School of Music

Darek "Oles" Oleszkiewicz was born on February 20, 1963 in Wroclaw, Poland. At the age of five Darek began his music education at the State Music School in Wroclaw. Piano was his first instrument, but later he played guitar, electric bass and finally at eighteen years old, he switched... Continue reading »

Vardan Ovsepian is an Armenia-born pianist/composer whose studies include Yerevan State Conservatory, Estonian Music Academy, Helsinki Jazz Conservatory, and Berklee College of Music.  Performs solo as well as with artists such as Mick Goodrick, Tim Miller, Peter Erskine, Jerry Bergonzi,... Continue reading »

Jeff Parker (b. Bridgeport, Connecticut USA, 4/4/67) is recognized as one of contemporary music’s most versatile and innovative electric guitarists and composers - creating works that exploit the contrary relationships between tradition and technology, improvisation and... Continue reading »

Jacob Penn is a musician, programmer, entrepreneur, and MTIID alumni. Most recently Jacob has been the founder and CEO of Minimal Audio, a music software company which has deep roots in the CalArts music technology program. Prior to this he worked at Output, where he created multiple pieces... Continue reading »

Sami Perez is an engineer and producer at her own studio in Los Angeles, Wiggle World. She’s also worked at San Francisco studios Women’s Audio Mission (a non-profit that helps women and non gender conforming engineers break into the industry), Tiny Telephone (fully analog), and... Continue reading »

Cathlene Pineda is a sought after pianist and composer in the Los Angeles area. In June 2020, , Orenda Records released Cathlene’s third album of original music, “Rainbow Baby,” hailed by critics as “beautifully articulated” (Jazz Times). It chronicles her... Continue reading »

Jonathan Pinson began his love affair with the drum set at the age of two when he was surrounded by the music of his mother’s choir. His formal music training began at the age of six with instruction on the piano. Shortly after, Jonathan transitioned to the drum set at the Colburn School... Continue reading »