Performers (2021)

We’re a band of UC Berkeley PhD students who love to jam with beautiful people. We formed a music pod during the pandemic, and play a chaotic blend of funk, rock, blues, and pop. We’re excited to share more of our music as we emerge into the post-corona world!

They’re baaaaack! Noah Goldstein (they/them) is a Bay Area based singer and a rising senior communications major at the University of San Francisco. Noah trained in musical theatre for most of their youth and spent their high school years studying classical voice at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. After a 2 year hiatus from performing Noah has begun to rebrand themself as a contemporary singer and cover artist. This is the first time they’ve been on a stage since summer 2019 and they can’t wait to share some super fun music with you!

Jennifer Huang is a Taiwanese-American conductor currently serving as Resident Conductor and Managing Director of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony Aspirante Youth Orchestra. Her most recent engagements include Assistant Conductor and Chorus Director of West Edge Opera, Music Director of the UC Berkeley Chamber Orchestra and Summer Symphony, and Assistant Conductor of the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus. While the majority of her work focuses on standard orchestral repertoire, Huang is also an active opera conductor and a strong advocate for new music performance, working closely with composers from around the world.

Multi-faceted musician Ryan Villahermosa strives to expand the boundaries of classical music to better connect to audiences, ensembles and students. Trained as a violist, conductor, and guitarist, Ryan has performed in California, Washington and Hawaii. Ryan appeared as a soloist with the University of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in 2018, conducted the Wenatchee Valley Symphony for their 2019 cycle of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, and is currently working on a contemporary singer-songwriter release. He is excited to return to Northern California for two performances at The Hidden Cafe. In his spare time, you can find Ryan visiting specialty coffee shops, working on his golf game, or playing Magic: the Gathering.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Jackson has been performing with ensembles since the age of 5. Some notable being, Ars Nova Sinfonia, Asia America Symphony with David Benoit, Long Beach State Symphony, and Fresno State Symphony. Jackson has had the opportunities to perform worldwide such as in Italy, and Japan. Jackson has completed my Masters degree at CSU Fresno as the concert master for the Fresno State Symphony.

We are a band from Berkeley California. We are three cousins who write and produce our own songs together. We all three grew up playing and listening to music in the Bay Area and are excited to play in this concert

Born and raised in the bay area, Tomo has been playing the Koto for over a decade. Over the last year and a half he went to a music school in Tokyo dedicated to traditional Japanese instruments and has received the stage name of “Gakuji” and is officially recognized as a vice-master of the Koto. The Koto is a traditional Japanese zither instrument similar to the Chinese Ghuzheng and has a history of close to a thousand years. It has many versions but the most commonly seen is the 13 string koto. Many traditional pieces were written by blind musicians in the Japanese Edo period but there has been a large resurgence with the instrument over the last half a century incorporating western music theory along with more traditional Japanese technique. Using this new composition style there are many distinguished composers for the instrument and many more up and coming talents.

Originally studying clarinet, Loosh performed with the Oakland Youth Orchestra and the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra until he decided to move to China, where he first picked up the saxophone. When he discovered how much more music was accessible to him playing saxophone he couldn’t put the horn down. While living in China, he played with a Chinese punk band, Russian brass band, and started playing sax with DJs who specialized in reggae, house, and disco music. Now he’s back in the Bay Area continuing to work with bands and develop his craft.

A French Horn player from Oakland California, Terrence Perrier has performed with the Redlands Symphony, American Youth Symphony, and Debut Chamber Orchestra, of which he was second horn. While with the Debut Chamber Orchestra, Terrence played a variety of concerts including Yeethoven Part 2 (A juxtaposition of the music of Kanye West and Beethoven), The Music of Flying Lotus (A concert opposing the music of Flying Lotus with that of Benjamin Britten and Igor Stravinsky), and an exclusive concert “Smalls Change,” which promoted Dereck Smalls of the band Spinal Tap’s Lukewarm Water Live tour. He has also performed with the University of Redlands Studio Big Band, and been a participant of the Fresno Opera and Orchestra Summer Academy (FOOSA), the UC Berkeley Summer Symphony, and the Humboldt Chamber Music Workshop.

Lucy Nelligan is a fiddler on a mission to redefine the limitations of her instrument. She is classically trained, but grew up performing folk music from all over the world, which she has explored further during her time at Berklee College of Music. She has played at numerous festivals in the Northeast, including Freshgrass and the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival. At the other Berkeley, for Summer at the Hidden Cafe, she will be playing a mix of traditional music from the United States, Ireland, Finland, and Sweden, along with a few original tunes and songs.

Michaela Sasner is a senior acting major at Webster Conservatory in St. Louis. While her first love is musical theatre performance, the pandemic and the opportunity to compose music for a friend’s production gave her the opportunity to explore songwriting. She has appeared in plays and musicals in the Bay Area and St. Louis, as well as feature films including All About Sex (2021) and the upcoming film Deltopia.

Melisssa McGlumphy is currently completing her Master’s degree at CSU Fresno. Her Bachelor’s was completed at University of the Pacific under the main guidance of Igor Veligan. Melissa’s love and pursuit of music has taken her across the globe, performing alongside worldclass musicians in festivals from Hawai’i to the Czech Republic. She is a member of the Bakersfield Symphony and often performs with the Synergy Chamber Players – bringing high quality music to the communities of central California.

Grady Lai is a conductor and violinist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lai just returned to the Bay Area from the Eastern Music Festival (EMF) in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was a violin student in the orchestra program. There he studied with EMF concertmaster Jeffrey Multer, received chamber music coaching from William Wolfram, and played under conductors Grant Cooper and José-Luis Novo. During the summer of 2020, Lai participated in virtual conducting sessions with EMF music director Gerard Schwarz.