Guest and Cal Poly Faculty Artists

Ravindra Deo

Ravindra Deo is a versatile tabla artist, composer and educator who moves fluidly between Hindustani performance, Western art and popular music, contemporary collaboration, and composition for film, games, and staged works. He records widely, lectures at universities and with symphony orchestras, and served as consultant master artist for Nickelodeon Television. His practice centers on connecting generations and musical cultures through improvisation, composition, and cross-genre exchange.

A disciple of the late Pt. Rameshji Kumar, Deo draws on mentorship from Professor Abhiman Kaushal and Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri, and continues to be guided by the legacies of Dr. Gopal Marathe, Smt. Anjani Ambegaonkar, Mr. Andrew Osman, and Ud. Aashish Khan. His training also bridges scholarship and performance, with studies in Ethnomusicology at UCLA and a Master’s in Performance and Composition from the California Institute of the Arts, where he received the Dean’s Grant, the Remo Percussion Fellowship, and the Dr. Rajeev Taranath Award.

Vijay Gupta

Vijay Gupta, violin, is the founder and artistic director of Street Symphony, a community of musicians creating spaces of connection for people in reentry from homelessness, addiction and incarceration in Los Angeles. He is also a co-founder of the Skid Row Arts Alliance, a consortium dedicated to creating art for - and with - the largest homeless community in America. He was the recipient of a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship for his work “bringing beauty, respite, and purpose to those all too often ignored by society.” Gupta delivered the 33rd annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy for Americans for the Arts and his 2010 TED Talk, “Music is Medicine, Music is Sanity.”

He has performed as an international recitalist, soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician for more than 20 years, playing his solo debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Gupta was a member of the first violin section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 12 years, and has collaborated with the Kronos Quartet, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Yo-Yo Ma, and appears regularly with the Strings Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

As a recording artist, he recently released "Breathe," an album of the piano chamber music of Reena Esmail, under his own label, and "When the Violin," a solo violin album featuring the music of Esmail, J.S. Bach, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Gupta currently serves as the senior artistic and programs advisor for the Young Musicians Foundation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Marist College, and a master’s degree in music from the Yale School of Music. His principal teachers have included Ani Kavafian and Glenn Dicterow. Gupta plays a 2010 violin made by Los Angeles-based luthier Eric Benning.

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Harrison Hintzsche

Lauded for his “sonorous” voice (Opera News), American baritone Harrison Hintzsche is celebrated for his warm lyric tone, nuanced musicality, and profound dedication to text. His dynamic career spans oratorio, art song, and chamber music, where he thrives on the challenge of interpreting a diverse repertoire and bridging a living connection between author and audience.

Hintzsche’s passion for music has led him to perform on world-class stages such as London’s Wigmore Hall, New York City’s Weill Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and Seoul’s National Theater of Korea. He has worked closely with several celebrated leaders in music, such as Nicolas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, Graham Johnson, and Jos van Veldhoven. 

Recent performance highlights include Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” with Kent Tritle at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; Bach’s “Magnificat” with Jos van Veldhoven and the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, as well as with Matthew Dirst and the Portland Baroque Orchestra; Bach’s bass solo cantatas “Ich habe genug” and “Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen” with Philip Cave and Duke University; and Finzi’s “In Terra Pax” and Vaughan Williams’s “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” with the Choral Society of the Hamptons. He has recorded the bass arias in J. S. Bach’s “St. John Passion,” “Easter Oratorio,” “Magnificat,” and the soon-to-be-released “St. Matthew Passion” with Cantata Collective and conductor Nicholas McGegan, all released by AVIE Records.

A sought-after ensemble musician, Hintzsche has performed with some of the nation’s leading choral ensembles, including the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Conspirare, Ensemble Altera, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, the Leonids, True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Yale Choral Artists, and the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, among others. He holds degrees in music from Yale University and St. Olaf College. Hintzsche is currently based in Brooklyn, New York, and hails from DeKalb, Illinois. 

Christopher Matthews

Christopher Matthews, flute, has performed in Asia, Europe, and around the U.S., where his playing has been described as “a kind of aching, textless soliloquy” (New York Times). His widespread musical interests span from early music to electronic music. In large orchestras he has performed under the direction of composers Elliot Carter, John Corigliano, Aaron Kernis, Krzysztof Penderecki, and John Williams; as well as under early music luminaries such as William Christie, Christopher Hogwood, Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, Jordi Savall, Richard Egarr, and Masaaki Suzuki. Matthews began his professional studies at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and holds degrees from Stony Brook University, The Juilliard School, Yale University, and the University of Southern California. 

Alyson McLamore

Alyson McLamore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, Single-Subject teaching credential, Master of Arts degree and Ph.D. from UCLA. She is a specialist in music of the early Classic Period, including a study of 18th-century symphonic music in London, funded by a grant from the Fulbright Commission. She serves as treasurer for the Mozart Society of America. Publications include a musical theater textbook; studies of concert-presenting musical prodigies — contemporaries of Mozart — who were sons of the cofounder of Methodism, Charles Wesley; evaluation of 18th-century “nautical-themed” music and its impact on British national identity; a 61-volume edition of 18th-century symphonies; resource guides for the U.S. Academic Decathlon; program notes and pre-concert talks for the Festival, the San Luis Obispo Symphony, and the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale. She is a member of the San Luis Obispo Horn Club.

Rebecca Myers

Rebecca Myers, soprano, is a soloist, vocal chamber singer, collaborator, recording artist and creator. She has gained a reputation for her “timbral clarity and flawless pitch,” “nimble coloratura” and “vulnerability and grace.” She has appeared on three GRAMMY®-award winning albums, most notably as a soloist on The Crossing’s “Born,” winner of the 2023 GRAMMY® award for best choral performance. In recent seasons Myers has appeared as a soloist with The New World Symphony, Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra, Seraphic Fire, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, TENET Vocal Artists and Lorelei Ensemble. Her 2023-24 season includes two international tours with The Crossing, and performances with Lyric Fest, Tempesta di Mare and the annual Enlightenment Festival with Seraphic Fire. She is proud to be the artistic director and a founding soprano for the cutting edge vocal chamber music ensemble, Variant 6.  

Saili Oak

Saili Oak is an acclaimed Hindustani vocalist known for her distinguished work in the Indian-Western Classical music crossover space, making her the foremost Hindustani vocalist for contemporary American composers. A native of Mumbai and now based in California, Oak is a senior disciple of Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, a leading vocalist of the Jaipurgharana. Her performances have been admired for her meticulous and well-crafted raga exploration. Oak has provided vocals for world premieres for some of the foremost orchestras and has performed with notable ensembles across the U.S. She has been featured on several albums including “Beyond,” “Sing about it,” “Afterglow, and “Kala.”

A passionate educator, Oak maintains a robust vocal teaching studio (SailiMusic), and is a frequent guest speaker, panelist and workshop participant at conferences and universities across America.

Oak began studying music at just three years old and won the All India Classical Music Competition when she was 17. She has earned several awards and scholarships throughout her career.

Oak holds a Bachelor or Arts degree in Hindustani vocal music, and a master’s degree in accountancy. She is also a certified public accountant and a chartered financial analyst.

Ian Pritchard

Ian Pritchard, harpsichordist, organist, and musicologist, is a specialist in early music and historical keyboard practices. As a continuo player he has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Florilegium, with which he has toured in Europe and in South America. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with Monica Huggett, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Elizabeth Wallfisch and Rachel Podger, and has performed under Christopher Hogwood, Christophe Rousset, Emanuelle Haïm, Nicholas McGeegan, and Laurence Cummings. Pritchard has won prizes in the Broadwood Harpsichord Competition, London (first prize), the P. Bernardi Competition in Bologna, and in the Bruges Competition. Pritchrd began playing the harpsichord at the age of 13, beginning studies in his native Los Angeles with Susanne Shapiro. Earning his Bachelor’s degree in Music from the Oberlin Conservatory, Ohio, in 1999 (where he studied with Lisa Goode Crawford), he moved to Europe in 2000. From 2000-02 he studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London (where he studied with John Toll, Laurence Cummings, and James Johnstone), earning the prestigious DipRam award. In 2003-04 Pritchard was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Italy, where he studied with Liuwe Tamminga and Andrea Marcon, and conducted research on early Italian keyboard music. In 2018, Pritchard earned his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Southern California. As a musicologist, his interests include keyboard music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, improvisation, notation, compositional process, and performance practice. He is currently a full-time faculty member at the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, and in 2015 was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Anna Washburn

Anna Washburn, violin, grew up in a vibrant musical community in Maine, and holds degrees from Boston University and the San Francisco Conservatory. She is a member of the chamber group AGAVE that is devoted to performing and recording music that has been excluded from the canon. AGAVE received a GRAMMY®award nomination in 2021 for its album “American Originals” with countertenor Reginald Mobley, and recently released another album “In Her Hands,” featuring works by women composers with soprano Michele Kennedy. Washburn also performs with Philharmonia Baroque, Bach Collegium San Diego, Cantata Collective, Oregon Bach Festival, Tesserae, and Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, and has worked with Opera companies Ars Minerva, Opera Neo and Long Beach Opera and the Mark Morris and Martha Graham Dance companies. This season she appears as soloist with Sonoma State Orchestra and Ukiah Symphony.

Leif Thomas Woodward

Leif Thomas Woodward, cello, is an alumnus of the USC Thornton School of Music where he was granted the Colburn Foundation Scholarship for studies in Early Music Performance and graduated Pi Kappa Lambda. In addition to holding a doctorate degree from the University of Southern California, he also holds a Master of Music degree and Bachelor of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Woodward works with groups such as Tesserae, Los Angeles Musica Angelica, Los Angeles Master Choral, Pacific Choral, Long Beach Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Bach Collegium San Diego, and Angeles Consort. He has appeared at the Carmel Bach Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Corona Del Mar Baroque Music Festival, and on the chamber music series at the John Paul Getty Museum, Norton Simon Museum, “Sundays Live” at LACMA, Les Salons de Musiques, Redlands Chamber Music Society, Musica Angelica Chamber Music Series, and at Centrum’s Chamber Music Series in Port Townsend, Washington. In addition, he is an active soloist and section player in the Los Angeles studio-recording industry. He has worked on film, television, and video game soundtracks for composers John Williams, James Newton Howard, Bear McCreary, Christian Linke, Sebastien Najand, Alex Temple, Austin Wintory, and Tom Holkenborg. Woodward thoroughly enjoys working with young musicians. He is the instructor of violoncello performance and chamber music at Mount Saint Mary’s University and has been a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California, University of California Riverside, and the Colburn School of Music. He is also on faculty for orchestral and chamber music studies at Orange County School of the Arts and Poly Technic High School in Long Beach. He coaches the All Southern California High School Honor Orchestra, Orange County Youth Symphony, and adjudicates for competitions such as the Los Angeles Spotlight Awards, MTAC State Finals and Regionals, CMEA, and the Long Beach Mozart Festival. Recently, his former private cello student was appointed principal cellist of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra.