Orchestra Profiles

Profiles of Santa Monica Symphony Members
(Click here to see the Volunteer Orchestra Roster)

The Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra (SaMoSO) Woodwind Quintet was first formed in 1998 by the associate first chair players of the Santa Monica Symphony. This ensemble is part of an outreach program of the joint efforts of the SMSO and the Santa Monica Arts Council to bring live music to children of all ages in schools, churches, and organizations of any kind in the city of Santa Monica and to the entire Los Angeles area.
(l-r: Charla Gulino, Holly Patterson, John Petring, Lisa Knorr, Lisa Takeuchi Kohorn)

Flutist Charla Gulino, BM, MM Manhattan School of Music. Charla studied with Jean Pierre Rampal, Julius Baker, Thomas Nyfenger, and David Shostac. Charla was a Young Concert Artist Winner and has appeared as soloist all over the world, including Carnegie Hall. Charla has and is currently playing with many different orchestras and chamber music groups here in Southern California, including Long Beach Ballet, Ventura Chamber Orchestra, and Santa Barbara Symphony. Charla has toured the United States and Europe over ten times as soloist and orchestra member. She has been principal and co-principal flute with orchestras here and in New York City. Charla's playing can be heard on CDs, in films, and commercials. She can be heard on the recently released chamber music CD Meditations on Indian Themes. Charla lives in Santa Monica with her husband Paul, daughter Gina, dog Holly and frog John.
Oboist Holly Patterson, BM USC, joined the symphony in 1995. Holly has studied with William Criss, Terry Row and Peter Christ. As member of the USC Woodwind Quintet, Holly was a co-winner of the top prize awarded to a wind group at the Coleman Chamber Music Auditions. Holly has appeared as a soloist with orchestras touring Costa Rica, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Spain, Hungary, Italy and Poland. A native of California and a product of the public school system music program, Holly has played oboe professionally throughout southern California for over twenty years. She has recorded for television, radio, and on pop, rock and classical CD's. Holly regularly plays with many local orchestras and free-lance groups and has played English Horn and oboe with the Santa Monica Symphony since 1995. Holly is principal oboist with the HOP/Crystal Cathedral Orchestra, which plays weekly for the international television program, The Hour of Power/Crystal Cathedral. When not playing the oboe, Holly can be found managing the Intellectual Property department of the law firm of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLP, in Los Angeles. She resides in La Crescenta with her oboist son, Phil, two adopted dogs and an adopted turtle.
Clarinetist Lisa Takeuchi Kohorn moved from Hawaii to California in 1989 for her Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency at UCLA Medical Center following a BA in Biology and MD from the University of Hawaii. She completed her Surgical Pathology Fellowship at Stanford University Hospital and Pediatric Pathology Fellowship at LA Childrens Hospital. A board member and officer of Orange County Pathology Medical Group, Inc. At St. Joseph Hospital and Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC,) Lisa serves as Chair of the Department of Pathology with her husband, violinist Larry Kohorn. Lisa has been soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, the Hawaii Youth Symphony, and with the Santa Monica Chamber Symphony during a 2000 Italy tour. Principal clarinetist of the Orange Coast College Orchestra and former student of Gary Bovyer, Lisa currently studies with LA Philharmonic clarinetist Monica Kaenzig.
Bassoonist Lisa Knorr began playing that bassoon professionally at age of 15. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Performance from The Eastman School of Music and her Masters Degree from Southern Methodist University. Ms. Knorr continued with post graduate work in Vienna, Austria where she was a student of Carl Ohlberger. She has also studied with Bernard Garfield, Shirley Curtiss and Karl van Housen. For fifteen years Lisa was a freelance musician and bassoon teacher. She performed with many ensembles including the Dallas Ballet and Opera Orchestras as well as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She toured with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and played with the American Symphony in New York. Currently, Lisa is a member of the Santa Monica Symphony, the Santa Monica Woodwind Quintet, and the West Hollywood Orchestra. She is also Vice President of Business Development for On The Scene Productions in Los Angeles.
Hornist John Petring joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 1998. He has previously been a member of the Santa Fe Symphony, the Prince George's County Orchestra, the Georgetown Symphony, and the American-Soviet Youth Orchestra. John was also a finalist in the Professional Division of the 1999 American Horn Competition. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University, as well as a Bachelor of Music Performance degree and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree from the University of New Mexico. He owns a database and website consulting business in the Los Angeles area.

The Kaplan Quartet (l-r: Jennifer Argenti, Amy Ellingrod, Paul Dolid, Jennifer Wiggin). Composed entirely of symphony members, the Kaplan Quartet has played for weddings, private parties, and special occasions at The Broadway department stores. The quartet's repertoire is varied, including selections from Bach to Scott Joplin to the Toyota theme song.
A native of Maryland, violinist Jennifer Argenti attended the Baltimore School for the Arts and studied violin performance at Baldwin Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio. Currently she is taking classes in environmental studies and Chinese. An animal ]over, she is active in local animal rights groups. Jennifer has attended chamber music camp at Colorado's Rocky Ridge Music Center.

Violinist Amy Ellingrod has been a member of the Santa Monica Symphony since 1998. Originally from Minnesota, she attending Augsburg College in Minneapolis and was the concertmaster of the Augsburg Orchestra from 1993-1995. She holds a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Biology, but after 5 years working as an engineer for 3M Pharmaceuticals has followed a new career path. She currently works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Development department planning fundraising events for the orchestra. In her free time she enjoys playing in small ensembles with friends, going to concerts and movies and gourmet cooking.
Cellist Paul Dolid was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and presently resides in Culver City, in a bungalow near the Culver Studios once inhabited by one of the Little Rascals, Paul attended the University of California at Riverside, where he majored in economics and business, and spent his junior abroad at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He is a Financial Services Manager at Sony Electronics Inc. Besides music, Paul's hobbies include photography, investing, chess, golf, and computers.
Violist Jennifer Wiggin holds a Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance from Texas Christian University, and a Master's of Music in Viola Performance from Indiana University. She recently completed her MBA at the University of Southern California. She attended the Aspen Summer Music Festival in 1994, and has played in the Abilene Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Owensboro Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, and the Bloomington Symphony. In addition to teaching viola and violin and playing chamber music, she enjoys playing volleyball on the beach at lunchtime, and playing tennis and spending time with friends on the weekends.

Violinist David Bendett (left) a native of Brooklyn, NY and a veteran music industry personal manager, is President of the Symphony's Board of Directors.In the past, he has also served as the orchestra's Executive Director, negotiating all contracts and handling every last minute crisis such as finding final dress rehearsal space when all facilities were suddenly closed after the 1993 earthquake.
A profile for violinist Ebba Herritt (center) is being prepared.

Violinist Ray Knapp (right) is a Musicology Professor at UCLA, with degrees from Harvard University, Radford University, and a Ph.D. in musicology at Duke University. He is well known to symphony audiences for his insightful pre-concert lectures and program notes. Although his principal research interests are in the 18th and 19th centuries, he has published and given talks on music ranging from the 14th century to the present, including Landini, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms, Dvorak, Mahler, Chaikovsky, and Bartók. His book, Brahms and the Challenge of the Symphony, was published in 1997, and he has recently drafted a book about Mahler's early symphonies. He also composes mostly tonal music and plays second violin with enthusiasm.

A native of Long Beach, violinist Larry Kohorn (left) joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 2000. After graduating from Yale University in 1978, Larry joined the New Haven Symphony and continued his violin studies in New York. Taking an indirect route back to LA, Larry has lived in Venezuela and played with the Caracas Philharmonic Orchestra before attending UCLA Law School. Currently, he is also a member of the Mozart Classical Orchestra of Newport Beach, the Chamber Orchestra of St. Matthews in Pacific Palisades, and the Crazy Rhythm Hot Society Orchestra, a jazz band specializing in music from the 1920's. Larry's favorite clarinetist/pathologist, Lisa Takeuchi, calls him ("affectionately," she says) a "gig pig" since he plays in as many string quartets and chamber ensembles as he can find. Larry is VP of Music Business Affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment, responsible for soundtracks to films including "Charlie's Angels" and "America's Sweethearts" and television programs such as "Dawson's Creek" and "Dragon Tales." Larry considers his greatest accomplishment to be finishing the LA Marathon in under 4 hours, and surviving to play a concert the same night.

Cellist John Liang (center) joined the orchestra in 2000. While studying finance and accounting at&dagger;the University of Pennsylvania, he performed in the University Symphony, various chamber ensembles, and a pop rock band where he delighted in playing in smoky bars (the cello is extremely versatile). In high school, he performed in the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. After attending Penn, he moved to New York, where he continued performing in chamber&dagger;groups while pursuing a CPA and CFA.&dagger;&dagger;Now, an equity research analyst at Roxbury Capital Management based in Santa Monica, John enjoys his time with the Orchestra and&dagger;long walks along the beach.
Violinist Paul Henning (right) joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 2000. A graduate of the University of Southern California's film scoring program, Paul has worked on the score orchestrations for the feature films, "Swordfish," "Chocolat," "The Gift," and "Dungeons and Dragons." Originally from Pullman, Washington, Paul graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor's degree in music composition in 1998. While at WSU, he also majored in piano performance, played flute and piccolo in the University Wind Symphony and played violin in the WSU Symphony and Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestras. An avid hiker, Paul also enjoys escaping to the mountains around Los Angeles whenever he has a spare moment.

Violist Erin Templeton (2nd from left) joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 1998 after attending Penn State University. While in Pennsylvania, Erin was the principal violist for the Nittany Valley Symphony. She also performed with the Altoona Symphony, the Pennsylvania Centre Chamber Orchestra, various ensembles at Penn State University, and the Music at Penn's Woods summer music festival. In addition, she was the assistant director of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra from 1992-1995. Erin graduated from Penn State University in 1995 with a B.A. in English, and minors in music and history; she completed her M.A. in English at Penn State in 1998, and she is currently working on her Ph. D. in early 20th Cent. American literature at UCLA.
Cellist Diane Petring (3rd from left) joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 2000. She attended the University of New Mexico, where she earned a B.A. in psychology. Of course, this has nothing to do with her present vocation of running her own database consulting business! Since high school, she has played in numerous ensembles, including the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and the University of New Mexico Symphony. More recently, she played with the Occidental/CalTech Symphony Orchestra, the Georgetown Symphony, Fairfax Chamber Orchestra, and the George Mason University Orchestra. In her free time, she enjoys playing her new piano, going to Disneyland, and hanging out with her Santa Monica Symphony buddies.

Violist Jeffrey Hagen (right) joined the symphony in 1998 because he needed a new pick-up line. After 30 years in the city of Seattle where it rains so much that the pavement occasionally turns green (no kidding), he relocated to Los Angeles where he can be heard rattling on about being a symphonic musician to anyone who will listen. While in Seattle, Jeffrey received a degree in Economics from the University of Washington and spent four years with the Seattle Youth Symphony under the direction of Vilem Sokol. He is currently working in Human Resources at TBWA/Chiat/Day advertising until they become wise to him.

Ken Klein has been a cellist with the Santa Monica Symphony for almost a decade. He enjoys playing chamber music, and hosts the annual "Music at Millard" chamber music gathering, as well as occaisional group recitals and other musical events. Ken works on the symphony's Kaplan-Srinivasan Memorial Fund in honor of his late friends. He and his wife are also very busy enjoying their year-old son, Jordan Perry, named in honor of Jordan Kaplan.
Cellist Nancy (Bubar) Friedmann (center) joined the orchestra in the mid-1970's as a young teaching therapist for deaf children and has since married, raised four children, formed her own string quartet, and commutes weekly to symphony rehearsals from her home in Long Beach.
Linda Bourque joined the orchestra in 1979, as the eleventh of 12 cellists, all women. She previously played in the Indiana University Philharmonic (very briefly!) as an undergraduate and the Duke University Symphony orchestra as a graduate student. She is a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at UCLA's School of Public Health, where she teaches courses on research design, questionnaire development and data analysis, is Associate Director of the Center for Public Health and Disaster Relief, and conducts research on California earthquakes and ophthalmic refractive surgeries.

Profiles for violinists Tadek Korn (left) and Ann Lekven (center) are being prepared.
Cellist Steve Hirschhorn (right) joined the orchestra in 2000. He was the principal cellist of the Cornell Symphony orchestra from 1985-1988, attended the Tanglewood summer music program, and has studied under John Hsu and Richard Serbagi in New York. Steve holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell and a JD/MBA from UCLA.

Violinist Don Dimmitt (left) joined Santa Monica Symphony in 1999. Don is a senior financial advisor at American Express Financial Services and has served as an financial advisor in the LATimes popular "Money Makeover" column. He lives in Long Beach and is an avid tennis player. He toured Italy with the Santa Monica Chamber Philharmonia in July 2000, which included a subset of symphony musicians.
Violinist Alexander ("Xander") Abbe (right) also joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 1999. Originally from McLean, Virginia, he began playing the violin at the age of 5. He studied with Neva Greenwood, Gerald Fischbach, and Sally Thomas, including six summers at the Meadowmount School of Music in upstate New York. He graduated with a B.A. in music from Swarthmore College in 1994, where he was concertmaster of the school's symphony, chamber orchestra and a member of the string quartet. After a brief stint as a paralegal, Xander attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1999. While living in Philadelphia he performed the American Premiere of Edison Denisov's "Partita" with Orchestra 2001. He moved to Los Angeles in May, 1999, and now practices municipal law at Richards, Watson & Gershon in downtown LA.

Violinist Innis Richards joined the orchestra as a young bride, raised a family, worked as a physical therapist, and became and outstanding community service volunteer. Innis serves as an Association Director and has played in the orchestra continuously for 46 years. She first performed under the baton of beloved composer/conductor Arthur Lange. Innis has served as Association Secretary, for many years Wrote and produced the concert programs, and has worked diligently on every benefit/fundraiser. Innis is by profession a physical therapist. Innis received the 1993 Santa Monica YWCA WOMAN OF THE YEAR award for her volunteer service as Chair of the "Angel Tree" Project, a support group for children of parents in prison.

Dan Lucas (left) lives in Santa Monica and has played in the Santa Monica Symphony since 1990. After graduating from UCLA with a music degree in clarinet performance, Dan decided to do something completely different and take up the cello, his favorite instrument. Currently working for a large law firm, he hopes to one day earn a living building stringed instruments.
Cellist Paul Sochat (right) lives in Venice. He received degrees is Dentistry and Public Health from St. Louis University, UCLA, and Boston University. Before retiring, he practiced periodontics in Torrance and taught graduate periodontics at the USC School of Dentistry. Happily he is now devoted to the orchestra, an active chamber music life, and teaching activities is music and literacy.

Violinist Francis Gaskins joined the symphony with Sam Fordis in 1996. He studied violin with Alice Schoenfeld in Los Angeles and also at the Julliard School of Music in New York City, before graduating from Princeton University. During high school he was concertmaster of the All Northwest Orchestra and was one of 100 national audition winners who attended a two month International String Congress in Puerto Rico. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, is Editor of Gaskins IPO Desktop (http://gaskinsco.com) and hosts two weekly IPO webcast shows for RadioWallStreet.com. In the past he has enjoyed running, kick-boxing and windsurfing.

Violinist and webmaster Mark Wang (left) a policy analyst for the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 1995, after being invited to the December 1994 concert by RAND colleague and violist Ed Keating. Mark holds degrees in physics and mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). An accomplished pianist as well as a violinist, Mark performed Saint-SaÎns' Second Piano Concerto in 1982 with the Lawton Philharmonic in Lawton, Oklahoma; baritone Robert Merrill was featured on the same program.
Violinist Tanja Lux (center) has been playing violin with the Santa Monica Symphony since 1998. In the past, she has played with the Studentenorchester of the Heinrich Heine University in Duesseldorf, Germany and the Rochester (MN) Symphony Orchestra. Tanja began learning the violin at the age of six, under the Suzuki method. Today she teaches the violin at P S # 1, where she is also a first- and second-grade teacher.

Romania violinist Elisabeth M. Cokolat (above right) studied violin with Mr. Brandeiss, a student of George Enescu. After attending a music high school, she studied Civil Engineering at the Institute of Technology in Hayfa-Israel, and Interior Design at Monterey Peninsula College-California. While working as an Interior Designer the last 20 years, she never gave up on her passion for music. She has played with the Bachorchestra in Munich-Germany, Monterey Peninsula College Symphony, Santa Barbara City College Symphony, West Coast Symphony, La Mirada Symphony and Santa Monica Symphony. At Pepperdine University, she has performed in West Side Story under the batton of award-winning music director Tom Osborne and director/coreographer Jon Egstrom, and also the Henry Price production of " Barber of Seville."

Violinist John Dunkelberger joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 1993, after a long professional career in music. Early training in Chicago was followed by studies at the University of Nebraska and the University of Wichita (now Wichita State). More recently, he studied with Herman Clebanoff and Linda Rose in Los Angeles. He gained his professional experience in the Dallas Symphony, conducted by Walter Hendl where he was also privileged to play under guest conductors Bruno Walter, Antal Dorati and Sir Thomas Beecham. As an orchestra member, John has accompanied many legendary soloists, including Fritz Kreisler, Jasha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, William Kapell, and Artur Rubinstein. Currently he is a retired Financial Advisor (MBA from USC) and dabbles in various hobbies such as Astronomy, Photography, and playing Chamber Music with his wife, Elizabeth and other friends.
Liz Dunkelberger, wife of violinist John Dunkelberger, has played viola in the Santa Monica Symphony since 1993. She has played viola since childhood, and studied for 6 years at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. She has studied with Sven Reher, Myra Kestenbaum, Virginia Majevsky and Marilyn Baker. In professional life she is Elizabeth Galton, M.D., a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Santa Monica. She is very active with the local, state and national psychiatric associations, and has held all elective positions in her local society. She is also active with the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute. She is active as an advocate for the severely mentally ill, working with various chapters of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and this year is president of the California Coalition for Mental Health, an advocacy organization. She is also active with the L.A.County Medical Association. In addition to orchestral playing, she also enjoys playing her viola with her husband and friends in chamber music.

Violinist Julie Tranner (left) joined the symphony in 1988. As a full time employee at the Getty Museum and mother of young twins, she is especially grateful for the chance to continue her music education via the symphony. In addition to playing the violin, she enjoys singing and playing the piano, and has worked as an accompanist to choral groups and soloists. She has also performed improvisational music with ensembles in local clubs and in recording studios.
Rhoda Coleman (right) joined the Santa Monica Symphony in 1972. A violinist, she is so happy to be with such a friendly and talented group of musicians. Rhoda graduated from UC Berkeley in 1969 and got her teaching credential at Berkeley in 1970. She teaches a 3rd/4th grade class at the Open Charter School in Los Angeles. Rhoda enjoys traveling throughout the world with her husband and 2 daughters, attending opera and concerts as often as possible.

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