Faculty

Department: music-academy

Piano Faculty and Carol Colburn Grigor Piano Chair
One of the most important pianists and pedagogues who has won many top prizes worldwide
Bernadene Blaha commands the piano, whether featured as recitalist, concerto soloist or chamber musician, and has been heralded in performances throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Mexico. Piano and Keyboard magazine reviewed her as “a pianist of integrity, with lovely sonorities and total clarity of line.” Highlights include return engagements at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, Newport Music Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, Worcester Chamber Music Society as well as performances throughout the United States, Canada, France, and Italy. 
Music History and Literature
Ray Briggs is Assistant Director of Jazz Studies at CSU Long Beach and coordinator of the Instrumental and Vocal Jazz Workshop supported through CSU Summer Arts.
Chamber Music and Viola Faculty
From 2002 until 2024, Jonathan Brown was the violist of the Cuarteto Casals, with whom he performed in all of the major concert halls in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as making numerous recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label including repertoire ranging from Bach through Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to Bartók, Ligeti and Shostakovich.
Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Michelle Cann is one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. 
Chair, Modern and Creative Dance, Modern Dance Instructor
Tamsin Carlson is a graduate of the Arts Educational School, where she was awarded a college diploma, and London Contemporary Dance School, where she was awarded a diploma for her course work.