Performance and Pedagogy, BM

David Beatty is currently Faculty Emeritus in Commercial Music at Azusa Pacific University. For 24 years he directed the critically acclaimed APU Jazz Ensemble. Under his leadership the group performed extensively and made several recordings, developing a reputation for musical excellence. Beatty’s trombone performance experience includes recording music for motion pictures, television, commercials, & albums for many artists. Live performance credits range from symphony orchestras to Broadway national road tours. He has extensive big band jazz experience in both modern and traditional bands including tours of duty in the Bill Watrous Wildlife Refuge West band and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He is also an active composer, arranger, & music copyist. Mr. Beatty holds a B.M. in Trombone Performance from CSUN, a M.M. in Commercial Music Performance from CSULA and a M.B.A. from Claremont Graduate University. He serves on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Summer Jazz Academy, and is a frequent adjudicator and clinician.

Fred Carama is widely known as one of the most respected voice teachers in the United States. His students perform in some of the world's leading opera houses and concert stages. With an extensive background in physiology and anatomy, Mr. Carama combines the aesthetics of great singing with a profound understanding of the fundamentals of vocal health. Mr. Carama has led workshops and masterclasses across the U.S., Canada, and abroad. He joined the faculty of the California Institute of the Arts in the early 1980s and served as a voice teacher, coach and conductor. He has also served on the voice faculties of the Aspen Music Festival, the Manhattan School of Music, Long Beach State University, SUNY Stonybrook, and the Music Academy of the West as principal voice instructor with Marilyn Horne. Mr. Carama currently resides in Los Angeles and is serving on the faculty of California Baptist University and maintains a private studio. Some of his artist students include Lester Lynch, Bruce Sledge, Maryann McCormick, Lise Lindstrom, Camille Zamora, and Monica Yunis among many performing around the world.

American soprano, Amy Joy Stephens, has been noted for a voice that is both “strong and beautiful,”. Her performances include Norina (Don Pasquale), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Madame Goldentrill (The Impresario), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Mabel (Pirates of Penzance) Cinderella (Massenet’s Cendrillon), and Rapunzel (Into the Woods) among others. No stranger to the concert stage, Ms. Stephens is is a three-time soloist with The Los Angeles Bach Festival and has also been seen as the soprano soloist for such major works as Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Duruflé's Requiem, and Vivaldi's Gloria. She has been a district winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was chosen as a Western Regional Finalist, taking home an encouragement award. Other awards include: Grand prize winner in the Three Arts Vocal Competition, First Place in the California Women's Chorus Vocal Scholarship Competition, First place in the Opera 100 Vocal competition, the Audience Favorite award in the Classical Singer's Association Vocal Competition, 2nd place in the American Educators of Italian Origin United (AEIOU) Voice Competition, Opera Buffs Inc. Career Grant recipient and a recipient of the Leni Fé Bland Vocal Scholarship. She is currently a co-founder of a musical non profit organization, The Sparrow Initiative, which is a performance group that uses the arts to raise awareness for the needs of the community, and performs in various concerts with the organization on a regular basis. Ms. Stephens received her B.M. in Vocal Performance from The Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB on a full ride scholarship and her M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where she was a graduate assistant teaching professor that worked with their prestigious musical theater department. She has been the musical director/vocal director for such theater shows as: Pippin, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Songs for a New World, and more. She has previously been on the voice faculty at The Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB and currently runs a private studio in Orange County as well as serving on the vocal faculty at California Baptist University. She resides in Huntington Beach with her husband Alex Stephens and their two sons Elias and Lukas.