Meet the Music aims to bring accessible and exciting exposures to classical and contemporary music to communities all-across LA. We do this through programming that ranges from school composition classes taught by our Teaching Artists to masterclasses with visiting guest artists, which are free of charge and open to the public.

Our school composition program will include musical workshops with in-class performances from LACO musicians alongside interactive musical workshops lead by our Teaching Artists. We aim to both provide engaging arts education directly to young students while bringing LACO’s world-class artistry into classrooms throughout Los Angeles.

Our 23/24 Teaching Artist fellows are Cristian Cruz, Gabrielle Rosse, Giovanni Piacentini, Julia Moss, and Morgan Moss. Full Fellow bios are available on the LACO website. We are thrilled to have such stellar and creative partners in reimagining the in-person joy of music.

This year, Meet the Music continues in partnership with schools across the LA County Unified School District, including Virginia Road Elementary, Manchester Avenue Elementary and Loren Miller Elementary, to offer programming ranging from school composition classes taught by our Teaching Artists to masterclasses with visiting guest artists, which are free of charge and open to the public. This includes virtual and in-person teacher support materials, with programing from Artistic Advisor Derrick Skye and support from Meet the Music Administrator Akilah Morgan. Derrick Skye is an accomplished LA composer and musician with a proven track record of award-winning composition, performance, and educational public speaking.

Education initiatives including Meet the Music at Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra are supported by generous funding from:

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Teaching Artists

Meet The Music works with teaching artists year after year to provide a comprehensive classroom experience. Meet our current and former teaching artists here.

Ella Kaale

In the spring of 2023, Kaale’s sophomore orchestral work “seawall blvd” was programmed and premiered by the USC Thornton Symphony on their annual New Music for Orchestra concert, conducted by Donald Crockett at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. As a 2021 Composer Apprentice for Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, her “Eyes Like the Morning Star” was conducted by Julie Desbordes in the Performing Arts Center of Purchase College. She is an alumna of Composing in the Wilderness—Denali National Park, New Music on the Point, the New York Youth Symphony Composition Program (studying with Kyle Blaha and Jake Landau), Dolce Suono Ensemble’s ComposerLab: Young American Composers, MATA Jr. Festival (studying with Anna-Louise Walton), and the Curtis Institute of Music Young Artist Summer Program, (studying with David Serkin Ludwig, Wang Jie, et al.) as well as a two-time alumna of the American Festival for the Arts (AFA) Summer Music Festival Composers Institute, where she twice participated in the Houston Ballet Academy Composer-Choreographer Collaboration (studying with Aaron Alon, Brian Herrington, George Heathco, and Richard Ford). Kaale returned to AFA in the summer of 2022 as an Alumni Intern (and emergency auxiliary percussionist), a continuation of her passion for arts non-profit organizations that began with her role as a Development Intern with Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. Her music has been performed by the USC Thornton Symphony, TAK Ensemble, CORVUS, Hub New Music, Pacific Chamber Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, Dolce Suono Ensemble, the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Ensemble, the Bergamot Quartet, Schroeder Umansky Duo, harpist Bridget Kibbey, and flautist Mimi Stillman. Kaale’s honors include a Semi-Finalist for the American Composers Orchestra EarShot Readings with River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, a YoungArts merit Award, a Luna Composition Lab Honorable Mention, the Texas Music Scholar Award, the AFA Composition Faculty Excellence Award, the Parent-Teacher Association Reflections Fine Arts Competition National Award of Excellence and State Advance, and an Honorable Mention for the NextNotes High School Music Creator Award. Kaale is currently pursuing her B.M. in Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and a minor in Art History in the Dornsife School of Letters, Arts and Sciences. An active participant in the USC music community and a Thornton Student Ambassador Leader, Kaale has been a member of the Thornton Student Council, the USC Oriana and Suara Choirs, the Student Symphony Orchestra, and the Thornton Women and Gender Diverse Composers Network. In 2023, she received the honor of Most Valuable Player for the Composition Department. Her pedagogues include Alex Berko, Christopher Trapani, Ted Hearne, and currently, Andrew Norman. She is a Co-Founder and the President of Thornton Composers Ensemble (TCE), a registered student organization at USC dedicated to increasing the volume of new music of all genres on and off campus.  

Julia Moss

Driven by the belief that music has the potential to offer vast educational, emotional, and mental health benefits, Julia’s outlook as a musician has always been community-oriented and inclusion-focused.  Julia spent the last five years exploring the music scene in Boston, Massachusetts, active as both a composer and violist. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University, in Music and Premedical studies. After graduating, she was the orchestra manager of the Tufts Symphony Orchestra and research assistant to musicologist Dr. Douglas Shadle, whose work centers around uncovering the works of under-researched 19th century American composers. She also previously worked in a Music Cognition Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. Throughout her time in Boston, she held many principal positions on viola and had her work played by many fantastic ensembles and musicians. Most recently, her vocal piece The World is Too Much With Us was commissioned and premiered by the Lowell Chamber Orchestra. Julia is currently pursuing her Masters in Music Composition at the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music, and she is the orchestra manager of USC’s contemporary music ensemble Thornton Edge. 

Giovanni Piacentini

As a true embodiment of a Composer/Performer, Giovanni has drawn the attention and  praise of the guitar world. Arkiv Magazine described Piacentini’s playing as “displaying  degrees of sophistication and control that can’t help but mark him as a virtuoso.” He  was invited to do a solo guitar tour of China in 2018 and has performed his own  compositions in prestigious halls such as the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, the  Museo Nacional in Mexico City and Carnegie Hall. His music has been performed by  some of the worlds greatest instrumentalists like classical guitarist Eliot Fisk, the  Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, the Lyris string quartet, violinists Tim Fain and Movses  Pogossian among many more. He has released 5 albums that have earned him a  feature on the prestigious British music magazine Gramophone, a nomination for an  Independent Music Award in 2020 and a feature on the LA times in 2021.   He graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA., earned  his MA in Composition under renowned American composer Richard Danielpour and  recently earned his PhD in Music Composition at the University of California Los  Angeles where he is a Teaching Fellow in music theory and aural skills.  He recently premiered a concerto for guitar and orchestra dedicated and performed by  legendary classical guitarist Eliot Fisk with the Orquesta Juvenil Carlos Chavez in  Mexico City, Mexico. He teaches at Mt. San Antonio College in California.

Gabrielle Rosse

Alluringly entwining innocent and complex harmonies, “now consoling, now  unstable” (SFCV), Rosse’s music engages the intersection of identity and diaspora through an  intercultural dialogue that celebrates diverse traditions in both her music and libretti. Her music  has been performed by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Contemporary Music  Ensemble, Boston New Music Initiative, Brightwork Ensemble, Salastina Music Society, Lyris  Quartet, Carpe Diem Quartet, soprano Hila Plitmann, mezzo Naomi O’Connell, tenor Michael  Kelly, pianist José Menor, and cellist Armen Ksajikian, and has been featured on KUSC, the Hear  Now festival, and the Chigiana Festival. Current projects include both libretto and music for  Cristina Doesn’t Need Saving, winner of the 2022 Snapshot competition, a collaboration with  West Edge Opera and the Earplay Ensemble. Upcoming commissions include works for violinist  Kevin Kumar and guitarist Eliot Fisk. Rosse is a contributing author for the Oxford Handbook on  the TV Musical, and her Three Folk Songs are published by NewMusicShelf. Honors include the American Prize in Composition, 2022, the Elaine Krown Klein, Mimi Alpert, and Deglin Memorial  Awards, Phi Beta Kappa, and full scholarships to UCLA, Temple University, and Sorbonne University.

Sebastian Sack

Passionate about exploring the relationship between sound, architecture, and the embedded meanings present in residential space, Sack is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. His other architecturally-focused work includes collaborations with Rael Architecture(s) on various documentary projects, with artist Lachlan Turczan in his Wave Space, and completion of a suite for string sextet about four residences in Portland, Oregon. Sebastian’s recent work for visual media includes the score for a short film directed by María Alvarez premiered at the Tribeca Festival in partnership with indeed.com and Hillman Grad (“Last Days of The Lab”), the score for a documentary by Izzy Rael on the historic Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C., and additional engraving and arranging for the new CBS Evening News music package. His concert music spans the acoustic and electric, including a 4-movement choral setting of selections from Pablo Neruda’s "Cien sonetos de amor", many works for large jazz ensemble, and various works for dance in collaboration with choreographer Eileen Kim.