School of Music Visiting Artists
A versatile vocalist, Alina Roitstein is known for her “beautiful voice and equally beautiful presence” (El Nuevo Herald). Her career spanning chamber music and contemporary works, opera and art song, jazz and Latin music, and choral music has taken her to venues all over the world. She is also a singer and composer for River Song Quintet, a chamber jazz ensemble and the Trevor Anderies Quintet, an ensemble led by drummer/composer Trevor Anderies, exploring the lines between composition and improvisation, jazz, folk, and West African music.
(Lauren) Elizabeth Baba is a violinist, violist, composer, and improviser living in Los Angeles, California, performing a wide variety of music from original improvisatory music to jazz, classical, folk, avent-guarde, chamber, pop, and experimental styles. Baba is the composer and director of theBABAorchestra, a 17-piece big band performing her original instrumental compositions. She has composed for several short films and co-composed for several movies including BARBIE Mariposa and the Fairy Princess, Waking, and Artificial Sweetner. Baba studied jazz violin/viola and composition at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California where she received her BFA in Jazz Performance.
Nedra Wheeler is a bassist, composer and bandleader that has been performing in Southern California and touring Internationally for more than 25 years. She is one of the recipients of the 2006 Jazz Legend of Los Angeles Awards from the Dunbar Economic Development Corporation and the City of Los Angeles. Nedra earned her Master of Fine Arts from CalArts and is a performer and teacher with the Jazz Mentorship Program at the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs-Watts Towers Arts Center & Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center.