John Reilly
John Reilly is an accomplished woodwind doubler and a free-lance musician having lived in Lake Tahoe and now in Los Angeles and Orange County CA since 1982. One of the few who plays "all" the woodwinds, including oboe and bassoon, John got his bachelor’s degree from Univ. of Nevada, Reno where he started playing in the backup band for Harrah’s Reno. After moving to Lake Tahoe, he backed up many acts at Harrah’s Tahoe, including, Sonny and Cher, Frank Sinatra, the Carpenter’s, Stevie Wonder, just to name a few!. Since his move to Southern California, John has played for soundtracks for over 75 films and commercials.
He opened the original “Jersey Boys” production at the La Jolla Playhouse, in 2004 before it opened on Broadway and has been opening many more shows since at the Old Globe Theater and plays all the shows that come thru on National tours at the San Diego Civic Theater. John has been nominated for five Grammy’s and is on Stevie Wonder’s latest Grammy award winning CD!.”A Time To Love”. John also has a Master’s in Woodwind Doubling from University of Redlands.
John lives in Orange County, CA. with his lovely musician wife, Lisa Cherry, a professional french horn player, and their two Golden retrievers.
Lisa Cherry
Lisa Cherry is a professional musician, playing the horn, since 1978, and holds a B.M. in Music Performance from Cal State Long Beach. With her extensive teaching background, she taught at top Universities all around Southern CA, and performed in many famous local & worldwide venues! Some of her local venues include: Long Beach Civic Light Opera, San Gabriel Light Opera, La Mirada Civic Light Opera, Old Globe Theater in San Diego, and La Jolla Playhouse. Lisa Cherry has performed in worldwide orchestras in Taiwan, Canada, México, Italy, Germany, Poland, Prague and most recently, Bulgaria.
Currently Ms. Cherry has a very successful horn studio in Orange County where she teaches young players and adults alike as well as teaching at the University in Riverside, UCR, and Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA).
Daniel Blank
Daniel Blank started playing the violin at age 9 and continued playing classical music through school. He has continued with classical studies, but his musical interests now cover a wider range. After many years of playing Rock and Pop in the Northwest and Alaska, he moved to Nashville, where he spent 10 years touring the country with such artists as Tanya Tucker, Johnny Paycheck and Trick Pony. He also performed many times on the Grand Ole Opry stage, live and on television broadcasts.
Since moving back home to Orange County, he teaches at local schools and privately. He also performs regularly playing anything from string quartets to square dances and jazz to country.
Corey Townley
Corey Townley has been playing the drums for almost 30 years and teaching over 20 years! He has been a part of MANY world class percussion ensembles such as, Pulse Percussion, Blue Nights, Vessel Indoor, Gold DBC, Pacific Crest, Blue Devils, Broken City, Dark Sky, and Impulse Percussion.
Corey currently performs in a band called “Home is West,” is a Percussionist for “Duende Flamenco,” and the bassist at OLF Church in San Clemente. Mr. Corey has a long resume of teaching and coaching percussion including: LA Paz Intermediate, Bernice Ayer Intermediate, Hudson Music Integration Program, Rancho Canyon Music, and is part of Vic Firth Educational Team. He even builds and sells his own drums and sticks under his company name of Core Drums, and has been in several film and commercial appearances.
Christy Alesi
Christy Alesi graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in music education. After moving to Orange County she did graduate work in Viola Performance at UCI. Teaching and performing are her two loves, with over 30 years of classroom experience and 35 years of private instruction. She is currently a violist in Symphony Irvine, and in the past has played in the Orange County Symphony and other local groups.
Nicholas Robbins
Nick has been a musical artist since birth, and has been playing instruments since the age of 3. A born singer, his instrumental experience began with piano, transitioned to cello in Elementary School, and eventually found its home on the bass at the start of Intermediate School. Nick attended Mission Viejo High School from Fall 2011- Spring 2015 where he gained much musical experience playing bass in all the available performance classes including String + Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Big Band + Combos, Musical Pit Orchestra, Electric String Group, as well as playing Sousaphone in the Marching Band throughout all 4 years of high school. Since graduating high school in the Spring of 2015, he has played in numerous bands, recorded in amateur and professional studios, and performed at many venues including Disneyland, Herb Alpert's Vibrato Jazz Grill in Bel Air, The Queen Mary, and many more. Nick comes from a family of musicians and teachers, so combining the two has come naturally to him, and both of which he considers to be a great honor. He greatly enjoys sharing the beautiful truth of life with others through the gift of music!
Rudolph Stein
Rudolph Stein is a member of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and works as a cellist in the Los Angeles recording industry. Before moving to California, he was principal cellist of the Charleston (WV) Symphony and prior to that, principal cellist of the Shreveport (LA) Symphony and was a member of their resident string quartets. He has also served as principal cello of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Opera Pacific, the Mozart Classical Orchestra, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and the California Chamber Orchestra. He has played with the San Diego Symphony and had obtained other orchestra positions including section cello in the Wichita Symphony. While studying in Cleveland, he was a member of the Akron Symphony, Canton Symphony and Youngstown Symphony.
As a Chamber Musician, Mr. Stein has performed over National Radio and Television. He has also toured many parts of the United States, Europe and Latin America. He currently performs with his brother Edmund as a violin-cello duo and other various ensembles. Some of his recording and performing credits include Al Jarreau, George Benson, Miley Cyrus, Neil Diamond, No Doubt, Avril Lavigne, Incubus, Billy Joel, Beck, Santana, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, and more.