
Kim has won numerous awards, including grand-prize of the Pinault International Piano Competition where she had her Carnegie Weill Recital Hall debut at age 11, semi-finalist of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and finalist of the New York International Piano Competition. Kim won top prizes in the Lennox, Kingsville, WPPC (dedicated to Leon Fleisher), and Jefferson Young Artists International piano competitions. In 2014, Kim was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Arts Award, one of only 20 young artists in the United States to receive this award of a total of $100,000 scholarship for her graduate studies. She has also been a scholarship recipient of the Chopin National Foundation of the United States, featured young artist at Chamber Music Northwest, and a recipient of the Beaux Arts Society Award in Portland, Oregon.
As an active chamber musician, Kim was one of the six finalist groups of the 2010 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition where the Kim-Garbot Duo made their first debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall. She was also a member of the Areta Piano Trio (2015-17) at Manhattan School of Music. The Areta Piano Trio performed in several outreach concerts together and was also one of the winners of the 2016 Lillian-Fuchs Chamber Music Competition.
Kim has participated and performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Orford Arts Centre, Banff Music Centre, “Art of the Piano” Festival, and the Lake George Chamber Music Festival, studying with renowned instructors including Jean-David Coen, John O’Conor, Lee Kum Sing, Marc Durand, Jacques Rouvier, Robert McDonald, Awadagin Pratt, Yoshikazu Nagai, and Gabriel Kwok.
Dr. Eloise Kim received her DMA at the USC Thornton School of Music studying with Daniel Pollack and was the recipient of the Outstanding Keyboard Departmental Award from the DMA program. Kim was also a Teaching Assistant and Studio TA at the USC Thornton School of Music, instructing group piano classes and individual instruction at the University. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree at The Colburn Conservatory with Ory Shihor and her Master’s at the Manhattan School of Music with Andre-Michel Schub. At the Manhattan School of Music, Kim graduated with the honorary Helen Cohn Award in recognition as an Outstanding Pianist in Chamber Music.
Dr. Kim is currently a Faculty at the Colburn Conservatory, teaching Keyboard Harmony Skills and also works as a staff pianist at the Colburn Conservatory. Kim maintains a private piano studio in Los Angeles, and serves as CAPMT (California Association of Professional Music Teachers) Vice President of Conferences. Her students have won many local and state competition prizes and honors including MTAC branch, MTNA, and Certificate of Merit exams in California.
Australian flutist Catherine Gregory, winner of the Pro Musicis International Award, enjoys a dynamic career as a soloist, ensemble player, teaching artist and creative collaborator. Her performances of both new and old music have taken her across the globe from Alice Tully Hall in New York, to London’s Milton Court, Hamburg’s new Elbphilharmonie, and the Sydney Opera House. The New York Times has called her playing “magically mysterious,” also writing that “Ms. Gregory left a deep impression… her sound rich and fully present.” Committed to nurturing the next generation of young artists, Catherine has served as visiting Flute Lecturer at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, and has given masterclasses and residencies at top music schools all over the world, from The Tianjin Juilliard School, to Curtis, Eastman and the Guildhall School in London. Catherine currently serves on the faculties of The Colburn School and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she has developed a new course helping students to become “artistic citizens,” strategizing how to integrate their artistic practice within real communities. Catherine Gregory released her debut album together with pianist David Kaplan, entitled Vent, on the Bright Shiny Things label in September 2023.
Dr. Frane earned his Ph.D. in psychology, with an emphasis in cognitive neuroscience, from the University of California, Los Angeles. His published research addresses various topics, including statistical methodology and the perception of rhythms in music. He is especially interested in how music, and other emotive auditory information, is cogni8vely and emo8onally experienced. In addi8on to his scientific work, Dr. Frane has also composed and produced music for film and audiobook soundtracks.
Ray Greene is known for his work as a producer and director on seasons three through nine of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and as producer/director of the documentaries The Wedge: Dynasty, Tragedy, Legacy (2014), Vampira and Me (2012) and Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies (2001). Mr. Greene is a multi-award-winning journalist and radio producer, known for creating and hosting approximately 100 broadcast segments for NPR and Southern California Public Radio. Greene’s book “Hollywood Migraine: The Inside Story of a Decade in Film,” about American cinema in the 1990s, was an L.A. Times Bestseller. He has served as a writer, editor and media director on numerous museum installations, including for the Images of Singapore Museum on Sentosa Island, Singapore; the Adler Planetarium in Chicago USA; and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Greene has been an adjunct professor of media for the School of Film and Television Studies at Loyola Marymount University since 2002. Greene holds an MFA in Cinema and Television Production, awarded by the School of Cinema and Television Studies at USC.
One of today’s leading wind players, Eugene Izotov was appointed principal oboist of the San Francisco Symphony by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2014. He previously served as the principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony, appointed by Daniel Barenboim, principal oboist of the Metropolitan Opera, appointed by James Levine, and as guest principal oboist with the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic. Izotov has appeared over 70 times as soloist with Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Metropolitan Opera, Pacific Music Festival, and Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Nicholas McGegan, Edo De Waart, and Ton Koopman performing works by Mozart, Strauss, Marcello, Haydn, Martinů, Vivaldi, Carter, Hummel, Krommer, and Bach. Eugene Izotov has recorded for Sony Classical, BMG, Boston Records, Elektra, SFSMedia, CSOResond, and was a featured soloist with the Chicago Symphony under the baton of John Williams on the Oscar-nominated recording for Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln. He has also recently been a guest soloist on NPR’s Live from Here with Chris Thile. Eugene Izotov has collaborated with Yefim Bronfman, Pinchas Zukerman, Jamie Laredo, Yo Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, André Watts, Itzhak Perlman, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Izotov teaches at the Colburn Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Pacific Music Festival (Japan), and at the Music Academy of the West. He has previously served on the faculty of The Juilliard School and DePaul University. One of today’s most active teachers, he presents master classes at conservatories across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia including Juilliard, Cleveland Institute of Music, New World Symphony, Oberlin, Aspen, Manhattan School of Music, Verbier Festival, Glenn Gould School, McGill University, Domaine Forget, HuyndaI Center (Korea), Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Lynn University, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. Born in Moscow, Russia, Izotov studied at the Gnesin School of Music. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University, where he continued his education after immigrating to the United States in 1991.
Dr. Andrea Thabet is a historian, writer, researcher, and historic preservation consultant specializing in Los Angeles, urban, and public history. Dr. Thabet holds an M.A. and PhD in U.S. History from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her published works on Los Angeles and urban history have appeared in both print and digital formats, including “’From Sagebrush to Symphony’: Negotiating the Hollywood Bowl and the Future of Los Angeles, 1918-1926” (Pacific Historical Review). Dr. Thabet has taught courses on the Civil Rights Movement, America in the 1960s, and 20th Century American History, most recently at Caltech in Pasadena, and U.C. Santa Barbara. She currently serves as Co-Coordinator for the L.A. History & Metro Studies Group, a research group based at the Huntington Library, and she is revising a book manuscript, Culture as Urban Renewal: Postwar Los Angeles and the Remaking of Public Space.
Carrie Kennedy has been a featured soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S. and has given recitals in 12 states. She is currently a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, and Pasadena Symphony. As a Baroque violinist, she is also a member of Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. Pursuing her love for chamber music, Ms. Kennedy founded and continues to perform as the first violinist of the Fiato Quartet since 2008. In addition to the concert stage, Ms. Kennedy records music for television, motion pictures, and records on sound stages throughout Los Angeles. She has appeared with popular artists such as Pentatonix, Andrea Bocelli, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sarah Bareilles, and Earth Wind and Fire.
Ms. Kennedy holds a Masters degree in violin performance from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with Pamela Frank and Ani Kavafian, and a BM from the University of Southern California with Robert Lipsett. During her studies, she won numerous awards including 1st place in the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Competition with two years of concert engagements and 1st place in the American String Teachers Association Competition. She spent her summers studying at Tanglewood, and abroad in masterclasses with Herman Krebbers, Zakhar Bron, and Gyorgy Pauk.
She is a member of the American String Teachers’ Association, the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and the Music Teachers Association of California, through which she offers the Certificate of Merit program. She has taken Suzuki teacher training with Sherry Cadow, Liz Arbus, Rick Mooney, Judy Offman, Peggy Ann Crow, Michele Higa George, Cathryn Lee and Charles Krigbaum. In addition to the Colburn School, Carrie teaches with the Pasadena Suzuki Music Program.
Carrie lives in Altadena, CA with her husband and fellow violinist, Joel Pargman, and her adorable Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Ginger Rogers.
Praised by the Chicago Tribune for his “febrile intensity,” violist Ben Ullery enjoys a multifaceted performing career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader and educator.
In 2023 he was chosen by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel for the position of Associate Principal Viola of the LA Philharmonic and previously held the position of Assistant Principal in the same orchestra since 2012. In addition to his appearances with the LA Phil, Ullery has performed across the country and abroad in the role of Guest Principal Viola with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
An active solo performer, he has recently given recitals at Festival Mozaic and La Sierra University where he premiered his own arrangement for viola of Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 1. Ullery is currently planning his first full-length duo album with acclaimed pianist Dominic Cheli which will feature works of Paul Hindemith, Rebecca Clarke, and Lillian Fuchs.
As a chamber musician, he has been in high demand in the Los Angeles area and at festivals and concert series in the US and Europe. In addition to having performed over 50 chamber works on the LA Phil’s chamber music series in Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ullery has appeared at the Mozaic, Music in the Vineyards, Mainly Mozart, Emerald City, Music at Millford, Leksand, Grand Teton, and Aspen festivals, among others. He has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today as well as local broadcasts on KUSC in Los Angeles and Minnesota Public Radio. As a recording artist, he has been featured on releases on the Bridge and Albany record labels.
An enthusiastic teacher, Ullery is on the teaching faculty at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles where he teaches orchestral repertoire as well as coaching the Colburn Orchestra’s viola section. Many of his former students have gone on to hold positions with top orchestras in the US, Europe, and Asia. He has given masterclasses at the Aspen Music Festival, California State University Fullerton, Azusa Pacific University, and the Shanghai Orchestra Academy.
A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Ullery earned a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from the Oberlin Conservatory, and later studied violin at New England Conservatory and viola at the Colburn School