Faculty
Bo Chung, Art
Ms. Chung studied Art, Graphic Designer, B.A. Ewha Women's University, Korea. She has also studied Computer Graphics at UCLA. Bo Chung is the western regional director of the "Teacher Hong's Art" program which is well known both in Korea and the U.S.
Hyun Jung Hwang
She received her B.A. and M.M. in music composition from Seoul National University. Also, she earned her M.A. and Ph.D in music composition at the University of California, Los Angeles.
She was a winner of Seoul Music Festival held by the Association of Korean Musicians in Seoul, Korea, and winner (3rd prize) of New Music Festival held by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS). She received a Teaching Assistant of the Year Award and the Dissertation Fellowship of the Year Award from the Department of Music at UCLA.
She was teaching at Seoul Women's University and Kangnung National University in Korea. Now she is teaching music theory at IAMS and conducting the IAMS Youth Orchestra.
Eunji Lee
Eunji Lee is the founder and director of the Institute of Art, Music and Science. She received her B.M. in the violin at the University of Southern California and has also studied at Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley. She has been performing every year since 1999 and was invited to perform at the Soloist Bellflower Concert. Currently she is an appointed board member for the Bellflower Concert Association and is noted for her dedication to the community. She was among those named "Women of the Y2000" by the California State Assembly and "2001 Outstanding Women" by the California State Senate. She teaches violin to students at the Institute.
Aaron McClaskey
Dr. Aaron McClaskey began studies at the age of 5, and at age 10 realized he wanted to make music his life. Soon after this decision he garnered awards at the MTNA Baldwin and Yamaha National Competitions, and finished his high school career with the bronze medal at the Gina Bachauer Young Artist’s International Competition. Aaron is a graduate of the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the Thornton School of Music at USC where he was an assistant lecturer and studio teaching assistant to John Perry. He currently maintains a private teaching studio and is on the keyboard faculty of Bethesda University.
Besides classical performance, Aaron has also worked and trained extensively in jazz/improvisational styles, synthesizer and computer music. He has performed in concert both classical and jazz improvisations in solo and ensemble settings. He has performed with the improvisational group Ascendant 4 and given concert performances of the works of various southern California composers, including Mike Garson, Drew Schnurr, and Sebastian Robin Craig. During his graduate years he studied with renowned USC professor Dennis Thurmond learning techniques of performance in jazz, funk, blues, and classical improvisation as well as incorporating MIDI performance in a concert setting.
Rachell Mellis
Rachel Mellis is a Los Angeles based freelance musician and music instructor. She recently graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southern California, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance under the instruction of James Walker. Continuing her education at USC, she is currently in pursuit of a Master of Music degree in flute performance, studying under both James Walker and Gary Woodward. Rachel has performed with the Debut Orchestra and the American Youth Symphony, and has played under such composers as John Williams and Frank Tichelli. She is also developing a career as a studio musician and has recorded for over twenty student and independent film soundtracks. Her awards include the Leni Fe Bland Music Scholarship, the NFAA Arts Award for music and the USC Music Scholarship, among others. With a passion for sharing her love of music with the community, Rachel has been teaching privately for 7 years and is currently an instructor at several Los Angeles music schools including the IAMS.
Caster Teoh
Caster Teoh hails from Penang, Malaysia. Caster started playing the violin when he was 6 years old but switched to the trumpet in 1997. After graduated with advanced diploma in violin (Royal College of Music, London), his passion for music began to switch to trumpet. Aside from being actively involved in high school band, Caster also participated in numerous orchestra performances. He has been a substitute trumpet in the Malaysian Philharmonic, Qatar Philharmonic and National Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia and was served as principal trumpet in the Penang Symphony Orchestra from 2001-2002. Since coming to the United States, Caster appeared in numerous orchestras, including the Corona Symphony, University of Southern California (USC) Symphony and Wind Ensemble, University of Iowa Symphony, Oskaloosa Symphony, Ottumwa Symphony, Cedar Rapids Opera and also Center for New Music Orchestra. Besides this, he also freelances in Baltimore metro area, playing with Baltimore Symphony musicians as well as in Los Angeles. While in college, he was a finalist in the Maia Quartet competition. Caster has been performing with many professional ensembles, including the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, and National Symphony Orchestra of Thailand, Kumamoto International Orchestra under numerous conductors, such as Kees Bakel, Kevin Field, Robin Stapleton, Carl Davis, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Kurt Mazurand Roberto Minczuk. During the summers, he has performed in music festivals among many countries, including Brazil, Italy, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Canada, United States and Singapore. A graduate with distinction from the University Of Iowa School Of Music, Caster is a member in the Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. He is pursuing his doctoral degree at the USC Thornton School of Music. Besides playing modern trumpets, Caster also plays baroque trumpet on the side. His teachers include Boyde Hood, David Greenhoe, Andrew Balio, John Bourque and William Theis. Recently, he has been appointed as music director of the Youth Symphony West Orchestra in Pasadena area.
Ilia Tosheff & Vely Stoyanova
Born in Bulgaria, Ilia Tosheff and Vely Stoyanova graduated from The State Academy of Music in Sofia, with a Bachelor's degree on a scholarship of the Open Society Foundation under Dimitrova-Maistorova, Nestorova and chamber music Zacharieva. In 1997, they were invited to specialize under Madamme Janine Reding, of the famous Reding and Piette Piano Duo, who are the first performers of the two piano concertos by Bartok, Martinu and Poulenc. This project was held in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and was generously supported with a scholarship by the French Ministry of Culture. Their projects have also been supported by the Soras Center of the Arts, Alitatia Airlines and Rotary Club - Inner Piano Duo Performance program at the Hochschule fuer Music in Hannover (Germany), which is one of the finest piano schools in Europe. Twice recipients of a German Government Scholarship from the DAAD, the duo worked with Bernd Goetzke (one of the last pupils of the great pianist Arturo B. Michelangeli), in the concert soloist program "Soloklasse", which is the highest level of graduate studies available in Germany. Presently, they are studying with the world renowned pianist John Perry at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, which was the first and only U.S. institution to admit a duo-piano team to their graduate studies program.
The duo has also taken master classes with Sachiko Kodama (Japan), Sekeira Costa, Lucinda Carver and Ray Lack (USA), Bruce Vogt and Kevin Fitz-Gerald (Canada), Paul Komen (Holland), Oleg Koshelev and Tammara Poddubnaya (Russia), Victor Chouchkov and Dimitri Kozev (Bulgaria), Marielena Fernandez (Austria), Avi Meniker and Karsten Eckert (Germany).
William Wellwood
As a premiere clarinetist, William Wellwood has performed in various orchestras and music groups throughout the United States, including the Hollywood Bowl, Torrance Symphony Orchestra, Riverside County Philharmonic and Long Beach Operas. He has been the soloist for the Harrisburg symphony Orchestra, Cedar Rapids Municipal Band and Pomona College Symphony Orchestra. William Wellwood is currently a faculty member for the Colburn School of Performing Arts and the Claremont Community School of Music. Dr.Wellwood received his Phd. in music U.S.C. and Master of Music in Yale University.