Officers
Board President
Peter Meckel
Vice President
Brooks Fiske
Amanda Freedman
Secretary
Ed Gavrin
Erica Horn
Founder
Board Members Page
John Larry Granger
Conductor, Junior Youth and Honors Orchestra
John Larry Granger (Conductor) is the Music Director of the Junior Youth and Honors Orchestras of Youth Music Monterey County. Deeply devoted to music education, Mr. Granger brings professional conducting skills and a dynamic teaching style to approximately 100 high-level students ages 7-20 who are involved in the program each year.
Maestro Granger has served for nineteen years as Music Director of the Junior Youth and Honors Orchestras of Youth Music Monterey County. He is completing his final season as the conductor for the Santa Cruz County Symphony, and will retire as music director at the end of the 2012-13 season. He served as music director for the Santa Cruz County Youth Symphony for seventeen years. He has also been a featured guest conductor with the New Haven Symphony, San Jose Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, and Springfield Symphony, among others. He is in his ninth year as Music Director/Conductor of the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and served for nine years as the Music Director of the South Coast Symphony Orchestra in Costa Mesa. He has also conducted the Pomona College Orchestra from 1989-91.
Mr. Granger attended the International Institute for Orchestral Conducting from 1979-81 and did private study in Dresden in 1981 with Herbert Blomstedt, Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony. Born in New York, Granger began his career as an oboist and English horn player.
Alex Bedner
Brass Coach, Junior Youth & Honors Orchestras
Alex Bedner completed his Master of Music degree in Trombone Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Peter Ellefson and was awarded the Richard E. Ford Guarantor Scholarship. He received his Bachelor of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Paul Welcomer and Mark Lawrence. While pursuing his studies in San Francisco, Alex performed in some of the world's most prestigious concert halls including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Musikvereign, and Carnegie Hall. Besides playing the trombone, Alex enjoys teaching young brass players and arranging music for various chamber music ensembles.
Dave Dally
First Violin Coach, Junior Youth & Honors Orchestras
Ann Marie Robertson
Second Violin Coach, Junior Youth & Honors OrchestrasAnn Marie Robertson was the Orchestra Director at Shaker High School in Latham, NY for nearly twenty years where she conducted the Symphonic Orchestra, String Orchestra and Chamber Players. Additional responsibilities included individual/group instruction of 90 string players and classroom assignments of Music Theory I and II, Music In Our Lives and Historical Perspectives of Music.
Ann Marie’s previous experiences include String Orchestra Director at Blue Creek Elementary School and general/vocal music teaching in a parochial school which specialized in autistic and emotionally disabled students.
Within the professional performance arena, Ann Marie held the position of Assistant Principal Viola with the Albany Symphony Orchestra and Berkshire Symphony at Williams College for twenty five years.
Throughout Ann Marie’s career in New York State, she conducted private tutorials of Violin/Viola at the Hummel Music Studio in Schenectady, NY.
Ann Marie’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Viola Performance and Music History from the State University of New York at Albany, a Master of Science in Education from Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, a NYS Permanent Teacher Certification in Elementary Classroom N-6, a NYS Permanent Teacher Certification in Music K-12, a CA Preliminary Multiple Subject Teacher Credential – General and a CA Preliminary Single Subject Teacher Credential – Music.
Vladimir Khalikulov
Viola Coach, Junior Youth & Honors Orchestras
Vladimir Khalikulov has played viola in the Monterey Symphony since 1991, becoming principal in 1995. He has also been principal violist with the Reno Philharmonic and Sacramento Philharmonic. In 1994, Mr. Khalikulov performed the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.6 with Abraham Rosenblit (member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) in San Francisco. In 1995, he made the North American premiere of the Concerto for Two Violas and String Orchestra by Marina Kalantaroff with violist Sergei Rakitchenkov (associate principal, San Francisco Opera), which was broadcast on San Francisco Bay Area television. Also in 1995, he made the San Francisco premiere of the Sonata per la Grand #8317, Viola e Orchestrre by Niccolo Paganini. With Phillip Levy, the first violinist of the Stanford String Quartet, he performed the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. In 2000, he performed as soloist and conducted the Telemann Viola Concerto with the Monterey Symphony. He was a teacher and performer at the Printemps Musical au Moulin in Ande, France in 2004 and the Beverly Hills Music Festival in 2004.
Mr. Khalikulov is a native of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His teachers were A. Rosenblit and A. Braverman. In 1977, after five years of studies with Nicolai Maschenko and Alexander Olonsky, he earned his MA in music at the Mukhtar Ashraf State Conservatory in Tashkent. He was a finalist in the All-Russia competition to Munich with Yuri Bashmet, Yuri Gandelsman, and Sergei Rakitchenkov. Mr. Khalikulov completed his Doctoral Studies in 1979 at the Moscow State Conservatory with Fyodor Druzhinin and Yuri Bashment. From 1980 to 1985, he was the violist of the Uzbek State String Quartet and studied with Victor Gvozdetsky and members of the Borodin String Quartet. He taught viola and string quartet at the Conservatory in Tashkent from 1979 to 1990. Many of his students hold major positions in professional orchestras in Russia, Uzbekistan, and other countries. He currently teaches viola and violin and coaches orchestral musicians in the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas.
From 1985 to 1990, he was principal violist of the opera and ballet orchestras the Bolshoi Theater of Uzbekistan, and soloist with the Uzbek Philharmonic. In 1983, his quartet won the Third Prize of the Borodin String Quartet Competition in Talinn, Estonia. His recitals and solo performances include the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra by Ilya Dimov with the Moscow Philharmonic in 1987 (also broadcast on radio), the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante at the Glinka Festival with violinist Andrei Korsakov, performances of three viola concerti at the USSR Viola Festival, including the Concerto for Violin and Viola by Alexander Pechenyuk with violinist Mark Pover (currently concertmaster of the Royal Opera in Stockholm), and soloist in a cultural exchange between Uzbekistan and Bulgaria, including a performance and broadcast of the Shostakovich Viola Sonata. This masterpiece was dedicated by Shostakovich to violist F. Druzhinin, with whom Vladimir studied the piece. He has performed major viola repertoire with conductor’s Kiril Kondrashin, Roman Matsov, Vladimir Ziva, Zakhind Khaknazarov, Enrique Dimecke, violinist Michael Vaiman, Alexander Vinitsky, Igor Oistrakh, violist Michael Kugel, and with pianist Susanna Konstantinovsky.
He is a champion of new music of living composers and performed world premieres of four viola concertos dedicated to him as well as solo and chamber music. The Rakhimov Concerto was recorded on Melodiya and broadcast on USSR national television.
Erica Horn
Woodwind Coach, Junior Youth & Honors Orchestras
Erica Horn has been performing and teaching clarinet for 30 years. Erica received a Bachelors of Music Degree in Clarinet Performance from California State University at Fullerton. As a student of Kalman Bloch, then principal clarinet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Erica had the honor of playing next to her teacher on several occasions. Additionally, Ms Horn later studied with Yehuda Gilad, Bil Jackson at the Aspen Music Festival and Anthony Gigliotti and the Philadelphia Orchestra Summer Woodwind Chamber Music Festival. While in Southern California Ms. Horn performed with the Pacific Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Civic Light Opera, Long Beach Ballet and the Long Beach Municipal Band among many others. Currently Ms Horn is principal clarinet for Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra, often performs with the Bay Symphony, teaches for the Orchestra in the Schools program, coaches chamber music for Youth Music Monterey and maintains a private studio.
Ian K. Shields
Percussion Coach, Junior Youth & Honors Orchestras
Ian Shields began studying drums & percussion in Indianapolis when he was six years old, and first played professionally when he was thirteen. In 1982, he won a scholarship for Outstanding Audition at the Indiana University School of Music, where he went on to study under legendary professor George Gaber and Stuart Marrs. Since then, Mr. Shields' career has spanned the world of musical genres, from live to recording, from Bach to Rock. As an orchestral player in San Francisco, he has worked with the Berkeley, Marin, Napa, and Santa Rosa symphonies; and Monterey-area audiences may be familiar with the sound of Mr Shields from numerous musicals at Western Stage in Salinas, where he has been a first-call drummer/percussionist over the years, as well as from productions at Carmel's Forest Theatre, and from his work with John Anderson's challenging "Ensemble Monterey" at MPC. Mr Shields has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1999, and has worked with YMM since 2004.
San Lucas Union School
John Thomas Fritz, South County Strings Instructor
San Antonio (Lockwood) School & Bradley Union School
John Thomas Fritz was born in Dallas, Texas, but grew up in Belleville, Illinois and Taft, California. His family moved to Reedley in 1966 when his mother and father were hired to teach in the newly developed Kings Canyon Unified. Tom was drum major of the RHS band under Burl Walter, and concert master of the RHS Orchestra under Bob Bauernschmidt. He was accepted into the County Honor Orchestra and Band all four years, and was awarded first chair tuba his senior year in the California All State Symphonic Band.
Tom attended Reedley College where he majored in music and earned first chair tuba in the All Western Junior College Honor Band in Austin, Texas. He and a few string players brought Norman Zech out of retirement to start the Reedley College Community Orchestra which Tom conducted.
Tom attended Fresno State and majored in music where he performed in the symphonic orchestra, symphonic band, brass choir and percussion ensemble. While attending CSU, Fresno he began his three years at the Dinuba Junior Academy where he directed the band and choir. He graduated from Fresno State summa cum laude in 1974.
Tom started his 34 years with Kings Canyon Unified and the Reedley High School Band and Orchestra in 1974 while he was still finishing his credential at Fresno State. His orchestra s received many superior ratings at Contest Festivals, performed twice in Disneyland, and they were the only California group invited to perform in Washington D.C. Festival of States in 1998. The District orchestra program grew from 200 to 400 musicians under his leadership. He returned to teaching band in 2008 when the RHS band marched at Disneyland and Hollywood.
Tom has conducted the Fresno-Madera County Honor Orchestra, the Hanford Kings County Symphony and now the Reedley College Orchestra. He has also adjudicated at State Music Festivals in Bakersfield, Visalia and Fresno. Tom has performed with the Reedley College Orchestra, the Tulare, Merced and Kings Symphony, and the Fresno Philharmonic.
Tom married Marjorie Hofer in 1976 who is a vocal music teacher and professional pianist. They had three boys, John II, Timothy and Jeffrey. Their son, John, died in 1994 after a 15 month battle with leukemia.
All three of their sons were outstanding string players and each were leaders of their Orchestras. Tim married Amanda Vandermark and now live in Texas with Tom and Margie's grandsons Ayden and Tysen. Jeff married Lisa Freed in 2009 and they live in Visalia where they both teach strings and play in the Kings, Tulare and Bakersfield Symphonies.
